Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 HUMAN NATURE 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 ^Four folD Stt&tt 
 
 OF 
 
 PRIMITIVE INTEGRITY, 
 
 SUBSISTING IN THE PARENTS OF MANKIND IN PARADISE; 
 
 ENTIRE DEPRIVATION 
 
 In the Unregenerate ; 
 
 BEGUN RECOVERY 
 
 In the Regenerate; 
 
 AND 
 
 &on$ummate ifjapptncss or Jtttecrg 
 
 /n aW Mankind in the Future State. 
 IN SEVERAL PRACTICAL DISCOURSES. 
 
 BY THE EMINENTLY PIOUS AND LEARNED 
 
 MR. THOMAS BOSTON, 
 
 Late Minister of the Gospel at Ettrick. 
 
 A NEW EDITION. 
 
 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men ; and 
 needed not that any should testify of man : for he knew what was in man. John ii. 
 24, 25. 
 
 Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. Luke ix. 55. 
 
 As in water face answereth to face ; so the heart of man to man. Prov. xxvi. 19. 
 
 Uontion: 
 
 PRINTED FOR RICHARD BAYNES, 
 25, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER 
 
 1818.
 
 :-:>:! ;T / 
 
 jf% "JO 5^3; 
 
 

 
 1ST 
 ~)oo 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IT is a maxim among wise men, that the knovdedge of persons, is of 
 as great use in the conduct of human life, as the knowledge of things : 
 and it is most certain, that he who knows the various tempers, hu- 
 mours, and dispositions of men, who can find out their turn of thought, 
 and penetrate into the secret springs and principles of their actings, 
 will not be at a loss to find out proper means for compassing his aims,, 
 vrill easily preserve himself from snares, and either avoid or overcome 
 difficulties. But the knowledge of human nature morally considered, 
 or, in other words, of the temper and disposition of the soul in its mo- 
 ral powers, is of much greater value ; as it is of use, in the concerns of 
 an unchangeable life and world : he who is possest of so valuable a 
 branch of knowledge, is thereby capacitated to judge aright of himself, 
 to understand true Christianity, and to conceive justly of perfect hap- 
 piness and consummate misery. 
 
 The depravity of human nature is so plainly taught, yea, inculcated 
 in sacred scripture, and is so obvious to every thinking man's observa- 
 tion, who searches his own breast, and reflects duly on his temper and 
 actings, that it is surprisingly strange and wonderful, how it comes to 
 pass, that this important truth is so little understood, yea, so much 
 disbelieved, by men who bear the name of gospel ministers. Are there 
 not persons to be found in a neighbouring nation, in the character of 
 preachers, appearing daily in pulpits, who are so unacquainted with 
 their Bibles and themselves, that they ridicule the doctrine of originla 
 sin as unintelligible jargon ? If they are persons of a moral life and con- 
 versation, they seem to imagine they cannot become better than they 
 are ; if they are immoral, they seem to indulge a conceit, that they can 
 become virtuous, yea, religious, when they please. These are the mea 
 
 ( 
 
 "^- .-*-'
 
 iv. PREFACE. 
 
 who talk of the dignity of human nature, of greatness of mind, i,oble- 
 bieness of soul, and generosity of spirit: as if they intended to persuade 
 themselves and others, that pride is a good principle, and do not know, 
 that pride and selfishness are the bane of mankind, productive of all 
 the wickedness, and much of the misery to be found in this and in the 
 other world : and is indeed that, wherein the depravity of human na- 
 ture properly consists. 
 
 Upright Adam's nature faintly adumbrated the divine, in a mode- 
 rated self-esteem, an adequate self-love, and delightful reflection oa 
 his own borrowed excellency, regulated by^a just esteem of, and supreme 
 love to, his adored Creator : whence a peaceful serenity of mmd, a 
 loving compassionate,, and benevolent disposition of soul, a depth of 
 thought, and brightness of imagination, delightfully employed in the 
 rapturous contemplation of his beloved Maker's infinite perfections : 
 thus bearing the divine image, and resembling God that made him. 
 But no sooner did he disobey the divine probaiory command, than the 
 scales were cast, his moderated self-esteem degenerated into pride, his 
 adequate self love shrunk into selfishness, and his delightful reflections 
 on his own excellency varied into the tickling pleasures of vanity and 
 conceit; he lost view qf the author of his being, and thenceforth, 
 instead of delighting in him, first dreaded, and then despised him. 
 
 The modest, and therefore hitherto anonymous author of the follow- 
 ing discourses, Mr Thomas Boston, having handled this subject, ia 
 preaching to his own obscure parochial congregation of Ettrick, in the 
 sherifFdom of Selkirk, had a particular view to their benefit, in print- 
 ing and publishing them ; and therefore the style and method is plain 
 and simple ; but the subject is so comprehensive and important, so 
 well managed, and the book has been so -well received, that it now 
 appears in the world more embellished, as well as better corrected, 
 than formerly. 
 
 Let it suffice, to recommend it to those who have a right taste of 
 genuine Christianity, that all the author's notions flow so directly from 
 the sacred fountain, that it is to be doubted, if he has had mud' re- 
 tourse to any other helps than his Bible and .his God, for assistance.
 
 PREFACE. v. 
 
 Mean time, I am aware of an exception, from those who rank them- 
 selves among the poliu- part of mankind, as that there is the same 
 harsh peculiarity of dialect in it, which is commonly to be found in 
 books of practical divinity. But I beg leave to observe, that the dia- 
 lect they except against, is borrowed from sacred scripture : and like 
 as i; ha> pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching to save them 
 that believe ; so also to countenance what they are displeased with, by 
 . cratioi:s; of his Spirit on the minds of true Christians, as their 
 
 common experience witnesseth. However, 1 heartily wish the excep- 
 tion were altogether removed, by some persons digesting into a metho- 
 eatise, the views of human nature, in its primitive perfection, 
 in its depraved condition, and in its retrieved state, who is master of 
 the modern style, and thoroughly understands the subjects discoursed 
 in this book, that by becoming all things to all men, some, viz. of all 
 ranks and kinds of men, may be gaired. 
 
 I am not to declaim at large, in favour of religion ; this were to 
 write a book by way of preface. Many able pens have been employed 
 in recommending it to the world, by strong arguments drawn from its 
 usefulness to society, its suitableness to the dignity of the rational 
 nature, and the advantages arising to men from it, in this and the 
 other world. But, after all, may not one be allowed to doubt ; if reli- 
 gi > >e rightly understood by all its patrons? May not the beauties 
 ami exi eilencies ot a precious gtm be elegantly described by a natural- 
 ist or jeweller, who never saw the particular one he talked of, and 
 knows little of its nature, less of the construction of its parts, and HQ 
 thing of it c proper use ? Are there not men of bright parts, who rea- 
 son finelv in defence t f religion, and yet are so much strangers to it, 
 that they brand the persons who are so happy as to be possest of it, 
 with the hard name of Spiritualists, reckoning them a kind of enthu- 
 siasts, unworthy of their regard. The truth is, Christianity is a mys- 
 terv : mere reason does not comprehend it There is a spiritual dis- 
 cerning necessary to its being rightly understood, whence it comes to 
 pass, that men of grr-at learning and abilities, though they read the 
 scriptures with attention, and comment learnedly upon them; yet do 
 not. ^va, cannot, enter into the vein of thought peculiar to tb. ir tir- 
 ed penmen, because they share nt ef the same spirit ; wnerefore it is
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 that the apostle Paul asserts the natural, that is, unregenerate man, 
 not to knpw the things of God, neither indeed to be capable of know- 
 ing them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
 
 From what has been said, it; is easy to conclude, that no pedantic 
 apology on the part of the author, for appearing in print, or fawning 
 tompliments to the courteous reader, on the part of the prefacer, are 
 to be expected. The truth is, both the one and the other are rather 
 little arts, vailing pedantry and conceit, than evidences of modesty and 
 good sense. It is of more use to recommend the perusal of the book 
 to persons of all ranks and degrees, from a few suitable topics, than t^ 
 shew wherein this differs from, and excels the first edition. 
 
 That all mankind, however differenced by their rank and station in 
 the world, have an equal concern in what is revealed concerning ano- 
 ther and future world, will be readily owned ; and it must be as readi- 
 ly granted, that however allowable it may be, for men of learning and 
 parts, to please themselves with fineness of language, justness of thought, 
 and exact connection in writings upon other subjects, yet they ought 
 not to indulge themselves in the same taste in discourses on divine 
 things, lest they expose themselves to the just censure of acting with 
 the same indiscretion, as a person in danger of famishing by hunger 
 would be guilty of, if he perversely rejected plain wholesome food, 
 when offered to him, for no other reason than the want of palatable 
 sauce, or order and splendour in serving it up. 
 
 The sacred book we call the Bible, has a pecaliar sublimity in it, 
 vailed with unusual dialect and seeming inconnection : but is not there- 
 fore to be rejected, by men who bear the name of Christians, as un- 
 couth or unintelligible : true wisdom dictates quite another thing ; it 
 counsels us, by frequent reading, to acquaint ourselves well with it, 
 Jbecome accustomed to its peculiar phrases, and search into its sublimi- 
 ties ; upon this ground, that the matters contained in it are of the ut- 
 most consequence to us, and, when rightly understood, yield a refined 
 delight, much superior to what is to be found in reading the best writ- 
 ten books on the most entertaining subjects. What pleads for the pa- 
 rent is a plea for the progeny ; practical discourses upon divine sub-
 
 PREFACE. vii. 
 
 jects are the genuine offspring of the sacred text, and ought therefore 
 to be read carefully and with attention, by persons of all ranks and de- 
 grees, though they are indeed calculated for, and peculiarly adapted to, 
 such as move in the low spheres of life. 
 
 Let it however be a prevailing argument, with persons of all deno- 
 minations, carefully to read books of practical divinity, that many of 
 them are not written on the same motives and principles, as other 
 books are ; the authors have often a peculiar divine call to publisk 
 them, and well-founded hope of their being useful to advance Christi- 
 anity in the world. In consequence whereof it is, that great numbers 
 have reaped benefit by reading them, especially in childhood and 
 youth ; many have been converted by them ; and it may be question- 
 ed, if ever there was a true Christian since the art of printing made 
 these books common, who has not, in some stage of life, reaped consi- 
 derable advantage from them. This book recommends itself in a par- 
 ticular manner, by its being a short substantial system of practical di- 
 vinity, insomuch, that it may with truth be asserted, that a person who 
 is thoroughly acquainted with all that is here taught, may, without 
 danger to his eternal interest, remain ignorant of other things, which 
 pertain to the science called divinity. It is therefore earnestly recom- 
 mended to the serious and frequent perusal of all, but especially suck 
 as are in that stage of life called youth, and are so stationed in the 
 Trorld, as not to be frequently opportuned to hear sermons, and read 
 commentaries on the sacred text. 
 
 It is doubtless incumbent on masters of families, to make some pro- 
 vision of spiritual as well as bodily food for their children and ser- 
 vants : this is effectually done, by putting practical books in their hands: 
 and therefore this book is humbly and earnestly recommended as a Fa- 
 mily Book, which all the members of it are not only allowed but de- 
 sired to peruse. 
 
 As to the difference betwixt this and former editions, which gives it 
 preference ; it lies chiefly in the author's not only having revised the 
 style, but the thought, in many places, and corrected both, so as to set 
 several important truths in a clearer light, and make the style of the
 
 viii. PRFFAPE 
 
 rr ---"WfWB^.u. ' -Z^-l "- li 'MMfc. 
 
 .book now uniform, which formerly was not so, because of the explka- 
 tions of peculiar words and phrases, in use among practical divines, 
 especially of the church of Scotland, which were interspersed through 
 former editions, and introduced by another hand, for the sake of such 
 persons as are not accustomed to them. It remains that the prefr.rer 
 not only subjoin his name (which was. concealed in some editions,) 
 as a testimony that he esteems the author, and values the book, but 
 that he may hereby recommend it in a particular manner to the peru- 
 sal of persons of his own acquaintance. 
 
 ROBERT WIGHTMAN, D.M. G.E.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 STATE FIRST. 
 
 The State of Innocence, or Primitive Integrity, 
 
 discoursed from Eccl. vii. 29. page 1 
 
 Of man's original righteousness . . . 4, 
 
 Of man's original happiness - - 1 1 
 
 STATE SECOND. 
 
 The State of Nature, or of Entire Depravation, 
 
 HEAD I. 
 
 The sinfulness ofman'snatura state, discoursed from Gen. vi. 5. 23 
 
 Man's nature is corrupted - - 29 
 
 Of the C9rruption of the understanding - 45 
 
 Of the corruption of the mill - - _ - 64 
 Of the corruption of the affections - - .97 
 
 Of the conscience ---.._ 93 
 
 Of the memory ...... 99 
 
 Horn man's nature was corrupted - - - 100 
 
 Doctrine of the corruption of nature applied - - 104 
 
 HEAD II. 
 
 The misery of man's natural state, discoursed from Eph. ii. 3. 121 
 
 Man's natural state, a state of ivrath - - - 123 
 
 Doctrine of the stale of nrath confirmed and vindicated 135 
 
 HEAD III. 
 
 Man's utter inability to recover himself, discoursed from Rom. v. 
 
 6. John vi. 44. - - . . - 157
 
 CONTENTS* 
 
 STATE III. 
 
 The State of Grace, or Begun Recovery. 
 
 HEAD I. 
 
 Regeneraton, discoursed from 1 Pet. i. 23. - - - 175 
 
 Of the nature of regeneration - - - 177 
 
 HEAD II. 
 
 The mystical union betwixt Christ and believers, discoursed from 
 
 John xv. 5. - - - - - 229 
 
 STATE FOURTH. 
 
 The Eternal State, or State of Consummate Happi- 
 ness or Misery. 
 
 HEAD I. 
 
 Death, discoursed from Job xxx. 23. - - SOS 
 
 HEAD II. 
 
 The difference bctrvixt the righteous and the wicked in their 
 
 death discoursed from Prov. xiv. 32. - - 321 
 
 HEAD III. 
 
 The resurrection, discoursed from John v. 28, 2& - 356 
 
 HEAD IV. 
 
 The general judgment, discoursed from Matt. xxv. 31, 32, 33, 
 
 34, 41, 46. - - . . . . 381 
 
 HEAD V. 
 
 The kingdom of heaven, discoursed from Mail. xxv. 34. - 41 S 
 
 HEAD VI. 
 
 Hell, discoursed from Matt. xxv. 41. ...
 
 STATE I. 
 
 THE STATE OF INNOCENCE, OR PRIMITIVE INTEG- 
 RITY, IN WHICH MAN WAS CREATED. 
 
 ECCLES. vii. 29- 
 
 Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright : lu^ 
 they have sought out many inventions. 
 
 JL HERE are four things very necessary to be known 
 by all that would see heaven. First, What man was in 
 the state of innocence, as God made him. Secondly, What 
 he is in the state of corrupt nature, as he hath unmade 
 himself. Thirdly, What he must be in the state of grace, 
 as created in Christ Jesus unto good works, if ever he be 
 made a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 And, Lastly, What he shall be in his eternal stale, as 
 made by the Judge of all, either perfectly happy, or com- 
 pletely miserable, and that for ever. These are weighty 
 points, that touch the vitals of practical godliness, from 
 which most men, and even many professors, in these 
 dregs of time, are quite estranged. I design, therefore, 
 under the divine conduct, to open up these things, and 
 apply them. 
 
 I begin with the first of them, namely, The state of 
 innocence : That, beholding man polished after the simi- 
 litude of a palace, the ruins may the more affect us ; \ve 
 may the more prize that matchless Person, whom the 
 Father has appointed the repairer of the breach; and that 
 we may, with fixed resolves, betake ourselves, to that
 
 2 The Eypl-an at ion of th e Text. [STATE I . 
 
 way which leadeth to the city that hath immuveable 
 foundations. 
 
 In the text we have three things : 
 
 1. The state of innocence wherein man was created, 
 God hath made man upright. By man here we are to 
 understand our first parents ; the archetypal pair, the 
 root of mankind, the compendized world, and the foun- 
 tain from whence all generations have streamed ; as may 
 appear by comparing Gen. v. ], 2. " In the day that God 
 created man, in the likeness of God made he him, male 
 and female created he them, and blessed them," (as the 
 root of mankind,) " and called their name Adam." The 
 original words are the same in our text, in this sense, 
 man was made right, (agreeable to the nature of God, 
 whose work is perfect,) without any imperfection, cor- 
 ruption, or principle of corrupt ion in his body or soul. He 
 was made upright, that is, straight with the will and law 
 of God, without any irregularity in his soul. By the set 
 it got in its creation, it directly pointed towards God, as 
 his chief end ; which straight inclination was represented, 
 as in an emblem, by the erect figure of his body, a figure 
 that no other living creature partakes of. What David 
 was in a gospel sense, that was he m a legal sense ; One 
 according to God's own heart, altogether righteous, pure, 
 and holy. God made him thus : He did not first make 
 him, and then make him righteous ; but in the very ma- 
 king of him, he made him righteous. Original righteous- 
 ness was concreated with him ; so that in the same mo- 
 ment lie was a man, he was a righteous man, morally 
 good ; with the same breath that God breathed in him 
 a living soul, he breathed in him a righteous soul. 
 
 2. Here is man's fallen state ; but they have sought out 
 many inventions. They fell off from their rest in God, 
 and fell upon seeking inventions of -their own, to mend 
 their case ; and they quite marred it. Their ruin was 
 from their own proper motion ; they would not abide as 
 God had made them ; but they sought out many inven- 
 tions .to deform ai.d undo themselves. 

 
 STATE i.] The Explanation of the Text. 
 
 3. Observe here the certainty and importance of those 
 things; Lo, this only have I found, &c. Believe them, 
 thev are the result of a narrow search, and a serious in- 
 quiry, performed by the wisest of men. In the two pre- 
 ceding- verses, Solomon represents himself as in quest of 
 goodness in the world: But the issue of it was, he could 
 find no satisfying* issue in his search after it ; though it 
 was not for want of pains ; for he counted one by one to 
 find out the account. Behold thus have I found, (saith 
 the Preacher,) to wit, that (as the same word is read 
 in our text) yet wy xoul xcekcih, but I find not. He could 
 make no satisfying discovery of it, which might stay his 
 enquiry. He found good men very rare, one, as it were, 
 among a thousand ; good women more rare, not one good 
 among' his thousand wives and concubines, 2 Kings xi. 
 3. But could that satisfy the grand query, Where shall 
 udsdom he found ? No, it could not ; (and if the experi- 
 ence of others in this point run counter to Solomon's, as 
 it is no reflection on his discerning it can as little decide 
 the question ; which will remain undetermined till the 
 last day ) But amidst all this uncertainty, there is one 
 point found out, and fixed : This have I found. Ye may 
 depend upon it as most certain truth, and be fully satis- 
 fied in it : Lo tit is ; f:x your eyes upon it, as a matter 
 worthy of most deep and serious regard ; to wit, that 
 man's nature is now depraved, but that depravation was 
 not from God, for he made man upright. ; but for them- 
 selves, they have sought out many inventions. 
 
 DOCTRINE, God made man altogether righteous, 
 
 This is that state of innocence in which God set man 
 down in the world. It is described in the holy scriptures, 
 with a running pen, in comparison of the following states, 
 for it was of no continuance, but passed as a flying sha- 
 dow, by man's abusing the freedom of his own will. I 
 shall, 
 
 FIRST, Inquire into the righteousness of this state 
 wherein man was created.
 
 4 Of Marts Original Righteousness. [STATE i. 
 
 SECONDLY, Lay before you some of the happy con- 
 comitants, and consequents thereof. 
 
 LASTLY, Apply the whole. 
 
 OF MAN'S ORIGINAL' RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 FIRST, As to the righteousness of this state, consider, 
 that as uncreated righteousness, the righteousness of God 
 is the supreme rule ; so all created righteousness, whe- 
 ther of men or angels, hath respect to a law as its rule, 
 and is a conformity thereunto. A creature can no more 
 be morally independent on God, in its actions and pow- 
 ers, than it can be naturally independent on him. A 
 creature, as a creature, must acknowledge the Creator's 
 will as its supreme law ; for as it cannot be without him, 
 so it must not be but for him, and according to his will : 
 Yet no law obliges until it be revealed. And hence it 
 follows, that there was a law which man, as a rational 
 creature, was subjected to in his creation ; and that this 
 law was revealed to him. God made man upright, says 
 the text. This pre-supposeth a law to which he was con- 
 formed in his creation ; as when any thing is made re- 
 gular, or according to rule, of necessity the rule is pre- 
 supposed. Whence we may gather, that this law was 
 no other than the eternal, indispensible law of righteous- 
 ness, observed in all points by the second Adam : Oppo- 
 sed by the carnal mind ; some notions of which remain 
 yet among the Pagans, who, " having not the law, are a 
 law unto themselves," Rom. ii. 15. In a word, this law 
 is the very same which was afterwards summed up in 
 the ten commandments, and promulgated on mount Si- 
 nai to the Israelites, called by us the moral law : And 
 man's righteousness consisted in conformity to this law 
 or rule. More particularly, there is a twofold conformi- 
 ty required of man : A conformity of the powers of his 
 soul to the law, which you may call habitual righteous- 
 ness ; and a conformity af all his actions to it, which is 
 actual righteousness. Now, God made man habitually 
 righteous ; man was to make himself actually righteous :
 
 STATE i.] Of Marts Original Righteousness. $ 
 
 The former was the stock God put into his hand : The 
 latter, the improvement he should have made of it. The 
 sum of what I have said is, that the righteousness where- 
 in man was created, was the conformity of all the facul- 
 ties and powers of his soul to the moral law. This is 
 what we call original righteousness, which man was ori- 
 ginally endued with. We may take it up in these three 
 things : 
 
 First, Man's understanding was a lamp of light. He 
 had perfect knowledge of the law, and of his duty accor- 
 dingly : He was made after God's image ; and, conse- 
 quently, could not want knowledge, which is a part there- 
 of, Col. iii. 10. " The new man is renewed in knowledge, 
 after the image of him that created him." And, indeed, 
 this was necessary to fit him for universal obedience ; see- 
 ing no obedience can be according to the law, unless it 
 proceed from a sense of the commandment of God requir- 
 ing it. It is true, Adam had not the law written upon 
 tables of stone : But it was written upon his mind, the 
 knowledge thereof being concreated with him. God im- 
 pressed it upon his soul, and made him a law to himself, 
 as the remains of it among the Heathens do testify, Rom. 
 ii. 14, 15. And seeing man was made to be the mouth of 
 the creation, to glorify God in his works ; we have ground 
 to believe he had naturally an exquisite knowledge of the 
 works of God. We have a proof of this in his giving names 
 to the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, and these 
 such as express their nature. " Whatsoever Adam call- 
 ed every living creature, that was the name thereof," 
 Gen. ii. 19. And the dominion which God gave him 
 over the creatures, soberly to use and dispose of them 
 according to his will, (still in subordination to the will 
 of God,) seems to require no less than a knowledge of 
 their natures. And besides all this, his perfect know- 
 ledge of the law proves his knowledge in the management 
 of civil affairs, which, in respect of the law of God, " a 
 good man will guide with discretion/' Psal. cxii. 5.
 
 Of Mans Original Righteousness. [STATE I. 
 
 Secondly, His will lay straight with the will of God, 
 Eph. iv. 24. There was no corruption in his will, no 
 bent nor inclination to evil ; for that is sin properly and 
 truly so called ; hence the apostle says, Rom. vii. 7. "I 
 had not known sin, but by the law, for 1 had not known 
 lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." An 
 inclination to evil is really a fountain of sin, and there- 
 fore inconsistent with that rectitude and uprightness 
 which the text expressly says he was endued with, at his 
 creation. The will of man then was directed, and natu- 
 rally inclined to God and goodness, though mutuhlv. It 
 was disposed, by its original make, to fuliow the Crea- 
 tor's will, as the shadow does the body ; and that was 
 not left in equal balance to good and evil : For at that 
 rate he had not been upright, nor habitually conform to 
 the law; which in no moment can allow the creature 
 not to be inclined towards God as his chief end, more 
 than it can allow man to be a god to himself. The law 
 was impressed upon Adam's soul ; now this according to 
 the new covenant, by which the image of God is repair- 
 ed, consists in two tilings : 1. Putting tlie law into the 
 mind, denoting the knowledge of it : 2. Writing it in the 
 heart, d -/noting inclinations in the will, answerable to the 
 commands of the -lew, Heb. viii. 10. So that, as the 
 will, when we consider it as rcne\vci bycTO'C, i-i by that 
 grace natively inclined to the same holiness in all its parts 
 which the law requires ; so was the will of man (when 
 we consider him as God made him at first) endued with 
 natural inclinations to every thing commanded by the 
 law, For if the regenerate are partakers of the divine 
 nature, as undoubtedly they are ; for so says the scrip- 
 ture, 2 Pet. i. 4*. And if this divine nature can import 
 no less than inclinations of the heart to holiness ; then 
 surely Adam's will could not want this inclination : for 
 in him the image of God was perfect. It is true, it is 
 said, Rom. ii. 14, L5. "That the Gentiles shew the work 
 of the law written in their hearts; 1 ' but this denotes on, 
 ly their knowledge of that law, such as it is ; but the 
 apostle to the Hebrews, in the text cited, takes the word
 
 STATE I.] Of Man's Original I\ ighteovsness. 
 
 heart in another sense, distinguishing, it plainly from the 
 mind. And it must be granted, that when God promi- 
 seth in the ne\v covenant, To write this law in the hearts 
 of his people, it imports quite another thing to what 
 heathens have ; for though they have notions of it in their 
 minds, yet their hearts go another way ; their will has 
 got a set and a bias quite contrary to that law ; and 
 therefore tlr> expression suitable to the present purpose 
 must needs import, besides these notions of the mind, 
 inclinations of the will going along therewith ; which in- 
 clinations, though mixed with corruption in the regener- 
 ate, were pure and unmixed in upright Adam. In a word, 
 as Adam knew his master's pleasure in the matter of du- 
 ty, so his will stood inclined to what he knew. 
 
 Thirdly, His affections were orderly, pure, and holy, 
 which is a necessary part of that uprightness Avherein 
 man w r as created. The apostle has a petition, 2 Thess. 
 iii. 5. " The Lord direct your hearts into the love of 
 God ;" that is, the Lord straighten your hearts, or make 
 them lie straight to the love of God : and our text tells 
 us man was thus made straight. " The new man is cre- 
 ated in righteousness and true holiness," Ephes. iv. 24. 
 Now this holiness, as it is distinguished from righteous- 
 ness, may import the purity and orderliness of the affec- 
 tions. And thus the apostle, 1 Tim. ii. 8. will have men 
 to " pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubt- 
 ing :" because, as troubled water is unfit to receive the 
 image of the sun ; so the heart, filled with impure and 
 disorderly affections, is not fit for divine communications. 
 Man's sensitive appetite w r as indeed naturally carried out 
 towards objects grateful to the senses ; for seeing man 
 was made up of body and soul, and God made this man 
 to glorify and enjoy him, and for this end to use his good 
 creatures in subordination to himself: it is plain that 
 man was naturally inclined both to spiritual and sensible 
 good ; yet to spiritual good, the chief good as his ultimate 
 end. And, therefore, his sensitive motions and inclina- 
 tions w r ere subordinate to his reason and w ill, which lay 
 straight with the will of God, and were not, in the least.
 
 8 Of Man's Original Righteousness. [STATE i. 
 
 contrary to the same. Otherwise he should have been 
 made up of contradictions ; his soul being naturally in- 
 clined to God as the chief end, in the superior part there- 
 of ; and the same soul inclined to the creature as the chief 
 end in the inferior part thereof, as they call it ; which is 
 impossible ; for man, at the same instant, cannot have 
 two chief ends. Man's affections then, in his primitive 
 state, were pure from all defilements, free from all dis- 
 order and distemper, because in all their motions they 
 were duly subjected to his clear reason, and his holy will. 
 He had also an executive power answerable to his will ; 
 a power to do the good which he knew should be done, 
 and which he inclined to do, even to fulfill the whole law 
 of God. If it had not been so, God would not have re- 
 quiied of him perfect obedience; for to say, That the 
 Lord gathereth where he hath not strawed, is but the 
 blasphemy of a wicked heart, against a good and boun- 
 tiful God, Matt. xxv. 24, 25. 
 
 From what has been said, it may be gathered, that 
 the original righteousness explained was universal and 
 natural ; yet mutable. 
 
 First, It was universal, both with respect to the sub- 
 ject of it, the whole man ; and the object of it, the whole 
 law. Universal, I say, with respect to the subject of it ; 
 for this righteousness was diffused through the whole 
 man ; it was a blessed leaven that leavened the whole 
 lump. There was not one wrong pin in the tabernacle 
 of human nature, when God set it up, however shattered 
 it is now. Man was then holy in soul, body, and spirit : 
 while the soul remained untainted, its lodging was kept 
 pure and undefiled ; the members of the body were conse- 
 crated vessels, and instruments of righteousness. A com- 
 bat betwixt flesh and spirit, reason and appetite ; nay 
 the least inclination to sin, lust of the flesh in the inferi- 
 or part of the soul, was utterly inconsistent with this 
 uprightness, in which man was created ; and has been 
 invented to vail the corruption of man's nature, and to 
 obscure the grace of God in Jesus Christ ; it looks very
 
 STATE i.J Of Man's Original Righteousness. 
 
 like the language of fallen Adam, laying his own sin at 
 his Maker's door, Gen. iii. 12. " The woman whom 
 thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and 
 I did eat." But as this righteousness was universal in 
 respect of the subject, because it spread through the 
 whole man ; so also it was universal, in respect of the ob- 
 ject, the holy law. There was nothing in the law but 
 what was agreeable to his reason and will, as God made 
 him ; though sin hath now set him at odds with it ; his 
 soul was shapen out, in length and breadth, to the com- 
 mandment, though exceeding broad : so that this origi- 
 nal righteousness was not only perfect in parts, but in 
 degrees. 
 
 Secondly, As it was universal, so it was natural to 
 him, and not supernatural to him in that state. Not 
 that it was essential to man as man ; for then he could 
 not have lost it, without the loss of his very being ; but 
 it was connatural to him. He was created with it ; and 
 it was necessary to the perfection of man, as he came 
 out of the hand of God : necessary to constitute him in 
 a state of integrity. Yet, 
 
 Thirdly, It was mutable ; it was a righteousness that 
 might be lost, as is manifested by the doleful event. 
 His will was not absolutely indifferent to good or evil ; 
 God set it towards good only : yet he did not so fix and 
 confirm its inclinations, that it could not alter. No, it 
 was moveable to evil ; and that only by man himself, 
 God having given him a sufficient power to stand in this 
 integrity, if he had pleased. Let no man quarrel God's 
 works in this ; for if Adam had been unchangeably righ- 
 teous, he behoved to have been so, either by nature, or" 
 by free gift : by nature he could not be so, for that is 
 proper to God, and incommunicable to any creature ; if 
 by free gift, then no wrong was done him, in withhold- 
 ing of what he could not crave. Confirmation in a righ- 
 teous state is a reward of grace, given upon continuing 
 righteous, through the state of trial ; and would have
 
 IO Of Man s Original Happi7icss. [STATE r, 
 
 been given to Adam, if he had stood out the time ap- 
 pointed for probation by the Creator ; and accordingly 
 is given to the saints, upon the account of the merits of 
 Christ, who was obedient even to the death. And here- 
 in believers have the advantage of Adam, that they can 
 never totally nor finally fall away from grace. 
 
 Thus was man made originally righteous, being " creat- 
 ed in God s own image,' Gen. i. 27. which consists in 
 the positive qualities of " knowledge, righteousness, and 
 holiness," Col. iii. 10. Eph. iv. 24. All that God made 
 was very good, according to their several natures, Gen. 
 i. 31. And so was man morally good, being made after 
 the image of him who is good and upright, Psalm xxv. 8. 
 Without this, he could not have answered the great end 
 of his creation, which was to knovr, love, and serve hi* 
 God, according to his will. Nay. he could not be creat- 
 ed otherwise ; for he behoved either to be conformable 
 to the law, in his powers, principles, and inclinations, or 
 not ; if he was, then he was righteous ; and if not, he 
 was a sinner, which is absurd and horrible to imagine*. 
 
 OF MAN'S ORIGINAL HAPPINESS. 
 
 SECONDLY, I shall lay before you some of those things 
 Which did accompany or flow from the righteousness of 
 man's primitive state. Happiness is the result of holi- 
 ness ; and as it was an holy, so it was an happy state. 
 
 First, Man was then a very glorious creature. We 
 have reason to suppose, that as Moses' face shone when 
 he came down from the mount ; xSO man had a very light- 
 some and pleasant countenance, and beautiful body, 
 while as yet there was no darkness of sin in him at all. 
 But seeing God himself is glorious in holiness, (Exod. xv. 
 11.) surely that spiritual comeliness the Lord put upon 
 man at his creation, made him a very glorious creature. O 
 Jbow did light shine in his holy conversation, to the glo- 
 ry of the Creator ! while every action was but the dart- 
 ing forth of a ray and beam of that glorious, unmixed 
 . which Go& had, set up in. his soul ; while that lamp
 
 STATE i.] Of Man's Original Happiness. 11 
 
 of love, lighted from heaven, continued burning in his 
 heart, as in the holy place; and the law of the Lord, put 
 in his inw-ard parts by the finger of God, was kept by 
 him there, as in the most holy. There was no impurity 
 to be seen without ; no squint look in the eyes, after anj 
 unclean thing ; the tongue spoke nothing but the lan- 
 guage of heaven ; and, in a word, the King's Son was all 
 glorious within, and his clothing of wrought gold. 
 
 Secondly, He was the favourite of heaven. Ke shone 
 brightly in the image of God, who cannot but love his 
 own image, wherever it appears. While he was alone 
 in the world, he was not alone, for God was with him. 
 His communion and fellowship was with his Creator, and 
 that immediately : for as yet there was nothing to turn 
 away the face of God from the work of his own hands ; 
 seeing sin has not as yet entered, which alone could make 
 the breach. 
 
 By the favour of God, he has advanced to be confede- 
 rate with heaven in the first covenant, called, The Cove- 
 nant of Works. God reduced the law, which he gave 
 in his creation, into the form of a covenant, where- 
 of a perfect obedience was the condition ; life was the 
 thing promised, and death the penalty. As for the con- 
 dition, one great branch of the natural law was, that 
 men believe whatsoever God shall reveal, and do what- 
 soever he shall command : Accordingly, God making 
 this covenant with man, extended his duty to the not 
 eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; and 
 the law thus extended, was the rule of man's covenant- 
 obedience. How easy were these terms to him, who had 
 the natural law written on his heart ; and that inclining 
 him to obey this positive law, revealed to him, it seems, 
 by an audible voice, (Gen. ii. 16.) the matter whereof 
 was so very easy ? And, indeed, it was highly reasona- 
 ble that the rule and matter of his covenant-obedience 
 should be thus extended ; that which was added, being 
 a thing in itself indifferent, where his obedience was to 
 turn upon the precise point of the will of God, the plain-
 
 12 Of Man's Original Happiness. [STATE i. 
 
 est evidence of true obedience, and it being in an exter- 
 nal thing, wherein his obedience or disobedience would 
 be most clear and conspicuous. 
 
 Now, upon this condition, God promised him life, the 
 continuance of natural life, in the union of soul and body; 
 and of spiritual life, in the favor of his Creator : He pro- 
 mised him also eternal life in heaven, to have been enter- 
 ed into, when he should have passed the time of his trial 
 upon earth, and the Lord should see meet to transport 
 him into the upper Paradise. This promise of life was 
 included in the threatening of death, mentioned Gen. ii. 
 17. For while God says, "In the day thou eatest there- 
 of, thou shalt surely die ;" it is in effect, " If thou do not 
 eat of it, thou shalt surely live." And this was sacramen- 
 tally confirmed by another tree in the garden, called, 
 therefore, the tree of life, which he was debarred from, 
 when he had sinned : Gen. iii. 22, 23. " Lest he put 
 forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, 
 and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him 
 forth from the garden of Eden." Yet it is not to be 
 thought, that man's life and death did hang only on this 
 matter of the forbidden fruit, but on the whole law ; for 
 so says the apostle, Gal. iii. 10. " It is written, cursed 
 is every one that continueth not in all things, which are 
 written in the book of the law to do them." That of the 
 forbidden fruit was a revealed part of Adam's religion ; 
 and so behoved expressly to be laid before him ; but ac 
 to the natural law, he naturally knew death to be the 
 reward of disobedience ; for the very Heathens were not 
 ignorant of this, " knowing the judgment of God, that 
 they which commit such things are worthy of death," 
 Rom. i. 32. And, moreover, the promise included in the 
 threatening secured Adam's life, according to the cove- 
 nant, as long as he obeyed the natural law, with the ad- 
 dition of that positive command : so that he needed no- 
 thing to be expressed to him in the covenant, but what 
 concerned the eating of the forbidden fruit. That eternal 
 <life in heaven was promised in this covenant is plain fron.
 
 STATE i.] Of Man's Original Happiness. IS 
 
 this, that the threatening was of eternal death in hell ; 
 to which when man had made himself liable, Christ was 
 promised, by his death, to purchase eternal life ; and 
 Christ himself expounds the promise of the covenant of 
 works of eternal life, while he promiseth the condition 
 of that covenant to a proud young man, who, though he 
 had not Adam's stock, yet would needs enter into life in 
 the way of working, as Adam was to have done under 
 this covenant Matt. xix. 17. "If thou wilt enter into 
 li%" (viz. eternal life, by doing, ver. 16.) "keep the 
 commandments." 
 
 The penalty was death, Gen. ii. 17. " In the day that 
 thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The death 
 threatened was such, as the life promised was ; and that 
 most justly, viz. temporal, spiritual, and eternal, death. 
 The ,event is a commentary on this : For that very day 
 he did eat thereof, he was a dead man in law ; but the 
 execution was stopped, because of his posterity then in 
 his loins ; and another covenant was prepared : However, 
 that day his body got its death's- wound, and became mor- 
 tal. Death also seized his soul : He lost his original righ- 
 teousness and the favor of God ; witness the gripes and 
 throes of conscience, which made him hide himself from 
 God. And he became liable to eternal death, which would 
 have actually followed of course, if a Mediator hadnotbeen 
 provided, who found him bound with the cords of death, 
 as a malefactor ready to be led to execution. Thus you 
 have a short description of the covenant, into which the 
 Lord brought man, in the state of innocence. 
 
 And seemeth it a small thing unto you that earth was 
 thus confederate with heaven ? This could have been 
 done to none but him, whom the King of heaven de- 
 lighted to honour. It was an act of grace worthy of the 
 gi-acious God whose favourite he was ; for there was 
 grace and free favour in the first covenant, though the 
 exceeding riches of grace (as the apostle calls it, Eph. ii. 
 7.) was reserved for the second. It was certainly an act 
 of grace, favour, and admirable condescension in God, to
 
 Of Maw s Original Happiness. [STATB r. 
 
 enter into a covenant; and such a covenant with his own 
 creature. Man was not at his own, but at God's disposal. 
 Nor had he any thing to work with, but what he had 
 received from God. There was no proportion betwixt 
 the work and the promised reward. Before that cove- 
 nant, man was bound to perfect obedience, in virtue of 
 his natural dependence on God ; and death was natural- 
 ly the wages of sin ; which the justice of God could and 
 would have required, though there had never been any 
 covenant betwixt God and man : But God was free ; 
 man could never have required eternal life as the reward 
 of his work, if there had not been such a covenant. God 
 was free to have disposed of his creature as he saw meet ; 
 and if he had stood in his integrity as long as the world 
 should stand, aud there had been no covenant promising 
 eternal life to him upon his obedience ; God might have 
 withdrawn his supporting hand at last, and so made him 
 creep back into the womb of nothing, whence almighty 
 power had drawn him out. And what wrong could there 
 have been in this, while God should have taken back 
 what he freely gav ; but now the covenant being made, 
 God becomes debtor to his own faithfulness : If man will 
 work, he may crave the reward on the ground of the co- 
 venant. Well might the angels then, upon his being 
 taised to his dignity, have given him that salutation, 
 ** Hail ! thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with 
 tbee." 
 
 Thirdly, God made him lord of the world, prince of 
 the inferior creatures, universal lord and emperor ef the 
 whole earth. His Creator gave him dominion over the 
 fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, over all the 
 earth, yea, and every living thing that liveth upon the 
 earth : He " put all things under his feet," Psal. viii. 6. 
 7, 8. He gave him a power soberly to use and dispose 
 of the creatures in the earth, sea, and air. Thus man 
 was God's deputy-governor in the lower world ; and this 
 his dominion was an image of God's sovereignty. This 
 was common to the man and the woman ; but the man
 
 JTATE i.] Of Marfs Original Happiness. 15 
 
 had one thing peculiar to him, viz. that he had dominion 
 over the woman also, 1 Cor. xi. 7. Behold how the. 
 creatures came to him, to own their subjection, and to 
 do him homage as their lord ; and quietly stood before 
 him, till he put names on them as his own, Gen. ii. 1 9. 
 Man's face struck an awe upon them ; the stoutest crea- 
 tures stood astonished, tamely and quietly adoring him 
 as their lord and ruler. Thus was man " crowned with 
 glory and honour," Psal. viii. 5. The Lord dealt most 
 liberally and bountifully with him, put all things wider 
 his feet ; only he kept one thing, one tree in the garden, 
 out of his hands, even the tree of knowledge of good an$ 
 evil. 
 
 But, you may say, And did he grudge him this ? I an- 
 swer, Nay ; but when he had made him thus holy and 
 happy, he graciously gave him this restriction, which was 
 in its own nature a prop and stay to keep him from fall- 
 ing. And this I say, upon these three grounds : (1.) As i* 
 was most proper for the honour of God, who had made 
 man lord of the lower world, to assert his sovereign do- 
 minion over all, by some particular visible sign ; so it was 
 most proper for man's safety. Man being set down in a 
 beautiful Paradise, it was an act of infinite wisdom, and 
 of grace too, to keep from him one single tree, as a visi- 
 ble testimony that he must hold all of his Creator, as his 
 great Landlord ; that so while he saw himself lord of the 
 creatures, he might not forget that he was still God's 
 subject. (2.) This was a memorial of his mutable state 
 given in to him from heaven, to be laid up by him, for 
 his great caution. For man was created with a free will 
 to good, which the tree of life was an evidence of: But 
 his will was also free to evil, and the forbidden tree was 
 to him a memorial thereof. It was in a manner a conti- 
 nual watch-word to him against evil ; a beacon set up be- 
 fore him, to bid him beware of dashing himself to pieces^ 
 on the rock of sin. (3.) God made man upright, directed 
 towards God, as the chief end. He set him, like Moses ? 
 on the top of the hill, holding up his hands to heaven ; 
 and as Aaron and Hur stayed up Moses's hand, (Exod.
 
 16 Of Man's Original Happiness [STATE i. 
 
 xvii. 1O, 1 i, 12.) so God gave man an erect figure of bo- 
 dy, and forbid him the eating of this tree, to keep him 
 in that posture of uprightness wherein he was created. 
 God made the beasts looking down towards the earth, 
 to shew that their satisfaction might be brought from 
 thence ; and, accordingly, it does afford them what is 
 commensurable to their appetite : But the erect figure of 
 man's body, which looketh upward, shewing him, that 
 his happiness lay above him, in God ; and that he was to 
 expect it from heaven, and not from earth. Now this 
 fair tree, of which he was forbidden to tat, taught him 
 the same lesson ; that his happiness lay not in enjoyment 
 of the creatures, for there was a want even in Paradise : 
 So that the forbidden tree was, in effect, the hand of all 
 the creatures, pointing man away from themselves to God 
 for happinesss. It was a sign of emptiness hung before 
 the door of the creation, with that inscription, This is 
 not your rest. 
 
 Fourthly, As he had a perfect tranquility within his 
 own breast, so he had a perfect calm without. His heart 
 had nothing to reproach him with ; conscience then had 
 nothing to do, but to direct, approve, and feast him ; and 
 without, there was nothing to annoy him. The happy pair 
 lived in perfect amity ; and though their knowledge was 
 vast, true, and clear, they knew no shame. Though they 
 \vere naked, there were no blushes in their faces ; for sin, 
 the seed of shame, was not yet sown, Gen. ii. 25. And 
 their beautiful bodies were not capable of injuries from 
 the air ; so they had no need of clothes, which are- origi- 
 nally the badges of our shame. They were liable to no 
 diseases nor pains : and, though they were not to live 
 idle ; yet toil, weariness, and sweat of the brows, were 
 not known in this state. 
 
 Fifthly, Man had a life of pure delight, and unmixed 
 pleasure, in this state. Rivers of pure pleasures run 
 through it. The earth, with the product thereof, was 
 now in its glory ; nothing had yet come in to mar the 
 beauty of the creatures. God set him down, not ia a
 
 STATE i.] ~ Of Man's Original Happiness. 17 
 
 common place of the earth, but in Eden, a place eminent 
 for pleasantness, as the name of it imports ; nay, not only 
 in Ede?i, but in the garden of Eden ; the most pleasant 
 spot of that pleasant place : a garden planted by God 
 himself, to be the mansion-house of this his favourite. 
 As, when God made the other living creatures, he said, 
 " Let the water bring forth the moving creature," Gen. 
 i. 20. And, " let the earth bring forth the living crea- 
 ture," ver. 24. But when man was to be made, he said, 
 " Let us make man," ver. 26. So when the rest of the 
 earth was to be furnished with herbs ancl trees, God said, 
 " Let the earth bring forth grass, and the fruit-tree," 
 &c. Gen. i. 11. But of paradise it is said, " God planted 
 it," chap ii."8. which cannot but denote a singular excel- 
 lency in that garden, beyond all other parts of the then 
 beautiful earth. There he wanted neither for necessity 
 nor delight ; for there was " every tree that is pleasant 
 to the sight, and good for food," ver. 9. He knew not 
 these delights which luxury has invented for the gratify- 
 ing of lusts ; but his delights were such as came out of 
 the hand of God ; without passing through sinful hands, 
 which readily leave marks of impurity on what they 
 touch. So his delights Avere pure, his pleasures refined. 
 And yet may / shoiu you a more excellent way, Wisdom 
 had entered into his heart: surely then, knowledge was 
 pleasant unto his soul. HVhat delight do some find in 
 their discoveries of the works of nature, by the scraps of 
 knowledge they have gathered ! But how much more ex- 
 quisite pleasure had Adam, while his piercing eyes read 
 the book of God's works ; which God laid before him, to 
 the end he might glorify him in the same ; and therefore 
 he had surely fitted him for the work ! But, above all, 
 his knowledge of God, and that as his God, and the com- 
 munion he had with him, could not but afford him the 
 most refined and exquisite pleasure in the innermost re- 
 cesses of his heart. Great is that delight which the saints 
 find in these views of the glory of God, that their souls 
 are sometimes let into ; while they arc compassed about 
 
 D
 
 18 Of Man's Original Happiness. [STATE i. 
 
 with many infirmities : but much more may well be al- 
 lowed to sinless Adam ; no doubt he relished these plea- 
 sures at another rate. 
 
 Lastly, He was immortal. He would never have died, 
 if he had not sinned ; it was in case of sin that death was 
 threatened, Gen. ii. 17. which shows it to be the conse- 
 quence of sin, and not of the sinless human nature. The 
 perfect constitution of his body, which came out of God's 
 hand very good ; and the righteousness and holiness of 
 his soul, removed all inward causes of death : nothing 
 being prepared for the grave's devouring mouth, but the 
 vile body, Phil. iii. 21. and those who have sinned, Job. 
 xxiv. 19. And God's special care of his innocent crea- 
 ture secured him against outward violence. The apos- 
 tle's testimony is express, Rom. v. 12. " By one man 
 sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Behold 
 the door by which death came in ! Satan wrought with 
 his lies till he got it opened, and so death entered ; there- 
 fore is he said to have been a murderer from the begin- 
 ning/' John viii. 44. 
 
 Thus have I shewn you the holiness and happiness of 
 man in this state. If any shall say, What is all this to 
 us, who never tasted of that holy and happy state ? They 
 must know, it nearly concerns us, in so far as Adam was 
 the root of all mankind, our common head and represen- 
 tative, who received from God our inheritance and stock, 
 to keep it for himself, and his children, and to convey it 
 to them. The Lord put all mankind's stock (as it were) 
 in one ship, and as we ourselves would have done, he 
 made our common father the pilot. He put a blessing 
 in the root, to have been, if rightly managed, diffused 
 into all the branches. According to our text, making 
 Adam upright, he made man upright : and all mankind 
 had that uprightness in him ; for, if the root be holy., so 
 are the branches. But more of this afterwards Had 
 Adam stood, none would have quarrelled with the repre- 
 sentation.
 
 STATE i.] Doctrine of the State of Innocence applied 19 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE STATE OF INNOCENCE 
 APPLIED. 
 
 USE I. For information. This shows us, (I.) that not 
 God, but man himself, was the cause of his ruin. God 
 made him upright ; his Creator set him up, but he threw 
 himself down. Was the Lord's directing and inclining 
 him to good, the reason of his woeful choice ? Or did hea- 
 ven deal so sparingly with him, that his pressing wants 
 sent him to hell to seek supply ? Nay, man was, and is, 
 the cause of his own ruin. (2.) God may most justly re- 
 quire of men perfect obedience to his law, and condemn 
 them for their not obeying it perfectly, though now they 
 have no ability to keep it. In so doing, he gathers but 
 wh..re he has strawed. He gave man ability to keep 
 the whole law ; man has lost it by his own fault ; but 
 his sin could never take away that right which God hath, 
 to exact perfect obedience of his creature, and to punish 
 in case of disobedience. (3.) Behold here the infinite ob- 
 ligation we lie under to Jesus Christ, the second Adam, 
 who, with his own precious blood, has bought our escheat 
 and freely makes offer of it again to us, Hos. xiii. 9. and 
 that with the advantage of everlasting security, that it 
 can never be altogether lost any more, John x. 28. 29. 
 Free-grace will fix those whbm free-will shook down in 
 to a gulf of misery. 
 
 Us E II. This reacheth a reproof to three sorts of per- 
 sons, (1.) To those who hate religion, in the power of 
 it, wherever it appears ; and can take pleasure in nothing 
 but in the world, and their lusts. Surely those men are 
 far from righteousness : they are haters of God, Rom. i. 
 3O. for they are haters of his image. Upright Adam in 
 paradise would have been a great eye-sore to all such 
 persons ; as he was to the serpent, whose seed they prove 
 themselves to be, by their malignity. (2.) It reproves those 
 who put religion to shame, and those who are ashamed 
 of religion before a graceless world. There is a geneia- 
 tion, who make so bold with the God that made them, 
 and can in a moment crush them, that they ridicule piety,
 
 20 Doctrine of the State of Innocence applied. [STATE i. 
 
 and make a mock at seriousness. " Against whom do 
 ye sport yourselves ? Against whom make ye a wide 
 mouth, and draw out the tongue ?' ; Isa. Ivii. 4. Is it 
 not against God himself, whose image, in some measure 
 repaired, on some of his creatures, makes them fools in 
 your eyes ? " But be ye not mockers, lest your bands be 
 made strong," Isa. xxviii. 22. Holiness was the glory 
 of God put on man, when he made him : but now sons 
 of men turn that glory into shame, because they them- 
 selves glory in their shame. There are others that 'se- 
 cretly approve of religion, and in religious company will 
 profess it ; who, at other times, to be neighbour-like, 
 are ashamed to own it. So weak are they, that they 
 are blown over with the wind of the wicked's mouth. 
 A broad laughter, an impious jest, a silly gibe, out of a 
 profane mouth, is, to many, an unanswerable argument 
 against religion and seriousness : for, in the cause of re- 
 ligion, they are " as silly doves without heart." O! that 
 such would consider that weighty word, Mark viii. 38. 
 " Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of 
 my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of 
 him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he 
 cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." 
 (3.) It reproves the proud self-conceited professor, who 
 admires himself in a garment he hath patched together 
 of rags. There are many who, when once they have 
 gathered some scraps of knowledge of religion, and have 
 attained to some reformation of life, do swell, big with 
 conceit of themselves ; a sad sign that the effects of the 
 fall lie so heavy upon them, that they have not as yet 
 come to themselves, Luke xv. 1 7. They have eyes be- 
 hind to see their attainments ; but no eyes within, no 
 eyes before, to see their wants, which would surely hum- 
 ble them : for true knowledge makes men to see, both 
 what once they were, and what they are at pre- 
 sent ; and so is humbling, and will not suffer them to 
 be content with any measure of grace attained ; but puts 
 them on to press forward, " forgetting the things that 
 are behind," Phil. iii. 13, 14. But those men are such
 
 STATE i.] Doctrine of the State of Innocence applied 21 
 
 a spectacle of commiseration, as one would be that had 
 set his palace on fire, and were glorifying in a cottage 
 he had built for himself out of the rubbish, though so 
 very weak that it could not stand against a storm. 
 
 USE III. Of lamentation. Here was a stately build- 
 ing ; man carved like a fair palace, but now lying in 
 ashes. Let us stand and look on the ruins, and drop a 
 tear. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamen- 
 tation. Could we chuse but to weep, if we saw our 
 country ruined, and turned by the enemy into a wilder- 
 ness ? If we saw our houses on fire, and our house-holds 
 perishing in the flames ? But all this comes far short of 
 the dismal sight, " Man fallen as a star from heaven." 
 Ah ! may we not now say, " O that we were as in months 
 past," when there was no stain in our nature, no cloud 
 on our minds, no pollution in our hearts. Had we never 
 been in better case, the matter had been less ; but " they 
 that were brought up in scarlet, do now embrace dung- 
 hills." Where is our primitive glory now ? Once no 
 darkness in the mind, no rebellion in the will, no disor- 
 der in the affections. But ah ! " How is the faithful 
 city become an harlot ? righteousness lodged in it ; but 
 now murderers. Our silver is become dross, our wine 
 rnixt with water." That heart which was once the tem- 
 ple of God is now turned into a den of thieves. Let 
 our name be Ichabod, for the glory is departed. Happy 
 wast thou, O man ; who was like unto thee ? no pain 
 nor sickness could affect thee, no death could approach 
 thee, no sigh was heard from thee, till these bitter fruits 
 were plucked off the forbidden tree. Heaven shone up- 
 on thee, and earth smiled : thpu wast the companion of 
 angels, and the envy of devils. But how low is he now 
 laid, who was created for dominion, and made lord of 
 the world ! " The crown is fallen from our head : woe 
 unto us that we have sinned." The creatures that wait- 
 ed to do him service, are now, since the fall, set in battle 
 array against him ; and the least of them, having com- 
 mission, proves too hard for him. Waters overflow the
 
 22 Doctrine of the State of Innocence applied. [STATE i. 
 
 old world ; fire consumes Sodom ; the stars in their 
 courses fight against Sisera; frogs, flies, lice, <|c. turn 
 executioners to Pharaoh and his Egyptians ; worms eat 
 up Herod : yea, man needs a league with the beasts, 
 yea, with the very stones of the field, Job. v. 23. having 
 reason to fear that every one that findeth him will slay 
 him. Alas ! how are we fallen ! how are we plunged 
 into a gulf of misery ! The sun has gone down on us, 
 death has come in at our windows ; our enemies have 
 put out our two eyes, and sport themselves with our 
 miseries. Let us then lay down in our shame, and let 
 our confusion cover us. Nevertheless, there is hope in 
 Israel concerning this thing. Come then, O sinner, 
 look to Jesus Christ, the second Adam : quit the first 
 Adam, and his covenant ; come over to the Mediator 
 and Surety of the new and better covenant ; and let 
 your hearts say, Be thou our ruler, and let this breach 
 be under thy hand : and let your " eye trickle down, 
 and cease not, without any intermission, till the Lord 
 look down and behold from heaven," Lam. iii. 49, 50.
 
 STATE II. 
 
 THE STATE OF NATURE, OR OF ENTIRE 
 DEPRAVATION. 
 
 HEAD I. 
 
 THE SINFULNESS OF MAN'S NATURAL STATE. 
 
 GENESIS vi. 5. 
 
 And God sarv that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and 
 that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- 
 tinually. 
 
 w 
 
 E have seen what man was, as God made him ; a 
 lovely and happy creature : let us view him now, as he 
 hath unmade himself; and we shall see him a sinful and 
 miserable creature. This is the sad state we were brought 
 into by the fall ; a state as black and doleful as the for- 
 mer was glorious ; and this we commonly call, the state 
 of nature, or, man's natural state, according to that of 
 the apostle, Eph. ii. 3. " And were by nature the children 
 of wrath, even as others.' 1 And herein two things are to 
 be considered ; first the sinfulness; second, the misery of 
 this estate, in which all the unregenerate do live. I begin 
 with the sinfulness of man's natural state, whereof the 
 text gives us a full, though short account ; "And God 
 saw that the wickedness of man was great," &c. 
 
 The scope and design of these words is, to clear God's 
 justice in bringing the flood on the old world. There are
 
 24- The Explanation of the Text. [STATE ir, 
 
 two particular causes of it taken notice of in the preced- 
 ing verses. ( I.) Mixt marriages, ver. 2. The sons of God, 
 the posterity of Seth and Enos, professors of the true re- 
 ligion, married with the daughters of men, the profane 
 cursed race of Cain. They did not carry the matter be- 
 fore the Lord, that he might chusefor them, Psal. xlviii. 
 4. but without any respect to the will of God, they chose 
 not according to the rules of their faith, but of their fan- 
 cy ; they saw that they were fair ; and their marriage 
 with them occasioned their divorce from God. This was 
 one of the causes of the deluge, which swept away the 
 old world. Would to God all professors in our day could 
 plead not guilty. But though that sin brought on the de- 
 luge, yet the deluge hath not swept away that sin ; which, 
 as of old, so in our day, may justly be looked upon as 
 one of the causes of the decay of religion. It was an or- 
 dinary thing among the pagans, to change their gods, as 
 they changed their condition into a married lot; and ma- 
 ny sad instances the Christian world affords of the same ; 
 as if people were of Pharaoh's opinion, that religion is 
 only for those that have no other care upon their heads, 
 Exod. v. 17. (2.) Great oppression, ver. 4. "There were 
 giants in the earth in those days," men of great stature, 
 great strength and monstrous wickedness, " filling the 
 earth with violence," ver. 11. But neither their strength, 
 nor treasures of wickedness, could profit them in the day 
 of wrath. Yet the gain of oppression still carries many 
 over the terror of this dreadful example. This much for 
 the connection, and what particular crimes that genera- 
 tion was guilty of. But every person that was swept a- 
 way with the flood could not be guilty of these things : 
 and "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 
 Therefore, in my text*, there is a general indictment 
 drawn up against them all, " The wickedness of man was 
 great in the earth," &c. And this is well attested, for God 
 saw it. Two things are laid to their charge here. 
 
 First, Corruption^of life, wickedness, great wickedness, 
 I understand this of the wickedness of their lives ; for it
 
 HEAD i.] The Explanation of the Text. 25 
 
 is plainly distinguished from the wickedness of their hearts. 
 The sins of their outward conversation were great in the 
 nature of them, and greatly aggravated by their attend- 
 ing circumstances : and this not only among those of the 
 race of cursed Cain, but those of holy Seth ; " the wick- 
 edness of man was great." And then it is added, " in the 
 earth :" (1.) To vindicate God's severity, in that he not 
 only cut oft' sinners, but defaced the beauty of the earth, 
 and swept off the brute creatures from it, by the deluge ; 
 that as men had set the marks of their impiety, God 
 might set the marks of his indignation, on the earth. (2.) 
 To show the heinousness of their sin, in making the earth, 
 which God had so adorned for the use of man, a sink of 
 sin, and a stage whereon to act their wickedness, in de- 
 fiance of heaven. God saw the corruption of life : he not 
 only knew it, and took notice of it ; but he made them 
 to know, that he did take notice of it ; and that he had 
 not forsaken the earth, though they had forsaken hea- 
 ven. 
 
 Secondly., Corruption of nature, " Every imagination 
 of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." 
 All their wicked practices are here traced to the foun- 
 tain and spring-head : a corrupt heart was the source of 
 all. The soul which was made upright in all its faculties 
 is now wholly disordered. The heart, that was made ac- 
 cording to God's own heart, is now the reverse of it, a 
 forge of evil imaginations, a sink of inordinate affections, 
 and a store house of all impiety, Mark vii. 21, 22. Be- 
 hold the heart of the natural man as it is opened in our 
 text. The mind is defiled ; the thoughts of the heart are 
 evil ; the will and affections are defiled ; the imagination, 
 of the thoughts of the hearts, (i. e. whatsoever the heart 
 frameth within itself by thinking, such as judgment, 
 choice, purposes, devices, desires, every inward motion,) 
 or rather, the frame of thoughts of the heart (namely, 
 the frame, make, or mould of these, 1 Chron. xxix. 18.) 
 is evil. Yea, and every imagination, every frame of his
 
 26 The Explanation of the Text [STATE n. 
 
 thoughts, is so. The heart is ever framing something ; 
 but never one right thing. The frame of thoughts in the 
 heart of man is exceeding various ; yet are they never 
 cast into a right frame. But is there not, at least, a mix- 
 ture of good in them ? No, they arc only evil ; there is 
 nothing in them truly good and acceptable to God; nor 
 can any thing be so that comes out of that forge ; where 
 not the Spirit of God, but "the prince of the power of 
 the air worketh," Eph. ii 2. Whatever changes may be 
 found in them, are only from evil to evil : for the ima- 
 gination of the heart, or frame of thoughts, in natural 
 men, is evil continually, or every day. From the first day 
 to the last day in this state, they are in midnight dark- 
 ness ; there is not a glimmering of the light of holiness 
 in them : not one holy thought can ever be produced by 
 the unholy heart. O what a vile heart is this ! O what a 
 corrupt nature is this ! The tree that always brings forth 
 fruit, but never good fruit, whatever soil it be set in, 
 whatever pains be taken on it, must naturally be an evil 
 tree : and what can that heart be, whereof every imagi- 
 nation, every set of thoughts, is only evil, and that con- 
 tinually ? Surely that corruption is engrained in our 
 hearts, interwoven with our very natures, has sunk into 
 the marrow of our souls, and will never be cured, but by 
 a miracle of grace. Now, such is man's heart, such is his 
 nature, till regenerating grace change it. God that search- 
 eth the heart, saw man's heart was so, he took special 
 notice of it. And the faithful and true witness cannot 
 mistake our case ; though we are most apt to mistake 
 ourselves in this point, and generally do overlook it. 
 
 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked 
 heart, saying, What is that to us ? Let that generation 
 of whom the text speaks see to that. For the Lord has 
 left the case of that generation on record, to be a look- 
 ing-glass to all after generations ; wherein they may see 
 their own corruption of heart, and what their lives would 
 be too if he restrain them not : for " as in water face an- 
 swereth to face, so the heart of man to man," Prov. xxvii.
 
 MEAD i.] The Explanation of the Tezt. 27 
 
 , ......... i ... . ' -' "^__^ 
 
 19. Adam's fall has framed all men's hearts alike in this 
 matter. Hence the apostle, Rom. iii. 10 18. proves the 
 corruption of the nature, hearts, and lives of all men, 
 from what the psalmist says of the wicked in his day, 
 Psal. xiv. 1, 2, 3. Psal. v. 9. Psal. cxl. ,'3. Psal. x. 7. Psal. 
 xxxvi. 1. and from what Jeremiah saith of the wicked 
 in his day, Jer. ix. 3. and from what Isaiah says of those 
 that lived in his time, Isa. Ivii. 7, 8. and concludes with 
 that ver. 19. "Now we know, what thing's soever the 
 law saith, it saith to them who are under the law : that 
 every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be- 
 come guilty before God." Had the history of the deluge 
 been transmitted unto us, without the reason thereof in 
 the text, we might thence have gathered the corruption 
 and total depravation of man's nature : for what other 
 quarrel could a holy and just God have with the infants 
 that were destroyed by the flood, seeing they had no ac- 
 tual sin ? If we saw a wise man, who having made a cu- 
 rious piece of work, and heartily approved of it when he 
 gave it out of his hand, as fit for the use it was designed 
 for, rise up in wrath, and break it all in pieces, when he 
 looked on it afterwards ; would we not thence conclude 
 the frame of it had been quite marred, since it went out 
 of his hand, and that it does not serve for that use it was 
 at first designed for? How much more, when we see the 
 holy and wise God destroying the work of his own hands, 
 once solemnly pronounced by him very good, may we 
 conclude that the original frame thereof is utterly marred, 
 that it cannot be mended, but it must needs be new made, 
 or lost altogether? Gen. vi. 6, 7. " And it repented the 
 Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved 
 him at his heart : and the Lord said, I will destroy man," 
 or blot him out ; as a man doth a sentence out of a book, 
 that cannot be corrected, by cutting off some letters, syl- 
 lables, or words and interlining others here and there ; 
 but must needs be wholly new-framed. But did the de- 
 luge carry off this corruption of man's nature ? Did it 
 mend the matter? No, it did not. God, in his holy piv- 
 ridence, that every mouth may be stopped, and all th e
 
 28 The Explanation of the Text [STATE n. 
 
 new world may become guilty before God, as well as the 
 old, permits that corruption of nature to break out in 
 Noah, the father of the new world, after the deluge was 
 over. Behold him, as another Adam, sinning in the fruit 
 of a tree, Gen. ix, 20, 21. " He planted a vineyard, and 
 he drank of the vine, and was drunken, and he was un- 
 covered within his tent." More than that, God gives the 
 same reason against a new daluge, which he gives in our 
 text for bringing thai; on the old world : " I will not 
 (saith he) again curse tlie- ground any more for man's 
 sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his 
 youth," Gen. viii. 21. whereby it is intimated, that there 
 is no mending of the matter by this means ; and that 
 if he would always take the same course with men 
 that he had done, he would be always sending deluges 
 on the earth, seeing the corruption of man's nature re- 
 mains still; but though the flood could not carrj 
 off the corruption of nature, yet it pointed at the way 
 how it is to be done ; to wit. that men must be born of 
 water, and of the Spirit, raised from spiritual death in 
 sin, by the grace of Jesus Christ, who came by water and 
 blood ; out of which a new world of saints arise in re- 
 generation, even as the new world of sinners out of the 
 waters, where they had long laid buried (as it were) in 
 the ark. This we learn from 1 Pet. iii. 20. 21. where 
 the apostle, speaking of Noah's ark, saith, " Wherein 
 few, that is, eight souls, were saved in water. The like 
 figure whereunto, even baptism doth also now save us." 
 Now the waters of the deluge being a like figure to bap- 
 tism ; it plainly follows, that they signified, as baptism 
 doth, the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost. To conclude then, these waters, though now 
 dried up, may serve us still for a looking-glass, in which 
 we may see the total corruption of our nature, and the 
 necessity of regeneration. 
 
 From the text, thus explained, ariseth this weighty 
 point of doctrine, which he that runs may read in it. viz. 
 Mian's nature is now wholly corrupted. Now is their a
 
 HEAD i.] Man's Nature corrupted. 29 
 
 sad alteration, a wonderful overturn, in the nature of 
 man : where, at first, there was nothing evil, now there 
 is nothing good. In prosecuting of this doctrine, I shall, 
 
 First, Confirm it. 
 
 Secondly, Represent this corruption of nature in its 
 several parts. 
 
 Thirdly, Show you how man's nature come to be thus 
 corrupted. 
 
 Lastly, Make application. 
 
 THAT MAN'S NATURE IS CORRUPTED. 
 
 First. I am to confirm the doctrine of the corruption 
 of nature ; to hold the glass to your eyes, wherein you 
 may see your sinful nature ; which though God takes 
 particular notice of it, many quite overlook. And here 
 we shall consult, 1. God's works. 2. Men's experience 
 and observation. 
 
 I. For scripture-proof, let us consider, 
 
 First. How the scripture takes particular notice of 
 fallen Adam's communicating his image to his posterity, 
 Gen. v. 3. " Adam begat' a son, in his own likeness, 
 after his image, and called his name Seth." Compare 
 with this ver. 1. of that chapter, "In the day that God 
 created man, in the likeness of God made he him." Be- 
 hold here, how the image after which man was made 
 and after the image which he is begotten, are opposed. 
 Man was created in the likeness of God ; that is, a holy 
 and righteous God made a holy and righteous creature ; 
 but fallen Adam begat a son, not in the likeness of God, 
 but in his own likeness ; that is, corrupt sinful Adam be- 
 gat a corrupt sinful son. For as the image of God bore 
 righteousness and immortality in it, as was cleared be- 
 fore ; so this image of fallen Adam bore corruption and 
 death in it, 1 Cor. xv. 49. 50. compare ver. 22. Moses 
 in the fifth chapter of Genesis, being to give us the first
 
 30 Man's Nature corrupted. [STATE n, 
 
 bill of mortality that ever was in the world, ushers it in 
 with this, that dying Adam begat mortals. Having sin 
 ned he became mortal according to the threatening 
 and so he begat a son in his own likeness- sinful, an 
 therefore mortal. Thus sin and death passed on all. 
 Doubtless he begat both Cain and Abel in his own like- 
 ness, as well as Seth. But it is not recorded of Abel, 
 because he left no issue behind him, and his failing the 
 first sacrifice to death in the world was a sufficient docu- 
 ment of it ; nor of Cain to whom it might have been 
 thought peculiar, because of his monstrous wickedness; 
 and, besides, his posterity was drowned in the flood : but 
 it is recorded of Seth, because he was the father of the 
 holy seed ; and from him all mankind, since the flood, 
 has descended, and fallen Adam's own likeness with 
 them. 
 
 Secondly, It appears from that scripture text, Job xiv* 
 4. " Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 
 not one." Our first parents were unclean, how then can 
 we be clean ? How could our immediate parents be clean ? 
 or how shall our children be so ? The uncleanness here 
 aimed at is a sinful uncleanness ; for it is such as makes 
 man's days full of trouble : and it is natural, being deriv- 
 ed from unclean parents ; " man is born of a woman," 
 ver. I . " And how can he be clean that is born of a wo- 
 man ?" Job xxv. 4. An omnipotent God, whose power 
 is not here challenged, could bring a clean thing out of 
 an unclean ; and did so, in the case of the man Christ ; 
 but no other can. Every person that is born according 
 to the course of nature, is born unclean. If the root be 
 corrupt, so must the branches be. Neither is the matter 
 mended, though the parents be sanctified ones ; for they 
 are but holy in part, and that by grace, not by nature ; 
 and they beget their children as men, not as holy men. 
 Wherefore as the circumcised parent begets an uncir- 
 eumcised child : and after the purest grain is sown, we 
 reap corn with the chaff; so the holiest parents beget 
 unholy children, and cannot communicate their grace to
 
 i.J Marts Nature corrupted. 
 
 them, as they do their nature ; which many godly pa- 
 rents find true, in their sad experience. 
 
 Thirdly, Consider the confession of the psalmist Da- 
 vid, Psal. Ivi. 5. " Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and 
 in sin did my mother conceive me." Here he ascends 
 from his actual sin, to the fountain of it, namely, cor- 
 rupt nature. He was a man according to God's own 
 heart ; but from the beginning it was not so with him. 
 He was begotten in lawful marriage : but when the 
 lump was shapen in the womb, it was a sinful lump. 
 Hence the corruption of nature is called the old man : 
 being as old as ourselves, older than grace, even in those 
 that are sanctified from the womb. 
 
 Fourthly, Hear our Lord's determination of the point, 
 John iii. 8. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh.* 1 
 Behold the universal corruption of mankind, all are 
 flesh ! not that all are frail, though that is a sad truth 
 too ; yea, and our natural frailty is an evidence of our 
 natural corruption ; but that's not the sense of this text: 
 but here is the meaning of it, all are corrupt and sinful, 
 and that naturally. Hence our Lord argues here, that 
 because they are flesh, therefore they must be born 
 again, or else they cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 Govl, ver. 3, 6. And as the corruption of our nature 
 evidenced! the absolute necessity of regeneration ; so 
 the absolute necessity of regeneration plainly proves the 
 corruption of our nature ; for why should a man need a 
 second birth, if his nature were not quite marred in his 
 first birth ? Infants must be born again, for that is an 
 except (John iii. 3.) which admits of no; exception. And 
 therefore they were circumcised under the Old Testa- 
 ment ; as having the body of the sins of the flesh, which 
 is conveyed to them by natural generation, to put off, 
 Col. ii. 11. And now, by the appointment of Jesus 
 Christ, they are to be baptized ; which says, they are 
 unclean, and that there is no salvation for them, but by 
 the " washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Ho 
 1-y Ghost," Tit. iii. 5.
 
 32 Man 9 Nature corrupted. [STATE it. 
 
 Fifthly, Man certainly is sunk very low now, in com- 
 parison of what he once was. God made him but a lit- 
 tle lower than the angels ; but now we find him likened 
 to the beasts that perish. He hearkened to a brute, and 
 is now become like one of them. Like Nebuchadnezzar, 
 his portion, in his natural state, is with the beasts, mind- 
 ing only earthly things, Philip, iii. 19. Nay brutes, in 
 some sort, have the advantage of the natural man, who 
 is sunk a degree below them. He is more senseless, in 
 what concerns him most, than the stork, or the turtle, 
 or the crane, or the swallow, in what is for their interest, 
 Jer. viii. 7. He is more stupid than the ox or ass, Isa. 
 i. 3. I find him sent to school, to learn of the ant or 
 emmet, which having no guide, or leader to go before 
 her ; no overseer or officer to compel or stir her up to 
 work ; no ruler, but may do as she lists, being under 
 the dominion of none ; yet " provideth her meat in the 
 summer and harvest," Prov. vi. 6, 7, 8. while the natu- 
 ral man has all these, and yet exposeth himself to eter- 
 nal starving. Nay, more than all this, the scripture 
 holds out the natural man, not only as wanting the good 
 qualities of those creatures, but as a compound of the 
 evil qualities of the worst of the creatures, in which con- 
 centre the fierceness of the lion, the craft of the fox, the 
 unteachableness of the wild ass, the filthiness of the dog 
 and swine, the poison of the asp, and such-like. Truth 
 itself calls them serpents, a generation of vipers ; yea 
 more, even children of the devil, Matt, xxiii. 33. John 
 viii. 44. Surely then, man's nature is miserably cor- 
 rupted. 
 
 Lastly, " We are by nature children of wrath," Eph. 
 ii. 3. We are worthy of, and liable to, the wrath of 
 -God ; and this by nature. And therefore, doubtless we 
 are by nature sinful creatures. We are condemned, be- 
 fore we have done good or evil : under the curse ere 
 we know what it is. " But will a lion roar in the forest, 
 while he hath no prey ?" Amos iii. 4. that is, Will a ho- 
 ly and just God roar in his wrath against man, if he be
 
 HEAD i.] Mans Nature corrupted 33 
 
 not, by his sin, made a prey for his wrath ? No, he will 
 not, he cannot. Let us conclude then, that, according 
 to the word of God, man's nature is a corrupt nature. 
 
 II. If we consult experience, and observe the case of 
 the world, in these things that are obvious to any person, 
 that will not shut his eyes against clear light ; we shall 
 quickly perceive such fruits, as discover this root of bit- 
 terness. I shall propose a few things that may serve to 
 convince us in this point. 
 
 First. Who sees not a flood of miseries overflowing 
 the world ? And whither can a man go, where he shall 
 not dip his foot, if he go not over head and ears in it ? 
 Every one, at home and abroad, in city and country, in 
 palaces and cottages, is groaning under some one thing 
 or other ungrateful to him. Some are oppressed with 
 poverty, some chastened with sickness and pain, some 
 are lamenting their losses ; none wants a cross of one 
 sort or another. No man's condition is so soft, but there 
 is some thorn of uneasiness in it. And at length death, 
 the wages of sin, comes after these its harbingers, and 
 sweeps all away. Now, what but sin has opened the 
 sluice ? There is not a complaint or sigh heard in the 
 world, nor a tear that falls from our eye, but it is an 
 evidence that man is fallen as a star from heaven ; for 
 God distributeth sorrows in his anger, Job xxi. 17- This 
 is a plain proof of the corruption of nature : forasmuch 
 as those that have not yet actually sinned, have their 
 share of these sorrows ; yea, and draw their first breath 
 in the world weeping, as if they knew this world, at first 
 sight, to be a Bochim, the place of weepers. There are 
 graves of the smallest, as well as of the greatest size in 
 the church-yard : and there are never wanting some in 
 the world, who, like Rachel, " are weeping for their chil- 
 dren, because they are not," Matt. ii. 18. 
 
 Secondly, Observe how early this corruption of na- 
 ture begins to appear in young ones. Solomon observes,
 
 S4> Man's Nature corrupted. [STATE 11. 
 
 that " even a child is known by his doings," Prov. xx. 
 11. It may soon be discerned what way the bias of the 
 heart lies. Do not the children of fallen Adam, before 
 they can go alone, follow their father's footsteps ? What 
 a vast deal of little pride, ambition, curiosity, vanity, 
 wil fulness, and averseness to good, appears in them ! 
 And, when they creep out of infancy, there is a neces- 
 sity of using " the rod of correction, to drive away the 
 foolishness that is bound in their heart," Prov. xxii. 15. 
 which shows, that, if grace prevail not, the child will be 
 as Ishmael, a wild ass-man, as the word is, Gen. xvi. 12. 
 
 Thirdly, Take a view of the manifold gross out-break- 
 ings of sin in the world. The wickedness of man is yet 
 great in the earth. Behold the bitter fruits of the cor- 
 ruption of our nature, Hos. iv. 2. " By swearing, and 
 lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adul- 
 tery, they break out, like the breaking forth of waters, 
 and blood toucheth blood." The world is filled with fil- 
 thiness ; and all manner of lewdness, wickedness, and 
 profanity. Whence is the deluge of sin on the earth, 
 but from the breaking up of the fountains of the great 
 deep, the heart of man ; " out of which proceed evil 
 thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covet- 
 ousness, wickedness," <%c. Mark vii. 21, 22. Ye will, it 
 may be, thank God with a whole heart, that ye are not 
 like these other men : and indeed ye have better reason 
 for it, than, I fear, ye are aware of; for, "as in water 
 face pnswereth to face, so the heart of man to man," 
 Prov. xxvii. 19. As looking into clear water, ye see 
 your own face ; so looking to your heart, ye may see 
 other men's there : and looking into other men's, in them 
 ye may see your own. So that the most vile and pro- 
 fane wretches tLat are in the world should serve you for 
 a iooldng-glass ; in which you ought to discern the cor- 
 ruption of your own nature : and if you do so, ye would, 
 with a heart truly touched, thank God, and not your- 
 selves, indeed, that ye are not as other men, in your
 
 HEAD i.] Mans Nature corrupted. 35 
 
 lives, seeing the corruption of nature is the same in ) ou 
 as in them. 
 
 Fourthly, Cast your eye upon these terrible convul- 
 sions the world is thrown into, by the lusts of men. 
 Lions make not a prey of lions, nor wolves o-f wolves : 
 but men are turned wolves to one another, biting and de- 
 vouring one another. Upon how slight occasions will men 
 sheath their swords in one another's bowels ! The world is 
 a wilderness, where the clearest fire men can carry about 
 with them will not fright away the wild beasts that inhabit 
 it, (and because they are men, and not brutes) but one way 
 or other they will be wounded. Since Cain shed the blood 
 of Abel, the earth has been turned into a slaughter-house; 
 and the chase has been continued since Nimrod began his 
 hunting ; on the earth, as in the sea, the greater still de- 
 vouring the lesser. When we see the world in such 
 a ferment, every one stabbing another with words or 
 swords, we may conclude there is an evil spirit among 
 them. These violent heats among Adam's sons speak 
 the whole body to be distempered, the whole head to be 
 sick, and the whole heart faint : they surely proceed 
 from an inward cause, James vi. 1 . " Lusts that war in 
 our members." 
 
 Fifthly, Consider the necessity of human laws fenced 
 with terrors and severities ; to which we may apply 
 what the apostle says, 1 Tim. i. 9. that " the law is not 
 made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and diso- 
 bedient, for the ungodly and for sinners," <%c. Man was 
 made society ; and God himself said of the first man, 
 when he had created him, that it was not meet he should 
 be alone : yet the case is such now, that in society he 
 must be hedged in with thorns. And that from hence 
 we may the better see the corruption of man's nature, 
 consider, (1.) Every man naturally loves to be at full 
 liberty himself, to have his own will for his law ; and if 
 he would follow his natural inclinations, would vote 
 himself out of the reach of all laws, divine and human. 
 And hence some (the power of whose hands has been
 
 36 Marts Nature corrupted. [STATE n, 
 
 answerable to the natural inclination) have indeed made 
 themselves absolute and above laws ; agreeable to man's 
 monstrous design at first, to be as gods, Gen. iii. 5. Yet 
 (2.) There is no man that should willingly adventure to 
 live in a lawless society ; and therefore, even pirates 
 and robbers have laws among themselves, though the 
 whole society casts off all respect to law and right. 
 Thus men discover themselves to be conscious of the 
 corruption of nature ; not daring to trust one another, 
 but upon security. (3.) How dangerous soever it is to 
 break through the hedge, yet the violence of lusts makes 
 many daily adventure to run the risk. They will not 
 only sacrifice their credit and conscience, which last is 
 lightly esteemed in the world ; but for the pleasure of a 
 few moments, immediately succeeded with terror from 
 within, they will lay themselves open to a violent death, 
 by the laws of the land wherein they live. (4.) The 
 laws are often made to yield to men's lusts. Sometimes 
 whole societies run into such extravagancies, that, like 
 a company of prisoners, they break off their fetters, and 
 put their guard to flight ; and the voice of laws cannot 
 be heard for the noise of arms. And seldom is there a 
 time wherein there are not some persons so great and 
 daring, that the laws dare not look their impetuous lusts 
 in the face ; which made David say, in the case of Joab, 
 who had murdered Abner, " These men, the sons of Ze- 
 ruiah, be too hard for me," 2 Sam. iii. 39. Lusts some- 
 times grow too strong for laws, so thafe'tfce law is slack- 
 ed, as the pulse of a dying man. Hab. i< 8, 4. (5.) Con- 
 sider what necessity often appears of amending old laws, 
 and making new ones ; which have their rise from new 
 crimes, that men's nature 'is very fruitful of. There 
 would be no need of mending the hedge, if men were 
 not like unruly beasts, still breaking it down. It is as- 
 tonishing to see what figure the Israelites, who were se- 
 parated unto God from among all the nations of the 
 earth, make in their history. What horrible confusions 
 were among them, when there was no king in Israel, as 
 you may see in the 18, 19, 20, and 21, chapters of Judges.
 
 HEAD i.] Man's Nature corrupted. $7 
 
 How hard it was to reform them, when they had the best 
 of magistrates ; and how quickly they turned aside again, 
 when they got wicked rulers. I cannot hut think, that 
 one grand design of that sacred history was to discover 
 the corruption of man's nature, the absolute need of the 
 Messiah, and his grace ; and that we ought, in the read- 
 ing of it, to improve it to that end. How cutting is that 
 word the Lord has to Samuel, concerning Saul, 1 Sam. 
 ix. 1 7. " The same shall reign over (or, as the word is, 
 shall restrain) my people " O the corruption of man's 
 nature ! The awe and dread of the God of heaven re- 
 strains them not ; but they must have gods on earth to 
 do it, to put them to shame, Judges xviii. 7. 
 
 Sixthly, Consider the remains of that natural corrup- 
 tion in the saints. Though grace has entered, yet cor- 
 ruption is not quite expelled ; though they have got the- 
 new creature, yet much of the old corrupt nature re- 
 mains : and these struggle together within them, as the 
 twins in Ilebekah's womb, Gal. v. 17. They find it pre- 
 sent with them at all times, and in all places, even in 
 the most retired corners. If a man have an ill neighbour, 
 he may remove ; if ye have an ill servant, ye may put 
 him away at the term : if a bad yoke fellow, he may 
 sometimes leave the house, and be free of molestation 
 that way : but should the saint go into a wilderness, or 
 set up his tent in some remote rock in the sea, where 
 never foot of man, beast, nor fowl, had touched, there 
 will it be witb bim. Should he be, with Paul, caught 
 up to the third heavens, it shall come back with him, 2 
 Cor. xii. 7. It follows him, as the shadow doth the body: 
 it makes a blot in the fairest line he can draw. It is like 
 the fig- tree on the wall, which how nearly soever it was 
 cut, yet still grew, till the wall was thrown down : for 
 the roots of it are fixt in the heart, while the saint is in 
 the world, as with bands of iron and brass. It is espe- 
 cially active when he would do good, Rom. vii. 21. then 
 the fowls came down upon the carcases. Hence often 
 in holy duties, the spirit even of a saint, as it were, evar
 
 S8 Man's Nature corrupted. [STATE ir. 
 
 porates ; and he is left ever he is aware, like Michal, 
 with an image in the bed instead of an husband. I need 
 not stand to prove the remains of .the corruption of na- 
 ture in the godly, to themselves ; for they groan under 
 it ; and to prove it to them, were to hold out a candle 
 to let them see the sun : and as for the wicked, they are 
 ready to account mole-hills in the saints as big as moun- 
 tains ; if not to reckon them all hypocrites. But con- 
 sider these few things on this head. (1.) If it be thus in 
 the green tree, how must it be in the dry? The saints are 
 not born saints ; but made so by the power of regenerat- 
 ing grace. Have they got a new nature, and yet so much 
 of the old remains with them? How great must that cor- 
 ruption be in others, where it is altogether unmixt with 
 grace ! (2.) The saints groan under the remains of it as 
 a heavy burden : hear the apostle, Rom. vii. 24. " O 
 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from 
 the body of this death ?" What though the carnal man 
 lives at ease and quiet, and the corruption of nature is 
 not his burden : is he therefore free from it ? No, no ; 
 only he is dead, and feels not the sinking weight. Many 
 a groan is heard from a sick-bed : but never one from a 
 grave. In the saint, as in the sick man, there is a mighty 
 struggle ; life and death striving for the mastery. But 
 in the natural man, as in the dead corpse, there is no 
 noise ; because death bears full sway. (3.) The godly 
 man resists the old corrupt nature ; he strives to mortify 
 it, yet it remains ; he endeavours to starve it, and by 
 that means to weaken it, yet it is active : how must it 
 spread then, and strengthen itself in that soul, where it 
 is not starved, but fed ? And this is the case of all the 
 unregenerate, who make provision for the flesh, to fulfil 
 the lusts thereof. If the garden of the diligent afford 
 him new work daily, in cutting off and rooting up ; surely 
 that of the sluggard must needs be all grown over with 
 thorns. 
 
 Lastly, I shall add but one observation more, and that 
 is, That in every man naturally the image of fallen Adam
 
 HEAD i.] Man's Nature corrupted. 39 
 
 appears. Some children, by their features and linea- 
 ments of their face, do, as it were, father themselves : 
 and thus do we resemble our first parents. Every one 
 of us bears the image and impress of their fall upon him : 
 and to evince the truth of this, I appeal to the con- 
 sciences of all, in these following particulars. 
 
 First, Is not sinful curiosity natural to us ? And is 
 not this a print of Adam's image ? Gen. iii. 6. Is not 
 man naturally much more desirous to know new things, 
 than to practice old known truths ? How like to old 
 Adam do we look in this, itching after novelties, and 
 disrelishing old solid doctrines ? We seek after know- 
 ledge rather than holiness ; and study most to know 
 these things which are least edifying. Our wild and ror- 
 ing fancies need a bridle to curb them, while good solid 
 affections must be quickened and spurred up. 
 
 Secondly, If the Lord, by his holy law and wise pro- 
 vidence, do put a restraint upon us, to keep us back from 
 any thing ; doth not that restraint whet the edge of our 
 natural inclinations, and make us so much the keener in 
 our desires ? And in this do we not betray it plainly 
 that we are Adam's children ? Gen. iii. 2, 3, 6. I think 
 this cannot be denied ; for daily observation evinceth 
 that it is a natural principle " that stolen waters are 
 sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant," Prov. ix. 
 17. The very heathens were convinced, that man was 
 possessed with this spirit of contradiction, though they 
 knew not the spring of it. How often do men give 
 themselves the loose in these things, in which if God had 
 left them at .liberty, they would have bound up them- 
 selves ? But corrupt nature takes a pleasure in the very 
 jumping over the hedge. And is it not a repeating of 
 our father's folly that men will rather climb for for- 
 bidden fruit, than gather what is shaken off the tree of 
 good providence to them, when they have God's express 
 allowance for it ? 
 
 Thirdly, Which of all the children of Adam is not 
 naturally disposed to hear the instruction that causdh to
 
 40 Man's Nature corrupted. [STATE II. 
 
 err / And was it not this rock our first parents split 
 upon ? Gen. iii. 4, 6. How apt is weak man, ever since 
 that time, to parley with temptations ! " God speaketh 
 once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not," Job. xxxiii. 
 14. But readily doth he listen to Satan. Men might 
 often come fair off, if they would dismiss temptations 
 with abhorrence, when first they appear ; if they would 
 nip them in the bud, they would soon die away : but, 
 alas ! when we see the train laid for us, and the fire put 
 to it, yet we may stand till it run along 1 , and we be blown 
 up with its force, 
 
 Fourthly, Do not the eyes in your head often blind 
 the eyes of the mind ? And was not this the very case 
 of our first parents ? Gen. iii. 6. Man is never more 
 blind than when he is looking on the objects that arc 
 most pleasing to sense. Since the eyes of our first pa- 
 rents were opened to the forbidden fruit, men's eyes 
 have been the gates , of destruction to their souls ; at 
 which impure imaginations and sinful desires have en- 
 tered the heart, to the wounding of the soul, wasting of 
 the conscience, and bringing dismal effects sometimes on 
 whole societies, as in Achan's case, Josh. vii. 21. Holy 
 Job was^aware of this danger, from these two little rol- 
 ling bodies, which a very small splinter of wood will 
 make useless, so as (with that king who durst not, with 
 his ten thousand, meet him that came with twenty thou- 
 sand against him, Luke xiv. 31, 82.) he sendeth and de- 
 sireth conditions of peace, Job xxxi. 1, " I have made a 
 covenant with mine eyes," c. 
 
 Fifthly, Is it not natural to us, to care for the body 
 even at the experice of the soul ? This was one ingre- 
 dient in the sin of our first parents, Gen. iii. 6. O how 
 happy might we be, if we were but at half the pains 
 about our souls that we bestow upon our bodies ! If that 
 question, "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts xvi. SO.} 
 did run but nearly as oft through our minds as these o- 
 ther questions do, " What shall we eat ? what shall we 
 drink ? wherewithal shall we be clothed?" (Matt, vi. 31.)
 
 HEAD i.] Man's Nature corrupted. 41 
 
 many a (now) hopeless case would turn very hopeful. 
 But the truth is, most men live as if they were nothing 
 but a lump of flesh : or as if their souls served for no 
 other use but, like salt, to keep the body from corrupt- 
 ing. " They are flesh," John iii. 6*. " They mind the 
 things of the flesh" Rom. viii 5. and they "live after 
 the flesh," ver. 13. If the consent of the flesh be got to 
 an action, the consent of the conscience is rarely waited 
 for : yea, the body is often served, when the conscience 
 has entered a dissent against it. 
 
 Sixthly, Is not every one by nature discontent with 
 his present lot in the world, or with some one thing or 
 other in it ? This was also Adam's case, Gen. iii. 5, 6. 
 Some one thing is always missing ; so that man is a 
 creature given to changes. And if any doubt of this, 
 let them look over all their enjoyment ; and, after a re- 
 view of them, listen to their own hearts, and they will 
 hear a secret murmuring for want of something ; though 
 perhaps, if they considered the matter aright, they would 
 see that it is better for them to want, than to have that 
 something. Since the hearts of our first parents flew 
 out at their eyes, on the forbidden fru'it, and a night of 
 darkness was thereby brought on the world; their pos- 
 terity have a natural disease which Solomon calls. " The 
 wandering of the desire,'' (or, as the word is, the walk- 
 ing of the soul.) Eccl. vi. 9. This is a sort of diabolical 
 trance, wherein the soul traverseth the world ; feeds it- 
 self, with a thousand airy nothings ; snatcheth at this 
 and the other created excellency, in imagination and de- 
 sire ; goes here and there, and every where, except 
 where it should go. And the soul is never cured of this 
 disease, till overcoming grace bring it back, to take up 
 its everlasting rest in God, through Christ. But, till 
 this be. if man were set again in parnd^e, the garden of 
 the Lord ; all the pleasiiF ., there wouW not keep him 
 from looking, yea, and leaping over the hedge, a second 
 time.
 
 42 Man's Nature corrupted. [STATE n. 
 
 Seventh, Are we not far more easily impressed and 
 influenced by evil counsels and examples, than by those 
 that are good ? You will see this was the ruin of Adam, 
 Gen. iii. 6. Evil example, to this day, is one of Satan's 
 master-devices to ruin men. And though we have, by 
 nature, more of the fox than of the lamb ; yet that ill 
 property some observe in this creature, viz. that if one 
 lamb skip into a water, the rest that are near will sud- 
 denly follow, may be observed also in the disposition of 
 the children of men ; to whom it is very natural to em- 
 brace an evil way, because they see others on it before 
 them. Ill example has frequently the force of a violent 
 stream to carry us over plain duty ; but, especially, if 
 the example be given by those we bear a great affection 
 to, our affection, in that case, blinds our judgment ; and 
 what we would abhor in others, is complied with to hu- 
 mour them. And nothing is more plain, than that ge- 
 nerally men chuse rather to do what the most do, than 
 what the best do. 
 
 Eighthly, Who of all Adam's sons need to be taught 
 the art of sewing jig-leaves together, to cover their naked- 
 ness ? Gen. iii. 7. When we have ruined ourselves, and 
 made ourselves naked, to our shame, we naturally seek 
 to help ourselves by ourselves ; and many poor shifts are 
 fallen upon, as silly and insignificant as Adam's fig-leaves. 
 What pains are men at to cover their sin from their own 
 consciences, and to draw all the fair colours upon it that 
 they can ! And when once convictions are fastened upon 
 them, so that they cannot but see themselves naked, it 
 is as natural for them to attempt to spin a cover to it, out 
 of their own bowels, as for fishes to swim in the waters, 
 or birds to fly in the air. Therefore the first question of 
 the convinced is, What shall we do f Acts ii. 27. How 
 shall we qualify ourselves ? What shall we perform ? Not 
 minding that the new creature is God's own workman- 
 ship, (or deed, Eph. ii. 10.) more than Adam's thought 
 of being clothed with the skins of sacrifices, Gen. iii. 21.
 
 HEAD i.] Man's Nature corrupted. 43 
 
 Ninthly, Do not Adam's children naturally follow his 
 foot-steps, " in hiding themselves from the presence of 
 the Lord," Gen. iii. 8. We are every whit as blind in 
 this matter as he was, who thought to hide himself from 
 the presence of God among the shady trees of the gar- 
 den. We are very apt to promise ourselves more secu- 
 rity in a secret sin, than in one that is openly committed. 
 " The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, say- 
 ing, No eye shall see me," Job xxiv. 15. And men will 
 freely do that in secret, which they would be ashamed to 
 do in the presence of a child ; as if darkness could hide 
 from an all-seeing God. Are we not naturally careless 
 of communion with God ; aye, and averse to it ? Never 
 was there any communion betwixt God and Adam's 
 children, where the Lord himself had not the first word. 
 If he would let them alone, they would never inquire af- 
 ter him, Isa. Ivii. 17. I hid me. Did he seek after a 
 hiding God ? Very far from it, " He went on in the 
 way of his heart." 
 
 Tenthly, How loath are men to confess sin, to take 
 guilt and shame to themselves ? And was it not thus in 
 the case before us ? Gen. iii. 1O. Adam confesseth his 
 nakedness, which he could not get denied ; but not one 
 word he says of his sin ; here was the reason of it, he 
 would fain have hid it if he could. It is as natural for 
 us to hide sin, as to commit it. Many sad instances 
 thereof we have in this world ; but a far clearer proof of 
 it we shall get at the day of judgment, the day in which 
 God will judge the secrets of men. Rom. ii. 16. Many a 
 foul mouth will then be seen, which is now wiped, and 
 saith I have done no wickedness. Prov. xxx. 20. 
 
 Lastly, Is it not natural for us to extenuate our sin, 
 and transfer the guilt upon others ? And when God 
 examined our guilty first parents, did not Adam lay the 
 blame on the woman ? and did not the woman lay the 
 blame on the serpent? Gen. iii. 12, 13. Now Adam's 
 children need not to be taught this hellish policy ; for 
 before they can well speak (if they cannot get the faet
 
 44 Marts Nature corrupted. [STATE n. 
 
 denied) they will cunningly lisp out something to lessen 
 their fault, and lay the blame upon another. Nay, so 
 natural is this to men. that, in the greatest sins, they 
 will lay the fault upon God himself; they will blaspheme 
 his holy providence, under the mistaken name of misfor- 
 tune, or ill luck, and thereby lay the blame of their sin 
 at heaven's door. And was not this one of Adam's 
 tricks, after his fall? Gen. iii. 12. " And the man said, 
 The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave 
 me of the tree, and I did eat." Observe the order of 
 the speech. He makes his apology in the first place ; 
 and then comes his confession : his apology is long ; but 
 his confession very short ; it is all comprehended in a 
 word, And I did eat. Kow pointed and distinct is his 
 apology, as if he was afraid his meaning should have 
 been mistaken ! The woman, says he, or that woman, as 
 if he would have pointed the Judge to his own work, of 
 which we read, Gen. ii. 22. There was but one woman 
 then in the world ; so that one would think he needed 
 not have been so nice and exact in pointing at her : yet 
 she is as carefully marked out, in his defence, as if there 
 had been ten thousand. The woman whom thou gavest 
 me. Here he speaks as if he had been ruined with God's 
 gift : and, to make the gift look the blacker, it is added 
 to all this, Thou gavest to be with me, as my constant 
 companion, to stand by me as a helper. This looks as 
 if Adam would have fathered an ill design upon the 
 Lord in giving him this gift. And, after all, there is a 
 new demonstrative here, before the sentence is complete: 
 he says not, The woman gave me, but The woman she 
 gave me, emphatically, as if he had said, She, even she, 
 gave me of the tree. Thus much for his apology. But 
 his confession is quickly over, in one word, (as he spoke 
 it) and I did eat. And there is nothing here to point 
 to himself, and as little to show what he had eaten. 
 How natural is this black art to Adam's posterity ! He 
 that runs may read it. So universal^ doth Solomon's 
 observation hold true, Frov. xvi. 3. " The foolishness of 
 man perverteth his way ; and his heart fretteth against
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Understanding. 45 
 
 the Lord." Let us then call fallen Adam, father ; let 
 us not deny the relation, seeing we bear his image. 
 
 And now to shut up this point, sufficiently confirmed by 
 concurring evidence from the Lord's word, our own ex- 
 perience and observation ; let us be persuaded to believe 
 the doctrine of the corruption of our nature ; and to look 
 to the second Adam, the blessed Jesus, for the applica- 
 tion of his precious blood, to remove the guilt of this sin ; 
 and for the efficacy of his holy spirit, to make us new 
 creatures, knowing that except we be born again, we can- 
 not enter into the kingdom of God. 
 
 OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE UNDERSTANDING 
 
 SECONDLY, I proceed to inquire into the corruption of 
 nature, in the several parts thereof. But who can com- 
 prehend it ? Who can take the exact dimension of it, in 
 its breadth, length, and depth ? The heart is deceitful a- 
 bove all things, and desperately wicked ; who can know 
 it ? Jer. xvii. 9 However, we may quickly perceive as 
 much of it, as may be matter of deepest humiliation, and 
 may discover to us the absolute necessity of regeneration. 
 Man, in his natural state, is altogether corrupt. Both 
 soul and body are polluted, as the apostle proves at large, 
 Rom. iii. 10 18 As for the soul, this natural corrup- 
 tion has spread itself through all the faculties thereof; 
 and is to be found in the understanding, the will, the af- 
 fections, the conscience, and the memory. 
 
 I. The understanding, that leading faculty, is despoil- 
 ed of its primitive glory, and covered over with confusion. 
 We have fallen into the hands of our grand adversary, as 
 Sampson into the hands of the Philistines, and are depriv- 
 ed of our two eyes. There is none that understandeth, 
 Rom. iii. 11. Mind and conscience are dcjiled, Tit. i 15. 
 The natural man's apprehension of divine things is cor- 
 rupt, Psal. 1. 21, " Thou thoughtest that I was altoge- 
 ther such an one as thyself." His judgment is corrupt, 
 and cannot be otherwise, seeing his eye is evil ; and there- 
 fore the scriptures, to show that men did all wrong, say,
 
 46 Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE u. 
 
 Every one that did that which was right in his own eyes, 
 Judges xvii. 6. and xxi. 25. And his imaginations, or 
 reasoning-s, must be cast down, by the power of the word, 
 being of a piece with his judgment, 2 Cor. x. 5. But to 
 point out this corruption of the mind or understanding 
 more particularly, let these following things be consi- 
 dered : 
 
 First, There is a natural weakness in the minds of 
 men, with respect to spiritual things. The apostle deter- 
 mines concerning every one that is not endued with the 
 graces of the Spirit, " That he is blind, and cannot see 
 afar off," 2 Pet. i. 9. Hence the Spirit of God, in the 
 scriptures, clothes, as it were, divine truths with earthly 
 figures, even as parents teach their children, " using si- 
 militudes," Hos. xii. 10. which, though it doth not cure, 
 yet doth evidence this natural weakness in the minds of 
 men. But we want not plain proofs of it from experi- 
 ence. As, (1.) How hard a task is it to teach many peo- 
 ple the common principles of our holy religion, and to 
 make truths so plain as they may understand them ! 
 Here there must be " precept upon precept, precept up- 
 on precept ; line upon line, line upon line," Isa. xxviii. 
 10. Try the same persons in other things, they shall be 
 found " wiser in their generation than the children of 
 light." They understand their work and business in the 
 world, as well as their neighbours ; though they be very 
 stupid and unteachable in the matters of God. Tell them 
 how they may advance their worldly wealth, or how they 
 may gratify their lusts, and they will quickly understand 
 these things ; though it is very hard to make them know 
 how their souls may be saved, or how their hearts may 
 find rest in Jesus Christ. (2.) Consider those who have 
 many advantages beyond the common rank of mankind : 
 who have had the benefit of good education and instruc- 
 tion ; yea and are blest with the light of grace, in that 
 measure wherein it is described to the saints on earth : 
 yet how small a portion have they of the knowledge of 
 divine things ! What ignorance and confusion do still
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Understanding. 47 
 
 remain in their minds ! how often are they mired, even 
 in the matter of practical truths, and speak as a child in 
 these things ! It is a pitiful weakness, that we cannot 
 perceive the things which God has revealed to us ; and 
 it must needs be a sinful weakness, since the law of God 
 requires us to know and believe them, (3.) What dan- 
 gerous mistakes are to be found amongst men, in their 
 concerns of greatest weight ! What woeful delusions pre- 
 vail over them. Do we not often see those who, other- 
 wise, are the wisest of men, the most notorious fools, 
 with respect to their soul's interest ? Matt. xi. 25. " Thou 
 hast hid these things from the wise and prudent." Many 
 that are eagle-eyed in the trifles of time, are like owls 
 and bats in the light of life. Nay, truly, the life of every 
 natural man is but one continued dream and delusion, 
 out of which he never awakes, till either, by a new light 
 darted from heaven into his soul, he comes to himself, 
 Luke xv. 17. or, " in hell he lifts up his eyes," chap. xvi. 
 23. and therefore, in scripture account, be he never so 
 wise, he is a fool. 
 
 Secondly, Man's understanding is naturally overwhelm- 
 ed with gross darkness in spiritual things. Man, at the 
 instigation of the deril, attempting to break out a new 
 light in his mind, Gen. iii. 5. instead of thatifcbroke up 
 the doors of the bottomless pit ; so as, by the smoke 
 thereof, he was buried in darkness. When God at first 
 had made man, his mind was a lamp of light ; but now 
 when he comes to make him over again, in regeneration, 
 he finds it darkness, Eph. v. 8. " Ye were sometimes 
 darkness." Sin has closed the windows of the soul : dark- 
 ness is over all that region. It is the land of darkness 
 and shadow of death, where the light is as darkness. The 
 prince of darkness reigns there, and nothing but the works 
 of darkness are framed there. We are born spiritually 
 blind, and cannot be restored without a miracle of grace. 
 This is thy case, whosoever thou art, that art not born* 
 again. And that you may be convinced in this matter., 
 take these following evidences of it.
 
 48 Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE n, 
 
 Evidence 1. The darkness that was upon the face of 
 the world, before, and at the time when, Christ came, 
 arising, as the Sun of Righteousness, upon the earth. 
 When Adam, by his sin, iiad lost that primitive light 
 wherewith he was endued in his creation, it pleased God 
 to make a glorious revelation of his mind and will to 
 him, touching the way of salvation, Gen. iii. 15. This 
 was handed down by him and other godly fathers before 
 the flood : yet the natural darkness of the mind of man 
 prevailed so far against that revelation, as to carry off 
 all sense of true religion from the old world, except what 
 remained in Noah's family, which was preserved in the 
 ark. After the flood, as men multiplied on the earth, 
 the natural darkness of mind prevails again, and the light 
 decays, till it died out among the generality of mankind, 
 and was preserved only among the posterity of Shem. 
 And even with them it was well near its setting, when 
 God called Abraham from serving other gods, Gen. xii. 
 1. God gives Abraham a more clear and full revelation, 
 and he communicates the same to his family, Gen. xviii, 
 19, yet the natural darkness wears it out at length, 
 save that it was preserved among the posterity of Jacob. 
 They being carried down into Egypt, that darkness pre- 
 vailed so, as to leave them very little sense of true reli- 
 gion ; and a new revelation behoved to be made them 
 in the wilderness. And many a cloud of darkness got 
 above that, now and then, during the time from Moses 
 to Christ. When Christ came, the world was divided 
 into Jews and Gentiles. The Jews, and the true light 
 with them, were within an inclosure, Phal. cxlvii. 19, 20. 
 Betwixt them and the Gentile world, there was a parti- 
 tion wall of God's making, namely, the ceremonial law; 
 and upon that there was reared up another of man's own 
 making, namely, a rooted enmity betwixt the parties, 
 Eph. ii. 14, 15. If we look abroad without the inclosure 
 (and except these proselytes of the Gentiles, who, by 
 means of some rays of light breaking forth unto them 
 from within the inclosure, having renounced idolatry, 
 worshipped the true God, but did not conform to the
 
 I!F.AD I.] Corruption of the Understanding. 
 
 Mosaical rites) we see nothing but " dark places of the 
 earth, full of the habitations of cruelty," Psal. Ixxiv. 20. 
 Gross darkness covered the face of the Gentile world, 
 and the way of salvation was utterly unknown among 
 them. They were drowned in superstition and idolatry, 
 and had multiplied their idols to such a vast number, 
 that above thirty thousand are reckoned to have been 
 worshipped by those of Europe alone. Whatever wis- 
 dom was among their philosophers, " the world by that 
 wisdom knew not God," 1 Cor. i. 21. and all their re- 
 searches in religion were but groping in the dark, Acts 
 xvii. 97. If we look within the inclosure, and, except a 
 few that were groaning and waiting for the consolation 
 of Israel ; we will see a gross darkness on the face of 
 that generation. Though " to them were committed 
 the oracles of God," yet they were most corrupt in their 
 doctrine. Their traditions were multiplied, but the know- 
 ledge of these things wherein the life of religion lies was 
 lost ; " Masters of Israel" knew not the nature and ne- 
 cessity of regeneration, John iii. 10. Their religion was 
 to build on their birth-privilege, as children of Abraham, 
 Matt. iii. 9. to glory in their circumcision, and other ex- 
 ternal ordinances, Phil. iii. 2, 3. And to rest in the law, 
 (Rom. ii. 17.) after they had, by their false glosses, cut 
 it so short, as they might go well near to the fulfilling 
 of it, Matt. v. 
 
 Thus was darkness over the face of the world, when 
 Christ the true light came into it ; and so is darkness 
 over every soul, till he, as the day star arise in the heart. 
 The former is an evidence of the latter. What, but the 
 natural darkness of men's minds, could still thus wear 
 out the light of external revelation ; in a matter upon 
 which eternal happiness depends ? Men did not forivct 
 the way of preserving their lives : but how quickly did 
 they lose the knowledge of the way of salvation of their 
 souls ; which are of infinite more weight and worth ! 
 When the teaching of patriarchs and prophets was i:ief- 
 
 H
 
 50 Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE if* 
 
 fectual, man needed to be taught of God himself, who 
 alone can open the eyes of the understanding. But that 
 it might appear, that the corruption of man's mind lay 
 deeper than to be cured by mere external revelation ; 
 there were but very few converted by Christ's preach- 
 ing, " who spoke as never man spoke," John vii. 46 
 The great cure on the generation remained to be per- 
 formed, by the Spirit accompanying the preaching of 
 the apostles ; who, according to the promise, (John xiv. 
 12.) were to do greater works. And if we look to the 
 miracles wrought by our blessed Lord, we shall find that 
 by applying the remedy to the soul, for the cure of bo- 
 dily distempers, (as in the case of the man sick of the 
 palsy, Matt. ix. 2.) he plainly discovered that it was his 
 main errand into the world to cure the diseases of the soul. 
 I find a miracle, wrought upon one that was born blind, 
 performed in such a way, as seems to have been design- 
 ed to let the world see in it, as in a glass, their case and 
 cure ; John ix. 6. " He made clay, and anointed the eyes 
 of the blind man with the clay." What could more fitly 
 represent the blindness of men's minds, than eyes closed 
 up with earth? Isa. vi. 10. shut their eyes ; shut them 
 up by anointing, or casting them with mortar, as the 
 word will bear. And chap. xliv. 1 8. " He hath shut 
 their eyes :" The word properly signifies, he hath plas- 
 tered their eyes : as the house in which the leprosy had 
 been was to be plastered, Lev. xiv. 42. Thus the Lord's 
 word discovers the design of that strange work ; and by 
 it shows us that the eyes of our understanding are natur- 
 ally shut. Then the blind man must go and wash off 
 this clay in the pool of Siloam : no other water will serve 
 this purpose. If that pool had not represented him, 
 whom the Father sent into the world " to open the blind 
 eyes." (Isa. x-lii. 7.) I think the evangelist had not given 
 us the interpretation of the name, which, he says, signi- 
 fies sent* John ix 7. And so we may conclude, that the 
 natural darkness of our minds is such, as there is no cure 
 for ; but from the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ, whose 
 eye-slave only can make us see, Rev. iii. 18.
 
 i.] Corruption of the Understanding. 51 
 
 Evid. 2. Every natural man's heart and life is a mass of 
 darkness, disorder, and confusion, how refined soever he 
 appear in the sight of men. " For we ourselves also," 
 saith the apostle Paul, " were sometimes foolish, disobe- 
 dient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures," Tit. 
 iii. 3. and yet, at that time which this text looks to, he 
 was " blameless, touching the righteousness which is in 
 the law," Philip, iii. 6. This is a plain evidence that 
 " the eye is evil, the whole body being full of darkness," 
 Matt. vi. 23. The unrenewed part of mankind is ramb- 
 ling through the world, like so many blind men, who 
 will neither take a guide, nor can guide themselves ; and 
 therefore are falling over this and the other precipice, 
 into destruction. Some are running after their covet- 
 ousness, till they be pierced through with many sorrows; 
 some sticking in the mire of sensuality ; others dashing 
 themselves on the rock of pride and self-conceit ; every 
 one stumbling on some one stone of stumbling or other ; 
 all of them are running themselves upon the sword point 
 of justice, while they eagerly follow whither their un- 
 mortified passions and affections lead them ; and while 
 some are lying along in the way, others are coming up, 
 and falling headlong over them. And therefore, " Wo 
 unto the blind world, because of offences," Matt, xviii. 7. 
 Errors in judgment swarm in the world ; because it is 
 night, " wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep 
 forth." All the unregenerate are utterly mistaken in 
 the point of true happiness : for though Christianity hath 
 fixt that matter in point of principle ; yet nothing less 
 than overcoming grace can fix it in the practical judg- 
 ment* All men agree in the desire to be happy ; but 
 amongst unrenewed men, touching the way to happiness, 
 there are almost as many opinions as there are men ; 
 they being " turned every one to his own way," Isa. liii. 
 6. They are like the blind Sodomites about Lot's house, 
 all were seeking to find the door ; some grope one part 
 of the wall for it, some another ; but none of them could 
 certainly say, he had found it ; and so the natural man 
 may stumble on any good but the chief good. Look in-
 
 52 Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE n. 
 
 to thine own unregenerate heart, and there thou wilt see 
 all turned upside down ; heaven lying under, and earth 
 Jit the top- Look into thy life, there thou mayest see, 
 how thou art playing the mad-man, snatching at shadows, 
 and neglecting the substance : eagerly flying after that 
 which is not, and slighting that which is, and will be, 
 for ever. 
 
 Ev id. 3. The natural man is always as a workman 
 left without light ; either trifling or doing mischief. Try 
 to catch thine heart at any time thou wilt, and thou 
 shalt find it either weaving the spider's web, or hatching 
 cockatrice eggs, (Isa. lix. 5.) roving through the world, 
 or digging into the pit; filled with vanity, or else with 
 vileness, busy doing nothing, or what is worse than no- 
 thing. A sad sign of a dark mind. 
 
 Evid. 4<. The natural man is void of the saving know- 
 ledge of spiritual things. He knows not what a God he 
 has to do with ; he is unacquainted with Christ ; and 
 knows not what sin is. The greatest graceless wits are 
 blind as moles in these things. Ay, but some such can 
 speak of them to good purpose; and so might these Israel- 
 ites of the temptations, signs, and miracles, their eyes had 
 seen, (Deut. xxix. 3 ) to whom nevertheless the Lord 
 had not ' given an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, 
 and ears to hear, unto that day," ver. 4. Many a man 
 that bears the name of a Christian may make Pharaoh's 
 confession of faith, E^d. v. 2. ** I know not the Lord," 
 neither will they kt go what he commands them to part 
 with. God is with them as a prince in disguise among 
 his subjects, who meets with no better treatment from 
 them, than if they were his fellows, Psal. 1. 21. Do they 
 know Christ, or see his glory and any beauty in him, for 
 which he is to be desired ? If they did, they would not 
 slight him as they do ; a view of his glory would so 
 darken all created excellency, that they would take him 
 for, and instead of all, and gladly close with him, as he 
 offereth himself in the gospel, John iv. 10. Psal. ix. 10. 
 Matt. xiii. 44, 45, 46. Do they know what sin is, who
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Understanding. 55 
 
 hug the serpent in their bosom, hold fast deceit, and re- 
 fuse to let it go ? I own, indeed, they may have a natu- 
 ral knowledge of those things, as the unbelieving Jews 
 had of Christ, whom they saw and conversed with ; but 
 there w r as a spiritual glory in hirn, perceived by the be- 
 lievers only, John i. 14. and in respect of that glory, the 
 unbelieving world knew him not, ver. 10. But the spiri- 
 tual knowledge of him they cannot have : it is above the 
 reach of the carnal mind, 1 Cor. ii. 14. "The natural 
 man receiveth not the" things of the Spirit of God, for 
 they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, 
 for they are spiritually discerned." He may indeed dis- 
 course of them ; but no other way than one can talk of 
 honey or vinegar, who never tasted the sweetness of the 
 one, nor the sourness of the other. He has some notions 
 of spiritual truths, but sees not the things themselves, 
 that are wrapt up in the words of truth, 1 Tim. i. 7. 
 " Understand neither that they say, nor whereof they 
 affirm." In a word, natural men fear, seek, confess they 
 know not what. Thus you may see man's understand- 
 ing is naturally overwhelmed with gross darkness in 
 spiritual things. 
 
 Thirdly, There is in the mind of a man a natural bias 
 to evil, whereby it comes to pass, that whatever difficul- 
 ties it finds, while occupied about things truly good, it 
 acts with a great deal of ease in evil ; as being, in that 
 case, in its own element, Jer. iv. 22. The carnal mind 
 drives heavily in the thoughts of good ; but furiously in 
 the thoughts of evil. While holiness is before it, fetters 
 are upon it ; but when it has got over the hedge, it is as 
 a bird got out of the cage, and becomes a free-thinker 
 indeed. Let us reflect a little on the apprehension and 
 imagination of the carnal mind ; and we shall find incon- 
 testible evidence of this woeful bias to evil. 
 
 Evidence 1. As when a man, by a violent stroke on 
 the head, loseth his sight, there ariseth to hirn a kind of 
 false light, whereby he perceivHh a thousand airy no- 
 things ; so man being struck blind to all that i* truly
 
 Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE ir. 
 
 good, and for his eternal interest, has a light of another 
 sort brought into his mind ; his eyes are opened, know- 
 ing evil, and so are the words of the tempter verifie( 
 Gen. iii. 5. The words of the Prophet are plain, " The} 
 are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no kno> 
 ledge," Jer. iv. 22. The mind of man has a natural dex- 
 terity to devise mischief; none are so simple as to want 
 skill to contrive ways to gratify their lusts, and ruin their 
 souls ; though the power of every one's hand cannot reach 
 to put their devices in execution. None needs to be 
 taught this black art ; but as weeds grow up, of their 
 own accord, in the neglected ground, so doth this wis- 
 dom (which is earthly, sensual, devilish, James iii. 15.) 
 grow up in the minds of men, by virtue of the corruption 
 of their nature. Why should we be surprized with the 
 product of corrupt wits ; their cunning devices to affront 
 heaven, to oppose and run down truth and holiness, and 
 to gratify their own and other men's lusts ? They row 
 with the stream, no wonder they make great progress ; 
 their stock is within them, and increaseth by using of it ; 
 and the works of darkness are contrived with the great- 
 er advantage, that the mind is wholly destitute of spiri- 
 tual light, which if it were in them, in any measure, 
 would so far mar the work, 1 John iii, 9, " Whosoever is* 
 born of God doth not commit sin ;" he does it not as by 
 art, for " his seed remaineth in him." But, on the other 
 hand, " it is a sport to a fool to do mischief; but a man of 
 understanding hath wisdom," Prov. x. 23. " To do wit- 
 ty wickedness nicely," as the word imports, is as a sport, 
 or a play to a fool ; it comes off with him easily ; and 
 why, but because he is a fool, and hath not wisdom : 
 which would mar the contrivances of darkness ? The 
 more natural a thing is, it is done the more easily. 
 
 Evid, 2. Let the corrupt mind have but the advan- 
 tage of one's being employed in, or present at, some piece 
 of service to God ; that so the device, if not in itself sin- 
 ful, yet may become sinful, by its unseasonableness : it 
 shall quickly fall on some device or expedient, by its
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Understanding. S5 
 
 starting aside ; which deliberation in season could not 
 produce. Thus Saul, who wist not what to do, before 
 the priest began to consult God, is quickly determined 
 when once the priest's hand was in. His own heart then 
 gave him an answer, and would not allow him to wait 
 an answer from the Lord, I Sam. xiv. 18, 19. Such a 
 devilish dexterity hath the carnal mind, in devising what 
 may most effectually divert men from their duty to God, 
 
 Evid. 3. Doth not the carnal mind naturally strive to 
 grasp spiritual things in imagination ; as if the soul were 
 quite immersed in flesh and blood, and would turn every 
 thing into its own shape ? Let men who are used to the 
 forming of the most abstracted notions, look into their 
 own souls, and they shall find this bias in their minds ; 
 whereof the idolatry, which did of old, and still doth, so 
 much prevail in the world, is an incontestible evidence. 
 For it plainly discovers, that men naturally would have 
 a visible deity, and see what they worship ; and there- 
 fore they " changed the glory of the incorruptible God 
 into an image," &,c. Rom. i. 23. The reformation of 
 those nations (blessed be the Lord for it) hath banished 
 idolatry, and images too, out of our churches : but heart- 
 reformation only can break down mental idolatry, and 
 banish the more subtile and refined image-worship, and 
 representations of the Deity, out of the minds of men. 
 The world, in the time of its darkness, was never more 
 prone to the former, than the unsanctified mind is to the 
 latter. And hence are horrible, monstrous, and missha- 
 pen thoughts of God, Christ, the glory above, and all 
 spiritual things. 
 
 Evid. 4. What a difficult task is it to 'detain a carnal 
 mind before the Lord ! how averse is it to the entertain^- 
 ing of good thoughts, and dwelling in the meditation of 
 spiritual things ! If one be driven, at any time, to think of 
 the great concerns of his soul, it is no harder work to hold 
 in an unruly hungry beast, than to hedge in the carnal 
 mind, that it get not away to the vanities of the world 
 again. When God is speaking to men by his word, or
 
 56 Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE if, 
 
 they are speaking to him in prayer, doth not the mind 
 often leave them before the Lord, like so many " idols 
 that have eyes, but see not, and ears, but hear not ?" 
 The carcase is laid down before God, but the world gets 
 away the heart ; though the eyes be closed, the man sees 
 a thousand vanities. The mind, in the mean time, is 
 like a bird got loose out of the cage, skipping from bush 
 to bush ; so that, in effect, the man never comes to him- 
 self till he be gone from the presence of the Lord. Say- 
 not, it is impossible to get the mind fixed It is hard in- 
 deed, but not impossible. Grace from the Lord can do 
 it, Psal cviii. 1. Agreeable objects will do it. A plea- 
 sant speculation will arrest the minds of the inquisitive. 
 The worldly man's mind is in little hazard of wandering, 
 when he is contriving of business, casting up his accounts, 
 or telling his money : if he answers you not at first, he 
 tells you, he did not hear you, he was busy ; his mind 
 was fixed. Were we admitted into the presence of a 
 king to petition for our lives, we would be in no hazard 
 of gazing through the chamber of presence. But here 
 lies the case ; the carnal mind, employed about any spi- 
 ritual good, is out of its element, and therefore cannot 
 fix. 
 
 Evld. 5. But however hard it is to keep the mind on 
 good thoughts, it sticks as glue to what is evil and cor- 
 rupt like itself, 2 Pet. ii. 14. " Having eyes full of adul- 
 tery, and that cannot cease from sin." Their eyes can- 
 not cease from sin (so the words are constructed) that is, 
 their hearts and minds venting by the eyes, what is with- 
 in, as like a furious beast, which cannot be held in, when 
 once it has got out its head. Let the corrupt imagina- 
 gination once be let loose on its proper object ; it will be 
 found hard work to call it back again, though both rea- 
 son and will for its retreat. For then it is in its own 
 element ; and to draw it off from its impurities, is as a 
 drawing of a fish out of the water, or the renting of a 
 limb from a man. It runs like fire set to a train of pow- 
 der, that resteth not till it can get no farther.
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Understanding. $1 
 
 Evid. 6. Consider how the carnal imagination sup- 
 plies the want of real objects to the corrupt heart ; that 
 it may make sinners happy, at least, in the imaginary en- 
 joyment of their lusts. Thus the corrupt heart feeds it- 
 self with imagination-sins ; the unclean person is filled 
 with speculative impurities "having eyes full of adul- 
 tery ;" the covetous man fills his heart with the world, 
 though he cannot get his hands full of it : the malicious 
 person, with delight, acts his revenge within his own 
 breast ; the envious man, within his own narrow soul, 
 beholds with satisfaction, his neighbour laid low enough ; 
 and every lust finds the corrupt imagination a friend to 
 it in time of need. And this it doth, not only when peo- 
 ple are awake, but sometimes even when they are asleep ; 
 whereby it comes to pass, that these sins are acted in 
 dreams, which their hearts are carried out after, while 
 they are awake. I know some do question the sinful- 
 ness of these things ; but can it be thought, they are con- 
 sistent with that holy nature and frame of spirit, which 
 was in innocent Adam, and in Jesus Christ, and should be 
 in every man ? It is the corruption of nature then, that 
 makes filthy dreamers condemned, Jude 8. Solomon 
 had experience of the exercise of grace in sleep : in a 
 dream he prayed, in a dream he made the best choice; 
 both were accepted of God, 1 Kings Hi. 5, 15. And if a 
 man may, in his sleep, do what is good and acceptable to 
 God, why may he not also, when asleep, do that which 
 is evil and displeasing to God ? The same Solomon would 
 have men aware of this ; and prescribes the best remedy 
 against it, namely, " The law upon the heart," Prov. vi. 
 20, 21. " When thou sleepest (says he, ver. 22.) it shall 
 keep thee," to wit, from sinning in thy sleep ; that is, 
 from sinful dreams : for one's being kept from sin (not 
 his being kept from affliction) is the immediate proper ef- 
 fect of the law of God imprest upon the heart, Psal. cxix. 
 11. And thus the whole verse is to be understood, ,.s 
 appears from ver. 23. " For the commandment is a lamp, 
 and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction aie
 
 58 Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE n. 
 
 way of life." Now the law is a lamp and light, as it 
 guides in the way of duty : and instructing reproofs from 
 the lav/, are the way of life, as they keep from sin : nei- 
 ther do they guide into the way of peace, but as they 
 lead into the way of duty ; nor do they keep a man out 
 of trouble, but as they keep him from sin. And remar- 
 kable is the particular, in which Solomon instanceth, 
 namely, the sin of uncleanness, " to keep thee from the 
 evil woman," &c. verse 24, which is to be joined to verse 
 22, inclosing the 23rd in a parenthesis, as some versions 
 have it. These things may suffice to convince us of the 
 natural bias of the mind to evil. 
 
 Fourthly, There is in the carnal mind an opposition to 
 spiritual truths, and an aversion to the receiving of them. 
 It is as little a friend to divine truths, as it is to holiness. 
 The truths of natural religion, which do, as it were, force 
 their entry into the minds of natural men, they hold pri- 
 soners in unrighteousness, Rom. i. 18. And as for the 
 truths of revealed religion, there is an evil heart of unbe- 
 lief in them, which opposeth their entry ; and there is 
 an armed force necessary to captivate the mind to the 
 belief of them, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. God has made a revela- 
 tion of his mind and will to sinners, touching the way of 
 salvation ; he has given us the doctrine of his holy word : 
 But do natural men believe it indeed? No, they do not ; 
 " For he that believeth not on the Son of God, believeth 
 not God;" as is plain from 1 John v. 10. They believe 
 not the promises of the word ; they look on them, in ef- 
 fect, only as fair Avords ; for these that receive them, are 
 thereby made partakers of the divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4>. 
 The promises are as silver cords, let down from heaven, 
 to draw sinners unto God, and to waft them over into 
 the promised land ; but they cast them from them. They 
 believe not the threatenings of the word. As men tra- 
 velling in deserts carry fire about with them, to fright 
 away wild beasts ; so God has made his law a fiery law, 
 (Deut. xxxiii. 2.) hedging it about with threats of wrath : 
 But men naturally are more brutish than beasts them-
 
 i.] Corruption of the Understanding. 59 
 
 selves ; and will needs touch the fiery smoking mountain, 
 though they should be thrust through with a dart. I 
 doubt not but most, if not all of you. who are yet in the 
 black state of nature, will here plead, Not guilty : But 
 remember, the carnal jews in Christ's time were as con- 
 fident as you are, that they believed Moses, John ix. 28, 
 29. But he confutes their confidence, roundly telling 
 them, John v. 46. " Had ye believed Moses, ye w r ould 
 have believed me." Did ye believe the truths of God, ye 
 durst not reject, as ye do him who is truth itself. The 
 very difficulty you find in assenting to this truth, bewrays 
 that unbelief I am charging you with. Has it not pro- 
 ceeded so far with some at this day, that it has steeled 
 their foreheads with the impudence and impiet} r , openly 
 to reject all revealed religion ? Surely it is out of the a- 
 bundance of the heart their mouth speaketh. But though 
 ye set hot your mouths against the heavens, as they do, 
 the same bitter root of unbelief is in all men by nature, 
 and reigns in you, and will reign, till overcoming grace 
 captivate your minds to the belief of the truth. To con- 
 vince you in this point, consider these three things : 
 
 Evidence 1. How few are there who have been bles- 
 sed with an inward illumination, by the special operation 
 of the Spirit of Christ, letting them into a view of divine 
 truths, in their spiritual and heavenly lustre ! How have 
 you learned the truths of religion, which ye pretend to 
 believe. Ye have them merely by the benefit of exter- 
 nal revelation, and of your education ; so that you are 
 Christians, just because you were not born and bred in 
 a Pagan, but in a Christian country. Ye are strangers 
 to the inward work of the holy Spirit, bearing witness 
 by and with the word in your hearts ; and so you can- 
 not have the assurance of faith, with respect to that out- 
 ward divine revelation made in the word, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 
 11, 12. And, therefore, ye are still unbelievers. " It is 
 written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of 
 God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath 
 learned of the Father, cometh unto me," says our Lord;
 
 CO Corruption of the Understanding. [STATE n. 
 
 John vi. 45. Now ye have not come to Christ, there- 
 fore ye have not been taught of God ; ye have not been 
 so taught, and therefore ye have not come ; ye believe 
 not. Behold the revelation from which the faith even of 
 the fundamental principles in religion doth spring, Matth. 
 xvi. 17, 18. "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living 
 God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona ; for flesh and 
 blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
 which is in heaven." If ever the spirit of the Lord take 
 a dealing with thee, to work in thee that faith, which 
 is of the operation of God ; it may be, as much time will 
 be spent in razing the old foundation, as will make thee 
 find a necessity of the working of his mighty power, and 
 to enable thee to believe the very foundation-principles, 
 \vhich now thou thinkest thou makest no doubt of, Eph. 
 i. 19. 
 
 Evld. 2. How many professors have made shipwreck 
 of their faith (such as it was) in time of temptation and 
 trial. See how they fall, like stars from heaven when 
 Antichrist prevails, 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. " God shall send 
 them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie ; 
 that they all might be damned, who believed not the 
 truth." They fall into damning delusions, because they 
 never really believed the truth, though they themselves, 
 and others too, thought they did believe it. That house 
 is built upon the sand, and the faith is but ill-founded, 
 that cannot bear out, but is quite overthrown, when the 
 storm comes. 
 
 Evid. 8. Consider the utter inconsistency of most 
 men's lives, with the principles of religion which they 
 profess ; ye may as soon bring east and west together, 
 as their practice. Men believe that fire will burn them, 
 and therefore they will not throw themselves into it : 
 But the truth is, most men live as if they thought the 
 gospel a mere fable ; and the wrath of God revealed in 
 his word against their unrighteousness and ungodliness, 
 a mere scarecrow. If ye believe the doctrines of the 
 Word, how is it that ye are so unconcerned about the state
 
 HEAD i. ] Corruption of the Understanding. 6 1 
 
 of your souls before the Lord ? How is it that you are 
 so little concerned with that weighty point, whether ye 
 be born again or not ? Many live as they were born, and 
 are like to die as they live, and yet live in peace. Do 
 such believe the sinfulness and misery of a natural state ? 
 Do they believe they are children of wrath ? Do they be- 
 lieve there is no salvation without regeneration ? and no 
 regeneration but what makes man a new creature ? If 
 you believe the promises of the word, why do you not 
 embrace them, and labour to enter into the promised 
 rest ? What sluggard would not dig for a hid treasure, 
 if he really believed he might so obtain it? Men will 
 work and sweat for a maintenance ; because they believe 
 that by so doing they will get it ; yet they will be at no 
 tolerable pains for " the eternal weight of glory ;" why, 
 but because they do not believe the word of promise ? 
 Heb. iv. 1, 2. If ye believe the threatenings, how is it 
 that ye live in your sins, live out of Christ, and yet hope 
 for mercy ? Do such believe God to be the holy and just 
 one, who will by no means clear the guilty ! No, no, none 
 believe, none (or next to none) believe what a just God 
 the LORD is, and how severely he punisheth. 
 
 Fifthly, There is in the mind of man a natural prone- 
 ness to lies and falsehood, which make for the safety of 
 lusts. " They go astray as soon as they are born, speak- 
 ing lies," Psal. Ivii. 3. We have this with the rest of the 
 corruption of our nature from our first parents. God re- 
 vealed the truth to them ; but through the solicitation of 
 the tempter, they first doubted of it; then disbelieved it, 
 and embraced a lie instead of it. And for an incontes- 
 tible evidence hereof, we may see that first article of the 
 devil's creed, ye shall not surely die, Gen. iii. 4>. which 
 was obtruded by him on our first parents, and by them 
 received ; naturally embraced by their posterity, and held 
 fast, till a light from heaven oblige them to quit it. It 
 spreads itself through the lives of natural men ; who till 
 their consciences be awakened, walk after their own lusts ; 
 still retaining the principle, That they shall not surely
 
 Corruption of the Understanding [STATE 11, 
 
 die. And this is often improved to that perfection, that 
 the man can say, in the face of the denounced curse, " I 
 shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of 
 mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst," Pout. xxix. 
 19. Whatever advantage the truths of God have over 
 error by means of education, or otherwise ; eiror has al- 
 ways with the natural man this advantage against truth, 
 namely, That there is something within him, which says, 
 O that it were true ; so that the mind lies fair for assent- 
 ing to it. And here is the reason of it. The true doc- 
 trine is, "the doctrine that is according to ivodiiu' ss," 1 
 Tim. vi. 3. and " the truth which is after godliness," 
 Tit. i. I. Error is the doctrine which is according to un- 
 godliness ; for there is never an error in the mind, nor 
 an untruth vented in the world, (in matters of religion,) 
 but what has an affinity with one corruption of the heart 
 or other ; according to that of the apostle, 2 Thess, ii. 
 12. " They believed not the truth, but had pleasure in 
 unrighteousness." So that truth and error being other- 
 wise attended with equal advantages for their reception, 
 error, by this means, has most ready access into the minds 
 of men in their natural state. Wherefore, it is nothing 
 strange that men reject the simplicity of gospel- truths 
 and institutions, and greedily embrace error and exter- 
 nal pomp in religion ; seeing they are so agreeable to the 
 lusts of. the heart, and the vanity of the mind of the na- 
 tural man. And from hence also it is, that so many em- 
 brace atheistical principles ; for none do it but in com- 
 pliance with their irregular passions ; none but these, 
 whose advantage it would be, that there were no God. 
 
 Lastly, Man naturally is high-minded ; for when the 
 gospel comes in power to him, it is employed in " casting 
 down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth 
 itself against the knowledge of God," 2 Cor. x. 5. Low- 
 liness of mind is not a flower that grows in the field of 
 nature ; but is planted by the finger of God in a renew- 
 ed heart, and learned of the lowly Jesus. It is natural 
 to man to think highly of himself, and what is his own ;
 
 MEAD I.] Corruption of the Understanding. 6S 
 
 for the stroke he has got by his fall in Adam has produ- 
 ced a false light, whereby mole-hills about him appear 
 like mountains ; and a thousand airy beauties present 
 themselves to his deluded fancy. Vain man would be 
 wise, (so he accounts himself, and so he would be ac- 
 counted of by others,) though man be born like a wild 
 asses's colt, Job xi. 12. His way is right, because it is 
 his own ; for, " every way of a man is right in his own 
 eyes," Proverbs xxi. 7. His state is good, because he 
 knows none better ; he is alive without the law, Rom. 
 vii. 9. and therefore his hope is strong, and his confi- 
 dence firm. It is another tower of Babel reared up 
 against heaven ; and shall not fall while the power of 
 darkness can hold it up. The word batters it, yet it 
 stands ; one while breaches are made in it, but they are 
 quickly repaired ; at another time, it is all made to 
 shake ; but still it is kept up ; till either God himself, 
 by his Spirit, raise an earthquake within the man, which 
 tumbles it down, and leaves not one stone upon another, 
 (2 Cor. x. 4, 5.) or death batter it down and raze the 
 foundations of it, Luke xvi. 22. And -as the natural 
 man thinks highly of himself, so he thinks meanly of 
 God, whatever he portends, Psalm 1. 21. " Thou thought- 
 est that i was altogether such an one as thyself." The 
 doctrine of the gospel and the mystery of Christ are fool- 
 ishness to him ; and in his practice he treats them as 
 such, 1 Corinth, i. 18. and ii. 14. He brings the word 
 and the works of God, in the government of the world, 
 before the bar of his carnal reason ; and there they are 
 presumptuously censured and condemned, Hos. xiv. 9. 
 Sometimes the ordinary restraint of providence is taken 
 on , and Satan is permitted to stir up the carnal mind ; 
 and in that case it is like an ant's nest, uncovered and 
 disturbed : doubts, denials, and hellish reasonings crowd 
 in it, and cannot be laid by all the arguments brought 
 against them, till a power from on high captivate the 
 mind, and still the mutiny of the corrupt principles.
 
 64 Corruption of the Will. [STATE it. 
 
 Thus much of the corruption of the understanding ; 
 which, although the half be not told, may discover to 
 you the absolute necessity of regenerating grace. Call 
 the understanding now Ichabod ; for " the glory is de- 
 parted from it." Consider this, ye that are yet in the 
 state of nature, and pour out your case before the Lord, 
 that the Sun of Righteousness may arise upon you, be- 
 fore ye be shut up in everlasting darkness. What a- 
 vails your worldly wisdom ? What do your attainments 
 in religion avail, while your understanding lies yet wrapt 
 up in its natural darkness, and confusion, utterly void of 
 the light of life ? Whatever be the natural man's gifts 
 or attainments, we must (as in the case of the leper, Lev. 
 xiii. 14. " pronounce him utterly unclean, his plague is 
 in his head." But that is not all : it is in his heart too, 
 his will is corrupted, as I shall hereafter proceed to show. 
 
 OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE WILL. 
 
 II. The will, that commanding faculty, (which some- 
 times was faithful, and ruled with God,) is now turned 
 traitor, and rules with, and for the devil. God planted 
 it in man wholly a right seed ; but now it is turned into 
 the degenerate plant of a strange vine. It was originally 
 placed in a due subordination to the will of God, as was 
 shown before, but now it is gone wholly aside. How- 
 ever some do magnify the power of free-will, a view of 
 the spirituality of the law, to which acts of moral disci- 
 pline do in no ways answer ;. and a deep insight into the 
 corruption of nature, given by the inward operation of 
 the Spirit, convincing of sin, righteousness, and judg- 
 ment, would make men find an absolute need of the 
 power of free-grace, to remove the bands of wickedness 
 from off their free-will. To open this plague of the 
 heart, I offer these following things to be considered : 
 
 First, There is, in the unrenewed will, an utter ina- 
 bility for what is truly good and acceptable in the sight 
 of God. Tbe natural man's will is in Satan's fetters ;
 
 HEAD I.] Corruption, of the Will. 65 
 
 hemmed in, within the circle of evil, and cannot move 
 beyond it, more than a dead man can raise himself out 
 of his grave, Eph. ii. 1. We deny him not a power to 
 chuse, pursue, and act, what on the matter is good ; but 
 though he can will what is good and right, he can will 
 nothing aright and well, John xv. 5. Without me, i. e. 
 separate from me, as a brand i from the stock, (as both 
 the word and context signify) ye can do nothing ; to wit, 
 nothing truly and spiritually good. His very choice and 
 desire of spiritual things is carnal and selfish, John vi. 
 26. " Ye seek me, because ye did eat of the loaves and 
 were filled." He not only comes not to Christ, but he 
 cannot come, John vi. 44. And what can one do accep- 
 table to God, who believeth not on him whom the Fa- 
 ther hath sent ? To evidence this inability for good in 
 the unregenerate, consider these two things : 
 
 Evid. 1. How often does the light so shine before 
 men's eyes, that they cannot but see the good they should 
 chuse, and the evil they should refuse ; and yet their 
 hearts have no more power to comply with that light than 
 if they were arrested by some invisible hand ? They see 
 what is right ; yet they follow, and cannot but follow, 
 what is wrong. Their consciences tell them the right 
 way, and approve of it too ; yet cannot their will be 
 brought up to it ; their corruption so chains them, that 
 they cannot embrace it ; so they sigh and go backward 
 against their light. And if it be not thus, how is it that 
 the word, and way of holiness, meet with such entertain- 
 ment in the world ? How is it that clear arguments and 
 reason on the side of piety and a holy life, which bear in 
 themselves even on the carnal mind, do not bring men 
 over to that side ? Although the being of a heaven and a 
 hell were but a may-be, it were sufficient to determine 
 the will to the choice of holiness, were it capable to be 
 determined thereto by mere reason : but men " knowing 
 the judgment of God, (that they who commit such things 
 are worthy of death) not only do the same, but have plea- 
 
 K
 
 66 Corruption of the W'dl. [STATE is, 
 
 sure in them that do them." Rom. i. 32. And how is 
 it that those who magnify the power of free-will do not 
 confirm their opinion before the world, by an ocular de- 
 monstration, in a practice as far above others in holiness, 
 as the opinion of their natural ability is above that of 
 others ? Or is it maintained only for protection of lusts, 
 which men may hold fast as long' as they please ; and 
 when they have no more use for them, can throw them 
 off in a moment, and leap out of Delilah's lap into Abra- 
 ham's bosom ? Whatever use some make of that princi- 
 ple ; it does of itself, and in its own nature, cast a broad 
 shadow for a shelter to wickedness of heart and life. 
 And it may be observed, that the generality of the hear- 
 ers of the gospel, of all denominations, are plagued with 
 it : for it is a root of bitterness, natural to all men ; from 
 whence springs so much fearlessness about the soul's eter- 
 nal state ; so many delays in that weighty matter, where- 
 by much work is laid up for a death-bed by some ; while 
 others are ruined by a legal walk, and unacquaintedness 
 with the life of faith, and the making use of Christ for 
 sanctification ; all flowing from the persuasion of suffici- 
 ent natural abilities. So agreeable is it to corrupt nature. 
 
 Evid. 2. Let those, who, by the power of the spirit of 
 bondage, have had the law laid out before them, in its spi- 
 rituality, for their conviction, speak and tell, if they found 
 themselves able to incline their hearts towards it, in that 
 case ; nay, if the more that light shone into their souls, 
 they did not find their hearts more and more unable to 
 comply with it. There are some, who have been brought 
 unto the place of the breaking forth, who are yet in the 
 devil's camp, that from their experience can tell, light 
 let into the mind, cannot give life to the will, to enable 
 it to comply therewith ; and could give their testimony 
 here, if they would. But take Paul's testimony concern- 
 ing it, who, in his unconverted state, was far from believ- 
 ing his utter inability for good ; but learned it by expe- 
 rience, Rom. vii. 8, 9, 10, 11, 13. I own, the natural 
 man may have a kind of love to the law ; but here lies
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 67 
 
 the stress of the matter, he looks on the holy law in a 
 carnal dress ; and so, while he hugs a creature of his own 
 fancy, he thinks he has the law, but in very deed he is 
 without the law ; for as yet he sees it not in its spiritu- 
 ality : If he did, he would find it the very reverse of his 
 own nature, and what his will could not fall in with, tili 
 changed by the power of grace. 
 
 Secondly, There is in the unrenewed will an averse- 
 nesss to good. Sin is the natural man's element ; he is 
 as loath to part with it, as the fishes are to come out of 
 the water into dry land. He not only cannot come to 
 Christ, but he will not come, John v. 40. He is pollut- 
 ed, and hates to be washed, Jer. xiii. 27. "Wilt thou 
 not be made clean ? When shall it once be ?" He is sick, 
 but utterly averse to the remedy ; he loves his disease 
 so, that he loathes the Physician. He is a captive, a pri- 
 soner, and a slave ; but he loves his conqueror, his jailor, 
 and master ; he is fond of his fetters, prison, and drud- 
 gery ; and has no liking to his liberty, For evidence of 
 this averness to good, in the will cf man, I shall instance 
 in some particulars. 
 
 Evid. 1. The untowardness of children. Do we not 
 see them naturally lovers of sinful liberty ? How unwil- 
 ling are they to be hedged in ? How averse to restraint ? 
 The world can bear witness, that they are as bullocks 
 unaccustomed to the yoke : and more, that it is far easier to 
 bring young bullocks tamely to bear the yoke, than to 
 bring young children under discipline, and make them 
 tamely submit to the restraint of sinful liberty. Every- 
 body may see in this, as in a glass, that man is naturally 
 wild and wilful, according to Zophar's remark, Job xi. 12. 
 that man is born like a wild ass's colt. What can be said 
 more ? He is like a colt, the colt of an ass, the colt of a 
 wild ass. Compare Jer. ii. 24. " A wild ass used to 
 the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure, 
 in her occasion who can turn ker away ?" 
 
 Evid. 2. What pain and difficulty do men often find 
 in bringing their hearts to religious duties ? And what
 
 68 Corruption of the Will [STATE ir. 
 
 a task is it to the carnal heart to abide at them ? It is 
 a pain to it, to leave the world but a little, to converse 
 with God. It is not easy to borrow time from the many 
 things, to bestow upon the one thing needful. Men of- 
 ten go to God in duties, with their faces towards the 
 world ; and when their bodies are on the mount of ordi- 
 nances, their hearts will be found at the foot of the hill, 
 " going after their covetousness," Ezek. xxxiii. 81. They 
 are soon wearied of well-doing ; for holy duties are not 
 agreeable to their corrupt nature. Take notice of them at 
 their worldly business, set them down with their carnal 
 company, or let them be sucking the breasts of a lust ; time 
 seems to them to fly, and drive furiously, so that it is 
 gone ere they are aware. But how heavily does it drive 
 while a prayer, a sermon, or a sabbath lasts ! The Lord's 
 day is the longest day of all the week with many ; and 
 therefore they must sleep longer that morning, and go 
 sooner to bed that night, than ordinarily they do ; that 
 the day may be made of a tolerable length : for their 
 hearts say within them ;. " When will the sabbath be 
 gone ?" Amos viii. 5. The hours of worship are the long- 
 est hours of that day : hence when duty is over, they are 
 like men eased of a burden ; and when sermon is ended, 
 many have neither the grace nor the good manners to 
 stay till the blessing be pronounced, but, like the beasts, 
 their head is away as soon as one puts his hand to loose 
 them; why but because while they are at ordinances, 
 they are as Doeg, detained before the Lord, 1 Sam. xxii. 
 7. 
 
 Evid. 3. Consider how the will of the natural man 
 doth rebel against the light, Job xxiv. 13. Light some- 
 times entereth in, because he is not able to hold it, out ; 
 but he loveth darkness rather than light. Sometimes by 
 the force of truth the o*uter door of the understanding is 
 broken up ; but the inner door of the will remains fast 
 bolted. Then lusts rise against light ; corruption and 
 conscience encounter, ancl fight as in the field of battle ; 
 till corruption getting the upper hand, conscience is for- 
 ced to give back. Convictions are murdered ; and truth
 
 HEAD I.] Corruption of the Will. 69 
 
 is made and held prisoner, so that it can create no more 
 disturbance. While the word is preached or read, or the 
 rod of God is upon the natural man, sometimes convic- 
 tions are darted in on him, and his spirit is wounded, in 
 greater or less measure : but these convictions not being 
 able to make him fall, he runs away with the arrows 
 sticking in his conscience, and at length, one way or 
 other, gets them out, and licks himself whole again. Thus 
 while the light shines, men, naturally averse to it, wil- 
 fully shut their eyes ; till God is provoked to blind them 
 judicially, and they become proof against the word and 
 providences too ; so they may go where they will, they 
 can sit at ease ; there is never a word from heaven to 
 them, that goeth deeper than into their ears, Hos. iv. 17. 
 " Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone." 
 
 Evid. 4. Let us observe the resistance made by elect 
 souls when the Spirit of the Lord is at work, to bring 
 them from the power of Satan unto God. Zion's King 
 gets no subjects but by stroke of sword, in the day of 
 his power, Psal. ex. 2, 3. None come to him, but such 
 as are drawn by a divine hand, John vi. 44. When the 
 Lord comes to the soul, he finds the strong man keeping- 
 the house, and a deep peace and security there, while 
 the soul is fast asleep in the devil's arms. But the prey 
 must be taken from the mighty, and the captive deliver- 
 ed. Therefore the Lord awakens the sinner, opens his 
 eyes, and strikes him with terror, while the clouds are 
 black above his head, and the sword of vengeance is held 
 to his breast. Now he is at no small pains to put a fair 
 face on a black heart ; to shake off his fears, to make 
 head against them, and to divert himself from thinking- 
 on the unpleasant and ungrateful subject of his soul's 
 case. If he cannot so rid himself from them, carnal rea- 
 son is called in to help, and urgeth that there is no 
 ground for so great fear ; all may be well enough yet ; 
 and if it be ill with him, it will be ill with many. WTien 
 the sinner is beat from this, and sees no advantage in 
 going to hell with company, he resolves to leave his
 
 70 Corruption of the Will. [STATE n< 
 
 but cannot think of breaking off so Soon ; there is time 
 enough, and he will do it afterwards. Conscience says, 
 " To-day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your 
 hearts :" but he cries, To-morrow, Lord, to-morrow, 
 Lord ; and just now, Lord, till that now is never like to 
 <come. And thus, many times, he comes from his prayers 
 and confessions with nothing but a breast full of sharper 
 convictions ; for the hefcrt doth not always cast up the 
 sweet morsel, as soon as confession is made with the 
 mouth, Judg. x. 10 16. And when conscience obligeth 
 them to part with some lusts, others are kept- as right 
 eyes and right hands ; and there are rueful looks after 
 those that are put away, as it was with the Israelites, 
 who, with bitter hearts, did remember " the fish they 
 did eat in Egypt freely," Num. xi. 6. Nay, when he is 
 so pressed, that he must needs say before the Lord, that 
 he is content to part with all his idols, the heart will be 
 giving the tongue the lie. 
 
 Thirdly, There is in the will of man a natural prone- 
 ness to evil, a woeful bent toward sin. Men naturally 
 are bent to backsliding from God, Hos. ii. 7. They hang 
 (as the word is) towards backsliding ; even as a hanging 
 wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. 
 Set holiness and life upon the one side, sin and death 
 upon the other ; leave the unrenewed will to itself, it 
 will chuse sin and reject holiness. This is no more to 
 be doubted, than that water, poured on the side of a hill, 
 will run downward and not upward, or that a flame will 
 ascend and not descend. 
 
 Evidence 1 . Is not the way of evil the first way the 
 children of men go ? Do not their inclinations plainly 
 appear on the wrong side, while yet they have no cun- 
 ning to hide them ? In the first opening of our eyes in 
 the world, we look hell-ward, not heaven-ward. As soon 
 as it appears we are reasonable creatures, it appears we 
 are sinful creatures, Psal. Iviii. 3. " The wicked are 
 estranged from the womb ; they go astray as soon as 
 they be born," Prov. xxii. 15. " Foolishness is bound in
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 71 
 
 the heart of a child i but the rod of correction shall drive 
 it far from him." Folly is bound in the heart, it is woven 
 into your very nature. The knot will not loose, they 
 must be broke asunder by strokes. Words will not do 
 it, the rod must be taken to drive it away : and if it be 
 not driven far away, the heart and it will meet and knit 
 again. Not that the rod of itself will do this : the sad 
 experience of many parents testifies the contrary ; and 
 Solomon himself tells you, Prov. xxvii. 22. " Though 
 thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar, among wheat, 
 with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from 
 him." It is so bound in his heart. But the rod is an 
 ordinance of God appointed for that end ; which, like 
 the word, is made effectual, by the Spirit's accompany- 
 ing his own ordinance. And this, by the way, shows 
 that parents in administering correction to their children, 
 have need, first of all, to correct their own irregular pas- 
 sions ; and look upon it as a matter of awful solemnity, 
 setting about it with much dependence on the Lord, and 
 following it with prayer for the blessing, if they would 
 have it effectual. 
 
 Evid. 2. How easily are men led aside to sin ! The 
 children who are not persuaded to good, are, otherwise, 
 simple ones ; easily wrought upon ; those whom the 
 word cannot draw to holiness, are led by Satan at his 
 pleasure. Profane Esau, that cunning man, (Gen. xxv. 
 27.) was as easily cheated of the blessing, as if he had 
 been a fool or an ideot. The more natural a thing is, 
 it is the more easy : so Christ's yoke is easy to the saints, 
 in so far as they are partakers of the divine nature : and 
 sin is easy to the unrenewed man ; but to learn to do 
 good, as difficult as for the Ethiopian to change his skin ; 
 because the will naturally hangs towards evil, but is 
 averse to good. A child can cause a round thing to 
 run, while he cannot move a square thing of the same 
 weight ; for the roundness make it fit for motion, so 
 that it goes with a touch. Even so, when men find the 
 heart easily carried towards sin, while it is as a dead
 
 72 Corruption of the Will. [STATE n. 
 
 weight in the way of holiness : we must bring the rea- 
 son of this from the natural set and disposition of the 
 heart, whereby it is prone and bent to evil. Were man's 
 will, naturally, but in equal balance to good and evil, 
 the one might be embraced with as little difficulty as 
 the other ; but experience testifies it is not so. In the 
 sacred history of the Israelites, especially in the book of 
 Judges, how often do we find them forsaking Jehovah, 
 the mighty God, and doting upon the idols of the na- 
 tions about them ? But did ever one of these nations 
 grow fond of Israel's God, and forsake their own idols ? 
 No, no ; though man is naturally given to changes, it is 
 but from evil to evil, not from evil to good, Jer. ii. 1O. 
 11. " Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet 
 no gods ? But my people have changed their glory, for 
 that which doth not profit." Surely the will of man stands 
 not in equal balance, but has a cast to the wrong side. 
 
 Evid. 3. Consider how men go on still in the way of 
 sin, till they meet with a stop, and that from another 
 hand than their own, Isa. Ivii. 17. "I hid me, and he 
 went on frowardly in the way of his heart." If God with- 
 draw his restraining hand, and lay the reins on the sin- 
 ner's neck, he is in no doubt what way to chuse ; for 
 (observe it) the way of sin is the way of his heart ; his 
 heart naturally lies that way ; it hath a natural propen- 
 sity to sin, As long as God suffereth them, they walk in 
 their own way, Acts xte 16. The natural man is so fix- 
 ed in his woful choice, that there needs no more to show, 
 he is off from God's way, but to tell he is upon his own. 
 
 Evid. 4>. Whatever good impressions are made upon 
 him they do not last. Though his heart be firm as a stone 
 yea, harder than the nether milstone, in point of receiv- 
 ing them ; it is otherwise unstable as water, and cannot 
 keep them. It works against the receiving of them ; and, 
 when they are made, it works them off, and returns to 
 its natural bias, Hos. vi. 4. " Your goodness is as a morn- 
 ing cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away." The 
 morning cloud promiseth a hearty shower, but. when the
 
 MEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 13 
 
 sun ariseth, it vanisheth : the sun beats upon the early 
 dew and it evaporates, the husbandman's expectation is 
 disappointed. Such is the goodness of the natural man. 
 Some sharp affliction, or piercing conviction, obligeth him, 
 in some sort, to turn from his evil course : but his will 
 not being renewed, religion is still against the grain with 
 him, and therefore this goes off again, Psal. Ixxviii. 34, 
 36, 37. Though a stone thrown up into the air may 
 abide there a little while ; yet its natural heaviness will 
 bring it down to the earth again ; and so do unrenewed 
 men return to the wallowing in the mire ; because, al- 
 though they were washed, yet their swinish nature was 
 not changed. It is hard to cause wet wood to take fire, 
 hard to make it keep fire ; but it is harder than either 
 of these to make the unrenewed will retain goodness ; 
 which is a plain evidence of the natural bent of the will 
 to evil. 
 
 Evid. 5. Do the saints serve the Lord now, as they 
 were wont to serve sin, in their unconverted state ? Very 
 far from it, Rom. vi. 20. " When ye were the servants 
 of sin, ye were free from righteousness." Sin got all, and 
 admitted no partner ; but now, when they are the ser- 
 vants of Christ, are they free from sin? Nay, there are 
 still with them some deeds of the old man, showing that 
 he is but dying in them ; and hence their hearts often 
 misgive them, and slip aside into evil, when they would 
 do good, Rom. vii. 21. They need to watch, and keep 
 their hearts with all diligence ; and their sad experience 
 teacheth them, " That he that trusteth in his own heart 
 is a fool," Prov. xxviii. 26. If it be thus in the green 
 tree, ho\v must it be in the dry ? 
 
 Fourthly, There is a natural contrariety, direct oppo- 
 sition and enmity, in the will of man to Gorl himself, and 
 his holy will, Rom. viii. 7. " The carnal mind is enmity 
 against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, nei- 
 ther indeed can be." The will was once God's deputy in 
 the soul, set to command there for him ; but now it
 
 74- Corruption of the Will. [STATE n. 
 
 set up against him. If ye would have the picture of it in 
 its natural state, the very reverse of the will of God re- 
 presents it. If the fruit hanging before one's eyes be but 
 forbidden, that is sufficient to draw the heart after it. 
 Let me instance in the sin of profane swearing and curs- 
 ing, to which some are so abandoned, that they take a 
 pride in them ; belching out horrid oaths and curses, as 
 if hell opened with the opening of their mouths ; or lard- 
 ing their speeches with minced oaths, and all this with- 
 out any manner of provocation, though even that would 
 not excuse them. Pray tell me, (1.) What profit is there 
 here ? A thief gets something in his hand for his pains ; 
 a drunkard gets a belly full ; but what do ye get ? Others 
 serve the devil for pay ; but ye are volunteers that expect 
 no reward, but your work itself in affronting of heaven. 
 And if you repent not, you will get your reward in full 
 tale ; when you go to hell, your work will follow you. 
 The drunkard shall not have a drop of water to cool his 
 tongue there. Nor will the covetous man's wealth fol- 
 low him into the other world : but ye shall drive on 
 your old trade there. And an eternity will be long e- 
 nough to give you your heart's fill of it. (2.) What plea- 
 sure is there here, but what flows from our trampling 
 upon the holy law ? Which of your senses doth swear- 
 ing and cursing gratify ? If it gratify your ears, it can 
 only be by the noise it makes against the heavens. 
 Though you had a mind to give up yourselves to all 
 manner of profanity and sensuality, there is so little 
 pleasure can be strained out of these sins, that we must 
 needs conclude, your love to them in this case, is a love 
 to them for themselves ; a devilish unhired love, without 
 any prospect of profit or pleasure from them otherwise. 
 If any shall say, These are monsters of men : be it so ; 
 yet alas ! the world is fruitful of such monsters ; they 
 are to be found almost every where. And allow me to 
 say, they must be admitted as the mouth of the whole un- 
 regenerate world against heaven, Rom. iii. 14. " Whose 
 mouth is full of cursing 1 and bitterness," ver. 19. " Now 
 we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
 
 HEAD I.] Corruption of the Will. 75 
 
 to them who are under the law, that every mouth may 
 be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before 
 God." 
 
 I have a charge against every un regenerate man and 
 woman, young or old, to be verified by the testimonies 
 of the scriptures of truth, and the testimony of their own 
 consciences ; namely, that whether they be professors or 
 profane, whether they be, seeing they are not born again, 
 they are heart enemies to God, to the son of God, to the 
 Spirit of God, and to the law of God. Hear this, ye 
 careless souls, that live at case in your natural state. 
 
 First, Ye are enemies to God in your mind, Col, i. 
 21. Ve are not as yet reconciled to him ; the natural 
 enmity is not as yet slain, though perhaps it lies hid, 
 and ye do not perceive it. (I.) Ye are enemies to the 
 very being of God, Psal. xiv. 1. "The fool hath said in 
 his heart, there is no God." The proud man would that 
 none were above himself; the rebel, that there were no 
 king; and the unrenewed man, who is a mass of pride 
 and rebellion, that there were no God. He saith it in 
 his heart, he wisheth it were so, though he be ashamed 
 and afraid to speak it out. And that all natural men 
 are such fools appears from the apostle's quoting a part 
 of this Psalm, " That every mouth may be stopped." 
 Rom. iii. 1O, 11, 12, 19. I own indeed, that while the 
 natural man looks on God as the Creator and Preserver 
 of the world ; because he loves his own self, therefore 
 his heart riseth not against the being of his Benefactor : 
 but his enmity will quickly appear, when he looks on 
 God as the Ruler and Judge of the world, binding him, 
 under the pain of the curse, to exact holiness, and gird- 
 ing him with the cords of death, because of his sin. 
 Listen, in this case, to the voice of the heart, and thou 
 wilt find it to be, No God. (9.) Ye are enemies to the 
 nature of God, Job xxi. 14. "They say unto God, De- 
 part from us ; for we desire not the knowledge of tin- 
 ways." Men set up to themselves an idol of their own 
 fancy, instead of God ; and then fall down and worshi~
 
 76 Corruption of the Will. [STATE n. 
 
 it. They love him no other way, than Jacob loved Leah, 
 while he took her for Rachel. Every natural man is an 
 enemy to God, as he is revealed in his word. An infi- 
 nitely holy, just, powerful, and true Being, is not the 
 God whom he loves, but the God whom he loathes. In 
 effect men naturally are haters of God, Rom. i. 30. And 
 if they could, they certainly would make him another 
 than what he is. For, consider it is a certain truth, that 
 whatsoever is in God, is God; and therefore his attri- 
 butes or perfections are not any thing really distinct 
 from himself. If God's attributes be not God himself, 
 he is a compound being, and so not the first being (which 
 to say is blasphemous ;) for the parts compounding are 
 before the compound itself; but he is Alpha and Omega, 
 the first and the last. 
 
 Now upon this, I would, for your conviction, propose 
 to your consciences a few queries. (1.) How stand your 
 hearts affected to the infinite purity and holiness of God ? 
 Conscience will give an answer to this, which the tongue 
 will not speak out. If ye be not partakers of his holi- 
 ness, ye cannot be reconciled to it. The pagans, finding 
 they could not be like God in holiness, make their gods 
 like themselves in filthiness ; and thereby discovered 
 what sort of a God the natural man would have. God 
 is holy ; can an unholy creature love his unspotted holi- 
 ness ? Nay, it is the righteous only, that can give thanks 
 at the remembrance of his holiness, Psal. xcvii. 12. God 
 is light ; can creatures of darkness rejoice therein ? Nay, 
 " every one that doeth evil, hateth the light," John iii. 
 20. For " what communion hath light with darkness ?" 
 2 Cor. vi. 14. (2.) How stand your hearts affected to 
 the justice of God ? There is not a man, who is wedded 
 to his lusts, as all the unregenerate are, but would be 
 content with the blood of his body, to blot that letter 
 out of the name of God. Can the malefactor love his 
 condemning judge ? or an unjustified sinner, a just God ? 
 No, he cannot, Luke vii. 47. " To Avhom little is for- 
 given, the same loveth little." Hence, seeing men can-
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 77 
 
 not get the doctrine of his justice blotted out of the Bi- 
 ble, yet it is such an eye-sore to them, that they strive 
 to blot it out of their minds. And they ruin themselves 
 by presuming on his mercy ; while they are not careful 
 to get a righteousness, wherein they may stand before 
 his justice ; but " say in their heart, The Lord will not 
 do good, neither will he do evil," Zeph. i. 12. (3.) How 
 stand ye affected to the omniscience and omnipresence 
 of God ? Men naturally would rather have a blind idol, 
 than an all-seeing God, and therefore do what they can, 
 as Adam did, to hide themselves from the presence of 
 the Lord. They no more love an all-seeing, every- where- 
 present God, than the thief loves to have the judge wit- 
 ness to his evil deeds. If it could be carried by votes, 
 God would be voted out of the world, and closed up in 
 heaven : for the language of the carnal heart is, " The 
 Lord seeth us not ; the Lord hath forsaken the earth." 
 Ezek. viii. 12. (4.) How stand ye affected to the truth 
 and veracity of God ? There are but few in the world 
 that can heartily subscribe to that sentence of the apos- 
 tle, Rom. iii, 4. " Let God be true, but every man a 
 liar." Nay, truly, there are many, who, in effect, do 
 hope that God will not be true to his word. There are 
 thousands who hear the gospel that hope to be saved, 
 and think all safe with them for eternity, who never had 
 any experience of the new birth, nor do at all concern 
 themselves in that question, whether they are born again, 
 or not ? a question that is like to wear out from among 
 ufc this day. Our Lord's words are plain and peremptory, 
 " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God." AVhat are such hopes then, but real hopes 
 that God (with profoundest reverence be it spoken) Avill 
 recal his word, and that Christ will prove a false pro- 
 phet ? What else means the sinner, who, " when he hear- 
 eth the words of the curse, blesseth himself in his heart, 
 saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagi- 
 nation of mine heart," Deut. xxix. 19. Lastly, HOAV 
 stand ye affected to the power of God ? None but new 
 creatures will love him for it, on a fair view thereof;
 
 78 Corruption of the Will. [STATE n. 
 
 though others may slavishly fear him, upon the account 
 of it. There is not a natural man but would contribute 
 to the utmost of his power, to the building* of another 
 tower of Babel, to hem it in. On these grounds, I de- 
 clare every unrenewed man an enemy to God. 
 
 Secondly., Ye are enemies to the Son of God, That en- 
 mity to Christ is in your hearts, which would have made 
 you join the husbandmen, who killed the heir, and cast 
 him out of the vineyard, if ye had been beset with their r 
 temptations, and no more restrained than they were. Am 
 I a dog, you will say, to have so treated my sweet Savi- 
 our ? So did Hazael in another case ; but when he had 
 the temptation, he was a dog to do it. Many call Christ 
 their sweet Saviour, whose consciences can bear witness, 
 they never sucked as much sweetness from him as from 
 their sweet lusts, which are ten times sweeter to them 
 than their Saviour. He is no other way sweet to them, 
 than as they abuse his death and sufferings, for the peace- 
 able enjoyment of their lusts ; that they may live as they 
 list in the world ; and w.hen they die, may be kept out 
 of hell. Alas ! it is but a mistaken Christ that is sweet 
 to you, whose souls loathe that Christ who is the " bright- 
 ness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his 
 person." It is with you as it was with the carnal Jews 
 who delighted in him ; while they mistook his errand 
 into the world, fancying that he would be a temporal de- 
 liverer to them, Mai. iii. 1. But when he was come, and 
 " sat as a refiner and purifier of silver," ver. 2, 3, and cast 
 them as reprobate silver, who thought to have had no 
 small honour in the kingdom of the Messiah ; his doc- 
 trine galled their consciences, and they rested not till 
 they had imbrued their hands in his blood.. To open 
 your eyes in this point, which ye are so loth to believe, 
 I will lay before you the enmity of your hearts against 
 Christ in all his offices. 
 
 First, Every unregenerate man is an enemy to Christ 
 in his prophetical office. He is appointed of the Father 
 the great Prophet and Teacher ; but not upon the world's
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 
 
 call, who, in their natural state, would have unanimous- 
 ly voted against him : and therefore, when he came, ho 
 was condemned as a seducer and blasphemer. For evi- 
 dence of this enmity, I shall instance in two things. 
 
 Evidence 1. Consider the entertainment he meets with 
 when he comes to teach souls inwardly by his Spirit. 
 Men do what they can to stop their ears, like the deaf 
 adder ; that they may not hear his voice. They always 
 resist the Holy Ghost. They desire not the knowledge 
 of his ways ; and therefore bid him depart from them. 
 The old calumny is often raised upon him on that occa- 
 sion John, x. 20. " He is mad, why hear ye him ?" Soul- 
 exercise, raised by the spirit of bondage, is accounted by 
 many nothing else but distraction, and melancholy fits ; 
 men thus blaspheming the Lord's work, because they 
 themselves are beside themselves, and cannot judge of 
 those matters. 
 
 Evid. 2. Consider the entertainment he meets with 
 when he comes to teach men outwardly by his word. 
 
 1. His written word, the Bible, is slighted: Christ 
 hath left it to us, as the book of our instructions, to show 
 us what way we must steer our course, if we would come 
 to Immanuers land. It is a lamp to light us through 
 a dark world to eternal light ; and he hath left it upon 
 us, to search it, with what diligence, wherewith men dig 
 into mines for silver or gold, John v. 39. But ah ! how 
 is this sacred treasure profaned by many ? They ridicule 
 that holy word, by which they must be judged at the 
 last day ; and will rather lose their souls than their jest, 
 dressing up the conceits of their wanton wits in scripture 
 phrases : in which they act as mad a part, as one who 
 would dig into a mine to procure metal, to melt and pour 
 down his own and his neighbour's throat. Many exhaust 
 their spirits in reading romances, and their minds pursue 
 them, as the flame doth the dry stubble ; while they have 
 no heart for, nor relish to, the holy word, and therefore 
 seldom take a Bible in their hands. What is agreeable 
 to the vanity of their minds is pleasant and taking : but
 
 80 Corruption of the Will. [STATE IL 
 
 what recommends holiness to their unholy hearts, makes 
 their spirits dull and flat. What pleasure will they find 
 in reading of a profane ballad or story-book, to whom 
 the Bible is tasteless, as the white of an egg ? Many lay 
 by their Bibles with their sabbath-day clothes ; and what- 
 ever use they have for their clothes, they have none for 
 their Bibles, till the return of the sabbath. Alas ! the 
 dust or finery about your Bibles is a witness now, and 
 will, at the last day, be a witness of the enmity of your 
 hearts against Christ, as a prophet, Besides all this, a- 
 mong these who ordinarily read the scriptures, how few 
 are there that read it as the word of the Lord to their 
 souls, and keep up communion with him in it ? They do 
 not make his statutes their counsellors, nor doth their 
 particular case send them to their Bibles. They are stran- 
 gers to the solid comfort of the scriptures. And if at any 
 time they be dejected, it is something else than the word 
 that revives them ; as Achab was cured of his sullen fit, 
 by the securing of Naboth's vineyard for him. 
 
 2. Christ's word preached is despised. The entertain- 
 ment most of the world, to whom it has come, have al- 
 ways given, is that which is mentioned, Matt. xxii. 5. 
 " They made light of it." And, for its sake, they are 
 despised whom he has employed to preach it ; whatever 
 other face men put upon their contempt of the ministry, 
 John xv. 20, 21. " The servant is not greater than the 
 lord : if they have persecuted me, they will also perse- 
 cute you : if they have kept my saying, they will keep 
 yours also.' But all these things will they do unto you 
 for my name's sake." That Levi was the son of the hat- 
 ed, seems not to have been without a mystery, which the 
 world, in all ages, hath unriddled. But though the ear- 
 then vessels, wherein God has put the treasure, be turn- 
 ed, with many, into vessels wherein there is no pleasure, 
 yet why is the treasure itself slighted ? But slighted it 
 is, and that with a witness, this day. Lord, who hath 
 believed our report ? to whom shall we speak? Men can, 
 without remorse, make to themselves silent sabbaths, one
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of 'the Will. 81 
 
 after another. And alas ! when they come to ordinances, 
 for the most part, it is but to appear (or, as the word is, 
 to be seen) before the Lord ; and to tread his courts, 
 namely, as a company of beasts would do, if they were 
 driven into them, Isa. i. 12. So little reverence and awe 
 of God appears on their spirits. Many stand like brazen 
 walls before the word, in whose corrupt conversation the 
 preaching of the word makes no breach. Nay, not a 
 few are growing worse and worse, under precept upon 
 precept ; and the result of all is, " they go and fall back- 
 ward, and be broken, and snared, and taken," Isa. xxviii. 
 13. What tears of blood are sufficient to lament that 
 the gospel, the grace of God, is thus received in vain. 
 We are but the voice of one crying ; the Speaker is in 
 heaven, and speaks to you from heaven by men : why do 
 ye refuse him that speaketh ? Heb. xii. 25. God has 
 made our Master heir of all things, and we are sent to 
 court a spouse for him. There is none so worthy as he ; 
 none more unworthy than they to whom this match is 
 proposed. But the prince of darkness is preferred before 
 the PRINCE of PEACE. A dismal darkness overclouded 
 the world by Adam's fall, more terrible than if the sun, 
 moon, and stars, had been for ever wrapt up in blackness 
 of darkness ; and there we should have eternally lain, 
 had not this grace of the gospel, as a shining sun, appear- 
 ed to dispel it. Tit. ii. 11. But yet we fly from it ; and, 
 like the wild beasts, lay ourselves down in our dens, when 
 the sun ariseth. We are struck blind with the light there- 
 of ; and as creatures of darkness, love darkness rather 
 than light. Such is the enmity of the hearts of men a- 
 gainst Christ, in his prophetical office. 
 
 Secondly, The natural man is an enemy to Christ, in 
 his priestly office. He is appointed of the Father a 
 priest for ever ; that by his alone sacrifice and interces- 
 sion, sinners may have peace with, and access to, God : 
 but Christ crucified is a stumbling-block, and foolishness 
 to the unrenewed part of mankind, to whom he is preach-
 
 82 Corruption of the Will. [STATE n 
 
 ed, 1 Cor. i. 23. They are not from him, as the new 
 and living way. Nor is he, by the voice of the world, 
 an high-priest over the house of God. Corrupt nature 
 goes quite another way to work. 
 
 Evidence I. None of Adam's children naturally in- 
 cline to receive the blessing in borrowed robes ; but 
 would always, according to the spider's motto, owe all 
 to themselves : and so climb up to heaven on a thread 
 spun out of their own bowels. For they " desire to be 
 under the law," Gal. iv. 21. and "go about to establish 
 their own righteousness," Rom. x. 3. Man naturally 
 looks on God as a great Master ; and himself as his ser- 
 vant, that must work, and win heaven as his wages. 
 Hence, when conscience is awakened, he thinks that 
 to the end he may be saved, he must answer the de- 
 mands of the law ; serve God as well as he can, and 
 pray for mercy wherein he comes short. And thus ma- 
 ny come to duties, that never come out of them to Je- 
 sus Christ. 
 
 Evid. 2. As men naturally think highly of their duties, 
 that seem to them to be well done ; so they look for ac- 
 ceptance with God, according as their work is done, not 
 according to the share they have in the blood of Christ. 
 " Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest 
 not ?" They will value themselves on their perform- 
 ances and attainments ; yea, their very opinions in reli- 
 gion, (Phil. iii. 4, 5, 6, 7.) taking to themselves what 
 they rob from Christ, the great high-priest. 
 
 Evid. 3. The natural man, going to God in duties, 
 will always be found either to go without a Mediator, 
 or with more than the one orily Mediator, Jesus Christ. 
 Mature is blind, and therefore venturous. It sets men 
 a-going immediately to God without Christ ; to rush in- 
 to his presence, and put their petitions in his hand, with- 
 out being introduced by the Secretary of heaven, or put- 
 ting their requests into his hand. So fixed is this dis- 
 position in the unrenewed heart, that when many hearers 
 of the gospel are conversed with, upon the point of their
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. S3 
 
 hopes of salvation, the name of Christ will scarcely be 
 heard from their mouths. Ask them how they think to 
 obtain the pardon of sin ; they will tell you they beg 
 and look for mercy, because God is a merciful God ; 
 and that is all they have to confide in. Others look for 
 mercy for Christ's sake : but how do they know that 
 Christ will take their plea in hand ? Why, as the papists 
 have their mediators with the Mediator, so have they. 
 They know he cannot but do it ; for they pray, confess, 
 mourn, and have great desires, and the like ; and so have 
 something of their own to commend them unto him. 
 They were never made poor in spirit, and brought empty- 
 handed to Christ, to lay the stress of all on his atoning 
 blood. 
 
 Thirdly, The natural man is an enemy to Christ, in 
 his kingly office. The father hath appointed the Medi- 
 ator King in Zion, Psal. ii. 6. And all to whom the 
 gospel conies are commanded, on their highest peril, to 
 kiss the Son, and submit themselves unto him, ver. 12. 
 But the natural voice of mankind is, Away with him ! as 
 you may see, ver. 2, 3. " They will not have him to 
 reign over them," Luke xix. 14. 
 
 Evidence 1 . The workings of corrupt nature, to wrest 
 the government out of his hands. No sooner was he 
 born, but, being born a king, Herod, persecuted him, 
 Matt. ii. And when he was crucified, they " set up over 
 his head his accusation written, This is Jesus the king 
 of the Jews, Matt, xxvii. 37. Though his kingdom be 
 a spiritual kingdom, and not of this world ; yet they 
 cannot allow him a kingdom within a kingdom, which 
 acknowledgeth no other head or supreme but the royal 
 Mediator. They make bold with his royal prerogatives, 
 changing his laws, institutions, and ordinances ; model- 
 ling his worship according to the devices of their own 
 hearts ? introducing new offices and officers into his king- 
 dom, not to be found in the book of the manner of his 
 kingdom ; disposing of the external goverment thereof.
 
 84> Corruption of the Will. [STATE n. 
 
 as may best suit their carnal designs. Such is the en- 
 mity of the hearts of men against Zion's King. 
 
 Evid. 2. How unwilling are men naturally to submit 
 unto, and be hedged in, by the laws and discipline of 
 his kingdom ! As a Ring, he is a law-giver, (Isa. xxxiii. 
 22.) and has appointed an external government, discip- 
 line, and censures, to control the unruly, and to keep his 
 professed subjects in order, to be exercised by officers of 
 his own appointment, Matt, xviii. 17, 18. 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 1 Tim. v. 17- Heb. xiii. 17. But these are the great 
 eye-sores of the carnal world, who love sinful liberty, 
 and therefore cry out, " Let us break their bands asunder, 
 and cast their cords away from us," Psal. ii. 3. Hence 
 this work is found to be, in a special manner, a striving 
 against the stream of corrupt nature ; which, for the 
 most part, puts such a face on the church, as if there 
 were no king in Israel, every one doing that which is 
 right in his own eyes. 
 
 Evid. 3. However natural men may be brought to 
 feign submission to the king of the saints, yet lusts al- 
 ways retain the throne and dominion in their hearts, and 
 they are " serving divers lusts and pleasures" Tit. iii. 3. 
 None but these in whom Christ is formed do really put 
 the crown on his head, and receive the kingdom of Christ 
 within them. His crown is. " the crown wherewith his 
 mother crowned him in the day of his espousals." Who 
 are they whom the power of grace has not subdued, that 
 will allow him to set up, and to put down, in their souls, 
 as he will ? Nay, as for others, any lord shall sooner get 
 the rule over them than the Lord of glory : they kindly 
 entertain his enemies, and will never absolutely resign 
 themselves to his government till conquered in a day of 
 power. Thus ye may see, that the natural man is an 
 enemy to Jesus Christ, in all his offices. 
 
 But O how hard it is to convince men in this point ! 
 They are very loath to take with it. And, in a special 
 manner, the enmity of the heart against Christ, in his 
 priestly office, seems to be hid from the view of most of
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 85 
 
 the hearers of the gospel. Yet there appears to be a pe- 
 culiar malignity in corrupt nature against that office of 
 his. It may be observed, that the Socinians allow him 
 to be properly a Prophet and a King, but deny him pro- 
 perly to be a Priest. And this is agreeable enough to 
 the corruption of our nature; for, under the covenant of 
 Avorks, the Lord was known as a Prophet or Teacher, 
 and also as a King or Ruler ; but not at all as a Priest : 
 so man knows nothing of the mystery of Christ, as the 
 way to the Father, till it be revealed to him. And when 
 it is revealed, the will ariseth up against it ; for corrupt 
 nature lies cross to the mystery of Christ, and the great 
 contrivance of salvation through a crucified Saviour, re- 
 vealed in the gospel. For clearing of which weighty 
 truths, let these four things be considered. 
 
 First, The soul's falling in with the grand device of 
 salvation by Jesus Christ, and setting the matters of sal- 
 vation on that footing before the Lord, is declared by 
 the scriptures of truth to be an undoubted mark of a real 
 saint, who is happy here, and shall be happy hereafter, 
 Matt. xi. 6. " And blessed is he whosoever shall not 
 be offended in me." 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. " But we preach 
 Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and 
 unto the Greeks foolishness : but unto them which are 
 called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God." Phil. iii. 3. " For we are the 
 circumcision which worship God in the spirit, and re- 
 joice in Jesus Christ, and have no confidence in the flesh." 
 Now how could this be, if nature could comply with that 
 grand device. 
 
 Secondly, Corrupt nature is the very reverse of the 
 gospel contrivance. In the gospel, God proposeth Jesus 
 Christ as the great means of re-uniting man to himself. 
 He has named him as the Mediator, one in whom he is 
 well pleased, and will have none but him, Matt. xvii. 5. 
 But nature will have none of him, Psal. Ixxxi. 1 1 . God 
 appointed the place of meeting for the reconciliation, 
 namely, the flesh of Christ ; accordingly, God was in
 
 86 Corruption of the Will. [STATE n. 
 
 Christ, (2 Cor. v. 12.) as the tabernacle of meeting, to 
 make up the peace with sinners. But natural men, 
 though they should die for ever, will not come thither, 
 John v. 40. " And ye will not come to me, that ye might 
 have life." In the way of the gospel, the sinner must 
 stand before the Lord in an imputed righteousness ; but 
 corrupt nature is for an inherent righteousness ; and 
 therefore so far as natural men follow after righteousness, 
 they follow after the law of righteousness, Rom. xi. 31, 
 32. and not after the Lord our righteousness. Nature 
 is always for building up itself, and to have some ground 
 for boasting ; but the great design of the gospel is to ex- 
 alt grace, to depress nature, and exclude boasting, Rom. 
 iii. 1 7. The sum of our natural religion is, to do good 
 from and for ourselves, John v. 44. The sum of gospel 
 religion is, to deny ourselves, and to do good from and 
 for Christ, Phil. i. 21. 
 
 Thirdly, Every thing in nature is against believing in 
 Jesus Christ. What beauty can the blind man discern 
 in a crucified Saviour, for which he is to be desired? 
 How can the will naturally impotent, yea, and averse to 
 good, make choice of him ? Well may the soul then say 
 to him, in the day of the spiritual siege, as the Jebusites 
 said to David in an another case, " Except thou take away 
 the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither," 
 2 Sam. v. 6. The way of nature is to go into one's self 
 for all ; according to the fundamental maxim of unsanc- 
 tified morality, that a man should trust in himself; which, 
 according to the doctrine of faith, is mere foolishness ; 
 for so it is determined, Prov. xviii. 26. " He that trust- 
 eth in his own heart is a fool." Now faith is the soul's 
 going out of itself for all : and this nature, on the other 
 hand, determines to be foolishness, 1 Cor. i. 18, 23. 
 Wherefore there is need of the working of mighty power 
 to cause sinners to believe, Eph. i. 19. Isa. liii. 1. We 
 see the promises of welcome to sinners, in the gospel co- 
 venant, are ample, large, and free, clogged with no con- 
 ditions, Isa. Iv. 1. Rev. xxii. 17. If they cannot believe
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 87 
 
 his bare word, he has given them his oath upon it, Ezek. 
 xxxiii. 1 1 . And, for their greater assurance, he has ap- 
 pended seals to his sworn covenant, namely, the holy sa- 
 craments. So that no more could be demanded of the 
 most faithless person in the world, to make us believe 
 him, than the Lord hath condescended to give us, to make 
 us believe himself. This plainly speaks nature to be a- 
 gainst believing, and these who flee to Christ for a re- 
 fuge have need of strong consolation, (Heb. vi. 18.) to 
 balance their strong doubts, and propensity to unbelief. 
 Farther, also, it may be observed, how, in the word sent to 
 a secure graceless generation, their objections are answer- 
 ed aforehand : and words of grace are heaped one upon 
 another, as ye may read. Isa. Iv. 7, 8, 9. Joel ii. 13. 
 Why ? Because the Lord knows, that when these secure 
 sinners are thoroughly weakened, doubts, fears, and car- 
 nal reasonings against believing, will be going within 
 their breasts, as thick as dust in a house, raised by sweep- 
 ing a dry floor. 
 
 Lastly, Corrupt nature is bent towards the way of 
 the law, or covenant of works ; and every natural man, 
 so far as he sets himself to seek after salvation, is engag- 
 ed in that way ; and will not quit it, till beat from it by 
 divine power. Now the way of salvation by works, and 
 that of free grace in Jesus Christ, are inconsistent, Rom. 
 xi. 6. " And if by grace, then it is no more of works ; 
 otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, 
 then it is no more grace ; otherwise work is no more 
 work," Gal. iii. 12. "And the law is not of FAITH ; but 
 the man that doth them shall live in them."- Wherefore, 
 if the Avill of man naturally incline to the way of salva- 
 tion by the law, it lies cross to the gospel-contrivance. 
 And that such is the natural bent of our hearts, will ap- 
 pear, if these following things be considered : 
 
 1. The law was Adam's covenant ; and he knew no 
 other as he was the head and representative of all man- 
 kind, that were brought into it with him, and left under 
 it by him, though without strength to perform the con-
 
 88 Corruption of the Will. [STATE n. 
 
 dition thereof. Hence, this covenant is ingrained in our 
 nature ; and though we have lost our father's strength, 
 yet we still incline to the way he was set upon, as our 
 head and representative in that covenant ; that is by 
 doing, to live. This is our natural religion, and the 
 principle, which men naturally take for granted, Matt, 
 xix. 16. " What good thing shall I DO, that I may have 
 eternal life." 
 
 2. Consider the opposition that has always been made 
 in the world against the doctrine of free-grace in Jesus 
 Christ, by men setting up for the way of works ; there- 
 by discovering the natural tendency of the heart. It is 
 manifest that the great design of the gospel-contrivance 
 is to exalt the free-grace of God in Jesus Christ, Rom. 
 iv. 16. " Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by 
 grace." See Eph. i. 6. and chap. ii. 7. 9. All gospel-truths 
 centre in Christ : so that to learn the truth is to learn 
 Christ, Eph, iv. 20. And to be truly taught it, is to be 
 taught as the truth is in Jesus, ver. 21. All dispensations 
 of grace and favour from heaven, whether to nations or 
 particular persons, have still had something about them 
 proclaiming a freedom of grace ; as in the very first 
 separation made by the divine favour, Cain the elder 
 brother is rejected, and Abel the younger accepted, This 
 shines through the whole history of the Bible : but, as 
 true as it is, this has been the point principally opposed 
 by corrupt nature. One may well say, that, of all errors 
 in religion, since Christ the seed of the woman was 
 preached, this of works, in opposition to free-grace in 
 him, was the first that lived, and, it is likely, will be the 
 last that dies. There have been vast numbers of errors, 
 which sprung up one after another, whereof, at length, 
 the world became ashamed and weary ; so that they 
 died out. But this has continued from Cain, the first 
 author of this heresy, unto this day ; and never wanted 
 some that clave to it, even in the times of greatest light. 
 I do not, without ground, call Cain the author of it, who, 
 when Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, a bloody
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 8f> 
 
 offering of the firstlings of his flock, like the publican, 
 smiting on his breast, and saying, " God be merciful to 
 me a sinner," advanced with his thank-offering of the 
 fruit of the ground, (Gen. iv. 3, 4.) like the proud Pha- 
 risee with his " God I thank thee." For what was the 
 cause of Cain's wrath, and of his murdering of Abel ? 
 Was it not that he was not accepted of God for his 
 work ? Gen. iv. 4, 5. " And therefore slew he him? be- 
 cause his own works were evil and his brother's righte- 
 ous," (1 John iii. 12.) that is, done in faith and accepted, 
 when his were done without faith ; and therefore reject- 
 ed, as the apostle teacheth, Heb. xi. 4. And so he wrote 
 his indignation against justification and acceptance with 
 God, through faith in opposition to works, in the blood 
 of his brother, to convey it down to posterity. And since 
 that time, the unbloody sacrifice has often swimmed in 
 the blood of those that rejected it. The promise made 
 to Abraham, of the seed in which all nations should be 
 blessed, was so over-clouded among his posteiity in E- 
 gjpt, that the generality of them saw no need of that 
 way of obtaining; the blessing, till God himself confuted 
 
 o o 9 
 
 their error, by a fiery law, from mount Sinai ; which 
 " was added because of transgressions, till the seed 
 should come," Gal. iii. 19. I need not tell you, how 
 Moses and the prophets had still much ado, to lead the 
 people off the conceit of their own righteousness. The 
 ninth chapter of Deuteronomy is entirely spent on that 
 purpose. They were very gross in that point in our Sa- 
 viour's time: in the time of the apostles, when the doc- 
 trine of free-grace was most clearly preached, that error 
 lifted up its head in face of clearest light ; witness the 
 epistles to the Romans and Galatians. And since that 
 time it has not been wanting ; popery being the com- 
 mon sink of former heresies, and this the heart and life of 
 that delusion. And, finally, it may be observed, that 
 always as the church declined from her purity other- 
 wise, the doctrine of free-grace as obscured proportion- 
 abl.
 
 30 Corruption of the Will. [STATE ir. 
 
 3. Such is the natural propensity of man's heart to 
 the way of the law, in opposition to Christ : that, as the 
 tainted vessel turns the taste of the purest liquor put in- 
 to it, so the natural man turns the very gospel into law ; 
 and transforms the covenant of grace into a covenant of 
 works. The ceremonial law was to the Jews a real gos- 
 pel ; which held blood, death, and translation of guilt, 
 before their eyes continually, as the only way of salva- 
 tion ; yet their very table, (i. e. their altar, with the se- 
 veral ordinances pertaining thereto, Mai. i. 12.) was a 
 snare unto them, Rom. ii. 9. While they used it to- 
 make up the defects in their obedience to the moral law ; 
 and clave to it so, as to reject him. whom the altar and 
 sacrifices pointed them to, as the substance of all. Even 
 as Hagar, whose it was only to serve, was by their fa- 
 ther brought into her mistress's bed ; not without a mys- 
 tery in the purpose of God, for these are the two cove- 
 nants, Gal. iv. 24. Thus is the doctrine of the gospel 
 corrupted by Papists, and other enemies to the doctrine 
 of free-grace- And indeed, however natural men's heads 
 may be set right in this point ; as surely as they are out 
 of Christ, their faith, repentance, and obedience, (such 
 as they are) are placed by them in the room of Christ 
 and his righteousness, and so trusted to, as if, by these, 
 they fulfilled a new law. 
 
 4. Great is the difficulty in Adam's sons their parting 
 with the law, as a covenant of works. None part with 
 it in that respect, but those whom the power of the spi- 
 rit of grace separates from it. The law is our first hus- 
 band, and gets every one's virgin love. When Christ 
 comes to the soul, he finds it married to the law ; so as 
 it neither can nor will be married to another, till it be 
 obliged to part with the first husband, as the apostle 
 teacheth, Rom. vii. 1, 2, 3, -i. Now that ye may see 
 what sort of a parting this is, consider, 
 
 (1) It is a death, Rom. vii. <. Gal. ii. 19. Intreaties 
 will not prevail with the soul here ; it saith to the first 
 husband, as Ruth to Naomi, " The Lord do so to me
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 91 
 
 and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." 
 And here sinners are true to their word ; they die to the 
 law, ere they be married to Christ. Death is hard to 
 every body ; but what difficulty do ye imagine must a 
 loving wife on her death bed, find in parting with her 
 husband, the husband of her youth, and with the dear 
 children she has brought forth to him ? The law is that 
 husband ? all the duties performed by the natural man 
 are these children. What a struggle, as for life, will be 
 in the heart before they be got parted ! I may have oc- 
 casion to touch upon this afterwards. In the mean time 
 take tiie apostle's short but pithy description of it, Rom. 
 x. S. " For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, 
 and going about tor- establish their own righteousness, 
 have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of 
 God." They go about to establish their own righteous- 
 ness, like an eager disputant in schools, seeking to esta- 
 blish the point in question ; or like a tormentor, extort- 
 ing a confession from one upon the rack. They go about 
 to establish it, to make it stand : their righteousness is 
 like a house built upon the sand, it cannot stand, but 
 they will have it to stand : it falls, they set it up again ; 
 but still it tumbles down on them ; yet they cease not 
 to go about to make it stand. But wherefore all this 
 pains about a tottering righteousness ? Because such as 
 it is, it is their own. What ails them at Christ's righ- 
 teousness? Why, that would make them free grace's 
 debtors for all ; and that is what the proud heart by no 
 means can submit to. Here lies the stress of the matter, 
 Psal. x. 4. " The wicked, through the pride of his coun- 
 tenance, will not seek," (to read it without the supple- 
 ment,) that is, in other terms, " He cannot dig, and to 
 beg he is ashamed." Such is the struggle ere the soul 
 dies to the law. But, what speaks yet more of this woe- 
 ful disposition of the heart, nature oftimes gets the mas- 
 tery of the disease ; insomuch that the soul, which was 
 like to have died to the law, while convictions were 
 sharp and piercing, fatally recovers of the happy and pro- 
 mising sickness ; and (what is very natural) cleaves more
 
 92 Corruption of the WilL [STATE n. 
 
 closely than ever to the law, even as a wife brought back 
 from the gates of death, would cleave to her husband. 
 This is the issue of the exercises of many about their 
 soul's case : they are indeed brought to follow duties more 
 closely ; but they are as far from Christ as ever, if not 
 farther. 
 
 (2) It is a violent death, Rom. vii. 4. " Ye are become 
 dead to the law," being killed, slain, or put to death, as 
 the word bears. The law itself has a great hand in this ; 
 the husband gives the wound, Gal. ii. 1 9. " I, through 
 the law, am dead to the law." The soul that dies this 
 death, is like a loving wife matched with a rigorous hus- 
 band. She does what she can to please him, yet he is 
 never pleased, but tosseth, harrasseth, and beats her, till 
 she breaks her heart, and death sets her free ; thus it is 
 made evident, that nien's hearts are naturally bent to the 
 way of the law, and lie cross to the gospel contrivance 
 and the second article of the charge, against you that are 
 unregenerate, is verified, namely, that ye are " enemies 
 to the Son of God." 
 
 Thirdly, Ye are enemies to the Spirit of God. He 
 is the Spirit of holiness. The natural man is unholy, 
 and loves to be so, and therefore resists the Holy Ghost, 
 Acts vii, 51. The work of the Spirit is to convince the 
 world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, John xvii. 8. 
 But, O how do men strive to ward off these convictions 
 even as they would ward off a blow, threatening their 
 loss of a right eye, or a right hand ! If the Spirit of the 
 Lord dart them in, so as they cannot avoid them, the 
 heart says, in effect, as Ahab to Elijah, whom he both 
 hated and feared, " Hast thou found me, O mine enemy !" 
 And indeed they treat him as an enemy, doing their ut- 
 most to stifle convictions, and to murder these harbingers, 
 that come to prepare the Lord's way into the soul. Some 
 fill their hands with business, to put their convictions out 
 of their heads, as Cain, who fell a building of a city ; 
 some put them off with delays and fair promises, as Fe- 
 lix did : some will sport them away in company, and
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Will. 93 
 
 some sleep them away. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of 
 sanctification ; whose works is to subdue lusts, and burn 
 up corruption. How then can the natural man, whose 
 lusts are to him as his limbs, yea, as his life, fail of being 
 an enemy to him ? 
 
 Lastly, Ye are enemies to the law of God. Though 
 the natural man desires to be under the law, as a coven- 
 ant of works, chusing that way of salvation, in opposition 
 to the mystery of Christ : yet, as it is a rule of life, re- 
 quiring universal holiness, and discharging all manner of 
 impurity, he is an enemy to it, " is not subject to the law 
 of God, neither indeed can be," Rom. viii. 7. For, (1.) 
 There is no unrenewed man, who is not wedded to some 
 one lust or other, which his heart can by no means part 
 with. Now that he cannot bring up his inclinations to 
 the holy law, he would fain have the law brought down 
 to his inclinations : a plain evidence of the enmity of the 
 heart against it. And therefore " to delight in the law 
 of God, after the inward man," is proposed in the word 
 as a mark of a gracious soul, Rom. vii. 22. Psal. i. 2. It 
 is from this natural enmity of the heart against the law, 
 that all the Pharisaical glosses upon it have arisen ; 
 whereby the commandment, which is in itself exceeding 
 broad, has been made very narrow, to the intent it might 
 he the more agreeable to the natural disposition of the 
 heart. (2.) The law laid home to the natural conscience, 
 in its spirituality, irritates corruption. The nearer it 
 comes, nature riseth the more against it. In that case, it 
 is as oil to the fire, which, instead of quenching it, makes 
 it flame the more : " When the commandment came, sin 
 revived," says the apostles, Rom. vii. 9. What reason 
 can be assigned for this, but the natural enmity of the 
 heart against the holy law ? Unmortified corruption, the 
 more it is opposed, the more it rageth. Let us conclude 
 then, that the unregenerate are heart-enemies to God, 
 his Son, his Spirit, and his law ; that there is a natural 
 contrariety opposition, and enmity, in the will of man, 
 to God himself, and his holy will.
 
 94 Corruption of the irtfl. [STATE 1 1. 
 
 Fifthly, There is. in the w ill of man, contumacy against 
 the Lord. Man's will is naturally wilful in an evil course : 
 he will have his will, though it should ruin him. It is 
 with him as with the leviathan, (Job xli. 29.) " Darts 
 are counted as stubble, he laugheth at the shaking of a 
 spear." The Lord calls to him by his word ; says to him, 
 (as Paul to the jailor, when he was about to kill him- 
 self,) " Do thyself no harm ;" sinners, " why will ye die ?" 
 Ezek. xvii. 31. But they will not hearken; "Every 
 one turneth to his course, as the horse rusheth into the 
 battle," Jer. viii. 6. We have a promise of life, in form 
 of a command, Prov. iv. 4?. " Keep my commandments 
 and live ;" it speaks impenitent sinners to be self- destroy- 
 ers, wilful self-murderers. They transgress the command 
 of living ; as if one's servant should wilfully starve him- 
 self to death, or greedily drink a cup of poison, which 
 his master commands him to forbear ; even so do they ; 
 they will not live, they will die, Prov. viii. 36. " All 
 they that hate rce love death." O what a heart is this ! 
 It is a stony heart, (Ezek. xxxvi. 26.) hard and inflexible 
 as a stone. Mercies melt it not, judgments break it not ; 
 yet it will break ere it bend. It is an insensible heart : 
 though there be upon the sinner a weight of sin, which 
 makes the earth to stagger ; although there is a weight 
 of wrath on him, which makes the devils to tremble ; 
 yet he goes lightly under the burden, he feels not the 
 weight more than a stone, till the Spirit of the Lord 
 quickens him so far as to feel it. 
 
 Lastly, The unrenewed will is wholly perverse, in re- 
 ference to man's chief and highest end. The natural 
 man's chief end is not his God, but his self. Man is a 
 mere relative, dependent, borrowed being. He has no 
 being nor goodness originally from himself; but all he 
 hath is from God, as the first cause and spring of all per- 
 fection, natural or moral : dependence is woven into his 
 very nature ; so that, if God should totally withdraw 
 from him, he would dwindle into a mere nothing. See* 
 ing then whatever man is, he is of him ; surely, in what-
 
 HEAD I.] Corruption of the Will. 95 
 
 ever he is, he should be to him : as the waters which 
 come from the sea, do of course return thither again. 
 And thus man Was created, o'irectly looking to God, as 
 his chief end. But, falling into sin, he fell off from God, 
 and turned into himself; and, like a traitor usurping the 
 throne, he gathers in the rents of the crown to himself. 
 Now this infers a total apostasy, and universal corruption 
 in man ; for where the chief and last end is changed, 
 there can be no goodness there. This is the case of all 
 men in their natural state, Psal. xiv. 2, 3. " The Lord 
 looked down to see if there were any that did seek 
 God. They are all gone aside," to wit, from God ; they 
 seek not God, but themselves. And though many fair 
 shreds of morality are to be found amongst them, yet 
 there is none that doth good, no not one ; for though some 
 of them run well, they are still out of the way ; they ne- 
 ver aim at the right mark. They are " lovers of their 
 ownselves (2 Tim. iii. 2.) more than God," ver. 4. Where- 
 fore Jesus Christ having come into the world to bring 
 men back to God again, came to bring them out of them- 
 selves in the first place, Matt. xvi. 24. The godly groan 
 under the remains of this woeful disposition of the heart : 
 they acknowledge it, and set themselves against it, in its 
 subtle and dangerous insinuations. The unregenerate, 
 though most insensible of it, are under the power there- 
 of ; and whithersoever they turn themselves, they can- 
 not move without the circle of self : they seek themselves, 
 they act for themselves ; their natural, civil, and religi- 
 ous actions, from whatever springs they come, do all run 
 into, and meet in, the dead sea of self. 
 
 Most men are so far from making God their chief end, 
 in their natural and civil actions, that, in these matters, 
 God is not in all their thoughts. Their eating and drink- 
 ing, and such like natural actions, are for themselves ; 
 their own pleasure or necessity, without any higher end, 
 Zech. vii. 6. " Did ye not eat for yourselves ?" They 
 have no eye to the glory of God in these things, as they 
 ought to have, 1 Cor. x. 31. They do not eat and drink,
 
 96 Corruption of the Will. {STATE n. 
 
 to keep up their bodies for the Lord's service ; they do 
 them not, because God has said, " Thou shalt not kill :" 
 neither do those drops of sweetness God has put into the 
 creature, raise up their souls towards that ocean of de- 
 lights, that are in the Creator ; though they are indeed 
 a sign hung out at heaven's door, to tell men of the ful- 
 ness of goodness that is in God himself, Acts xiv. 1 7. 
 But it is self and not God, that is sought in them by na* 
 tural men. And what are the unrenewed man's civil ac- 
 tions, such as buying, selling, working, &c. but fruit to 
 himself? Hos. x. 1. So marrying, and given in marriage, 
 are reckoned amongst the sins of the old world, (Matt, 
 xxiv. 38.) for they had no eye to God therein, to please 
 him ; but all they had in view was, to please themselves, 
 Gen. vi. 3. Finally, self is natural men's highest end in 
 their religious actions. They perform duties for a name, 
 Matt. vi. 1 , 2. or some other worldly interest, John vi. 
 26. Or, if they be more refined, it is their peace, and at 
 most their salvation from hell and wrath, or their own 
 eternal happiness, that is, their chief and highest end, 
 Matt. xix. 16 22. Their eyes are held, that they see 
 not the.glory of God. They seek God indeed, but not 
 for himself, but for themselves. They seek him not at 
 all, but for their own welfare ; so their whole life is wo- 
 ven into one web of practical blasphemy ; making God 
 the means, and self their end, yea, their chief end. 
 
 And thus have I given you some rude draught of man 't- 
 will, and his natural state, drawn by scripture and men's 
 own experience. Call it no more Naomi, but Mara ; for 
 bitter it is, and a root of bitterness. . Call it no more free- 
 will, but slavish lust ; free to evil, but free from good 
 till regenerating grace loose the bands of wickedness. 
 Now, since all must be wrong, and nothing can be right, 
 where the understanding and will are so corrupt ; I shall 
 briefly dispatch what remains, as following of course OR 
 the corruption of these prime faculties of the soul.
 
 HEAD i. Corruption of the Affections. 97 
 
 THE CORRUPTION OF THE AFFECTIONS, THE CONSCIENCE, 
 AND THE MEMORY. THE BODY PARTAKER OF THIS 
 CORRUPTION. 
 
 Thirdly, The affections are corrupted. The unrenew- 
 ed man's affections are wholly disordered and distemper- 
 ed : they are as the unruly horse, that either will not 
 receive, or violently runs away with the rider. So man's 
 heart naturally is a mother of abominations, Mark vii. 
 21, 22. " For from within, out of the heart of men, pro- 
 ceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 
 thefts, covetousness, &c " The natural man's affections 
 are wretchedly misplaced ; he is a spiritual monster. His 
 heart is there where his feet should be, fixed on the earth ; 
 his heels are lifted up against heaven, which his heart 
 should be set on, Acts ix. 5. His face is towards hell, his 
 back towards heaven ; and therefore God calls him to 
 turn. He loves what he should hate, and hates what he 
 should love ; joys in what he ought to mourn for, and 
 mourns for what he should rejoice in ; glorieth to his 
 shame, and is ashamed of his glory ; abhors what he 
 should desire, and desires what he should abhor, Prov. 
 ii. 13, 14, 15. They hit the point indeed, (as Caiaphas 
 .did in another case) who cried out on the apostles, as 
 men that turned the world upside down ; for that is the 
 work the gospel has to do in the world, where sin has 
 put all things so out of order, that heaven lies under, 
 and earth above. If the unrenewed affections be set on, 
 lawful objects, then they are either .excessive or defec- 
 tive. Lawful enjoyments of the world have sometimes 
 too little, but mostly too much of them : either they get 
 not their due ; or, if they do, it is measure pressed down 
 and running over. Spiritual things have always too little 
 of them. In a word they are always in, or over ; never 
 right, only evil. 
 
 Now here is a three-fold cord, against heaven and ho- 
 liness, not easily broken ; a blind mind, a perverse wilJ,
 
 Corruption of the Conscience. [STATE u. 
 
 and disorderly distempered affections. The mind, swelled 
 with self-conceit, says, the man should not stoop ; the 
 will, opposite to the will of God, says, he will not ; and 
 the corrupt affections, rising against the Lord, in defence 
 of the corrupt will, say, he shall not. Thus the poor crea- 
 ture stands out against God and goodness, till a day of 
 power corne, in which he is made a new creature. 
 
 Fourthly, The conscience is corrupt and defiled, Tit. 
 i. 15. It is an evil eye, that fills one's conversation with 
 much daikness and confusion ; being naturally unable to 
 do its office : till the Lord, by letting in a new light to 
 the soul, awaken the conscience, it remains sleepy and 
 inactive. Conscience can never do its work, but accord- 
 ing to the light it hath to work by. Wherefore seeing 
 the natural man cannot spiritually discern spiritual things, 
 (1 Cor. ii. 14.) the conscience naturally is quite useless 
 in that point ; being cast into such a deep sleep, that 
 nothing but a saving illumination from the Lord can set 
 it on work in that matter. The light of the natural con- 
 science, in good and evil, sin and duty, is very defective : 
 therefore, though it may check for grosser sins, yet, as 
 to the more subtile workings of sin, it cannot check for 
 them, because it discerns them not. Thus conscience will 
 fly in the face of many, If at any time they be drunk, 
 swear, neglect prayer, or be guilty of any gross sin ; who 
 otherwise have a profound peace, though they live in the 
 sin of unbelief, are strangers to spiritual worship, and 
 the life of faith. And natural light being but faint and 
 languishing in many things which it doth search, consci- 
 ence, in that case, shoots like a stitch in one's side, which 
 quickly goes off; its incitements to duty, and checks for 
 and struggles against sin, are very remiss, which the na- 
 tural man easily gets over. But because there is a false 
 light in the dark mind,- the natural conscience following 
 the same, will call " evil good, and good evil," Isa. v. 20. 
 And so it is often found like a furious and blind horse, 
 which doth violently run down himself, his rider, and all 
 that doth come in his way, John xvi. 2. " Whosoever
 
 HEAD i.] Corruption of the Memory and Body. 99 
 
 killeth you will think that he doth God service." When 
 the natural conscience is a \vakened by the Spirit of con- 
 viction, it will indeed rage and roar, and put the whole 
 man in a dreadful consternation : awfully summon all 
 the powers of the soul to help in a straight ; make the 
 stiff heart to tremble, and the knees to bow ; set the eyes 
 a weeping, the tongue a confessing, and oblige the man 
 to cast out the good into the sea, which it apprehends 
 are like to sink the ship of the soul, though the heart 
 still goes after them. But yet it is an evil conscience, 
 which natively leads to despair, and will do it effectually, 
 as in Judas's case ; unless either lusts prevail over it, to 
 lull it asleep, as in the case of Felix, Acts xxiv. 25, or 
 the blood of Christ prevail over it, sprinkling and purg- 
 ing it from dead works, as in the case of all true con- 
 verts, Heb. ix. 14, and x. 22. 
 
 Lastly, Even the memory bears evident marks of this 
 corruption. What is good and worthy to be minded, as 
 it makes but slender impression, so that impression easily 
 wears off; the memory, as a leaking vessel, lets it slip, 
 Heb. ii. J . Asa sieve that is full, when in the water, 
 lets all go when it is taken out ; so is the memory, with 
 respect to spiritual things. But how dees it retain what 
 ought to be forgotten ? Evil things so bear in themselves 
 upon it, that though men would fain have them out of 
 mind, yet they stick there like glue. However forget- 
 ful men be in other things, it is hard to forget an injury. 
 So the memory often furnishes new fuel to old lusts : 
 makes men in old age re-act the sins of their youth, 
 while it presents them again to their mind with delight, 
 which thereupon licks up the former vomit. And thus 
 it is like a riddle, that lets through the, pure grain, and 
 keeps the refuse. Thus far of the corruption of the sgul. 
 
 The body itself also is a partaker of this corruption 
 and defilement, so far as it is capable thereof. Where- 
 fore the scripture calls it sinful flesh, Rom. viii. 3. 
 We may take this up in two things, (1.) The natural 
 temper, or rather distemper, of the bodies of Adam's
 
 100 How Mans Nature was corrupted. [STATE n. 
 
 children, as it is an effect of original sin, so it hath a na- 
 tive tendency to sin, incites to sin, leads the soul into 
 snares, yea, is itself a snare to the soul. The body is a 
 furious beast, of such mettle, that if it be not beat down, 
 kept under, and brought into subjection, it will cast the 
 soul into much sin and misery, 1 Cor. ix. 27. There is 
 a vileness in the body, (Phil. iii. 21.) which, as to the 
 saints, will never be removed, until it be melted down 
 in a grave, and cast into a new mould, at the resurrec- 
 tion, to come forth a spiritual body : and will never be 
 carried off from the bodies of those who are not parta- 
 kers of the resurrection to life. (2.) It serves 'the soul 
 in many sins. Its members are instruments or weapons 
 of unrighteousness, whereby many fight against God, 
 Rom. vi. 13. The eyes and ears are open doors, by 
 which impure motions and sinful desires enter the soul : 
 the tongue is " a world of iniquity," Jam. iii. 6. " an un- 
 ruly evil, full of deadly poison," ver. 8. By it the im- 
 pure heart vents a great deal of its filthiness : " The 
 throat is an open sepulchre," Rom. iii. 1 3. The feet run 
 the devil's errand, ver. 15. The belly is made a god, 
 Phil. iii. 19. not only by drunkards and riotous livers, 
 but by every natural man, Zech. vii. 6. So the body 
 naturally is an agent for the devil, and a magazine of 
 armour against the Lord. 
 
 To conclude, man by nature is wholly corrupted : 
 " From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is 
 no soundness in him." And as, iu a dung-hill, every 
 part contributes to the corruption of the whole ; so the 
 natural man, while in that state, grows still, worse and 
 worse. The soul is made worse by the body, and the 
 body by the soul : and every faculty of the soul serves 
 to corrupt another more and more. Thus much for the 
 second general head. 
 
 HOW MAN'S NATURE WAS CORRUPTED. 
 
 THIRDLY. I shall show how man's nature comes to be 
 thus corrupted. The heathens perceived that man's na-
 
 HEAD i.] How Man's Nature was corrupted. 101 
 
 ture was corrupted ; but how sin had entered, they could 
 not tell. But the scripture is very plain in that point, 
 Rom. vi. 12. " By one man sin entered into the world," 
 ver. 19. " By .one man's disobedience many were made 
 sinners." Adam's sin corrupted man's nature, and leav- 
 ened the whole lump of mankind. We putrified in A- 
 dam, as our root. The root was poisoned, and so the 
 branches were envenomed ; the vine turned the vine of 
 Sodom, and so the grapes became grapes of gall. Adam, 
 by his sin, became not only guilty but corrupt ; and so 
 transmits guilt and corruption to his posterity, Gen. v. 
 3. Job. xiv. 4. By his sin he stript himself of his orig- 
 inal righteousness, and corrupted himself; we were in 
 him representatively, being represented by him, as our 
 moral head, in the covenant of works ; we were in him 
 seminally, as our natural head ; hence we fell in him, and 
 by his disobedience were made sinners, as Levi, in the 
 loins of Abraham, paid tithes, Heb. vii. 9, 10. His first 
 sin is imputed to us ; therefore justly are we left under 
 the want of his original righteousness, which being given 
 to him as a common person, he cast off by his sin : and 
 this is necessarily followed, in him and us, by the cor- 
 ruption of the whole nature ; righteousness and corrup- 
 tion being two contraries, one of which must needs al- 
 ways be in man, as a subject capable thereof. And A- 
 dam our common father being corrupt, we are so too ; 
 for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 
 
 Although it is sufficient to evince the righteousness of 
 this dispensation, that it was from the Lord, who doth 
 all things well ; yet to silence the murmurings of proud 
 nature, let these few things further be considered. (1.) 
 In the covenant, wherein Adam represented us, eternal 
 happiness was promised to him and his posterity, upon 
 condition of his, that is, Adam's perfect obedience, as the 
 representative of all mankind. Whereas, if there had 
 been no covenant, they could not have pleaded eternal 
 life upon their most perfect obedience, but might have 
 been, after all, reduced to nothing ; notwithstanding, by
 
 102 How Man's Nature was corrupted. [STATE n. 
 
 natural justice, they would have been liable to God's eter- 
 nal wrath, in case of sin. Who, in that case, would not 
 have consented to that representation ? (2.) Adam had 
 a power to stand given him, being made upright. He 
 was as capable to stand for himself, and all his posterity, 
 as any after him could be for themselves. This trial of 
 mankind, in their head, would soon have been over, and 
 the crown won to them all, had he stood ; whereas had 
 his posterity been independent on him, and every one 
 left to act for himself, the trial would have been continu- 
 ally carrying on, as men came into the world.- (8.) He 
 had natural affection the strongest to engage him, being 
 our common father. (4.) His own stock was in the ship, 
 his all lay at stake as well as ours. He had no separate 
 interest from ours ; but if he forgot ours,, he behoved to 
 have forgot his own. (5.) If 4ie had stood, we should 
 have had the light of his mind, the righteousness of his 
 will, and holiness of his affections, with entire purity 
 transmitted unto us : we could not have fallen ; the crown 
 of glory, by his obedience, would have been for ever se- 
 cured to him and his. This is evident from the nature 
 of a federal representation ; and no reason can be given 
 why, seeing we are lost by Adam's sin, we should not 
 have been saved by his obedience. On the other hand it 
 is reasonable, that he, falling, we should with him bear 
 the loss. Lastly, Such as quarrel with this dispensation 
 must renounce their part in Christ ; for we are no other- 
 wise made sinners by Adam, than we are made righteous 
 by Christ ; from whom we have both imputed and inhe- 
 rent righteousness. We no more made choice of the se- 
 cond Adam, for our head and representative in the se- 
 cond covenant, than we did of the first Adam in the first 
 covenant. 
 
 Let none wonder that such an horrible change could 
 be brought on, by one sin of our first parents ; for there- 
 by they turned away from God, as their chief end, which 
 necessarily infers an universal depravation. Their sin 
 was a complication of evils, a total apostacy from God, a
 
 HEAD i.] How Man's Nature was corrupted 105 
 
 violation of the whole law. By it they broke all the ten 
 commandments at once. (1.) They chose new gods. 
 They made their belly their god, by their sensuality ; self 
 their god, by their ambition ; yea, and the devil their 
 god, by believing him, and disbelieving their Maker. (2.) 
 Though they received, yet they observed not that ordi- 
 nance of God about the forbidden fruit. They contemn- 
 ed that ordinance, so plainly enjoined them, and would 
 needs carve out to themselves how to serve the Lord. 
 (3.) They took the name of the Lord their God in vain ; 
 despising his attributes, his justice, truth, pou r er, &c. 
 They grossly profaned that sacramental tree ; abused his 
 word, by not giving credit to it ; abused that creature of 
 his, which they should not have touched ; and violently 
 misconstrued his providence, as if God, by forbidding 
 them that tree, had been standing in the way of their 
 happiness : and therefore he suffered them not to escape 
 his righteous judgment. (4.) They remembered not the 
 sabbath to keep it holy, but put themselves out of a con- 
 dition to serve God aright on his own day : neither kept 
 they that state of holy rest wherein God had put them. 
 (5.) They cast off their relative duties : Eve forgets her- 
 self, and acts without advice of her husband, to the ruin 
 of both ; Adam, instead of admonishing her to repent, 
 yields to the temptation, and confirms her in her wicked- 
 ness. They forgot all duty to their posterity. They hon- 
 oured not their Father in heaven ; and therefore their 
 days were not long in the land which the Lord their God 
 gave them. (6 ) They ruined themselves and all their 
 posterity. (7.) Gave up themselves to luxury and sensu- 
 ality. (8.) Took away what was not their own, against 
 the express will of the great Owner. (9.) They bore false 
 witness, and lied against the Lord, before angels, dc.'Js, 
 and one another ; in effect giving out, that they were 
 hardly dealt by, and that heaven grudged their happi- 
 ness. (10.) They were discontent with tLcir lot. and co- 
 veted an evil covetousness to their house ; which ruined 
 both them and theirs, Thus was the image of God on 
 man defaced, all at oace.
 
 Doctrine of Natural corruption. [STATE 11. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CORRUPTION OF NATURE 
 APPLIED. 
 
 USE. I. For information. Is man's nature wholly cor- 
 rupted? Then, 
 
 1. No wonder the grave opens its devouring mouth 
 for us, as soon as the womb hath cast us forth ; and that 
 the cradle be turned into a coffin, to receive the corrupt 
 lump : for we are all, in a spiritual sense, dead-born ; yea, 
 and filthy, (Psal. xiv. 8.) noisome, rank, and stinking as 
 a corrupt thing, as the word imports. Let us not com- 
 plain of the miseries we are exposed to, at our entrance ; 
 nor of the continuance of them, while we are in the world. 
 Here is the venom that has poisoned all the springs of 
 earthly enjoyments we have to drink of. It is the cor- 
 ruption of man's nature that brings forth all the miseries 
 of human life in churches, states, families ; in men' souls 
 and bodies. 
 
 2. Behold here, as in a glass, the spring of all the wick- 
 edness, profanity, and formality, in the world ; the source 
 of all the disorders in thy own heart and life, Every 
 thing acts like itself, agreeable to its own nature ; and 
 so corrupt man acts corruptly. You need not wonder at 
 the sinfulness of your own heart and life, nor at the sin- 
 fulness and perverseness of others : if a man be crooked, 
 he cannot but halt ; and if the clock be set wrong, how 
 can it point the hour right. 
 
 3. See here why sin is so pleasant, and religion such a 
 burden to carnal spirits : sin is natural, holiness not so. 
 Oxen cannot feed in the sea, nor fishes in the fruitful 
 fields. A swine, brought into a palace, would get away 
 again, to wallow in the mire : and corrupt nature tends 
 ever to impurity. 
 
 I. Learn from this the nature and necessity of regener- 
 ation. First, this discovers the nature of regeneration in 
 these two things: (1.) It is not a partial, but a total 
 change, though imperfect in this life. Thy whole nature
 
 HEAD i. ] Doctrine of Natural Corruption. 105 
 
 is corrupted, and therefore the cure must go through 
 every part. Regeneration makes not only a new head 
 for knowledge, but a new heart, and new affections for 
 holiness. " All things become new," 2 Cor. v. 1 7. If 
 one having received many wounds, should be cured of 
 them all, , save one only ; he might bleed to death, by 
 that one as well as a thousand. So if the change go not 
 through the whole man, it is naught. (2.) It is not a 
 change made by human industry, but by the mighty pow- 
 er -of the Spirit of God. A man must be " born of the 
 Spirit," John iii. 5. Accidental diseases may be cured 
 by men, but these which are natural not without a mira- 
 cle, John ix. 32. The change brought upon men by 
 good education, or forced upon them by a natural con- 
 science, though it may pass among men for a saving 
 change, it is not so ; for our nature is corrupt, and none 
 but the God of nature can change it. Though a garden- 
 er, ingrafting a pear-branch into an apple-tree, may make 
 the apple-tree bear pears ; yet the art of man cannot 
 change the nature of the apple-tree. So one may pin a 
 new life to his old heart, but he can never change the 
 heart. Secondly, This also shows the necessity of rege- 
 neration. It is absolutely necessary in order to salvation, 
 John iii. 3. " Except a man be born again, he cannot 
 see the kingdom of God." No unclean thing can enter 
 the new Jerusalem : but thou art wholly unclean, while 
 in thy natural state. If every member of thy body were 
 disjointed, each joint behoved to be loosed, before the 
 members could be set right again. This is the case of 
 thy soul, as thou hast heard ; and therefore thou must 
 be born again, else thou shalt never see heaven, unless it 
 be afar off, as the rich man in hell did. Deceive not thy- 
 self : no mercy of God, no blood of Christ, will bring 1 thee 
 to heaven, in thy un regenerate state. For God will ne- 
 ver open a fountain of mercy, to wash away his own ho- 
 liness and truth; nor did Christ shed his precious blood, 
 to blot out the truths of God, or to overturn God's mea- 
 sures about the salvation of sinners. Heaven ! what
 
 106 Doctrine of Natural Corruption. [STATE n, 
 
 would ye do there, that are not born again ? ye that are 
 no ways fitted for Christ the Head ? That would be a 
 strange sight, a holy Head, and members wholly corrupt ! 
 a Head full of treasures of grace, members wherein are 
 nothing but treasures of wickedness ! a Head obedient 
 to the death, and heels kicking against heaven ! Ye are 
 no ways adapted to the society above, more than beasts 
 for converse with men. Thou art a hater of true holi- 
 ness ; and, at the first sight of a saint there, wouldst cry 
 out, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy ! Nay, the un- 
 renewed man, if it were possible he could go to heaven 
 in that state, he would no otherwise go to it, than now 
 he comes to the duties of holiness, that is, leaving his 
 heart behind him. 
 
 USE II. For lamentation. Well may we lament thy 
 case, O natural man, for it is the saddest case one can be 
 in, out of hell. It is time to lament for thee : for thou 
 art dead already, dead while thou livest ; thou earnest 
 about with thee a dead soul in a living body ; and be- 
 cause thou art dead thou canst not lament thy own case. 
 Thou art loathsome in the sight of God ; for thou art al- 
 * together corrupt ; thou hast no good in thee. Thy soul 
 is a mass of darkness, rebellion, and vileness, before the 
 Lord. Thou thinkest perhaps, that thou hast a good 
 heart to God, good inclinations, and good desires ; but 
 God knows there is nothing good in thee, but " every 
 imagination of thine heart is onlv evil." Thou canst do 
 
 * * 
 
 no good ; thou canst do nothing but sin. For, 
 
 First, Thou art the servant of sin, Rom, vi. 17- and 
 therefore " free from righteousness," verse 20. What- 
 ever righteousness be, poor soul ! thou art free of it ; 
 thou doest not, thou canst not, meddle with it. Thou 
 art under the dominion of sin, a dominion where righte- 
 ousness can have no place. Thou art a child and ser- 
 vant of the devil, though thou be neither wizard nor 
 witch ; seeing thou art yet in the state of nature, John 
 viii. 44. " Ye are of your father the devil." And, to pre- 
 vent any mistake, consider, that sin and Satan have twcr
 
 HEAD i.] .Doctrine of Natural Corruption. 107 
 
 r 
 
 sorts of servants. (1.) There are some employed, as it 
 were, in coarser work ; those bear the devil's mark in 
 their foreheads, having no form of godliness ; but are 
 profane, grossly ignorant, mere moralists, not so much as 
 performing the external duties of religion, but living to 
 the view of the world, as sons of earth, only " minding 
 earthly things," Phil. iii. 19. (2.) There are some em- 
 ployed in a more refined sort of service to sin, who car- 
 ry the devil's mark in their hand ; which they can and 
 do hide from the view of the" world. These are close hy- 
 pocrites, who sacrifice as much to the corrupt mind, as 
 the other to the flesh, Eph. ii. 3. These are ruined by a 
 more undiscernable tread of sin: pride, unbelief, self-seek- 
 ing, and the like, swarm in, and prey upon their corrupt- 
 ed, wholly corrupted souls. Both are servants of the same 
 house ; the latter is as far as the former from righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 Secondly, How is it possible thou shouldst be able to 
 do any good, thou whose nature is wholly corrupt ? Can 
 fruit grow where there is no root ; or can there be an ef- 
 fect without a cause ? Can the fig-tree bear olive-berries, 
 either a vine figs ? If thy nature be wholly corrupt, as 
 indeed it is, all thou dost is certainly so too : for no ef- 
 fect can exceed the virtue of its cause. " Can a corrupt 
 tree bring forth good fruit ?" Matt. vii. 
 
 Ah ! what a miserable spectacle is he that can do no- 
 thing but sin ! Thou art the man, whosoever thou art, 
 that are yet in thy natural state. Hear, O sinner, what 
 is thy case. 
 
 First, Innumerable sins compass thee about ; moun- 
 tains of guilt are lying upon thee ; floods of impurities 
 overwhelm thee. Living lusts, of all sorts, roll up and 
 down in the dead sea of thy soul ; where no good can 
 breathe, because of the corruption there. Thy lips are 
 unclean ; the opening of thy mouth is as the opening of 
 an unripe grave, full of stench and rottenness, Rom. iii. 
 13. " Their throat is as an open sepulchre." Thy na- 
 tural actions are sin ; for " when ye did eat, and when
 
 108 Doctrine of Natural Corruption. [STATE n. 
 
 ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for 
 yourselves ?" Zech. vii. 6. Thy civil actions are sin, 
 Prov. xxi. 4. " The plowing of the wicked is sin." Thy 
 religious actions are sin, Prov. xv. 8. " The sacrifice of 
 the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." The thoughts 
 and imaginations of thy heart are only evil. A deed may 
 be soon done, a word soon spoken, a thought swiftly pas- 
 seth through the heart ; but each of these is an item in 
 thy accounts. O sad reckoning ! As many thoughts, 
 words, actions, as many sins. The longer thou livest, 
 thy accounts swell the more. Should a tear be dropt 
 for every sin, thine head behoved to be waters, and thine 
 eyes a fountain of tears : for nothing but sin comes from 
 thee. Thy heart frames nothing but evil imaginations : 
 there is nothibg in thy life but what is framed by thine 
 heart ; and therefore there is nothing in thy heart, or 
 life, but evil. 
 
 Secondly, All thy religion, if thou hast any, is lost la- 
 bour ; as to acceptance with God, or any saving effect to 
 thyself. Art thou yet in thy natural state ? Truly then 
 thy duties are sins, as was just now hinted. Would not 
 the best wine bs loathsome, in a vessel wherein there is 
 no pleasure ? So is the religion of an unregenerate man. 
 Under the law, the garment which the flesh of the sacri- 
 fice was carried in,- though it touched other things, did 
 not make them holy : but he that was unclean, touching 
 any thing, whether commop or sacred, made it unclean. 
 Even so thy duties cannot make thy corrupt soul holy, 
 though they in themselves be good ; but thy corrupt 
 heart defiles them, and makes them unclean, Hag. ii. 12, 
 J3, 14. Thou wast wont to divide thy works into two 
 sorts, some good, some evil : but thou must count again, 
 and put them all under one head ; for God writes en 
 them all, " Only evil." This is lamentable. It will be 
 no wonder to see those beg in harvest, who fold their 
 hands, and sleep, in seed time : but to be labouring with 
 others in the spring, and yet have nothing to reap when 
 the harvest comes, is a very sad case ; and will be the
 
 HEAD i.] Doctrine of Natural Corruption. 100 
 
 case of all professors, living and dying in their natural 
 state. 
 
 Lastly, Thou canst not help thyself. What canst thou 
 do to take away thy sin, who art wholly corrupt ? No- 
 thing truly, but sin. If a natural man begin to relent, 
 drop a tear for his sin, and reform, presently the corrupt 
 heart apprehends at least a merit of congruity ; he has 
 done much himself, (he thinks) and God cannot but do 
 more for him, on that account. In the mean time he 
 does nothing but sin : so that the congruous merit is, 
 that the leper be but out of the camp ; the dead soul bu- 
 ried out of sight ; and the corrupt lump cast into the pit. 
 How cnnst thou think to recover thyself, by any thing 
 thou canst do ? Will mud and filth wash out filthiness ? 
 and wilt thou purge out sin by sinning ? Job took a pot- 
 sherd to scrape himself, because his hands were as full of 
 boils as his body. This is the case of thy corrupt soul ; 
 not to be recovered, but by Jesus Christ, whose " strength 
 was dried up like a potsherd," Psal. xxii. 15, Thou art 
 poor indeed, extremely miserable and poor, Rev. iii. 17. 
 Thou hast no shelter, but a refuge of lies; no garment 
 for thy soul, but filthy rags ; nothing to nourish it, but 
 husks, that cannot satisfy. More than that, thou hast 
 got such a bruise in the loins of A.dam, which is not as 
 yet cured, that thou art without strength, Rom. v. 6. un- 
 able to do, or work for thyself : nay, more than all this, 
 thou canst not so much as seek aright, but liest helpless,, 
 as an infant exposed in the open field, Ezek. xvi. 5, 
 
 USE III. I exhort you to believe this sad truth. 
 Alas ! it is evident, it is very little believed in the world. 
 Few are concerned to get their corrupt conversation 
 changed : but fewer, by far, to get their nature changed. 
 Most men know not what they are, jnor what spirits they 
 are of: they are as. the eye, which, seeing many things, 
 never sees itself. But until ye know every one the plague 
 of his own heart, there is no hope of your recovery. Why 
 will ye not believe it ? Ye have plain scripture testimony 
 for it ; but you are loath to entertain such an ill opinion
 
 110 God's noticing Natural Sin. [STATE n. 
 
 of yourselves. Alas, that is the nature of your disease, 
 Rev. iii. 1 7. " Thou knowest not that thou art wretch- 
 ed, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Lord, 
 open their eyes to see it, before they die of it ; and in 
 hell lift up their eyes, and see what they will not see now. 
 
 I shall shut up this weighty point, of the corruption of 
 man's nature, with a few words to another doctrine from 
 the text. 
 
 DOCTRINE, God takes special notice of our natural cor- 
 ruption, or the sin of our nature. This he testifies two 
 ways : (1.) By his word, as in the text, " God saw that 
 every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was 
 only evil continually." See Psal. xiv. 2, 3. (2.) By his 
 works. God writes his particular notice of it, and dis- 
 pleasure with it, as in many of his works, so especially in 
 these two : 
 
 (1.) In the death of the infant children of men. Many 
 miseries they have been exposed to ; they were drowned 
 in the deluge, consumed in Sodom by fire and brimstone ; 
 they have been slain with the sword, dashed against the 
 stones, and are still dying ordinary deaths. What is the 
 true case of this ? On what ground doth a holy God thus 
 pursue them ? Is it the sin of their parents ? That may 
 be the occasion of the Lord's raising the process against 
 them ; but it must be their own sin that is the ground 
 of the sentence passing on them : " For the soul that 
 sinneth it shall die," saith God, Ezek. xviii. 4. Is it 
 their own actual sin ? They have none. But as men do 
 with toads and serpents, which they kill at first sight, 
 before they have done any hurt ;' because of their veno- 
 mous nature ; so it is in this case. 
 
 (2.) In the birth of the elect children of God. When 
 the Lord is about to change their nature, he makes the 
 sin of their nature lie heavy upon their spirits. When 
 he minds to let out the corruption, the lance gets full 
 depth in their souls, reaching to the root of sin, Rom. vii, 
 7, 8, 9. The flesh or corruption of nature, is pierced,
 
 HEAD i.] Men's overlooking their Natural Sin. ill 
 
 being crucified, as well as the affections and lust, Gal. 
 v. 24. 
 
 USE. Let us then have a special eye upon the corrup- 
 tion and sin of our nature. God sees it : O that we saw 
 it too, and that sin were ever before us ! What avails it 
 to notice other sins, while this mother sin is not noticed ? 
 Turn your eyes inward to the sin of your nature. It is 
 to be feared, many have this work to begin yet ; that 
 they have shut the door, while the grand thief is yet in 
 the house undiscovered. This is a weighty point ; and, 
 in handling of it, 
 
 I. I shall, for conviction, point at some evidences of 
 men's overlooking the sin of their nature, which yet the 
 Lord takes particular notice of. (1.) Men's looking on 
 themselves with such confidence, as if they were in no ha- 
 zard of gross sins. Many would take it very heinously 
 to get such a caution as Christ gave his apostles, Luke 
 xxi. 34. " Take heed of surfeiting and drunkenness.'* 
 If any should suppose them to break out in gross abomi- 
 nations, they'd be ready to say, " Am I a dog ?" It would 
 raise the pride of their hearts, but not their fear and trem- 
 bling : because they know not the corruption of their na- 
 ture. (2.) Untenderness towards those that fall. Many, 
 in that case, cast off all bowels of Christian compassion ; 
 for they do not consider themselves, lest they also be 
 tempted, Gal.vi. 1. Men's passions are often highest a- 
 gainst the faults of others, when sin sleeps soundly in 
 their own breasts. Even good David, when he was at 
 his worst, was most violent against the faults of others. 
 While his conscience was asleep under his guilt, in the 
 matter of Uriah, the Spirit of the Lord takes notice, that 
 his anger was greatly kindled against the man in the pa- 
 rable, 2 Sam. xii. 5. And on good grounds, it is thought, 
 it was at the same time that he treated the Ammonites 
 so cruelly, as is related ver, 81. " Putting them under 
 saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, 
 and making them pass through the brick kiln." Grace 
 makes men zealous against sin in others, as well as in
 
 112 Metis overlooking their Natural Sin. [STATE it. 
 
 themselves : but eyes turned inward to the corruption of 
 nature clothe them with pity and compassion ; and fill 
 them with thankfulness to the Lord, that they themselves 
 were not the persons left to be such spectacles of human 
 frailty. (3.) There are not a few, who, if they be kept 
 from afflictions in worldly things, and from gross out- 
 breakings in their conversation, know not what it is to 
 have a sad heart. If they meet with a cross, which their 
 proud hearts cannot stoop to bear, they'll be ready to say, 
 O to be gone : but the corruption of their nature never 
 makes them long for heaven. Lusts, scandalously break- 
 ing out at a time, will mar their peace : but the sin of 
 their nature never makes them a heavy heart. (4.) De- 
 laying of repentance, in hopes to set about it afterwards. 
 Many have their own appointed time for repentance and 
 reformation : as if they were such complete masters over 
 their lusts, that they can allow them to gather more 
 strength, and yet overcome them. They take up resolu- 
 tions to amend, without an eye to Jesus Christ, union 
 with him, and strength from him ; a plain evidence they 
 are strangers to themselves : and so they are left to them- 
 selves, and their flourishing resolutions wither ; for as 
 they see not the necessity, so they get not the benefit, of 
 the dew from heaven, to water them. (5.) Men's ven- 
 turing frankly on temptations, and promising liberally on 
 their own heads. They cast themselves fearlessly into 
 temptation, in confidence of their coming off fairly : but, 
 were they sensible of the corruption of their nature, 
 they'd beware of entering on the devil's ground ; as one 
 girt about with bags of gunpowder, would be loath to 
 walk where sparks .of fire are flying, lest he should be 
 hlown up. Self-jealousing well becomes Christians. Lord, 
 is it I ? They that know the deceit of their bow, will 
 not be very confident that they shall hit the mark. 
 (6.) Unacquaintedness with heart-plagues. The know- 
 ledge of the plagues of the heart is a rare qualification. 
 There are indeed some of them written in such great 
 characters, that he who runs may read them : but there 
 are others more subtile, which few do discern. How few
 
 HEAD i.] Men's overlooking their Natural Sin. 11$ 
 
 are there, to whom the bias of the heart to unbelief is a 
 burden ? Nay, they perceive it not. Many have had 
 sharp convictions of other sins, that were never to this 
 day convicted of their unbelief : though that is the sin 
 especially aimed at in a thorough conviction, John xvi. 
 8, 9. " He will reprove the world of sin, because they 
 believe not on me." A disposition to establish our o\vn 
 righteousness, is a weed that naturally grows in every 
 man's heart ; but few sweat at the plucking of it up : it 
 lurks undiscovered. The bias of the heart, to the way 
 of the covenant of works, is a hidden plague of the heart 
 to many. All the difficulty they find is, in getting up 
 their hearts to duties : they find no difficulty in getting 
 their hearts off them, and over them to Jesus Christ. 
 How hard is it to stave men off from their own righte- 
 ousness ? yet it is very hard to convince them of their 
 learning to it at all. Lastly, Pride and self-conceit. A 
 view of the corruption of nature would be very humbling, 
 and oblige him that has it, to reckon him the chief of sin- 
 ners. Under greatest attainments and enlargements, it 
 would be ballast to his heart, and hide pride from his eyes. 
 The want of thorough humiliation, piercing to the sin of 
 one's nature, is the ruin of many professors : for digging 
 deep makes great difference betwixt wise and foolish buiU 
 ders, Luke vi. 48, 49. 
 
 II. I will lay before you a few things, in which ye 
 should have a special eye to the sin of your nature. (1.) 
 Have a special eye to it, in your application to Jesus 
 Christ. Do you find any need of Christ, which sends you 
 to him as the Physician of souls ? O forget not your 
 disease, when ye are with the physician. They 
 never yet knew" well their errand to Christ, that 
 went not to him for the sin of their nature : for his 
 blood to take away the guilt of it, and his Spirit to break 
 the power of it. Though in the bitterness of your souls, 
 ye should lay before him a catalogue of your sins of o- 
 mission and commission, which might reach from earth 
 to heaven ; yet, if the sin of your nature were wanting
 
 114* Sin of Nature specially Noticed. [STATE ir. 
 
 in it, assure yourselves, you have forgot the best part of 
 the errand a poor sinner has to the physician of souls. 
 What would it have availed the people of Jericho, to have 
 set before Elisha all the vessels in their city, full of the 
 water that was naught, if they had not led him forth to 
 the spring, to cast in the salt there ? 2 Rings ii. 1 9, 20, 
 21. The application in easy. (2.) Have a special eye 
 to it, in your repentance, whether initial or progressive ; 
 in your first repentance, and in the renewing of your re- 
 pentance afterwards. Though a man be sick, there is 
 no fear of death, if the sickness strike not to his heart ; 
 and there is as little fear of the death of sin, as long as 
 the sin of our nature is not touched. But if ye would 
 repent indeed, let the streams lead you up to the foun- 
 tain ; and mourn over your corrupt nature, as the cause 
 of all sin, in heart, lip, and life, Psal. li. 4, 5. "Against 
 thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy 
 sight Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did 
 my mother conceive me." (3,) Have a special eye upon 
 it in your mortification, Gal. v. 24>. " And they that are 
 Christ's have crucified the flesh." It is the root of bit- 
 terness that must be struck at ; which the axe of morti- 
 fication must be laid to, else we labour in vain. In vain 
 do men go about to purge the streams, while they are at 
 no pains about the muddy fountain. It is vain religion 
 to attempt to make the life truly good, while the corrup- 
 tion of nature retains its ancient vigour, and the power 
 of it is not broken. Lastly, Ye are to eye it in your dai- 
 ly walk. He that would walk aright, must have one eye 
 upward to Jesus Christ, and another inward to the cor- 
 ruption of his own nature. It is not enough that we look 
 about us, we must also look within us. There the wall is 
 weakest ; there our greatest enemy lies ; and there are 
 grounds for daily watching and mourning. 
 
 III. I shall offer some reasons why we should especial- 
 ly notice the sin of our nature. 
 
 1. Because, of all sins, it is the most extensive and 
 diffusive. It goes through the whole man, and spoils all.
 
 HEAD i.] Why is It to be specially Noticed ? 115 
 
 Other sins mar particular parts of the image of God ; but 
 this doth at once deface the whole. A disease, affecting 
 any particular member of the body, is ill; but that which 
 effects the whole is worse. The corruption of nature is 
 the poison of the old serpent, cast into the fountain of 
 action ; and so infects every action, every breathing of 
 the soul. 
 
 2. It is the cause of all particular lusts, and actual 
 sins in our hearts and lives. It is the spawn which the 
 great leviathan has left in the souls of men : From whence 
 comes all the fry of actual sins and abominations ? Mark 
 vii. 21. " Out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, 
 adulteries," &c. It is the bitter fountain : particular lusts 
 are but rivulets running from it, which bring forth into the 
 life part only, and not the whole of what is within. Now 
 the fountain is still above the streams : so where the wa- 
 ter is good, it is best in the fountain ; where it is ill it is 
 worse there. The corruption of nature being that which 
 defiles all, itself must needs be the most abominable 
 thing. 
 
 3. It is virtually all sin ; for it is the seed of all sins, 
 which want but the occasion to set up their heads, being, 
 in the corruption of nature, as the effect in the virtue of 
 its cause. Hence it is called a body of death, (Rom. vii. 
 24>.) as consisting of the several members belonging to 
 such a body of sins, (Col. ii. 11.) whose life lies in spiri- 
 tual death. It is the cursed ground, fit to bring forth 
 all manner of noxious weeds. As the whole nest of ve- 
 nomous omtures must needs be more dreadful, than any 
 few of th^n that come creeping forth ; so the sin of thy 
 nature, that mother of abominations, must be worse than 
 any particular lusts, that appear stirring in thy heart and 
 life. Never did every sin appear, in the conversation of 
 the vilest wretch that ever lived ; but look thou into thy 
 corrupt nature, and there thou mayest see all and every 
 sin in the seed and root thereof. There is a fulness of 
 all unrighteousness there, Rom, i. 29. There is atheism, 
 idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, and whatsoever
 
 Why is it to be specially Noticed. [STATE n. 
 
 is vile. Possibly none of these appear to thee in thy 
 heart : hut there is more in that unfathomable depth of 
 wickedness than thou knowest. Thy corrupt heart is 
 like an ant's nest, on which, while the stone lieth, none 
 of them appear, but take off the stone, and stir them up 
 but with the point of a straw, you will see what a swarm 
 is there, and how lively they be. Just such a sight 
 would thy heart afford thee ; did the Lord but withdraw 
 the restraint he has upon it, and suffer Satan to stir it 
 up by temptation. 
 
 4. The sin of our nature is, of all sins the most fixing 
 and abiding. Sinful actions, though the guilt and stain 
 of them may remain, yet, in themselves, they are passing. 
 The drunkard is not always at his cups, nor the unclean 
 person always acting lewdness. But the corruption of 
 nature is an abiding sin : it remains with men in its full 
 power, by night and by day ; at all times fixed, as with 
 bands of iron and brass, till their nature be changed by 
 converting grace ; and the remains of it continue with 
 the godly, until the death of the body. Pride, envy, co- 
 vetousnegs, and the like, are not always stirring in thee. 
 But the proud, envious, carnal nature, is still with thee : 
 even as the clock that is wrong, is not always striking 
 wrong ; but the wrong set continues with her without 
 intermission. 
 
 5. It is the great reigning sin, Rom. vi. 12. " Let not 
 sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should 
 obey it in the lusts thereof." There are three things 
 you may observe in the corrupt heart. (1.) ^There is in 
 the conupt nature, the corrupt bias of the hept, where- 
 by men are unapt for all good, and fitted for all evil. 
 This the apostle here calls sin, which reigns. (2.) There 
 are particular lusts, or dispositions of that corrupt na- 
 ture, which the apostle calls the lusts thereof; such as 
 pride, covetousness, <%c. (3.) There is one among these, 
 which is (like Saul among the people) higher by far than 
 the rest, namely, " the sin which doth so easily beset 
 us," Heb. xii. 1. This we usually call the predominant
 
 HEAD i.] Why is it to be specially Noticed. 117 
 
 sin, because it doth, as it were, reign over other particu- 
 lar lusts ; so that other lusts must yield to it. These 
 three are like a river, which divides itself into many 
 streams, whereof one is greater than the rest. The cor- 
 ruption of nature is the river head, which has many par- 
 ticular lusts in which it runs ; but it chiefly disburdens 
 itself into what is commonly called one's predominant 
 sin. Now all of these being fed by the sin of our na- 
 ture, it is evident, that sin is the reigning sin, which ne- 
 ver loseth its superiority over particular lusts, that live 
 and die with it, and by it. But, as in some rivers, the 
 main stream runs not always in one and the same chan- 
 nel ; so particular predominants may be changed, as lust 
 in youth may be succeeded by ovetousness, in old age. 
 Now what doth it avail to reform in other things, while 
 the great reigning sin remains in its full power ? What 
 though some particular lust be broken ? If that sin, the 
 sin of our nature, keep the throne, it will set up another 
 in its stead ; as when a water-course is stopt in one 
 place, while the fountain is not dammed up, it will stream 
 forth another way. And thus some cast off their prodi- 
 gality, but covetousness comes up in its stead : some cast 
 away their profanity, and the corruption of nature sends 
 not its main stream that way as before ; but it runs in 
 another channel, namely, in that of a legal disposition, 
 self-righteousness, or the like. So that people are ruin- 
 ed, by their not eyeing the sin of their nature. 
 
 Lastly, It is an hereditary evil, Psal. li. 5. " In sin 
 did my mother conceive me," Particular lusts are not 
 so, but in the virtue of their cause. A prodigal father 
 may have a frugal son. But this disease is necessarily 
 propagated in nature, and therefore hardest to cure. 
 Surely then the word should be given out against this 
 sin, as against the king of Israel, 1 Kings xxii. 31. "Fight 
 neither with small nor great, save only with this :" for 
 this sin being broken, all other sins are broken with it ; 
 and while it stands entire, there is no victory.
 
 118 Why is it to be specially Noticed. [STATE n. 
 
 IV. That ye may get a view of the corruption of your 
 nature, I would recommend to you three things. (1.) 
 Study to know the spirituality and extent of the lav/ of 
 God, for that is the glass wherein you may see yourselves. 
 (2.) Observe your hearts at all times, but especially un- 
 der temptation. Temptation is a fire that brings up the 
 scum of the vile heart ; carefully mark the first risings of 
 corruption. Lastly, Go to God, through Jesus Christ, 
 for illumination by his Spirit. Lay out your soul before 
 the Lord, as willing to know the vileness of your nature. 
 Say to him, " That which I know not, teach thou me." 
 And be willing to take light in from the word. "Believe, 
 and you shall see. It is by the word the Spirit teacheth, 
 but, without the Spirit's teaching, all other teaching will 
 be to little purpose. Though the gospel should shine 
 about you, like the sun at noon-day ; and this great 
 truth be never so plainly preached, you will never see 
 yourselves aright, until the Spirit of the Lord light his 
 candle within our breast : the fulness and glory of Christ, 
 the corruption and vileness of our nature, are never 
 rightly learned, but where the Spirit of Christ is the 
 teacher. 
 
 And now to shut up this weighty point, let the con- 
 sideration of what is said, commend Christ to you all. 
 Ye that are brought out of your natural state of corrup- 
 tion unto Christ, be humble ; still coming to Christ, and 
 improving your union with him to the further weaken- 
 ing of the remains of this natural corruption. Is your 
 nature changed ? It is but in part so. The day was ye 
 would not stir ; now ye are cured ; but remember the 
 cure is not yet perfected, ye still go halting. And, 
 though it were better with you than it is, the remem- 
 brance of what you were by nature should keep you 
 low. Ye that are yet in your natural state, take with 
 it ; believe the corruption of your nature ; and let Christ, 
 and his grace, be precious in your eyes. O that ye would 
 at length be serious about the state of your souls ! What 
 mind ye to do ? Ye must die, ye must appear before the
 
 HEAD i.] Conclusion of the First Head. 119 
 
 judgment-seat of God. Will ye lie down, and sleep ano- 
 ther night at ease, in this case ? Do it not ; for, before 
 another day, ye may he forced before God's dreadful tri- 
 bunal, in the grave-clothes of your corrupt state ; and 
 your vile souls cast into the pit of destruction, as a cor- 
 rupt lump, to be for ever buried out of God's sight. For 
 I testify unto you all, there is no peace with God, no 
 pardon, no heaven, for you, in this state : there is but a 
 step betwixt you, and eternal destruction from the pre- 
 sence of the Lord ; if the brittle thread of your life, which 
 may be broken with a touch, ere you are aware, be in- 
 deed broken while you are in this state ; you are ruined 
 for ever, and without remedy. But come speedily to 
 Jesus Christ : He has cleansed as vile souls as yours : and 
 yet he will cleanse the blood that he hath not cleansed, 
 Joel iii. 21. Thus far of the sinfulness of man's natural 
 itate.
 
 HEAD II. 
 
 THE MISERY OF MAN'S NATURAL STATE. 
 
 EIMIESIANS ii. :>'. 
 We were l>y nature the children of wrath, eeen as others. 
 
 AVING shewed you the sinfulness of man's natu- 
 ral state, I come now to lay before you the mise- 
 ry of it ; a sinful state cannot be but a miserable state. If 
 sin go before, wrath follows of course. Corruption and 
 destruction ai'e so knit together, that the Holy Ghost 
 calls destruction, even eternal destruction, corruption, 
 Gal. vi. 8. " He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the 
 flesh reap corruption," that is, everlasting destruction ; 
 as is clear from its being opposed to life everlasting, in 
 the following clause. And so the apostle having shown 
 the Ephesians their real state by nature, to wit, that they 
 were dead in sins and trespasses, altogether corrupt, he 
 tells them in the words of the text, their relative state, 
 namely, that the pit was digged for them, while in that 
 state of corruption : being dead in sins, they " were by 
 nature children of wrath, even as others." 
 
 In the words we have four things. 
 
 1 . The misery of a natural state ; it is a state of wrath, 
 as well as a state of sin. " We were," say the apostle, 
 " children of wrath," bound over and liable to the wrath 
 of God ; under wrath in some measure ; and, in wrath, 
 bound over to more, even the full measure of it, in hell, 
 where the floods of it go over the prisoners for ever. 
 Thus Saul, in his wrath, adjudging David to die, (1 Sam. 
 xx. 31.) and David, in his wrath, passing sentence of 
 death, against the man in the parable, (2 Sara. xii. 5.) 
 
 u
 
 122 The Explanation of the Text [STATE n. 
 
 say, each of them of his supposed criminal, He shall sure- 
 ly die, or, as the words in the first language are, he is a 
 son of death. So the natural man is a child of wrath, a 
 son of death. He is a malefactor, dead in law, lying in 
 chains of guilt ; a criminal held fast in his fetters, till 
 the day of execution; which will not fail unless a pardon 
 be obtained from his God, who is his judge and party too, 
 By that means, indeed, children of wrath may become 
 children of the kingdom. The phrase in the text, how- 
 ever common it is in the holy language, is very signifi- 
 cant. And as it is evident that the apostle, calling na- 
 tural men the * ( children of disobedience," (ver. 2.) means 
 more than that they were disobedient children ; for such 
 may the Lord's own children be : so, to be children 
 of wrath is more than simply to be liable to, or under 
 wrath : Jesus Christ was liable to, or under wrath : but 
 I doubt we have any warrant to say, he was a child of 
 wrath. The phrase seems to intimate, that men are, 
 whatsoever they are in their natural state, under the 
 wrath of God ; that they are wholly under wrath : wrath 
 is, as it were, woven into their very nature, and mixeth 
 itself with the whole of the man, who is (if I may so speak) 
 a very lump of wrath, a child of hell, as the iron in the 
 fire is all fire. For men naturally are children of wrath ; 
 come forth, so to speak, out of the womb of wrath ; as 
 Jonah's gourd wa the son of a night, (which we render, 
 "ca'me up in a night," Jonah iv. 10.) as if it had come 
 out of the womb of the night, (as we read of the womb 
 of the morning, Psal. ex. 8.) and so the birth following 
 the belly whence it came, was soon gone. Thus sparks 
 of fire are called sons of the burning coal, Job v. 7. marg. 
 Jsa. xxi. 10. "O my threshing, and the corn (or son) 
 of my floor," threshing in the floor of wrath, and, as it 
 were, brought forth by it. Thus the natural man is a 
 ehild of wrath : it "comes into his bowels like water, 
 and like oil into his bones," Psal. cfx. 18. For, though 
 Judas was the only son of perdition among the apostles ; 
 yet all men, by nature, are of the same famiU.
 
 HEAD ii.] Natural slate a state of wrath. 123 
 
 2. There is the rise of this misery ; men have it by 
 nature. They owe it to their nature ; not to their sub- 
 stance or essence : for that neither is nor was sin, and 
 therefore cannot make them children of wrath ; though, 
 for sin, it may be under wrath. Not to their nature, as 
 qualified at man's creation, by his Maker; but to their 
 nature, as vitiated and corrupted by the fall : to the vi- 
 tious quality, or corruption, of their nature, (whereof be- 
 fore) which is their principle of action, and ceasing from 
 action, the only principle in an unregenerate state. Now 
 by this nature, men are children of wrath ; as, in time of 
 pestilential infection, one draws in death together with 
 the disease then raging. Wherefore, seeing, from our 
 best being, as children of Adam, we be corrupt children, 
 sliapen in iniquity, conceived in sin : we also are from that 
 moment children of wrath. 
 
 3. The universality of this misery. All are by nature 
 children of wrath ; we, saith the apostle, even as others ; 
 Jews, as well as Gentiles. Those that are now, by grace, 
 the children of God, were, by nature, in no better case 
 than those that are still in their natural state. 
 
 Lastly, There is a glorious and happy change intimat- 
 ed here ; we were children of wrath, but are not so now ; 
 grace has brought us out of that fearful state. This the 
 apostle says of himself, and other believers. And thus, 
 it well becomes the people of God to be often standing 
 on the shore, and looking back to the Red Sea of the 
 state of wrath they were sometimes weltering in, even 
 as others. 
 
 MAN'S NATURAL STATE A STATE OF WRATH. 
 
 DOCTRINE, The state of nature is a state of wrath. 
 Every one in a natural unregenerate state, is in a state 
 of wrath. We are born children of wrath ; and con- 
 tinue so, until we be born again. Nay as soon as we are 
 children of Adam, we are children of wrath. 
 
 I shall introduce what I am to say on this point, with 
 '3 few observations, touching the universality of this state
 
 124 Natural state a slate of wrath. [STATE n. 
 
 of wrath, which may serve to prepare the way of the 
 word into your consciences. 
 
 Wrath has gone as wide as ever sin went. When an- 
 gels sinned, the wrath of God brake in upon them as a 
 flood, " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast 
 them down to hell," 2 Pet, ii. 4. And thereby it was 
 demonstrated, that no natural excellency in the creature 
 will shield it from the wrath of God, if once it become 
 a sinful creature. The finest and nicest piece of the work- 
 manship of heaven, if once the Creator's image upon it 
 be defaced by sin, God can and will dash it in pieces 
 in his wrath, unless satisfaction be made to justice, 
 and that image be repaired ; neither of which the sinner 
 himself can do. Adam sinned ; and the whole lump of 
 mankind was leavened, and bound over to the fiery oven 
 of God's wrath. And from the text ye may learn, (1.) 
 The ignorance of that state cannot free men from it. 
 The Gentiles, that knew not God, were by nature chil- 
 dren of wrath, even as others. A man's house may be on 
 fire, his wife and children perishing in the flames, while 
 he knows nothing of it ; and therefore is not concerned 
 about it. Such is your case, O ye that are ignorant of 
 these things ;. Wrath is silently sinking into your souls, 
 while you are blessing yourselves, saying, Ye shall have 
 peace. Ye need not a more certain token that ye are 
 children of wrath, than that ye never yet saw yourselves 
 such. Ye cannot be the children of God, that never yet 
 saw yourselves children of the devil. Ye cannot be in 
 the way to heaven, that never saw yourselves by nature 
 in the high road to hell. Ye are grossly ignorant of your 
 state by nature ; and so ignorant of God and of Christ, 
 and your need of him ; and though ye look on your ig- 
 norance as a covert from wrath ; yet, take it out of the 
 mouth of God himself, that it will ruin you, if it be not 
 removed, Isa. xxvij. 11. " It is a people of no under- 
 standing : therefore he that made them will not have 
 mercy on them," See 2 Thess. i. 8. Hos. ix. 6. (2.) No 
 outward privileges can exempt men from this state of
 
 HEAD ii.] Natural slate a state of wrath 125 
 
 wrath ; for the Jews, the children of the kingdom, God's 
 peculiar people, were " children of wrath, even as others." 
 Though ye be church-members, partakers of all church 
 privileges ; though ye be descended of godly parents, of 
 great and honourable families ; be what we will, ye are 
 by nature, heirs of hell, children of wrath. (3.) No pro- 
 fession or attainments in a profession of religion, do or 
 can exempt a man from this state of wrath. Paul was 
 one of the straitest sect of the Jewish religion, Acts xxvi. 
 5. yet a child of wrath, even as others, till he was con- 
 verted. The close hypocrite, and the profane, are alike, 
 as to their state; however different their conversation 
 be : and they will be alike in their fatal end, Psal. cxxv. 
 5. '* As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, 
 the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of ini- 
 quity." (4*.) Young ones, 'that are yet but setting out 
 into the world, have not that to do, to make themselves 
 children of wrath, by following the graceless multitude. 
 They are children of wrath by nature ; so it is done al- 
 ready : they were born heirs of hell ; they will indeed 
 make themselves more so, if they do not, while they are 
 young, flee from that wrath they are born to, by fleeing 
 to Jesus Christ. Lastly, Whatever men are now by grace, 
 they are even as others by nature. And this may be a 
 sad meditation to them that have be been at ease from 
 their youth, and have had no changes. 
 
 Now, these things being premised, I shall, in the first 
 place, show what this state of wrath is ; next, confirm 
 the doctrine ; and then apply it. 
 
 I. I am to show what this state of wrath is. But who 
 can fully describe the wrath of an angry God ? None can 
 do it. Yet so much of it may be discovered, as may 
 serve to convince men of the absolute necessity of fleeing 
 to Jesus Christ, out of that state of w r rath. Anger in 
 men is a passion and commotion of the spirit, for an in- 
 jury received ; with a desire to resent the same. When 
 it comes to a height, and is fixed in one's spirit, it is call- 
 ed wrath. Now there are no passions in (Jod properly
 
 126 Natural stale a stale of wrath. [STATE n. 
 
 speaking ; they are inconsistent with his absolute un- 
 changeableness, and independency ; and therefore Paul 
 and Barnabas (to remove the mistake of the Lycaonians, 
 who thought they were gods) tells them, " they were men 
 of like passions with themselves," Acts xiv. 15. Wrath 
 when it is attributed to God, not in respect of the affec- 
 tion of wrath, but the effects thereof. Wrath is a fire 
 in the bowels of a man, tormenting the man himself; 
 but there is no perturbation in God. His wrath doth 
 not in the least mar that infinite repose and happiness 
 which he hath in himself. It is a most pure, undisturb- 
 ed act of his will, producing dreadful effects against the 
 sinner. It is little we know of an infinite God ; but, con- 
 descending to our weakness, he is pleased to speak of 
 himself to us after the manner of men. Let us therefore 
 notice man's wrath, but remove every thing, in our con- 
 sideration of the wrath of God, that argues imperfection ; 
 and so we may attain to some view of it, however scanty. 
 By this means we are led to take up the wrath of God 
 against the natural man in these three. 
 
 First, There is wrath in the heart of God against him. 
 The Lord approves him not, but is displeased with him. 
 Every natural man lies under the displeasure of God ; 
 and that is heavier than mountains of brass. Although 
 he be pleased with himself, and others be pleased with 
 him too, yet God looks down on him as displeased. First, 
 His person is under God's displeasure, thou hatest all 
 workers of iniquity, Psal. v. 5. A godly man's sin is dis- 
 pleasing to God, yet his "person is still accepted in the be* 
 loved, Eph i. 6. But " God is angry with the wicked 
 every day," Psal. vii. 1 1 . there is a fire of wrath burns 
 continually against him in the heart of God. They are 
 as dogs and swine, most abominable creatures, in the 
 sight of God. Though their natural gtate be gilded over 
 with a shining profession, yet they are abhorred of God ; 
 they are to him, as smoke in his nose, Isa. Ixv. 5. and 
 lukewarm water to be spewed out of his mouth, Rev. iii. 
 16. Whitcd sepulchres, Matt, xxiii. 27. A generatioit
 
 HEAD ii.] Natural state a stale of wrath. 
 
 of vipers, Matt. xii. 34>. and a people of his wrath, Isa. x. 
 6. Secondly, He is displeased with all they do : it is 
 impossible for them to please him, being unbelievers, 
 Heb. xi. 6. He hates their persons ; and so hath no 
 pleasure in, but is displeased with, their best works, Isa. 
 Ixvi. G. " He that sacrificeth a lamb, is as if he cut off 
 a dog's neck," <c. Their duty as done by them, is an a- 
 bomination to the Lord, Prov. xv. 8. And as men turn 
 their back on them whom they are angry with, so the 
 Lord's refusing communion with the natural man in his 
 duties, is a plain indication of this wrath. 
 
 Secondly, There is a wrath in the word of God against 
 him. When wrath is in the heart, it seeks a vent by the 
 lips ; so God fights against the natural man with the 
 sword of his mouth, Rev. ii. 16. The Lord's word never 
 speaks good of him, but always curseth and condemnetli 
 him. Hence it is, that when he is awakened, the word 
 read or preached often increaseth his horror. First, It 
 condemns all his actions, together with his corrupt na- 
 ture. There is nothing he does, but the law declares it 
 to be sin. It is a rule of perfect obedience, from which 
 he always, in all things, declines ; and so it rejects every 
 thing he doth, as sin. Secondly, it pronounceth his doom 
 and denounceth God's curse against him, Gal. iii. 1O. 
 " For as many as are of the works of the law are under 
 the curse : For it is written, cursed is every one that 
 continueth not in all things, which are written in the 
 book of the law, to do them." Be he never so well in 
 the world, it pronounceth a woe from heaven against 
 him, Isa. iii. 11. The Bible is a quiver filled with ar- 
 rows of wrath against him ; ready to be shot into his soul. 
 God's threatenings, in his word, hang over his head as a 
 black cloud, ready to shower down on him every moment. 
 The word is indeed the saints' security against wrath ; 
 but it binds the natural man's sin and wrath together, as 
 a certain pledge of his ruin, if he continue in that state. 
 So the conscience being awakened, and perceiving this 
 tie made by the law, the man is filled with terrors in his 
 soul.
 
 128 Xatural state a slate of wrath. [STATE 11 
 
 n - _ .. . - ._ . 
 
 Thirdly, There is wrath in the hand of God, against 
 the natural man. He is under heavy strokes of wrath 
 already, and is liable to more. 
 
 First, There is wrath on his bod^. It is a piece of 
 cursed clay, which wrath is sinking" into, by virtue of 
 the threatening of the first covenant, Gen. ii. 17. "In 
 the day that tliou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 
 There is never a disease that affects him, but it comes 
 on him with the sting of God's indignation in it. They 
 are all cords of death, sent before to bind the prisoner. 
 
 Secondly, There is wrath upon -his soul. (1.) He can 
 have no communion with God ; he is foolish, and shall 
 not stand in God's sight, Psal. v. 5. When Adam sinned, 
 God turned him out of Paradise. And natural men 
 are, as Adam left them, banished from the gracious pre- 
 sence of the Lord ; and can have no access to him in 
 that state. There is war betwixt heaven and them : 
 and so all commerce -is cut off, " They are without God 
 in the world," Eph. ii. 12. The sun is gone down on 
 them, and there is not the least glimpse of favour to- 
 wards them from heaven. (2.) Hence the soul is left 
 to pine away in its iniquity. The natural darkness of 
 their minds, the averseness to good in their wills, the 
 disorder of their affections, and distemper of their con- 
 sciences, and all their natural plagues, 'are left upon 
 them in a penal way ; and, being so left, increase daily. 
 God casts a portion of worldly goods to them, more or 
 less as a bone is thrown to a dog. But, alas ! his wrath 
 against them appears, in that they get no grace. The 
 physician of souls comes by them, and goes by them ; 
 and cures others beside them, while they are consuming 
 away in their iniquity, and ripening daily for utter des- 
 truction. (3.) They lay open to fearful additional 
 plagues on their souls, even in this life. First, Some- 
 times they meet with deadening strokes, silent blows, 
 from the hand of an angry God. Arrows of wrath that 
 enter into their souls without noise ; Isa. vi. 10. "Make 
 the heart of this people fat, and inake their ears heavy,
 
 HEAD i.] Natural state a state of wrath. 129 
 
 and shut their eyes : lest they see with their eyes :'* 
 God strives with them for awhile, and convictions enter 
 their consciences ; but they rebel against the light : and, 
 by a secret judgment, they are knocked in the head ; so 
 that, from that time, they do, as it were, live and rot 
 above ground. Their hearts are deadened, their affec- 
 tions withered ; their consciences stupified ; and their 
 whole souls blasted ; " cast forth as a branch, and wither- 
 ed," John xv. 1G. They are plagued with judicial blind- 
 ness. They shut their eyes against the light ; and they 
 are given over to the devil, the god of this world, to be 
 blinded more, 2 Cor. iv. 4. Yea, "God sends them 
 strong delusions, that they should believe a lie," 2 Thess. 
 ii. 11. Even conscience, like a false light on the shore, 
 leads them upon rocks ; by which they are broken in 
 pieces. They harden themselves against God, and he 
 gives up with them, and leaves them to Satan and their 
 own hearts, whereby they are hardened more and more. 
 They are often "given up to vile affections," Rom. i. 26. 
 The reins are laid on their necks ; and they are left to 
 run into all excess, as their furious lusts draw them. Se- 
 co?idly, Sometimes they meet with quickening strokes, 
 whereby their souls become like mount Sinai, where no- 
 thing is seen but fire and smoke ; nothing heard but the 
 thunder of God's wrath, and the voice of the trumpet of 
 a broken law, waxing louder and louder : which makes 
 them like Pashur, (Jer. xx. 4.) A terror to themselves. 
 God takes the filthy garments of their sin, which they 
 were wont to sleep in securely ; overlays them with 
 brimstone, and sets them on fire about their ears : so they 
 have a hell within them. 
 
 Thirdly, There is wrath on the natural man's enjoy* 
 ments. Whatever be wanting in his house, there is one 
 thing that is never wanting there, Prov. iii. 33. " The 
 curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked." Wrath 
 is on all that he has ; on the bread that he eats, the 
 liquor he drinks, the clothes which he wears. M I Ik bas- 
 is
 
 160 Natural state a slate of wrath. [STATE n> 
 
 ~ -' --,~^* 
 
 ket and store are cursed," Deut. xxvi. 1 7. Some things 
 fall wrong with him ; and that comes to pass by virtue 
 of this wrath. Other things go according to his wish, and 
 there is wrath in that too; for it is a snare to his soul, 
 Prov. i. 32. " The prosperity of fools shall destroy them." 
 This wrath turns his blessings, into curses, Mai. ii. 2. 
 " I will curse your blessings ; yea, I have cursed them 
 already." The holy law is a killing letter to him, 2 Cor. 
 iii. 6. The ministry of the gospel a savour of death un- 
 to death., chap. ii. 16. In the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper, "he eateth and diinketh damnation to himself," 
 1 Cor. xi. 29. Nay, more than all that, Christ himself is 
 to him a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, 1 Pet. 
 iii. 8. Thus wrath follows the natural mao, as his sha- 
 dow doth his body. 
 
 Fourthly ', He is under the power of Satan, Acts xxvi. 
 18 The devil has overcome him, so is he by his con- 
 quest, his lawful captive, Isa. xlix. 24.. The natural man 
 is condemned already, John iii. 18. and therefore under 
 Hie heavy hand of " him that hath the power of death, 
 that is, the devil." And he keeps his prisoners in the 
 prison of a natural state, bound hand and foot, Isa. Ixi. 
 1. laden with divers lusts, as chains wherewithal he holds 
 them fast. Thou needest not as many do, call on the 
 devil to take thee ; for he has a fast hold of thee already, 
 as a child of wrath. 
 
 Lastly, The natural man hath no security for a mo- 
 ment's safety, from the wrath of God its coming on him 
 to the uttermost. The curse of the law, denounced a- 
 gainst him, as already tied him to the stake : so that the 
 arrows of justice may pierce his soul ; and, in him, may 
 meet all the miseries and plagues that flow from the a- 
 venging wrath of God. See how he is set as a mark to 
 the arrows of wrath, Psal. vii. 11, 12, 13. "God is angry 
 with the wicked every day. If he turn not he will whet 
 his sword : he hath bent his bow, and made it ready ; he 
 hath also prepared for him the instruments of death." 
 J>oth he lie down to sleep ? There is not a promise he
 
 HEAD ii.] Natural state a state of wrath, 131 
 
 he knows of, or can know, to secure him that he shall not 
 be in hell ere he awake. Justice is pursuing and cries for 
 vengeance on the sinner : the law casts the fire balls of 
 its curses continually upon him : wasted and long 1 tired 
 patience is that which keeps in his life. He walks amidst 
 enemies armed against him : his name may be Magor- 
 Missabib, i. e. Terror round about, Jer. xx. 3. Angels, 
 devils, men, beasts, stones, heaven, and earth, are in rea- 
 diness, on a word of command from the Lord, to ruin him. 
 
 Thus the natural man lives, but he must die too ; and 
 death is a dreadful messenger to him. It comes upon 
 him armed with wrath, and puts three sad charges in 
 his hand. (1.) Death chargeth him to bid him an eter- 
 nal farewell to all things in this world ; to leave it, and 
 make way to another world. Ah! what a dreadful 
 charge must this be to a child of wrath ! he can have no 
 comfort from heaven ; for God is his enemy : and as for 
 the things of the world, and the enjoyment of his lusts, 
 which were the only springs of his comfort ; these are in 
 a moment dried up to him for ever. He is not ready for 
 another world : he was not thinking of removing so soon ; 
 or, if he was, yet he has no portion secured to him in the 
 other world, but that which he was born to, and was in- 
 creasing all his days, namely a treasure of wrath. But 
 go he must ; his clay- god, the world, must be parted with, 
 and what has he more ? There was never a glimmering 
 of light, or favour from heaven, to his soul : and now the 
 wrath that did hang in the threatening, as a cloud like a 
 man's hand, is darkening the face of the whole heaven 
 above him. And, if he look unto the earth, (from whence 
 all his light was wont to come) " behold trouble and 
 darkness, dimness of anguish ; and he shall be driven to 
 darkness," Isa. viii. 22. (2.) Death charges soul and bo- 
 dy to part, till the great day. His soul is required of 
 him, Luke xii. 20. O what a miserable parting must 
 this be to a child of wrath ! Care was indeed taken to 
 provide for the body things necessary for this life : but, 
 alas ! there is nothing laid up for another life to it ; no*
 
 132 Natural state a state of wrath. [STATE n. 
 
 thing to be a seed of a glorious resurrection : as it lived, 
 so it must die, and rise again sinful flesh, fuel for the fire 
 of God's wrath. As for the soul, he was never solicitous 
 to provide for it. It lay in the body, dead to God, and 
 and all things truly good ; and so must be carried out 
 into the pit, in the grave-cloathes of its natural state ; 
 for now that death comes, the companions in sin must 
 part. (3.) Death chargeth the soul to appear before the 
 tribunal of God, while the body lies to be carried to the 
 grave, Eccl, xii. 7. ' " The spirit shall return unto God 
 who gave it," Heb. ix. 27. " It is appointed unto all 
 men once to die, but after this the judgment." Well 
 were it for the sinful soul, if it might be buried together 
 with the body. But that cannot be ; it must go and re- 
 ceive its sentence ; and shall be shut up in the prison of 
 hell, while the cursed body lies imprisoned in the grave, 
 till the day of the general judgment. 
 
 When the end of the world, appointed of God, is come, 
 the trumpet shall sound, and the dead arise. Then shall 
 the weary earth, at the command of the Judge, cast forth 
 the bodies, the cursed bodies of those that lived and died 
 in their natural state ; " the sea, death, and hell, shall 
 deliver up their dead," Rev. xx. 1 3. Their miserable 
 bodies and souls shall be reunited, and forced before the 
 tribunal of Christ, Then shall they receive that fearful 
 sentence, " Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matt. xxv. 
 41. " Whereupon they shall go away into everlasting 
 punishment," ver. 4<6. They shall be eternally shut up 
 in hell, never to get the least drop of comfort, nor the 
 least ease of their torment. There they will be punished 
 with the punishment of loss, being excommunicated for 
 ever from the presence of God, his angels and saints, 
 All means of grace, all hopes of a delivery, shall be for 
 ever cut off from their eyes. They shall not have a drop 
 of water to cool their tongues, Luke xiv. 24, 25. They 
 Shall be punished with the punishment of sense. They
 
 HEAD ii.] Natural state a state of wrath. 133 
 
 must not only depart from God, but depart into fire, into 
 everlasting fire. There the worm, that shall gnaw them, 
 shall never die ; the fire that |jpill scorch them shall ne- 
 ver be quenched. God shall, through all eternity, hold 
 them up with the one hand, and pour the full vials of 
 wrath into them with the other. 
 
 This is that state of wrath natural men live in ; being 
 under much of the wrath of God, and liable to more. 
 But, for a farther. view of it, let us consider the qualities 
 of that wrath. (1.) It is irresistible ; there is no stand- 
 ing before it ; *' Who may stand in thy sight, when once 
 thou art angry ?" Psal. Ixxxvi. 7. Can the worm or the 
 moth defend itself against him that designs to crush it ? 
 As little can worm man stand before an angry God. Fool- 
 ish man, indeed, practically bids a defiance to heaven. But 
 the Lord often, even in this world, opens such sluices of 
 wrath upon them, as all their might cannot stop ; but 
 they are carried away thereby, as with a flood. How much 
 more will it be so in hell? (2.) It is unsupportable. What 
 one cannot resist, he will set himself to bear; but, "who 
 shall dwell in devouring fire ? Who shall dwell with ever- 
 lasting burnings ? God's wrath is a weight that will sink 
 men into the lowest hell. It is a burden no man is able 
 to stand under. " A wounded spirit who can bear it ?" 
 Prov. xviii. 14. (3.) It is unavoidable to such as Avill go 
 on impenitently in their sinful course. *' He that being 
 often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be de- 
 stroyed, and that without remedy," Prov. xxix. 1. We 
 may now fly from it indeed, by flying to Jesus Christ ; 
 but such as fly from Christ shall never be able to avoid 
 it. Whither can men fly from an avenging God ? Where 
 will they find a shelter ? The hills will not hear them. 
 The mountains will be deaf to their loudest cries ; when 
 they cry to them, to hide them from the wrath of the 
 Lamb. (4.) It is powerful and fierce wrath, Psal. xc. 11. 
 " Who knoweth the power of thine anger ? even accord- 
 ing to thy fear, so is thy wrath." We are apt to fear 
 the wrath of man more than we ought : but no man can
 
 J-3-* Natural state a state of wrath. [STATE in 
 
 apprehend the wrath of God to be more dreadful than it 
 really is : the power of it can never be known to the ut- 
 most : seeing it is infinity and (properly speaking) has 
 no utmost. How fierce soever it be, either on earth, or 
 in hell, God can still carry it further. Every thing in 
 God is most perfect in its kind : and therefore no wrath 
 is so fierce as his. O sinner ! how wilt thou be able to 
 endure that wrath, which will tear thee in pieces, Psak 
 1. 22. and grind thee to powder, Luke xx. 18. The histo- 
 ry of the two she-bears, that tare the children of Bethel, 
 is an awful one, 2 Kings ii. 23, 24>. But the united force of 
 the rage of lions, leopards, and she-bears, bereaved of their 
 whelps, is not sufficient to give us even a scanty view of 
 the power of the wrath of God, Hos. xiii. 7, 8. " There- 
 fore I will be unto them as a lion ; as a leopard by the 
 way will I observe them. I will meet them as a bear 
 that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rent the caul 
 of their heart," &c. (5.) It is penetrating and piercing 
 wrath. It is burning wrath, and fiery indignation. There 
 is no pain more exquisite than that which is caused by 
 fire ; and no fire so piercing as the fire of God's indigna- 
 tion, that burns into the lowest hell, Deut. xxxii. 22. 
 The arrows of men's wrath can pierce flesh, blood, and 
 bones ; but cannot reach the soul : but the wrath of God 
 will sink into the soul, and so pierce a man in the most 
 tender part. Like as, when a person is thunder-struck, 
 oftimes there is not a wound to be seen in the skin ; yet 
 life is gone, and the bones are, as it were, melted ; so 
 God's wrath can penetrate into and melt one's soul with- 
 in him, when his earthly comforts stand about him entire, 
 anr 1 untouched ; as in Belshazzar's case, Dan. v. 6. (6.) 
 It is constant wrath, running parallel with the man's con- 
 tinuance in an unregenerate state, constantly attending 
 him from the womb to the grave. There are few so dark 
 days, but the sun sometimes looketh out from under the 
 clouds : but the wrath of God is an abiding cloud on the 
 objects of it, John iii. 36. The wrath of God abideth on 
 him that believes not. (7.) It is eternal. O miserable 
 soul ! If thou fly not from this wrath, unto Jesus Christ,
 
 n E AD 1 1 .] , Doctrine of the state of wra'th. 
 
 thy misery had a beginning, but it shall never have an 
 end. Should devouring death wholly swallow thee up, 
 and for ever hold thee fast, in a grave, it would be kind -, 
 but thou must live again, and never die ; that thou may- 
 est be ever dying, in the hands of the living God. Cold 
 death will quench the flame of men's wrath against us, 
 if nothing else do it : but God's wrath when it has come 
 on the sinner, millions of ages will still be the wrath to 
 come, Matt. iii. 7. 1. Thess. i. 10. as the water of a river 
 is still coming, how much soever of it has passed. While 
 God is, he will pursue the quarrel. Lastly, However 
 dreadful it is, and though it be eternal, yet it is most just 
 wrath, It is a clear fire, without the least smoke of un- 
 justice. The sea of wrath raging with greatest fury a- 
 gainst the sinner, is clear as crystal. The Judge of all 
 the earth can do no wrong ; he knows no transports of 
 passion, for they are inconsistent with the perfection of 
 his nature. " Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance ? 
 (I speak as a man) God forbid ; for then, how shall God 
 judge the world ?" Rom. iii. 5, 6. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE STATE OF WRATH CONFIRMED 
 AND VINDICATED. 
 
 II. I shall confirm the doctrine. Consider, (1.) How 
 peremptory the threatening of the first covenant is : " In 
 the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," Gen. 
 iii. 17. Hereby sin and punishment being connected, 
 the veracity of God ascertains the execution of the threat- 
 ening. Now, all men being by nature under this coven- 
 ant, the breach of it lays them under the curse. (2.) 
 The justice of God requires, that a child of sin be a child 
 of wrath ; that the law being broken, the sanction there- 
 of should take place. God, as man's Ruler and Judge, 
 cannot but do right, Gen. xviii. 25. Now it is a rigl te- 
 ous thing with God to recompense sin with wrath, 2 
 Thess, i. 6. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, Hab. 
 i. 13. And he hates all the workers of iniquity, Psal. v. 
 fi. (3.) The horrors of a natural conscience prove this, 
 There is a conscience in the breasts of men, which can
 
 136 Doctrine of the state of wrath. [STATE n. 
 
 tell them they are sinners, and therefore liable to the 
 wrath of God. Let men, at any time, soberly commune 
 with themselves, and they will find they have the wit- 
 ness in themselves, knowing the judgment of God, that 
 they which commit such things are worthy of death, 
 Rom. i. 32. (4.) The pangs of the new birth, the work 
 of the spirit of bondage on elect souls in order to their 
 conversion, demonstrate this. Hereby their natural sin- 
 fulness and misery, as liable to the wrath of God, are 
 plainly taught them, filling their hearts with fear of that 
 wrath. Now that the spirit of bondage is no other than 
 the Spirit of God, whose work is to convince of sin, righ- 
 teousness, and judgment, (John xvi. 8.) this testimony 
 must needs be true ; for the Spirit of truth cannot wit- 
 ness an untruth. Meanwhile true believers, being freed 
 from the state of wrath, receive not the spirit of bondage 
 again to fear, but receive the spirit of adoption, Rom. viii. 
 1,5. And therefore, if fears of that nature do arise, after 
 the soul's union with Christ ; they come from the saint's 
 own spirit, or from a worse. Lastly, the sufferings of Christ 
 plainly prove this doctrine. Wherefore was the Son of 
 God a son under wrath, but because the children of 
 men were children of wrath ? He suffered the wrath 
 of God ; not for himself, but for those that were liable 
 to it in their own persons. Nay, this not only speaks 
 us to have been liable to wrath ; but also that wrath 
 must have a vent, in the punishing of sin. If this was 
 done in the green tree, what will become of the dry ? 
 What a miserable case must a sinner be in, that is out 
 of Christ ; that is not vitally united to Christ, and par- 
 takes not of his Spirit ! God, who spared not his own Son, 
 surely will not spare such an one. 
 
 But the unregenerate man, who has no great value 
 for the honour of God, will be apt to rise up against his 
 Judge, and in his own heart condemn his procedure. 
 Nevertheless, the Judge being infinitely just, the sentence 
 must be righteous. And therefore, to stop thy mouth, 
 O proud sinner, and to still thy clamour against thy
 
 HEAD ii.] confirmed and vindicated. 137 
 
 teous Judge, consider, First, Thou art a sinner by na- 
 ture ; and it is highly reasonable that guilt and wrath 
 be as old as sin. Why should not God begin to vindi- 
 cate his honour, as soon as vile worms begin to impair 
 it ? Why shall not a serpent bite the thief, as soon as he 
 leaps over the hedge ? Why should not the threatening 
 take hold of the sinner, as soon as he casts away the com- 
 mand ? The poisonous nature of the serpent affords a 
 man sufficient ground to kill it, as soon as ever he can 
 reach it : and, by this time thou mayest be convinced, 
 that thy nature is a very compound of enmity against 
 God. Secondly, Thou hast not only an enmity against 
 God in thy nature ; but hast discovered it, by actual sins, 
 which are in his eye acts of hostility. Thou hast brought 
 forth thy lusts into the field of battle, against thy sove- 
 reign Lord. And now that thou art such a criminal, 
 thy condemnation is just : for, besides the sin of thy na- 
 ture, thou hast done that against heaven, which if thou 
 hadst done against men, thy life behoved to have gone for 
 it; and shall not wrath from heaven overtake thee ? (1.) 
 Thou art guilty of high treason and rebellion against the 
 King of heaven. The thought and wish of thy heart, 
 which he. knows as well as the language of thy mouth, 
 has been, " No God," Psal. xiv. 1 . Thou has rejected 
 his government, blown the trumpet, and set up the stan- 
 dard of rebellion against him, being one of those that 
 say, " We will not have this man to reign over us," Luke 
 xix. 14. Thou hast striven against and quenched his 
 Spirit ; practically disowned his laws, proclaimed by his 
 messengers ; stopt thine ears at their voice, and sent them 
 away mourning for thy pride. Thou hast conspired with 
 his grand enemy, the devil. Although thou art a sworn 
 servant of the King of glory, daily receiving his favours, 
 and living on his bounty ; thou art holding a correspon- 
 dence, and hast contracted a friendship, with his greatest 
 enemy, and art acting for him against thy Lord ; for 
 " the lusts of the devil you will do," John viii. 44. (2.) 
 Thou art a murderer before the Lord. Thou hast laid
 
 138 Doctrine of the state of wrath [STATE n, 
 
 the stumbling-block of thine iniquity before the blind 
 world ; and hast ruined the souls of others, by thy sinful 
 course. And though thou dost not see now ; the time 
 may come, when thou shalt see the blood of thy relations, 
 neighbours, acquaintances, and others, upon thy head, 
 Matt, xviii. 7. '* Wo unto the world because of offences. 
 Wo to that man by whom the offence cometh." Yea, 
 thou art a self-murderer before God, Prov. viii. 36. " He 
 that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul : all they 
 that hate me, love death," Ezek. xviii. 31. " Why will 
 ye die ?" The laws of men go as far as they can against 
 the self-murderer, deny ing his body a burial-place amongst 
 others, and confiscating his goods : what wonder is it the 
 law of God is so severe against soul-murderers ? Is it 
 strange, that they who will needs depart from God now, 
 cost what it will, be forced to depart from him at last 
 into everlasting fire? But, what is yet more criminal, 
 thou art guilty of the murder of the Son of God ; for 
 the Lord will reckon thee amongst those that pierced 
 him, Rev. i. 7. Thou hast rejected him as well as the 
 Jews did ; and, by thy rejecting him, thou hast justified 
 their deed. They indeed did not acknowledge him to be 
 the Son of God, but thou dost. What they did against 
 bim, was in his state of humiliation ; but thou hast act- 
 ed against him, in his state of exaltation. These things 
 will aggravate thy condemnation. What wonder then, 
 if the voice of the Lamb change to the roaring of the 
 lion, against the traitor and murderer ? 
 
 Objection. But some will say, Is there not a vast dis- 
 proportion betwixt our sin, and that wrath you talk of? 
 T answer No ; God punisheth no more than the sinner 
 deserves. To rectify your mistake in this matter, con- 
 sider, (1.) The vast rewards God has annexed to obedi- 
 ence. His word is no more full of fiery wrath against 
 sin, than it is of gracious rewards to the obedience it re- 
 quires. If heaven be in the promises, it is altogether equal 
 that hell be in the threaten ings. If death were not in 
 the balance with life, eternal misery with eternal happi-
 
 HKAD ii.] confirmed and vindicated. 139 
 
 ness, where were the proportion ? Moreover, sin deserves 
 the misery, but our best works do not deserve the hap- 
 piness : yet both are set before us : sin and misery, holi- 
 ness and happiness. What reason is there then to com- 
 plain ? (2.) How severe soever the threatenings be, yet all 
 has enough to do to reach the end of the law. " Fear him," 
 says our Lord, " which after he hath killed, hath power 
 to cast into hell ; yea, I say unto you, fear him," Luke 
 xii. 5. This bespeaks our dread of divine power and ma- 
 jesty ; but yet how few fear him indeed ! The Lord 
 knows tha sinners' hearts to be exceedingly intent upon 
 fulfilling 1 their lusts : they cleave so fondly to these ful- 
 some breasts, that a small force does not suffice to draw 
 them away from them. They that travel through deserts, 
 where they are in hazard from wild beasts, have need 
 to carry fire along with them ; and they have need of a 
 hard wedge that have knotty timber to cleave : so a ho- 
 ly law must be fenced with dreadful wrath, in a world ly- 
 ing in wickedness. But who are they that complain of 
 that wrath as too great, but those to whom it is too lit- 
 tle to draw them off from their sinful courses ? It was 
 the man who pretended to fear his lord, because he was 
 an austere man, that kept his pound laid up in a napkin : 
 and so he was condemned out of his own mouth, Luke 
 xix. 20, 21, 22. Thou art that man, even thou whose 
 objection I am answering. How can the wrath thou art 
 under, and liable to, be too great, while yet is not suffi- 
 cient to awaken thee to flee from it ? Is it time to relax 
 the penalties ef the law, when men are trampling the 
 commands of it under foot ? (3.) Consider how God dealt 
 with his Son, whom he spared not, Rom. viii. 32. The 
 wrath of God seized on his soul and body both, and 
 brought him into the dust of death. That his sufferings 
 were not eternal, flowed from the quality of the sufferer, 
 who was infinite ; and therefore able to bear at once the 
 whole load of wrath : and upon that account his suffer- 
 ings were infinite in value. But now that the sufferings 
 of a mere creature cannot be infinite in value, they must 
 be protracted to an eternity. And what confidence can
 
 140 Instructions from the state of wrath. [STATE 11. 
 
 a rebel subject have to quarrel (for his part) with a pun- 
 ishment executed on the king's son ? (4.) The sinner 
 doth against God M hat he can. " Behold thou hast done 
 evil things as thou couldest," Jer. iii. 5. That thou hast 
 not done more, and worse, thanks to him who restrained 
 thee ; to the chain, which the wolf was kept in by, not 
 to thyself. No wonder God show his power on the sin- 
 ner, who puts forth his power against God as far as it 
 will reach. The irregenerate man puts no period to his 
 sinful course ; and would put no bounds to it neither, if 
 he were not restrained by divine power for wise ends : 
 and therefore it is just he be for ever under wrath. (5.) 
 It is infinite majesty sin strikes against ; and so it is, in 
 some sort, an infinite evil. Sin riseth in its demerit, ac- 
 cording to the quality of the party offended. If a man 
 wound his neighbour, his goods must go for it ; but if he 
 wound his prince, his life must go to make amends for 
 that. The infinity of God makes infinite wrath the just 
 demerit of sin. God is infinitely displeased with sin : 
 and when he acts, he must act like himself, and show his 
 displeasure by proportionable means. 
 
 Lastly, Those that shall lie for ever under his wrath, 
 will be eternally sinning; and therefore must eternally 
 suffer : not only in respect of divine judicial procedure ; 
 but because sin is its own punishment, in the same man- 
 ner as holy obedience is its own reward. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE MISERY OF MAN'S NATURAL 
 STATE APPLIED. 
 
 USE (1.) Of information. Is our state by nature a 
 state of wrath ? Then, 
 
 I. Surely we are not born innocent. These chains of 
 wrath, which by nature are upon us, speak us to be born 
 criminals. The swaddling bands, wherewith infants 
 are bound hand and foot as soon as they are born, may 
 put us in mind of the cords of wrath, with which they 
 are held prisoners as childr en of wrath.
 
 HEAD ii."] Instructions from the state of wrath . Hi 
 
 2. AY hat desperate madness is it, for sinners to go on 
 in their sinful course ? What is it but to heap coals of 
 fire on thine head, to lay more and more fuel to the fire 
 of wrath ? to " treasure up unto thyself wrath against 
 the day of wrath," Rom. ii. 5. Thou mayest perish, 
 "when his wrath is kindled hut a little," Psal. ii. 12. 
 Why wilt thou increase it yet more? Thou art already 
 bound with such cords of death, as will not easily be loom- 
 ed : what need is there of more ? Stand, careless sinner, 
 and consider this. 
 
 3. Thou hast no reason to complain, as long as thou 
 art out of hell. " Wherefore doth a living man com- 
 plain ?" Lam. iii. 39 If one who has forfeited his life 
 be banished his native country, and exposed to many 
 hardships ; he may well bear all patiently, seeing his life 
 is spared. Do ye murmur, for that ye are under pain or 
 sickness? Nay bless God ye are not there where the 
 worm never dieth. Dost thou grudge, that thou art not 
 in so good a condition in the world as some of thy neigh- 
 bours are ? Be thankful rather, that ye are not in the 
 case of the damned. Is thy substance gone from thee ? 
 wonder that the fire of God's wrath hath not consumed 
 thyself. Kiss the rod, O sinner, and acknowledge mer- 
 cy ; for God "punisheth us less than our iniquities de- 
 serve," Ezra iv. 13. 
 
 4. Here is a memorandum both for poor and rich. (1) 
 The poorest that go from door to door, and had not one 
 penny left them by their parents, were born to an inher- 
 itance. Their first father Adam left them children of 
 wrath : and, continuing in their natural state, they can- 
 not miss of it ; for " this is the portion of a wicked man 
 from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God," 
 Job xx. 29. An heritage that will furnish them with a 
 habitation, who have not where to lay tl^eir head ; they 
 shall be "cast into utter darkness," Matt. xxv. 30. for 
 to them, " is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever," 
 Jude ver. 13. \vheretheirbedshallbe sorrow; "they 
 shall lie down in sorrow," Isa. 1. 11. their food shall be
 
 Instructions from the slate of wrath. [STATE n. 
 
 judgment, for God will feed them with judgment, Ezek. 
 xxxiv. 16. and their drink shall be the red wine of God's 
 wrath, "the dreg's whereof all the wicked of the earth 
 shall wring out, and drink them," Fsal. Ixxv. 8. I know 
 that these who are destitute of worldly goods, and with- 
 al void of the knowledge and grace of God, who there- 
 fore may he called tlie devil's poor, will be apt to say 
 here. " vVe hope God will make us suffer all our misery 
 in this world, and we shall be happy in the n?xt:" as if 
 their miserable outward condition in time would secure 
 their happiness in eternity. A gross and fatal mistake ! 
 And there is another inheritance they have, viz. " Lies, 
 vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." Jer. xvi. 
 19. But " the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies," 
 Isa. xxviii. 17. Dost thou think, O sinner, that God, 
 who commands judges on earth not to respect the per- 
 son of the poor in judgment, Lev, xix. 15. will pervert 
 judgment for thee ? Nay, know for certain, that how- 
 ever miserable thou art here, thou shalt be eternally 
 miserable hereafter, if thou live and die in thy natural 
 state. (2) Many that have enough in the world, have 
 far more than they know of. Thou hadst, (it may be) 
 O unregenerate man, an estate, a good portion, a large 
 stock, left thee by thy father ; thou hast improved it, 
 and the sun of prosperity shines upon thee ; so that thou 
 canst say with Esau, Gen. xxxiii. 9. " I have enough." 
 But know, thou hast more than all that, an inheritance 
 thou dost not consider of: thou art a child of wrath, an 
 heir of hell. That is an heritage which will abide with , 
 thee, amidst all the changes in the world, as long as 
 thou continuest in an unregenerate state. When thou 
 shalt leave thy substance to others, this shall go along 
 with thyself, into another world. It is no wonder a 
 slaughter-ox is fed to the full, and is not toiled as others 
 are, Job xxi. 30. " The wicked is reserved to the day 
 of destruction ; they shall be brought forth to the day 
 of wrath. Well then, rejoice, let thine heart cheer thee, 
 walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine 
 eyes." Live above reproofs and warnings from the word
 
 HEAD ii.] Instructions from the state of wrath. 14,3 
 
 of God ; show thyself a man of a fine spirit, by casting 
 off all fear of God ; mock at seriousness, live like thyself, 
 a child of wrath, an heir of hell : " but know thou, that 
 for all these thing's God shall bring thee to judgment," 
 Eccl. xi. 9. " Assure thyself, thy breaking shall come 
 suddenly at an instant," Isa. xxx. 13. "For, as the 
 crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a 
 fool," Ecel. vii. 6. The fair blaze and great noise they 
 make, is quickly gone : so shall thy mirth be. And then 
 that wrath, that is now silently sinking into thy soul, 
 shall make a fearful hissing. 
 
 5. Woe to him, that, like Moab, hath been at ease 
 from his youth, Jer. xlviii. 1 1. and never saw the bUick 
 cloud of wrath hanging over his head. There are many 
 who " have no changes, therefore they fear not God," 
 Psal. Iv. 19. They have lived in a good belief (as they 
 call it) all their days ; that is, they never had power to 
 believe an ill report of their soul's state. Many have 
 come by their religion too easily : and as it came lightly 
 to them, so it will go from them, when the trial comes. 
 Do ye think men flee from wrath in a. morning dream? 
 Or will they flee from the wrath they never saw pursu- 
 ing them ? 
 
 6. Think it not strange, if ye see one in great distress 
 about his soul's condition, who was wont to be as jovial, 
 and as little concerned for salvation, as any of his neigh- 
 bours. Can one get a right view of himself, as in a state 
 of wrath, and not be pierced with sorrows, terrors, and 
 anxiety ? When a weight, quite above one's strength, 
 lies on him, and he is alone, he can neither stir hand nor 
 foot ; but, when one comes to lift it off him, he will 
 struggle to get from under. Thunder-claps of wrath 
 from the word of God, conveyed to the soul by the Spi- 
 rit of the Lord, will surely keep a man awake. 
 
 Lastly, It is no wonder wrath come upon churches and 
 nations, and upon us in this land, and that infants and 
 children yet unborn smart under it. Most of the society 
 are yet children of wrath ; few are flying from it, or tak-
 
 Instructions from the stale of wrath. [STATE n. 
 
 ing the way to prevent it ; but people of all ranks are 
 helping it on. The Jews rejected Christ : and their 
 children have been smarting 1 under wrath these sixteen 
 hundred years. God grant that the bad entertainment 
 given to Christ and his gospel, by this generation, be 
 not pursued with wrath on the succeeding one. 
 
 USE (2.) Of exhortation. And here (1.) I shall drop 
 a word to those who are yet in an unregenerate state. 
 (2.) To those who are brought out of it. (3.) To all in- 
 differently. 
 
 I. To you that are yet in an unregenerate state, I 
 would sound the alarm, and warn you to see to ^ our- 
 selves, while yet there is hope. O ye children of wrath, 
 take no rest in this dismal state ; but flee to Christ, the 
 only refuge : haste and make your escape thither. The 
 state of wrath is too hot a climate for you to live in, 
 Micah. ii. 10 " Arise ye and depart, for this is not your 
 rest/' O sinner, knowest thou where thou art ? Dost 
 thou not see thy danger ? The curse has entered into 
 thy soul. Wrath is thy covering : the heavens are grow- 
 ing blacker and blacker above thy head : the earth is 
 weary of thee, the pit is opening her mouth for thee ; 
 and should the thread of thy life be cut this moment, 
 thou art thenceforth past all hope for ever. Sirs, if we 
 saw you putting a cup of poison to your mouth, we would 
 fly to you, and snatch it out of your hands. If we saw 
 the house on fire about you, while ye were fast asleep in 
 it, we would run to you and drag you out of it. But 
 alas ! ye are in ten thousand times greater hazard : yet 
 we can do no more, but tell you your danger ; invite, 
 exhort, beseech, and obtest you, to look to yourselves ; 
 and lament your stupidity and obstinacy, when we can- 
 not prevail with you to take warning. If there were no 
 hope of your recovery, we should be silent, and would 
 not torment you before the time : but though ye be lost 
 and undone, there is hope in Israel concerning' this thing. 
 Wherefore I cry unto you in the name of the Lord, and 
 in the words of the prophet, Zech. ix. 12. " Turn ye to
 
 HEAD n.j Alarm to the Unre generate. 14<& 
 
 the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope." Flee to Jesus 
 Christ out of this your natural state. 
 
 Motive 1. While ye are in this state, ye must stand 
 or fall according to the law, or covenant of works. If 
 ye understood this aright, it would strike through your 
 hearts as a thousand darts. One had better be slave to 
 the Turks, condemned to the galleys, or under Egyptian 
 bondage, than be under the covenant of works now. All 
 mankind were brought under it in Adam, as we heard 
 before ; and thou., in thy un regenerate state, art still 
 where Adam left thee. It is true, there is another co- 
 venant brought in : but what is that to thee, who art 
 not brought into it ? thou must needs be under one of 
 the two covenants ; either under the law, or under grace. 
 That thou art not under grace, the dominion of sin over 
 thee manifestly evinceth ; therefore thou art under the 
 law, Rom. vi. 14. Do not think God has laid aside the 
 first covenant, Matt. v. 17, 18. Gal. iii. 10. No, he will 
 magnify the law, and make it honourable. It is broken 
 indeed on thy part ; but it is absurd to think, that there- 
 fore your obligation is dissolved. Nay, thou must stand 
 and fall by it, till thou canst produce th> discharge from 
 God himself, who is thy party, in that covenant ; and 
 this thou canst not pretend to, seeing thou art not in 
 Christ. 
 
 Now, to give you a view of your misery, in this res- 
 pect, consider these following things: (1.) Hereby ye 
 are bound over to death, in virtue of the threatening of 
 death in that covenant, Gen. ii. 17. The condition be- 
 ing broken, ye fall under the penalty. So it con- 
 cludes you under wrath. (2) There is no salvation 
 for you under this covenant, but on a condition im- 
 possible to be performed by you. The justice of God 
 must be satisfied for the wrong you have done already. 
 God has written this truth in characters of the blood of 
 his own Son. Yea, and you must perfectly obey the law- 
 fur the time to come. So saith the law, Gal. iii. 12. The 
 man that doth them shall live in them. Come then, O
 
 Alarm to the Unregenerafe. [STATE \\. 
 
 sinner, see if thou canst make a ladder, whereby thou 
 mayest reach the throne of God : stretch forth thine 
 arms and try if thou canst fly on the wings of the wind, 
 catch hold oil the clouds, and pierce through these visi- 
 ble heavens ; and then either climb over, or break, 
 through, the jasper walls of the city above. > These 
 things shalt thou do, as soon as thou shalt reach heaven, 
 in thy natural state, or under this covenant. (3) There 
 is no pardon under this covenant. Pardon is the benefit 
 of another covenant, with which thou hast nothing to 
 do, Acts xiii. 39. " And by him all that believe arc- 
 justified from all things, from which ye could not be jus- 
 tified by the law of Moses/' As for thee, thou art in 
 the hand of a merciless creditor, which will take thee by 
 he throat, saying, Pay \vhat thou owest ; and cast thee 
 into prison, there to remain, till thou hast paid the ut- 
 most farthing : unless thou be so wise as to get a cau- 
 tioner in time, who is able to answer for all thy debt, and 
 get-up thy discharge. This Jesus Christ alone can do 
 Thou abidest under this covenant, and pleadest mercy : 
 but what is thy plea founded on ? There is not one pro- 
 mise of mercy or pardon in that covenant. Dost thou 
 plead mercy for" mercy's sake ? Justice will step in be- 
 twixt it and thee ; and plead God's covenant threaten- 
 ing, which he cannot deny. (-*.) There is no place for 
 repentance in this covenant, so as the sinner can be help- 
 ed by it. For as soon as ever thou sinnest, the law lays 
 its curses on thee, which is o dead weight thou canst by 
 no means throw off; no, not though thine "head were 
 waters, and thine eyes a fountain of tears, to weep day 
 and night" for thy sin. That is "what the law can- 
 not do, in that it is weak through the flesh," Rom. viii, 
 3. Now thou art another profane Esau, that hath sold 
 the blessing ; ami there is no place for repentance, though 
 you seek it carefully with tears, while under that cove- 
 nant. (5.) There is no acceptance of the will for the 
 deed under this covenant, which was not made for good 
 will, but good works. The mistake in this point ruins 
 many. They are not in Christ, but island under the fir? r
 
 HEAD i.] Alarm to the Unregencrate. 147 
 
 covenant ; and' yet they will plead this privilege. This 
 is just as if one having made a frast for those of his own 
 family, when they sit down at table, another man's ser- 
 vant that has run away from his master, would pre- 
 sumptuously come forward, and sit down among them 
 would not the master of the feast give such a stranger 
 that check, Friend, how earnest thou in hither ? And, 
 since he is none of his family, command him to be gone 
 quickly. Though a master accept the good will of his 
 own child, for the deed, can a hired servant expect that 
 privilege ? (6.) Ye have nothing to do with Christ, 
 while under that covenant. By the law of God a wo- 
 man cannot be married to two husbands at once : either 
 death or divorce must dissolve the first marriage, ere she 
 can marry another. So we must first be dead to the 
 law, ere we can lie married to Christ, Rom. vii. 4. The 
 law is the first husband ; Jesus Christ, who raiseth the 
 dead, marries the widow, that was heart-broken, and 
 slain by the first husband. But while the soul is in the 
 house with the first husband, it cannot plead a marriage- 
 relation to Christ ; nor the benefits of a marriage cove- 
 nant, which is not yet entered into, Gal. v. 4. " Christ 
 is become of no effect to you ; whosoever of you are jus- 
 tified by the law, ye are fallen from grace." Peace, par- 
 don, and such like benefits are all benefits of the covenant 
 of grace. And ye must not think to stand off from Christ, 
 and the marriage-covenant with him, and yet plead these 
 benefits ; more than one man's wife can plead the benefit 
 of a contract of marriage past betwixt another man and his 
 own wife. Lastly, See the bill of exclusion, past in the 
 court of heaven, against all under the covenant of works, 
 Gal. iv. 3O. " The son of the bond-woman shall not be 
 heir." Compare ver. 24. Heirs of wrath mnst not be 
 heirs of glory. Whom the first covenant has power to 
 exclude out of heaven, the second covenant cannot bring 
 into it. 
 
 Objection. Then it is impossible for us to be saved. 
 Answer, It is so, while you are in that state. But if ye
 
 348 Alarm to the Unregenerate. [STATE n 
 
 would be out of that dreadful condition, hasten out of 
 that state. If a murderer be under sentence of death ; 
 so long as he lives within the kingdom, the laws will 
 reach his life : but if he can make his escape, and go over 
 the sea, into the dominions of another prince, our laws 
 cannot reach him there. This is what we would have 
 you to do : flee out of the kingdom of darkness into the 
 kingdom of God's dear Son ; out of the dominion of the 
 law, into the dominion of grace : then all the curses of 
 the law, or covenant of works, shall never be able to 
 reach you. 
 
 Motive 2. O ye children of wratlvyour state is wretch- 
 ed, for ye have lost God, and that is an unspeakable loss. 
 Ye are "without God in the world," Eph. ii. 12. What- 
 ever ye may call yours, ye cannot call God yours. If we 
 look to the earth ; perhaps ye can tell us, that land, that 
 house, or that herd of cattle, is yours. But let us look 
 upward to heaven ; is that God, that grace, that glory, 
 yours ? Truly you have neither part nor lot in this mat- 
 ter. When Nebuchadnezzar talks of cities and king- 
 doms. O how big does he speak ; Great Babylon that 
 I have built my power my majesty : but he tells a 
 poor tale, when he comes to speak of God, saying, Your 
 God, Dan. ii. 4-7. and iv. 30. Alas, sinner, whatever 
 thou hast, God is gone from thee. O the misery of a 
 a godless soul! Hast thou lo%t God? then (1.) The 
 sap and substance of all thou hast in the world, is gone. 
 The godless man, have what he will, is one that hath 
 not, Matt. xxv. 29. I defy the unregenerate man to at- 
 tain to soul-satisfaction, whatever he possesseth : since 
 God is not his God. All his days he eateth in darkness : 
 in every condition there is secret dissatisfaction haunts 
 his heart, like a ghost : the soul w r ants something, though 
 perhaps it kuoweth not what it is ; and so it will be al- 
 ways, till the soul return to God, the fountain of satis- 
 faction. (2.) Thou canst do nothing to purpose for thy- 
 self; for God is gone, " his soul is departed from thee," 
 Jer. vi, 8. like a leg out of joint hanging by, whereof a
 
 HEAD ii.] Alarm to the Unrc^enerale. 149 
 
 man has no use, as the word there used doth bear. Los- 
 ing God, thou hast lost the fountain of good : and so all 
 grace, all goodness, all the saving influences of his Spirit. 
 What canst thou do then ? What fruit canst thou bring 
 forth, more than a branch cut off from the stock ? John 
 xv. 5. Thou art " become unprofitable," Rom. iii. 12. 
 as afilthy rotten thing, fit only for the dunghill. (3.) Death 
 has come up into thy windows, yea, and lias settled on, 
 thy face ; for God, " in whose favour is life," Psal. xxx. 5. 
 is gone from thee, and so the soul of thy soul is departed. 
 What a loathsome lu?np is the body, when the soul is 
 gone ? Far more loathsome is thy soul in this case. 
 Thou art dead while thou livest. Do not deny it, see- 
 ing thy speech is laid, thine eyes closed, and all spiritual 
 motion in thee ceaseth. Thy true friends, who see thy 
 case, do lament ; because thou art gone into the land of 
 silence. (4.) Thou hast not a steady friend among all 
 the creatures of God : for now that thou hast lost the 
 master's favour, all the family is set against thee. Con- 
 science is thine enemy : the word never speaks good of 
 thee : God's people loathe thee, so far as they see what 
 thou art, Psal. xv. 4. The beasts and stones of the field 
 are banded together against thee, Job v. 23. Hos, ii. 18. 
 Thy meat, drink, clothes, grudge to be serviceable to the 
 wretch that has lost God, and abuseth them to his dis- 
 honour. The earth groaneth under thee ; yea, the 
 " whole creation groane^i, and travaileth in pain toge- 
 ther," because of thee and such as thou art, Rom. viii. 
 22. Heaven will have nothing to do with thee ; for 
 " there shall in no ways enter into it any thing that de- 
 fileth," Rev. xv* 27. Only " hell from befleath is moved 
 for thee, to meet thee at thy coming," Isa. xiv. 9. Lastly, 
 Thy hell is begun already. What makes hell, but ex- 
 clusion from the presence of God? "Depart from me, 
 ye cursed." Now ye are gone from God already, with 
 the curse upon 1 you. That shall be your punishment at 
 length (if ye turn not) which is now your choice. As a 
 gracious state is a state of glory in the bud : so a grace-
 
 Alarm to the Unregcncrale. [STATE u. 
 
 less state is hell in the bud, which, if it continue, 
 come to perfection at length. 
 
 Motive 3. Consider the dreadful instances of the wrath 
 of God ; and let them serve to awaken thee, to fly out 
 of this state. Consider, (1.) How it has fallen on men. 
 Even, in this world, many have been set up as monu- 
 ments of divine vengeance, that others might fear. Wrath 
 has swept away multitudes, who have fallen together by 
 the hand of an angry God. Consider how the Lord 
 *' spared not the old world, bringing in the flood upon 
 the world of the ungodly. And turning the cities of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with 
 an overthrow, making them an example unto those that 
 after should live ungodly," 2 Peter ii. 5, 6. But it is yet 
 more dreadful to think of that " weeping, wailing, and 
 gnashing of teeth," among those who ** in hell lift up 
 their eyes/' but cannot get a " drop of water to cool 
 their tongues." Believe these things, and be warned by 
 them, lest destruction come upon thee, for a warning to 
 others. (2) Consider how wrath fell upon the fallen an- 
 gels, whose case is absolutely hopeless. They were the 
 first that ventured to break the hedge of the divine law; 
 and God set them up for monuments of his wrath against 
 sin. They once left their own habitation, and were never 
 allowed to look in again at the hole of the door ; but they 
 are " reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto 
 the judgment of the great day, Jude verse 6. Lastly, 
 Behold how an angry God dealt with his own Son, stand- 
 ing in the room of elect sinners, Romans viii. 32. " God 
 spared not his own Son." Sparing mercy might have 
 expected, if any at all. If any person could have ob- 
 tained it, surely his own Son would have got it : but he 
 spared him not. The father's delight is made " a man 
 of sorrows :" he who is the wisdom of God becomes sore 
 amazed, ready to faint away in a fit of horror. The 
 weight of this wrath makes him sweat " great drops of 
 blood." By the fierceness of this fire, his heart was like 
 wax melted in the midst of his bowels. Behold here
 
 BEAD ii.J Alarm to the Unregenerate . 1.51 
 
 how severe God is against sin ! The sun was struck 
 blind with this terrible sight, rocks were rent, graves 
 opened, death, as it were, in the excess of astonishment, 
 letting its prisoners slip away. What is a deluge, a 
 shower of fire and brimstone on Sodomites, the terrible 
 jioise of a dissolving world, the whole fabric of heaven 
 and earth falling down at once, angels cast down from 
 heaven into the bottomless pit ! What are all these, I say, 
 in comparison with this, God suffering, groaning, dying 
 on a cross ! Infinite holiness did it, to make sin look like 
 itself, viz. infinitely odious. And will men live at ease, 
 while exposed to this wrath ? 
 
 Lastly, Consider what a God he is, with whom thou 
 hast to do, whose wrath thou art liable unto. He is a 
 God of infinite knowledge and wisdom : so that none of 
 thy sins, however secret, can be hid from him. He in- 
 fallibly finds out all means, whereby wrath may be exe- 
 cuted, toward the satisfying of justice. He is of infinite 
 power, and so can do what he Avill against the sinner. 
 How heavy must the strokes of wrath be, which are laid on 
 by an omnipotent hand ! Infinite power can make the sin - 
 ner prisoner, even when he is in his greatest rage against 
 heaven. It can bring again the several parcels of dust 
 out of the grave, put them together again, . re-unite the 
 soul and body, arraign them before the tribunal, hurry 
 them away to the pit, and hold them up with the one 
 hand, through eternity, while they are lashed with the 
 other. He is infinitely just, and therefore must punish; 
 it were acting contrary to his nature to suffer the sinner 
 to escape wrath. Hence the executing of this wrath is 
 pleasing to him : for though the Lord hath no delight in 
 .the death of a sinner, as it is the destruction of his own 
 creature; yet he delights in it, as it is the execution <>t' 
 justice. " Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire 
 and brimstone, and an horrible tempest." Mark the rea- 
 son ; * For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness," 
 Psal. xi. 6, 7. " I will cause my fury to rest upon them, 
 and I will be comforted," E/rk. v. 13, " I also will laugh
 
 Alarm to the Unregenerale. [STATE 11. 
 
 at your calamity," Prov. i. 26. Finally, He lives for 
 ever, to pursue the quawel. Let us therefore conclude, 
 " It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living 
 God." 
 
 Be awakened, then, O young sinner ; be awakened, O 
 old sinner, who art yet in, the state thou wast born in ! 
 Your security is none of God's allowance ; it is the sleep 
 of death : rise out of it, ere the pit close its mouth on 
 you. It is true; you may put on a breast-ptete of iron, 
 make your brow brass, and your heart as an adamant ; 
 who can help it? But God will break that brazen brow, 
 and make that adamantine heart, at last, to fly into a 
 thousand pieces. Ye may, if y will, labour to put these 
 things out of your heads, that ye may yet sleep in a sound 
 skin, though in a state of wrath. Ye may run away, 
 with the arrows sticking in your consciences, to your 
 work, to work them away ; or to your beds, to sleep 
 them out ; or to company, to sport and 'laugh them a- 
 way : but convictions, so stifled, will have a fearful re- 
 surrection ; and the day is coming, when the arrows of 
 wrath shall so stick in thy soul, as thou shalt never be 
 able to pluck them out through the ages of eternity, un- 
 less thou take warning in time. 
 
 But, if any desire to flee from the wrath to come ; 
 and for that end, to know what course to lake, I offer 
 them these few advices ; and beseech them, as they love 
 their own souls, to fall in with them. (1) Retire your- 
 selves into some secret place, and there meditate on this 
 your misery. Believe it, and fix your thoughts on it. 
 Let each put the question to himself, How can I live in 
 this state? How can I die in it ? How will I rise again, 
 and stand before the tribunal of God in it ? (2) Consi- 
 der seriously the sin of your nature, heart, and life. A 
 kindly sight of wrath flows from a deep sense of sin. 
 They who see themselves exceeding sinful, will find no 
 great difficulty to perceive themselves to be heirs of 
 wrath. (3) Labour to justify God in this matter. To 
 quarrel with God about it, and to rage like a wild bull
 
 HEAD ii.] Duty of those delivered from wrath. 153 
 
 in a net, will but fix you the more in it. Humiliation 
 of soul, before the Lord, is necessary for an escape. God 
 will not sell deliverance, but freely gives it to those who 
 see themselves altogether unworthy of his favour. Lastly, 
 Turn your eyes, O prisoners of hope, towards the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; and embrace him, as he offereth himself 
 in the gospel. There is no salvation in any other. Acts 
 iv. 12. God is a consuming fire ; ye are children of wrath , 
 if the Mediator interpose not betwixt him and you, ye are 
 undone for ever. If ye would be safe, come under his 
 shadow : one drop of that wrath cannot fall there, for he 
 s < delivereth us from the wrath to come," 1 Thess. i 10. 
 Accept of him in his covenant, wherein he offereth him- 
 self to thee: and so thou shalt, as the captive woman, 
 redeem thy life, by marrying the conqueror. His blood 
 will quench that fire of wrath, which burns against thee : 
 in the white raiment of his righteousness thou shalt be 
 safe ; for no storm of wrath can pierce it. 
 
 II. I shall drop a few words to the saints. 
 
 First, Remember that at that time, (namely, when 
 ye were in your natural state,) ye were without Christ, 
 having no hope, and without God in the world. Call 
 to mind that state ye were in formerly ; and review the 
 misery of it. There are five memorials I may thence 
 give in to the whole assembly of the saints, who are no 
 more children of wrath ; but heirs of God, and joint-heirs 
 with Christ, though as yet in their minority. (I) Re- 
 member, that, in the day our Lord took you by the hand, 
 ye were in no better condition than others. O what 
 moved him to take you, when he past by your neighbours ! 
 He found ynu children of wrath even as others ; but he 
 did not leave you so. He came into the common prison, 
 where ye lay in your fetters, even as others ; and, from 
 amongst the multitude of condemned malefactors, he 
 picked out you, commanded your fetters to be taken off', 
 put a pardon in your hand, and brought you into the glo- 
 rious liberty of the children of God, while he left others
 
 Duty of those delivered from wrath. [STATE ir. 
 
 in the devil's fetters. (2) Remember, there was nothing 
 in you to engage him to love you in the day he first ap- 
 peared for your deliverance. Ye were children of wrath, 
 even as others ; fit for hell, and altogether unfit for hea- 
 ven : yet the king brought you into the palace ; the king's 
 son made love to you, a condemned criminal, and espous- 
 ed you to himself, on the day in which ye might have 
 been led forth to execution. " Even so, Father, for so it 
 seemeth good in thy sight," Matt. xi. 26. (3} Remem- 
 ber, ye were fitter to be loathed than loved in that day. 
 Wonder, that when he saw you in your blood, he looked 
 not at you with abhorrence, and passed by you. Won- 
 der that ever such a time should be a time of love, Ezek. 
 xvi. 8. (4i) Remember, ye are decked with borrowed 
 feathers. It is his comeliness which is upon you, ver. 14. 
 it was he that took off your prison garments, and clothed 
 you with robes of righteousness, garments of salvation ; 
 garments wherewith ye are arrayed as the lilies, which 
 toil not, neither do they spin. He took the chains from 
 off your arms, the rope from about your neck ; put you 
 in such a dress, as ye might be fit for the court of hea- 
 ven, even to eat at the king's table. (5) Remember your 
 faults this day, as Pharaoh's butler who had forgotten 
 Joseph. Mind how ye have forgotten, and how unkind- 
 ly you have treated him* who remembered you in your 
 low estate. Is this your kindness to your friend ? ]n the 
 day of your deliverance, did ye think ye could have thus 
 requited him, your Lord ? 
 
 Secondly, Pity the children of wrath, the world that 
 lies in wickedness. Can ye be unconcerned for them, 
 ye who were once in the same condition. Ye have got 
 ashore indeed, but your fellows are yet in hazard of per- 
 ishing ; v and will not ye make them all possible help for 
 their deliverance? What they are, ye sometimes were. 
 This may draw pity from you. and engage you to use all 
 means for their recovery. See Titus iii. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 Thirdly, Admire that matchless love, which brought 
 ~ou out of the state of wrath. Christ's love was active
 
 HEAD ii.] Duly of those delivered from wrath . 
 
 love; he loved the soul from the pit of corruption. It 
 was no easy work to purchase the life of the condemned 
 sinner ; but he gave his life for thy life. He gave his 
 precious blood to quench that flame of wrath, which o- 
 therwise would have burnt thee up. Men get the best 
 view of the stars from the bottom of a deep pit ; from 
 this pit of misery, into which thou wast cast by the first 
 Adam, thou mayest get the best view of the Sun of Righ- 
 teousness, in all its dimensions. He is the second Adam, 
 who took thee out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry 
 clay. How broad were the skirts of that love, which co- 
 vered such a multitude of sins ! Behold the length of it, 
 reaching ki from everlasting to everlasting," Psal. ciii. 17. 
 The depth of it going so low as to deliver thee " from 
 the lowest hell," Psal. Ixxxvi. 13. The height of it, in 
 raising thee up to " sit in heavenly places," Eph. ii. 6. 
 
 Fourthly, Be humble, walk softly all your years. Be 
 not proud of your gifts, graces, privileges, or attain- 
 ments : but remember ye '' were children of wrath, even 
 as others." The peacock walks slowly, hangs down his 
 starry feathers, while he looks to his black feet. " Look 
 ye to the hole of the pit, whence ye are digged," and 
 walk humbly as it becomes free-grace's debtors. 
 
 Lastly, Be wholly for your Lord. Every wife is o- 
 bliged to be dutiful to her husband ; but double ties lie 
 upon her who was taken from a prison, or a dunghill. 
 If your Lord has delivered you from wrath, ye ought, 
 upon that very account, to be wholly his ; to act for him, 
 to suffer for him, and do whatever he call you to. The 
 saints have no reason to complain of their lot in the world, 
 whatever it be. Well may they bear the cross for him, by 
 whom the curse was borne away from them. Well may 
 they bear the wrath of men in his cause, who has freed 
 them from the wrath of God ; and cheerfully go to a 
 fire for him, by whom hell-fire is quenched to them. Soul 
 and body, and all thou hadst in the world, were sometimes 
 under wrath : he has removed that wrath, shall not all 
 these be at his service ? That thy soul overwhelmed with
 
 156 Duty of those delivered from wrath. [STATE ir. 
 
 the wrath of God, is owing purely to Jesus Christ ; and 
 shall it not then be a temple for his spirit ? That thy heart 
 is not filled with horror and despair, is owing to him on- 
 ly ; to whom then should it be devoted, but to him a- 
 lone ? That thine eyes are not blinded with the smoke 
 of the pit, thy hands are not fettered with chains of dark- 
 ness, thy tongue is not broiling in the fire of hell, .and 
 thy feet are not standing in the lake that burns with fire 
 and brimstone, is owing purely to Jesus Christ : and shall 
 not these eyes be employed for him, these hands act for 
 him, that tongue speak for him, these feet speedily run 
 his errands ? To him who believes that he was a child of 
 wrath, even as others, but is now delivered by the bless- 
 ed Jesus ; nothing will appear too much to do or suffer 
 for his deliverer, when he has a fair call to it. 
 
 III. To conclude with a word to all. Let no man 
 think lightly of sin, which lays the sinner open to the 
 wrath of God. Let not the sin of our nature, which 
 wreathes the yoke of God's wrath so early about oiu 
 necks, seem a small thing in our eyes. Fear the Lord, 
 because of his dreadful wrath. Tremble at the thoughts 
 of sin, against which God has such fiery indignation. 
 Look on his wrath, and stand in awe and sin not. Do 
 you think this is to press you to slavish fear ? If it were 
 so, one had better be a slave to God with a trembling 
 heart, than a free man to the devil, with a seared consci- 
 ence, and a heart of adamant. But it is not so, you may 
 love him, and thus fear him too ; yea, ye ought to do it, 
 though ye were saints of the first magnitude. See Psal. 
 cxix. 120. Matt. x. 28. Luke xii. 5. Heb. xii. 28, 29. 
 Although ye have past the gulph of wrath, being in Je- 
 sus Christ, yet it is but reasonable your hearts shiver, 
 when you look back to it. Your sin still deserves wrath, 
 even as the sin of others : and it would be terrible to be 
 in a fiery furnace ; although, by a miracle, we were so 
 fenced against it, as that it could' not harm us,
 
 HEAD III. 
 
 MAN'S UTTER INABILITY TO RECOVER HIMSELF. 
 
 ROM. v. 6. 
 
 For when ye were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the 
 
 ungodly. 
 
 JOHN. vi. 44. 
 
 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me 
 draw him : 
 
 WE have now had a view of the total corruption 
 of man's nature, and that load of wrath which 
 lies on him, that gulph of misery he is plunged into in 
 his natural state. But there is one part of his misery 
 that deserves particular consideration ; namely, his utter 
 inability to recover himself, the knowledge of which is 
 necessary for the due humiliation of a sinner. What I 
 design here is, only to propose a few things whereby to 
 convince the unregenerate man of this his inability ; that 
 he may see an absolute need of Christ, and of the pow- 
 er of his grace. 
 
 As a man that has fallen into a pit cannot be supposed 
 to help himself out of it, but by one of two ways : either 
 by doing all himself alone, or taking hold of, and improv- 
 ing the help offered him by others : so an unconvert- 
 ed man cannot be supposed to help himself out of that 
 state, but either in the way of the law, or covenant of 
 works, by doing all himself without Christ ; or else in 
 the way of the gospel, or covenant of grace, by exerting 
 his own strength to lay hold upon, and to make use of 
 the help offered him by a Saviour. But, alas ! the un- 
 converted man is dead in the pit, and cannot help him-
 
 158 Man unable to recover himself. [STATE, n 
 
 self either of these ways : not the first way ; for the first 
 text tells us, that when our Lord came to help us, we 
 were without strength, unable to recover ourselves. We 
 were ungodly, therefore under a burden of guilt and 
 wrath ; yet without strength, unable to stand under it ; 
 and unable to throw it off, or get from under it : so that 
 all mankind had undoubtedly perished, had not Christ 
 died for the ungodly, and brought help to them, who 
 could never have recovered themselves. But when Christ 
 comes and offereth help to sinners, cannot they take it ? 
 cannot they improve help when it comes totheirhands? No, 
 the second text tells us they cannot ; No man can come unto 
 me (i. e. believe in me, John vii. 35), except the Father 
 draw him. This is a drawing which enables them to come, 
 who, till then, could not come ; and therefore could not 
 help themselves, by improving the help offered. It is a 
 drawing which is always effectual : for it can be no less 
 than hearing and learning of the Father, which, whoso 
 partakes of, cometh to Christ, ver. 25. Therefore it is 
 not drawing in the way of mere moral persuasion which 
 may be, yea, and always is ineffectual. But it is draw- 
 ing by mighty power, Eph. i- 19. absolutely necessary 
 for them that have no power in themselves, to come and 
 take hold of the offered help. 
 
 Hearken then, O unregenerate man, and be convinced 
 that as thou art in a most miserable state by nature, so 
 thou art utterly unable to recover thyself any manner of 
 way. Thou art ruined, and what way wilt thou go to 
 work to recover thyself? Which of the two ways wilt 
 thou choose? Wilt thou try it alone? or wilt thou make 
 use of help ? Wilt thou fall on the way of works, or on 
 the way of the gospel ? I know very well thou wilt not 
 so much as try the way of the gospel, till once thou hast 
 found the recovery impracticable, in the way of the law. 
 Therefore we shall begin, where corrupt nature teaches 
 men to begin, viz. at the way of the law of works. 
 
 I. Sinner, I would have thee believe, that thy working 
 will never effect it. Work, and do thy best, thou sh~ u
 
 HEAD in.] Man unable to recover himself . 159 
 
 never be able to work thyself out of this state of Corrup- 
 tion and wrath. Thou must have Christ, else thou shalt 
 perish eternally. It is only Christ in you, can be the hope 
 of glory. But if thou wilt needs try it, then I must lay 
 before thee, from the unalterable word of the living God, 
 two things which thou must do for thyself. And if thou 
 canst dp them, it must be yielded, that thou art able to 
 recover thyself : but if not, then thou canst do nothing 
 this way for thy recovery. 
 
 FIRST, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
 ments, Matt. xix. 17. That is, if thou wilt by doing, en- 
 ter into life, then perfectly keep the ten commands, for 
 the scope of these words is to beat down the pride of the 
 man's heart, and to let him see an absolute need of a Sa- 
 viour, from the impossibility of keeping the law. The 
 answer is given suitable to the address. Our Lord checks 
 him for his compliment, good master, ver. 16. telling 
 him, There is none good but one, that is God, ver. 1 7. As 
 if he had said, You think yourself a good man, and me an- 
 other ; but where goodness is spoken of, men and angels 
 may vail their faces before the good God. And as to 
 his question, wherein he discovered his legal disposition, 
 Christ does not answer him, saying, Believe and thou 
 shalt be saved ; that would not have been so seasonable 
 in the case of one, who thought he could do well enough 
 for himself, if he but knew what thing he should do : but 
 suitable to the honour the man was in, he bids him keep 
 the commandments ; keep them nicc-ly and accurately, 
 as those that watch malefactors in prison, lest any of them 
 escape, and their life go for theirs. See then, O unrege- 
 nerate man, what thou canst do in this matter ; for if 
 thou wilt recover thyself in this way, thou must perfect- 
 ly keep the commandments of God. 
 
 And (1) Thy obedience must be perfect, in respect of 
 the principle of it ; that is, thy soul, the principle of ac- 
 tion, must be perfectly pure, and altogether without sin. 
 For the law requires all moral perfection ; not only ac- 
 tual, but habitual ; and so condemns original sin ; impu-
 
 16O Man unable to recover himself. [STATE n. 
 
 rity of nature, as well as of actions. Now if thou canst 
 bring this to pass, thou shalt be able to answer that ques- 
 tion of Solomon's, so as never one of Adam's posterity 
 could yet answer it, Prov. xx. 9. Who can say, I have 
 made my heart clean ? But if thou canst not, the very 
 want of this perfection is a sin ; and so lays thee open to 
 the curse, and cuts thee off from life. Yea, it makes all 
 thine actions, even thy best actions, sinful ; " for who 
 can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ?" Job xiv. 4. 
 And dost thou think by sin, to help thyself out of sin 
 and misery ? (2) Thy obedience must ftlso be perfect in 
 parts. It must be as broad as the whole law of God. If 
 thou lackest one thing, thou art undone ; for the law de- 
 nounceth the curse on him that continueth not in every 
 thing written therein, Gal, iii. 10. Thou must give 
 internal and external obedience to the whole law ; keep 
 all the commands in heart and life. If thou breakest any 
 one of them, that will ensure thy ruin. A vain thought 
 or idle word will still shut thee up under the curse. (3.) 
 It must be perfect in respect of degrees ; as was the obe- 
 dience of Adam, while he stood in his innocence. This 
 the law requires, and will accept of no less, Matt. xxii. 
 37. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," If 
 one degree of that love, required by the law, be wanting ; 
 if each part of thy obedience be not screwed up to the 
 greatest height commanded, that want is a breach of the 
 law, and so leaves thee still under the curse. One may 
 bring as many buckets of water to a house that is on fire, 
 as he is able to carry, and yet it may be consumed ; and 
 will be so, if he bring not as many as will quench the fire. 
 Even so, although thou shouldest do what thou art able 
 in keeping the commands ; if thou fail in the least degree 
 of obedience, which the law enjoins, thou art certainly 
 ruined for ever ; unless thou take hold of Christ, renounc- 
 ing all thy righteousness as filthy rags. See .Roni, v. 5. 
 Gal. iii. 10. Lastly, it must be perpetual, as the man 
 Christ's obedience was, who always did the things that 
 pleased the Father ; for the tenor of the law is, "Cursed
 
 HEAD Hi.] j\fan unable to recover himself. 16t 
 
 is he that continueth not in all things written in the law, 
 to do them." Hence, though Adam's obedience was for 
 awhile absolutely perfect ; yet because, at length, he trip- 
 ped in one point, viz, in eating the forbidden fruit, he 
 fell under the curse of the law. If one should live a du- 
 tiful subject to his prince, till the close of his days, and 
 then conspire against him, he must die for his treason. 
 Even so, though thou shouldcst all the time of thy life 
 live in perfect obedience to the law of God, and only at 
 the hour of dearth entertain a vain thought, or pronounce 
 an ill word ; that idle word, or vain thought, would blot 
 out all thy former righteousness, and ruin thee ; namely, 
 in this way in which thou art seeking to recover thyself. 
 
 Now, such is the obedience thou must perform, if thou 
 tvouldest recover thyself in the way of the law. But, 
 though thou shouldest thus obey, the law stakes thee 
 down in the state of wrath, till another demand of it be 
 satisfied, viz. 
 
 SECONDLY, Thou must pay what thou owest. It is 
 undeniable thou art a sinner ^ and whatever thou mar- 
 est be in time to come, justice must be satisfied for thy 
 sin already committed. The honour of the law must be 
 maintained by thy suffering the denounced wrath: It may 
 be thou hast changed thy course of life, or art now resolv- 
 ed to do it, and to set aboutjthe keeping of the commands 
 of God ; but what hast thou done, or what wilt thou do 
 with the old debt ? Your obedience to God, though it 
 were perfect, is a debt due to him for the time wherein 
 it is performed; and can no more satisfy for former sins, 
 than a tenant's paying the current year's rent, can satis- 
 fy the master for all by-gones. Can the paying of new 
 debts acquit a man from old accompts? Nay, deceive not 
 yourselves, you will find these laid up in store with God, 
 " and sealed up among his treasures," Deut. xxxii. .'$4.. 
 It remains then, that either thou must bear that wrath, 
 to which, for thy sin, thou art liable according to the 
 law; or else thou must acknowledge thou canst not bear 
 
 Y
 
 162 Man unable to recover himself. [STATE n. 
 
 j- - . 
 
 it, and thereupon have recourse to the surety, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Let me now ask thee, art thou ahle to sa- 
 tisfy the justice of God ? Canst thou pay thy own deht? 
 surely not ; for, seeing- he is an infinite God whom thou 
 hast offended, the punishment, being suited to. the quality 
 the offence, must be infinite. But so it is, thy punish- 
 ment or sufferings for sin cannot be infinite in value, see- 
 ing thou art a finite creature : therefore they must be 
 infinite in duration or continuance, that is, they must 
 be eternal. And so all thy sufferings in this world are 
 but an earnest of what thou must suffer in the world to 
 come. 
 
 Now, sinner, if thou canst answer these demands, thou 
 mayest recover thyself in the way of the law. But art 
 thou not conscious of thy inability to do any of these 
 things, much more to do them all ; yet if thou do not all, 
 thou dost nothing. Turn then to what course of life thou 
 wilt, thou art still in a state of wrath. Screw up thy o- 
 bedience to the greatest height thou canst ; suffer what 
 God lays upon thee, yea add, if thou wilt, to the burden, 
 and walk under all, without the least impatience : yea, 
 all this will not satisfy the demands of the law ; and there- 
 fore thou art still a ruined creature. Alas ! sinner, what 
 art thou doing, while thou strivest to help thyself, but 
 dost not receive, and unite with, Jesus Christ ? Thou art 
 labouring in the fire, wearying thyself for very vanity ; 
 labouring to enter into heaven by the door which Adam's 
 sin so bolted, as neither he, nor any of his lost posterity 
 can ever enter by it. Dost thou not see the flaming sword 
 of justice keeping thee off from the tree of life ? Dost 
 thou not hear the law denouncing a curse on thee, for 
 all thou art doing ; even for thy obedience, thy prayers, 
 thy tears, thy reformation of life, <%c. : because being un- 
 der the law's dominion, thy best works are not so good 
 as it requires them to be, under the pain of the curse ? 
 Believe it, sirs, if you live and die out of Christ, without 
 being actually united to him as the second Adam, a life- 
 giving spirit, and without coming under the covert of his
 
 HEAD in.] Man unable to recover himself '. 163 
 
 atoning blood ; though ye should do the utmost that any 
 man on earth can do, in keeping the commands of God, 
 ye shall never see the face of God in peace. If ye should, 
 from this moment, bid an eternal farewell to this world's 
 joys, and all the affairs thereof; and henceforth busy 
 yourselves with nothing but the salvation of your souls: 
 if you should go into some wilderness, live upon the grass 
 of the field, and be companions to dragons and owls : if 
 you should retire to some dark cavern of the earth, and 
 weep there for your sins, until you have wept yourselves 
 blind, yea, weep out all the moisture of your body ; if ye 
 should confess with your tongue, until it cleave to the 
 roof of your mouth ; pray till your knees grow hard as 
 horns ; fast till your body become like a skeleton ; and 
 after all this, give it to be burnt : the word is gone out 
 of the Lord's mouth in righteousness, and cannot return ; 
 you should perish for ever, notwithstanding of all this, as 
 not being in Christ, John xiv. 6. *' No man cometh un- 
 to the Father, but by me." Acts iv. 12. " Neither is 
 there salvation in any other." Mark xvi. 1.6. " He that 
 believeth not, shall be damned." 
 
 Objection. But God is a merciful God, and he knows 
 we are not able to answer these demands : we hope there- 
 fore to be saved, if we do as well as we can, and keep 
 the commands as well as we are able. Answer, (1) 
 Though thou art able to do many things, thou art not 
 able to do one thing aright : thou canst do nothing accep- 
 table to God, being out of Christ. John xv. 5. Without 
 me ye can do nothing. An unrenewed man, as thon art, 
 can do nothing but sin : as we have already evinced. 
 Thy best actions are sin, and so they increase thy debt to 
 justice ; how then can it be expected they should lessen 
 it ? (2) If God should offer to save men, upon condition 
 that they did 'all they could do in obedience to his com- 
 mands, we have ground to think, that these who could 
 betake themselves to that way should never be saved : 
 for where is the man that does as well as he can ? Who 
 sees not many false steps he has made, which he might
 
 Man unable to recover himself. [STATE n. 
 
 have evited ? There are so many things to be done, so 
 many temptations to carry us out of the road of duty, 
 and our nature is so very apt to be set on the fire of hell, 
 that we would surely fail, even in some point that is with- 
 in the compass of our natural abilities. But (3} Though 
 thou shouldest do all thou art able to do, in vain dost 
 thou hope to be saved in that way. What word of God 
 is this hope of thine founded on ? It is neither founded 
 on law nor gospel ; and therefore it is but a delusion. 
 It is not founded on the gospel ; for the gospel leads the 
 soul out of itself, to Jesus Christ for all ; and it establish- 
 eth the law, Rom. iii. 31. Whereas this hope of yours 
 cannot be established, but on the ruins of the law which 
 God will magnify and make honourable. And hence it 
 appears that it is not founded on the law neither. When 
 God set Adam a-working for happiness to himself and 
 his posterity, perfect obedience was the condition requir- 
 ed of him ; and a curse was denounced in case of disobe- 
 dience. The law being broken by him, he and his pos- 
 terity was subjected to the penalty, for sin committed ; 
 and withal still bound to perfect obedience ; for it is ab- 
 surd to think that man's sinning, and suffering for his 
 sin, should free him from his duty of obedience to his 
 . Creator. When Christ came in the room of the elect, 
 to purchase their salvation, the same were the terms. 
 Justice had the elect under arrest ; if he minds to deliver 
 them, the terms are known He must satisfy for their 
 sin, by suffering the punishment due to it : he must do 
 what they cannot do, to wit, obey the law perfectly ; 
 and so fulfil all righteousness. Accordingly, all this he 
 did, and so became " the end of the law for righteous- 
 ness, to every one that believeth," Rom. x. 4. And now 
 dost thou think God will abate of these terms to thee, 
 when his own Son got no abatement of them ? Expect 
 it not, though thou shouldest beg it with tears of blood : 
 for if they prevailed, they behoved to prevail against the 
 truth, justice, and honour of God, Gal. iii. 10. "Cursed 
 is every one that continueth not in all things, which are 
 written in the book of the law to do them," ver. 22.
 
 HEAD in.] Man unable to recover himself. 165 
 
 ' And the law is not of faith, but the man that doth them, 
 shall live in them." It is true, that God is merciful ; 
 but cannot he be merciful unless he save you in a way 
 that is neither consistent Avith his law, nor gospel ? Hath 
 not his goodness and mercy sufficiently appeared, in send- 
 ing the Son of his love, to do " what the law could not 
 do, in that it was weak through the flesh ?" He has pro- 
 vided help for them that cannot help themselves : But 
 them, insensible of thine own weakness, wilt needs think 
 to recover thyself by thine own works, while thou art no 
 more able to do it, than to remove mountains of brass 
 out of their place. 
 
 Wherefore I conclude, thou art utterly unable to reco- 
 ver thyself, by the way of works, or of the law. O that 
 thou wouldest conclude the same concerning thyself! 
 
 II. Let us try next what the sinner can do to recover 
 himself, in the way of the gospel. It is likely thou think- 
 est, that howbeit thou canst not do all by thyself alone, 
 yet Jesus Christ offering thee help, thou canst of thyself 
 embrace it, and use it to thy recovery. But O sinner, 
 be convinced of thine absolute need of the grace of Christ : 
 for truly, there is help offered, but thou canst not accept 
 of it : there is a rope-cast out to hale shipwrecked sin- 
 ners to land ; but alas ! they have no hands to catch hold 
 of it. They are like infants exposed in the open field, 
 that must starve, though their food be lying by them, un- 
 less one put it in their mouths. To convince natural 
 men of this, let it be considered, 
 
 First, That although Christ is offered in the gospel, 
 yet they cannot believe in him. Saving faith is the faith 
 God's elect ; the special gift of God to them, wrought in 
 them by his spirit. Salvation is offered to them that 
 will believe in Christ ; but how can ye believe ? John v. 
 44. It is offered to these that will come to Christ, but 
 ** no man can come unto him except the Father draw 
 him." It is offered to them that will look to him, as lift- 
 ed on the pole of the gospel, Isa. xlv, 22. but the natu- 
 ral man is spiritually blind, Rev. iii. 17. and as to the
 
 166 Man unable to recover himself. [STATE 11. 
 
 things of the Spirit of God, he cannot know them, for 
 they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. ii. 14. Nay, who- 
 soever will, he is welcome : let him come, Rev. xxii. 1 7. 
 But there must be a day of power, on the sinner, before 
 he will be willing-, Psal. ex. 3. 
 
 Secondly, Man naturally has nothing, wherewithal to 
 improve, to his recovery, the help brought in by the gos- 
 pel. He is cast away in a state of wrath ; but is bound 
 hand and foot, so that he cannot lay hold on the cords 
 of love, thrown out to him in the gospel. The most skil- 
 ful artificer cannot work without instruments ; nor can 
 the most cunning musician play well on an instrument 
 that is out of tune. How can one believe, how can he 
 repent, whose understanding is darkness, Eph. v. 8. 
 whose heart is a stony heart, inflexible, insensible, Ezek. 
 xxxvi. 26. whose affections are wholly disordered and 
 distempered ; who is averse to good, and bent to evil ? 
 The arms of natural abilities are too short to reach su- 
 pernatural help : hence those who must excel in them, 
 are oft-times most estranged from spiritual things, Matt, 
 xi. 25. " Thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
 prudent." 
 
 Thirdly, Man cannot work a saving change on him- 
 self; but so changed he must be, else he can neither be- 
 lieve nor repent, nor ever see heaven. No action can be 
 without a suitable principle ! Believing, repenting, and 
 the like, are the product of the new nature, and can ne- 
 ver be produced by the old corrupt nature ! Now, what 
 can the natural man do in this matter ? He must be re- 
 generate, " begotten again into a lively hope :" but as 
 the child cannot be active in his own generation, so a 
 man cannot be active, but passive only in his own rege- 
 neration. The heart is shut againt Christ : man cannot 
 open it, only God can do it by his grace, Acts xvi. 14.. 
 " He is dead in sins :" he must be quickened, raised out 
 of his grave : who can do this but God himself? Eph, 
 ii. 5. Nay, he must be " created in Christ Jesus unto
 
 HEAD in.] Man unable to recover himself. 167 
 
 good works," Eph. ii. 1O. These are works of omni- 
 potency, and can be done by no less power. 
 
 Fourthly, Man, in his depraved state is under an ut- 
 ter inability to do any thing truly good, as was cleared 
 before at large : how then can he obey the gospel ? His 
 nature is the very reverse of the gospel : how can he of 
 himself fall in with that device of salvation, and accept 
 the offered remedy ? The corruption of man's nature in- 
 fallibly concludes his utter inability to recover himself 
 any manner of way : and whoso is convinced of the one, 
 must needs admit the other, for they stand and fall to- 
 gether. Were all the purchase of Christ offered to the 
 unregenerate man, for one good thought, he cannot com- 
 mand it. 2 Cor. iii. 6. "Not that we are sufficient of 
 ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves." Were it 
 offered on condition of a good word, yet " how can ye, 
 being evil, speak good things ?" Matt. xii. 35. Nay, were 
 it left to yourselves, to choose what is easiest, Christ 
 himself tells you, John xv. 5. Without me you can do no- 
 t hi jig. 
 
 Lastly, The natural man cannot but resist the Lord's 
 offering to help him ; howbeit that resistance is infallibly 
 overcome in the elect, by converting grace. Can the 
 stony heart choose but resist the stroke ? There is not 
 only an inability, but an enmity and obstinacy in man's 
 will by nature. God knows, O natural man, (whether 
 thou knowest it or not) that " thou art obstinate, and 
 thy neck an iron sinew, and thy brow brass," Isa. xlviii. 
 4*. and cannot be overcome, but by him, who, " hath bro- 
 ken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sun- 
 der." Hence is there such hard work in converting of 
 a sinner. Sometimes he seems to be caught in the net 
 cf the gospel ; yet quickly he slips away again. The 
 hook catcheth hold of him ; but he struggles, till getting 
 free of it, he makes away with a bleeding wound. When 
 good hopes conceived of him, by these that travail in 
 birth, for the forming of Christ in him ; there is oft- 
 times nothing brought forth but wind. The deceitful
 
 168 Objections answered. [STATE 11. 
 
 -. - ' ' ' ~T 
 
 heart makes many a shift to avoid a Saviour, and to 
 cheat the man of his eternal happiness. Thus the natu- 
 ral man lies sunk in a state of sin and wrath, utterly un- 
 able to recover himself, 
 
 Objection (I) If we be under an utter inability to do 
 any good, 1iow can God require us to do it ? Answer, 
 God " making- man upright," Eccl. vii. 29. gave him a 
 power to do every thing he should require of him. This 
 power man lost by his own fault. We were bound to 
 serve God, and do whatsoever he commanded us, as be- 
 ing his creatures ; and also, we were under the super- 
 added tie of a covenant, for that effect. Now we hav- 
 ing by our own fault, disabled ourselves ; shall God lose 
 his right of requiring our task, because we have thrown 
 away the strength he gave us, wherewithal to perform 
 it f Has the creditor no right to require payment of his 
 money, because the debtor has squandered it away, and 
 is not able to pay him ? Truly if God can require no 
 more of us than we are able to do, we need no more to 
 save us from wrath, but to make ourselves unable for e- 
 very duty, and to incapacitate ourselves for serving of 
 God any manner of way, as profane men frequently do ; 
 and so the deeper one is immersed in sin, he will be the 
 more secure from wrath, for where God can require no 
 duty of us, we do not sin in omitting it ; and where there 
 is no sin, there can be no wrath. (As to what may be 
 urged by the unhumbled soul, against the putting oft 
 our stock in Adam's hand ; the righteousness of that dis- 
 pensation was cleared before.) But moreover, the uu- 
 renewed man is daily throwing away the very remains 
 of natural abilities, that light and strength which are to 
 be found amongst the ruins of mankind. Nay, farther, 
 he will not believe his own utter inability to help him- 
 self; so that out of his own mouth he will be condemn- 
 ed. Even those who make their natural impotency to 
 good, a covert to their sloth, do with others, delay the 
 work of turning to God, from time to time; under con- 
 victions, make large promises of reformation, which af-
 
 HEAD in.] Objections answered. 169 
 
 terwards they never regard : and delay their repentance 
 to a death-bed, as it' t!i y eould help themselves in a mo- 
 ment, which speaks them to be i'ar t'roin a lue sense of 
 their natural inability, whatever they pretend. 
 
 Now if God can require of men the duty they :-re not 
 able to do ; he can in justice punish them for their not 
 doing it ; notwithstanding of their inability. If he have 
 power to exact the debt of obedience, he has also power 
 to cast the insolvent debtor into prison, for his not pay- 
 ing of it. Further, though unregenerate ncn have no 
 gracious abilities ; yet they want not natural abilities, 
 which nevertheless they will not improve. There are 
 many things they can do, which they do not, they will not 
 do them; and therefore their damnation will be just. Nay, 
 all their ability to good is voluntary, they " will not come 
 to Christ," John v. 40. They will not repent, they 
 "will die," Ezek. xviii. 51. So they will be justly con- 
 demned : because they will not turn to God, nor come to 
 Christ ; but love their chains better than their liberty, 
 and " darkness rather than light," John iii. 19. 
 
 Objection (2) Why do you then preach Christ to us : 
 call us to come to him, to believe, repent, and use the 
 means of salvation ? Answer, because it is your duty so 
 to do. It is your duty to accept of Christ, as he is offer- 
 ed in the gospel ; to repent of your sins, and to be 'ioly 
 in all manner of conversation : these things are com- 
 manded you of God ; and his command, not your ability, 
 is the measure of your duty. Moreover, these calls and 
 exhortations are the means that God is pleased to make 
 use of, for converting his elect, and working grace in 
 their hearts: to them, faith cometh, by hearing, Rom. x. 
 17. while they are as unable to help themselves as the 
 rest of mankind are. Upon very good grounds may we, 
 at the command of God, " who raiseth the dead," go to 
 their graves and cry in his name, " Awake thou that 
 sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give 
 thee light," Eph. v. 14. And seeing the elect are not to 
 
 z
 
 170 Objections answered. [STATE n. 
 
 be known, and distinguished from others before conver- 
 sion : as the sun shines on the blind man's face, and the 
 rain falls on the rocks as well as on the fruitful plains ; 
 so we preach Christ to all, and shoot the arrow at a ven- 
 ture, which God himself directs, as he sees meet. More- 
 over, these calls and exhortations are not altogether in 
 vain, even to those that are not converted by them. Such 
 persons may be convinced, though they be not convert- 
 ed : although they be not sanctified by these means ; yet 
 they may be restrained by them, from running into that 
 excess of wickednesss, which otherwise they would ar- 
 rive at. The means of grace serve, as it were, to em- 
 balm many dead souls which are never quickened by 
 them : though they do not restore them to life ; yet they 
 keep them from smelling so rank as otherwise they would 
 do. Finally, Though ye cannot recover yourselves, nor 
 take hold of the saving- help offered to you in the gospel : 
 yet even by the power of nature, ye may use the out- 
 ward and ordinary means 5 whereby Christ communicates 
 the benefits of redemption to ruined sinners, who are ut- 
 terly unable to recover themselves out of the state of sin 
 and wrath. Ye may and can, if ye please, do many 
 things, that would set you in a fair way for help from, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. Ye may go so far on, as to be 
 " not far from the kingdom of God," as the discreet scribe 
 had done, Mark xii. 34>. (though it would seem) he was 
 destitute of supernatural abilities. Though ye cannot 
 cure yourselves, yet ye may come to the pool where ma- 
 ny such diseased persons as ye are have been cured : 
 though ye have none to put you into it, yet ye may lie 
 at the side of it ; and " who knows but the Lord may re- 
 turn, and leave a blessing behind him," as in the case of 
 the impotent man, recorded, John v. 5, 6, 7, 8. I hope 
 Satan does not chain you to your houses, nor stake you 
 down in your fields on the Lord's day ; but ye are at li- 
 berty, and can wait at the post of wisdom's doors, if ye 
 will. And when ye come thither, he doth not beat drums 
 at your ears, that ye cannot hear what is said : there is 
 no force upon you, obliging you to apply all you hear to
 
 HEAD in.] Objections answered. 171 
 
 others ; ye may apply to yourselves, what belongs to your 
 state and condition : and when ye go home, ye are not 
 fettered in your houses, where perhaps no religious dis- 
 course is to be heard ; but ye may retire to some sepa- 
 rate place, where ye can meditate, and pose your con- 
 science with pertinent questions, upon what ye have 
 heard. Ye are not possest with a dumb devil, that ye 
 cannot get your mouths opened in prayer to God. Ye 
 are not so driven out of your beds to your worldly busi- 
 ness, and from your worldly business to your beds again ; 
 but ye might, if ye would, bestow some prayers to God 
 upon the case of your perishing souls. Ye may examine 
 yourselves as to the state of your souls, in a solemn man- 
 ner, as in the presence of God ; ye may discern that ye 
 have no grace, and that ye are lost and undone without 
 it ; and ye may cry unto God for it. These things are 
 within the compass of natural abilities, and may be prac- 
 tised where there is no grace. It must aggravate your 
 guilt, that you will not be at so such pains about the state 
 and case of your precious souls. And if ye do not what 
 ye can do ; ye will be condemned, not only for your want 
 of grace, but for your despising of it. 
 
 Objection (3.) But all this is needless, seeing we are 
 utterly unable to help ourselves out of the state of sin 
 and wrath. Answer, Give not place to that delusion, 
 which puts asunder what God hath joined, namely, the 
 the use of means, and a sense of our own impotency. If 
 ever the Spirit of God graciously influence your souls, ye 
 will become thoroughly sensible of your absolute inability, 
 and yet enter upon a vigorous use of means. Ye will do 
 for yourselves, as if ye were to do all ; and yet overlook 
 all ye do, as if ye had done nothing. Will ye do nothing 
 for yourselves, because ye cannot do all ? Lay down so 
 much impious conclusion against your own souls. Do 
 what you can, and it may be, while ye are doing what 
 ye can for yourselves, God will do for you what ye can- 
 not. " Understandest thou what thou readest ?" said 
 Philip to the eunuch. " How can I," saith he, " except
 
 172 Objections answered. [STATE n. 
 
 some man ~hould guide me ?" Acts viii. 30, 31. He could 
 not understand the scripftire he read ; yet he could read 
 it ; he did w?ial he could, he read ; and while he was 
 reining, God sent him an interpreter. The Israelites 
 were ::i a ^reat strait at the Red Sea : and how could 
 they help themselves, when upon the one hand were 
 mountains, and on the other, the enemy's garrison : when 
 Pharaoh and his host were behind them, and the Red 
 S< a ^?fore them? What could they do? "Speak unto 
 the children, pf Israel," saith the Lord to Moses, "that 
 tr? - ,<>-o forward," E^od. xiv. 15. For what end should 
 they go forward ? Can they make a passage to them- 
 selvt-s through the sea ? No ; but let them go forward, 
 s;dth the Lord ; though they cannot turn sea to dry land, 
 yet they can go forward to the shore; and so they did ; 
 and when they diu what they could, God did for them 
 \yhat they could not do. 
 
 Question. Has God promised to convert and save 
 them, who, in the use oi' means, do what they can to- 
 wards their own relief? Answer, .V?e may not speak 
 wickedly for God : natural men being " strangers to the 
 ,-oven. nts of promise," Eph. ii. 12. have no such promise 
 mcif".2 to them. Nevertheless they do not act rationally 
 ui^ess they exert the powers they have, and do what 
 tbc- can. For (1) It is possible this course may succeed 
 v 'Ui the n. If ye do what ye can, it may be, God will 
 do To on v. hat ye cannot do for yourselves. This is 
 
 ' j i( imt to determine a man, in a matter of the utmost 
 " jru-.ii re, sik'h as this is> Acts viii. 22. " Pray God, if 
 perhaps the thoughts of thy heurt may be forgiven thee." 
 Joel i. 14. "Who kroweth if he will return?" 3f suc- 
 cc.s--. ^rf>i IK the tri; , hould be. If, in a wreck at sea, 
 
 I th< wi'ors -.;;d passengers had betaken themselves, 
 , a brc^en board ibr safety; and one of them 
 should se^ 1 at! the rest perish, iiotvitiistanding of their 
 VLVN .. .jHuavour to save themselves ; ytt the very pos- 
 s : l ' ity of e? djj -ng by that mean?, would determine that 
 one still to do his best with his board. Why then do
 
 HEAD HI.] Objections answered. 17S 
 
 not ye reason with yourselves, as the four lepers did, 
 who sat at the gate of Samaria, 2 Kings vii. 3. 4. Why 
 do ye not say, " If we sit still," not doing what we can, 
 *' we die ;" let us put it to a trial ; if we be saved, " we 
 shall live ;" if not, " we shall but die ?" (2) It is proba- 
 ble this course may succeed. God is good and merciful: 
 he loves to surprise men with his grace, and is often 
 "found of them that sought him not," Isa. Ixv. 1. If ye 
 do this, ye are so far in the road of your duty ; and ye 
 are using the means, which the Lord is wont to bless, 
 for men's spiritual recovery : ye lay yourselves in the 
 way of the great Physician ; and so it is probable ye 
 may be healed. Lydia went, with others, to the place 
 " where prayer was wont to be made ;" and " the Lord 
 opened her heart," Acts xvi. 13, 14. Ye plough, and 
 sow, though no body can tell you for certain that ye will 
 get so much as your seed again : ye use means for the 
 recovery of your health, though ye are not sure they will 
 succeed. In these cases probability determines you ; and 
 why not in this also ? Importunity, we see, does very 
 much with men : therefore pray, meditate, desire help 
 of God ; be much at the throne of grace ; supplicating 
 for grace ; and do not faint. Though God regard not 
 you, who in your present state, are but one mass of 
 sin ; universally depraved, and vitiated in all the pow- 
 ers of your soul : yet hemay regard his own ordinance, 
 Though he regards not your prayers, your meditations, 
 &c. yet he may regard prayer, meditation, and the like 
 means of his own appointment, and so bless them to you. 
 Wherefore, if ye will not do what ye can ; ye are not 
 only dead, but ye declare yourselves unworthy of eternal 
 life. 
 
 To conclude, let the saints admire the freedom and 
 power of grace which came to them in their helpless 
 condition, made their chains fall off, the iron gate to o- 
 pen to them, raised the fallen creatures ; and brought 
 them out of the state of sin and wrath, wherein they 
 would have lain and perished, had not they been merci- 
 fully visited. Let the natural man be sensible of his ufc-
 
 17* Objections answered. [STATE 11. 
 
 ter inability to recover himself. Know thou art without 
 Strength ; and canst not come to Christ, till thou be 
 drawn. Thou art lost and canst not help thyself. This 
 may shake the foundation of thy hopes who never saw- 
 est thy absolute need of Christ and his grace : but think- 
 est to shift for thyself, by thy civility, morality, drowsy 
 wishes and duties ; and by a faith and repentance, which 
 have sprung out of thy natural powers, without the power 
 and efficacy of the grace of Christ. O be convinced of 
 thy absolute need of Christ, and his overcoming grace : 
 believe thy utter inability to recover thyself : that so thou 
 mayest be humbled, shaken out of thy self-confidence, 
 and lie down in dust and ashes, groaning out thy miser- 
 able case before the Lord. A kindly sense of thy natu- 
 ral impotency, the impotency of depraved human nature, 
 would be a step towards a delivery. 
 
 Thus far of man's natural state, the state of entire 
 depravation.
 
 STATE III. 
 
 THE STATE OF GRACE ; OR, BEGUN RECOVERY. 
 
 HEAD I. 
 REGENERATION. 
 
 1 PETER i. 23. 
 
 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the 
 word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 
 
 
 
 WE proceed now to the state of grace, the state 
 of begun recovery of human nature, into which 
 all that shall partake of eternal happiness are translated, 
 sooner or later while in this world. It is the resist of a 
 gracious change, ma.de upon those who shall inherit eter- 
 nal life ; which change may be taken upi in these two : 
 (1.) In opposition to their natural real state, the state, of 
 corruption, there is a change made upon them in rege- 
 neration ; whereby their nature is changed. (2.) In op- 
 position to their natural relative state, the state of wrath, 
 there is a change made upon them, in their "union with 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ;" by which they are set beyond 
 the reach of condemnation. These therefore, namely, 
 regeneration and union with Christ, I design to handle 
 as the great and comprehensive changes on a sinner, 
 Constituting him in the state of grace.
 
 176 The nature of regeneration. [STATE in. 
 
 The first of these we have in the text ; together with 
 the outward and ordinary means, by which it is brought 
 about. The apostle here, to excite the saints to the stu- 
 dy of holiness, and particularly of brotherly love, puts 
 them in mind of their spiritual original. He tells them, 
 they were born again ; and that of one " incorruptible 
 seed, the word of God." This speaks them to be breth- 
 ren, partakers of the same new nature : which is the root 
 from which holiness, and particularly brotherly love, doth 
 spring. We are once born sinners ; we must be born 
 again, that we may be saints, The simple word signi- 
 fies to be begotten; and so it may be read, Matt. xi. 11. 
 to be conceived, Matt. i. 20. and to be born, Matt. ii. 1 . 
 Accordingly the compound word used in the text may 
 be taken in its full latitude, the last notion pre-supposing 
 the two former : and so regeneration is a supernatural 
 real change on the whole man, fitly compared to natural 
 or corporal generation, as will afterward appear. The 
 ordinary means of regeneration, called the seed, whereof 
 the new creature is formed, is not corruptible seed. Of 
 such indeed our bodies are generated : but the spiritual 
 seed of which the new creature is generated : is incor- 
 ruptible ; namely, " the word of God, which liveth and 
 abideth for ever." The sound of the word of God pas- 
 seth, even as other sounds do : but the word lasteth, 
 liveth and abideth, in respect of its everlasting effects, 
 on all upon whom it operates. This "word, which 
 by the gospel is preached unto you," (ver. 25.) impreg- 
 nated by the Spirit of God, is the means of regeneration: 
 and by it are dead sinners raised to life. 
 
 DOCTRINF, All men in the state of grace, are born a- 
 gain. All gracious persons, namely, such as are in a 
 state of favour with God, and endowed with gracious 
 qualities and dispositions, are regenerate persons. In 
 discoursing this subject, I shall shew what regeneration 
 is ; next, 'why it is so called ; and then apply the doc- 
 trine.
 
 HEAD i.] The nature of regeneration. 177 
 
 OF THE NATURE OF REGENERATION. 
 
 II. For the better understanding of the nature of re- 
 generation, take this along- with you in the first place ; 
 that as there are also conceptions in nature, so there are 
 also in grace ; and by these many are deluded, mistaking 
 some partial changes made upon them for this great and 
 thorough change. To remove such mistakes, let these 
 few things be considered. (1.) Many [call the church 
 their mother, whom God will not own to be his children, 
 Cant. U 8. My mother's children (i. e. false brethren) 
 were angry with me. All that are baptized are not born 
 again. Simon was baptized, yet still " in the gall of bit- 
 terness, and in the bond of iniquity," Acts viii. 13, 23. 
 Where Christianity is the religion of the country, many 
 will be called by the name of Christ, who have no more 
 of him but the name : and no wonder, seeing the devil 
 had his goats among Christ's sheep, in these places were 
 but few profess the Christian religion; 1 John ii. 19. 
 They went out from us, but they were not of us. (2.) 
 Good education is not regeneration. Education may 
 chain up men's lusts, but cannot change their hearts. A 
 wolf is still a ravenous beast, though it be in chains. 
 Joash was very devout during the life of his good tutor 
 Jehoiada ; but afterwards he quickly shewed what spi- 
 rit he was of, by his sudden apostacy, 2 Chronxxiv 2. 
 17, 18. Good example is of mighty influence to change 
 the outward man : but that change often goes off, when 
 one changes his company ; of which the world affords 
 many sad instances. (3.) A turning from open profani- 
 ty, to civility and sobriety, falls short of this saving 
 change. Some are for awhile very loose, especially in 
 their younger years : but at length they reform, and 
 leave their profane courses. Here is a change, yet but 
 such an one as may be found in men utterly void of the 
 giace of God, and whose righteousness is so far from ex- 
 ceeding, that it doth not come up to the " righteousness 
 
 2 A
 
 178 The nature of regeneration. [STATE in. 
 
 ^ the Scribes and Pharisees." (4.) One may engage in 
 11 the outward duties of religion, and yet not be born 
 again. Though lead be cast into various shapes, it re- 
 mains still but a base metal. Men may escape the pol- 
 lutions of the world, and yet be but dogs and swine, 2 
 Pci. ii 2O, 22. All the external acts of religion are with- 
 in the compass of natural abilities. Yea, hypocrites may 
 have the counterfeit of all the graces of the Spirit : for 
 we read of true holiness, Eph. iv. 23. -nd faith unfeign- 
 ed, 1 Tim. i. 5. which shews us that there is a counter- 
 feit holiness, and a feigned faith. (5.) Men may advance 
 to a great deal of strictness in their own way of religion; 
 and yet be strangers to the new-birth, Acts xxvi. 5. 
 *' A fter the most strictest sect of our religion I lived a 
 Pharisee." Nature has its own unsanctified strictness in 
 religion. The Pharisees had so much of it, that they 
 looked on Christ as little better than a mere libertine. 
 A man whose conscience hath been awakened, and who 
 Jives under the felt influence of the covenant of works, 
 what will he fc$>do that is within the compass of natu- 
 ral abijjtief[, |$jfis a truth, though it came out of a hel- 
 lish mouth, that *' skin for skin, all that a man hath will 
 he give for his life," Job ii. 4. (6.) One may have sharp 
 soul -exercises and pangs, and yet die in the birth. Ma- 
 ny have been in pain, that have but, as it were, brought 
 forth wind. There may be sore pangs and throes of con- 
 science, which turn to nothing at last. Pharaoh and 
 Simon Magus had such convictions, as made them de- 
 *sire the prayers of others for them. Judas repented him- 
 self: and, under terrors of conscience, gave back his ill- 
 gotten pieces of silver. All is not gold that glitters. 
 Trees may blossom fairly in the spring, on which no fruit 
 is to be found in the harvest : and some have sharp soul- 
 exercises, which are nothing but foretastes of hell. 
 
 The new-birth, howsoever in appearance hopefully be- 
 gun, may be marred two ways. First, Some like Zarah, 
 Gen. xxxviii. 28 5 29. are brought to the birth, but go 
 back again. They have sharp convictions for awhile :
 
 HEAD I.] The nature of regeneration. 179 
 
 but these go olf, and they turn as careless a ] out the.r 
 salvation, as profane as ever ; and usually worse than 
 ever; their last state is worse than their first., Matt. xii. 
 4<5. They get awakening grace, but not converting grace; 
 and that goes off by degrees, as the light of the declining 
 day, till it issues in midnight darkness. Secondly, Some, 
 like Ishmael, come forth too soon : they are born before 
 the time of the promise, Gen. xvi. 2. compare Gal iv. 
 22. and downward. They take up with a mere law 
 work, and stay not till the time of the promise of the 
 gospel. They snatch at consolation, not waiting till it 
 be given them ; and foolishly draw their comfort from 
 the law that wounded them. They apply the healing 
 plaster to themselves, before their wound be sufficiently 
 searched. The law, that rigorous husband, severely beats 
 them, and throws in curses and vengeance upon their 
 souls ; then they fall a reforming, praying, mourning, 
 promising, and vowing, till this ghost be laid ; which 
 done, they fall asleep again in the arms of the law ; but 
 they are never shaken out of themselves and their own 
 righteousness, nor brought forward to Jpaus Christ. 
 
 .... 
 
 Lastly, There may be a wonderful moving 1 of the af- 
 fections, in souls that are not at all touched with rege- 
 nerating grace Where there is no grace, there may 
 notwithstanding be a flood of tears, as in Esau, who 
 " found no place of repentance, though he sought it care- 
 fully with tears," Heb. xii. 17. There may be great 
 flashes of joy ; as in the hearers of the word, represent- 
 ed in the parable of the stony ground, who " anon with 
 joy receive it," Matt. xiii. 20. There may also be great 
 desires after good things, and great delight in them too; 
 as in these hypocrites described. Isa. Iviii. 2. "Yet they 
 seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. They 
 take delight in approaching to God." See how high 
 they may sometimes stand, who yet fall away, Heb. vi. 
 4, 5, 6 They may be " enlightened, taste of the heaven- 
 ly gift, be partakers of the Holy Ghost, taste the good 
 word of God, and the powers of the world to conit."
 
 180 The nature of regeneration. [STATE HI. 
 
 Common operations of the divine Spirit, like a land-flood, 
 make a strange turning of things upside down : and 
 when they are over, all runs again in the ordinary chan- 
 nel. All tnese things may be, where the sanctifying 
 Spirit of Christ never rests upon the soul, but the stony 
 heart still remains ; and in that case these affections can- 
 not but wither^ because they have no root. 
 
 But regeneration is a real thorough change, whereby 
 the man is made a new creature, 2 Cor. v. 17. The 
 Lord God makes the creature a new creature, as the 
 goldsmith melts down the vessel of dishonour, and makes 
 it a vessel of honour. Man is in respect of his spiritual 
 state, altogether disjointed by the fall ; every faculty of 
 the soul is, as it were, dislocate ; in- regeneration the 
 Lord looseth every joint, and sets it right again. Now 
 this change made in regeneration is, 
 
 1. A change of qualities -or dispositions. It is not a 
 change of the substance, but of the qualities of the soul. 
 Vicious qualities are removed, and the contrary disposi- 
 tions are brought in their room. The old man is put 
 off, Eph. ix. 22. the new man put on, verse 24*. Man 
 lost none of the rational faculties of his soul by sin ; he 
 had an understanding still, but it was darkened ; he had 
 still a will, but it was contrary to the will of God. So 
 in regeneration, there is not a new substance created, 
 but new qualities are infused ; light instead of darkness, 
 righteousness instead of unrighteousness. 
 
 2. It is a supernatural change ; he that is born again, 
 is bor?i of the Spirit., John iii. 5. Great changes may be 
 made by the power.of nature, especially when assisted by 
 external revelation. And nature may be so elevated by 
 the common influences of the Spirit, that one may there- 
 by be " turned into another man," (as Saul was, 1 Sam. 
 X. 6.) who yet never becomes a new man. But in rege- 
 neration, nature itself is changed, and we become "par- 
 takers of the divine nature ;" and this must needs be a 
 supernatural change. How can we, that are " dead in 
 trespasses and sins," renew ourselves, more than a dead
 
 HEAD i.] The nature of regeneration. 181 
 
 man can raise himself out of his grave ? Who but the 
 sanctifying- Spirit of Christ, can form Christ in a soul, 
 changing it into the same image ? Who but the Spirit of 
 Sanctiacation can give the new heart ? Well may we 
 say, when we see a man thus changed, This is thejinger 
 of God. 
 
 3. It is a change into the likeness of God, 2 Cor. iii. 
 18. We beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
 are changed into the sa?n& image. Every thing that gen- 
 erates, generates its like : the child bears the image of 
 the parent ; and they that are born of God, bear God's 
 image. 'Man, aspiring to be as God, made himself like 
 the devil. In his natural state he resembles the devil, as 
 a child doth his father, John viii. 44. Ye are of your fa- 
 ther the devil. But when this happy change comes, that 
 image of Satan is defaced, and the image of God is re- 
 stored. Christ himself, who is the brightness of his fa- 
 ther's glory, is the pattern after which the new creature 
 is made, Rom. viii. 29. For whom he did foreknow, he 
 also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of 
 his Son." Hence he is said to be formed in the regene- 
 rate, Gal. iv. 19. 
 
 4. It is an universal change : all things become new, 2 
 Cor. v. 1 7. It is a blest leaven, that leavens the whole 
 lump, the whole spirit, and soul, and body. Original sin 
 infects the whole man, and regenerating grace, which Is 
 the salve, goes as far as the sore. This fruit of the Spi- 
 rit is in all goodness ; goodness of the mind, goodness of 
 the will, goodness of the affections, goodness of the 
 whole man. One gets not only a new head to know re- 
 ligion, or a new tongue to talk of it ; but a new heart 
 to love and embrace it in the whole of his conversation. 
 When the Lord opens the sluice of grace on the soul's 
 new birth-day, the waters run through the whole man, 
 to purify and make him fruitful. In these natural chan- 
 ges spoken of before, there are, as it were, pieces of new 
 cloth, put into an old garment, as new life sewed to am
 
 182 The nature of regeneration] [STATE in. 
 
 old heart : but the gracious changeas a thorough change, 
 a change both of heart and liie. 
 
 5 Yet it is but an imperfect change. 'Though every 
 part of the man is renewed, there is no p*rt of him per- 
 fectly renewed. As an infant tias all the parts of a man, 
 but none of them are come to their perfect growth ; so 
 regeneration brings a perfection of parts to be brought 
 forward in the gradual advances of sanctification, 1 Pet. 
 ii. 2. ' As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the 
 word, that ye may grow thereby." Although in regener- 
 ation there is an heavenly light* let into the mind; yet 
 there is still some darkness there : though the will is re- 
 newed, it is not perfectly renewed ; there is still some of 
 the old inclination to sin remaining ; and thus it will be, 
 till that which is in part be done away, and the light of 
 glory come. Adam was created at his full stature ; but 
 they that are born must have their time to grow up : so 
 these that are born again, do come forth into the new 
 world of grace, but imperfectly holy ; though Adam, be- 
 ing created upright, was at the same time perfectly right- 
 eous, without the least mixture of sinful imperfection. 
 
 Lastly, Nevertheless, it is a lasting change, which 
 never goes off. The seed is incorruptible, saith the text ; 
 and so is the creature that is formed of it The life giv- 
 en in regeneration, whatever decays it may fall under, 
 can never be utterly lost. " His seed remaineth in him," 
 who " is born of God," 1 John iii. 9. Though the bran- 
 ches should be cut down, the root shall abide in the 
 earth ; and being watered with the dew of heaven, shall 
 sprout again ; for " the root of the righteous shall not 
 be moved," Prov, xii. 3. 
 
 But, to come to particulars, 
 
 First, In regeneration the mind is savingly enlighten- 
 ed. There is a new light let into the understanding, so 
 that they who were " sometimes darkness, are now light 
 in the Lord," Eph. v. 8. The beams of the light of life 
 make their way into the dark dungeon of the heart : 
 then the night is over, and the morning light is come,
 
 HEAD I.] The mind illuminated. 185 
 
 ^, ._- _ 
 
 which will shine more and more unto the perfect day. 
 Now the man is illuminated. 
 
 1. In the knowledge of God. He has far other 
 thoughts of God than ever he had before, Hos. ii. 20. 
 " 1 will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and 
 thou shalt know the Lord." The Spirit of the Lord 
 brings him back to that question, " What is God ?" and 
 catechiseth him anew upon that grand point, so as he is 
 made to say, " I have heard of thee by the hearing of 
 the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee," Job xiii. 5. The 
 spotless purity of God, his exact justice, his all-sufficien- 
 cy, and other glorious perfections revealed in his word, 
 are by this new light discovered to the soul, with a plain- 
 ness and certainty, that doth as far exceed the know- 
 ledge it had of these things before, as ocular demonstra- 
 tion exceeds common fame. For now he sees what he 
 only heard of before. 
 
 2. He is enlightened in the knowledge of sin. He 
 hath other thoughts of it than he was wont to have. 
 Formerly his sight could not pierce through the cover 
 Satan laid over it ; but now the Spirit of God strips it 
 before him, wipes of the paint and fairding, and he sees 
 it in its native colours, as the worst of evils, exceeding 
 sinful, Rom. vii. 13. O what deformed monsters do for* 
 merly beloved lusts appear ! Were they right eyes, he 
 would pluck them out. Were they right hands, he would 
 consent to their cutting off. He sees how offensive sin 
 is to God, how destructive it is to the soul, and calls him- 
 self fool, for fighting so long against the Lord, and har- 
 bouring that destroyer as a bosom friend. 
 
 3. He is instructed in the knowledge of himself. Re- 
 generating grace causeth the prodigal to come to himself, 
 Luke xv. 17- and makes them full of eyes within, know- 
 ing every one the plague of his own heart. The mind 
 being savingly enlightened, the man sees how desperate- 
 ly corrupt his nature is ; what enmity against God and 
 his holy law has long lodged there, so that his soul 
 loathes itself. No open sepulchre, no puddle so vile and
 
 The mind illuminated. [STATE m* 
 
 loathsome in his eyes as himself, Ezek. xxxvi. 31. "Then 
 shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings 
 that were not good, and shall loathe younelf in your own 
 sight." He is no worse than he was before ; but the 
 sun is shining, and so these pollutions are aeen, which he 
 could not discern, when there was no dawning in him ; 
 as the word is, Isa. viii. 20. while q$ yet the day of grace 
 was not broken with him. 
 
 4. He is enlightened in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, 
 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. '*' But we preach Christ crucified, unto 
 the Jews a stumbling-block, nd unto the Greeks fool- 
 ishness ; but unto them wjaich are called, both Jews and 
 Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of 
 God." The truth is, unregenerate men, though capable 
 of preaching Christ, have not (properly speaking) the 
 knowledge of him, but only an opinion, a ..gopd opinion 
 of him, as one has of many controverted points of doc- 
 trine, wherein ha is far from certainty. As when ye 
 meet with a stranger by the road, he behaving himself 
 discreetly, ye conceive a good opinion of him, and there- 
 fore willingly converse with him ; but yet ye will not 
 commit your money to him, because, though ye have a 
 good opinion of the man, he is a stranger to you, ye do 
 not know him ; so may they think well of Christ, but 
 they will never commit themselves to him, seeing they 
 know him not. But saving illumination carries the soul 
 beyond opinion, to the certain knowledge of Christ and 
 his excellency, 1 Thess. i. 5. " For our gospel came not 
 unto you in word only, but sAso in power, and in the 
 Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." The light of grace 
 thus discovers the suitableness of the mystery of Christ, 
 to the divine perfections, and to the sinner's case. 
 Hence the regenerate admire the glorious plan of salva- 
 tion through Christ crucified, lay their whole weight up- 
 on it, and heartily acquiesce" therein ; for, whatever he 
 be to others, he is to them Christ the power of God, and 
 the wisdom of God. But unrenewed men, not seeing this, 
 offended in him ; they will not venture their souls in
 
 HEAD I.] The mind illuminated. 
 
 that bottom, but betake themselves to the broken boards 
 of their own righteousness. The same light convincing- 
 ly discovers a superlative worth, a transcendant glory 
 and excellency in Christ, which darken all created ex- 
 cellency, as the rising sun makes the Btars to hide their 
 heads ; and so it engages the " merchant-man to sell all 
 that he hath, to buy the one pearl of great price," Matt. 
 xiii. 45, 46 ; makes the soul well content to take Christ 
 for all, and instead of all. Even as an unskilful mer- 
 chant, to whom one offepeth a pearl of great price, for 
 all his petty ware, dares not venture on the bargain ; for 
 though he thinks, that one pearl may be wortk more than 
 all he has, yet he is not sure of it ; but when a jeweller 
 comes to him, and assures him it is worth double all his 
 wares, he then greedily etnbraceth the bargain, and cheer- 
 fully parts with all he has for that pearl. Finally, this 
 illumination in the knowledge of Christ, convincingly 
 discovers to men a fulness in him, sufficient for the sup- 
 ply of all their wants, enough to satisfy the boundless 
 desires of an immortal soul. They are persuaded such 
 fulness is in him, and that in order to be communicate ; 
 they depend upon it as a certain truth, and therefore 
 their souls take up their eternal rest in him. 
 
 5. The man is instructed in the knowledge of the 
 ranity of the world, Psal. cxix. 96. / have seen an end 
 of all perfection. Regenerating grace elevates the soul, 
 sets it, as it were, amongst the stars, from whence this 
 earth cannot but appear a little, yea, a very little tiling; 
 even as heaven appeared before, while the soul was im- 
 mersed in the earth. Grace brings a man into a new 
 world, where this world is reputed but a stage of vanity, 
 a howling wilderness, a valley of tears. God hath hung 
 the sign of vanity at the door of all created enjoyments ; 
 yet how do men throng into the house calling and look- 
 ing for somewhat that is satisfying, even after it has 
 been a thousand times told them, there is no such thing 
 in it, it is not to be jot there, Isa. IviL 10. " Thou urt 
 
 2 it
 
 ISO The mind illuminated. [STATE in. 
 
 wearied in the greatness of thy ways, yet saidst thou 
 not, There is no hope." Why are men so foolish ? The 
 truth of the matter lies here, they do not see by the light 
 of grace, they do not spiritually discern that sign of va- 
 nity. They have often indeed made a rational discovery 
 of it ; but can that truly wean the heart from the world ? 
 Nay, no more than painted fire can burn off the prison- 
 er's bands. But the light of grace is the light of life, 
 powerful and efficacious. 
 
 Lastly, To sum up all in one word. In regeneration 
 the mind is enlightened in the knowledge of spiritual 
 things, 1 John ii. 20. Ye have an unction from the Holy 
 One, (that is, from Jesus Christ, Rev. iif. IS. It is an 
 allusion to the sanctuary, whence the holy oil was brought 
 to anoint the priests) and ye know all things, viz. neces- 
 sary to salvation. Though men be not book-learned, if 
 they be born again, they are Spirit-learned, for all such 
 are knight of God, John vi. 45. The spirit of regenera- 
 tion teacheth them What they knew not before; and 
 what they did know by, the ear only, he teacheth them 
 over again as by the eye. The light of grace is an over- 
 coming light, determining men to assent to divine truths 
 on the mere testimony of God. It is no easy thing for the 
 nind of man to acquiesce in divine revelation. Many 
 pretend great respect to the scriptures, whom, neverthe- 
 less, the clear scripture- testimony will not divorce from 
 their pre-conceived opinions. But this illumination will 
 make, men's minds run, as captives, after Christ's chariot 
 wheels, which, for their part, shall be allowed to drive 
 over, and cast down, their own imaginations, " and every 
 thing high that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
 Cod, 2 Cor. x. 5. It will make them "receive the king- 
 dom of God as a little child," Mark x. 1.5. who thinks 
 he has sufficient ground to believe any thing, if his fa. 
 ther do but say it is so. 
 
 Secondly, The will is renewed, The Lord takes away 
 the stony heart, and gives a heart of flesh, Ezek. xxxvi. 
 g. and so of stpDej raisetk ug cjuldrea to. Abraham,
 
 HEADI.J The will renewed. 187 
 
 Regenerating- grace is powerful and efficacious, and gives 
 the will a new set. It does not indeed force it ; but 
 sweetly, yet powerfully, draws it, so that his "people* 
 are willing in the day of his power." Psal. ex. 3. There 
 is heavenly oratory in the Mediator's lips, to persuade 
 sinners, Psal. xlv. 2. " Grace is poured into thy lips." 
 There are cords of a man, and bands of love in his hands, 
 " to draw them after him," Hos. xi. 4. Love makes a. 
 net for elect souls, which will infallibly catch them, and 
 hale them to land. The cords of Christ's love are strong 
 cords : and they need to be so, for every sinner is heavier 
 than a mountain of brass : and Satan together, with the 
 heart itself, draws the contrary way. But " love is strong 
 as death :" and the Lord's love to the soul he died for, 
 is strongest love ; which acts so powerfully, that it must 
 come off victorious. 
 
 1. The will is cured of its utter inability to will what 
 is good. While the'opening of the prison to them that 
 are bound, is proclaimed in the gospel : the Spirit of God 
 comes to open the prison door, opens it, goes to the pri- 
 soner, and by the power of his grace makes his chains 
 fall off; breaks the bonds of iniquity, wherewith he was 
 held in sin, so as he could neither will nor do any thing 
 truly good ; brings him forth into a large place, " work- 
 ing in him both to will and to do of his good pleasure," 
 Phil. ii. 13. Then it is that the soul, that was fixed to 
 the earth, can move heavenward ; the withered hand is 
 restored, and can be stretched out. 
 
 2. There is wrought in the will a fixed aversion to 
 cviL In regeneration a man gets a "new spirit put 
 within him," Ezek. xxxvi. 26. and that " spirit lusteth 
 against the flesh," Gal. v. 1 7. The sweet morsel of sin, 
 so greedily swallowed down, he now loathes, and would 
 fain be rid of it ; even as willingly as one that had drunk 
 a cup of poison, would throw it up again. When the 
 spring is stopt, the mud lies in the well unmoved : but 
 when once the spring is cleared, the waters springing np 9 
 will work away the mud by degrees. Even so, while a
 
 The will renewed. [STATE, nr. 
 
 continues in an unregenerate state, sin lies at ease 
 in the ueart : but as soon as the Lord strikes the rocky 
 heart, with the rod of his strength, in the day of conver- 
 sion, grace is " in him a well of water, springing up into 
 everlasting life,** John iv. 14-. working away natural cor- 
 ruption, and gradually * purifying the heart," Acts xv. 
 9. The renewed will riseth up against sin, strikes at 
 the root thereof, and the branchess too. Lusts are now 
 grievous, and the soul endeavours to starve them : the 
 corrupt nature is the source of all evil ; and therefore 
 the soul will be often laying it before the great Physician. 
 O what sorrow, shame, and self-loathing fill the heart, in 
 the r1 a} r that grace makes its triumphant entrance in- 
 to it! For now the mad man is come to himself, and 
 the remembrance of his follies cannot but cut him to the 
 heart. 
 
 Lastly, The will is renewed with an inclination, bent, 
 and propensity to jood. In its depraved state, it lay 
 quite an v:!'^r way, being prone and bent to evil only; 
 but iiov, . by a pull of the omnipotent, all-conquering arm, 
 it is drawn from evil to good; and gets another set. And 
 as the former set was natural, so this is natural too, in 
 respect of the new nature given in regeneration, which 
 has its own holy lustings as well as the corrupt old na- 
 tuie hath its sinful lustings, Gal. v. 17. The will, as re- 
 jiewed, inclines and points towards God and godliness.- 
 When God made man, his will, in respect of its intenti- 
 on, was directed towards God, as his chief end ; in res- 
 pect of its choice, it points towards that which God wil- 
 led. When man unmade himself, his will was framed 
 into the very reverse hereof: he made himself his chief 
 endj and his own will his law. But when man is new 
 ira'.lc in regeneration, grace rectifies this disorder in some 
 measure, though not perfectly indeed ; because we are 
 but renewed in part while in this world. It brings back 
 the sinner out of himself, to God as his chief end truly, 
 though not perfectly, Psal. Ixxiii. 25. " Whom hare I in 
 heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I
 
 HBAD I.] The will renewed. 189 
 
 desire besides thee.'' Phil. i. 21. "For to me to live is 
 Christ." It makes him to deny himself; and whatever 
 way he turns, to point habitually towards God, who is 
 the centre of the gracious soul, its home, its " dwelling- 
 place in all generations," Psal, xc. 1. By regenerating 
 grace, the will is framed into a conformity to the will of 
 God. It is conformed to his preceptive will, being en- 
 dowed with holy inclinations agreeable to every one of 
 his commands. The whole law is impressed on the gra- 
 cious soul : every part of it is written over on the renew- 
 ed heart. And although remaining corruption makes 
 such blots in the writing, that oft-times the man himself 
 cannot read it : yet he that wrote it can read it at all 
 times : it is never quite blotted out, nor can be. What 
 he has written, it shall stand ; For this is the covenant 
 I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their 
 hearts, Heb. viii. 1 0. And it is a covenant of salt, a perpe- 
 tual covenant. It is also conformed to his providential will; 
 so that the man will no more be master of his own pro- 
 cess ; nor carve out his lot for himself. He learns to 
 say, from his heart, " The will of the Lord be done ; he 
 shall choose our inheritance for us," Psal. xlvii. 4. Thus 
 the will is disposed to fall in with those things, which ia 
 its depraved state could never be reconciled to. 
 
 Particularly, (1) The soul is reconciled to the cove- 
 nant of peace. The Lord God proposeth a covenant of 
 peace to sinners ; a covenant which he himself hath fra- 
 med, and registered in the Bible : but they are not pleas^ 
 ed with it. Nay, an unregenerate heart cannot be pleas- 
 ed with it. Were it put into their hands, to frame it ac- 
 cording to their mind, they would blot many things out 
 of it, which God has put in, and put in many things God 
 kept out. But the renewed heart is entirely satisfied 
 with the covenant, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. " He hath made with 
 me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and 
 sure ; this is all my salvation, and all my desire." Though 
 the covenant could not be brought down to their depra- 
 ved will ; their will is by grace brought up to the coves
 
 190 The will renewed. [STATE in. 
 
 nant : they are well pleased with it : there is nothing in 
 it they would have out ; nor is there any thing left out 
 of it, which they would have in. (2.) The will is dispos- 
 ed to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. The soul is content 
 to submit to him. Regenerating grace undermines and 
 brings down the towering imaginations of the heart, rais- 
 ed up against its rightful Lord : it breaks the iron sinew, 
 which kept the sinner from bowing to him ; and dispos- 
 eth him to be no more " stiff-necked, but to yield himself. 
 He is willing to take on the yoke of Christ's commands, 
 to take up the cross, and to follow him. He is content 
 to take Christ on any terms, Psal. xc. 3. " Thy people 
 shall be willing in the day of thy power." 
 
 Now the mind being savingly enlightened, and the 
 will renewed, the sinner is thereby determined and ena- 
 bled to answer the gospel call. So the main work in re- 
 generation is done ; the fort of the heart is taken ; there 
 is room made for the Lord Jesus Christ in the inner- 
 most parts of the soul ; the inner door of the will being 
 now opened to him, as well as the outer door of the un- 
 derstanding. In one word, Christ is passively received 
 into the heart; he is come into the soul, by his quicken- 
 ing Spirit, whereby spiritual life is given to the man, 
 who, in himself, was dead in sin. And his first vital act 
 we may conceive to be an active receiving of Jesus Christ 
 discerned in his glorious excellencies ; that is, a believing 
 on him, a closing with him, as discerned, offered, and ex- 
 hibited in the word of his grace, the glorious gospel : 
 the immediate effect of which is union with him, John i. 
 32, 13. " To as many as received him, to them gave he 
 power (or privilege) to become the sons of God, even to 
 them that believe on his name : which were born, not of 
 blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
 but of God" Eph. iii. 17. " That Christ may dwell in 
 your hearts by faith." Christ having taken the heart by 
 storm, and triumphantly entered into it, in regeneration, 
 the soul by faith yields itself to him, as it is expressed, 
 2 Chron. xxx. S. Thus this glorious King, who came
 
 HEAD i.] The affections changed. 191 
 
 into the heart by his Spirit, dwells in it by faith. The 
 soul being drawn, runs : and being effectually called, 
 comes. 
 
 Thirdly, In regeneration, there is a happy change 
 made on the affections ; they are both rectified and re- 
 gulated. 
 
 1 . This change rectifies the affections, placing them 
 on suitable objects, 2 Thess. iii. 5. The Lord direct your 
 hearts into the love of God. The regenerate man's de- 
 sires are rectified ; they are set on God himself, and the 
 things above. He, who before cried with the world, 
 " Who will show us any good ? has changed his note, and 
 ,says, " Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon 
 us," Psal. iv. 6. Sometimes he saw no beauty in Christ, 
 for which he was to be desired ; but now he is all desires, 
 he is " altogether lovely, 3 ' Cant. v. 16. The main stream of 
 his desires is turned to run towards God ; for there is the 
 one thing he desireth, Psal. xxvii. 4 He desires to be ho- 
 ly, as well as to be happy ; and rather to be gracious than 
 great. His hopes, which before were low, and sfaked 
 down to things on earth, are now raised, and set on the 
 glory which is to be revealed. He entertains the hope 
 of eternal life, founded on the word of promise, Tit. i. 2. 
 
 " Which hope he has, as an anchor of the soul," fixing 
 the heart under trials, Heb. vi. 16. And it puts him up- 
 on " purifying himself, even as God is pure," John iii. 3. 
 For he is " begotten again unto a lively hope," 1 Pet. i. 
 3. His love is raised, and set on God himself, Psal xviii. 
 1. on his holy law, Psal cxix. 97. Though it strike a- 
 gainst his most beloved lust, he says, " The law is holy, 
 and the commandment holy, and just, and good," Rom. 
 vii. 12. He loves the ordinances of God, Psal. Ixxxiv. 1. 
 " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts J" 
 Being " passed from death unto life, he loves the bre- 
 thren," 1 John iii. 1-k the people of God as they are call- 
 ed, 1 Pet. iii. 10. He loves God for himself, and what 
 is God's for his sake. Yea, as being a child of God, he 
 Ipves his own enemies. His jieavenly Father is compas-
 
 192 The affections changed. [STATE HI. 
 
 sionate and benevolent. " He maketh his sun to rise on 
 the evil and on the good ; and sendeth rain on the just 
 and on the unjust ;" and therefore he is in the like man- 
 ner disposed, Matt. v. 44, 4<5. His hatred is turned a- 
 gainst sin, in himself and others, Psal. ci. 8. "I hate the 
 work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me." 
 He groans under the remains of it, and longs for deliver- 
 ance, Rom. vii. 24. " O wretched man that I am, who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death !" His joys 
 and delights are in God the Lord, in the light of his coun- 
 tenance, in the law, and in his people, because they are 
 like him. Sin is what he chiefly fears ; it is a fountain 
 of sorrow to him now, though formerly a spring of plea- 
 sure. 
 
 2. It regulates the affections placed on suitable ob- 
 jects. Our affections, when placed on the creature, are 
 naturally exorbitant. When we joy in it, we are apt to 
 overjoy ; and when we sorrow, we are ready to sorrow 
 overmuch : but grace bridles these affections, clips their 
 wings, and keeps them within bounds, that they overflow 
 not all their banks. It makes a man " hate his father, 
 and mother, and wife, and children, yea, and his own 
 life also," comparatively ; that is, to love them less than 
 he loves -God, Luke xiv. 26. It also signifies lawful af- 
 fections ; bringing them forth from right principles, and 
 directing them to right ends. There may be unholy de- 
 sires after Christ and his grace ; as when men desire 
 Christ, not from any love to him, but merely out of love 
 to themselves. ' Give us of your oil," said the foolish 
 virgins, "for bur lamps are gone out," Matt. xxv. 8. 
 There may be an unsanctified sorrow for sin ; as when 
 one sorroweth for it, not because it is displeasing to God, 
 but only because of the wrath annexed to it, as did Pha- 
 raoh, Judas, and others. So a man may love his father 
 and mother from mere natural principles, without any 
 respect to the command of God, binding him thereto. 
 But grace sanctifies the affections in such cases, making 
 them to run in a new chajinej q Jove to Go& respect tb
 
 HEAD i.] The affections changed. 193 
 
 his commands, and regard to his glory. Again, grace 
 screws up the affections, where they are too low. It gives 
 the chief seat in them to God, and pulls down all other 
 rivals, whether persons or things, making them lie at his 
 feet, Psalm Ixxiii. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee ? 
 and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thce. 
 He is loved. for himself, and other persons or things for 
 his sake. What is lovely in them, to the renewed heart, 
 is some ray of the divine goodness appearing in them : for 
 unto gracious souls they shine only by borrowed light. 
 This accounts for the saints loving all men, and yet hat- 
 ing those that hate God, and contemning the wicked as 
 vile persons. They hate and contemn them for their 
 wickedness ; there is nothing of God in that, and there- 
 fore nothing lovely nor honourable in it : but they love 
 them for their commendable qualities or perfections, whe* 
 ther natural or moral ; because, in whomsoever these are, 
 they are from God, and can be traced to him as their 
 fountain. Finally, Regenerating grace sets the affec- 
 tions so firmly on God, that the man is disposed at God's 
 command to quit his hold of every thing else, in order to 
 keep his hold of Christ ; to hate father and mother, in 
 comparison with Christ ; Luke xiv. 26 It makes even 
 lawful enjoyments like Joseph's mantle, to hang loose 
 about a man, that he may quit them, when he is in ha- 
 zard to be ensnared by holding them. 
 
 If the stream of our affections was never thus turned, 
 we are, doubtless, going down the stream into the pit. 
 "If the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride 
 of life," have the throne in your hearts which should be 
 possest by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; if we never 
 had so much love to God, as to ourselves ; if sin has been 
 somewhat bitter to us, but never so bitter as suffering, 
 never so bitter as the pain of being weaned from it ; truly 
 we are strangers to this saving change. For grace turns 
 the affections upside down, whenever it comes into th# 
 heart. 
 
 2 e
 
 I94> The conscience changed. [stATi in. 
 
 Fourthly) The conscience is renewed. Now that a new 
 light is set up in the soul, in regeneration, conscience is en- 
 lightened, instructed, and informed.-" That candle of the 
 Lord" (Prov. xx. 27.) is now snuffed and brightened; so as 
 it shines and sends forth its light into the most retired 
 corners of the heart, discovering sins which the soul was 
 not aware of before ; and in a special manner discover 
 the corruption or depravity of nature, that seed and 
 spawn whence all actual sins proceed. This produ- 
 ces the new complaint, Rom. vii. 24-. O wretched man 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? 
 That conscience which lay sleeping in the man's bosom 
 before, is now awakened, and makes its voice to be heard 
 through the whole soul : and therefore there is no more 
 rest for him in the sluggards bed, he must get up and be 
 doing, arise, " haste and escape for his life/' It power- 
 fully incites to obedience, even in the most spiritual acts, 
 which lay not within the view of the natural conscience ; 
 and powerfully restrains from sin, even from those sins 
 which do not lie open to the observation of the world. 
 It urgeth the sovereign authority of God, to which the 
 heart is now reconciled, and which it willingly acknow- 
 ledges : and so it engageth the man to his duty, what- 
 ever be the hazard from the world ; for it fills the heart 
 so with the fear of God, that the force of the fear of man 
 is broken. This hath engaged many to put their life in 
 their hand, and follow the cause of religion they once 
 contemned, and resolutely walk in the path they former- 
 ly abhorred, Gal. i. 23. " He which persecuted us in 
 times past, now preacheth the faith which once he de- 
 stroyed." Guilt now makes the conscience to smart. It 
 hath bitter remorse for sins past, which fills the soul with 
 anxiety, sorrow, and self-loathing, and every new reflec- 
 tion on these sins is apt to affect, and makes its wounds 
 bleed afresh with regret. It is made tender, in point of 
 sin and duty, for the time to come : being once burnt, 
 it dreads the fire, and fears to break the hedge where it 
 was formerly bit by the serpent. Finally, the renewed 
 conscience drives the sinner to Jesus Christ, as the only
 
 HEAD i.] The memory renewed. 195 
 
 physician that can draw out the sting of guilt, and whose 
 blood alone can " purge the conscience from dead works," 
 Heb. ix. 14. refusing all case offered to it from any other 
 hand. And this is an evidence that the conscience is not 
 only fired, as it may be in an unregenerate state, but 
 oiled also, with regenerating grace. 
 
 Fifthly, As the memory wanted not its share of de- 
 pravity, it is also bettered with regenerating grace. The 
 memory is weakened, with respect to those things that 
 are not worth their room therein ; and men are taught 
 to forget injuries, and drop their resentments, Matt. v. 
 44, 45. " Do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
 them which despitefully use you, That ye may be (i. e. 
 appear to be) the children of your Father which is in hea- 
 ven." It is strengthened for spiritual things. We have 
 Solomon's recipt for an ill memory, Prov. iii. 1. My son 
 aith lie, forget not my law. But how shall it be kept in 
 mind ? Let thine heart keep my commandments . Grace 
 makes a heart memory, even where there is no good head- 
 memory, Psal. cxix. 1 1 . Thy word have I hid in mine 
 heart. The heart truly touched with the powerful sweet- 
 ness of truth, will help the memory to retain what is so 
 relished. Did divine truths make deeper impressions on 
 our hearts, they would thereby impress themselves with 
 more force on our memories, Psal. cxix. 93. " I will ne- 
 ver forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quick- 
 ened me." Grace sanctifies the memory. Many have 
 large but unsanctified memories, which serve only to ga- 
 ther knowledge, whereby to aggravate their condemna- 
 tion : but the renewed memory serves to " remember his 
 commandments to do them," Psal. ciii. 18. It is a sa- 
 cred store-house, from whence a Christian is furnished in 
 his way to Zion ; for faith and hope are often supplied 
 out of it in a dark hour. It is the store-house of former 
 experiences ; and these are the believer's way- marks, by 
 noticing of which he comes to know where be is, eveu in 
 a dark time, Psal. xlii. 6. " O my God, my soul is cast 
 down within me : therefore will I remember thee from*
 
 196 The "body changed. [STATE in. 
 
 the land of Jordan," &c. It also helps the soul to godly 
 sorrow <>n<l self-loathing, presenting old guilt anew be- 
 fore the conscience, and making it bleed afresh, though 
 the sin be already pardoned, Psal. xxv. 7. " Remember 
 not the sins of my youth." And where unpardoned guilt 
 is King on the sleeping conscience, it is often employed 
 to bring in a word, which, in a moment, sets the whole 
 soui astir : as when " Peter remembered the words of Je- 
 sus, he went out and wept bitterly," Matt. xxvi. 75. 
 The word of God, laid tip in a sanctified memory, serves 
 a man to resist temptations, puts the sword in his hand 
 against his spiritual enemies, and is a light to direct his 
 steps in the way of religion and righteousness. 
 
 xSAr/A/j/jThere is a change made on the body, and the 
 members thereof, in respect of their use : they are con- 
 secrated to the Lord. Even " the body is for the Lord," 
 1 1 Or. vi. 13. It is "the temple of the Holy Ghost," ver. 
 19. The members thereof, that were formerly " instru- 
 ments of unrighteousness unto sin, become instruments 
 of righteousness unto God," Rom. vi. IS. " Servants to 
 righteousness unto holiness," ver. 19. The eye that con- 
 veyed sinful imaginations into the heart, is under a co- 
 venant, Job. xxxi. 1 . to do so no more ; but to serve the 
 soul, in viewing the works and reading the word of God. 
 The ear, that had often been death's porter to let in sin, 
 is turned to be the gate of life, by which the word of life 
 enter, the soul. The tongue, that set on fire the whole 
 course of nature, is restoredto the office it was designed for 
 by the Creator ; namely, to be an instrument of glorify- 
 ing, him, and setting forth his praise. In a word, the 
 whole man is for God, in soul and body, which by this 
 blessed change are made his. 
 
 Lastly, This gracious change shines forth in the con- 
 versation. Even the outward man is renewed ! A new 
 heart makes newness of life. When " the king's daugh- 
 ter is all-glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold," 
 Psal. xlv. 13. " The single eye makes the whole body 
 full of light," Matt. vi. 22. This change will appear t ti
 
 BHAD i.] Change shines in conversation. 197 
 
 every part of one's conversation ; particularly in these 
 following- things. 
 
 1. In the change of his company. Though sometimes 
 he despised the company of the saints, now they are the 
 "excellent, in whom is all his delight," Psal. xvi. 3. 
 K I am a companion to all that fear thee," saith the roy- 
 al psalmist, cxix. 63. A renewed man joins himself with 
 the saints ; for he and they are like-minded, in that 
 which is their main work and business ; they have all 
 one new nature, they are travelling to Immanuel's land, 
 and can converse together in the language of Canaan, 
 In vain do men pretend religion, while ungodly company 
 is their choice : for a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 
 Prov. xiii. 20. Religion will make a man shy of throw 
 ing himself into an ungodly family, or an unnecessary fa- 
 miliarity with wicked men ; as one that is clean will be- 
 ware of going into an infected house. 
 
 2. In his relative capacity, he will be a new man. 
 Grace makes men gracious in their several relations and 
 natively leads them to the conscientious performance of 
 relative duties. It does not only make good men, and 
 'good women, but makes good subjects, good husbands, 
 good wives, children, servants, and, in a word, good re- 
 latives in the church, commonwealth, and family. It is 
 a just exception made against the religion of many ; 
 namely, that they are bad relatives, they are ill husbands, 
 wives, masters, servants, &c. How will we prove our- 
 selves to be new creatures, if we be still but just such as 
 we were before, in our several relations ? 2 Cor. v. J 7. 
 " Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new crea- 
 ture : old things are past away, behold all things are be- 
 come new." Real godliness will gain a testimony to a 
 man, from the conscience of his nearest relations ; though 
 they know more of his sinful infirmities than others do, 
 as we see in that case, 2 Rings iv. 2. " Thy servant my 
 husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did 
 
 fear the Lord." 
 
 
 
 3. In the way of his following his worldly business, 
 there is a great change. It appears to be no more hia
 
 198 Change shines in conversation [STATE m. 
 
 all, as sometimes it was. Though saints apply themselves 
 to worldly business, as well as others ; yet their hearts 
 are not swallowed up in it. It is evident they are car- 
 rying on a trade with heaven, as well as a trade with 
 earth, Phil. iii. 20. For our conversation is in heaven. 
 And they go about their employment in the world, as a 
 duty laid upon them by the Lord of all, doing their law- 
 ful business as the will of God, Eph. vi. 7. working be- 
 cause he has said, " Thou shalt not steal." 
 
 4. They have a special concern for the advancement 
 of the kingdom of Christ in the world : they espouse the 
 interests of religion, and " prefer Jerusalem above their 
 chief joy," Psal. cxxxviii. 6. How privately soever they 
 live, grace makes them a public spirit, which will con- 
 cern itself in the ark and work of God ; in the gospel of 
 God ; and in the people of God, even these af them whom 
 they never saw in the face. As children of God, they 
 naturally care for these things. They have a new and 
 unwonted concern for the spiritual good of others ; and 
 no sooner do they taste of the power of grace themselves, 
 but they are inclined to set up to be agents for Christ 
 and holiness in the world ; as appears in the case of the 
 woman of Samaria, who, when Christ had manifested him- 
 self to her, went her way into the city, and saith unto men, 
 Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did ; 
 is not this the Christ ? John iv. 28, 29. They have seen 
 and felt the evil of sin, and therefore pity the world lying 
 in wickedness. They would fain pluck the brands out 
 of the fire, remembering that they themselves were pluck- 
 ed out of it. They will labour to commend religion to 
 others, both by word and example; and rather deny 
 themselves their liberty in indifferent things, than, by 
 the uncharitable use of it, " destroy others," 1 Cor. vi. 
 1 3. " Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, J 
 will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make 
 Bay brother to offend." 
 
 In their use of lawful comforts, there is a great change. 
 They j^rest not in them., as their end ; but use them ai
 
 HEAD i.] Change shines in conversation. 
 
 means to help them in their way. They draw their 
 satisfaction from the higher springs, even while the 
 lower springe are running. Thus Hannah having obtain- 
 ed a son, rejoiced not so much in the gift as in the giver, 
 1 Sam. ii. 1. " And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart 
 rejoiceth in the Lord." Yea, when the comforts of life 
 are gone, they can subsist without them, and " rejoice in 
 the Lord, although the fig-tree doth not blossom," Hab. 
 iii. 17, 18. "Grace teacheth, to use the conveniences of 
 a present life passingly ; and to show a holy moderation 
 in all things. The heart, which formerly immersed it- 
 self in these things without fear, is now shy of being o- 
 vermuch pleased with them ; and being apprehensive of 
 danger, uses them warily : as the dogs of Egypt run while 
 they lap their water out of the river Nile, for fear of the 
 crocodiles that are in it. 
 
 Lastly, This change shines forth in the man's perfor- 
 mance of religious duties. He who lived in the neglect 
 of them will do so no more, if once the grace of God en- 
 ter into his heart. If a man be new born he will " de- 
 sire the sincere milk of the word," 1 Pet. ii. 2, 3. When- 
 ever the prayerless person gets the spirit of grace, he will 
 be in him " a spirit of supplication," Zech. xii. 10. It is 
 as natural for one that is born again to fall a praying as 
 for the new born babe to fall a crying, Act ix. 11. Be- 
 hold he prayeth. His heart will be a temple for God, 
 and his house a church. His devotion, which before was 
 superficial and formal, is now spiritual and lively ; foras- 
 much as heart and tongue are touched with a live coal 
 from heaven : and he rests not in the mere performing 
 of duties, as careful only to get his task done ; but in 
 every duty seeketh communion with God in Christ, just- 
 ly considering them as means appointed of God for that 
 end, and reckoning himself disappointed if he miss of it. 
 Thus far of the nature of regeneration.
 
 300 Natural and spiritual generation. [STATE 
 
 THE RESEMBLANCE BETWIXT NATURAL AND 
 SPIRITUAL GENERATION. 
 
 II. I come to show why this change is called regene- 
 ration, a being born again. It is so called, because of 
 the resemblance betwixt natural and spiritual generation, 
 which lies in the following particulars. 
 
 First, Natural generation is a mysterious thing : and 
 so is spiritual generation, John iii. 8. " The wind blow- 
 eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, 
 but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it go- 
 eth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit." The 
 work of the Spirit is felt ; but his way of working is a 
 mystery we cannot apprehend. A new light is let into 
 the mind, and the will is renewed ; but how that light 
 is conveyed thither, how the will is fettered with cords 
 of love, and how the rebel is made a willing captive, we 
 can no more tell, than we can tell " how the bones do 
 grow in the womb of her that is with child," Eccl. xi. .5. 
 As a man hears the sound of the wind, and finds it stir- 
 ring ; but knows not where it begins, and where it ends ; 
 "so is every one that is born of the Spirit ;" he finds the 
 change that is made upon him ; but how it is produced, 
 he knows not. One thing he may know, that whereas 
 he was blind, now he seeth : but " the seed of grace doth 
 spring and grow up, he knoweth not how," Mark iv. 20, 
 27. 
 
 Secondly,, In both, the creature comes to a being it had 
 not before. The child is not, till it be generate ; and a 
 man has no gracious being, no being in grace, till he be 
 regenerate. Regeneration is not so much the curing of 
 a sick man, " as the quickening of a dead man," Eph. ii. 
 I, 5. Man in his depraved state is a mere non-entity in 
 grace, and is brought into a new being by the power of 
 him * who calleth things that be not as though they 
 were ; being created in Jesus Christ unto good works/* 
 Eph. U. 10. Therefore our Lord Jesus, to give ground
 
 HRAD i.] Natural and spiritual generation. 201 
 
 of hope to the Laodiceans, in their wretched and misera- 
 ble state, proposed himself as the * beginning of trie cre- 
 ation of God," Rev. iii. 14. namely, the active beginning 
 of it; for all thin<r$ were m-ide by him, at first, John i. 3. 
 From whence they might gather, that seeing he made 
 them when they were nothing he could make them over 
 again, when worse than nothing ; the same hand that 
 made them his creatures, could make them new creatures. 
 
 Thirdly, As the child is merely passive in generation, 
 so is the child of God in regeneration. The one contri- 
 butes nothing to its own generation ; neither does the 
 other contribute any thing, by way of efficiency, to its 
 own regeneration : for though a man may lay himself down 
 at the pool, yet he hath no hand in moving of the water, 
 no efficacy in performing the cure. One is born the child 
 of a king, another the child of a beggar : the child has 
 no hand at all in this difference. God leaves some in 
 their depraved state ; others he brings into a state of 
 grace or regeneracy. If thou be thus honoured, no thanks 
 to thee ; for who makcth time to differ Jrom another ? i 
 Cor. iv. 1 7. 
 
 Fourthly, There is a wonderful contexture of parts in 
 both births. Admirable is the structure of man's body, 
 in which there is such a variety of organs ; nothing want- 
 ing, nothing superfluous. The psalmist, considering his 
 own body, looks on it as a piece of marvellous work ; / 
 am fearfully and wonderfully made, saith he, Psal. cxxxix. 
 14*. curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth,, ver. 
 15. that is in the womb, where I know not how the bones 
 do grow, more than I know what is a doing in the low- 
 est parts of the earth. In natural generation we are cu- 
 riously wrought, as a piece of needle- work ; as the word 
 imports; even so it is in regeneration, Psal. xlv. 14. 
 " She shall be brought unto the king, in raiment of needle- 
 work," raiment curiously wrought. It is the same word 
 in both texts. And what that raiment is, the apostle tells 
 us, Eph. iv, 20. It is the new man which after God 
 
 2 D
 
 202 Natural and spiritual generation. [STATE m. 
 
 is created in righteousness and true holiness. There is 
 the raiment, he saith in the same place, we must put on ; 
 not excluding the imputed righteousness of Christ. Both 
 are curiously wrought, as master-pieces of the manifold 
 wisdom of God. O the wonderful contexture of graces 
 in the new creature ! O glorious creature, new made, af- 
 ter the image of God ! It is grace for grace in Christ, 
 which makes up this new man, John i. 16. Even as in 
 bodily generation, the child has member for member in 
 the parent ; has every member the parent has, in a cer- 
 tain proportion. 
 
 Fifthly, All this, in both cases, hath its rise from that 
 which is in itself very small and inconsiderable. O the 
 power of God, in making such a creature of the corrup- 
 tible seed, and much more in bringing forth the new crea- 
 ture from so small beginnings ; It is as the little cloud, 
 like a man's hand, which spread, till heaven was black 
 with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain, 1 Rings 
 xviii. 44, 45. A man gets a word at a sermon, which 
 hundreds besides him hear, and let slip : but it remains 
 with him, works in him, and never leaves him, till the lit- 
 tle world be turned upside down by it ; that is, till he 
 become a new man. It is like the vapour that got up 
 into Ahasuerus's head, and cut off sleep from his eyes, 
 Esther vi. I, which proved a spring of such motions, as 
 never ceased, until Mordecai, in royal pomp, was brought 
 on horseback through the streets, proud Hainan trudg- 
 ing at his foot; the same Haman afterwards hanged, 
 Mordecai advanced, and the church delivered from Ha- 
 man's hellish plot. The grain of mustard-seed becometh 
 a tree. Matt. xiii. 31, 32. God loves to bring great 
 things out of small beginnings. 
 
 Sixthly, Natural generation is carried on by degrees, 
 Job. x. 10. " Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and 
 curdled me like cheese ?" so is regeneration. It is with 
 the soul ordinarily, in regeneration, as with the blind 
 man cured by our Lord, who first " saw men as trees 
 walking, afterwards saw very clearly," Matt. viii. 23,
 
 HEAD i."| Natural and spiritual generation. 203 
 
 24<, 25. It is true, regeneration being, strictly speaking, 
 a passing from death to life, the soul is quickened in a 
 moment ; like as, when the embryo is brought to perfec- 
 tion in the womb, the soul is infused into the lifeless 
 lump. Nevertheless we may imagine somewhat like 
 conception in spiritual generation, whereby the soul is 
 prepared for quickening : and the new creature is capa- 
 ble of growth, 1 Pet. ii. 2. and of life more abundantly, 
 John x 10. 
 
 Seventhly, In both there are new relations. The re- 
 generate may calJ God, father ; for they are his children, 
 John i. 12, 13. Begotten of him, 1 Pet. i. 3. the bride, 
 the Lamo's wife, (that is the church) is their mother, 
 Gal. iv. 26. They are related as brethren and sisters, 
 to angels and glorified saints ; the family of heaven. 
 They are of the heavenly stock : and the meanest of 
 them the base things of the world, 1 Cor. i. 28. the kin- 
 less things (as the word imports) who cannot boast of 
 the blood that runs in their veins, are yet, by their new 
 birth, near of kin with the excellent in the earth. 
 
 Eighthly There is a likeness betwixt the parent and 
 the child. Every thing that generates, generates its like ; 
 and the regenerate are partakers of the divine nature, 2 
 Pet. i. 4. The moral perfections of the divine nature are, 
 in measure and degree, communicated to the renewed 
 soul : and thus the divine image is retrieved ; so that, 
 as the child resembles the father, the new creature resem- 
 bles God himself, being holy as he is holy. 
 
 Lastly, As there is no birth without pain, both to the 
 mother and to the child, so there is great pain in bring- 
 ing forth the new creature. The children have more or 
 less of these birth-pains, whereby they are " pricked in 
 their heart," Acts ii. 37. The soul hath sore pains, 
 when under conviction and humiliation. A wounded spi- 
 rit who can bear ? The mother is pained, " Zion travails," 
 Isa. xlvi. 8. she sighs, groans, crieth, and hath hard la- 
 bour in her ministers and members, to bring forth chil- 
 dren to her Lord, Gal. iv. 19. " My little children, of
 
 204 Trial of one's state. [STATE in 
 
 whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in 
 you." And never was a mother more feelingly touched 
 with joy, " that a man-child was born into the world," 
 than she is upon the new birth of her children. But 
 what is more remarkable than all this, we read not only 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ's "travail (or toil) of soul," Isa. 
 liii. ] 1. but (what lies more directly to our purpose) of 
 his pains, or. pangs, as of one travailing in child-birth ; 
 so the word used, Acts ii. 24. properly signifies. Well 
 may he call the new creature, as Rachel called her dear- 
 bought son Benoni, i e. the son of my sorrow ; and as 
 she called another Naphtali, i. e. my wrestling : for the 
 pangs of that travail put him to " strong crying and tears," 
 Heb. v. 7. yea, into an " agony and bloody sweat,' v Luke 
 xxii. 44. And in the end he died of these pangs, they 
 became to him the pains of death, Acts ii. 24. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION APPLIED. 
 
 USE I. By what is said, you must try whether you are 
 in the state of grace, or not. If ye be brought out of 
 the state wrath and ruin, into the state of grace or sal- 
 vation ; ye are new creatures, ye are born again But 
 ye will say, How shall we know whether we be born again 
 or not ? Answer, Did you ask me if the sun were risen, 
 and how you should know whether it were risen or not ; 
 I would bid you look up to the heavens, and see it with 
 your eyes And would ye know if the light be risen in 
 your heart ? Look in and see. Grace is light, and dis- 
 covers itself. Look into thy mind, see if it lias been illu- 
 minated in the knowledge of God. Hast thou been in- 
 wardly taught what God is ? Were thine eyes ever turn- 
 ed inward to see thyself, the sinfulness of thy depraved 
 state, the corruption of thy nature, the sins of thy heart 
 and life ? Wast thou ever let into a view of the exceed- 
 ing sinfulness of sin ? Have thine eyes seen king Jesus 
 in his beauty, the manifold wisdom of God in him, his 
 transcendant excellency, and absolute fulness and suffici- 
 ency, with the vanity and emptiness of all things else ?
 
 HEAD I.] whether born again or not. 2G. 
 
 Next, What change is there on thy will ? Are the fet- 
 ters taken off, wherewith it was sometimes bound up 
 from moving heaven-ward? And has thy will got a new- 
 set? Dost thou find an aversion to sin, and a proneness 
 to good, wrought in thy heart ? Is thy soul turned to- 
 wards God, as thy chief end ? Is thy will new moulded into 
 some measure of conformity to the preceptive and provi- 
 dential will of Cod? Art thou heartily reconciled to the 
 covenant of peace, and fixedly disposed to the receiving 
 of Christ, as he is offered in the gospel ? And as to a 
 change on your affections, are they rectified, and placed 
 on right objects ? Are your desires going out after God ? 
 Are they to his name, and remembrance of him ? Isa. 
 xxvi. 8. Are your hopes in him ? Is your love set upon 
 him, and your hatred set against him ? Does your offend- 
 ing a good God affect your heart with sorrow, and do 
 you fear sin more than suffering ? Are your affections 
 regulated ? Are they with respect to created comforts, 
 brought down, as being too high ; and, with respect to 
 God in Christ, screwed up, as being too low ? Has he 
 the chief seat in your heart? And are all your lawful 
 worldly comforts and enjoyments laid at his feet ? Has 
 thy conscience been enlightened and awakened, refusing 
 all ease, but from the application of the blood of a Re- 
 deemer ? Is thy memory sanctified, thy body consecrated, 
 to the service of God ? And art thou not walking in 
 newness of life ? Thus ye may discover whether ye are 
 born again or not. 
 
 But, for your further help in this matter, I will dis- 
 course a little of another sign of regeneration, namely, 
 The love of the brethren ; an evidence whereby the weak- 
 est and most timorous saints have often had comfort, 
 when they could have little or no consolation from other 
 marks proposed to them. This the apostle lays down, 
 1 John iii. 14*. " We know that we have passed from 
 death unto life, because we love the brethren/' It is not 
 to be thought that the apostle, by the brethren in this 
 place, means brethren by a common relation to the first
 
 206 Trial of one 1 s stale. [STATE in. 
 
 Adam, but to the second Adam Christ Jesns : because, 
 howsoever true it is, that universal benevolence, a good 
 will to the whole race of mankind, takes place in the re- 
 newed soul-, as being a lively lineament of the divine 
 image ; yet the whole context speaks of those that are 
 the sons of God, ver. 1,2. " Children of God," ver. 1O. 
 " Born of God," ver. 9 . distinguished betwixt " the chil- 
 dren of God," and "the children of the devil," ver. 10. 
 betwix^ these that are of the devil, ver. 8, 12. and these 
 that are of God, ver. 1O. And the text itself comes in 
 as a reason why we should " not marvel that the world 
 hates the brethren," the children of God, ver. 1 3. How 
 can we marvel at it, seeing the love of the brethren is an 
 evidence of one's having passed from death to life ? And 
 therefore it were absurd to look for that love amongst 
 the men of the world, who are dead in trespasses and 
 sins. They cannot love the brethren, no marvel then 
 that they hate them. Wherefore it is plain, that by bre- 
 thren here are meant brethren by regeneration. 
 
 Now, in order to set this mark of regeneration in a 
 true light, consider these three things. (1) This love to 
 the brethren is a love to them as such. Then do we love 
 them in the sense of the text, when the grace or image 
 of God in them is the chief motive of our love to them. 
 When we love the godly for their godlinesss, the saints 
 for their sanctity or holiness ; then we love God in them, 
 and so may conclude we are born of God, for '* every one 
 that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is be- 
 gotten of him," iJohnv 1. Hypocrites may love saints, 
 on account of a civil relation to them ; because of their 
 obliging conversation, for their being of the same opini- 
 on with themselves in religious matters : and on many 
 other such-like accounts, whereby wicked men may be 
 induced to love the godly. But happy they who love 
 them for naked grace in them, for their heaven-born tem- 
 per and disposition ; who can pick this pearl out of a 
 dunghill of infirmities, in and about them, lay hold on it, 
 and love them for it. (2) It is a love that will be give*
 
 HEAD i.] whether bo/ n again or not" 2O7 
 
 to all in whom the grace of God appears. They that love 
 one saint, because he is a saint, will have ' love to all 
 the saints," Eph. i. 5. They will love all, who, to their 
 discerning 1 , bear the miuge of God. They that cannot love 
 a gracious person in rags, but confine their love to those 
 of them who wear gay clothing, have not this love to the 
 brethren in them. Those who confine their love to a par- 
 ty, to whom God has not confined his grace, are soul's 
 too narrow to put among the children. In what points 
 soever men differ from us, in their judgment or way, yet 
 if they appear to agree with us in love to God, and our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, and in bearing his image, we will 
 love them as brethren, if we ourselves be of the heaven- 
 ly family. And (3) If this love be in us, the more grace 
 any person appear to be possest of, he will be the more 
 beloved by us. The more vehemently the holy fire of 
 grace doth flame in any, the hearts of true Christians 
 will be the more warmed in love to them. It is not with 
 the saints as with many other men, who make themselves 
 the standards for others, and love them so far as they 
 think they are like themselves. But if they seem to out- 
 shine and darken them, their Jove is turned to hatred and 
 envy, and they endeavour to detract from the due praise 
 of their exemplary piety, because nothing relisheth with 
 them, in the practice of religion, that goes beyond their 
 own measure ; what of the life and power of religion ap- 
 pears in others, serves only to raise the serpentine grudge 
 in their Pharisaical hearts. But as for them that are born 
 again, their love and affection to the brethren bears pro- 
 portion to the degrees of the diviiie image they discern 
 in them. 
 
 Now, if ye would improve these things to the know- 
 ledge of your state, I would advise you, 1. To set apart 
 some time when, ye are at home, for a review of your 
 case, and try your state by what has been said. Many 
 have comfort and clearness as to their state at a sermon, 
 who in a little time lose it again ; because, while they 
 hear the word preached, they make application of it, but
 
 SOS Trial of one's state, [STATE in. 
 
 do not consider of these things more deliberately and lei- 
 surely when alone. The action is too sudden and short, 
 to give lasting comfort. And it is often so indeliberate, 
 that it has Lad consequences. Therefore set about this 
 work at home, after earnest and serious prayer to God 
 for his help in it. Complain not of your want of time, 
 while the night follows the busy day ; nor of place, while 
 fields and out- houses are to be got. 2. Renew your re- 
 pentance before the Lord. Guilt lying on the conscience 
 unrepented of, may darken all your evidences and marks 
 of grace. It provokes the spirit of grace to depart, and 
 when he goes, our light ceases. It is not fit time for a 
 saint to read his evidences, when th* candle is blown out 
 by some conscience-wounding guilt. Lastly, Exert the 
 powers of the new nature ; let the graces of the divine 
 Spirit in you, discover themselves by action. If ye would 
 know whether there is a sacred fire in your breast, or 
 not, ye must blow the coal ; for although it be, and be a 
 live coal, yet if it be under the ashes, it will give you no 
 light. Settle in your hearts a firm purpose, through the 
 grace that is in Christ Jesus, to comply with every known 
 duty, and watch against every known sin, having a rea- 
 diness of mind to be instructed in what ye know not. If 
 gracious souls would thus manage their inquiries into 
 their state, it is likely they would have a comfortable is- 
 sue. And if others would take such a solemn review, 
 and make trial of their state, impartially sifting them- 
 selves before the tribunal of their own consciences, they 
 might have a timely discovery of their own naughtiness ; 
 but the neglect of self-examination leaves most men un- 
 der sad delusions as to their state, and deprives many 
 saints of the comfortable sight of the grace of God in 
 them. 
 
 But that I may afford some further help to true Chris- 
 tians in their inquiries into their state, I shall propose 
 and briefly answer some cases or doubts, which may pos- 
 sibly hinder some persons from the comfortable view of 
 -their happy state. The children's bread must not be
 
 HEAD i.] Cases of Christ'i am, dpubting, c. 209 
 
 withheld, though, while it is reached to them, the dogs 
 should snatch at it. 
 
 CASE 1. " I doubt if I be regenerate, because I know 
 not the precise time of my conversion ; nor can I trace 
 the particular steps in the way in \vhich it was brought 
 to pass " Answer. Though it is very desirable to be able 
 to give an account of the beginning, and the gradual ad- 
 vances of the Lord's work upon our souls, as some saints 
 can distinctly do (howbeit the manner of the Spirit's work- 
 ing is still a mystery,) yet this is not necessary to evidence 
 the truth of grace. Happy he that can say in this case, 
 as the blind man in the gospel, one thing I know, that 
 whereas I was blind, 'now I see. Like as, when we see 
 flame, we know there is fire, though we know not how 
 nor when it began ; so the truth of grace in us may be 
 discerned, though we know not how nor when it was 
 dropt into our hearts. If thou canst perceive the happy 
 change which is wrought on thy soul, if thou findest thy 
 mind is enlightened, thy will inclined to comply with the 
 will of God in all things, especially to fall in with the di- 
 vine plan of salvation through a crucified redeemer : in 
 vain dost thou trouble thyself, and refuse comfort, be- 
 cause thou knowest not how and what way it was brought 
 about. 
 
 CASE 2, " If I were a new creature, sin could not pre- 
 vail against me as it doth." Answer. Though we must 
 lay pillows for hypocrites to rest their heads upon, who 
 indulge themselves in their sins, and make the doctrine 
 of God's grace subservient to their lusts, lying down con- 
 tentedly in the bond of iniquity, like men that are fond of 
 golden chains, yet it must be owned, tin; just man falleUi 
 seven i'mrs a daij, and iniquity may prevail against the 
 Chilean of God. But ii thou art groaning under the 
 weight of the body of death, the corruption of tby nu- 
 tir. ; loathing thyself for the sins of thy heart and lif. 1 , 
 striving to mortify thy lusts, fleeing daily to the blood />f 
 Christ for pardon, and looking to his Spirit for sauctifiua- 
 
 2 Fr
 
 210 Cases of Christians doubting [STATE in, 
 
 tion ; though thou mayest be obliged to say with the 
 psalmist, iniquities prevail against me, yet thou mayest 
 add with him, ds for our transgressions, thou shaft purge 
 them away, Psal. Ixv. 3. ; the new creature doth not yet 
 possess the house alone ; it dwells beside an ill neighbour, 
 namely, remaining corruption, the relics of depraved na- 
 ture. These struggle together for the mastery ; " The 
 flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the 
 flesh," Gal. v. 17. And sometimes corruption prevails, 
 bringing the child of God " into captivity to the law of 
 sin," Rom. vii. 23. Let not therefore the prevailing of 
 corruption make thee in this case conclude, thou art none 
 of God's children ; but let it humble thee to be the more 
 watchful, and to thirst the more intensely after Jesus 
 Christ, his blood and spirit ; and that very disposition 
 will evidence a principle of grace in thee, which seeks 
 the destruction of sin, that prevails so often against thee. 
 
 # 
 
 CASE 3. '" I find the motions of sin in my heart more 
 violent, since the Lord began his work on my soul, than 
 they were before that time. Can this consist with a 
 change of my nature ?" Answer. Dreadful is the case of 
 many, who, after God has had a remarkable dealing with 
 their souls, tending to their reformation, have thrown off 
 all bonds, and have become grossly and openly immoral 
 and profane, as if the devil had returned into their hearts 
 with seven spirits worse than himself. All I shall say to 
 such persons is, that their state is exceeding dangerous ; 
 they are in danger of sinning against the Holy Ghost, 
 therefore let them repent, before it be too late. But if 
 it be not thus with you ; though corruption is bestirring- 
 itself more violently than formerly, as if all the forces of 
 hell were raised, to hold fast or bring back a fugitive ; I 
 say, these stirrings may consist with a change of your na- 
 ture. When the restraint of grace is newly laid upon 
 corruption, it is no wonder if this last acts more vigor- 
 ously than before, warning against the law of the mind, 
 Rom. vii. 23. The motions of sin may really be most 
 violent ; whsn a new principle is brought in, to east it
 
 HEAD i.] their regeneration, resolved. 211 
 
 out. And the sun sending its beams through the win- 
 dow, discovers the motes in the house, and their motions, 
 which were not seen before ; so the light of grace may 
 discover the risings and actings of corruption in another 
 planner than ever the man saw them before, though they 
 realJy do not rise nor act more vigorously. Sin is not 
 quite dead in the regenerate soul, it is but dying, and 
 dying a lingering death, being crucified ; no wonder there 
 be great fightings, when it is sick at the heart, and death 
 is at the door. Besides, temptations may be more in 
 number, and stronger, while Satan is striving to bring 
 you back who are escaped, than while he endeavoured 
 only to retain you. " After ye were illuminated, ye en- 
 dured a great flight of affliction," says the apostle to the 
 Hebrews, chap. x. 32. But " cast not away your confi- 
 dence," ver. 34<. Remember his " grace is sufficient for 
 you, and the God of peace will bruise Satan under your 
 feet shortly." Pharaoh and his Egyptians never made 
 such a formidable appearance against the Israelites, as at 
 the Red Sea, after they were brought out of Egypt ; but 
 then were the pursueis nearest to a total overthrow, 
 Exod. xiv. Let not this case, therefore, make you raze 
 your foundations ; but be ye emptied of yourselves, and 
 strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, and 
 ye shall come off victorious. 
 
 CASE 4. " But when I compare my love to God with 
 my love to some created enjoyments, I find the pulse of 
 my affections beat stronger to the creature than the Crea- 
 tor. How then can I call him Father ? Nay, alas ! these 
 turnings of heart within me. and glowings of affection 
 to him, which sometimes I had, are gone , so that I fear 
 all the love I ever had to the Lord, has been but a fit 
 and flash of affection, such as hypocrites often have." 
 Answer. It cannot be denied, that the predominant love 
 of the world is a certain mark of an unregenerate state, 
 1 John iii. 15. If any man love the world, the love of the 
 Father is not in him Nevertheless, these are not always 
 the strongest affections which are most violent. A man's
 
 Closes of Christians doubting [STATE ill. 
 
 affections may be more moved, on some occasions, by an 
 object that is little regarded, than by another that is ex- 
 ceedingly beloved ; even as a little brook sometimes 
 makes a greater noise than a great river. The strength 
 of our affections is to be measured by the firmness and 
 fixedness of the root, not by the violence of their actings. 
 Suppose a person meeting with a friend, who has been 
 long abroad, find his affections more vehemently acting 
 towards his friend on that occasion, than towards his own 
 wife and children ; will he therefore say, that he loves 
 his friend more than them ? Surely no. Even so, although 
 the Christian may find himself more moved in his love 
 to the creature, than in his love to God, yet he is not 
 therefore to be said to love the creature more than God, 
 seeing love to God is always more firmly rooted in a gra- 
 cious heart, than love to any created enjoyment whatso- 
 ever ; as appears when competition arises in such a man- 
 ner, that the one or the other is to be foregone. Would 
 ve then know vour case ? Retire into your own hearts, 
 
 K *j 
 
 and there lay the two in the balance, and try which of 
 them weighs down the other. Ask thyself, as in the sight 
 of God, whether thou wouldest part with Christ for the 
 creature, or part with the creature for Christ ; if thou 
 wert left to thy choice in the matter ? If you find your 
 heart disposed to part with what is dearest to you in the 
 world for Christ, at his call, you have no reason to con- 
 clude you love the creature more than God ; but, on the 
 contrary, that you love God more than the creature, al- 
 beit you do not feel such violent motions in the love of 
 God, as in the love of some created thing, Matt. x. 37. 
 He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not wor- 
 thy of inc. Luke xvi. 26. If any man come to me, and 
 hate not his father and mother, he cannot be my disciple. 
 From which text compared we may infer, that he who 
 hates, i. e. is ready to part with father and mother for 
 Christ, is, in your account, one that loves them less than 
 him ; and not one who loves father and mother more 
 than him. Moreover, ye are to consider there is a two- 
 love to Christ. (1) There is a sensible love to him,
 
 HEAD i.] their regeneration, resolved. 213 
 
 which is felt as a dart in the heart ; and makes a holy 
 love-sickness in the soul, arising either from want of en- 
 joyment, as in that case of the spouse, Cant. v. 8. " I 
 charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my be- 
 loved, that ye tetl him, that I am sick of love ;" or else 
 from the fulness of it, as in that case, Cant. ii. 5. " Stay 
 me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for 1 am sick 
 of love." These glowings of affections are usually wrought 
 in young converts, who are ordinarily made " to sirpj in 
 the days of their youth," Hos. ii. I4-. While the fire- 
 edge is upon the young convert, he looks upon others re- 
 puted to be godly, and not finding them in such a tem- 
 per or disposition as himself, he is ready to censure them, 
 and to think there is far less religion in the world, than 
 indeed there really is. But when his own cup comes to 
 settle below the brim, and he finds that in himself which 
 made him question the state of others, he is more hum* 
 bled, and feels more and more the necessity of daily re- 
 course to the blood of Christ for pardon, and to the Spi- 
 rit of Christ for sanctification ; and thus grows down- 
 wards in humiliation, self-loathing, and self-denial. 3. 
 There is a rational love to Christ, which, without these 
 sensible emotions felt in the former case, evidence itself 
 by a dutiful regard to the divine authority and cormrand. 
 When one bears such a love to Christ, though the vehe- 
 ment stirrings of affection be wanting, yet he is truiy ten- 
 der of offending a gracious God, endeavours to walk be- 
 fore him unto all pleasing, and is grieved at the heart for 
 what is displeasing unto him, 1 John v. S. For this is the 
 love of God, that u*e keep his commandments. Now, al- 
 though that sensible love doth not always continue with 
 you, *e have no reason to account it a hypocritical fit, 
 while the rational love remains with you, more than a. 
 faithful and loving wife needs question her love to her 
 husband, when her fondness is abated. 
 
 CASE 5. " The attainments of hypocrites and apostates 
 are a terror to me, and come like a shaking storm on me, 
 when I am about to conclude from the marks of grace.
 
 Cases of Christians doubting [STATE in. 
 
 which I seem to find in myself, that I am in the state of 
 grace.'* Answer, These things should indeed stir us up 
 to a most serious and impartial examination of ourselves : 
 but ought not to keep us in a continual suspense as to 
 Our state. Sirs, ye see the outside of hypocrites, their 
 duties, their gifts, their tears, &c. but ye see not their in- 
 side, ye do not discern their hearts, the bias of their spi- 
 rits. Upon what ye see of them, ye found a judgment 
 of charity as to their state ; and ye do well to judge cha- 
 ritably in such a case, because ye cannot know the se- 
 cret springs of their actings : but ye are speaking, and 
 ought to have a judgment of certainty as to your own 
 state, and therefore are to look into that part of religion 
 which none in the world but yourselves can discern in 
 you, and which ye can as little see in others. In hypo- 
 crites religion may appear far greater than that of a sin- 
 cere soul ; but that which makes the greatest figure in 
 the eyes of men, is often least worth before God. I 
 would rather utter one of those groans the apostle speaks 
 of, Rom. viii. 26. than shed Esau's tears, have Balaam's 
 prophetic spirit, or the joy of the stony ground-hearer. 
 * The fire that shall try every man's work," will try, 
 not of what bulk it is, but of " what sort it is," 1 Cor. 
 iii. 13. Now ye may know what bulk of religion ano- 
 ther has, and what though it be more bulky than your 
 own ? God doth not regard that, why then do ye make 
 such a matter of it ? It is impossible for you, without di- 
 vine revelation, certainly to know of what sort another 
 man's religion is ; but ye may certainly know what sort 
 your own is of, without extraordinary revelation, other- 
 wise the apostle would not exhort the saints to give dili- 
 gence to make their calling and election sure, 2 Pet. i. 10. 
 Therefore the attainments of hypocrites and apostates 
 should not disturb you, in your serious inquiry into your 
 own state. But I will tell you two things, wherein the 
 meanest saints go beyond the most refined hypocrites. 
 1. In denying themselves, renouncing all confidence in 
 themselves, and their own works, acquiescing in, and be- 
 ing well pleased with, and venturing their souls upon
 
 HEAD i.] tlielr regeneration, resolved. 215 
 
 . . . .1.4 
 
 God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, Matt. v. 3, 
 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom 
 of heaven. And chap. ix. 6. Blessed is he whosoever 
 shall not be offended in me, Phil. iii. 3. " We are the 
 circumcision which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice 
 in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."- 
 2. In a real hatred of all sin, being willing to part with 
 every lust without exception, and to comply with every 
 duty the Lord makes, or shall make known to them, 
 Psal, cxix. 6. " Then shall I not be ashamed, when I 
 have respect unto all thy commandments." Try your- 
 selves by these. 
 
 CASE 6. " I see myself fall so far short of the saints 
 mentioned in the scriptures, and of several excellent per- 
 sons of my own acquaintance ; that when I look on them, 
 I can hardly look on myself, as one of the same family 
 with them." Answer, It is indeed matter of humiliation, 
 that we do not get forward lo that measure of grace and 
 holiness which we see is attainable in this life. This 
 should make us more vigorously press towards the mark ; 
 but surely it is from the devil, that weak Christians make 
 a rack for themselves, of the attainments of the strong. 
 And to yield to this temptation is as unreasonable as for 
 A child to dispute away his relation to his father ; be- 
 cause he is not of the same stature with his elder bre- 
 thren. There are saints of several sizes in Christ's fa- 
 mily ; some fathers, some young men, and some little 
 children, 1 John iii. 13, 14?. 
 
 CASE 7. " I never read in the word of God, nor did 
 I ever know, of a child of God so tempted, and so left 
 of God, as I am ; and therefore no saint's case being like 
 mine, I cannot but conclude I am none of their number/' 
 Answer, This objection arises to some from their unac- 
 quaintedness with the scriptures, and with experienced 
 Christians. It is profitable in this case, to impart the 
 matter to some experienced Christian friend, or to some 
 godly minister. This has been a blessed mean of peace 
 to some persons ; while their case, which appeared t
 
 216 Cases of Christians doubting [STATE nl. 
 
 them to be singular, has been evinced to have been the 
 case of other saints. The scriptures give instances of 
 very horrid temptations, wherewith the saints have been 
 assaulted. Job was tempted to blaspheme : this was the 
 great thing the devil aimed at in the case of that great 
 saint, Job. i. 11. He will curse thee to thy face, chap, 
 ii. 9. Curse God and die. Asaph was tempted to think, 
 it was in vain to be religious, which was in effect to throw 
 oiTall religion, Psal. Ixviii. 13. "Verily I have cleansed 
 my heart in vain." Yea, Christ himself was tempted to 
 cast himself down from a pinnacle of the temple, and to 
 worship the devil, Matt. iv. 6, 9. And many of the chil- 
 dren of God have not only been attacked with, but have 
 Actually yielded to, very gross temptations for a time. 
 Peter denied Christ, and cursed and swore that he knew 
 him not, Mark xiv. 71. Paul, when a persecutor, com- 
 pelled even saints to blaspheme, Acts xxvi. 1O, 11. Many 
 of the saints can, from their sad experience, bear witness 
 to very gross temptations, which have astonished their 
 spirits, made their very flesh to tremble, and sickened 
 their bodies. Satan's fiery darts make terrible work ; 
 and will cost pains to quench them, by a vigorous ma- 
 naging of the shield of faith, Eph. vi. 16. Sometimes he 
 makes such desperate attacks, that never was one more 
 put to it, in running to and fro, without intermission, to 
 quench the fire-balls incessantly thrown into his house 
 by an enemy, designing to burn the house about him ; 
 than the poor tempted saint is, to repel Satanical injec- 
 tions. But these injections, these horrid temptations, 
 though they are a dreadful affliction ; they are not the 
 sins of the tempted, unless they make them theirs, by 
 consenting to them They will be charged upon the 
 tempter alone, if they be not consented to ; and will no 
 more be laid to the charge of the tempted party, than a 
 bastard's being laid down at a chaste man's door, will fix 
 guilt upon him. 
 
 But suppose neither minister nor private Christian, to 
 whom you go, can tell you of any who has been in yarn*
 
 HEAD i.] their regeneration, resolved. 217 
 
 case ; yet you ought not thence to infer, that your 
 case certainly is singular, far less to give over hopes ; for 
 it is not to be thought that every godly minister, or pri- 
 vate Christian, has had experience of all the cases a child 
 of God may be in. And we need not doubt but some- 
 have had distresses known only to God and their own 
 consciences ; and so to others these distresses are as ii' 
 they had never been. Yea, and though the scriptures 
 do contain suitable directions for every case a child of 
 God can be in, and these illustrated with a sufficient 
 number of examples, yet it is not to be imagined, that 
 there are in the scriptures perfect instances of every par- 
 ticular case incident to the saints. Therefore, howbeit 
 you cannot find an instance of your case in the scripture, 
 yet bring your case to it, and you shall find suitable re- 
 medies prescribed there for it. And study rather to 
 make use of Christ for your case, who has salve for all 
 sores, than to know if ever any was in your case. Though 
 one should shew you an instance of your case, an un- 
 doubted saint, yet none could promise it would certainly 
 give you ease, for a scrupulous conscience would readily 
 find out some difference. And if nothing but a perfect 
 conformity of another case to yours will satisfy, it will 
 be hard, if not impossible, to satisfy you. For it is with 
 people's cases, as with their natural faces. Though the 
 faces of all men are of one make, and some are so very 
 like others, that at first view we are ready to take them 
 for the same ; yet if you view them more accurately, 
 you will see something in every face distinguishing it 
 from all others ; though possibly you cannot tell what it 
 is. Wherefore I conclude, that if you can find in your- 
 selves the marks of regeneration, proposed to you from 
 the word, you ought to conclude you are in the state of 
 grace, though your case were singular, which is indeed 
 unlikely. 
 
 CASE 8. " The affliction? I meet with are strange and 
 unusual. I doubt if ever a child of God was tristed with 
 such dispensations of providence as I am." Answer. Much 
 
 2 F
 
 218 Cases of Christians, doubting, fyc. [STATE in. 
 
 of what was said on the preceding- case, may be helpful 
 in this. Holy Job was assaulted with this temptation, 
 Job v. 1. "To which of the saints wilt thou turn?" But 
 he rejected it, and held forth his integrity. The apostle 
 supposeth Christians may be tempted to " think strange 
 concerning the fiery trial,'* 1 Pet. iv. 12. But they have 
 need of larger experience than Solomon's, who will ven- 
 ture to say, " See this is new," Eccl. i. 10. And what 
 though in respect of the outward dispensations of provi- 
 dence, " it happen to you according to the 'work of the 
 wicked ?" you may be just notwithstanding, according to 
 Solomon's remark, Eccl. viii. 14. Sometimes we travel 
 in ways where we cannot perceive the prints of the foot 
 of man nor beast, yet we cannot from thence conclude, 
 that there was never any there before us ; so albeit thou 
 canst not perceive the foot-steps of the flock in the way 
 of thine affliction, thou must not therefore conclude thou 
 art the first that ever travelled that way. But what if 
 it were so, that thou wert indeed the first ? Some one 
 saint or other behoved to be first, in drinking of each 
 bitter cup the rest have drunk of. What warrant have 
 you or I to " limit the Holy One of Israel," to a trodden 
 path, in his dispensations towards us ? Thy way is in 
 the sea, and thy path in the great waters : and thy foot- 
 steps are not known, Psal. Ixxvii. 19. If the Lord should 
 carry you to heaven by some retired road, and let you in 
 at a back door (so to speak,) you would have no ground 
 to complain. Learn to allow sovereignty a latitude ; be 
 at your duty, and let no affliction cast a vail over any 
 evidences you otherwise have for your being in the state 
 of grace ; " for no man knoweth either love or hatred by 
 mil that is before them," Eccl. ix. 1. 
 
 USE II. Ye that are strangers to this new birth, be 
 convinced of the absolute necessity of it. Are all in the 
 state of grace born again ? Then ye have neither part 
 nor lot in it, who are not born again. I must tell you 
 in the words of our Lord and Saviour, (and O that he 
 would speak them to your hearts) Ye must be born again
 
 HEAD i.] Necessity of regeneration. 219 
 
 John iii. 7. And for your conviction, consider these few 
 things . 
 
 First, Regeneration is absolutely necessary to qualify 
 you to do any thing really good and acceptable to God. 
 While you are not born again, your best works are but 
 glistering sins : for though the matter of them is good, 
 they are quite marred in the making. Consider, 1. That 
 without regeneration there is no faith, and without faith 
 it is impossible to please God, Heb. ix. 6. Faith is a vi- 
 tal act of the new-born soul. The evangelist shewing 
 the different entertainment our Lord Jesus had from dif- 
 ferent persons, some receiving him, some rejecting him, 
 points at regenerating grace as the true rise of that dif- 
 ference, without which never one would have received 
 him. He tells us. that " as many as received him were 
 these which were born of God," John i. 11, 12, 13. Un- 
 regenerate men may presume, but true faith they cannot 
 have. Faith is a flower that grows not in the field of nature. 
 As the tree cannot grow without a root, neither can a 
 man believe without the new nature, whereof the prin- 
 ciple of believing is a part. 2. Without regeneration a 
 man's works are dead works. As is the principle, so 
 must the effect be ; if the lungs be rotten, the breath 
 will be unsavoury ; and he who at Uest is dead in sin, his 
 works at best will be but dead works. " Unto them 
 that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure being 
 abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work, 
 reprobate," Tit. i. 15, 16. Could we say of a man, that 
 he is more blameless in his life, than any other in the 
 world ; that he macerates his body with fasting ; and 
 has made his knees as horns with continual praying ; but 
 he is not born again : that exception would mar all. As 
 if one should say, There is a well-proportioned body, but 
 the soul is gone : it is but a dead lump. This is a melt- 
 ing consideration. Thou dost many things materially 
 good : but God saith, All these things avail not, as long 
 as I see the old nuture reigning in the man. Gal. vi. 1 5.
 
 220 Necessity of regeneration. [STATE in. 
 
 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any 
 thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 
 
 If thou art not born again, (1) All thy reformation is 
 naught in the sight of God. Thou hast shut the door, 
 but the thief is still in the house. It may be thou art 
 not what once thou wast : yet thou art not what thou 
 must be, if ever thou see heaven : for except a man be 
 born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, John iii. 
 3. (2) Thy prayers are " an abomination to the Lord," 
 Prov. xv. 8. It may be others admire thy seriousness, 
 thou criest as for thy life : but God accounts for the o- 
 pening of thy mouth, as one would account of the open- 
 ing of a grave full of rotteness, Rom. iii. 13. Their throat 
 is an open sepulchre. Others are affected with thy 
 prayers ; which seem to them, as if they would rent the 
 heavens : but God accounts them but as the howling of 
 a dog. " They have not cried unto me with their heart, 
 when they howled upon their beds/' Hos. vii. 14. O- 
 thers take thee for a wrestler and prevailer with God ; 
 but he can take no delight in thee, nor thy prayers nei- 
 ther, Isa. Ixvi. 13. " He that killeth an ox is as if he slew 
 a man ; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut of a dog's 
 neck. He that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol." 
 Why, but because thou art yet " in the gall of bitterness, 
 and bond of iniquity !" (3) All thou hast done for God 
 and his cause in the world, though it may be followed 
 with temporal rewards, yet is lost as to divine accept- 
 ance. This is clear from the case of Jehu, who was in- 
 deed rewarded with a kingdom, for his executing due 
 vengeance upon the house of Ahab ; as being a work 
 good for the matter of it, because it was commanded of 
 God, as you may see, 2 Kings x. 13. Yet was he pun- 
 ished for it in his posterity, because he did it not in a 
 right manner, Hos. i. 4. "I will avenge the blood of Jez- 
 reel upon the house of Jehu." God looks mainly to the 
 heart ; and if so, truly, albeit thy outward appearance be 
 fairer than that of many others, yet the hidden man of 
 thy heart is loathsome ; thou lookest well before men,
 
 HEAD I.] Necessity of regeneration. 221 
 
 but art not as Moses was, " fair to God," as the margin 
 hath it, Acts vii. 2O. O what a difference is there bet- 
 wixt the characters of Asa and Amaziah ! " The high 
 places were not removed ; nevertheless, Asa his heart 
 was perfect with the Lord all his days," 1 Kings x. 14. 
 " Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of the 
 Lord, but not with a perfect heart," 2 Chron. xxv. 2. 
 It may be thou art zealous against sin in others, and dost 
 admonish them of their duty, and reprove them for their 
 sin, and they hate thee because thou dost thy duty ; but 
 I must tell thee, God hates thee too because thou dost 
 it not in a right manner, and that thou canst never do, 
 whilst thou art not born again. 
 
 Lastly, All thy struggles against sin in thine own 
 heart and life are nought. The proud Pharisee afflicted 
 his body with fasting, and God struck his soul in the 
 mean time with a sentence of condemnation, Luke xviii. 
 Balaam struggled with his covetous temper to that de- 
 gree, that though he loved the wages of unrighteousness, 
 yet he would not win them by cursing Israel ; but he 
 died the death of the wicked, Num. xxxi. 6. All thou 
 dost, while in an unregenerate state, is for thyself; and 
 therefore it will fare with the as with a subject, who, 
 having reduced the rebels, puts the. crown on his own 
 head, and therefore loseth all his good service, and his 
 head too. 
 
 Objection, If it be thus with us, then we need never 
 perform any religious duty at all. Answer, The conclu- 
 sion is not just. No inability of thine can loose thee 
 from the duty God's law lays on thee, and there is less 
 evil in thy doing thy duty, than there is in the omitting 
 of it. But there is a midst betwixt omitting of duty, 
 and the doing of it as thou dost it. A man ordereth' 
 masons to build him a house : if they quite neglect the 
 work, that will not be accepted ; if they fall on and 
 build on the old rotten foundation, neither will that 
 please ; but they must raze the foundation, and build on 
 firm ground. Go thou and do likewise. In the mean time'
 
 Necessity of regeneration. [STATE m. 
 
 it is not in vain for thee, even for thee, to seek the Lord; 
 for though he regards thee not, yet lie may have respect 
 to his own ordinance, and do thee good thereby, as was 
 said before. 
 
 Secondly, Without regeneration there is no communi- 
 on with God. There is a society on earth, whose fel- 
 lowship " is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
 Christ," 1 John i. 3. But out of that society all the un- 
 regenerate are excluded, for they are all enemies to God, 
 as ye heard before at large. How " can two walk toge- 
 ther except they be agreed," Ames iii. 3. They are all 
 unholy: " and what communion hath light with dark- 
 nessChrist with Belial?" 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. They 
 may have a shew and semblance of holmes, but they are 
 strangers to true holiness, and therefore without God in 
 the world. How sad is this case, to be employed in re- 
 ligious duties, but to have no fellowship with God in 
 them ! Ye would not be content with your meat, unless 
 it fed you ; nor with your clothes, unless they kept you 
 warm ; and how can you satisfy yourselves with your 
 duties, while they are not effectual to your communion 
 with God ? 
 
 Thirdly, Regeneration is absolutely necessary to qua- 
 lify you for heaven. None go to heaven but they that 
 are made meet for it, Col. i. 12. As it was with Solomon's 
 temple, 1 Kings vi. 7. so it is with the temple above. 
 It is " built of stone made ready before it is brought 
 thither," namely, of "lively stones," 1 Pet. ii. 5. "wrought 
 for the self-same thing, 2 Cor. v. 5. for they cannot be 
 laid in that glorious building, just as they came out of 
 the quarry of depraved nature. Jewels of gold are not 
 meet for swine, and far less jewels of glory for unrenew- 
 ed sinners. Beggars in their rags are not meet for king's 
 houses, nor sinners to " enter into the king's palace," 
 without " the raiment of needle-work," Psal. xlvi. 14, 
 15. What wise man would bring fishes out of the wa- 
 ter to feed on his meadows ? Or send his oxen to feed 
 in the sea ? Even as little are the unregenerate meet
 
 HEAD i.] Necessity of regeneration. 223 
 
 for heaven, or is heaven meet for them. It would never 
 be liked of by them. 
 
 The unregenerate would find fault Avith heaven on se- 
 veral accounts. As ( 1 ) That is a strange country. Hea- 
 ven is the renewed man's native country. " His Father 
 is in heaven, his mother is Jerusalem, which is above," 
 Gal. iv. 26. " He is born from above," John iii. 3. 
 Heaven is his home, 1 Cor. vi. 1. therefore he looks on 
 himself as a stranger on this earth, and his head is home- 
 ward, Heb. xi. 16. "They desire a better country, that 
 is an heavenly." But the unregenerate man is " the man 
 of the earth," Psal. x. 18. "written in the earth," Jer. 
 xvii. 1 3. Now home is home, be it never so homely ; 
 therefore he " minds earthly things," Phil. iii. 19. There 
 is a peculiar sweetness in our native soil, and hardly are 
 men drawn to leave it, and dwell in a strange country. 
 In no case does that prevail more than in this, for un- 
 renewed men would quit their pretensions to heaven, 
 were it not that they see they cannot make a better of 
 it. (2.) There is nothing thereof that they delight most 
 in, as most agreeable to the carnal heart, Rev. xxi. 27. 
 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that de- 
 Jileth. When Mahomet gave out Paradise to be a place 
 of sensual delights, his religion was greedily embraced ; 
 for that is the heaven men naturally choose. If the co- 
 vetous man could get bags full of gold there, and the 
 voluptuous man could promise himself his sensual de- 
 lights there, they might be reconciled to heaven, and 
 meet for it too : but since it is not so, though they may 
 utter fair words about it, truly it has little of their 
 hearts. (3.) Every corner there is filled with that, 
 which of all things they have the least liking of : and 
 that is holiness, true holiness, perfect holiness. Were 
 one that abhors swine's flesh bidden to a feast, where all 
 the dishes were of that sort of meat, but variously pre- 
 pared, he would find fault with every dish at the table, 
 notwithstanding of all the art used to make them pala- 
 table. It is true there is joy in heaven, but it is holy
 
 224> Necessity of regeneration. [STATE in. 
 
 joy ; there are pleasures in heaven, but they are holy 
 pleasures ; there are places to stand by in heaven, but it 
 is holy ground. That holiness that casts up in every 
 place, and in every thing there, would mar all to the 
 un regenerate. (4.) Were they carried thither, they 
 would not only change their place, which would be a 
 great heart-break to them, but they would change their 
 company too. Truly they would never like the com- 
 pany there, who care not for communion with God here ; 
 nor value the fellowship of his people, at least in the vi- 
 ta?s of practical godliness. Many indeed mix themselves 
 with the godly on earth, to procure a name to themselves, 
 and to cover the naughtiness of their hearts ; but that 
 trade could not be managed there. (5.) They would 
 never like the employment of heaven, they care so little 
 for it now. The business of the saints there would be 
 an intolerable burden to them, seeing it is not agreeable 
 to their nature. To be taken up in beholding, admiring, 
 and praising of him that sitteth on the throne, and of the 
 Lamb, would be work unsuitable, and therefore unsa- 
 voury, to an unrenewed soul. Lastly, They would find 
 this fault with it, that the whole is of everlasting con- 
 tinuance. This would be a killing ingredient in it, to 
 them. How would sufh as now account the sabbath-day 
 a burden, brook the celebrating of an everlasting sabbath 
 in the heavens ? 
 
 Lastly, Regeneration is absolutely necessary to your 
 being admitted into heaven, John iii. 3. No heaven with- 
 out it. Though carnal men could digest all these things 
 which make heaven unsuitable for them ; yet God will 
 never make them to come thither. Therefore born again 
 ye must be ; else ye shall never see heaven, and against 
 all of your sort : Except a man be born again, he cannot 
 see the kingdom of God, John iii. 8. Here is a bar be- 
 fore you, that men and angels cannot remove. And to 
 hope for heaven, over the belly of this peremptory sen- 
 tentence, is to hope that God will recal his word, and 
 sacrifice his truth and faithfulness to your safety ; which
 
 MEAD i.] Necessity of regeneration. 22$ 
 
 is infinitely more than to hope, " the earth shall be for- 
 saken for you, and the rock removed out of his place. 
 (2.) There is no holiness without regeneration. It is the 
 new man, " which is created in true holiness," Eph. iv. 
 21<. And no heaven without holiness ; for without holi- 
 ness no man shall sec the Lord, Heb. xii. 1<1. Will the 
 gates of pearl be opened to let in dogs and swine ? No ; 
 their place is without, Rev. xxii. 15. God will not ad- 
 mit such into the holy place of communion with him 
 here, and will he admit them into the holiest of all here- 
 after ? Will he take the children of the devil, and give 
 them to sit with him in his throne ? Or will he bring the 
 unclean into the city, whose street is pure gold : Be not 
 deceived ; grace and glory are but two links of one chain, 
 which God has joined, and no man shall put asunder. 
 None are transplanted into the paradise above, but out 
 of the nursery of grace below. If ye be unholy while in. 
 this world, ye will be for ever miserable in the world to 
 come. (3) All the unregenerate are without Christ, and 
 therefore have no hope while in that case, Eph. ii. 12. 
 Will Christ prepare mansions of glory for them that re- 
 fuse to receive them into their hearts ; nay, rather will 
 he not " laugh at their calamity," who now, " set at 
 nought all his counsel ?" Prov. i. 25, 26. Lastly, There 
 is an infallible connection betwixt fc finally unregenerate 
 state and damnation, arising from the nature of the things 
 themselves : and from the decree of heaven, which is fixt 
 and unmoveable as mountains of brass, John iii. 3. Rom. 
 viii. 6. " To be carnally minded is death." An unrege- 
 nerate state is hell in the bud. It is eternal destruction 
 in embryo, growing daily, though thou dost not discern 
 it. Death is painted on many a fair face, in this life. 
 Depraved nature makes men meet to be partakers of the 
 inheritance of the damned, in utter darkness. (1) The 
 heart of stone within thee, is a sinking weight. As a 
 stone naturally goes downward ; so the hard stony heart 
 tends downward to the bottomless pit. Ye are harden- 
 ed against reproof; though ye are told your danger ; yet 
 
 2 G
 
 '26 Necessity of regentratioit. [STATE 
 
 ye will not see it, ye will not believe it. But remembec 
 that the conscience, it being now " seared with a hot 
 iron," is a sad presage of everlasting burnings. (2) YOUE 
 unfruitfulness under the means of grace fits you for the 
 axe of God's judgments. Matt. iii. 10. Every tree that 
 "bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into 
 ihe Jire. The withered branch is fuel for the fire, John 
 xv. 1 6. Tremble at this, ye despisers of the gospel : if 
 ye be not thereby made meet for heaven, ye will be like 
 the barren ground, bearing briars and thorns, " nigh un- 
 to cursing, whose end is to be burned," Heb. vi. 8. (3) 
 The hellish dispositions of mind, which discover them- 
 selves in profanity of life, fit the guilty for the regions of 
 liorror. A profane life will have a miserable end. 
 '*< They which do such things shall not inherit the king- 
 dom of God," Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. Think on this, ye 
 prayerless persons, ye mockers of religion, ye cursers and 
 swearers, ye unclean and unjust persons, who have not 
 .so much as moral honesty, to keep you from lying, cheat- 
 ing, and stealing. What sort of a tree think ye it to be, 
 .upon which these fruits grow ? Is it a tree of righteous- 
 ness which the Lord hath planted ? Or is it not such an 
 one as cumbers the ground, which God will pluck up for 
 fuel to the fire of his wrath ? (4) Your being dead in 
 sin makes you meet to be wrapt in flames of brimstone 
 as a winding-sheet ; and to be buried in the bottomless 
 pit, as in a grave. Great was the cry in Egypt, when 
 ;the first-born in each family was dead ; but are there not 
 many families, where all are dead together ? Nay ma- 
 py there are, who are ' twice dead, plucked up by the 
 roots." Sometimes^ in their life, they have been roused 
 by apprehensions of death, and its consequences ; but 
 now they are so far on their way to the land of darkness, 
 that they hardly ever haVe the least glimmering of light 
 from heaven. (5) The darkness of your minds presag- 
 eth eternal darkness. O the horrid ignorance some are 
 plagued with; while others who have got some rays of 
 reason's light into their heads, are utterly void of spird- 
 tua^l light in thejr hearts ! If ye knew your case, ye.
 
 i.] Advice to the unregenerate: 227, 
 
 would cry out, Oh ! darkness ! darkness ! darkness, mak- 
 ing way for the " blackness of darkness, for ever !" The. 
 face-covering is upon you already, as condemned persons ; 
 so near are ye to everlasting darkness. It is only Jesus 
 Christ who can stop the execution, pull the napkin off 
 the face of the condemned malefactor, and put a pardon, 
 in his hand, Isa. xxx. 7. " And he will destroy in this, 
 mountain, the face of the covering cast over all people," 
 i. e. the face covering cast over the condemned, as in 
 Haman's case, Esther vii. 8. "As the word went out of 
 the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face." Lastly, 
 The chains of darkness ye are bound with in the prison 
 of your depraved state, Isa. Ixi. 1 . fits you to be cast in- 
 to the burning fiery furnace. Ah miserable men ! Some- 
 times their consciences stir within them, and they begim 
 to think of amending their ways. But alas ! they are id 
 chains, they cannot do it. They are chained by the? 
 heart : their lusts cleave so fast to them, that they can- 
 not, nay, they will not, shake them off. Thus you see 
 what affinity there is betwixt an unregenerate state, and 
 the state of the damned, the state of absolute and irre- 
 trievable misery. Be convinced then, that ye must b5 
 born again ; put a high value on the new birth, and ea* 
 gerly desire it. 
 
 The text tells you, that the word is the seed whereof' 
 the new creature is formed : therefore take heed to it, 
 and entertain it, " for it is your life." Apply y ourselves 
 to the reading of the scripture. Ye that cannot read, 
 cause others to read it to you. Wait diligently on the- 
 preaching of the word, as by divine appointment, the 
 special mean of conversion ; " for it pleased God b]T 
 the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe,' 1 " 
 1 Cor. i. 21. Wherefore cast not yourselves out of Christ's, 
 way ; reject not the means of grace, lest ye be found to 
 judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Attend care- 
 fully to the word preached. Hear every sermon, as if 
 you were hearing for eternity : and take heed, the fowls, 
 of the air pick not up this seed from you* as it is sown*
 
 228 Advice to'the unrcgenerate. [STATE in, 
 
 " Give thyself wholly to it," 1 Tim. iv. 15. "Receive 
 it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word 
 of God, 1 Thess. ii. 13. And hear it with application, 
 looking- on it as a message sent from heaven, to you in 
 particular, though not to you only, Rev, iii. 22. " He that 
 hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
 churches." Lay it up in your hearts, meditate upon it ; 
 and he not as the unclean beasts, that chew not the cud. 
 But by earnest prayer beg the dew of heaven may fall 
 on thy heart, that the seed may spring up there. 
 
 More particularly, (1) Receive the testimony of the 
 word of God, concerning the misery of an unregenerate 
 state, the sinfulness thereof, and the absolute necessity 
 of regeneration. (2) Receive its testimony concerning 
 God", what a holy and just one he is, (3) Examine thy 
 ways by it, namely, the thoughts of thy heart, the ex- 
 pressions of thy lips, and the tenor of thy life. Look 
 back through the several periods, of thy life, and see thy 
 sins from the precepts of thg word ; and learn from its 
 threatenihgs what thou art liable to, on the account of 
 these sins. (4) View the corruption of thy nature, by 
 the help of the same word of God, as in a glass, which 
 represents our ugly face in a lively manner. Were these 
 things deeply rooted in the heart, they might be the 
 seed of that fear and" sorrow, on account of thy soul's 
 state, which are necessary to prepare and stir thee up 
 to look after a Saviour. Fix your thoughts upon him 
 offered to thee in the gospel, as fully suited to thy case, 
 having, by his obedience to the death, perfectly satisfied 
 the justice of God, and brought in ^everlasting righte- 
 ousness. This may prpve the seed of humiliation, desire, 
 hope, and faith, and .put thee on to stretch out the 
 withered hand unto lina, at his owp command, 
 
 Let these things sink deeply iftt* your hearts, and im- 
 prove them diligentiy. Remember, whatever 'ye be, "ye 
 must be born again," else it had been better for you ye 
 had never been born. Wherefore if any of you shall live 
 and die in an unregenerate state, ye will be inexcusable, 
 having been fairly warned of your hazard.
 
 HEAD II. 
 
 THE MYSTICAL UNION BETWIXT CHRIST AND 
 BELIEVERS. 
 
 JOHN xv. 5. 
 1 am the vineyc are the branches, 
 
 HAVING spoken of the change made by regenera- 
 tion on all those who shall inherit eternal life, in 
 opposition to their natural real state, the state of dege- 
 neracy, I proceed to peak of the change made upon 
 them in their union with the Lord Jesus Christ, in op- 
 position to their natural relative state, the state of mis- 
 ery. The doctrine of the saints' union with Christ, is 
 very plainly and fully insisted on from the beginning to 
 the 12th verse of this chapter, which is a part of our 
 Lord's farewell sermon to his disciples. Sorrow had now 
 filled their hearts : Jhey were apt to say, Alas ! what 
 will become of us " when our Master is taken from our 
 head ?" Who will then instruct us ? Who will solve our 
 doubts ? How will we be supported under our difficulties 
 and discouragements , How will we be able to live withy 
 out our wonted communication with him ? Wherefore 
 our Lord Jesus Christ seasonably teaches them the mys- 
 tery of their union with him, comparing himself to the 
 vine stock, and them to the branches.
 
 : The mystical union: [sfATfi ttf. 
 
 He compares, I say, (1) himself to a vine stock. / am 
 the vine. He had been celebrating with his disciples 
 the sacrament of his supper, that sign and seal of his 
 people's union with himself, and had told them, " He 
 would drink no more of the fruit of the vine, till he should 
 drink it new with them, in his Father's kingdom." And 
 now he shews himself to be the vine from whence the 
 wine of their consolation should come. The vine hath 
 less beauty than many other trees, but is exceeding fruit- 
 ful ; fitly representing the low condition our Lord was 
 then in, yet bringing many sons to glory. But that which 
 is chiefly aimed at, in his comparing himself to a vine, 
 as to representing himself as the supporter and nourish er 
 of his people, in whom they live and bring forth fruit. 
 (2) He compares them to branches, ye are the branches 
 of that vine. Ye are the branches knit to, and growing 
 on, this stock, drawing all your life and sap from it. It 
 is a beautiful comparison ; as if he had said, I am as a 
 vine, ye are as the branches of that vine. Now there 
 tore two sorts of branches, (1) Natural branches, which 
 at first spring out of the stock. These are the branches 
 that are in the tree, and were never out of it. (2) There 
 are ingrafted branches, which are branches cut off from 
 the tree that first gave them life, and put into another 
 to grow upon it. Thus branches come to be on a tree 
 "which originally were not on it. The branches mention- 
 ed in the text are of the latter sort ; branches broken off, 
 (as the word in the original language denotes) namely, 
 from the tree, that first gave them life. None of the 
 children of men are natural branches of the second Adam, 
 viz. Jesus Christ, the true vine ; they are all the natural 
 branches of the first Adam, that degenerate vine : but 
 the elect are all of them, sooner or later, broken off from 
 their natural stock, and ingrafted into Christ the true 
 vine. 
 
 DOCTRINE, They who are in a state of grace, are in- 
 grafted in, and unite to, the Lord Jesus Christ, They are 
 taken out f their natural stock, cut off from it, and are
 
 HEAD ii.] Genera! view of the mystical union. 25L 
 
 now ingrafted into Christ, as the new stock. In hand- 
 ling of this, I shall speak to the mystical union, (1) More 
 generally : (2) ore particularly. 
 
 A GENERAL YIEW OF THE MYSTICAL UXION. 
 
 FIRST, In the general, for understanding the union 
 betwixt the Lord Jesus Christ and his elect, who believe 
 in him, and on him : 
 
 1. It is a spiritual union. Man and wife, by their 
 marriage union, become one flesh ; Christ and true be- 
 lievers, by this union, become one Spirit, 2 Cor. vi. 17. 
 As one soul or spirit actuates both the head, and the 
 members, in the natural body : so the one spirit of Gocl 
 dwells in Christ and the Christian ; for if any man have 
 not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, Rom. viii. 9. 
 Corporal union is made by contract ; so the stones in a 
 building are united : but this is an union of another na- 
 ture. Were it possible we could eat the flesh, and drink 
 the blood Of Christ, in a corporal and carnal manner : it 
 would profit nothing, John vi. 63. It was not Mary's 
 bearing him in her womb ; but her believing on him 
 that made her a saint, JLuke vii. 27, 28. " A certain wo- 
 man said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, 
 and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, 
 rather blessed are they, that hear the word of God, and 
 keep it." 
 
 2. It is a real union. Such is our weakness in our 
 present state, so much are we immersed in sin, that we 
 are prone to form in our fancy, an image of every thing 
 proposed to us ; and as to whatsoever is denied us, we 
 are apt to suspect it to be but a fiction or what has no 
 reality: But nothing is more real than what is spiritual ; 
 has approaching nearest to the nature of him who is the 
 fountain of all reality, namely, God himself. We do not 
 see with our eyes the union betwixt our own soul and 
 body ; neither can we represent it to ourselves truly, by 
 imagination, as we dp sensible things ; yet the reality of
 
 232 General view of [STATE m. 
 
 it is not to be doubted. Faith is no fancy, but the sub- 
 stance of things hoped for, Heb. xi Neither is the u- 
 nion thereby made betwixt Christ and believers imagin- 
 ary, but most real : for we are members of his body, of 
 his fash, and of his bones, Ej)h. v. 30. 
 
 3. It is a most close and intimate union. Believers, 
 regenerate persons, who fiducially credit him, and rely 
 on him, have put on Christ, Gal. iii. 27. If that be not 
 enough, he is in them, John xvii. 23, formed in them, as 
 the child in the mother's belly, Gal. iv. 19. He is the 
 foundation, 1 Cor. iii. 11. They are the lively stones 
 built upon him, i Peter ii, 5. He is the head, and they 
 the body, Eph. i 22, 23. Nay, he liveth in them, as 
 their very souls live in their bodies. Gal. ii. 30. And 
 what is more than all this, they are one in the Father 
 and the Son, as the Father is in Christ, and Christ in 
 the Father, John xvii, 21. That they all may be one, as 
 thou the Father art in me, and I in thee, they also may be 
 one in us. 
 
 4. Though it is not a mere legal union, yet it is an 
 union sustained in law. Christ as the cautioner, the 
 Christians as the principal debtors, are one, in the eye of 
 the law. When the elect had run themselves, with the 
 rest of mankind, in 'debt to the justice of God, Christ 
 became surety for them, and paid the debt. When they 
 believe on him, they are united to him in spiritual mar- 
 riage union ; which takes effect so far, that what he did 
 and suffered for them is reckoned in law, as if they had 
 done and suffered for themselves. Hence they are said 
 to be crucified with Jesus, Gal ii. 2O. Buried with him. 
 Col. ii. 12. Yea, raised up together, (namely with Christ) 
 and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Je- 
 sus, Eph. ii. 6. In which places, saints on earth, of whom 
 the apostle there speaks, cannot be said to be sitting but 
 in the way of law reckoning. 
 
 5. It is an indissoluble union. One in Christ, ever in 
 him. Having taken up his" habitation in the heart, he 
 never removes. None can untie this happy knot. Whe
 
 HEAD ii.] the mystical union. 
 
 will dissolve this union ? Will he himself do it ? No, he 
 will not ; we have his word for it, I will not turn away 
 from them, Jer. xxxii. 40. But perhaps the sinner will 
 do this mischief for himself; no, he shall not, " they shall 
 not depart from me/' saith their God, Jer. xxxii. 40. 
 Can devils do it ? No, unless they be stronger than 
 Christ, and his Father too ; neither shall any man phtck 
 them out of my hand, saith our Lord, John x. 28. And 
 none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand, ver. 
 89. But what say you of death which parts husband 
 and wife ? yea, separates the soul from the body ? will 
 not death do it ? No ; the apostle, Rom. viii. 38, 39. is 
 persuaded that neither death, (as terrible as it is) nor life, 
 (as desireable as it is) nor devils, these evil angels, nor 
 the devil's persecuting agents, though they be principali- 
 ties or powers on earth ; nor evil things present, al- 
 ready lying on us, nor evil things to come on us ; nor 
 the height of worldly felicity ; nor depth of worldly 
 misery ; nor any other creature, good or ill, " shall be 
 able to separate us from the love of God, which is in, 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." As death separated Christ's 
 soul from his body, but could not separate either his soul 
 or body from his divine nature : so though the saints 
 should be separated from their nearest relations in the 
 world, and from all their earthly enjoyments ; yea, 
 though their souls should be separate from their bodies, 
 and their bodies separate in a thousand pieces, their 
 bones scattered, as when one cutteth or cleaveth wood : 
 yet soul and body, and every piece of the body, the 
 smallest dust of it, shall remain united to the Lord 
 Christ : for even in death, " they sleep in Jesus," 1 Thess. 
 iv. 14. And "he keepeth all their bones," Psal. xxxiv. 
 2O. Union with Christ is " the grace wherein we stand," 
 firm and stable, as mount Zion which cannot be removed* 
 
 Lastly, It is a mysterious union. The gospel is a doc- 
 trine of mysteries. It discovers to us the substantial 
 union of the three persons in one Godhead, 1 John v. 7. 
 
 2 H
 
 Natural and supernatural stocks. [STATB HI-. 
 
 These three are one ; the hypostatical union, of the di- 
 vine and human natures, in the person of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, 1 Tim. iii. 16. God was manifest in the flesh: 
 and the mystical union, betwixt Christ and believers ; 
 this is a great mystery also, Eph. v. 32. O what mys- 
 teries are here ! the head in heaven, the members on 
 earth, yet really united ! Christ in the believer, living in 
 him, walking in him : and the believer dwelling in God, 
 putting on the Lord Jesus, eating his flesh, and drinking 
 his blood. This makes the saints a mystery to the world; 
 yea, a mystery to themselves. 
 
 SECONDLY, I come now more particularly to speak of 
 the union with, and ingrafting into Jesus Christ. And 
 (1) I shall consider the natural stock, which the branches 
 are taken out of. (2) The supernatural stock, they are 
 ingrafted into. (3) What branches are cut off , the old 
 stock, and put into the new. (4) How it is done. And 
 lastly, The benefits flowing from this union and ingraft- 
 ing. 
 
 OF THE NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL STOCKS, AND THE 
 BRANCHES TAKEN OUT OF THE FORMER, AND INGRAFT- 
 ED INTO THE LATTER. 
 
 1. Let us take a view of the stock, which the branches 
 are taken out of. The two Adams, that is, Adam and 
 Christ, are the two stocks : for the scripture speaks of 
 these two, as if there had been more men in the world 
 than they, 1 Cor xv. 45. " The first man Adam was 
 made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quicken-> 
 ing Spirit," ver, 47. " The first man is of the earth, 
 earthy : the second man is the Lord from heaven." And 
 the reason is, there never were any that were not bran- 
 ches of one of these two ; all men being either in the one 
 stock or in the other ; for in these two sorts all mankind 
 stands divided, ver. 48. "As is the earthy, such are they 
 also that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are 
 ttiey also as are. heavenly." Tlie first Adam then is
 
 ft BAD ii.] Natural and supernatural stocks. 235 
 
 the natural stock : on this stock are the branches found 
 growing at first ; which are afterwards cut off, and in- 
 grafted into Christ. As for the fallen angels as they 
 had no relation to the first Adam, so they have none to 
 the second. 
 
 There are four things to be remembered here, (1) That 
 all mankind (the man Christ excepted) are naturally 
 branches of the first Adam, Rom. v. 12. " By one man 
 sin entered into the world, and death by sin : and so 
 death passed upon all men." (2) The bond which knit 
 us unto the natural stock, was the covenant of works. 
 Adam being our natural root was made the moral root 
 also ; bearing all his posterity, as representing them in 
 the covenant of works. For by one marts disobedience 
 many were made sinners, Rom. v. 1 9. Now there be- 
 hoved to be a peculiar relation betwixt that one man 
 and the many, as a foundation for imputing his ..sin to 
 them. This relation did not rise from the mere natural 
 bond betwixt him and us, as a father to his children ; 
 for so we are related to our immediate parents, whose 
 sins are not thereupon imputed to us as Adam's sin is. 
 It behoved them to arise from a moral bond betwixt 
 Adam and us ; the bond of a covenant, which could be 
 no other than the covenant of works, wherein we were 
 united to him as branches to a stock. Hence Jesus 
 Christ though a son of Adam, Luke iii. 23, 38. was none 
 of these branches ; for seeing he came not of Adam; in vir- 
 tue of the blessings of marriage, which was given before 
 the fall, (Gen. i. 21. "Be fruitful and multiply," &c.) 
 but in virtue of a special promise made after the fall, 
 (Gen. iii. 15. " The seed of the woman shall bruise the 
 serpent's head") Adam could not represent him in a co- 
 venant made before his fall. (3) As it is impossible for 
 a branch to be in two stocks at once, so no man can be, 
 at one and the same time, both in the first and second 
 Adam. (4<) Hence it evidently follows, that all who 
 are not ingrafted in Jesus Christ, are yet Jbrauches of
 
 256 Natural stock a degenerate stock. [STATE in. 
 
 the old stock ; and so partake of the nature of the same. 
 Now as the first Adam our natural stock ; consider, 
 
 First, What a stock he was originally. He was a 
 vine of the Lord's planting, a choice vine, a noble vine, 
 wholly aright. There was a consultation of the Trinity, 
 atj the planting of this vine, Gen. i. 26. Let us make man 
 in our own image* after our own likeness. There was no 
 rottenness at the heart of it. There was sap and juice 
 enough in it, to have nourished all the branches, to bring 
 forth fruit unto God. My meaning is, Adam was made 
 able perfectly to keep the commandments of God, which 
 would have procured eternal life to himself, and to all 
 his posterity : for seeing all die by Adam's disobedience ; 
 all should have had life, by his obedience, if he had stood. 
 Consider, 
 
 Secondly, What that stock now. is, ah ! **iost unlike to 
 what it it was, when planted by the author and fountain 
 of all good. A blast from hell, and a bite with the ve* 
 nomous teeth of the old serpent, have made it a degene- 
 rate stock, a dead stock : nay, a killing stock. 
 
 First, It is a degenerate naughty stock. Therefore 
 the Lord GoJ|said to Adam, in that dismal day, " Where 
 art thou ?" Gen. iii. 9. In what condition art thou now ? 
 How art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a 
 Strange vine, unto me ? Or *' where wast thou ?" Why 
 not in the place of meeting with me ? Why so long a- 
 coming? What meaneth this fearful change;, this hiding 
 of thyself from me ? Alas ! the stock is degenerate, 
 quite spoiled, become altogether naught, -and brings forth 
 wild grapes. Converse with the devil is preferred to 
 communion with God. Satan is believed ; and God, who 
 is truth itself, disbelieved. He who was the friend 
 Of God is now in conspiracy against him. Darkness is 1 
 come into the room of light; ignorance prevails in the 
 mind, where divine knowledge shone ; the will, some 
 tirne righteous or regular, Is now turned rebel against it* 
 Lord : and the whole man is in dreadful disorder.
 
 ii.] Natural stock a degenerate*stocft. 
 
 Before I go further, let me stop and observe, Here is 
 a mirror both for saints and sinners. Sinners, stand here 
 and consider what you are : and saints, learn ye, what 
 once ye were. Ye sinners are branches of a degenerate 
 stock. Fruit you may bear indeed ; but now that your 
 vine is the vine of Sodom, your grapes must of course be 
 grapes of gall, Deut. xxxii. 35. The scripture speaks of 
 two sorts of fruit, which grow on the branches upon the 
 natural stock : and it is plain enough, they are of the na- 
 ture of their degenerate stock, ( 1 ) The wild grapes of 
 wickedness, Isa. v. 2. These grow in abundance by in- 
 fluence from hell, see Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. At their gates 
 are all manner of these fruits both new and old, Storms 
 come from heaven to put them back : but they still grow. 
 They are struck at with the sword of the Spirit, the 
 word of God : conscience gives them many a secret blow: 
 yet they thrive. (2) "Fruit to themselves," Hos. x. 1. 
 What else are all the unrenewed man's acts of obedience, 
 his reformation, sober deportment, his prayers and good 
 works ? They are all done, chiefly for hirriself, not for 
 the glory of God. These fruits are like the apples of 
 Sodom ; fair to look at, but fall to ashes, when handled 
 and tried. Ye think ye have hot only the leaves of a 
 profession, but the fruits of a holy practice too ; but, if 
 you be not broken off from the old stock, and ingrafted 
 in Christ Jesus, God accepts not, nor regard's your fruits. 
 
 Here I must take occasion to tell you, there are five 
 faults will be found in heaven with your best fruits. (1) 
 Their bitterness ; your " clusters are bitter," Deut. xxxii. 
 32. There is a spirit of bitterness, Wherewith some 
 come before the Lord in religious duties, living in malice 
 and envy ; and which some professors entertain against 
 others, because they outshine them by holiness of life, or 
 because they are not of their opinion or way. This, 
 wheresoever it reigns, is a fearful symptom of an unre- 
 generate state. But I do not so much mean this, as 
 that which is common to all the branches of the old stock, 
 .namely, the leaven of hypocrisy, Luke xii. 1. which sours
 
 23S Natural stock a degenerate stock. [STATE nr: 
 
 and embitters every duty they perform. " The wisdom, 
 that is full of good fruits, is without hypocrisy," James 
 iii. 1 7. (2) Their ill savour. " Their works are abomi- 
 nable," for themselves are corrupt, Psal. xiv. 1. They 
 all savour of the old stock, not of the new. It is the pe- 
 culiar privilege of the saints, that they are " unto God a 
 sweet savour of Christ," 2 Cor. ii. 15. The unregene- 
 rate man's fruits savour not of love to Christ, nor of the 
 Wood of Christ, nor of the incense of his intercession, 
 and therefore will never be accepted of in heaven. (3) 
 Their unripeness. Their grape is an unripe grape, Job 
 xv. 33, There is no influence on them, from the Sun 
 of Righteousness, to bring them to perfection. They 
 have the shape of fruit but no more. The matter of 
 duty is in them, but they want right principles and ends : 
 their works are not wrought in God, John ii. 21. Their 
 prayers drop from their lips, before their hearts be im- 
 pregnate with the vital sap of the spirit of supplication ; 
 their tears fall from their eyes, ere their hearts be truly 
 Softened : their feet turn to new paths, and their way is 
 altered ; while yet their nature is not changed. (4) 
 Their lightness. Being " weighed in the balances they 
 are found wanting," Dan. v. 27. For evidence whereof 
 you may observe, they do not humble the soul, but lift 
 it up in pride. The good fruits of holiness bear down 
 the branches they grow upon, making them to salute the 
 ground, 1 Cor. xv. 10. "I laboured more abundantly 
 than they all : yet not 1, but the grace of God which 
 was with me." But the blasted fruits of unrenewed 
 men's performances hang lightly on branches towering 
 up to heaven, Judg. xvii. 13. " Now know I that the 
 Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my 
 priest." They looked indeed so high, that God cannot 
 behold them ; " Wherefore have I fasted, say they, and 
 thou seest not ?" Isa. Iviii. 3. The more duties they do, 
 and the better they seem to perform them, the less are 
 they humbled, the more they are lifted up. This dispo- 
 sition of the sinner is the exact reverse of what is to be 
 found in the saint. To men, who are neither in Chrjgt,
 
 MEAD nj Natural stock a dead stock 2B$ 
 
 nor are solicitous to be found in him, their duties are 
 like windy bladders, wherewith they think to swim a- 
 shore to Immanuers land : but these must needs break 
 and they consequently sink; because they take not 
 Christ for the " lifter up of their head," Psal. iii. 3. 
 Lastly, They are not " all manner of pleasant fruits," 
 Cant. vii. 13. Christ as a King, must be served with, va- 
 riety. Where God makes the heart his garden, he plants) 
 it as Solomon did his, with " trees of all kinds of fruits,** 
 Eccles. ii. 5. And accordingly it brings forth " the 
 fruits of the Spirit in all goodness," Eph. v. 9. But the 
 ungodly are not so ; their obedience is never universal ; 
 there is always some one thing or other excepted. la 
 one word, their fruits are fruits of an ill tree, that can-* 
 not be accepted in heaven. 
 
 Secondly, Our natural stock is a dead stock, accord- 
 ing to the threatening, Gen. ii. 17. In the day thou eaU 
 est thereof, thou shalt surely die. Our root now is rot-> 
 tenness, no marvel the blossom go up as dust. The 
 stroke has gone to the heart, the sap is let out, and the 
 tree is withered. The curse of the first covenant, like 
 a hot thunderbolt from heaven, has lighted on it, and 
 ruined it. It is cursed now as that fig-tree, Matt. xxi. 
 19. "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever." 
 Now is it good for nothing, but to cumber the ground, 
 and furnish fuel for Tophet. 
 
 Let me enlarge a little here also. Every unrenewed 
 man is a branch of a dead stock. When thou seest, O 
 sinner, a dead stock of a tree, exhausted of all its sap, 
 having branches on it in the same condition, look on it 
 as a lively representation of thy soul's state. (1) Where 
 the stock is dead, the branches must needs be barren. 
 Alas ! the barrenness of many professors plainly disco- 
 vers on what stock they are growing. It is easy to pre- 
 tend to faith, but show me thy faith without thy works, if 
 thou canst, James ii. 18. (2) A dead stock can convey 
 no sap to the branches, to make them bring forth fruit. 
 The covenant of works was the bond of our union with
 
 Natural stock a dead stock. [STATE 119 
 
 the natural stock ; but now it is become " weak through 
 the flesh ;" that is, through the degeneracy and depra- 
 vity of human nature, Rom. viii. 13. It is strong enough 
 to command, and to bind heavy burdens on the shoulders 
 of those who are not in Christ, but it affords no strength 
 to bear them. The sap, that was once in the root, is 
 now gone : and the law, like a merciless creditor, appre- 
 hends Adam's heirs, saying, pay what thou owest ;" 
 when, alas ! his effects are riotously spent. (3) All pains 
 and cost are lost on the tree, whose life is gone. In 
 vain do men labour to get fruits on the branches, where 
 there is no sap in the root. First, The gardener's pains 
 are lost ; ministers lose their labour on the branches of 
 the old stock while they continue on it. Many sermons 
 are preached to no purpose ; because there is no life to 
 give sensation. Sleeping men may be awakened ; but 
 the dead cannot be raised without a miracle : even so 
 the dead sinner must remain, if he be not frestored to 
 life by a miracle of grace. Secondly, The influences of 
 heaven are lost on such a tree: in vain doth the rain 
 fall upon it : in vain is it laid open to the winter cold 
 and frosts. The Lord of the vineyard digs about many 
 a dead soul, but it is not bettered. *' Bruise the fool in 
 a mortar, his folly will not depart." Though he meets 
 Vf\t\\ many crosses, yet he retains his lusts : let him be 
 laid on a sick bed, he will lie there like a sick beast, 
 groaning under his pain, but not mourning for, nor turn- 
 ing from his sin. Let death itself stare him in the face, 
 he will presumptuously maintain his hope, as if he would 
 look the grim messenger out of countenance. Some- 
 times there are common operations of the divine Spirit 
 performed on him : he is sent home with a trembling 
 heart, and arrows of conviction sticking in his soul : but 
 at length he prevails against these things, and turns as 
 secure as ever. Thirdly, Summer and winter are alike 
 to the branches on the dead stock. When others about 
 them are budding, blossoming, and bringing forth fruit, 
 there is no change on them. The dead stock has no 
 growing time at all. Perhaps it may be difficult to know,
 
 HBAB ii.] Natural stock a killing stock. 241 
 
 in the winter, what trees are dead, and what are alive ; 
 but the spring plainly discovers it. There are some sea- 
 sons wherein there is little life to be perceived, even a- 
 mongst saints ; yet times of reviving come at length. 
 Eut even, when the vine Jlourisheth, and the pomegran- 
 ates bud forth, (when saving grace is discovering itself, 
 by its lively actings, wheresoever it is) the branches on 
 the old stock are still withered ; when the dry bones 
 are coming together, bone to bone, amongst saints, the 
 sinner's bones are still lying about the grave's mouth. 
 They are trees that " cumber the ground," are near to 
 be cut down ; and will be cut down for the fire, if God 
 in mercy prevent it not by cutting them off from that 
 Btock, and ingrafting them into another. 
 
 Lastly, Our natural stock is a killing stock. If the 
 stock die, how can the branches live ? If the sap be gone 
 from the root and heart, the branches must needs wither. 
 " In Adam all die," I Cor. xv. 22. The root died in 
 paradise, and all the branches in it, and with it. The 
 root is empoisoned, thence the branches come to be in- 
 fected ; " death is in the pot :" and all that taste of the 
 pulse, or pottage, are killed. 
 
 Know then, that every natural man is a branch of at 
 killing stock. Our natural root not only gives us no life, 
 but it has a killing power, reaching all the branches 
 thereof. There are four things which the first Adam 
 conveys to all his branches, and they are abiding in, and 
 lying on, such of them as are not ingrafted in Christ. 
 First, a corrupt nature. He sinned, and his nature was 
 thereby corrupted or depraved ; and this corruption is 
 conveyed to all his posterity. He was infected, and the 
 contagion spreads itself over all his seed. Secondly* 
 Guilt, that is, an obligation to punishment, Rom. v. 21. 
 " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by; 
 sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have 
 sinned." The threatenings of the law, as cords of death, 
 are twisted about the branches of the old stock, to draw 
 
 2 i
 
 24<2 Natural stock a killing stock. [STATE in. 
 
 them over the hedge into the fire. And till they be cut 
 off. from this stock by the pruning-knife, the sword of 
 vengeance hangs over their heads, to cut them down. 
 Thirdly, This killing stock transmits the curse into the 
 brandies. The stock, as the stock (for I speak not of 
 Adam in his personal and private capacity) being cursed, 
 so are the branches, Gal. iii. 10. For as many as are of 
 the works of the law, are under the curse. This curse af- 
 fects the whole man, and all that belongs to him, every 
 thing he possesses: and worketh three ways. (1) As 
 poison infecting ; thus their " blessings are cursed," 
 Matt. ii. 2. Whatever the man enjoys, it can do him 
 no good, but evil, being thus empoisoned by the curse. 
 His prosperity in the world destroys him, Prov. i. 22. 
 The ministry of the gospel is a " savour of death unto 
 death,'* to him, 2 Cor. ii. 16. His seeming attainments 
 in religion are cursed to him : his knowledge serves but 
 to puff him up, and his duties to keep him back from 
 Christ. (2) It worketh as a moth, consuming and wast- 
 ing by little and little, Hos. v. 12. " Therefore will I be 
 unto Ephraim as a moth." There is a worm at the root, 
 consuming them by degrees. Thus the curse pursued 
 Saul, till it wormed him out of all his enjoyments, and 
 out of the very shew he had of religion. Sometimes they 
 decay like the " fat of lambs," and melt away as the 
 snow in a sunshine. (8) It acteth as a lion rampant, 
 Hosea v. 14. "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion." The 
 " Lord rains on them snares, fire, and brimstone, and an 
 horrible tempest," in such a manner as they are hurried 
 away with the stream. He teareth their enjoyments 
 from them in his wrath, pursueth them with terrors, 
 rends their souls from their bodies, and throws the dead- 
 ened branch into the fire. Thus the curse devours like 
 fire, which none can quench. Lastly, This killing stock 
 transmits death to the branches upon it. Adam took 
 the poisonous cup, and drunk it off : this occasioned death 
 to himself and us. We came into the world spiritually 
 dead, thereby obnoxious to eternal death, and absolutely 
 liable to temporal death. This root is to us like the
 
 HEAD ii.] Christ the supcrnaiural stock. 243 
 
 Scythian river, which they say, brings forth little blad- 
 ders every day, out of which come certain small flies, 
 which are bred in the morning, winded at noon, and 
 dead at night : a very lively emblem ol our moral state. 
 
 Now, sirs, is it not absolutely necessary to be broken 
 off from this our natural stock ? \Vhat will our fair leaves 
 of a profession, or our fruits of duties avail, if we be still 
 branches of the degenerate, dead, and killing stock ? 
 But, alas ! among the many questions tossed among us, 
 few are taken up about these, Whether am I broken off 
 from the old stock or not ? Whether am I ingrafted 
 in Christ or not ? Ah ! wherefore all this waste ? 
 Why is there so much noise about religion amongst ma- 
 ny who can give no good account of their having laid a 
 good foundation, being mere strangers to experimental 
 religion ? I fear, if God do not in mercy timely under- 
 mine the religion of many of us, and let us see we have 
 none at all, our fruit will be found rottenness, and our 
 blossom go up as dust, in a dying hour. Therefore let 
 us look to our state, that we be not found fools in our 
 latter end. 
 
 II. Let us now view the supernatural stock, in which 
 the branches cut off from the natural stock are ingrafted. 
 Jesus Christ is sometimes called the " Branch," Zech. 
 iii. 8. So he is in respect of his human nature, being a 
 branch, and the top branch of the house of David. Some- 
 times he is called a "Root," Jsa. xi. 10. we have both 
 together. Rev. xxii. 16. "I am the root, and the off- 
 spring of David." David's root as God, and his offspring 
 as man. The text tells us that he is the vine, i e. he; 
 as Mediator, is the vine stock, whereof believers are the 
 branches. As the sap comes from the earth into the root 
 and stock, and from thence is diffused into the branches ; 
 so by Christ, as Mediator, divine life is conveyed from 
 the fountain, unto these who are united to him by faith, 
 John vi. 57. " As the living Father hath sent me and 
 I live by the Father : so he that eateth me, even he shall 
 live by me." Now, Christ as Mediator, not as God only 
 as some have asserted ; nor yet as man only as the pa-
 
 24<4< Christ the supernatural stock. [STATE in. 
 
 pists generally hold : but he is Mediator as God-man, 
 Acts xx. 28. " The church of God which he hath pur- 
 chased with his blood," Heb. ix. 14. "Christ, who 
 through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot 
 to God." The divine and human natures have their dis- 
 tinct actings, yet a joint operation, in his discharging the 
 office of a Mediator. This is illustrated by the simili- 
 tude of a fiery sword, which at once cuts and burns ; cut- 
 ting it burneth, and burning it cutteth ; the steel cuts 
 and the fire burns. Wherefore Christ, God-man, is the 
 stock, whereof believers are the branches : and they are 
 united to whole Christ. They are united to him in his 
 human nature, as being members of his body, of his flesh, 
 and of his bones, Eph. v. 30. And they are united to 
 him in his divine nature ; for so the apostle speaks of 
 this union, Col. i 27. " Christ in you the hope of glory." 
 And by him they are united to the Father, and to the 
 Holy Ghost, 1 John iv. 15. " Whosoever shall confess 
 that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and 
 he in God." Faith, the bond of this union, receives whole 
 Christ God-man, and so unites us to him as such. 
 
 Behold here, O believers, your high privilege ! Ye were 
 once branches of a degenerate stock, even as others: but 
 ye are, by grace, become branches of the true vine, John 
 xv. 1. Ye are cut out of a dead and killing stock ; and 
 ingrafted " in ths last Adam, who was made a quicken- 
 ing Spirit," 1 Cor. xv. 4>5. Your loss by the first Adam 
 is made up, with great advantage, by your union with 
 the second. Adam, at his best estate, was but a shrub, 
 in comparison with Christ the tree of life. He was but 
 a servant ; Christ is the Son, the Heir, and Lord of all 
 things, " the Lord from heaven." It cannot be denied, 
 that grace was shown in the first covenant : but it is as 
 . far exceeded, by the grace of the second covenant, as the 
 twilight is by the light of the mid- day. 
 
 III. What branches are taken out of the natural stock, 
 and grafted into this vine ? Answer, These are the elect, 
 and none other. They, and they only, are grafted into
 
 MEAD ii.] How the branches are cut off fyc, 246 
 
 Christ ; and consequently none but they are cut off from 
 the killing stock. For them alone he intercedes, that 
 they may be one in him and his Father, John xvii. 9. 23. 
 Faith, the bond of this union, is given to none else : it 
 is the faith of God's elect, Titus i. 1. The Lord passcth 
 by many branches growing on the natural stock, and cuts 
 off only here one, and there one, and grafts them into 
 the true vine, according as free love hath determined. 
 Oft does he pitch upon the most unlikely branch, leaving 
 the top boughs ; passing by the mighty, and the noble, 
 and calling " the weak, base and despised," 1 Cor. i. 26, 
 27. Yea, he often leaves the fair and smooth, and takes 
 the rugged and knotty, " and such were some of you, bu^ 
 ye are washed," &c. 1 Cor vi. 11. If we inquire, Why 
 so ? We find no other reason, but because they were 
 " chosen in him," Eph. i. 4. " Predestinated to the a- 
 doption of children by Jesus Christ/' verse 5. Thus are 
 they gathered together in Christ, while the rest are left 
 growing on their natural stock, to be afterwards bound 
 up in bundles for the fire. Wherefore, to whomsoever 
 the gospel may come in vain, it will have a blest effect 
 upon God's elect, Acts xiii. 48. " As many as were or- 
 dained to eternal life believed." Where the Lord has 
 much people, the gospel will have much success, sooner 
 or later. Such as are to be saved, will be added to the 
 mystical body of Christ. 
 
 HOW THE BRANCHES ARE TAKEN OUT OF THE NATU- 
 RAL STOCK, AND INGRAFTED INTO THE SUPERNA- 
 TURAL STOCK. 
 
 IV. I am to show how the branches are cut off from 
 the natural stock, the first Adam, and grafted into the 
 true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks to the hus- 
 bandman* not to the branch, that it is cut off from its 
 natural stock, and grafted into a new one. The sinner, 
 in his coming off from the first-stock, is passive, and nei- 
 ther can nor will come off from it of his own accord, but 
 clings to it, till Almighty power makes him to fall off. 
 John vi. 44. No man $an come unto me, e.rcept the F*
 
 246 How the branches are cut off [STATE in. 
 
 thcr which hath sent me, draw him. And chap. v. 40. 
 Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. The in- 
 grafted branches are God's husbandry, 1 Cor. iii. 9. 
 " The planting of the Lord," Isa. Ixi. 4. The ordinary 
 means he makes use of, in this work, is the ministry of 
 the word, 1 Cor. iii. 9. " We are labourers together 
 with God,'* but the efficacy thereof is wholly from him, 
 Whatever the minister's parts or piety be. Ver. 7. "Nei- 
 ther Is he that planteth any thing, neither he that water- 
 eth ; but God that giveth the increase." Tht- apostles 
 preached to the Jews, yet the body of that people re- 
 mained in infidelity, Rom. x. 16, " Who hath believed 
 our report ?" Yea, Christ himself, who spoke as never 
 man spoke, saith, concerning the success of his own mi- 
 nistry, " I have laboured in vain, I have spent my 
 strength for naught," Isa. xlix. 4. The branches may 
 be hacked by the preaching of the word, but the stroke 
 will never go through, till it be carried home on them by 
 an omnipotent arm. However, God's ordinary way is, 
 "by the foolishness of preaching to save them that be- 
 lieve," 1 Cor- i. 21. 
 
 The cutting off of the branch from the natural stock is 
 performed by the pruning-knife of the law, in the hand 
 of the Spirit of God, Gal. ii. 19, "For I through the 
 law am dead to the law " It is by the bond of the co- 
 venant of works, as I said before, that we are knit to our 
 natural stock ; and therefore, as a wife, unwilling to be 
 put away, pleads and hangs by the marrriage-tie ; so do 
 men by the covenant of works. They hold by it, like 
 the man who held the ship with his hands, and when one 
 hand was cut off, held it with the other ; and when both 
 were cut off, held it with his teeth. This will appear 
 from a distinct view of the Lord's on men, in bringing 
 them off from the old stock, which now I offer in the fol- 
 lowing particulars. 
 
 First, When the Spirit of the Lord comes to deal with 
 a person, to bring him to Christ, he finds him in Laode- 
 cea's case, in a sound sleep of security, dreaming of hea-
 
 HEAD ii.] from the natural stock. 247 
 
 ven, and the favour of God, though " full of sin against 
 the Holy One of Israel,". Rev. iii. 1 7. " Thou knowest 
 not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
 blind, and naked." And therefore he darts in some beams 
 of light into the dark soul, and lets the man see he is a 
 lost man, if he turn not over a new leaf, and betake him- 
 self to a new course of life. Thus, by the Spirit of the 
 Lord acting as a spirit of bondage, there is a criminal 
 court erected in the man's breast, where he is arraigned, 
 accused, and condemned, for breaking the law of God, 
 " convinced of sin and judgment," John xvi. 8. And 
 now he can no longer sleep securely in his former course 
 of life. This is the first stroke the branch gets, in order 
 to cutting off. 
 
 Secondly, Hereupon the man forsakes his former pro- 
 fane courses, his lying, swearing, sabbath-breaking, steal- 
 ing, and such-like practices, though they be dear to him 
 as right eyes, he will rather quit them, than ruin his soul. 
 The ship is like to sink, and therefore he throweth his 
 goods overboard, that he himself may not perish. And 
 now he begins to bless himself in his heart, and look joy- 
 fully on his evidences for heaven, thinking himself a bet- 
 ter servant to God than many others, Luke xviii. 11. 
 God, I thank thee I am not as other men are, extortioners, 
 unjust, adulterers, fyc. But he soon gets another stroke 
 with the axe of the law, showing him that it is only he 
 that doth what is written in the law, who can be saved 
 by it, and that his negative holiness is too scanty a cover 
 from the storm of God's wrath. And thus, although his 
 sins of commission only were heavy on him before, his 
 sins of omission now crowd into his thoughts, attended 
 with a train of law-curses and vengeance. And each of 
 the ten commandments discharges thunder-claps of wrath 
 against him, for his omitting required duties. 
 
 Thirdly, Upon this he turns to a positively holy course 
 of life. He not only is not profane, but he performs re- 
 ligious duties ; he prays, seeks the knowledge of the prin- 
 ciples of religion, strictly observes the Lord's day, and,
 
 How the branches are cut off [STATE in, 
 
 ot/ * 
 
 like Herod, " does many things, and hears sermons glad- 
 ly." In one word, there is a great conformity in his out- 
 ward conversation, to the letter of both tables of the law. 
 And now there is a mighty change upon the man, that 
 his neighbours cannot miss to take notice of. Hence he 
 is cheerfully admitted by the godly into their society as a 
 praying person, and can confer with them about religious 
 matters, yea, and about soul-exercise, which some are not 
 acquainted with, and their good opinion of him, confirms 
 his good opinion of himself. This step in religion is fa~ 
 tal to many, who never get beyond it. But here the 
 Lord reacheth the elect branch a further stroke. Con- 
 science flies in the man's face, for some wrong steps in 
 his conversation, the neglect of some duty, or commis- 
 sion of some sin, which is a blot in his conversation ; and 
 then the flaming sword of the law appears again over his 
 head, and the curse rings in his ears, so that he " con- 
 tinueth not in all things written in the law to do them," 
 Gal. iii. 10. 
 
 Fourthly., On this account he is obliged to seek another 
 salve for his sore. He goes to God, confesseth his sin, 
 seeks the pardon of it, promising to watch against it for 
 the time to come ; and so finds ease, and thinks he may 
 very well take it, seeing the scripture saith, " If we con- 
 fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,'* 
 1 John i. 9. not considering that he grasps at a privilege, 
 which is theirs only who are grafted into Christ, and un- 
 der the covenant of grace, and which the branches yet 
 growing on the old stock cannot plead. And here some- 
 times there are formal and express vows made against 
 such and such sins, and binding to such and such duties. 
 Thus many go on all their days knowing no other reli- 
 gion, but to do duties, and to confess, and pray for par- 
 don of that wherein they fail, promising themselves eter- 
 nal happiness, though they are utter strangers to Christ. 
 Here many elect ones have been cast down wounded, and 
 many reprobates have been slain, while the wounds of nei- 
 ther of them have been deep enough to cut them off from
 
 HEAD n.j from the natural \fock. 249 
 
 their natural stock. But the spirit of the Lord gives yet 
 a deeper stroke to the branch which is to be cut off, 
 showing- him, that, as yet, he is hut an outside saint, and 
 discovering to him the filthy lusts lodged in his heart, 
 which he took no notice of before, Rom. vii. 9. When 
 the commandment came., sin revived, <tnd I died. Then 
 he sees his heart a dunghill of hellish lusts, filled with 
 covetousness, pride, malice, filthiness, and the like. Now, 
 as soon as the door of the chambers of his imagery is thus 
 opened to him, and he sees Avhat they do there in the 
 dark, his outside religion is blown up as insufficient : and 
 he learns a new lesson in religion, namely, *' That he is 
 not a Jew, which is one outwardly," Rom ii. 28. 
 
 Fifthly Upon this he goes further, even to inside re- 
 Jiglun ; sets to work more vigorously than ever, mourns 
 over the evils of his heart, and strives to bear down the 
 weeds he f:nds growing in that neglected garden. He 
 labours to curb his pride and passion, and to banish spe- 
 culative impurities ; prays more fervently, hears atten- 
 tively, and strives to get his heart affected in every reli- 
 gious duty he performs : and thus lie comes to think him- 
 selfliot only an outside, but an inside Christian. Won- 
 der not at this, for there is nothing in it, beyond the pow- 
 er of nature, or what one may attain to under a vigorous 
 influence of the covenant of works ; therefore another yet 
 deeper stroke is reached. The law chargeth home on 
 the man's conscience, that he was a transgressor from 
 the womb, that he came into the world a guilty creature ; 
 and that in the time of his ignorance, and even since his 
 eyes were opened, he has been guilty of many actual sins, 
 either altogether averlooked by him, or not sufficiently 
 mourned over. (For spiritual sores, not healed by the 
 blood of Christ, but skinned over some other way, are 
 easily ruffled, and as soon break out again.) And there- 
 fore the law takes him by the throat, saying, ' Pay what 
 thou ovvest." 
 
 Sixthly, Then the sinner srsys in his heart, " Have pa- 
 tience with rne, and I will pay thee all ;" and so falls to 
 
 ( 2 k
 
 2.50 Ilow the branches are cutoff ESTATE in. 
 
 work to pacify an offended God, and to atone for these 
 sins. He renews his repentance, such as it is ; bears pa- 
 tiently the afflictions laid upon him : yea, he afflicts him- 
 self, denies himself the use of his lawful comforts, sighs 
 deeply, mourns bitterly, cries- with tears for a pardon, 
 till he hath wrought up his heart to a conceit of having 
 obtained it, having thus done penance for what is past, 
 and resolving to be a good servant to God, and to hold 
 on in outward and inward obedience, for the time to 
 come. But the stroke must go nearer the heart yet ere 
 the branch fall off. The Lord discovers to him, in the glass 
 of the law, how he sinneth in all he does, even when he 
 does the best he can : and therefore the dreadful sound 
 returns to his ears, Gal. iii. 10. " Cursed is every one 
 that continueth not in all things, &cl" When ye fasted 
 and mourned," saith the Lord, " did you at all fast unto 
 me, even to me ?" Will muddy water make clean clothes ? 
 Will you satisfy for one sin with another? Did not your 
 thoughts wander in such a duty ? Were not your affec- 
 tions flat in another? Did not your heart give a whorish 
 look to such an idol ? And did it not rise in a fit of im- 
 patience under such an affliction ? " Should I accept this 
 of your hands? Cursed be the deceiver, which sacrificeth 
 to the Lord a corrupt thing,'* Mai. i. 13, 14. And thus 
 he becomes so far broke off, that he sees he is not able 
 to satisfy the demands of the law. 
 
 Seventhly, Hence, like a broken man, who finds he is 
 not abfe to pay all his debt, he goes about to compound 
 with his creditor. And, being in pursuit of ease and com- 
 fort, he does what he can to fulfil the law ; and wherein 
 he fails, he looks that God will accept the will for the 
 deed. Thus doing his duty, and having a will to be bet- 
 ter, he cheats himself into a persuasion of the goodness 
 of this state : and hereby thousands are ruined. But 
 the elect get another stroke, which looseth their hold in 
 this case. The doctrine of the law is borne in on 'their 
 consciences, demonstrating to them that exact and per- 
 fect obedience is required by it, under the pain of the
 
 HEAD ii.] from the natural stock. 2.>l 
 
 curse ; and that it is doing, and not wishing to do, which 
 will avail. Wishing to do better will not answer the 
 law's demands : and therefore the curse sounds again, 
 Cursed is every one that continueth not to do them ; that 
 is, actually to do them. In vain is wishing then. 
 
 Eighthly, Being broken off from hopes of com- 
 pounding with the law, he falls a borrowing. He sees 
 that all he can do to obey the law, and all his desires to 
 be, and to do better, will not save his soul : therefore he 
 goes to Christ, entreating that his righteousness may 
 make up what is wanting in his own, and cover all the 
 defects of his doings and sufferings that so God, for 
 Christ's sake may accept them, and thereupon be recon- 
 ciled. Thus doing what he can to fulfil the law, and 
 looking to Christ to make up all his defects ; he comes, 
 at length again to sleep in a sound skin. Many persons 
 are ruined this way. This was the error of the Gala- 
 tians, which Paul, in his epistle to them, disputes against. 
 But the Spirit of God breaks off the sinner from this hold 
 also ; by bearing in on his conscience that great truth, 
 Gal. iii. 12. " The law is not of faith, but the man that 
 doth them shall live in them." There is no mixing of 
 the law and faith in this business : the sinner must hold 
 by one of them, and let the other go. The way of the 
 law and the way of faith, are so far different, that it is 
 not possible for a sinner to walk in the one, but he must 
 come off from the other : and if he be for doing, he must 
 do ail alone ; Christ will not do a part for him, if he do 
 not all. A garment pieced up of sundry sorts of righte- 
 ousness, is not a garment meet for the court of heaven. 
 Thus the man who was in a dream and thought he 
 was eating, is awakened by the stroke, and behold his 
 soul is faint : his heart sinks in him, like a stone, while 
 he finds he can neither bear his burden himself alone, nor 
 can he. get help under it. 
 
 Ninethly. What can he do, who must needs pay, and 
 yet neither has as much of his own as will bring him out 
 of debt, nor can he get as wueh to borrow* and " to beg
 
 252 How the branches are cut off ["STATE in. 
 
 .*/ i 
 
 he is ashamed ?" What can such an one do, I say, but 
 " sell himself," as the man under the law, that was " wax- 
 en poor?" Lev. xxv. 47. Therefore the sinner, beat off 
 from so many holds, goes about to make a bargain with 
 Christ, and to sell himself to the Son of God, .(if I may 
 so speak) solemnly promising and vowing, that he will 
 be a servant to Christ as long as he lives, if he will save 
 his soul. And here oft-times the sinner makes a person- 
 al covenant with Christ, resigning himself to him on 
 these terms ; yea, and takes the sacrament to make the 
 bargain sure. Hereupon the man's great care is how to 
 obey Christ, keep his commands, and so fulfil his bargain. 
 And in this the soul finds a false unsound peace, for a- 
 while ; till the Spirit of the Lord fetch another stroke, 
 to cut off the man from this refuge of lies likewise. And 
 that happens in this manner. When he fails of the du- 
 ties he engaged to, and falls again into the sin he coven- 
 anted against, it is powerfully carried home on his con- 
 science, that his covenant is broken : so all his comfort 
 goes, and terrors afresh seize on his soul, as one that has 
 broken his covenant with Christ. And commonly the 
 man to help himself, renews his covenant, but breaks it 
 again as before. And how is it possible it should be 
 otherwise, seeing he is still upon the old stock ? Thus 
 the work of many, all their days, as to their souls, is no- 
 thing but a making and breaking such covenants, over 
 and over again. 
 
 Objection, Some perhaps will say, Who liveth and sin- 
 neth not ? Who is there that faileth not of the duties he 
 he has engaged to? If you reject this way as unsound, 
 who then can be saved? Answer, True believers will be 
 saved, namely, all who do by faith take hoM of God's 
 covenant. But this kind of covenant is men's fcwn co- 
 venant, devised of their own heart ; not God's covenant 
 revealed in the gospel of his grace : and the making of 
 it is nothing else, but the making of a covenant of works 
 with Christ, confounding the law and the gospel ; a co- 
 venant he will never subscribe to, though we should sign
 
 HEAD ii.] from the natural stock. 
 
 it with our heart's blood. Rom. iv. 14. "For if they 
 which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and 
 the promise made of 'non-efVect." ver. 16. "Therefore 
 it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the 
 promise might be sure to all the seed." chap. xi. 6. 
 " And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise 
 grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it 
 is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.'* 
 God's covenant is everlasting ; once in, never out of it 
 again : and the mercies of it " are sure mercies," Isa. Iv. 
 3. But that covenant of yours is a tettering covenant, 
 never sure, but broken every day. It is a mere servile co- 
 venant, giving Christ service for salvation : but God's 
 covenant is a filial covenant, in which the sinner takes 
 Christ, and his salvation freely offered, and so " becomes 
 a son," John i. 12. But as many as received him, to them 
 gave he power to become the sons of God. And being be- 
 come a son, he serves his Father, not that the inheritance 
 may become his, but because it is his, through Jesus 
 Christ. See Gal, iv. 24. and downward. To enter into 
 that spurious covenant, is to buy from Christ with mo- 
 ney ; but to take hold of God's covenant, is to buy of 
 him " without moiey and without price," Isa. Ix. 1 that 
 is to say, to beg of him. In that covenant men work for 
 life ; in God's covenant they come to Christ for life, and 
 work from life. When a person under that covenant fails 
 in his duty, all is gone ; the covenant must be made over 
 again. But under God's covenant although the man fail 
 in his duty, and for his failures falls under the discipline 
 of the covenant ; and lies under the weight of it, till such 
 a time as he has recourse anew to the blood of Christ 
 for pardon, and renew his repentance. Yet all that he 
 trusted to for life and salvation, namely, the righteous- 
 ness of Christ, still stands entire, and the covenant re- 
 mains firm. See Rom. vii. 24, 25. and viii. 1. 
 
 Now though some men spend their lives in making 
 and breaking such covenants of their own ; the terror 
 upon the breaking of them wearing weaker and weaker
 
 !254 How the branches are cut off' [STATE in. 
 
 X/ L. 
 
 by degrees, till at last it creates them little or no uneasi- 
 ness : yet the man, in whom the good work is carried on 
 till it be accomplished in cutting him off from the old 
 stock, finds these covenants to be as rotten cords broke at 
 every touch ; and the terror of God being thereupon re- 
 doubled on his spirit, and the waters at every turn get- 
 ting in unto his very soul, he is obliged to cease from 
 catching hold of such covenants, and to seek help some 
 other way. 
 
 Tenthly, Therefore the man comes at length to beg 
 at Christ's door for mercy : but yet he is a proud beggar, 
 standing on his personal worth. For, as the papists have 
 mediators to plead for them with the only Mediator, so 
 the branches of the old stock have always something to 
 produce, which they think may commend them to Christ, 
 and engage him to take their cause in hand. They can- 
 not think of coming to the spiritual market without mo- 
 ney in their hand. They are like persons who have once 
 had an estate of their own, but are reduced to extreme 
 poverty, and forced to beg. When they come to beg, 
 they still remember their former character ; and though 
 they have lost their substance, yet they retain much of 
 their former spirit. Therefore they cannot think they 
 ought to be treated as ordinary beggars, but deserve a 
 particular regard, and, if that be not given to them, their 
 spirits rise against him to whom they address them selves 
 for supply. Thus God gives the unhumbled sinner many 
 common mercies, and shuts him not up into the pit ac- 
 cording to his deserving : but all this is nothing in his 
 eyes. He must be set down at the children's table, 
 otherwise he reckons himself hardly dealt with and 
 wronged : for he is not yet brought so lojv. as to think 
 " God may be justified when he speaketh." (against him) 
 " and clear" from all iniquity " when he judgeth" him, 
 according to his real demerit. Psal. li. 4. He thinks, 
 perhaps, that, even before he was enlightened, he was 
 better than many others. He considers his reformation 
 of life, his repentance, the grief and tears his sin has cost
 
 HEAD ii.] from the mhiral stock. 
 
 him, his earnest desires after Christ, his prayers and 
 wrestlings for mercy ; and useth all these now as bribes 
 for mercy, laying no small weight upon them in his ad- 
 dresses to the throne of grace. But here the Spirit of 
 the Lord shoots a sheaf of arrows into the man's heart, 
 whereby his confidence in these things is sunk and de- 
 stroyed ; and instead of thinking himself better than ma- 
 ny, he is made to see himself worse than any. The naugh- 
 tiness of his reformation of life is discovered ; his repen- 
 tance appears to him no better than the repentance of 
 Judas; his tears like Esau's, and his desires after Christ 
 to be selfish and loathsome, like those who sought Christ 
 " because of the loaves," John vi. 26. His answer from 
 God seems now to be, Away, proud beggar ! '' how shall 
 I put thee among the children ?" He seems to look sternly 
 on him for his slighting of Jesus Christ by unbelief, 
 which is a sin he scarce discerned before. But now, at 
 length he beholds it in its crimson colours, and is pierced 
 to the heart as with a thousand darts, while he sees how 
 he has been going on blindly, sinning against the reme- 
 dy of sin, and in the whole course of his life, trampling 
 on the blood of the Son of God. And now he is, in his 
 own eyes, the miserable object of law-vengeance, yea, 
 and gospel-vengeance too. 
 
 Eleventhly, The man, being thus far humbled, will no 
 more plead " he is worthy for whom Christ should do this 
 thing;" but on the contrary, looks on himself as unwor- 
 thy of Christ, and unworthy of the favour of God. We 
 may compare him, in this case to the young man who 
 followed Christ, " having a linen cloth cast about his na- 
 ked body ; on whom, when the young men laid hold, he 
 left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked," Mark 
 xiv. .51, .52. Even so the man had been following Christ 
 in the thin and coldrife garment of his personal worthi- 
 ness : but by it, even by it, which he so much trusted to, 
 the law catcheth hold of him, to make him prisoner : and 
 then he is fain to leave it, and flees away naked : yet net 
 to Christ, but from liinj. If ye now tell him, he is wel-
 
 How the branches arc cut off. ("STATE lit, 
 
 *X/ L 
 
 come to Christ, if he will come to him : he is apt to say, 
 Can such a vile and unworthy wretch as I, be welcome 
 to the holy Jesus ? If a plaster be applied to his wound- 
 ed soul, it will not stick. He says, Depart from me, for 
 I am a sinful man, O Lord, Luke v. 8. No man need 
 speak to him of his repentance, for his comfort ; he can 
 quickly espy such faults in it as makes it naught ; nor 
 of his tears ; for he is assured they have -never come 
 into " the Lord's bottle." He disputes himself away from 
 Christ ; and concludes, now that he has been such a 
 slighter of Christ, and is such an unholy and vile crea- 
 ture, he cannot, he will not, he ought not to come to 
 Christ ; and that he must either be in better case, or 
 else he will never believe. And hence he now makes his 
 strongest efforts to amend what was amiss in his way be- 
 fore : he prays more earnestly than ever, mourns more 
 bitterly, strives against sin in heart and life, more vigor- 
 ously, and watcheth more diligently, if by any means he 
 may, at length, be fit to come to Christ. One would 
 think the man is well humbled now : but ah ! devilish 
 pride lurks under the veil of all this seeming humility ; 
 like a kindly branch of the ohi stock, he adheres still, 
 and will " not submit to the righteousness of God," Bom. 
 x. 3. He will not come to the market of free grace with- 
 out money. He is bidden to the " marriage of the King's 
 Son," where the bridegroom himself furnishetli all the 
 guests with " wedding-garments," stripping them of their 
 own : but he will not come because he wants a " wed- 
 ding-garment :" howbeit he is very busy in making one 
 ready. This is sad work ; and therefore he must have 
 a deeper stroke yet, else he is ruined. This stroke is 
 reached him with the axe of the law, in its irritating pow- 
 er. Thus the law girding the soul with cords of death, 
 and holding it in with the rigorous commands of obedi- 
 ence, under the pain of the curse ; and God, in his holy 
 and wise conduct, withdrawing his restraining grace, cor- 
 ruption is irritated, lusts become violent ; and the more 
 they are striven against, the more they rage, like a furi- 
 wir horse checked with the bit. Then do corruptions
 
 HEAB ii.] from the natural stock. 2Jt 
 
 set up their heads which he never saw in himself before. 
 Here oft-times, atheism, blasphemy, and in one word hor- 
 rible things concerning God. terrible thoughts concern- 
 ing the faith arise in his breast : so that his heart is a 
 very hell within him. Thus, while he is sweeping the 
 house of his heart, not yet watered with gospel-grace, 
 these corruptions, which lay quiet before in neglected 
 corners, fly up and down in it like dust. He is as one 
 who is mending a dam, and while he is repairing breaches 
 in it, and strengthening every part of it, a mighty flood 
 comes down, overturns his works, and drives all away 
 before it, as well as what was newly laid, as what was 
 laid before; read Rom. vii 8, 9. 10, 13. This is a stroke 
 which goes to the heart ; and by it his hope of getting 
 himself more fit to come to Christ is cut off. 
 
 Lastly, Now the time is come, when the man, betwixt 
 hope and despair, resolves to go to Christ as he is ; and 
 therefore like a dying man, stretching himself just before 
 his breath goes out, he rallies the broken forces of his 
 soul, tries to believe, and in some sort lays hold on Je- 
 sus Christ. And now the branch hangs on the old stock 
 by one single tack of a natural faith, produced by the na- 
 tural vigour of one's own spirit, under a most pressing 
 necessity, Psal. Ixxviii. 34, 35. " When he slew them 
 then they sought him, and they returned and inquired 
 early after God. And they remembered that God was 
 their rock, and the high God their Redeemer." Hos. 
 viii. 2. " Israel shall cry unto me, My God. we know 
 thee." But the Lord, minding to perfect his work, fetch- 
 es yet another stroke, whereby the branc!> falls quite off 
 The Spirit of God convincingly discovers to the sinners 
 his utter inability to do any thing that is good, and so 
 he dieth, Rom. vii. 9. That voice powerfully strikes 
 through his soul, How can ye bdic.vc ! John vii. 44. 
 Thou canst no more believe, than thou canst reach up 
 thine hand to heaven, and bring Christ down from thence. 
 And thus at length he sees, he can neither help himself 
 
 2 fc
 
 258 How the branches are cut off [STATB in. 
 
 by working, nor by believing ; and having no more to 
 hang by, on the old stock, he therefore falls off. And 
 while he is distressed thus, seeing himself 'like to be swept 
 away vrith the flood of God's wrath and yet unable so 
 much as to stretch forth a hand to lay hold of a twig of 
 the tree of life, growing on the bank of the river, he is 
 taken up, and " ingrafted in the true Vine," the Lord 
 Jesus Christ giving him the spirit of faith. 
 
 By what has been said upon this head, I design not 
 to rack or distress tender consciences ; for though there 
 are but few such, at this day, yet God forbid, I should of- 
 fend any of Christ's little ones. But alas ! a dead sleep 
 is fallen upon this generation, they will not be awakened, 
 let us go as near the quick as we will : and therefore I 
 fear there is another sort of awakening, abiding this ser- 
 mon-proof generation, which shall make the ears of them 
 that hear it tingle. However, I would not have this to 
 be looked upon as the sovereign God's stinted method of 
 breaking off sinners from the old stock: but this I assert 
 as a certain truth, that all who are in Christ have been 
 broken off from all these several confidences ; and that 
 they who were never broken off from them are yet in 
 their natural stock. Nevertheless if the house be pulled 
 down, and the old foundation razed, it is all a case, whe- 
 ther it was taken down stone by stone, or whether it was 
 undermined, and all fell down together, 
 
 Now it is that the branch is ingrafted into Jesus 
 Christ. And as the law in the hand of the Spirit of God 
 was the instrument to cut off the branch from the natu- 
 ral stock, so the gospel, in the hand of the same Spirit, 
 is the instrument used for ingrafting it in the superna- 
 tural stock, 1 John i. 3. " That which we have seen and 
 heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fel- 
 lowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with the fa- 
 ther, and with his Son Jesus Christ." See Isa. Ixi. 1, 2,3. 
 The gospel is the silver cord let down from heaven to 
 draw perishing sinners to land. And though the preaching 
 of the law prepares the way of the Lord, yet it is in the
 
 HEAD ii.] from the natural stock. $59 
 
 word of the gospel that Christ and a sinner meet. Now, 
 as in the natural grafting, the branch being taken up, is 
 put into the stock, and being put into it, takes with it, 
 and so they are united ? even so in the spiritual ingraft- 
 ing, Christ apprehends the sinner, and the sinner being 
 apprehended of Christ, apprehends him, and so they be- 
 come one, Phil. iii. 12. 
 
 First. Christ apprehends the sinner by his Spirit, and 
 draws him to himself, 1 Cor. xii. IS. For by one Spirit 
 ue are all baptized into one body. The same Spirit, which 
 is the Mediator himself, he communicates to his elect in 
 due time, never to depart from them, but to abide in 
 them as a principle of life. Thus h'e takes hold of them 
 by his own spirit put into them, and so the withered 
 branch gets life. The soul is now in the hands of the 
 Lord of life, and possest by the Spirit of life, how can he 
 then but live ? The man gets a ravishing sight of Christ's 
 excellency, in the glass of the gospel ; lie sees him a full, 
 suitable, and willing Saviour, and gets a heart to take 
 him for and instead of all. The Spirit of faith furnish- 
 eth him with feet to come to Christ, and hands to receive 
 him. What by nature he could not do, by grace be can, 
 the Holy Spirit working in him the work of faith liith 
 power. 
 
 Secondly > The sinner thus apprehended, apprehends 
 Christ by faith, and so takes with the blessed stock, Eph. 
 iii. 17., That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. 
 The soul that before tried many ways to escape, but all 
 in vain, doth now look again with the eye of faith, which 
 proves the healing look. As Aaron's rod, laid up in the 
 tabernacle, " budded and brought forth buds," Num. 
 xvii. 8. so the dead branch, apprehended by the Lord of 
 life, put into, and bound up with the glorious quickening 
 stock, by the Spirit of life, buds forth in actual believing 
 on Jesus Christ, whereby this union was completed. 
 " We, having the same spirit of faith, believe," 2 Cor. iv. 
 13. Thus the stock and the graft are united, Christ and 
 the Christian are married, faith being the soul's consent
 
 Hoiv the branches are cut off [STATE m. 
 
 to the spiritual marriage- covenant, which, as it is pro- 
 prosed in the gospel to mankind-sinners indefinitely, so it 
 is demonstrated, attested, and brought home to the man 
 in particular by the Holy Spirit ; and so he being "join- 
 ed to the Lord, is one Spirit with him." Hereby a be- 
 lievever lives in, and for Christ, and Christ lives in, and 
 for the believer, Gal. ii. 2O. " I am crucified with Christ, 
 nevertheless I live ; yet not I but Christ liveth in me." 
 Hos iii. 3. *' Thou shalt not be for another man, so 
 will I also be for tbee.' The bonds then of this blessed 
 union are, the Spirit on Christ's part, and faith on the 
 believer's part, 
 
 Now both the souls and bodies of believers are united 
 to Christ, lie that i? join td to the Lord is one spirit. 
 1 Cor. vi 1 7. The very bodies of believers have this 
 honour put upon them, that they are " the temples of 
 the Holy Ghost," ver. 1 9. and " the members of Christ," 
 ver 15. When they sleep in the dust, they "sleep in 
 Jesus,*' 1 Thess. iv. 14. and it is in virtue of this union 
 they shall be raised up out of the dust again, Rom. viii. 
 11. " He shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit 
 that dwelleth in you." In token of this mystical union, 
 the church of believers is called by the name of her head 
 and husband, 1 Cor. xii. 12. " For as the body is one, 
 and hath many members so also is Christ." 
 
 USE. From what is said, we may draw these follow- 
 ing inferences. 
 
 1. The preaching of the law is most necessary. He 
 that would ingraft, must needs use the snedding knife ; 
 sinners have many shifts to keep them from Christ, many 
 things by which they keep their hold of the natural stock ; 
 therefore they have need to be closely pursued, and hunt- 
 ed out of their sculking holes, and " refuges of lies " 
 
 2. Yet it is the gospel that crowns the work ; ' the 
 law makes nothing perfect." The law lays open the 
 wound ; but it is the gospel that heals The law " strips 
 a man, wounds him, and leaves him half dead:" the gos- 
 pel " binds up his wounds, pouring in wine and oil," to
 
 HEAD ii.] from the natural stock. 261 
 
 hea! them By the law we are broken off, but it is by 
 the gospel we are taken up, and implanted in Christ. 
 
 8. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none 
 of his, Rom. viii. 9. We are told of a monster in nature, 
 having two bodies differently animated, as appeared from 
 contrary affections at one and the same time ; but so 
 united, that they were served with the self-same legs. 
 Even so. however men may cleave to Christ, "call them- 
 selves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God 
 of Israel," Isa. xlviii. 2. and may be bound up as " bran- 
 ches in him, ' John xv. 2. by the outward ties of sacra- 
 ments : yet if the Spirit that dwells in Christ dwell not 
 in them, they are not one with him. There is a gn at 
 difference betwixt adhesion and ingrafting. The ivy 
 clasps and twists itself about the oak, but it is not one 
 with it, for it still grows on its own root : so to allude to 
 Isa. iv. 1. many professors take hold of Christ, and " l eat 
 their own bread, and wear their own apparel. onU they 
 are called by his name." They stay themselves upon 
 him, but grow upon their own root : they take him to sup- 
 port theif hopes, but their delights are elsewhere. 
 
 4. The union betwixt Christ and his mystical mem- 
 bers is firm and indissoluble. Were it so that the belie- 
 ver only apprehended Christ, but Christ apprehended not 
 him. we could promise little on the stability of such an 
 union; it might quickly be dissolved* but as the belie- 
 ver apprehends Christ by faith, so Christ apprehends him 
 by his Spirit, and " none shall pluck him out of his h nd.'* 
 Did the child only keep hold of the nurse it might at 
 length weary and let go its hold, and so fall away : but 
 if she have her arms about the child, it is in no hazard 
 of falling away even though it be not actually hoiorng 
 by her. So whatever sinful intermissions may hapfvn 
 in the exercise of faith : yet the union remains sure. !>y 
 reason of the constant indwelling ot the Spirit. Ble.sssed 
 Jesus ! All his saints are in thy hand. Deut. xxxiii. 3. 
 It is observed by some, that the word Abba, is th< ome 
 whether you read it forward er backward ; whatever the
 
 262 Apprehending the sinner. [STATE in.' 
 
 believer's case be, the Lord is still to him, Abba, Father- 
 
 Lastly, They have an unsure hold of Christ, whom he 
 has not apprehended by his Spirit. There are muny 
 half-marriages here, where the soul apprehends Christ, 
 but is not apprehended of him. Hence many fall away, 
 and never rise again : they let go their hold of Chriot ; 
 and when that is gone, all is gone. These are " the 
 branches in Christ, that bear not fruit, which the hus- 
 bandman taketh away," John xv. 2. Question, How can 
 that be? Answer, These brandies are set in the stock by 
 a profession, or an unsound hypocritical faith, they ere 
 bound up with it, in the external use of the sacraments ; 
 but the stock and they are never knit ; therefore they 
 cannot bear fruit. And they need not be cut off, nor 
 broken off; they are by the husbandman only taken away, 
 or (as the word primarily signifies) lifted up, and so ta- 
 ken away, because there is nothing to hold them : they 
 are indeed bound up with the stock, but they have never 
 united with it. 
 
 Question, How shall I know if I am apprehended of 
 Christ ; Answer, You may be satisfied in this inquiry, if 
 you consider and apply these two things. 
 
 First, When Christ apprehends a man by his Spirit, he 
 is so drawn, that he comes away to Christ with his whole 
 heart : for true believing is ''believing witli all the heart, v 
 Acts viii. 37.* Our Lord's followers are like those who 
 followed Saul at first, "men whose hearts God has 
 touched," 1 Sam. x. 26. When the Spirit pours in over- 
 coming grace, they " pour out their hearts like water be- 
 fore him," Psal. Ixii. S. They flow unto him like a ri- 
 ver, Isa. ii. 2. " All nations shall flow unto it," namely, 
 to " the mountain of the Lord's house." It denotes not 
 only the abundance of converts, but the disposition of 
 their souls in coming to Christ ; they come heartily and 
 freely, as *' drawing with loving kindness," Jer. xxxi. 3. 
 " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power," 
 Psal. ex. 3. i. e. free, ready, open-hearted, giving them- 
 selves to thee as free-will offering's. When the bride-
 
 HEAD n.] Signs of Christ's benefits, <%c. 263 
 
 groom has the bride's heart, it is a right marriage : but 
 some give their hand to Christ, who give him not their 
 heart. They that are only driven to Christ by terror, 
 will surely leave him again when that terror is gone. 
 Terrors may break a heart of stone, but the pieces into 
 whi.-jj it is broken still continue to be stone : the terrors 
 canno; soften it into a heart of flesh. Yet terror may 
 begin the work, which love crowns. " The strong wind, 
 the earthquake, and the fire" going before, the still small 
 voice in which the Lord is, may come after them. When 
 the blessed Jesus is seeking sinners to match with him, 
 they are bold and perverse : they will not speak with 
 him, till he hath wounded them, made them captives, 
 and bound them with the cords of death. When this is 
 done, then it is that he makes love to them, and wins 
 their hearts. The Lord tells us, Hos. ii. 16, 20. that 
 his chosen Israel shall be married unto himself. But 
 how will the bride's consent be won f Why, in the first 
 place, he will " bring her into the wilderness," as he did 
 the people when he brought them out of Egypt, ver. 14. 
 There she will be hardly dealt with, scorched with thirst, 
 and bitten of serpents : and then he will speak comfort- 
 ably to her, or, as the expression is, he will speak upon 
 her heart. The sinner is first driven, and then drawn 
 to Christ. It is with the soul as with Noah's dove ; she 
 was forced back again to the ark, because she could find 
 nothing else to rest upon : but when she did return, she 
 would have rested on the outside of it, if Noah " had 
 not put forth his hand and pulled her in," Gen. viii. 
 9. The Lord sends the avenger of blood in pursuit 
 of the criminal ; and he with a sad heart, leaves his own 
 city, and, with tears in his eyes, parts with his old ac- 
 quaintances, because he dare not stay with them, and he 
 flees for his life to the city of refuge. This is not at all 
 his choice, it is forced work ; necessity has no law. But 
 when he comes to the gates, and sees the beauty of the 
 place, the excellency and loveliness of it charms him ; 
 and then he enters it with heart and good- will, saying.
 
 264 Benefits flowing to true believers <%c. [STATB 
 
 This is my rest and here I will stay : and as one said in 
 another case, / had perished, unless I had perished. 
 
 Secondly, When Christ apprehends a soul, the heart 
 is disengaged from, and turned against sin. As in cut- 
 ting off the branch from the old stock, the great idol it- 
 self is brought down, the man is powerfully taught to 
 deir himself: so, in the apprehending- of the sinner by 
 the Spirit, that union is dissolved which was betwixt the 
 man and his lusts, while he was in the flesh, as the apos- 
 tle expresses it, Rom. vii. 5. His heart is loosed from 
 them, though formerly as dear to him as the member* 
 of his body, as his eyes, legs, or arms : and instead of 
 taking pleasure in them, as sometimes he did, he longs 
 to be rid of them. When the Lord Jesus comes to a 
 soul, in the day of converting grace, he finds it like Je- 
 rusa~'em, in the day of her nativity, (Ezek. xvi. 4 ) with 
 its naval not cut, drawing its fulsome nourishment and 
 satisfaction from its lusts ; but he cuts off this commu- 
 nication, that he may get the soul on the breasts of his 
 own consolations, and give it rest in himself. And thus 
 the Lord wounds the head and heart of sin, and the -voul 
 comes to him, saying 1 , " Surely our fathers have inherit- 
 ed lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit," 
 Jer. xvi. 19. 
 
 OF THE BENEFITS FLOWING TO TRUE BELIEVERS FROM 
 THEIR UNION WITH CHRIST. 
 
 V. And lastly, I come to speak of the benefits flowing 
 to true believers from their union with Christ. The 
 chief of the particular benefits believers have by it, are 
 justification, peace, adoption, sanctifiration, growth in 
 grace, fruitfulness in good works, acceptance of these 
 good works, establishment in a state of grace, support, 
 arH a special conduct of providence about them. As for 
 communion with Christ, it is such a benefit, as, being the 
 immediate" consequent of union with him, comprehends 
 all the rest as immediate ones. For, look, as the branch.
 
 HEAD ii.] 'Justification. 2G5 
 
 immediately upon its union with the stock, hath commu- 
 nion with the stock, in all that is in it ; so the believer, 
 uniting with Christ, hath communion with him ; in 
 which he launcheth forth into an ocean of happiness, is 
 lead into a paradise of pleasures, and has a saving in- 
 terest in the treasure hid in the field of the gospel, " the 
 unsearchable riches of Christ/"' As soon as the believer 
 is united to Christ, Christ himself, in whom " all fulness 
 dwells," is his, Cant. ii. 16. My beloved is mine, and I am 
 his. " And how shall he not with him freely give us all 
 things ?" Rom. viii. 32. " Whether Paul, or Apollos, or 
 Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, 
 or things to come, all are you," 1 Cor. iii. 22. This 
 " communion with Christ," is the great comprehensive 
 blessing necessarily flowing from our union with him. 
 Let us now consider the particular benefits flowing from 
 it, before mentioned. 
 
 The first particular benefit that a sinner hath by his 
 union with Christ, is justification, for, being* united to 
 Christ, he hath communion with him in his righteousness, 
 1 Cor. i. 30. " But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who 
 of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness." He 
 stands no more condemned, but justified before God, as 
 being in Christ, Rom. viii. 1 . " There is therefore now 
 no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." 
 The branches hereof are, pardon of sin and personal ac- 
 ceptance. 
 
 First, His sins are pardoned, the guilt of them is re- 
 moved. The bond obliging him to pay his debt is can- 
 celled. God the Father takes the pen, dips it in the 
 blood of his Son, crosseth the sinner's accounts, and 
 blotteth them out of his debt-book. The sinner out of 
 Christ is bound over to the wrath of God : he is under 
 an obligation in law to go to the prison of hell, and there 
 to lay till he has paid the utmost farthing. This ariseth 
 from the terrible sanction with which the law is fenced ; 
 .which is no less than death, Gen. ii. 18, So that th 
 
 2 M
 
 266 Justification. [STATE in. 
 
 sinner, passing the bounds assigned him, is as Shemei, in 
 another case, a man of death, I Kings ii. 42. But now, 
 being united to Christ, God saith, " Deliver him from 
 going down to the pit ; I have found a ransom," Job 
 xxxiii. 24. The sentence of condemnation is reversed, 
 the believer is absolved, and set beyond the reach of the 
 condemning law. His sins which sometimes were " set 
 before the Lord," Psal. xc. 8. so that they could not be 
 hid, God now takes and " casts them all behind his 
 back," Isa. xxxvii. 1 7. Yea, he " casts them into the 
 depths of the sea," Micah vii. 9. What falls into a brook 
 may be got up again : but what is cast into the sea can- 
 not be recovered. Ay, but there are some shallow places 
 in the sea : true, but their sins are not cast in there, but 
 into the depths of the sea ; and the depths of the sea are 
 devouring depths, from whence they shall never come 
 forth again. But what if they do not sink? He will 
 cast them in with force ; so that they shall go to the 
 ground, and sink as lead in the mighty waters of the 
 Redeemer's blood. They are not only forgiven but for- 
 gotten, Jer. xxxi. 34. " I will forgive their iniquity, and 
 I will remember their sins no more." And though their 
 after-sins do, in themselves, deserve eternal wrath, and 
 do actually make them liable to temporal strokes, and 
 fatherly chastisements, according to the tenor of the co- 
 venant of grace, Psal. Ixxxix. 3 33. yet they can ne- 
 ver be actually liable to eternal wrath, or the curse of 
 the law ; for they are " dead to the law" in Christ, 
 Rom. vii. 4. And they can never fall from their union 
 with Christ ; nor can they be in Christ, and yet under 
 condemnation, Rom. viii. I. " There is therefore now no 
 condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." This 
 is an infeience drawn from that doctrine of the believer's 
 being dead to the law, delivered by the apostle, chap. vii. 
 1 6. as is clear from the second, third, and fourth ver- 
 ses of the eighth chapter. And in this respect the jus- 
 tified man is, " the blessed man unto whom the Lord 
 imputeth not iniquity," Psal. xxxii. 2, as one who has
 
 HEAD ii.] Justification. J6'7 
 
 no design to charge a debt on another, sets it not down 
 in his count book. 
 
 Secondly^ The believer is accepted as righteous in 
 God's sight, 2 Cor. v. 21. " For he is found in Christ, 
 not having his own righteousness, but that which is 
 through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is 
 of God by faith," Phil. ii. 9. He could never be accept- 
 ed of God, as righteous, upon the account of his own 
 righteousness : because at best, it is but imperfect, and 
 all righteousness, properly so called, which will abide a 
 trial before the throne of God, is perfect. The very name 
 of it implies perfection : for unless a work perfectly con- 
 form to the law, it is not right, but wrong, and so can- 
 not make a man righteous before God, " whose judg- 
 ment is according to truth." Yet, if justice demand a 
 righteousness of one that is in Christ, upon which he 
 may be accounted righteous before the Lord, surely, shall 
 such an one say, In the Lord have I righteousness^ Isa. 
 xiv. 24<. The law is fulfilled, its commands are obeyed, 
 its sanction is satisfied. The believer's cautioner has 
 paid the debt. It was exacted, and he answered for it. 
 
 Thus the person united to Christ is justified. You 
 may conceive of the whole proceeding herein in this 
 manner : The avenger of blood pursuing the criminal, 
 Christ, as the Saviour of lost sinners, doth by the Spirit 
 apprehend him and draw him to himself, and he by faith 
 lays hold on Christ ; so the Lord our righteousness, and 
 the righteous creature, unite. From this union with 
 Christ results a communion with him in his unsearcha- 
 ble riches, and consequently in his righteousness, that 
 white raiment which he has for clothing of the naked, 
 Rev. Hi. 18. Thus the righteousness of Christ becomes 
 his ; and, because it is his by unquestionable title, it is 
 imputed to him, it is reckoned his in the judgment of 
 God, which is always according to the truth of the thing. 
 And so the believing sinner, having a righteousness 
 which fully answers the demands of the law, is pardon- 
 ed and accepted as righteous. See Isa. xlv. 22, 24-, 25.
 
 268 . Peace with God. [STATE HI. 
 
 Rom. iii. 24<. and chap. v. 1. Now lie is a free man. 
 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of these whom 
 God justifieth ? Can justice lay any thing to their charge? 
 No, for it is satisfied. Can the law ? No, for it has got 
 all its demands of them in Jesus Christ, Gal. ii. 20. " I 
 am crucified with Christ." What can the law require 
 more, after it has wounded their head, poured in wrath 
 in full measure into their soul, and cut oft' their life, and 
 brought it " into the dust of death," in so far as it has 
 done all this to Jesus Christ, who is their head, Eph. i. 
 22. their soul, Acts ii. 25, 27. and their life, Col. i. 4. 
 What is become of the sinner's own hand- writing, which 
 would prove the debt upon him ? Christ has " blotted 
 it out," Col. ii. ] dk But it may be justice may get its 
 eye upon it again. No, he took it out of the way. But 
 O that it had been torn in pieces ! may the sinner say. 
 Yea, so it is ; the nails that pierced Christ's hands and 
 feet are driven through it, he nailed it. But what if the 
 torn pieces be set together again ? That cannot be, for 
 he nailed it to his cross, and his cross was buried with 
 him, but will never rise more, seeing " Christ dieth no 
 more." Where is the face-covering that was upon the 
 condemned man ? Christ has " destroyed it," Isa. xxx. 
 7. Where is death that stood before the sinner with a 
 grim face, and an open mouth, ready to devour him ? 
 Christ has " swallowed it up in victory," ver. 8. Glory, 
 glory, glory to him that thus " loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his own blood." 
 
 The second benefit flowing from the same spring or 
 union with Christ, and coming by the way of justificati- 
 on, is peace, peace with God, and peace of conscience, 
 according to the measure of the sense the justified have 
 of their peace with God, Rom. v. 1. " Therefore being 
 justified by faith, we have peace with God." Chap. xiv. 
 J 7. " For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but 
 righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 Whereas God was their enemy before, now he is recon- 
 ciled to them in Christ ; they are in a covenant of pea/rv.
 
 HIAD ii.] Peace with God. 269 
 
 with him, and as Abraham was, so they are the friend* 
 of God ; he is well pleased with them in his beloved 
 Son. His word, which spoke terror to them formerly, 
 now speaks peace, if they rightly take up its language. 
 And there is love in all his dispensations towards them, 
 which makes all work together for their good. Their 
 consciences are purged of that guilt and filthiness that 
 sometime lay upon them ; his conscience purifying blood 
 streams through their souls, by virtue of their union with 
 him, Heb. ix. 14. "How much more shall the blood of 
 Christ purge your conscience from dead works, to serve 
 the living God." The bonds laid on their consciences, 
 by the Spirit of God, acting as the spirit of bondage, are 
 taken off, never more to be laid on by that hand, Rom. 
 viii. 15. " For ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
 again to fear." Hereby the conscience is quieted, as 
 soon as the soul becomes conscious of the application of 
 that blood ; which falls out sooner or later, according to 
 the measure of faith, and as the only wise God sees meet 
 to time it. Unbelievers may have troubled consciences, 
 which they may get quieted again ; but alas ! their con- 
 sciences become peaceable, before they become pure, so 
 their peace is but the seed of greater horror and confu- 
 sion. Carelessness may give ease for a while, to a sick 
 conscience ; men neglecting its wounds, they close again 
 of their own accord, before the filthy matter is purged 
 out. Many bury their guilt in the grave of an ill memory; 
 conscience smarts a little, at length the man forgets his 
 sin, and there is an end of it ; but this is only an ease be- 
 fore death. Business, or the affairs of life, often give 
 ease in this case. When Cain is banished from the pre- 
 sence of the Lord, he falls a building of cities. When 
 the evil spirit came upon Saul, he calls not for his Bible, 
 nor for the priests to converse with him about his case, 
 but for music, to play it away. So many, when their 
 consciences begin to be uneasy, they fill their heads and 
 hands with business, to divert themselves, and to regain 
 ease at any rate. Yea, some will sin over the belly of 
 their convictions, and, so get some ease to their conscien-
 
 270 Peace with God. [STATE in. 
 
 ces, as Hazael gave his master by stifling him. Again 
 the performing of duties may give some ease to disquiet- 
 ed consciences ; and this is all that legal professors have 
 recourse to for quieting of their consciences. When con- 
 science is wounded, they will pray, confess, mourn, and 
 resolve to do so no more ; and so they become whole 
 again, without an application of the blood of Christ by 
 faith. But they, whose consciences are rightly quieted, 
 come for peace and purging to the blood of sprinkling". 
 Sin is a sweet morsel, that makes God's elect sick souls be- 
 fore they get it ? vomited up. It leaves a sting behind it, 
 which some one time or other will create them no little 
 pain. 
 
 Eiihu shews us both the case and cure, Job. xxxiii. 
 Behold the case one may be in, whom God has thoughts 
 of love to. He darteth convictions into his conscience ; 
 and makes them stick so fast, that he cannot rid himself 
 of them, ver. 10. " He openeth the ears of men, and 
 seakth their instruction." His very body sickens, ver. 
 19. "He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, 
 and the multitude of his bones with strong pain/' He 
 loseth his stomach, ver. 20. " His life abhorreth bread, 
 and his soul dainty meat." His body pines away, so 
 that there is nothing on him but skin and bone, ver. 21. 
 " His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen, 
 and his bones that were not seen stick out. Though he 
 is not prepared for death, he has no hopes of life, ver. 22. 
 *' His soul draweth near unto the grave," (which is the 
 height of his misery) " his life to the destroyer ;" he is 
 looking every moment when devils, these destroyers, 
 Rev. ix. 11. these murderers or man-slayers, John viii. 
 44, will come, and carry away his soul to hell. O dread- 
 ful case ! yet there is hope. God designs to " keep back 
 his soul from the pit," ver. 18, although he bring him for- 
 ward to the brink of it. 
 
 Now see how the sick man is cured. The physician's 
 art cannot prevail here : the disease lies more inward, 
 than that his medicines can reach it. It is soul-trouble
 
 HEAD ii.] Peace with God. 271 
 
 that lias brought the body into this disorder : and there- 
 fore the remedies must be applied to the sick man's soul 
 and conscience. The physician for this case must be a 
 spiritual Physician : the remedies must be spiritual, a 
 righteousness, a ransom, or atonement. Upon the ap- 
 plication of these, the soul is cured, the conscience is 
 quieted, and the body recovers, ver. 23, 24, 2.5, 26. * If 
 there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one a- 
 jnong a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness : 
 then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him 
 from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. 
 His flesh shall be fresher than a child's, he shall return 
 to the days of his vouth. He shall pray unto God, and 
 he shall be iavouruble unto him, and he shall see his face 
 with joy." The proper physician for this patient, is a 
 messenger, an interpreter, ver. 23. that is, as sume ex- 
 positors, not without ground, understand it, the great 
 Physician Jesus Christ, whom Job had called his Re- 
 deemer, chap. xix. 15. He is a Messenger, the " mes- 
 senger of the covenant of peace," Mai. iii. 1. who comes 
 seasonably to the sick man. He is an Interpreter, the 
 great interpreter of God's counsels of love ta sinners, 
 John i. 8. One among a thousand, even the chief among 
 ten thousand, Can. v. 10. ** One chosen out of the people," 
 Psal. Ixxxix. 29. One to whom ' the Lord hath j>;ivcn 
 the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to 
 him that is weary," Isa. 1. 4, 5, 6. It is he that is with 
 him, by bis Spirit, now, to " convince him of righteous- 
 ness," John xvi. 8. As he was with him before, " to 
 convince him of sin and judgment." His work now is, 
 to shew unto him his uprightness, or his righteousness, 
 i. e. the interpreter Christ his righteousness ; which is 
 the only righteousness, arising from the paying of a ran- 
 som, and upon which a sinner, is " delivered from going 
 down to the pit," ver. 24. And thus Christ is said to 
 declare God's name, Psal. xxii. 22. and to preach right- 
 eousness, Ps. Ix. 9. The phrase is remarkable : it is not 
 to shew unto the man, but unto man, his righteousness ; 
 which not obscurely intimates, that he U more than a
 
 272 Adoption. [STATE HI. 
 
 man who shews or deelareth this righteousness. Compare 
 Amos iv. 13. " He that formeth the mountains, and 
 createth the wind, and deelareth unto man what is his 
 thought." There seems to be in it a sweet allusion to 
 the first declaration of this righteousness unto man, or, 
 as the word is, unto Adam, after the fall, while he lay 
 under terror from apprenhensions of the wrath of God ; 
 which declaration was made by the Messenger, the In- 
 terpreter, namely, the eternal Word, the Son of God, 
 called, " the voice of the Lord God," Gen. iii. 8. and by 
 him appearing, probably, in human shape. Now while 
 He, by his Spirit, is the preacher of righteousness to the 
 man, it is supposed the man lays hold on the offered 
 righteousness ; whereupon, the ransom is applied to him, 
 and he is " delivered from going down to the pit :" for 
 God hath a ransom for him. This is intimate to him : 
 God saith, Deliver him, ver. 14. Hereupon his con- 
 science, being purged by the blood of atonement, is pa- 
 cified, and sweetlj quieted. " He shall pray unto God, 
 and see his face with joy," which before he beheld with 
 horror, ver. 26. that is, in New Testament language, 
 " having an high-priest over the house of God, he shall 
 draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, 
 having his heart sprinkled from an evil conscience," 
 Heb. x. 21, 22. But then, what becomes of the body, 
 the weak and weary flesh f Why " his flesh shall be 
 fresher than a child's, he shall return to the days of his 
 youth," ver. 25. Yea, all his bones (which were chasten- 
 ed with strong pain, ver. 19.) shall say, "Lord, who is 
 like unto thee ?" Psal. xxxv. 10. 
 
 A third benefit flowing from union with Christ, is a- 
 doption. Believers being united to Christ become chil- 
 dren of God, and members of the family of heaven. By 
 their union with him, who is the Son of God by nature, 
 they become the sons of God by grace, John i. 12. As 
 when a branch is cut off from one tree, and grafted in 
 the branch of another ; the ingrafted branch, by means 
 of its union with the adopting branch, (as some not tin-
 
 HEAD ii.] Adoption. 273 
 
 fitlv have called it) is made a branch of the same stock, 
 with that into which it is ingrafted : so sinners being in- 
 grafted into Jesus Christ whose name is the Branch, 
 " his Father is their Father, his God their God," John xx. 
 17. And thus they, who are by nature children of the 
 devil, become the children of God. They have *' the spi- 
 rit of adoption," Rom. viii. 15. namely, the Spirit of the 
 Son, which brings them to God, as children to a father ; 
 to pour out their complaints in his bosom, and to seek 
 necessary supply. Gal. iv. 6. " Because ye are sons, God 
 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, cry- 
 ing, Abba, Father." Under all their weaknesses, they have 
 fatherly pitv and compassion shewn them, Psal ciii. 13. 
 " Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
 them that fear him ' Although they were but foundlings, 
 "found in adesart land;' yet now that to them belongs the 
 adoption. " he keeps them as the apple of his eye," Deut. 
 xxxii. 10. Whosoever pursue them, they have a refuge. 
 Prov. xiv. 16. " His children shall have a place of refuge." 
 In a time of common calamity, they have chambers of 
 protection, where they may be ''hid, until the indignation 
 be overpast," Isa. XKV. 20. And he is not only their 
 refuge for protection, but their portion for provision, in 
 that refuge ; Psal. cxlii. 5. Thou art my refuge and my 
 portion in the land of the living. They are provided for, 
 for eternity, Heb. xi. J 6. " He hath prepared for them a 
 city," And what he sees they have need of for the time, 
 they shall not want, Matt. vi. 31, 32. " Take no thought, 
 saying, What shall we eat ? or what shall we drink ? or 
 wherewithalshall webeclothed? for your heavenly Father 
 knoweth that ye have need of all these things." Season- 
 able correction is likewise their privilege as sons ; so they 
 are not suffered to pass with their faults, as happens to 
 others who are not children, but the servants of the fami- 
 ly, and will be turned out of doors for their miscarriages 
 at length, Heb. xii. 7- "If ye endure chastening, God 
 dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom
 
 274 Sanctification. [STATE HI. 
 
 the Father chasteneth not ?" They are heirs of, and shall 
 ''inherit the promises," Heb. vi. 12. Nay, they are 
 " heirs of God," who himself is " the portion of their in- 
 heritance, Psal. xvi. 5. " and joint-heirs with Christ," 
 Rom. viii, 17. And because they are the children of the 
 great King, and young heirs of glory, they have angels 
 for their attendants, who " are sent forth to minister unto 
 them that shall be heirs of salvation," Heb. L 14>. 
 
 A fourth benefit is sanctification, 1 Cor. i. 80, " But of 
 him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us 
 wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification." Being 
 united to Christ, they partake of his Spirit, which is, 
 " the Spirit of holiness." There is a fulness of the Spi- 
 rit in Christ, and it is not like the fulness of a vessel, 
 which only retains what is poured into it ; but it is the 
 fulness of a fountain for diffusion and communication, 
 which is always sending forth its waters, and yet is al- 
 ways full. The Spirit of Christ, that spiritual sap which 
 is in the stock, and from thence is communicated to the 
 branches, is " the spirit of grace," Zech. xii. 10. And 
 where the Spirit of grace dwells, there will be found a 
 complication of all graces. Holiness is not one grace 
 only, but all the graces of the Spirit ; it is a constella- 
 tion of graces ; it is all the graces in their seed and root. 
 And as the sap conveyed from the stock into the branch, 
 goes through it, and through every part of it, so the 
 Spirit of Christ sanctifies the whole man. The poison 
 of sin was diffused through the whole spirit, soul, and 
 body, of the man ; and sanctifying grace pursues it into 
 every corner, 1 Thess. v. 23. Every part of the man 
 is sanctified, though no part is perfectly so. T*he truth 
 we are sanctified by, is not held in the head, es ia a prison, 
 but runs with his sanctifying influences, through heart 
 and life. There are indeed some graces in every believer, 
 which appear as top branches above the rest ; as meek- 
 ness in Moses, patience in Job. But seeing there is in 
 every child of God a holy principle going along with 
 the holy law, in ajl the parts thereof, loving, liking, and
 
 HEAD II.] Sanctification. 275 
 
 approving of it, as appears from their universal respect 
 to the commands of God, it is evident they are endowed 
 with all the graces of the Spirit ; because there can be 
 no less in the effect, than there was in the cause, 
 
 Now this sanctifying Spirit, whereof believers partake, 
 is unto them, (1.) a spirit of mortification ; "Through 
 the spirit they mortify the deeds of the body,' 5 Rom. viii. 
 13. sin is crucified in them, Gal. v. 24. They are plant- 
 ed together (namely with Christ) " in the likeness of his 
 death." which was a lingering death, Rom. vi. 5. Sin is 
 the saint, though not quite dead, yet is dying. If it were 
 dead, it would be taken down from the cross and buried 
 out of his sight ; but it hangs there as yet, working and 
 struggling under its mortal wounds. Look, as when 
 a tree has got such a stroke as reaches the heart of it, 
 all the leaves and branches thereof begin to fade and de- 
 cay ; so where the sanctifying Spirit comes, and breaks 
 the power of sin, there is a gradual ceasing from it, and 
 dying to it in the whole man ; so that he " no longer lives 
 in the flesh, to the lusts of men." He does not make sin 
 his trade and business ; it is not his great design to seek 
 himself, and to satisfy his corrupt inclinations ; but he is 
 for ImmanueFs land, and is walking in the highway to 
 it, the way which is called, " the way of holiness ;" though 
 the wind from hell, that was on his back before, blow r s 
 now full in his face, makes his travelling uneasy, and of- 
 ten drives him off the highway. (2.) This Spirit is a spirit 
 of vivication to them, for he is " the Spirit of life, and 
 makes them live unto righteousness, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. 
 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to 
 walk in my statutes. These that have been planted to- 
 gether with Christ, "in the likeness of his death, shall 
 be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Rom. vi. 5. 
 At Christ's resurrection, when his soul was reunited 
 with his body, every member of that blessed body was 
 enabled again to perform the actions of life ; so the soul 
 being influenced by the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, is 
 enabled more and more to perform all the actions of spi-
 
 !76 Sanctification. [STATE in. 
 
 ritual life. And as the whole of the law, and not some 
 scraps of it only, is written on the holy heart ; so belie- 
 vers are enabled to transcribe that law in their conver- 
 sation. And although they cannot write one line of it 
 without blots : ^yet God, for Christ's sake, accepts of the 
 performances, in point of sanctification, they being disci- 
 ples to his own Son, and led by his own Spirit. 
 
 . This sanctifying Spirit, communicated by the Lord Je- 
 sus to his members, is the spiritual nourishment the bran- 
 ches have from the stock into which they are ingrafted ; 
 whereby the life of grace, given them in regeneration, is 
 preserved, continued, and actuated. It is the nourish- 
 ment whereby the new creature liveth, and is nourished 
 up towards perfection. Spiritual life needs to be fed, 
 and must have a supply of nourishment : and believers 
 derive the same from Christ their Head, whom the Fa- 
 ther has constituted the head of influences, to all his mem- 
 bers, Col. ii. 19. "And not holding the Head, from 
 which all the body by joints and bands, having nourish- 
 ment ministered or supplied," &c. Now this supply is 
 " the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 19. The 
 saints fed richly, eating Christ's Jlesh and drinking his blood, 
 for their spiritual nourishment: yet our Lord himself teach- 
 ethus, that it is the Spirit that quickeneth, even that Spirit 
 who dwells in that blessed body, John vi. 63. The hu- 
 man nature is united to the divine nature, in the person 
 of the Son, and so (like the bowl in Zechariah's candle- 
 stick Zech. iv.) lies at the fountain-head, as the glori- 
 ous means of conveyance of influences from the fountain 
 of the Deity ; and receives not the Spirit by measure, 
 but ever hath a fulness of the Spirit, by reason of that 
 personal union. Hence believers, being united to the 
 man Christ, (as the stvpn lamps to the bowl, by their se- 
 ven pipes, Zech. iv. 2., his flesh is to them meat indeed., 
 and his blood drink indeed : for feeding on that blessed 
 bocty. (i. e. effectually applying Christ to their souls by 
 faith) they partake more and more of that Spirit, who 
 dwelleth therein ; to their spiritual nourishment. The
 
 HIAD ii.] Sanciificafwn. 277 
 
 holiness of God could never admit of an immediate union 
 with the sinful creature, nor (consequently) an immedi- 
 ate communion with it : yet the creature could not live 
 the life of grace, without communion with the fountain 
 of life. Therefore, that the honour of God's holiness, 
 and the salvation of sinners, might jointly be provided 
 for ; the second person of the glorious Trinity, took into 
 a personal union with himself, a sinless human nature ; 
 that so this holy, harmless, and undefiled humanity, might 
 immediately receive a fulni-ss of the Spirit, of which he 
 might communicate to his members, by his divine power 
 and efficacy. And l ; 'ke as. if there were a tree, having 
 its root in the earth, and its branches reaching to hea- 
 ven ; the vast distance betwixt the root and the branches 
 would not interrupt the communication betwixt the root 
 and the top-branch ; even so the distance betwixt the 
 man Christ, who is in heaven, and his members who are 
 on earth cannot hinder the communication betwixt them. 
 What though the parts of mystical Christ ^viz. the 
 head and the members,) are not contiguous, as joined to- 
 gether in the way of corporal union ; the union is not 
 therefore the less real and effectual. Yea, our Lord him- 
 self shows us, that albeit we should eat his flesh, in a cor- 
 poral and carnal manner, yet it would profit nothing, 
 John vi. 63. We would not be one whit holier thereby. 
 But the members of Christ on earth are united to their 
 Head in heaven by the invisible bond of the self-same 
 Spirit dwelling in both, in him as the head, and in them 
 as the members ; even as the \vheels in EzekieFs vision, 
 were not contiguous to the living creatures, yet were u- 
 nited to them by an invisible bond of one spirit in both ; 
 so that " when the living creatures went, the wheels went 
 by them, and when the living creatures were lift up from 
 the earth, the wheels were lift up," Ezek. i 19 " For," 
 says the prophet, " the spirit of the living creatures was 
 in the wheels," ver. 20. 
 
 Hence we may see the difference betwixt true sancti- 
 fication, and that shadow of it, which is to be found a-
 
 75 Sanctification. [STAI* in. 
 
 mongst some strict professors of Christianity, who yet are 
 not true Christians, are not regenerate by the Spirit of 
 Christ, and is of the same kind with what has appeared 
 in many sober heathens. True sanctification is the re- 
 sult of the soul's union with the holy Jesus the first and 
 immediate receptacle of the sanctifying Spirit ; out of 
 whose fulness, his members do, by virtue of their union 
 with him, receive sanctifying influences. The other is 
 the mere product of the man's own spirit, which whate- 
 ver it has. or seems to have, of the matter of true holi- 
 ness, yet does not rise from the supernatural principles, 
 nor to the high aims and ends thereof: for, as it conies 
 from self, so it runs out into the dead sea of self again ; 
 and lies as wide of true holiness, as nature doth of grace. 
 They who have this bastard holiness, are like common 
 boat-men, who serve themselves with their own oars : 
 whereas the ship bound for Immanuel's land, sails by the 
 blowings of the Divine Spirit. How is it possible there 
 should be true sanctification without Christ ? Can there 
 be true sanctification, without partaking of the Spirit of 
 holiness ? Can we partake of that Spirit, but by Jesus 
 Christ, the way. the truth, and the life ? The falling dew 
 shall as soon make its way through the flinty rock, as in- 
 fluences of grace shall come from God to sinners, any 
 other way, but through him whom the Father hath con- 
 stituted the head of influences, Col. i. 19. " For it hath 
 pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." 
 And chap. ii. 19. " And not holding the Head, from 
 which all the body by joints and bands having nourish- 
 ment ministered and knit together, increase with the in- 
 crease of God.'* Hence see, how it comes to pass that 
 many fall away, from their seeming sanctification, and 
 never recover : it is because they are not branches truly 
 knit to the true vine. Meanwhile, others recover from 
 their decays, because of their union with the life-giving 
 stock, by the quickening Spirit, 1 John ii. 1 9. " They 
 went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if they 
 had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with 
 us."
 
 HEAD ii.] Growth in grace. 279 
 
 A filth benefit is growth in grace. " Having nourish- 
 ment ministered, they increase with the increase of God,'* 
 Col. ii. 19. The righteous shall flourish like the palm- 
 tree ; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon, Psal. xcii. 
 13. Grace is of a growing nature ; in the way to Zion 
 they go from strength to strength. Though the holy 
 man be at first a little child in grace, yet at length he 
 becomes a "young man, a father," 1 John ii. 13. Though 
 he does but creep in the way to heaven sometimes, yet 
 afterwards " he walks, he runs, he mounts up with wings 
 as eagles," Isa. xl. 31. If a branch grafted into a stock 
 never grows, it is a plain evidence of its not having knit 
 with the stock. 
 
 But some may perhaps say, If all true Christians be 
 growing ones, what shall be said of these, who, instead of 
 growing, are going back ? I answer, First, There is a 
 great difference betwixt the Christian's growing simply, 
 and his growing at all times. All true Christians do grow- 
 but I do not say they grow at all times. A tree that has 
 life and nourishment, grows to its perfection, yet it is not 
 always growing ; it grows not in the winter. Christians 
 also have their winters, wherein the influences of grace, 
 necessary for growth, are ceased, Cant. v. 2. " I sleep," 
 It is by faith the believer derives gracious influences 
 from Jesus Christ, like as each lamp in the Handle-stick 
 received oil from the bowl, by the pipe going betwixt 
 them, Zech. iv. 2. Now if the pipe be stopt, if the saint's 
 faith lie dormant and inactive, then all the rest of the 
 graces will become dim, and seem ready to be extinguish- 
 ed. In consequence whereof, depraved nature will ga- 
 ther strength, and become active. What then will be- 
 come of the soul ? Why, there is still one sure ground of 
 hope. The saint's faith is not as the hypocrite's, like a 
 pipe laid short of the fountain, whereby there can be no 
 conveyance : it still remains a bond of union betwixt 
 Christ and the soul, and therefore, because Christ lives, 
 the believer shall live also, John xiv. 1 9. The Lord Je- 
 sus " puts in his hands by the hole of the door," and clears
 
 Growth in grace. [STATE in. 
 
 the means of conveyance : and then influences for growth 
 flow, and the believer's graces look fresh and green again, 
 Hos. xiv. 7. " They that dwell under his shadow shall 
 return : they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the 
 vine " In the worst of times, the saints have a principle 
 of growth in them, 1 John iii. 9. " His seed remaineth 
 in him," and therefore after decays, they revive again : 
 viz. when the winter is over, and the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness returns to them with hlo warm influences. Mud 
 thrown into a pool may lie there at ease ; but if it be 
 cast into a fountain, the spring will at length work it 
 out, and run clear as formerly. Secondly, Christians 
 may mistake their growth, and that two ways. (1.) By 
 judging of their case according to their present feeling. 
 They observe themselves, and cannot perceive themselves 
 to be growing : but there is no reason thence to conclude 
 they are not growing, Mark iv. 27. " The seed springs 
 and grows up, he knoweth not how." Should one fix his 
 eye never so stedfastly on the sun running his race, or on 
 a growing tree, he would not perceive the sun moving, 
 nor the tree growing : but if he compare the tree as it 
 now is, with what it was some years ago, and consider 
 the place in the heavens, where the sun was in the morn- 
 ing : he will certainly perceive the tree has grown, and 
 the sun has moved. In like manner may the Christian 
 know whether he be in a growing or declining state by 
 comparing his present with his former condition. (2.) 
 Christians may mistake their case, by measuring their 
 growth by the advances of the top only, not of the root. 
 Though a man be not growing taller, he may be growing 
 stronger. If a tree be taking with the ground, fixing it- 
 self in the earth, and spreading out its roots : it is cer- 
 tainly growing, although it be nothing taller than for- 
 merly. So albeit a Christian may want the sweet con- 
 solation and flashes of affection, which sometimes he has 
 had, yet if he be growing in humility, self-denial, and 
 sense of needy dependance on Jesus Christ, he is a grow- 
 ing Christian, Hos. xiv 5. / will be as dew unto Israel, 
 he shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
 
 HBAD ii.] Growth In grace. 281 
 
 Question, But do hypocrites grow at all ? and if so, 
 how shall we distinguish betwixt their growth, and true 
 Christian growth ? Answer, to the first part of the ques- 
 tion, Hypocrites do grow. The tares have their growth, 
 as well as the wheat ; and the seed that fell among thorns 
 did spring up, Luke viii. 7. only it did " bring no fruit 
 to perfection," ver. 14. Yea. a true Christian may have 
 a false growth. James and John seemed to grow in the 
 grace of holy zeal when their spirits grew so hot in the 
 cause of Christ, that they would have fired whole villa- 
 ges, for not receiving their Lord and Master, Luke ix. 
 54. " They said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire 
 to come down from heaven and consume them, even as 
 Elias did ?" But it was indeed no such thing ; and there- 
 fore *' he turned and rebuked them, ver. 55, and said, 
 Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. ' To the 
 second part of the question it is answered, that there 
 is a peculiar beauty in true Christian growth, distinguish- 
 ing it from all false growth : it is universal, regular, pro- 
 portionable. It is a "growing up unto him in all things," 
 which is the Head, Eph. iv. 15. The growing Christian 
 grows proportionally in all the parts of the new man. 
 Under the kindly influences of the Sun of Righteousness, 
 believers " grow up as calves of the stall." Mai. iv. 2. 
 Ye would think it a monstrous growth in these creatures, 
 if you saw their heads grow and not their bodies : or. if 
 ye saw one leg grow and another not ; if all the parts 
 do not grow proportionally. Ay. but such is the growth 
 of many in religion. They grow like rickety children, who 
 have a big head, but a slender body : they get more know- 
 ledge into their heads, but not more holiness into their 
 hearts and lives. They grow very licit outwardly, but ve- 
 ry cold inwardly, like men in the fit of the ague. They 
 are more taken up about the externals of religion than 
 formerly, yet as great strangers to the power of godliness 
 as ever. If a garden is watered with the hand, some of 
 the plants will readily get much, some little, some no 
 
 2 o
 
 Fruitfulncss* [STATE in, 
 
 water at all ; and therefore some wither, while others are 
 coining forward : hut after a shower from the clouds, all 
 come forward together. In like manner all the graces 
 of the Spirit grow proportion ably, by the special influen- 
 ces of divine grace. The branches ingrafted in Christ, 
 growing aright, do grow in all the several w^ays of growth 
 at once. They grow inward, growing into Christ, (Eph. 
 iv. 15.) uniting more closely with him, and cleaving more 
 firmly to him as the head of influences, which is the 
 spring of all other true Christian growth. They grow 
 outward, in good works, in their life and conversation. 
 They not only with Naphtali, give godly words, but, like 
 Joseph, they are fruitful boughs. They grow upward in 
 heavenly-mindedness, and contempt of the world, for 
 their conversation is in heaven, Phil. iii. 20. And, final- 
 ly, they grow downward in humility and self-loathing. The 
 branches of the largest growth in Christ, are, in their 
 own eyes, " less than the least of all saints," Eph. iii. 8. 
 "The chief of sinners," 1 Tim. i. 15. "More brutish 
 than any man," Prov. xxx. 2. They see they can do no- 
 thing, no not so much as " to think any thing as of them- 
 selves," 2 Cor. iii. 5. That they deserve nothing, being 
 not " worthy of the least of all the mercies showed unto 
 them," Gen. xxx. 10. And that they are nothing, 2 
 Cor. xii. 2. 
 
 A sixth benefit is fruitfulness. The branch ingrafted 
 into Christ is not barren, but brings forth fruit, John xv. 
 5. " He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same 
 bringeth forth much fruit." For that very end are souls 
 married to Christ, that they may bring forth fruit unto 
 God, Rom. vii. 4*. They may be branches in Christ by 
 profession, but not by real implantation, that are barren 
 branches. Whosoever are united to Christ, bring forth 
 the fruit of gospel obedience and true holiness. Faith is 
 always followed with goed works. The believer is not 
 only come out of the grave of his natural state, but he 
 -hath put off his grave-clothes, namely, reigning lusts, in 
 the wkich he walked sometime like a ghost, being dead
 
 MEAD ii.] Fruitf ulness. 283 
 
 while " he lived in them," Col. iiC 7. 8. For Christ has 
 said of him as of Lazarus, Loose him and let him go. And 
 now that he has put on Christ, lie personates him (so to 
 apeak) as a beggar, in borrowed robes, represents a king 
 on the stage, walking as he also walked. Now tlie fruit 
 of the Spirit in him, " is in all goodness," Eph. v. 9. The 
 fruits of holiness will be found in the hearts, lips, and 
 lives of those who are united to Christ. The hidden man 
 of the heart is not only a temple built for God, and con- 
 secrated to him, but used and employed for him, where 
 love, fear, trust, and all other parts of unseen religion are 
 exercised, Phil. iii. 3. " For we are the circumcision 
 which worship God in the spirit." The heart is no more 
 the devil's common, where thoughts go free, for even 
 their vain thoughts are hated, Psal. cxix. 113. But it is 
 God's inclosure, hedged about as a garden for him, Cant, 
 iv. 16. It is true, there are weeds of corruption there, 
 because the ground is not perfectly healed ; but the man, 
 in the day of his new creation, is set to dress it, and keep 
 it. A live coal from the altar has touched his lips, and 
 they are purified, Psal. xv. 1 , 2, 3. " Lord, who shall a- 
 bide in thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? 
 He that speaketh the truth in his heart ; he that back- 
 biteth not with his tongue, nor taketh up a reproach a- 
 gainst his neighbour." There may indeed be a smooth 
 tongue, where there is a false heart. The voice may be 
 Jacob's, while the hands are Esau's. But, if any man a- 
 mong you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, 
 but deceiveth his own heart, this mail's religion is vain, 
 James i. 26. The power of godliness will rule over the 
 tongue, though " a world of iniquity." If one be a Ga- 
 lilean, his speech will bewray him ; he will speak not the 
 language of Ashdod, but the language of Canaan ; he 
 will neither be dumb in religion, nor will his tongue walk 
 at random, seeing to the double guard nature hath given 
 the tongue, grace hath added a third. The fruits of ho- 
 liness will be found in his outward conversation, for " he 
 hath clean hands, as well as a pure heart," Psal. xxiv. 
 4. He is a godly man, and religion discharges the du-
 
 284t Fruitfulness. [STATE in. 
 
 tics of the first table of the law ; he is a righteous man, 
 and honestly performs the duties of the second table. In 
 his conversation he is a good Christian, and a good neigh- 
 bour tow. He carries it towards God, as if men's eyes 
 were upon him ; and towards men. as believing God's 
 eye to be upon him. These things which God hath join- 
 ed in his law, he dares not in his practice put asunder. 
 
 Thus the branches in Christ are full of good fruits. 
 And those fruits are a cluster of vital actions, whereof 
 Jesus Christ is the principle and end : the principle, for 
 he lives in them, and the life they live is by faith in the 
 Son of God, Gal ii. 20. The end for they live to him, 
 and " to them to live is Christ," Phil. i. 21. The duties 
 of religion are in the world like fatherless children, in 
 rags. Some will not take them in, because they never 
 loved them, nor their father ; some take them in, because 
 they may be serviceable to them ; but the saints take 
 them in for their father's sake, that is, for Christ's sake, 
 and they are lovely in their eyes, because they are like 
 him. O whence is this new life of the saints! Surely ij; 
 could never have been hammered out of the natural pow- 
 ers of their souls, by the united force of all created pow- 
 er. In eternal barrenness should their womb have been 
 shut up ; but that being " married to Christ, they bring 
 forth fruit unto God," Rom. vii. 4>. 
 
 If ye ask me, how your nourishment, growth, and 
 fruitfulness may be forwarded ? I offer these few advices. 
 (1.) Make sure work as to your knitting with the stock, 
 by faith unfeigned ; and beware of hypocrisy ; a branch 
 that is not sound at the heart, will certainly wither. 
 The trees of the Lord's planting are " trees of righteous- 
 ness," Isa. Ixi. 3. So when others fade, they bring forth 
 fruit. Hypocrisy is a disease in the vitals of religion, 
 which will consume all at length. It is a leak in the ship, 
 that will certainly sink it. Sincerity of grace will make 
 it lasting, be it never so weak ; as the smallest twig that 
 is sound at the heart, will draw nourishment from the 
 stock, and grow : while the greatest bough that is rotten,
 
 MEAD ii.] Fruitfulncss. 285 
 
 can never recover, because it receives no nourishment. 
 (2.) Labour to be stedi'ast in the truths and way of God. 
 An unsettled and wavering judgment is a great enei; ;.y 
 to Christian growth and fruiti'ulness, as the apostle t< <u li- 
 es, Eph. iv. 14. 15. "That we henceforth be no more 
 children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every 
 wind of doctrine. But speaking the truth in love, may 
 grow up into him in all things, which it> the Head, even 
 Christ." A rolling stone gathers no fog, and a wavering 
 judgment makes a fruitless life. Though a tree be never 
 so sound, yet how can it grow, or be fruitful, if you be 
 still removing it out of one soil into another ? (8.) Eniica- 
 vour to cut oft' the suckers, as gardeners do, that their 
 trees may thrive. These are unmortified lusts, tin.- re fore 
 " mortify your members that are upon the earth, ' CoL 
 iii. 5. When the Israelites got meat to their lusts, they 
 got leanness to their souls. She that has many hundred 
 children about her hand, and must be still putting into 
 their mouths, will have much ado to get a bit put into 
 her own They must refuse the cravings of inordinate 
 affections, who would have their souls to prosper.- Laxt- 
 /y, Improve, for these ends, the ordinances of God. The 
 courts of our God are the place where the trees of righ- 
 teousness flourish, Psal. xcii. 1 S. The waters of the sanc- 
 tuary are the means appointed ot God. to cause his peo- 
 ple to grow as " willows by the water courses. ' There*- 
 fore drink in with " desire, the sincere milk ot the word, 
 that ye may grow thereby/' 1 Pet. ii. V. Come to those 
 wells of salvation, not to look at them only, but to draw 
 water out of them. The sacrament of the Lord s Supper 
 is in a special manner appointed for these ends. It is not 
 only a solemn public profession, and a seal of our union 
 and communion with Christ; but it is a means of most 
 intimate communion with him, and strengthens our uni- 
 on with him, our faith and love, repentance, and other 
 grace j s, 1 Cor. x. 16. The cup of blessing, which we bless, 
 is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread 
 which we break, s it not (he communion oj the boay of 
 Christ? And chap. xii. 13. We have been all m^ide te
 
 286 Acceptance of the fruits [STATE in. 
 
 drink into one Spirit. Give yourself unto prayer ; open 
 your mouths wide, and he will fill them. By these means 
 the branches in Christ may be further nourished, grow 
 up, and bring forth much fruit. 
 
 A seventh benefit is, the acceptance of their fruits of 
 holiness betore the Lord. Though they be very imper- 
 fect, they are accepted, because they savour of Christ 
 the blessed stock, which the branches grow upon, while 
 the fruits of others are rejected of God, Gen. iv. 4>, 5. 
 " And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offer- 
 ing ; but unto Cain and his offering he had no respect.'* 
 Compare Heb. xi. 3. " By faith Abel offered unto God 
 a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." O how defective 
 are the saints' duties in the eye of the law ! The be- 
 liever himself espies many faults in his best performances, 
 yet the Lord graciously receives them. There is no 
 grace planted in the heart, but there is a weed of cor- 
 ruption hard by its side, while the saints are in this low- 
 er world. Their very sincerity is not without mixture 
 of dissimulation or hypocrisy, Gal. ii. 13. Hence there 
 are defects in the exercise of every grace, in the per- 
 formance of every duty : depraved nature always drops 
 something to stain their best works. There is still a 
 mixture of darkness with their clearest light. Yet this 
 does not mar their acceptance, Cant. vi. 10. " Who is 
 she that looketh forth as the morning ? or, as the dawn- 
 ing ?" Bebold how Christ's spouse is esteemed and ac- 
 cepted of her Lord, even when she looks forth as the 
 morning, whose beauty is mixt with the blackness of 
 the night ! " when the morning was looking out," as the 
 word is, Judges xix. 26. i. e. " in the dawning of the 
 day," as we read it. So the very dawning of grace, and 
 good-will to Christ, grace peeping out from under a mass 
 of darkness in believers, pleasant and acceptable to him, 
 as the break of day is to the weary traveller. Though 
 the remains of unbelief make their hand of faith to shake 
 and tremble, yet the Lord is so well pleased with it, 
 that he employs it to carry away pardons and supplies of
 
 Hi AD II.] of holiness. 287 
 
 grace, from the throne of grace, and the fountain of 
 grace. His faith was effectual, who cried out, and said 
 with fears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, Mark 
 ix. 24. Though the remains of sensual affections make 
 the flame of their love weak and smoky ; he turns his 
 eyes from the smoke, and beholds the flame, how fair it 
 is, Cant. iv. 10. " How fair is thy love, my sister, my 
 spouse !'' The smell of their under garment, of inher- 
 ent holiness, as imperfect as it is, " is like the smell of 
 Lebanon," ver. 1 1 . and that because they are covered 
 with their elder brother's clothes, which make the sons 
 of God to " smell as a field which the Lord hath blessed." 
 Their good works are accepted ; their cups of cold wa- 
 ter given to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, shall 
 not want a reward. Though they cannot offer for the 
 tabernacle, gold, silver, and brass, and onyx-stone," let 
 them come forward with what they have ; if it were but 
 goats' hair, it shall not be rejected ; if it were but ram's 
 skins, they shall be kindly accepted, for they are dyed 
 red, dipped by faith in the Mediator's blood, and so pre- 
 sented unto God. A very ordinary work done in faith, 
 and from faith, if it were but the building of a wall a- 
 bout the city, is a great work, Neh. vi. 3. If it were 
 but the bestowing of a box of ointment on Christ, it 
 shall never be forgotten, Matt. xxvi. 13. Even " a cup 
 of cold water only given to one of Christ's little ones, in 
 the name of a disciple, shall be rewarded," Matt. x. 42. 
 Nay, not a good word, for Christ, shall drop from their 
 mouths, but it shall be registered in God's " book of re- 
 membrance," Mai. iii. 16. Nor shall a tear drop from 
 their eyes for him, but he will " put it in his bottle," 
 Psal. Ivi. 8. Their will is accepted for the deed ; their 
 sorrow for the want of will, for the will itself, 2 Cor. 
 viii. 12. For if there be ajirst willing mind, it is accepted 
 according to that a man hath, and not according to that 
 he hath not. Their groanings, when they cannot well 
 word their desires, are heard in heaven ; the meaning of 
 those groans is well known there, and they will be re- 
 turned like the dove with an olive branch of peace in
 
 2*8 Establishment [STATE lit. 
 
 her mouth See Rom. rii. 26, 27. Their mites are bet- 
 ter than other men's talents. Their lisping and broken 
 sentences are more pleasant to their Father in heaven, 
 than the most fluent and flourishing speeches of these 
 that are not in Christ. Their voice is sweet, even when 
 they are ashamed it should be heard : their countenance 
 is comely, even when they blush, and draw a veil over 
 it. Cant. iii. 14. The Mediator takes their petitions, 
 blots out many parts, rectifies others, and then 
 presents them to the Father, in consequence whereof 
 they pass in the court of heaven. 
 
 Every true Christian is a temple to God. If ye look 
 for sacrifices, they are not wanting there ; they offer the 
 sacrifice of praise, and they do good ; with such sacrifices 
 God is well pleased, Heb. xiii. !5, 16. Christ himself is 
 the altar that sanctifies the gift, ver. 10. But what 
 comes of the skins and dung of their sacrifices ? They 
 are carried away without the camp. If we look for in- 
 cense it is there too. The graces of the Spirit are found 
 in their hearts ; and the Spirit of a crucified Christ fires 
 them, and puts them in exercise, like as the fire was 
 brought from the altar of burnt -offering, to set the in- 
 cense in flame : then they mount heaven-ward " like pil- 
 lars of smoke," Cant. iii. 6. But the best of incence will 
 leave ashes behind it ; yes, indeed, but as the priest took 
 away the ashes of the incense in a golden dish, and threw 
 them out, so our great High priest takes away the ashes 
 and refuse of all the saints' services, by his mediation in 
 their behalf. 
 
 An eighth benefit flowing from union with Christ, is 
 establishment. The Christian cannot fall away, but 
 must persevere unto the end, John x. 28. They shall 
 never perish, neither shall any man pluck them ont of my 
 hand. Indeed if a branch do not knit with the stock, it 
 will fall away when shaking winds arise ; but the branch 
 knit to the stock stands fast, whatever wind blows. Some- 
 times a stormy wind of .temptation blows from hell, and 
 tosseth the branches in Christ, the true vine : but their
 
 HBAD ii.] Establishment. 2&9 
 
 union with him is their security; moved they may be, but 
 removed they never can be. The Lord " will with the 
 temptation also make a way to escape," 1 Cor. x. 15. 
 Calms are never of any continuance ; there is almost al- 
 ways some wind blowing, and therefore branches are 
 rarely altogether at rest. But sometimes violent winds 
 arise, which threaten to rend them from off their stock. 
 Even so it is with saints, they are daily put to it to keep 
 their ground against temptation : but sometimes the 
 wind from hell riseth so high, and blows so furiously, 
 that it makes even top branches to sweep the ground ; 
 yet being knit to Christ their stock, they get up again 
 in spite of the most violent efforts of the " prince of the 
 power of the air," Psal. xciv 18. " When I said my foot 
 slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up." But the 
 Christian improves by this trial, and is so far from being 
 damaged, that he is benefited by it, in so far as it dis- 
 covers what hold the soul has of Christ, and what hold 
 Christ has of the soul. And look as the wind in the 
 bellows, which blows out the candle, blows up the fire : 
 even so it often comes to pass, that such temptations do 
 enliven the true Christian, awakening the graces of the 
 Spirit in him, and by that means discover both the real- 
 ity and the strength of grace in him. And hence, as 
 Luther, that great man of God saith, " One Christian, 
 who hath had experience of temptation, is worth a thou- 
 sand others." 
 
 Sometimes a stormy wind of trouble and persecution 
 from the men of the world blows upon the vine, i. e. 
 mystical Christ ; bit union with the stock is a sufficient 
 security to the branches. In a time of the church's 
 peace and outward prosperity, while " the angels hold 
 the winds that they blow not," there are a great many 
 branches taken up and put into the stock, which never 
 knit with it, nor live by it, though they be bound up 
 with it, by the bonds of external ordinances. Now these 
 may stand awhile on the stock, and stand with great 
 
 .2 P
 
 290 Establishment. [STATE in. 
 
 ease while the calm lasts. But when once the storms 
 arise, and the winds blow, they will begin to fall off one 
 after another ; and the higher the wind riseth, the great- 
 er will the number be that falls. Yea, some strong 
 boughs of that sort, when they fall, will, by their weight, 
 carry others of their own kind quite down to the earth 
 with them ; and will bruise and press down some true 
 branches in such a manner, that they would also fall off, 
 were it not for their being knit to the stock in virtue 
 whereof they get up their heads again, and cannot fall 
 off, because of that fast hold the stock has of them. 
 Then it is that many branches sometimes high and emi- 
 nent, are found laying on the earth withered, and fit to 
 be gathered up and cast into the fire, Matt. xiii. 6. "And 
 when the sun was up they were scorched ; and because 
 they had no root they withered away," John xv. 6. " If 
 a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and 
 is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into 
 the fire, and they are burned." But however violently 
 the winds blow, none of the truly ingrafted branches 
 that are knit with the stock are found missing when the 
 storm is changed into a calm, John xvii. 12. Those that 
 tho'ilgavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, 
 The least twig growing in Christ shall stand it out and 
 subsist, when the tallest cedars, growing on their own 
 root, shall be laid flat on the ground, Rom. viii. 35. Who 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ f Shall tribula- 
 tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, 
 or peril, or sword ? See ver. 36, 37, 38, 39. However 
 severely Israel be " sifted, yet shall not the least grain 
 (or, as it is in the original language, a little stone) fall 
 upon the earth," Amos ix. 9. It is an allusion to the 
 sifting of fine pebble stones from among heaps of dust 
 and sand ; though the sand and dust fall to the ground, 
 be blown away with the wind, and trampled under foot, 
 yet there shall not fall on the earth so much as a little 
 stone, such is the exactness of the sieve, and care of the 
 sifter. There is nothing more ready to fall on the earth 
 than a stone ; yet if professors of religion be lively stones
 
 HEAD ii.] Support. 291 
 
 built on Christ, the chief corner-stone, although they be 
 little stones, they shall not fall to the earth whatever 
 storm beat upon them, See 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5, 6. All the 
 good grain in the church of Christ is of this kind ; they 
 are stones in respect of solidity, and lively stones in res- 
 pect of activity. If men be solid substantial Christians, 
 they will not be like chaff tossed to and fro with every 
 wind, having so much of the liveliness that they have 
 nothing of the stone ; and if they be lively Christians, 
 whose spirit will stir in them as Paul's did, '* when he 
 saw the city wholly given to idolatry," Acts xvii. 16. 
 They will not lie like stones, to be turned over, hither 
 and thither, cut and carved, according to the lusts of 
 men having so much of the stones as leaves nothing of 
 liveliness in them. 
 
 Our God's house is a great bouse, wherein are not on- 
 ly vessels of gold, but also of earth, 2 Tim. ii. 20. Both 
 these are apt to contract filthiness, and therefore when 
 God brings trouble upon the church, he hath an eye to 
 both. As for the vessels of gokl, they are not destroy- 
 ed, but purged by a fiery trial in the furnace of affliction, 
 as goldsmiths purge their gold, Isa. i. 25. " And I Avill 
 turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy 
 dross." But destruction is to the vessels of earth ; they 
 shall be Broken in shivers as a potter's vessel, ver. 28. 
 " And the destruction (or breaking) of the transgressors, 
 and of the sinners, shall be together." It seems to be 
 an allusion to that law for breaking the vessels of earth, 
 when unclean ; while vessels of wood, and consequently 
 vessels of gold, were only to be rinsed, Lev. xv. 12. 
 
 A ninth benefit is support. If thou be a branch in- 
 grafted in Christ, the root beareth thee. The believer 
 leans on Christ, as a weak woman in a journey leaning 
 on her beloved husband, Cant. viii. 5. He stays him- 
 self upon him, as a feeble old man stays himself on his 
 staff, Isa. 1. 10. He rolls himself on him, as one rolls a 
 burden he is not able to walk under, off his own back,
 
 292 Support. [STATE in. 
 
 upon another who is able to bear it, Psal xxii. 8. marg. 
 There are many weights to hang upon, and press down 
 the branches in Christ the true vine. But ye know 
 whatever weights hang on the branches, the stock bears 
 all : it bears the branch and the weight that is upon it 
 too. 
 
 First, Christ supports believers in him, under a weight 
 of outward troubles. That is a large promise, Isa. xliii. 
 2. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with 
 thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. 
 See how David was supported under a heavy load, 1 
 Sam. xxx. 6. His city Ziklag was burnt, his wives were 
 taken captives, his men spoke of stoning him ; nothing 
 was left him but his God and his faith, but by his faith 
 " he encouraged himself in his God." The Lord comes 
 and lays his cross on his people's shoulders ; it presseth 
 them down, they are like to sink under it, and therefore 
 cry, " Master save us. we perish :" but he supports them 
 under their burden ; he bears them up, and they bear 
 their cross. Thus the Christian, having a weight of out- 
 ward troubles upon him. goes lightly under his burden, 
 having withal the everlasting arms underneath him. The 
 Christian has a spring of comfort which he cannot lose, 
 and therefore never wants something to support him. 
 If one have all his riches in money, robbers may take 
 these away, and then what has he more ? But though 
 the landed man be robbed of Jiis money, yet his lands 
 remain for his support. They that build their comfort 
 on. worldly goods, may quickly be comfortless ; but they 
 that are united to Christ, shall find comfort when all the 
 streams of worldly enjoyments are dried up, Job vi. 13. 
 " Is not my help in me ? And is wisdom driven quite 
 from me ?" q. d. Though my substance is gone, though 
 my servants, my children, my health, and soundness of 
 body, are all gone, yet my grace is not gone too. Though 
 the Sabeans have driven away my oxen and asses, and 
 the Chaldeans have driven away my camels, they have 
 not driven away my faith and my hope too ; these are
 
 HEAD II.] Support. 293 
 
 yet in me, they are not driven from me ; so that by 
 them I can fetch comfort from heaven, when I can have 
 none from earth. 
 
 Secondly, Christ supports his people under a weight 
 of inward troubles and discouragements Many times 
 heart and flesh fail them, but then God is the strength of 
 their heart, Psal. Ixxiii. 26 They may have a weight 
 of guilt pressing them. This is a load that will make 
 their back to stoop, and their spirits to sink ; but he 
 takes it off, and puts a pardon in their hand, while they 
 cast their burden over upon him. Christ takes the soul, 
 as one marries a widow under a burden of debt ; and SQ 
 when the creditors come to Christ's spouse, she carries 
 them to her husband, confesseth the debt, declares she 
 is not able to pay, and lays all over upon him. The 
 Christian sometimes, through carelessness, loseth his 
 discharge ; he cannot find it, however he search for it. 
 The law takes that opportunity ; and binds up a process 
 against him, for a debt paid already. God hides his face, 
 and the soul is distressed.- Many arrows go through 
 the heart now : many long accounts are laid before the 
 man, which he reads and acknowledges. Often does he 
 see the officers coming to apprehend him, and the prison- 
 door open to receive him. What else keeps him from 
 sinking utterly under discouragements in this case, but 
 that tbe everlasting arms of a Mediator are underneath 
 bim, and that he relies upon the great cautioner ? Fur- 
 ther, they may have a weight of strong lusts pressing 
 them. They have a body of death upon them. Death 
 is a weight that presseth the soul out of the body. A 
 leg or an arm of death (if I may so speak) would be a 
 terrible load. (One lively lust, will sometimes lie so 
 heavy on a child of God, that he can no more remove it, 
 than a child could throw a giant from off him.) How 
 then are they supported under a whole body of death ? 
 Why their support is from the root that bears them, 
 from the everlasting arm that is underneath them. " His 
 grace is sufficient for then," 2 Cor. xii. 9. The
 
 294 Objection. [STATE in. 
 
 stay of the believer is not the grace within him ; that is 
 a well whose streams sometimes run dry : but it is the 
 grace of God without him, the grace that is in Jesus 
 Christ, which is an overflowing fountain, to which the 
 believer can never come amiss. For the apostk tells us 
 in the same verse, it is " the power of Christ." Most 
 gladly, therefore, saith he, " will I rather glory in my 
 infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me, 
 or tabernacle above me/' as the cloud of glory did on 
 the Israelites, which God spread for a covering or shel- 
 ter to them in the wilderness, Psal. cv. 39. Compare Isa. 
 iv. 5, 6. So that the believer in this combat, like the 
 eagle, first flies aloft (by faith) and then comes down to 
 the prey, Psal. xxxiv. 5. They looked to him and were 
 lightened. And, finally, they have a weight of weakness 
 and want upon them, but they " cast over that burden 
 on the Lord their strength, an/i he sustains them/' Psal. 
 Iv. 22. With all their wants and weakness they are 
 cast upon him, as the poor weak and naked babe, com- 
 ing out of the womb, is cast into the lap of one appoint- 
 ed to take care of it, Psal. xxii. 10. Though they be 
 he destitute (as a shrub in the wilderness, which the foot 
 of every beast may tread down,) the Lord will regard 
 them, Psal. cii. 17. It is no marvel, the weakest plant be 
 safe in a garden ; but our Lord Jesus Christ is a hedge 
 for protection to his weak and destitute ones, even in a 
 wilderness. 
 
 Objection., But if the saints be so supported, how is it 
 that they fall so often under temptations and discourage- 
 ments? Answer, (I.) How long soever they fall at any 
 time, they never fall off: and that is a great matter. They 
 are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, 
 1 Pet. i. 5. Hypocrites may fall, so as to fall off, and 
 fall into the pit, as a bucket falls into a well when the 
 chain breaks. But though the child of God may fall, 
 and that so low as " the waters go over his head ;" yet 
 there is still a bond of union betwixt Christ and him,, 
 the chain is not broken ; he will not go the ground ; he
 
 Ml AD IT.] Special cafe of the husbandman. 295 
 
 will he drawn up again, Luke xxii. 81, 82. " And the 
 Lord said, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have 
 you, that he may sift you as wheat : but I have prayed 
 for thee, that thy faith fail not.'* (2.) The falls of the 
 saints flow from their not improving- their union with 
 Christ, their not making use of him by faith for staying 
 or bearing them up, Psal. xxiv. 18. 7 had fainted unless 
 I had believed. While the nurse holds the child in her 
 arms, it cannot fall to the ground : yea if the unwary 
 child hold not by her ; it may fall backwards in her 
 arms, to its great hurt. Thus David's fall broke his 
 bones, Psal. li. 8. But it did not break the bond of u- 
 nion betwixt Christ and him : the Holy Spirit, the bond 
 of that union, was not taken from him, ver. 11. 
 
 The last benefit I shall name is, " The special care of 
 the husbandman," John xv. i. 2. " 1 am the true vine, 
 and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch that 
 beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more 
 fruit." Believers, by virtue of their union with Christ, 
 are the objects of God's special care and providence. 
 Mystical Christ is God's vine, other societies in the world 
 are but wild olive-trees. The men of the world are but 
 God's out-field ; the saints are his vineyard, which he 
 has a special propriety in, and a special concern for, Cant, 
 viii. 12. " My vineyard, which is mine, is before me." 
 He that slumbers not, nor sleeps, is the keeper of it, he 
 *' does keep it ; lest any hurt it, lie will keep it night and 
 day ;" he in whose hand is the dew of heaven, " will wa- 
 ter it every moment," Isa. xxvii. 3. He dresseth and 
 purgeth it, in order to further fruitfulness, John xv. 2. 
 He cuts off the luxuriant twigs that mar the fruitfulness 
 of the branch. This is done especially by the word, and 
 by the cross or afflictions ; the saints need the ministry 
 of the word as much as the vineyard needeth one to 
 dress and prune the vines, 1 Cor. iii. 9. " We are labour- 
 ers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are 
 God's building." And they need the cross too, 1 Pet 
 i>. 6.
 
 296 Special C&re of the husbandman. [STATE in. 
 
 And therefore, if we should reckon the cross amongst 
 the benefits flowing to believers, from their union with 
 Christ, I judge we should not reckon amiss. Sure I am, 
 in their sufferings they suffer with him, Rom. viih 17. 
 And the assurances they have of the cross, have rather 
 the nature of a promise, as of a threatening, Psal. Ixxxix. 
 30, 31, 32, 33. " If his children forsake my law, then 
 will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their 
 iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness 
 wiU 1 not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithful- 
 ness to fail." This looks like a tutor's engaging to a dying 
 father, to take care of the children left upon him, and to 
 give them both nurture amd admonition for their good. 
 The covenant of grace does truly beat the spears of af- 
 fliction into pruning-hooks to them that are in Christ, 
 Isa. xxvii. 9 ' By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of 
 Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away 
 his sin." Why then should we be angry with our cross? 
 Why should we be frighted at it ? The believer must 
 take up his cross, and follow his Leader, the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ. He must take up his every day's cross, 
 Luke ix. 23. If any man will come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross daily. Yea, he must take 
 up his holy-days' cross too, Lam. iii. 22 " Thou hast 
 called as in a solemn day, by terrors round about." The 
 church of the Jews had of a long time many a pleasant 
 meeting at the temple on solemn days, for the worship 
 of God ; but they got a solemnity of another nature, 
 when God called together, about the temple and city, 
 the Chaldean army, that burnt the temple " and laid 
 Jerusalem on heaps." And now that the church of God 
 is yet militant in this lower region, how can it be but 
 the clouds will return after the rain ? But the cross of 
 Christ (which name the saint's troubles do bear,) is a 
 kindly name to the believer. It is a cross indeed, but 
 not to the believer's graces, but to his corruptions. The 
 hypocrite's seeming graces may indeed breathe out their 
 last on a cross, as those of the stony-ground hearers did. 
 Matt. xiii. 6. " And when the sun (of persecution, ver.
 
 HEAD~II.] Special care of the husbandman. 297 
 
 21.) was up, they were scorched, and because they had 
 no root, they withered away." But never did one of the 
 real graces in a believer die upon the cross yet. Nay, as 
 the candle shines brightest in the night, and the fire burns 
 fiercest in intense frost ; so the believer's graces are, or- 
 dinarily, most vigorous in a time of trouble. 
 j 
 
 There is a certain pleasure and sweetness in the cross, 
 to them who have their senses exercised to discern, and 
 to find it out. Th-vre is a certain sweetness in one's see- 
 ing himself upon his trials for heaven, and standing can- 
 didate for glory. There is a pleasure in travelling over 
 these mountains, where the Christian can see the prints 
 of Christ's own feet, and the footsteps of the flock who 
 have been there before him. How pleasant is it to a 
 saint in the exercise of grace, to see how a good God 
 crosseth his corrupt inclinations, and prevents his folly ! 
 How sweet it is to behold these thieves upon the cross ! 
 How refined a pleasure is there in observing how God 
 draws away provision from unruly lusts, and so pincheth 
 them, that the Christian may get them governed. Of a 
 truth, there is a paradise within this thorn-hedge. Many 
 a time the people of God are in bonds, which are never 
 loosed till they be bound wfth cords of affliction. God 
 takes them, and throws them in a fiery furnace, that 
 burns off their bonds, and then, like the three children, 
 Cant. iii. 25. they are loose, walking in the midst of the 
 fire. God gives his children a potion, with one bitter 
 ingredient ; if that will not work upon them, he will put 
 in a second, a third, and so on, as there is need, that they 
 may work together fur their good, Rom. viii. 28. With 
 cross winds he hastens them to their harbour. They are 
 often found in such ways, as that the cross is the happi- 
 est foot they can meet with, and well may they salute it 
 as David did Abigail, saying, Blessed be the Lord God 
 of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me, 1 Sam. xxv. 
 32. Worldly things are often such a lead to the Chris- 
 tian, that he moves but very slowly heaven-ward. God 
 
 2 Q
 
 208 Special care of the husbandman. [STATE m, 
 
 sends a wind of trouble that blows the burden off the 
 man's back, and then he walks more speedily on his way, 
 after God hath drawn some gilded earth from him, that 
 was drawing his heart away from God, Zeph. iii. 12. 
 * ( I will also leave in the midst of thee, an afflicted and 
 poor people, and thej shall trust in the name of the Lord." 
 It was an observation of an heathen moralist, that no histo- 
 ry makes mention of any man who hatU been made bet- 
 ter by riches. I doubt if our modern histories can sup- 
 ply the defect of ancient histories in this point. But sure 
 I am, many have been the worse for riches : thousands 
 have been hugged to death in the embraces of a smiling 
 world, and many good men have got wounds from out- 
 ward prosperity, that behoved to be cured by the cross. 
 I remember to have read of one who, having an impos- 
 thume in his breast, had in vain used the help of physi- 
 cians ; but being wounded with the sword, the impos- 
 thume broke, and his life was saved by that accident, 
 which threatened immediate death. Often have spiritu- 
 al imposthumes gathered in the breasts of God's people, 
 in time of outward prosperity, and been 'thus broken and 
 discussed by the cross. It is kindly for believers to be heal- 
 ed by stripes, although they are usually so weak as to cry 
 out for fear, at the sight of the pruning-hook, as if it 
 were the destroying axe ; and to think the Lord is com- 
 ing to kill them, when he is indeed coming to cure them. 
 I shall now conclude, addressing myself in a few words, 
 first to saints, and then to sinners. 
 
 I. To you that are saints, I say, 
 
 First, Strive to obtain and keep up actual communion 
 and fellowship with Jesus Christ ; that is, to be still de- 
 riving fresh supplies of grace, from the fountain thereof 
 in him, by faith ; and making suitable returns of them, 
 in the exercise of grace and holy obedience. Beware of 
 estrangement betwixt Christ and your souls. If it has 
 got in already (which seems to be the case of many this 
 day,) endeavour to get it removed. There are multitudes 
 in the world that slight Christ, though ye should not
 
 HEAD ii.] Duty of saints, <%c. 299 
 
 slight him ; many have turned their backs on him, that 
 sometimes looked fair for heaven. The warm sun of out- 
 ward peace and prosperity has caused some to cast their 
 cloak of religion from them, who held it fast when the 
 wind of trouble was blowing upon them : and " will ye 
 also go away ?" John vi. 67. The basest ingratitude is 
 stampt on your slighting of communion with Christ, Jer. 
 ii. 31. " Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land 
 of darkness ? Wherefore say my people, We are lords, 
 we will come no more unto thee ?" O beloved ! " Is this 
 your kindness to your friend ?" It is unbecoming any 
 wife to slight converse with her husband, but her especi- 
 ally who was taken from a prison or a dunghill, as ye were, 
 by your Lord. But remember, I pray you, this is a very 
 ill chosen time to live at a distance from God ; it is a 
 time in which divine providence frowns upon the land 
 we live in ; the clouds of wrath are gathering, and are 
 thick above our heads. It is not a time for you to be 
 out of your chambers, Isa. xxvi. 20. They that are now 
 walking most closely with God, may have enough ado to 
 stand when the trial comes : how hard will it be for o- 
 thers then, who are like to be surprised with troubles, 
 when guilt is lying on their consciences unremoved. To 
 be awakened out of a sound sleep, and cast into a raging 
 sea, as Jonah was, will be a fearful trial. To feel trou- 
 ble before we see it coming, to be past hope before we 
 have any fear, is a very bad case. Wherefore break down 
 your idols of Jealousy, mortify these lasts, these i< 
 lar appetites and desires, that have stolen >i:i- 
 
 hearts, and left you like Sampson, without . ;nd 
 
 say, "1 will go und return to my first j, for ih-jn 
 
 it was better with me thun now," Hos. ii. 7. 
 
 Secondly* Walk as becomes hes t- -if r'e !> i:'- 'd to 
 Christ. Evidence your u >'.. a with hi. ' ' s 
 
 he also walked,'* 1 Jpi . om 
 
 under the power of dart it^s, let r ' <'.' re 
 
 men. "Shine as liglit.^ il-t <. . i 1 ; *KJ 
 
 word of life," as the iuiitLuni hv,ij$ .;:. c.i . , T v:.:<n
 
 300 Duty of saints [STATE nl. 
 
 being in it. shines through it, Phil. ii. 15, 16. Now that 
 ye profess Christ to be in you, let his image shine forth 
 in your conversation, and remember the business of your 
 lives is to prove by practical arguments what ye profess. 
 
 I. You know the character of a wife, " she that is mar- 
 ried, careth how she may please her husband." Go you 
 and do likewise ; walk wo thy of the Lord unto all plea- 
 sing, Col. i. 1O. This is the great business of life : you 
 must piease him, though it should displease all the world. 
 What he hates must be hateful to you because he hates 
 it. Whatever lusts come in suit oi your hearts, deny 
 them, seeing " the grace of God has appeared, teaching 
 us so to do, and you are joined to the Lord " Let him 
 be a covering to your eyes ; for ye have not your choice 
 to make, it is made already-; and you must not dishonour 
 your head. A man takes care of his feet, for that, if he 
 catch cold there it flies up to his head. " Shall I take 
 the members of Christ, and make them the members of 
 an harlot? God forbid," says the apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 15. 
 Wilt thou take that heart of thine, which is Christ 's 
 dwelling-place, and lodge his enemies there ; wilt thou 
 take that body which is his temple, and defile it by using 
 the members thereof, as instruments of sin ? 
 
 2. Be careful to bring forth fruit, and much fruit. 
 The branch well laden with fruit, is the glory of the vine, 
 and of the husbandman too, John xv. 8. " Herein is my 
 Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be 
 my disciples." A barren tree stands safer in a wood than 
 in an orchard : and branches in Christ that bring not 
 forth fruit, will be taken away and cast into the fire. 
 
 3. Be heavenly-minded, and maintain a holy contempt 
 of the world. Ye are united to Christ, he is your head 
 and husband, and it is in heaven : wherefore your hearts 
 should be there also, Col. iii. 1. "If ye then be risen 
 with Christ, seek those things which are above, where 
 Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Let the ser- 
 pent's seed go on their belly, and eat the dust of this 
 earth : but let the members of Christ be ashamed to bow 
 down, and feed with them.
 
 HIAB ii.] as united to Christ. 301 
 
 4. Live and act dependent ly, depending by faith on 
 Jesus Christ. That which grows on its own root is a 
 tree-, not a branch. It is of tne nature of a branch, to 
 depend on the stock for all. and to derive all its sap from 
 thence. Depend on him for life, light, strength, and all 
 spiritual benefits, Gal. ii. 20. / live, yet not 7, but Christ 
 liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I 
 live by the faith of the Son o/ God. For this cause in 
 the mystical union, strength is united to weakness, death 
 on earth may mount up on borrowed wings. Depend on 
 him for temporal benefits also ; Matt. vi. 2. " Give us 
 this day our daily bread." If we have trusted him with 
 our eternal concerns, let us be ashamed to distrust him 
 in the matter of our provision in the world. 
 
 Lastly, Be of a meek disposition, and an uniting tem- 
 per with the fellow-members of Christ's body, as being 
 united to the meek Jesus, the blessed centre of union. 
 There is a prophecy to this purpose concerning the king- 
 dom of Christ, Isa. xi. 6. The wolf shall dwell with the 
 lamb . and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. It is 
 an allusion 'to the beasts in Noah's ark. The beasts of 
 prey, that were wont to kill and devour others, when 
 once they came into the ark, lay down in peace with 
 them. The lamb was in no hazard by the wolf there ; 
 nor the kid by the leopard. There was a beautiful ac- 
 complishment of it in the primitive church, Acts iv. 32. 
 " And the multitude of them that believed, were of one 
 heart and of one soul." And this prevails in all mem- 
 bers of Christ, according to the measure of the grace of 
 God in them. Man is born naked, he comes naked int 
 this world, as if God designed him for the picture of 
 peace : and surely when he is born again, he comes not 
 into the new world of grace, with claws to tear, a sword 
 to wound, and a fire in his hand to burn up his fellow- 
 members in Christ, because they cannot see with his light. 
 Oh ! it is sad to see Christ's lilies as thorns in one ano- 
 ther's side, Christ's lambs devouring one another like li- 
 ons, and God's diamonds cutting one another : yet it
 
 302 Duty of saints, fyc. [STATE in. 
 
 must be remembered, that sin is no proper cement for 
 the members of Christ, though Herod and Pontius Pilate 
 may be made friends that way. The apostle's rule is 
 plain, Heb. xii. 1-i. Follow peace with all men, and ho- 
 liness. To follow peace no further than our humour, cre- 
 dit, and such like tilings will allow us, is too short : to 
 pursue it farther than holiness, that is, conformity to the 
 divine will, allows us is too far. Peace is precious, yet 
 it may be bought too dear : wherefore we must rather 
 want it, than purchase it at the expence of truth or ho- 
 liness. But otherwise it cannot be over dear bought, 
 and it will always be precious in the eyes of the sons of 
 peace. 
 
 II. And now sinners, what shall I say to you, I 
 have given you some view of the privileges of these in 
 the state of grace ; ye have seen them afar off. But a- 
 las ! they are not yours, because ye are not Christ's. The 
 sinfulness of an unregenerate state is yours, and the mi- 
 sery of it is yours also ; but " ye have neither part nor 
 lot in this matter." The guilt of all your sins lies upon 
 you ; ye have no part in the righteousness of Christ. 
 There is no peace to you, no peace with God, no true 
 peace of conscience, for ye have no saving interest in the 
 great Peace-maker. Ye are none of God's family, the 
 adoption we spoke of belongs not to you. Ye have no part 
 in the spirit of sanctification ; and, in one word, ye have 
 no inheritance among them that are sanctified." All I can 
 say to you in this matter is, that the case is not desperate, 
 they may yet be yours, Rev. iii. 20. Behold I stand at 
 the door and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open 
 the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and 
 he with me. Heaven is proposing an union with 
 earth still, the potter is making suit to his own clay, 
 and the gates of the city of refuge are not yet closed. O 
 that we could " compel you to come in." 
 
 Thus far of the state of grace.
 
 STATE IV. 
 
 THE ETERNAL STATE, OR STATE OF CONSUMMATE 
 HAPPINESS OR MISERY. 
 
 HEAD I. 
 
 OF DEATH. 
 
 JOB xxx. 23. 
 
 For I know that thou tvilt bring me. to denlh, and to the house 
 . appointed Jor all living. 
 
 I COME now to discourse of man's eternal state, into 
 which he enters by death. Of this entrance, Job 
 takes a solemn serious view in the words of the text, 
 which contain a general truth, and a particular applica- 
 tion of it. The general truth is supposed, namely, that 
 all men must, by death, remove out of this world ; they 
 must die. But whither must they go ? They must go 
 "to the house appointed for all living;" to the grave, 
 that darksome, gloomy, solitary house, in the land of for- 
 getfulness. Wheresoever the body is laid up till the re- 
 surrection, thither, as to a dwelling-house, death brings 
 us home. While we are in the body, we are but in a 
 lodging-house, in an inn, on our way homeward. When 
 we come to our grave we come to our home, our "long 
 home," Eccl. xii. 5. All living must be inhabitants of 
 this house, good and bad, old and young. Man's life is 
 a stream, lunning into death's devouring deeps. They, 
 who now live in palaces, must quit them and go home to 
 this house ; and they who have not where to lay their 
 heads, shall thus have a house at length. It is appoint- 
 ed for all, by him whose counsel shall stand. This ap-
 
 Explanation of the text. [STATE IV. 
 
 pointment cannot be shifted ; it is a law which mortals 
 cannot transgress. Job's application of this general truth 
 to himself, is expressed in these words ; " J know that 
 thou wilt bring me to death," &c. He knew that he be- 
 hoved to meet with death, that his soul and body behov- 
 ed to part ; that God, who had set the time, would cer- 
 tainly see it kept. Sometimes Job was inviting death 
 to come to him, and carry him home to its house ; yea, 
 he was in hazard of running to it before the time. Job. 
 vii. 15. " My soul chooseth strangling and death rather 
 than my life." But here he considers, God would bring 
 him to it, yea, bring him back to it, as the word imports. 
 Whereby he seems to intimate, that we have no life in 
 this world, but as run-aways from death, which stretch- 
 ed out its cold arms to receive us from the womb. But 
 though we do then narrowly escape its clutches, we can- 
 not escape long ; we will be brought back again to it. 
 Job knew this, he had laid his account with it, and was 
 looking for it. 
 
 DOCTRINE, ALL MUST DIE. 
 
 Although this doctrine be confirmed by the experience 
 of all former generations, ever since Abel entered into 
 the house appointed for all living; and though the living- 
 know that they shall die, yet it is needful to discourse of 
 the certainty of death, that it may be imprest on the 
 mind, and duly considered. 
 
 Wherefore consider, First, There is an unalterable 
 statute of death under which men are concluded. It z't 
 is appointed unto men once to die, Keb ix. 27. It is laid 
 up for them, as parents lay up for their children , they 
 may look for it ; and cannot miss it, seeing God has de- 
 signed and reserved it for them. There is no peradven- 
 ture in it ; " we must needs die," 2 Sam. xiv. 14. Though 
 some men will not hear of death, yet every man must 
 " see death," Psal. Ixxxix. 48. Death is a champion all 
 must grapple with ; we must enter the lists with it. and 
 it will have the mastery. Eccl. viii. 8. " There is no
 
 HEAD i.] Certainty of death* 30.3 
 
 man that hath power over the spirit, to retain the spirit, 
 neither hath he power in the day of death." They, in- 
 deed, who are found alive at Christ's coining, ** shall all 
 be changed," 1 Cor. xv. 51. But that change will be 
 equivalent to death, will answer the purposes of it. All 
 other persons must go the common road, the way of all 
 flesh. Secondly, Let us consult daily observation. Eve- 
 ry man "seeth that wise men will die, likewise the fool 
 and brutish person,"' Psal. xlix. 10. There is room e- 
 nough on this earth for us, notwithstanding of the mul- 
 titudes that were upon it, before us : they are gone to 
 make room for us, as we must depart to leave room for 
 others. It is long since death began to transport men 
 into another world, and vast shoals or multitudes are 
 gone thither already, yet the trade is going on still ; 
 death is carrying off new inhabitants daily, to the " house 
 appointed for all living." Who could ever hear the grave 
 say, it is enough ? Long has it been getting, but still it 
 asketh. The world is like a great fair or market, where 
 some are coming in, others going out, while the assem- 
 bly that is in it, is confused, and the most part know not 
 wherefore they are come together ! or, like a town situ- 
 ate on the road to a great city, through which some tra- 
 vellers are past, some are passing while others are only 
 coming in, Eccl. i. 4. One generation passeth away, and 
 another generation cometh, but the earth abidethfor ever. 
 Death is an inexorable, irresistible messenger, who can- 
 not be diverted from executing his orders, by the force 
 of the mighty, the bribes of the rich, nor the entreaties 
 of the poor. It doth not reverence the hoary head, nor 
 pity the harmless babe. The bold and daring cannot 
 out-brave it, nor can the faint-hearted obtain a discharge 
 in this war. Thirdly, The human body consists of per- 
 ishing principles ; Gen. iii. 19. " Dust thou art, and un- 
 to dust shalt thou return." The strongest are but brittle 
 earthen vessels, easily broken in shivers. The soul is 
 but meanly housed, while in this mortal body, which -is 
 not a house of stone, but a house of clay ; the mud walls 
 
 2 R
 
 506 Certainty of death. [STATE iv. 
 
 cannot but moulder away, especially seeing the founda- 
 tion is not on a rock, but in the dust : they are crushed 
 before the moth, though this insect be so tender, that 
 the gentle touch of a finger will dispatch it, Job iv. 1 9. 
 These principles are like gunpowder : a very small spark 
 lighting on them will set them on fire, and blow up the 
 house. The stone of a rasin, or a hair in milk, have 
 choked men, and laid the house of clay in the dust. If 
 we consider the frame and structure of our bodies, how 
 fearfully and wonderfully we are made ; and on how re- 
 gular and exact a motion of the fluids and balance of hu- 
 mours, our life depends ; and that death has as many 
 doors to enter in by, as the body hath pores ; and if we 
 compare the soul and body together, we may justly rec* 
 kon, there is somewhat more astonishing in our life, than 
 in our death ; and that it is more strange, to see dust 
 walking up and down on Ike dust, than lying down in 
 it. Though the lamp of our life be not violently blown 
 out : yet the flame must go out at length for want o oil. 
 And what are those distempers and diseases we are lia- 
 ble to, but death's harbingers that come to prepare his 
 way ? They meet us, as soon as we set our foot on earth : 
 to tell us at our entry, that we do but come into the 
 world to go out again. Howbeit, some are snatched a- 
 way in a moment, without being warned by sickness or 
 disease. Fourthly, We have sinful souls, and therefore 
 have dying bodies : death follows sin, as the shadow fol- 
 lows the body. The wicked must die, by virtue of the 
 threatening of the covenant of works, Gen. ii. 1 7. " In 
 the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." 
 And the godly must die too : that as death entered by 
 sin, sin may . go out by death. Christ has taken away 
 the sting of death as to them ; albeit he has not as yet re- 
 moved death itself. Wherefore, though it fasten on them 
 as the viper did on Paul's hand, it shall do them no harm : 
 but because the leprosy of sin is in the walls of the house, 
 it must be broken down, and all the materials thereof 
 carrkd forth. Lastly, Man's life in this world, accord- 
 ing *o the* scripture account of it, is but a few
 
 HEAD i.] Marts life vanity. 3O7 
 
 removed from death. The scripture represents it as a 
 vain and empty thing, short in its continuance and swift 
 in its passing away. 
 
 First, Man's life is a vain and empty thing while it 
 is : it vanisheth away ; and lo ! it is not, Job vii. 0. " My 
 days are vanity." If ye suspect afflicted Job of partiali- 
 ty in this matter, hear the wise and prosperous Solomon's 
 character of the days of his life, Eccl. vii. 15. "All 
 things have I seen in the days of my vanity," i. e. my 
 vain days. Moses, who was a very active man, compares 
 our days to a sleep, Psal. xc. 5. " They are as a sleep." 
 which is not noticed, till it be ended. The resemblance 
 is put : few men have right apprehensions of life, until 
 that death awaken them : then we begin to know we 
 were living. " AVe spend our years as a tale that is told," 
 ver. 9. When an idle tale is a telling, it may affect a 
 little ; but when it is ended, it is forgot ; and so is a man 
 forgotten when the fable of his life is ended. It is as a 
 dream or vision of the night, in which there is nothing 
 solid; when one awakes all evanisheth. Job xx. 8. 
 " He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found ; 
 yea, he shall be chased away, as a vision in the night." 
 It is but a vain shew or image, Psal. xxxix. 6. " Sure- 
 ly every man walketh in a vain show." Man in this 
 world is but, as it were, a walking statue ; his life is but 
 an iraage of life ; there is so much of death in it. 
 
 If we look on our life, in the several periods of it, we 
 will find it a heap of vanities. " Childhood and youth 
 are vanity," Eccl. xi. 10. We come into the world, the 
 most helpless of all animals ; young birds and beasts can 
 do some things for themselves, but infant-man is altoge- 
 ther unable to help himself. Our childhood is spent in 
 pitiful trifling pleasures, which become the scorn of our 
 own after-thoughts. Youth is a flower that soon wither- 
 eth ; a blossom that quickly falls off; it is a space of 
 time in which we are rash, foolish, and inconsiderate, 
 pleasing ourselves with a variety of vanities, and swim- 
 ming, as it were, through a flood of them. But ere we
 
 308 J/<m'? life vanity. [STATE iv. 
 
 are aware, it is past, and we are in middle age, encom- 
 passed with a thick cloud of cares, through which we 
 must grope ; and finding ourselves beset with prickling 
 thorns of difficulties, through them We must force our 
 way, to accomplish the projects and contrivances of our 
 riper thoughts. And the more we solace ourselves in 
 an earthly enjoyment we attain to, the more bitterness 
 do we find in parting with it. Then comes old age, at- 
 tended with its own train of infirmities. " labour and 
 sorrow," Psal. xc. 10. and sets us down next to the 
 grave. In a word, ' All flesh is grass," Isa. xl. 6. Eve- 
 ry stage or period of life is vanity. " Man at his best 
 state (his middle age when the heat of his youth is spent, 
 and the sorrows of old age have not yet overtaken him) 
 is altogether vanity," Psal. xxxix. 5. Death carries off 
 some in the bud of childhood, others in the blossom of 
 youth, and others when they are come to their fruit ; 
 few are left standing, till, like rip* corn, they forsake the 
 ground. All die one time or other. 
 
 Secondly, Man's life is a short thing; it is not only a 
 vanity, but a short-lived vanity. Consider, First, How 
 the life of man is reckoned in the scriptures. It was in- 
 deed sometimes reckoned by hundreds of years : but no 
 man ever arrived at a thousand, which yet bears no pro- 
 portion to eternity. Now hundreds are brought down 
 to scores, threescore and ten, or fourscore is its utmost 
 length, Psal. xc. 10. But few men arrive at that length 
 of life. Death does but rarely wait, till men be bowed- 
 down by reason of age, to meet the grave. Yet as if 
 years were too big a word for such a small thing as the 
 life of man on earth, we find it counted by months, Job 
 ,xiv. 5. " The number of his months are with thee. Our 
 course, like that of the moon, is run in a little time ; we 
 are always waxing or waning, till we disappear. But 
 frequently it is reckoned by days, and these but few, 
 Job xiv. 1. "Man that is born of a woman is of few 
 days." Nay, it is but one day in scripture account, 
 and that a hireling's day, who will precisely observe
 
 HEAD i.] Marts life vanity* 309 
 
 when his day ends, and give over his work, ver. 6. " Till 
 he shall accomplish as a hireling his day." Yea the 
 scripture brings it down to the shortest space of time, 
 and calls it a moment, 2 Cor iv 17. '" Our light afflic- 
 tion (though it last all our life long) is but for a moment." 
 lint elsewhere it is brought down yet to a lower pitch, 
 farther than which one cannot carry it, Psal. xxxix 5. 
 " Mine age is as nothing before thee." Agreeable to 
 this, Solomon tells us Eccl. iii. 2. There is a time to 
 be born, and a time to die ; but makes no mention of a 
 time to live, as if our life were but a. skip from the womb 
 to the grave. Secondly, Consider the various similitudes 
 by which the scripture represents the shortness of man's 
 life. Hear Hezekiah, Isa. xxxviii. 12. " Mine age is 
 departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent : 
 I have cut off like a weaver my life." The shepherd's 
 tent is -soon removed, for the flocks must not feed long in 
 one place : such is a man's life on this earth quicF ly gone. 
 It is a web he is incessantly working ; he is not idle so 
 much as one moment ; in a short time it is wrought, and 
 then it is cut off. Every breathing is a thread in this 
 web ; when the last breath is drawn, the web is woven 
 out, he expires, and then it is cut off, he breathes no 
 more. Man is like grass, and like a flower, Isa. xl. 6. 
 All flesh (even the strongest and most healthy flesh) is 
 grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the 
 fleld. The grass is flourishing in the morning, but in the 
 evening being cut down by the mowers, it is withered. 
 So man sometimes is walking up and down at ease in 
 the morning, and in the evening is lying a corpse, being 
 knocked down by a sudden stroke, with one or other of 
 death's weapons. The flower, at best, is but a weak and 
 tender thing of short continuance, wherever it grows ; 
 but (observe) man is not compared to the flower of the 
 garden, but to the flower of the field, which the foot of 
 every beast may tread down at any time. Thus is our 
 life liable to a thousand accidents every day, any of which 
 may cut us off. But though we should escape all these, 
 yet at length this grass withereth, this flower fadetfe of
 
 SIO Man 9 life vanity. [STATE iv. 
 
 itself. It is carried off " as the cloud is consumed and 
 vanisheth away," Job vii. 9. It looks big as the morn- 
 ing cloud, which promiseth great things, and raiseth the 
 expectations of the husbandman ; but the sun riseth, and 
 the cloud is scattered ; death comes and man evanisheth. 
 The apostle James proposeth the question, " What is 
 your life ?" chap. iv. 14. Hear his own answer, " It is 
 even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then 
 vanisheth away." It is frail, uncertain, and lasteth not. 
 It is as smoke which goes out of the chimney, as if it 
 would darken the face of the heavens ; but quickly is 
 scattered, and appears no more. Thus goeth man's life, 
 and where is he ? It is wind, Job vii. 7. " O remember 
 that my life is wind." It is but a passing blast, a short 
 puff, " a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again," 
 Psal. Ixxviii. 39. Our breath is in our nostrils, as if it 
 were always upon the wing to depart : ever passing and 
 repassing, like a traveller ; until it go away for good and 
 all, not to return, till the heavens be no more. 
 
 Lastly, Man's life is a swift thing ; not only a passing, 
 but a.flying vanity. Have you not observed how swift- 
 ly a shadow hath run along the ground, in a cloudy and 
 windy day, suddenly darkening the places beautified be- 
 fore with the beams of the sun, but as suddenly disap- 
 pearing ? Such is the life of man on earth, for " he flieth 
 as a shadow, and continueth not," Job xiv. 2. A wea- 
 ver's shuttle is very swift in its motion ; in a moment it 
 is thrown from one side of the web to the other ; yet 
 " our days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle," chap. vii. 
 6. How quickly is man tossed through time into eter- 
 nity ! See how Job describes the swiftness of the time 
 of life, chap. ix. 25. "Now my days are swifter than a 
 post : they flee away ; they see no good," ver. 26. 
 " They are hasted away as the swift ships ; as the eagle 
 that hasteth to the prey." He compares his days with 
 a post, a foot-post : a runner, who runs speedily to carry 
 tidings, and will make no stay. But though the post 
 were like Ahimaaz, who overran Cushi, our days would
 
 HEAD i.] Marts life vanity. 311 
 
 be swifter than he : for they flee away like a man flee- 
 ing for his life, before the pursuing enemy ; he runs 
 with his utmost vigour, yet our days run as fast as he. 
 Howbeit that is not all. Even he who is fleeing for his 
 life, cannot run always : he must needs sometimes stand 
 still, lie down, or turn in somewhere, as Sisera did into 
 JaeFs tent, to refresh himself: but our time never halts. 
 Therefore it is compared to ships, which can sail night 
 and day without intermission, till they be at their port ; 
 and to swift ships, ships of desire, in which men quickly, 
 arrive at their desired haven ; or ships of pleasure, that 
 sail more swiftly than ships of burden. Yet the wind 
 failing, the ship's course is marred : but our time always 
 runs with a rapid course. Therefore it is compared to 
 the eagle flying ; not with his ordinary flight, for that is 
 not sufficient to represent the swiftness of our days ; but 
 when he flies upon his prey, which is with an extraor- 
 dinary swiftness. And thus, even thus, our days fly 
 away. 
 
 Having thus discoursed of death, let us improve it, 
 in discerning the vanity of the world, in bearing up, 
 with Christian contentment and patience, under all trou- 
 bles and difficulties in it, mortifying our lusts, in cleaving 
 unto the Lord with purpose of heart on all hazards, and 
 in preparing for death's approach. 
 
 And first, Let us hence, as in a looking-glass, behold 
 the vanity of the world, and of all these things in it, 
 which men so much value and esteem, and therefore set 
 their hearts upon. The rich and the poor are equally 
 intent upon this world ; they bow their knee to it, yet it 
 is but a clay god ; they court the bulky vanity, and run 
 keenly to catch this shadow ; the rish man is hugged to 
 death in its embraces, and the poor man wearies himself 
 in the fruitless pursuit, (What wonder if the world's 
 smiles overcome us, when we pursue it so eagerly, even 
 while it frowns upon us ?) But look into the grave, O 
 man, consider and be wise ; listen to the doctrine of 
 death, and lean, (1.) That, hold as fast as thou canst,
 
 312 The doctrine of death. [STATE iv. 
 
 thou shalt be forced to let go thy hold of the world at 
 length. Though thou load thyself with the fruits of this 
 earth, yet all shall fall off, when thou come to creep into 
 thy bole, the house under ground, " appointed for all liv- 
 ing." When death comes, you must bid an eternal fare- 
 wel to thy enjoyments in this world ; thou must leave 
 thy goods to another, and " whose shall those things be 
 which thou hast provided?" Lukexii. 20. (2.) Thy por- 
 tion of these things shall be very little ere long. If thou 
 lie down on the grass, and stretch thyself at full length, 
 and observe the print of thy body when thou risest, thou 
 mayest see how much of this earth will fall to thy share 
 at last. It may be thou shalt get a coffin and a winding- 
 sheet, but thou art not sure of that ; many who have had 
 abundance of wealth, yet have not had so much when 
 they took up their new house in the land of silence. 
 But however that be, more ye cannot expect. It was a 
 mortifying lesson, Sadeline, when dying, gave to his sol- 
 diers. He called for his standard-beaier, and ordered 
 him to take his winding sheet upon his pike, and go out 
 to the camp with it, and tell them, that of all his con- 
 quests, victories, and triumphs, he had nothing now left 
 him but that piece of linen to wrap his body in for bu- 
 rial. Lastly, This world is a false friend, who loves a 
 man in time of greatest need, and flies from him when he 
 has most ado. When thou art lying on a death-bed, all 
 thy friends and relations cannot rescue thee ; all thy 
 substance cannot ransom thee, nor procure thee a re- 
 prieve for one day, nay, not for one hour. Yea, the 
 more thou possessest of this world's goods, thy sorrow at 
 death is like to be the greater ; for though one may live 
 more commodiously in a palace than in a cottage, yet he 
 may die more easily in the cottage where he has very 
 little to make him fond of life. 
 
 Secondly, It may serve as a storehouse for Christian 
 contentment and patience, under worldly losses and cros- 
 ses. A close application of the doctrine of death is an 
 excellent remedy against fretting, and gives some ease
 
 HIAD I.] A storehouse for patience, $c. 313 
 
 to a rankled heart. When Job had sustained very great 
 losses, he sat down contented, with this meditation, Job 
 i. 21. " Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and 
 naked shall I return thither ; the Lord gave, and the 
 Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." 
 When providence brings a mortality or murrain among 
 your cattle, how ready are you to fret and complain ! 
 But the serious consideration of your own death, (to 
 which you have a notable help from such providential 
 occurrences) may be of use to silence your complaints, 
 and quiet your rankled spirits. Look to <* the house ap- 
 pointed for all living," and learn, (1.) That ye must a- 
 bide a sorer thrust than the loss of worldly goods. Do 
 not cry out for a thrust in the leg or arm, for before 
 long there will be a home thrust at the heart. You 
 may lose your dearest relations, the wife may lose her 
 husband, and the husband his wife, and the parents 
 may lose their dear children, and the children their par- 
 ents. But if any of these trials happen to you, remem- 
 ber ye must lose your own life at last ; and " wherefore 
 doth a living man complain !" Lam. iii. 39. It is always 
 profitable to consider, under affliction, how our case 
 might have been worse than it is. Whatever be consu- 
 med or taken from us, " it is of the Lord's mercies that 
 we ourselves are not consumed," ver. 22. (2.) It is -but 
 a short space of time we are to be in his world. It is 
 but a little our necessities require in tliis short space of 
 time ; when death comes, we will stand in need of none 
 of these things. Why should men rack their heads with 
 cares how to provide for to-morrow, while they know 
 not if they shall need any thing to-morrow. Though a 
 man's provision for his journey be near spent, he is not 
 disquieted, if he think he is near home : are you working 
 with candle-light, and is there little of your candle left ? 
 It may be there is as little sand in your glass, and if so 
 ye have little use for it. (3.) Ye have matters of great 
 weight that challenge your care. Death is at the door, 
 beware you lose not your souls. If blood break out at
 
 31 4 J bridle to curb lusts. [STATE iv. 
 
 one part of the body, they use to open a vein in another 
 part of it, to turn the stream of blood, and so to stop it. 
 Thus the Spirit of God sometimes cures men of sorrow 
 for earthly things, by opening the heart-vein to bleed for 
 sin. Did we pursue heavenly things the more vigorous- 
 ly, that our affairs in this life prosper not, we should 
 thereby gain a double advantage. Our worldly sorrow 
 would be diverted, an.d our best treasure increased. (4,) 
 Crosses of this nature will not last long. The world's 
 smiles and frowns will quickly be buried together in e- 
 verlasting forgetfulness. Its smiles go away as the foam 
 on the water ; and its frown are as a passing stitch on a 
 man's side. Time flies away with swift wings, and car- 
 ries our earthly comforts, and crosses too, along with it: 
 neither of them will accompany us into the house ap- 
 pointed for all living, Job iii. 17. There the nicked 
 tease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest, ver. 
 
 18. " There the prisoners rest together, they hear not 
 the voice of the oppressor," ver. 19. " The small and 
 great are there, and the servant is free from his master." 
 Cast your eyes on eternity, and ye will see affliction here 
 is but for a moment. The truth is, our time is so very 
 short that it will not allow either our joys or griefs to 
 come to perfection. Wherefore let them that weep, be 
 as though they wept not ; and they that rejoice, as though 
 they rejoiced not, <|c. 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30, 31. (5.) Death 
 will put all men on a level. The king and the beggar 
 must dwell in one house, when they come to their jour- 
 ney's end ; though the entertainment by the way be very 
 different. " The small and the great are there," Job iii. 
 
 19. We are all in this world, as on a stage: it is no 
 great matter, whether a man act the part of a prince or 
 a peasant ; for when they have acted their parts, they 
 must both get behind the curtain and appear no more. 
 Lastly, If thou be not in Christ, whatever thy afflictions 
 now be, troubles a thousand times worse, are abiding 
 thee in another world. Death will turn thy crosses unto 
 pure unmixed curses : and then how gladly wouldest 
 thou return to thy former afflicted state, and purchase
 
 W-BAB I.] A bridle to curb lust?. 315 
 
 it at any rate, were there any possibility of such a re- 
 turn. It' tlvou be in Christ, thon mayest well bear thy 
 cross. Death will put an end to all thy troubles. If a 
 man on a journey be not well accommodated, where he 
 lodgeth only for a night, he will not trouble himself 
 much about the matter, because he is not to stay there ; 
 it is not his home. Ye are on the road to eternity, let 
 it not disquiet you, that ye may meet with some 
 hardships in the inn of this world. Fret not, because it 
 is not so well 1 with you as with some others. One man 
 travels with a cane in his hand, his fellow-traveller (per- 
 haps) has but a common staff, or stick ; either of them 
 will serve the turn. It is no great matter which of 
 them be yours, both will be laid aside when you come 
 to your journey's end. 
 
 Thirdly, It may serve for a bridle to curb all man- 
 ner of lusts, particularly those conversant about the bo- 
 dy. A serious visit made to cold death, and that soli- 
 tary mansion the grave, might be of good use to repress 
 them. 
 
 Firsh It may be of use to cause men to remit their 
 inordinate care for the body, which is to many the bane 
 of their souls. Often do these questions, "What shall 
 we eat ? What shall we drink ? And wherewithal shall 
 we be clothed ?" leave no room for another of more im- 
 portance, viz. " Wherewith shall I come before the 
 Lord." The soul is put on the rack to answer these 
 mean questions in favour of the body, while its own 
 eternal interests are neglected. But ah ! why are men 
 so busy to repair the ruinous cottage, leaving the inha- 
 bitant to bleed to death of his wounds, unheeded, unre- 
 garded ! Why so much care for the body, to the neg- 
 lecting of the concerns of the immortal soul ? O be not so 
 anxious for what can only serve your bodies, since ere long 
 the clods of cold earth will serve for back and belly too. 
 
 Secondly, It may abate your pride on account of bo- 
 dily endowments, which vain man is apt to glory in. 
 Value not yourselves on the blossom of youth, tor while
 
 316 A bridle to curb lusts. [STATB iv. 
 
 ye are in your blooming years, ye are but ripening for a 
 grave, and death gives the fatal stroke without asking 
 any body's age. Glory not in your strength, it will 
 quickly be gone : the time will soon be, when ye shall 
 not be able to turn yourselves on a bed, and ye must be 
 carried by your grieving friends to your long home. 
 And what signifies your hefilthful constitution. Death 
 doth not always enter in soonest, where it begins soon- 
 est to knock at the door, but makes as great a dispatch 
 with some in a few hours, as with others in many years. 
 Value not yourselves on your beauty, which " shall con- 
 sume in the grave," Psal. xlix. 14. Remember the 
 change death makes on the fairest face, Job xiv. 20. 
 "Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away." 
 Death makes the greatest beauty so loathsome, that it 
 must be buried out of sight. Could a looking-glass be 
 used in <k the house appointed for all living," it would 
 be a terror to those who now look oftner into their glas- 
 ses than into their Bibles. And what, though the body 
 be gorgeously arrayed ; the finest clothes are but badges 
 of our sin and shame ; and, in a little time, will be ex- 
 changed for a winding-sheet when the body will become 
 a feast to the worms. 
 
 Thirdly, It may be a mighty check upon sensuality 
 and fleshly lusts, 1 Pet. ii. 11. "I beseech you, as stran- 
 gers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war 
 against the soul." It is hard to cause wet wood to take 
 fire : and when the fire doth take hold of it, it is soon 
 extinguished. Sensuality makes men most unfit for di- 
 vine communications, and is an effectual means to quench 
 the spirit. Intemperance in eating and drinking carries 
 on the ruin of soul and body at once, and hastens death, 
 while it makes the man most unmeet for it. Therefore, 
 " take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts 
 be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so 
 that day come upon you unawares," Luke xxi. 34. But O 
 how often is the soul struck through with a dart, in gra- 
 tifying the senses ! At these doors, destruction enters in.
 
 HEAD i.] A spring of Christian resolution. 317 
 
 Therefore Job " made a covenant with his eye," chap, 
 xxxi. 1. " The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit ; 
 he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein," Prov. 
 xxii. 14. " Let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall." 
 Beware of lasciviousness, study modesty in your apparel, 
 words, and actions. The ravens of the valley of death 
 will at length pick out the wanton eye; the obscene fil- 
 thy tongue will at length be quiet in the land of silence, 
 and (i frim death embracing the body in its cold arms, will 
 effectually allay the heat of all fleshly lusts. 
 
 Lastly, Tn a word, it may check our earthly-minded- 
 ness and at once knock down ** the lust of the flesh, the 
 lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." Ah ! if we must 
 die, why are we thus ? Why so fond of temporal things, 
 so anxious to get them, so eager in the embraces of them, 
 so mightily touched with the loss of them ? Let me up- 
 on a view of " the house appointed for all living," he- 
 speak the worldling in the words of Solomon, Prov. xxiii. 
 5. " Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not ? 
 For riches certainly make themselves wings, they flee 
 away as an eagle towards heaven." Riches and all 
 worldly things are but a fair nothing ; they are that 
 which is not. They are not what they seem to be, they 
 are all but gilded vanities, that deceive the eye. Com- 
 paratively THEY ARE NOT ; there is infinitely more of 
 nothingness and not-being, than of being or reality in 
 the best of them. What is the world, and all that is in 
 it, bat a fashion or fair shew, such as men make on a 
 stage, a passing shew ? i Cor. vii. 3\. Royal pomp is 
 but a gaudy shew or appearance in God's account, Acts 
 xxv. 93. The best name they get is good things : but 
 observe it, they are only the wicked man's good things, 
 Luke xvi. 25. " Thou in thy life-time receivedst thy 
 good things," says Abraham in the parable of the rich 
 man in hell. And well may the men of the world call 
 these things their goods, for there is no other good in 
 them, about them, nor attending them. Now wilt thou 
 set thine eyes upon empty shews and fancies ? Wilt theu
 
 313- A bridle to curb lusts.- [STATE iv 
 
 cause thine eyes to fly on then), as the word is ? Shall' 
 pirn's hearts fly out at their eyes upon them* as a raven- 
 ous bird on its prey ? if they do, let them know, that, 
 at length these shall fly as fast away from; them* as ever 
 their eyes fiew upon them, like a flock of fair feathered 
 birds, that settle on a fool's ground, the which, when he 
 runs to catch them as his own, do immediately take 
 wing, fly tiway, and, sitting down on his neighbour's 
 ground, illude his expectation, Luke xii. 20; " Thou fool,, 
 this night thy soul shall be required of thee ; then whose 
 shall these things be ?" Though you do not make wings 
 to them as. many do, they mafce themselves wings, and 
 fly away ; not as a tame house-bird, which may, be caught 
 again ; nor as an hawk, that will shew where she is by 
 her bells, and be called again with the lure; but as an. 
 eagle, which quickly flies out of sight, and cannot be re- 
 called; forbear thou to behold; these things. O mor- 
 tal ! there is no reason thou shouldest set thine eyes up- 
 on them. This world is a> great inn, in the road to eter- 
 nity, to which thou art travelling* Thou i art attended, 
 by these things as servants belonging to the inn where 
 thou lodgesti; they wait upon thee while thou art there, 
 and when thou goes t away they will convey thee to the 
 door. But they are not thine, they will not go away 
 with thee, but return to wait on other strangers* as they 
 did on thee. 
 
 Eifthly, It may serve as a spring of Christian resolu- 
 tion, to cleave to Christ, adhere to his truths, and con- 
 tinue in his ways ; whatever we may suffer for so doing. 
 It would much allay the fear of man, that bringeth a 
 snare. " Who art thou, that thou. shouldest be afraid of 
 a man that shall die ?" Isa. li. 12. Look on persecutors 
 as pieces of brittle clay, that shall be dashed in pieces ; 
 for then shall ye despise them as foes, that are mortal ; 
 whose terror, to others in the land of the living, shall 
 quickly die with themselves. The serious consideration 
 of<the shortness of our time, and the certainty of death, 
 will teach us, that all the. advantage we can make by
 
 MEAD i.] Preparation for death. 319 
 
 our apostacy, in time of trial, is not worth the while ; it 
 is not worth going out of our way to get it : and what 
 we refuse to forego for Christ's sake, may quickly be ta- 
 ken from us by death. But we can never lose it so ho- 
 nourably, as for the crnise of Christ and his gospel : for 
 what glory is it, that ye give up what ye have in the 
 world ; when God takes it from you by death, whether 
 you will or not ? This consideration may teach us to un- 
 dervalue life itself, and choose to forego it rather than 
 to sin. The worst that men can do, is to take away 
 that life which we cannot long keep, though all thg 
 world should conspire to help us to retain the spirit. 
 And if we refuse to offer it up to God, when he calls fof 
 it in defence of his honour, he can take it from us ano* 
 ther way ; as it fared with him who could not burn for 
 Christ, but was afterwards burnt by an accidental fire irt 
 his house. 
 
 Lastly, It may serve for a spur, to incite us to pre- 
 pare for death. Consider (1) Your eternal state will be 
 according to the state in which ye die ; death will opett 
 the doors of heaven or hell to you. As the tree falls so 
 it shall lie through eternity. If the infant be dead-born* 
 the open world will not raise it to life again ; and if one 
 die out of Christ, in an unregenerate state, there is no 
 more hope of him for ever. (2.) Seriously consider what 
 it is to go into another world, a world of spirits; where- 
 with we are very little acquainted. How frightful is 
 converse with spirits to poor mortals in this life ! and 
 how dreadful is the case when men are hurried away in- 
 to another world, not knowing but devils may be their 
 companions for ever ! Let us then give all diligence to 
 make and advance our acquaintance with the Lord of 
 that world. (3.) It is but a short time you have to pre- 
 pare for death, therefore now or never, seeing the time 
 assigned for preparation will soon be over. Eccl. ix. IO. 
 " Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; 
 for there is no work, nor device, nor knowlede, nor 
 wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." How can
 
 Preparation for death. [STATS IV; 
 
 we be idle, having so great a work to do, and so little 
 time to do in ? But if the time be short, the work of 
 preparation for death, though hard work, will not last 
 long. The shadows of the evening make the labourer 
 work cheerfully, knowing the time to be at hand when 
 he will be called in from his labour. (4.) Much of our 
 short time is over already, and the youngest of us all 
 cannot assure himself that there is as much of his time 
 to come, as is past. Our life in the world is but a short 
 preface to long eternity, and much of the tale is told. 
 Oh shall we not double pur diligence when so much of 
 our time is spent, and so little of our great work is done? 
 (5.) The present time is flying away, and we cannot 
 bring back time past, it hath taken an eternal farewel 
 of us ; there is no kindling the fire again that is burnt 
 to ashes. The time to come is not ours, and we have 
 no assurance of a share in it, when it comes. We have 
 nothing- we can call ours, but the present moment, and 
 that is flying away. How soon our time may be at an 
 end, we know not. Die we must, but who can tell us 
 when ? If death kept one set time for all, we were in 
 no hazard of a surprise : but daily observation shews us, 
 there is no such thing. Now the flying shadow of our 
 life allows no time for loitering. The rivers run speedi- 
 ly into the sea, from whence they came, but not so speed- 
 ily as man to the dust from whence he came The 
 stream of time is the swiftest current, and quickly runs 
 out to eternity. Lastly, If once death carry us off", there 
 is no coming back again to mend our matters, Job xiv. 
 14. "If a man die, shall he live again?" Dying is a 
 thing we cannot get a trial of; it is what we can only 
 do once, Heb. ix. 27. " It is appointed unto men once to 
 die.'* And that which can be but once done, and yet is 
 of so much importance, that our all depends in our doing 
 it right, we have need to use the utmost diligence, that 
 we may do it well. Therefore prepare for death, and 
 do it timely.
 
 HEAD ii.] Explication, c. 321 
 
 If ye \yho are unregenerate ask me, what ye shall do 
 to prepare for death, that ye may die safelv ? I answer, 
 I have told you already what must be done. And that 
 is, your nature and state must be changed ; ye must be 
 born again ; ye must be united to Jesus Christ by faith. 
 And till this is done, ye are not capable of other direc- 
 tions, which belong to one's dying comfortably ; where- 
 of we may discourse afterwards, in the due place. 
 
 HEAD II. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCE BETWIXT THE lUGHTEOUS AND 
 THE WICKED IN THEIR DEATH. 
 
 PROVERBS xiv. 32. 
 
 The nicked is driven away in his wickedness : but the righteous hath 
 hope in his death. 
 
 THIS text looks like the cloud betwixt the Israelites 
 and Egyptians, having a dark side towards the 
 latter, and a bright side towards the former. It repre- 
 sents death like Pharaoh's jailor, bringing the chief but- 
 ler and the chief baker out of the prison : the one to be 
 restored to his office, and the other to be led to execu- 
 tion. It shews the difference betwixt the godly and un- 
 godly in their death, who, as they act a very different 
 part in life, so in death have a vastly different exit. 
 
 First, As to the death of a wicked man : here is, (1.) 
 The manner of his passing out of the world. He is dri- 
 ven away : namely, in his death, as is clear from the op- 
 
 2 T
 
 322 Explication, c. [STATE iv. 
 
 posite clause. He is forcibly thrust out of his place in 
 this world ; driven away as chaff before the wind. (2.) 
 The state he passeth away in. He dies in a sinful and 
 hopeless state. First., in a sinful state ; he is driven a- 
 way in his wickedness. He lived in it, and he dies in 
 it : his filthy garments of sin, in which he wrapt up him- 
 self in his life, are his prison garments, in which he shall 
 lie wrapt up for ever. Secondly, In a hopeless state : but 
 the righteous hath hope in his death : which plainly im- 
 ports the hopelessness of the wicked in their death. 
 Whereby is not meant, that no wicked man shall have 
 any hope at all, when he is dying; but shall die in des- 
 pair. No : sometimes it is so indeed ; but frequently it 
 is otherwise : foolish virgins may, and often do, hope to 
 the last breath. But the wicked man has no solid hope ; 
 and as for the delusive hopes he entertains himself with, 
 death will root them up ; and he shall be for ever irre- 
 trievably miserable. 
 
 Secondly, As to the death of a righteous man ; he 
 hath hope in his death. This is ushered in with a but, 
 importing a removal of these dreadful circumstances, 
 with which the wicked man is attended, who is driven 
 away in his wickedness : but the godly are not so. Not 
 so, (1.) In the manner of their passing out of the world. 
 The righteous is not driven away as the chaff before the 
 wind, but led away as a bride to the marriage chamber, 
 " carried away by the angels unto Abraham's bosom," 
 Luke xvi, 22. (2.) Not so as to their state when pas- 
 sing out of this life. The righteous man dies, (1.) Not 
 in a sinful, but in a holy state. He goes not away in 
 his sin, but out of it. In his life he was " putting off 
 the old man, changing his prison garments ; and now 
 the remaining rags of them are removed, dnd he is a- 
 dorned with robes of glory. (2.) Not in a hopeless, 
 but a hopeful state. He hath hope in his death ; he has 
 the grace of hope, and the well-founded expectation of 
 better things than ever he had in this world ; and though 
 the stream of his hope at death may run shallow, yet ht? 
 
 I
 
 HEAD ii.] The wicked dying, driven away, S^c. 323 
 
 has still as much of it, as makes him venture his eternal 
 interests upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 DOCTRINE I. THE WICKED DYING, ABE DRIVEN AWAY 
 
 IN THEIR WICKEDNESS, AND IN A HOPELESS STATK. 
 
 In speaking to this doctrine, (1.) I shall shew how, 
 and in what sense, the wicked are driven away in their 
 wickedness at death. (2.) I shall discover the hopeless- 
 ness of their state at death. And lastly, apply the 
 whole. 
 
 I. How, and in what sense, the wicked are " driven 
 away in their wickedness." In discoursing of this mat- 
 ter, I shall briefly inquire, (1.) What is meant by their 
 being driven away. (2.) Whence they shall be driven, 
 and whither. (3.) In what respects they may be said to 
 be driven away in their wickedness. But before I pro- 
 ceed, let me advertise you, that you are mistaken if you 
 think that no persons are to be called wicked but they 
 who are avowedly vicious and profane ; as if the devil 
 could dwell in none, but those whose name is Legion. 
 In scripture account, all who are not righteous, in the 
 manner hereafter explained, are reckoned wicked. And 
 therefore the text divides the whole world into two 
 sorts, the righteous and the wicked ; and you will see the 
 same thing in that other text, Mai. Hi. 18. Then shall 
 ye return and discern between the righteous and the wick- 
 ed. Wherefore if you be not righteous, ye are wicked. 
 If ye have not an imputed righteousness, and also an 
 implanted righteousness and holiness ; if ye be yet in 
 your natural state, unregenerate, not united to Christ by 
 faith : howsoever moral, and blameless in the eyes of 
 men, your conversation may be : ye are the wicked who 
 shall be driven away in their wickedness, if death find 
 you in that state. Now, 
 
 First, As to the meaning of this phrase driven away ; 
 there are three things in it : the wicked shall be taken 
 away suddenly, violently, and irresistibly. 

 
 524- The wicked dying, driven away [STATE iv. 
 
 First, Unrenewed men shall be taken away suddenly 
 at death. Not that all wicked men die suddenly ; nor 
 that they are all wicked, who die so, God forbid ! but 
 (1.) Death commonly conies upon them unexpected, and 
 so surpriseth them, as the deluge came surprisingly on 
 the old world, though they were forewarned of it long 
 before it came ; and " as travail cometh on a woman 
 with child," with surprising suddeness, although looked 
 for and expected, 1 Thess. v. 3. Death seizeth them as 
 a creditor doth his debtor, to hale him to prison, Psal. 
 Iv. 15. and that when they are not aware. Death comes 
 in as a thief, at the window, and finds them full of busy 
 thoughts about this life, which that very day perish. 
 (2.) Death always seizeth them unprepared for it ; the 
 old house falls down about their ears, before they have 
 another provided. When death casts them to the door 
 they have not where to lay their heads, unless it be on a 
 bed of fire and brimstone. The soul and body are, as it 
 were, hugging one another in mutual embraces, when 
 death comes like a whirlwind, and separates them. (3) 
 Death hurries them away in a moment to destruction, 
 and makes a most dismal change ; the man for the most 
 part, never knows where he is, till " in hell he lift up 
 his eyes," Luke xvi. 23. The floods of wrath suddenly 
 overwhelm his soul, and ere he is aware he is plunged in 
 the bottomless pit. 
 
 Secondly, The unrenewed man is taken away out of 
 the world violently. Driving is a violent action, he is 
 " chased out of the world," Job xviii. 18. Fain would 
 he stay if he could, but death drags him away like a 
 malefactor to the execution. He sought no other por- 
 tion than the profit and pleasures of this world ; he hath 
 no other, he really desires no other, how can he then go 
 away out of it, if he were not driven ? 
 
 Question, But may not a wicked man be willing to 
 die? Answer, He may indeed be willing to die; but 
 observe, it is only in one of three cases. (1.) In a fit of 
 passion, by reason of some trouble that he is impatient
 
 HEAD ii.] in their wickedness. 325 
 
 to be rid of. Thus many persons when their passion 
 has got the better of their reason ; and when, on that ac- 
 count, they are most unfit to die, will be ready to cry, O 
 to be gone ! But should their desire be granted and 
 death come at their call, they would quickly shew they 
 were not in earnest, and that if they go, they must be 
 driven away against their wills. (2.) When they are 
 brimful of despair, tbey may be willing to die. Thus 
 Saul murdered himself, and Spira wished to be in hell, 
 that he might know the uttermost of what he believed 
 he was to suffer. In this manner men may seek after 
 death, while it flies from them. But fearful is the vio- 
 lence these do undergo, whom the terrors of God do thus 
 drive. (3.) When they are dreaming of happiness after 
 death. Foolish virgins, under the power of delusion, as 
 to their state, may be willing to die, having no fear of 
 lying down in sorrow. How many are there, who can 
 give no scripture ground for their hope, who yet have 
 no bands in their death ! Many are driven to darkness 
 sleeping ; they go off' like lambs, who would roar like 
 lions, did they but know what place they are going to ; 
 though the chariot in which they are, drive furiously to 
 the depths of hell, yet they fear not because they are 
 fast asleep. 
 
 Lastly, The unregenerate man is taken away irresist- 
 ibly. He must go, though sore against his will. Death 
 will take no refusal, nor admit of any delay ; though the 
 man has not lived half his days, according to his own 
 computation. If he will not DOW, it will break him. If 
 he will not come forth, it will pull the house down about 
 his ears : for there he must not stay. Although the 
 physician help, friends groan, the wife and children cry, 
 and the man himself use his utmost efforts to retain the 
 spirit, his soul is required of him ; yield he must, and 
 go where he shall never more see light. 
 
 Secondly, Let us consider, whence they are driven, and 
 whither. When the wicked die, (1.) They are driven out 
 of this world, where they sinned ; into the other world,
 
 326 The wicked dying,, driven away [STATE iv. 
 
 where they must be judged, and receive their particular 
 sentences, Heb. ix. 27. It is appointed unto men once to 
 die. but after this the judgment. They shall no more re- 
 turn to their beloved earth. Though their hearts are 
 wedded to their earthly enjoyments, they must leave 
 them ; they can carry nothing hence. How sorrowful 
 must their departure be, when they have nothing in view, 
 so good as that which they leave behind them ! (2.) 
 They are driven out of the society of the saints on earth, 
 into the society of the damned in hell. Luke xvi. 22. 
 " The rich man also died, and was buried," ver. 23. 
 " And in hell he lift up his eyes." What a multitude of 
 the devil's goats do now take place among Christ's sheep ? 
 But at death they shall be " led forth with the workers of 
 iniquity," Psal. cxxv. 5. There is a mixt multitude in this 
 world, but no mixture in the other, each party is there 
 set by themselves. Though hypocrites grow here as tares 
 among the wfieat, death will root them up, and they shall 
 be bound in bundles for the fire. (3.) They are driven 
 out of time into eternity. While time lasts with them 
 there is hope, but when time goes, all hope goes with it. 
 Precious time is now lavishly spent, it lies so heavy upon 
 the hands of many, that they think themselves obliged 
 to take several ways to drive away time. But bew^are 
 of being at a loss what to do in life : improve time for 
 eternity, whilst you have it, for ere long death will drive 
 it from you, and you from it, so as ye shall never meet 
 again. (4.) They are driven out of their specious preten- 
 ces to piety. Death strips them of the splendid robes of 
 a fair profession, with which some of them are adorned, 
 and turns them off the stage in the rags of a wicked 
 heart and life. The word hypocrite properly signifies a- 
 stage-player, who appears to be what indeed he is not. 
 This world is the stage, on which these children of the 
 devil personate the children of God. Their show of re- 
 ligion is their player's coat, under which one must look 
 who will judge of them aright. Now death turns them 
 out of their coat, and then they appear in their native 
 dress ; it unveils them, and takes off their mask. There
 
 HEAD ii.] in their wickedness. 327 
 
 are none in the other world who pretend to be better 
 than they really are. Depraved nature acts in the re- 
 gions of horror, unallayed, undisguised. Lastly, They are 
 driven away from all means of grace, and are set beyond 
 the line, quite out of all prospect of mercy. There is no 
 inorean opportun ity t buy oil for the lamp, it is gone 
 out at death, and can never be lighted again. There 
 may be offers of mercy and peace made after they are 
 gone, but they are to others, not to them : there are no 
 offers in the place to which they are driven, these offers 
 are only made in that place from which they are driven 
 away. 
 
 Lastly, In what respects may they be said to be dri- 
 ven away in their wickedness ? Answer, (I.} In respect 
 of their being driven away in their sinful, unconverted 
 state. Having lived enemies to God, they die in a state 
 of enmity to him, for none are brought into the eternal 
 state of consummate happiness, but by the way of the 
 state of grace, or begun recovery in this life. The child 
 that is dead in the womb, is born dead, and is cast out 
 of the womb into the grave ; so he who is dead while he 
 liveth, or is spiritually dead, is cast forth of the womb 
 of time, in the same state of death, into the pit of utter 
 misery. O miserable death, to die in the gall of bitter- 
 ness and bond of iniquity : It had been incomparably 
 better for such as die thus, that they had never been 
 born. (2.) In regard they die sinning, acting wickedly 
 against God, in contradiction to the divine law, for they 
 can do nothing but sin while they live. So death takes 
 them in the very act of sinning, violently draws them 
 from the embraces of their lusts, and drives them away 
 to the tribunal to receive their sentence. It is a remar- 
 kable expression, Job xxvi. 14. " They die in youth ;"' 
 the marginal reading is, their soul dieth in youth ; their 
 lusts being lively, their desires vigorous, and expectations 
 big, as is common in youth. " And their life is among 
 the unclean ;" or, and the company (or herd) of them di- 
 eth among the Sodomites, i. e. is taken away in the heat
 
 328 Hopeless state at death. [STATE iv< 
 
 of their sin and wickedness, as the Sodomites were, Gen. 
 xix. Luke vii. 28, 29. (3) Inasmuch as they are driven 
 away loaded with the guilt of all their sins : this is the 
 winding-sheet that " shall lie down with them in the 
 dust," Job xx. 1 1 . Their works follow them into the o- 
 ther world : they go away with the yoke of their trans- 
 gressions wreathed about their necks. Guilt is a bad 
 companion in life, but how horrible will it be in death ! 
 It lies now, perhaps, like cold brimstone on their benumb- 
 ed consciences ; but when death opens the way for sparks 
 of divine vengeance, like fire, to fall upon it ; it will 
 make dreadful flames in the conscience, in which the soul 
 will be, as it were, wrapt up for ever. Lastly, The wick- 
 ed are driven away in their wickedness, in so far as they 
 die under the absolute power of their wickedness. While 
 there is hope, there is some restraint on the worst of 
 men ; and these moral endowments, which God gives to 
 a number of men, for the benefit of mankind in this life, 
 are so many allays and restraints upon the impetuous 
 wickedness of human nature. But all hope being cut 
 off, and these gifts withdrawn, the wickedness of the 
 wicked will then arrive at its perfection. As the seeds 
 of grace, sown in the hearts of the elect, come to their 
 full maturity at death, so wicked and hellish dispositions 
 in the reprobate come then to their highest pitch. Their 
 prayers to God will then be turned to horrible curses, 
 and their praises to hideous blasphemies, Matt. xxii. 13. 
 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This gives 
 a dismal, but genuine view of the state of the wicked in 
 another world. 
 
 II. I shall discover the hopelessness of the state of un- 
 renewed men at death. It appears to be very hopeless, 
 if we consider these four things : 
 
 First, Death cuts off their hopes and prospects of peace 
 and pleasure in this life, Luke xxii. 19. "Soul, thou 
 hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, 
 eat, drink, and be merry," ver. 20. But God said unto 
 him, thoti fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
 
 HEAD ii.] Hopeless state at death. 329 
 
 thee, then whose shall these thing's be, which thou n^-t 
 provided? They look for great matters in this wo'-'.d, 
 they hope to increase their wealth, to see their families 
 prosper, and to live at ease ; but death comes like a 
 stormy wind, and shakes off all their fond hopes, like 
 green fruit from off a tree. " When he is about to fill 
 his belly. God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him," 
 Job xx. 23. He may begin a web of contrivances, for 
 advancing his worldly interest, but before he gets it 
 wrought out, death comes and cuts it out. " His breath 
 goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. In that very day 
 his thoughts perish/' Psal. cxlvi. 4. 
 
 Secondly, When death conies, they have no solid ground 
 to hope for eternal happiness. " For what is the hope 
 of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God tak- 
 eth away his soul ?" Job xxvii. 8. Whatever hopes they 
 fondly entertain, they are not founded on God's word, 
 which is the only sure ground of hope ; if they knew 
 their own case, they would see themselves only happy in 
 a dream. And indeed what hope can they have ? the 
 law is plain against them and condemns them. The cur- 
 ses of it (these cords of death) are about them already. 
 The Saviour whom they slighted, is now their Judge ; 
 and their judge is their enemy. How then can they 
 hope ? they have bolted the door of mercy against them- 
 selves, by their unbelief. They have despised the reme- 
 dy, and therefore must die without mercy. They have 
 no saving interest in Jesus Christ, the only channel of 
 conveyance, in which mercy flows ; and therefore they 
 can never taste of it. The sword of justice guards t'-e 
 door of mercy, so as none can enter in, but the members 
 of the mystical body of Christ, over whose head is a co- 
 vert of atoning blood, the Mediator's blood. These in- 
 deed may pass without harm, for justice has nothing to 
 require of them. But others cannot pass, since they are 
 not in Christ : death comes to them with the sting in it, 
 the sting of unpardoned guilt. It is armed against them 
 
 2 u
 
 330 Hopeless state at death. [STATE iv. 
 
 with all the force the sanction of a holy law can give it. 
 1 Cor. xv. 56. The sting of death is sin, and the strength 
 of sin is the law. When that law was given on Sinai, 
 "the whole mount quaked greatly," Exod. xix 18. 
 When the Redeemer was making satisfaction, for the e- 
 lect's breaking of it, the earth did quake, and the rocks 
 rent, Matt- xxvii. 51. What possible ground of hope then 
 is there to the wicked man, when death comes upon him 
 armed with the force of this law ? How can he escape 
 that fire, which " burnt into the midst of heaven") Deut, 
 iv, 11. How shall he be able to stand in that smoke, 
 that " ascended as the smoke of a furnace ?" Exod. xix. 
 18. How will he endure the terrible " thunders and 
 lightnings," ver. 18 and dwell in "the darkness, clouds 
 and thick darkness?" Deut. iv. 11. All these resem- 
 blances heaped together do but faintly represent the fear- 
 ful tempest of wrath and indignation, which shall pur- 
 sue the wicked to the lowest hell ; and for ever abide on 
 them, who are driven to darkness at death. 
 
 Thirdly, Death roots up their delusive hopes of eter- 
 nal happiness ; then it is their covenant with death and 
 agreement with hell, is broken. They are awakened out 
 of their golden dreams, and at length lift up their eyes ; 
 Job viii. 14. "Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose 
 trust shall be a spider's web." They trust all shall be 
 well with them after death But thus their trust is but 
 a web woven out of their own bowels, with a great deal 
 of art and industry. They wrap themselves up in their 
 hope, as the spider wraps herself in her web. But it is 
 a weak and slender defence ; for however it may with- 
 stand the threatenings of the word of God, death, that 
 bosom of destruction, will sweep them and it both away, 
 so as there shall not be the least shred of it left them ; 
 but he, who this moment will not let his hope go, shall 
 next moment be utterly hopeless. Death overturns the 
 house built on the sand ; it leaves no man under the pow- 
 er of delusion.
 
 HEAD ii.] Caution against false hopes. 331 
 
 Lastly, Death makes their state absolutely and for 
 ever hopeless. Matters cannot be retrieved and amend- 
 ed after death. For (1.) Time once gone can never be 
 recalled. If cries or tears, price or pains, could bring 
 time back again ; the wicked man may have hope in his 
 death. But tears of blood will not prevail ; nor will his 
 roaring for millions of ages, cause it to return. The sun 
 will not stand still, until the sluggard awake, and enter 
 on his journey ; and when once it is gone down, he needs 
 not expect the night to be turned into day for his sake : 
 he must lodge through the long night of eternity, where 
 his time left him. (2.) There is no returning to this life 
 to amend what is amiss ; it is a state of probation and 
 trial, which terminates at death, and therefore we can- 
 not return to it again ; it is but once we thus live, and 
 once we die. Death carries the wicked man to his own 
 place, Acts i. 25. This life is our working day ; death 
 closeth our day and our work together. We may readi- 
 ly imagine the wicked might have some hope in their 
 death ; if, after death has opened their eyes, they could 
 return to life, and have but the trial of one sabbath, one 
 offer of Christ, one day, or but one hour more to make 
 up their peace with God : but man liefh down, andriscth 
 not till the heavens be no more ; they shall not awake, nor 
 be raised out of their steep, Job xiv. 12. Lastly, In the 
 other world men have no access to get their ruined state 
 and condition retrieved, if they never so fain would. 
 " For there is no work nor device, no knowledge nor wis- 
 dom, in the grave whither thou goest," Eccl. ix. 10. 
 Now a man may flee from the wrath to come, now may he 
 get into a refuge ; but when once death has done its 
 work the door is shut, there are no more offers of mercy, 
 no more pardons ; where the tree is fallen, there it must 
 lie. 
 
 Let what has been said be carefully pondered, and that 
 it may be of use, let me exhort you. 
 
 First, To take heed that ye entertain no hopes of hea- 
 ren but what are built on a solid foundation ; tremble to
 
 382 Caution against false hopes. [STATE iv. 
 
 think what fair hopes of happiness death sweeps away 
 like cobwebs ; how the hopes of many are cut off, when 
 they seem to themselves, to be at the very threshold of 
 heaven ; how, in the moment they expected to be car- 
 ried by angels into Abraham's bosom, into the regions of 
 bliss and peace, they are carried by devils into the socie- 
 ty of the damned in hell, into the place of torment, and 
 regions of horror. I beseech you, beware, (1.) of a hope 
 built up where the ground was never cleared. The wise 
 builder digged deep, Luke vi. 48. Were your hopes of 
 heaven never shaken ; but have you had good hopes all 
 your days ? Alas for it ; you may see the mystery of your 
 case explained, Luke vi. 21. " When a strongman arm- 
 ed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." But if 
 they have been shaken, take heed lest there have only 
 some breaches been made in the old building, which you 
 have got repaired again by ways and means of your own. 
 I assure you, your hope (howsoever fair a building it is) 
 is not to trust to ; unless your old hopes have been raz- 
 ed, and you have built on a foundation quite new. (2.) 
 Beware of that hope which looks brisk in the dark, but 
 loseth all its lustre when it is set in the light of God's 
 word, when it is examined and tried by the touchstone 
 of Divine Revelation, John iii. 20. " For every one that 
 doth evil hateth the light ; neither cometh to the light, 
 lest his deeds should be reproved, ver. 21. but he that 
 doth the truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may 
 be made manifest that they are wrought in God " That 
 hope which cannot abide scripture-trial, but sinks when 
 searched into by sacred truth, is a delusion, and not a 
 true hope : for God's word is always a friend to the gra- 
 ces of God's Spirit, and enemy to delusion. (3.) Beware 
 of that hope, which stands without being supported by 
 scripture-evidences. Alas ! many are big with hope, who 
 cannot give, because they really have not any scripture- 
 grounds for them. Thou hopest that all shall be well with 
 thee after death : but what word of God is it, on which 
 thou hast been " caused to hope," Psal. cxix. 49. What 
 scripture-evidence hast thou to prove that thy hope is
 
 HEAD ii.] Exhortation to sinners. 333 
 
 not the hope of the hypocrite ? What hast thou after im- 
 partial self-examination as in the sight of God found in 
 thyself, which the word of God determines to be a sure 
 evidence of his right to eternal life, who is possessed of 
 it ? Numbers of men are ruined with such hopes as stand 
 untupported by scripture-evidence. Men are fond and 
 tenacious of these hopes ; but death will throw them 
 down, and leave the self-deceiver hopeless, Lastly, Be- 
 ware of that hope of heaven, which doth not prepare and 
 dispose you for heaven, which never makes your soul 
 mare holy, 1 John iii. 3. " Every man that hath this 
 hope in him, purifieth himself evsn as he is pure." The 
 hope of the most part of men, is rather a hope to be free 
 of pain and torment in another life, than a hope of true 
 happiness, the nature whereof is not understood and dis- 
 cerned : and therefore it stakes down in sloth and indo- 
 lence, and does not excite to mortification and a heaven- 
 ly life. So far are they from hoping aright for heaven ; 
 that they must own if they speak their genuine senti- 
 ments, removing out of this world into any other place 
 whatsoever, is rather their fear than their hope. The 
 glory of the heavenly city does not at all draw their hearts 
 upwards towards it, nor do they lift up their heads with 
 joy, in the prospect of arriving at it. If they had the 
 true hope of the marriage day, they would as the bride, 
 "the Lamb's wife, be making themselves ready for it," 
 Rev. xix. 7. But their hopes are produced by their sloth, 
 and their sloth is nourished by their hopes. Oh ! sirs, 
 as ye would not be driven away hopeless in your death, 
 beware of these hopes ! raze them now, and build on a 
 new foundation ; lest death leave not one stone of them 
 upon another, and ye never be able to hope any more. 
 
 Secondly, Hasten, O sinners, out of your wickedness, 
 out of your sinful state, and out of your wicked life ; if 
 you would not at death be driven away in your wicked- 
 ness. Remember the fatal end of the wicked man, as 
 the text represents it. I know there is a great difference 
 in the death of the wicked, in respect of some cireum-
 
 334< Exhortation to sinners* [STATK iv. 
 
 stanres : i ut all of them in their death, agree in this, that 
 they are * driven away in their wickednes." Some of 
 them die resolutely, as if they scorned to he afraid. Some 
 of them in raging despair, so filled with horror, that they 
 cry out as if they were already in hell : others in sullen 
 despondency, opprest with fears, insomuch that their 
 hearts are sunk within them,, upon the remembrance of 
 tnLspent life, and the view they have of eternity ; having 
 neither head nor heart to do any thing for their own re- 
 lief. And others die stupid ; they lived like beasts, and 
 they die like beasts, without any concern on their spirits 
 about their eternal state. They groan under their bodi- 
 ly distress, but have no sense of the d^n^er of their souls. 
 One may with almost as much prospect of success speak 
 to a stone as speak to them ; vain is the attempt to teach 
 them ; nothing that can be said moves them. To dis- 
 course to them, either of the joys of heaven, or the tor- 
 ments of hell, is to plough on a rock, or beat the air. 
 Some die like the foolish virgins, dreaming of heaven : 
 their foreheads are steeled against the fears of hell, with 
 presumptuous hopes of heaven. Their business, who 
 would be useful to them, is not to answer doubts about the 
 case of their souls ; but to dispute them out of their false 
 hopes. lut which way soever the unconverted man dies, 
 he is " driven away in his wickedness." O dreadful case ! 
 Oh ! let the consideration of so horrible a departure out 
 of this world, move you to betake yourselves to Jesus 
 Christ, as an all-sufficient Saviour, an Almighty Redee- 
 mer. Let it prevail to drive you out of your wickedness, 
 to holiness of heart and life. Though you reckon it plea- 
 sant to live in wickedness ; you cannot but own it is bit- 
 ter to die in it. And if you leave it not in time, you shall 
 go in your wickedness to hell, the proper place for it, 
 that it may be set there on its own base. For when you 
 are passing out of this world, all your sins, from the el- 
 dest to the youngest of them, will swarm about you, 
 hang upon you, accompany you to the other world ; an$, 
 as so many furies, surround you there for ever.
 
 HI AD ii.] State of the godly in death, hopeful. 335 
 
 Lastly, O be concerned for others, especially for your 
 relations, that they may not continue in their sinful na- 
 tural state, but be brought into a state of salvation ; lest 
 they be driven away in their wickedness at Heath. Wl at 
 would ye not do to prevent any of your friends dying an 
 untimely and violent death ? But, alas ! do not ye see 
 them in hazard of being driven away in their wickedu ss ? 
 Is not death approaching them, even the youn.^'-st of 
 them ? And are they not strangers to true Christianity, 
 remaining in that state, in which they came into the 
 world? Oh, make h-iste to pluck the brand out of the 
 fire, before it be burnt to ashes. The death of relations 
 ften leaves a sting in the hearts of those they leave be- 
 hind them ; for that they did not do for their souls as 
 they had opportunity : and that now the opportunity 
 is for ever taken out of tneir hands. 
 
 DOCTRINE II. THE STATE OF THE GODLY IN 
 
 D. ATH IS A HOPEFUL STATE. 
 
 We have seen the dark side of the cloud looking to- 
 wards ungodly men, passing out of the world ; let us 
 now take a view of the bright side of it, shining on the 
 godly, as they are entering upon their eternal state. In 
 discoursing this subject, I shall confirm this doctrine, an- 
 swer an objection against it, and then make some prac- 
 tical improvement on the whole. 
 
 For confirmation, let it be observed, that although the 
 passage out of this world by death, hath a frightful as- 
 pect to poor mortals ; and to miscarry in it must needs 
 be of fatal consequence: yet the following circumstances 
 make the state of the godly in their death, happy and 
 hopeful. 
 
 First, They have a trusty good friend before them in 
 the other world. Jesus Christ, their best friend, is the 
 Lord of that land, to which death carries them. When 
 Joseph sent for his father to come down to him to Egypt, 
 telling him, " God had made him Lord over all Egypt/*
 
 336 State of the godly in death t hopeful. [STATE iv. 
 
 Gen. xlv. 9. and " Jacob saw the waggons Joseph had 
 sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob revived," ver. 27 He 
 frankly resolves to undertake the journey. I think, when 
 the Lord calls a godly man out of this world, he sends 
 him such glad tidings, and such a kind invitation into 
 the other world, that if he had faith to believe it, his 
 spirit must revive, when he sees the waggon of death, 
 which comes to carry him thither. It is true indeed, he 
 has a weighty trial to undergo, after death the judg- 
 ment. But the case of the godly is altogether hopeful ; 
 for the Lord of the land is their husband, and their hus- 
 band is the judge : the Father hath committed all judg- 
 ment unto the Son, John v. 22. And surely the case of 
 the wife is hopeful, when her own husband is her judge, 
 even such a husband as hates putting away. No hus- 
 band is so loving and so tender of his spouse, as the Lord 
 Christ is of his. One would think, it would be a very 
 bad land, which a wife would not willingly go to, where 
 her husband is the ruler and judge. Moreover, their judge 
 is the advocate. 1 John ii. 1 . " We have an advocate 
 with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.*' And there- 
 fore they need not fear their being put back and falling 
 into condemnation. What can be more favourable ? Can 
 they think that he who pleads their cause, will himself 
 pass sentence against them ? Yet further, their advocate 
 is their Redeemer : they are " redeemed with the preci- 
 ous blood of Christ, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. So when he pleads 
 for them, he is pleading his own cause. Though an ad- 
 vocate may be careless of the interest of one who em- 
 ploys him ; surely he will do his utmost to defend his 
 own right, which he hath purchased with his money : and 
 shall not their advocate defend the purchase of his own 
 blood ? But more than all that their Redeemer is their 
 head, and they are his members, Eph. v. 23. 30. Though 
 one were so silly as to let his own purchase go, without 
 standing up to defend his right ; yet surely he will not 
 quit a limb of his own body. Is not their case then hope- 
 ful in death, who are so closely linked and allied to the 
 Lord of the other world, who hath the " keys of hell and 
 f death ?"
 
 MiAD n.] State of the godly in death, hopeful. 337 
 
 Secondly, They shall have a safe passage to another 
 world They must indeed go through the " valley of the 
 shadow of death :" but though it be in itself a dark 
 and shady vale, it shall be a valley of hope to them : they 
 shall not be driven through it, but walk through it : as 
 men in perfect safety, who " fear no evil," Psal. viii. 4. 
 Why should they fear ? they have the Lord of the land's 
 safe conduct, his pass sealed with his own blood; name- 
 ly, the blessed covenant, which is the saint's death-bed 
 comfort, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. " Although my house be not 
 so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting 
 covenant, ordered in all things and sure ; fof this is all 
 my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not 
 to grow." Who then can harm them ? It is safe riding in 
 Christ's chariot, (Cant. ii. 9.) both through life and death. 
 They have good and honourable attendants, a guard, 
 even a guard of angels. These encamp about them in 
 the time of their life, and surely will not leave them in 
 the day of their death. These happy ministering 1 spirits 
 are attendants on their Lord s bride, and will doubtless 
 convey her safe home to his house. When friends in 
 mournful mode stand by the saint's bed-side, waiting to 
 see him draw his last breath : his soul is waited for of 
 holy angels, to be carried by them " into Abraham's bo- 
 som," Luke xvi. 22. The captain of the saint's salvation 
 is the captain of this holy guard : he was their guide e- 
 ven unto death, and he will be their guide through it 
 too, Psal. xxiii. 4. Yea, though I walk through the val- 
 ley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou 
 art with me. They may without fear pass that river, 
 being confident it shall not overflow them ; and they may 
 walk through that fire, being sure they shall not be burnt 
 by it. 
 
 Death can do them no harm. It cannot even hurt their 
 bodies : for though it separate the soul from the body ; 
 it cannot separate the body from the Lord Christ. Even 
 death ig to them but "sleep in Jesus/' 1 Thess. hr, I4t. 
 
 2 x
 
 338 State of the godly in death, hopeful. [STATE iv. 
 
 They continue members of Christ, though in a grave. 
 Their dust is precious dust ; laid up in the grave, as in 
 their Lord s cabinet. They lie in a grave mellowing, as 
 precious fruit, laid up to be brought forth to him at the 
 resurrection. The husbandman has corn in his barn, and 
 corn lying in the ground : the latter is more precious to 
 him than the former, because he looks to get it returned 
 with increase. Even so the dead bodies of the saints are 
 valued by their Saviour : they are " sown in corruption, 
 to be raised in incorruption ; sown in dishonour, to be rais- 
 ed in glory/' i Cor. xv 42, 43. It cannot hurt their 
 souls. It is with the souls of the saints at death, as with 
 Paul and his company in their voyage, whereof you have 
 the history, Acts xxvii. The ship was brike in pieces, 
 but the passengers got all safe to land. When the dying 
 saint's speech is laid, his eyes set, and his last breath 
 drawn ; the soul gets safe away to the heavenly paradise, 
 having the body to return to its earth, but in the joyful 
 hope of a re- union at its glorious resurrection. How can 
 death hurt the godly ? It is a foiled enemy. If it cast 
 them down, it is only that they may rise up more glori- 
 ous. Our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished death, 2 
 Tim. i. 10. The soul and life of it is gone : it is but a 
 walking shade, that may fright but cannot hurt saints : 
 it is only the " shadow of death to them ;" it is not the 
 thing itself: their dying is but as dying, or somewhat 
 like dying. The apostle tells us, " It is Christ that di- 
 ed," Rom. viii. 34. Stephen the first Christian martyr, 
 though stoned to death, yet but fell asleep, Acts vii. 60. 
 Certainly, the nature of death is quite changed, with res- 
 pect to the saints. It is not to them, what it was to Je- 
 sus Christ their head : it is not the unvenomed ruinating 
 thing, wrapt up in the sanction of the first covenant, Gen. 
 ii. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt sure- 
 ly die. It comes to the godly without its sting : they 
 may meet it, with that salutation, " O death, where is 
 thy sting ?" Is this Mara ? Is this bitter death ? It went 
 out full into the world, when the first Adam opened the 
 door to it: but the second Adam "hath brought it a-
 
 HEAD II.] Slate of the godly in death, hopeful. 339 
 
 gain empty" to his own people. I feel a sting, may the 
 dying saint say : yet it is hut a bee-sting, stinging only 
 through the skin : hut, O death, where is thy sting, thine 
 oM sting, the serpent's sting, that stings to the heart and 
 soul ? the sting of death is sin : hut that he is taken a- 
 way. If death arrest the saint, and carry him before 
 the judge, to answer for the deht he contracted ; the 
 deht will be found paid by the glorious Cautioneer : and 
 he has the discharge to show. The thorn of guilt is pul- 
 led out by the man's conscience ; and his name is blotted 
 out of the black roll, and written among the living in Je- 
 rusalem. It is true it is a great journey to go through 
 the valley of the shadow of death : but the saint's bur- 
 den is taken away from off his back, his iniquity is par- 
 doned, he may walk at case ; no lion shall be there nor 
 any ravenous beast : the redeemed may walk at leisure 
 there, free from all apprehensions of danger. 
 
 Lastly, They shall have a joyful entrance into the o- 
 ther world. Their arrival in the regions of bliss will be 
 celebrated with rapturous hymns of praise to their glori- 
 ous Redeemer. A dying day is a good day to a godly 
 man. Yea, it is his best day ; it is better to him than 
 liis birth-day, or than the most joyous day he ever had 
 on earth. A good name (says the wise man) is better than 
 precious ointment,, and the day of death, than the day of 
 one's birth, Eccl. vii. 1. The notion of the immortality 
 of the soul, and of future happiness, which obtained a- 
 mong some pagan nations, had wonderful effects on them. 
 Some of them when they mourned for the dead, did sit 
 in women's apparel ; that being moved with the indecen- 
 cy of the garb, they might the sooner lay aside thfir 
 mourning. Others buried them without any lamentation 
 or mourning : but had a sacrifice and a feast for friends 
 upon that occasion. Some were wont to mourn at births 
 and rejoice at burials. But the practice of some Indian 
 nations is yet more strange, of whom it is reported, that 
 upon the husband's decease, his several wives were in use 
 to contend before the judges which of them was the best
 
 State of the godly in death, hopeful. [STATE iv. 
 
 beloved wife : and she in whose favour it was determin- 
 ed with a cheerful countenance, threw herself into the 
 flames prepared tor her husband's corpse, was burned 
 with it. and reckoned happy ; while the rest lived in 
 grief and were accounted miserable But howsoever lame 
 notions of a future state, assisted by pride, affectation or 
 applause, apprehensions oi difficulties in this life, and 
 such like principles proper to depraved human nature, 
 may influence rude uncultivated minds when strengthen- 
 ed by the arts of hi 11 ; O what solid joy and consolation 
 may they, who are true Christians, being in Christ, who 
 " hath brought life and immortality to light through the 
 gospel '" 2 Tim. i. 10. Death is one of the things, that 
 " work together for good to them that love God," Rom. 
 viii. 28. When the body dies, the soul is perfected : the 
 body of death goes off, at the death of the body. What 
 harm did the jailor to Pharaoh's butler, when he 
 opened the prison-door to him and let him out? Is the 
 bird in worse case when at liberty, than when continued 
 in a cage ? Thus, and no worse, are the souls of the saints 
 treated by death. It comes to the godly man as Hainan 
 came to Mordecai with the royal apparel and the horse, 
 Esth.iv. 11. with commission to do them honour; how- 
 soever awkwardly it be performed. I question not but 
 Haman performed the ceremony with a very 511 mien, a 
 pale face, a down look, and a cloudy countenance, and 
 like one who came to hang him, rather than to honour 
 him. But he whom the king delighted to honour, be- 
 loved to be honoured ; and Haman, Mordecai's grand 
 enemy, must be the man employed to put this honour up- 
 on him. Glory, glory, glory, blessing and praise to our 
 Redeemer, our Saviour, our ediator, by whose death, 
 grim devouring death is made to do such a good office 
 to those, whom it might otherwise have hurried away in 
 their wickedness, to utter and eternal destruction. A 
 dying day, is in itself a joyful day to the godly ; it is 
 their redemption day, when the captives are delivered, 
 when the prisoners are set free. It is the day of the pil- 
 grim's corning home from their pilgrimage ; the day in
 
 JHEAD II.] An objection answered 841 
 
 which the heirs of glory return from their travels, to 
 their own country and their Father's house ; and enter 
 into actual possession of the glorious inheritance. It :s 
 their marriage day. Now is the time of espousals 
 then the marriage is consummate, and the marriage- 
 feast begun, which has no period. If so, is not the state 
 of the godly in death, a hopeful state ? 
 
 Objection, But if the state of the godly in their dezith 
 be so hopeful, how comes it to pass that many of them, 
 when dying, are full of fears, and have little hope ? An- 
 swer, It must be owned, that saints d>> not all die in one 
 and the same manner ; there is a diversity among them 
 as well as among the wicked ; yet the worst case of a dy- 
 ing saint is indeed a hopeful one. Some die triumphant- 
 ly in a "ull assurance of faith, 2 Tim. iv. 6. * The tuu 
 pf my departure is at hand." ver. 7. ** I have fought a 
 good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept tt:e 
 faith." ver. 8. " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
 of righteousness. ' 1 hey get a taste of the joys of heaven, 
 while here on earth ; and begin the songs of Zion, while 
 yet in a strange land. Others die in a soli;* fiducial de- 
 pendence on their Lord and Saviour ; though they can- 
 not sing triumphantly, yet they can and will say tonfi. 
 dently, " The Lord is their God." Though they cam.ut 
 triumph over death with old Simeon, having Christ in his 
 arms, and saying. Lord, now tettest thou thy servant dip .rt 
 in peace, according to thy word. For mine eyes hove seen 
 thy salvation, Luke i . 29, 30. Yet they ran say with dy- 
 ing Jacob, " I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord,* 
 Gen. xlix. 8. His left hand is under their head, to support 
 them ; though hts right hand doth not embrace them ; 
 they firmly believe, though they are not filled with joy 
 in believing. They can plead the covenant, and hang by 
 the promise, " although their house is not so with God,* 
 as i hey could wish. But the dying day of some saints may 
 be lik? that day mentioned, Zech. xiv. 7 " Not day nor 
 night." They may die under great doubts and fears ; set- 
 ting, as it were in a cloud, and going to heaven in a mist. 
 They may go mourning without the sun, and never put
 
 342 Cases answered. [STATE IV; 
 
 off their spirit of heaviness, till death strip them of it. 
 They may be carried to heaven through the confines of 
 hell ; and may be pursued by the devouring lion, even to 
 the very gates of the new Jerusalem ; and may be com- 
 pared to a ship almost wrecked in the sight of the har- 
 bour, which yet gets safe into their port, 1 Cor. iii. 15. 
 " If any man's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss ; 
 but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire/' There 
 is safety amidst their fears, but danger in the wicked's 
 strong confidence ; and there is a blessed seed of gladness 
 in their greatest sorrows, " light is sown for the n.J.te- 
 ous, and gladness for the upright in heart," Psal. xcvii. 1 J . 
 
 Now saints are liable to such perplexity in their death, 
 because though they be Christians indeed, yet they are 
 men of like passions with others ; and death is a frigtful 
 object in itself, whatever dress it appears in ; the stern 
 countenance, with which it looks at mortals, can hardly 
 miss of causing them to shrink. Moreover the saints are 
 of all men the most jealous of themselves. They think of 
 eternity, and of a tribunal, more deeply than others do ; 
 with them it is a more serious thing to die, than the rest 
 of mankind are aware of. They know the deceits of the 
 heart, the subtleties of depraved human nature, better 
 than others do. And therefore they may have much ado 
 to keep up hope on a death-bed ; while others pass off 
 quietly, like sheep to the slaughter : the rather that Sa- 
 tan, who useth all his art to support the hopes of the hy- 
 pocrite, will do his utmost to mar the peace and increase 
 the fears of the saint. Finally, the bad frame of the spi- 
 rit and ill condition, in which death sometimes seizeth a 
 true Christian, may cause this perplexity. By his being 
 in the state of grace, he is indeed always habitually pre- 
 pared for death, and his dying safely is endured ; but 
 there is more requisite to his actual preparation and dy- 
 ing comfortably ; his spirit must be in good condition too. 
 
 Wherefore there are three cases, in which death can- 
 not but be very uncomfortable to a child of God. (1.) If 
 it seize him at a time when the guilt of some particular
 
 ii.] Cases answered. 343 
 
 sin. unrepented of, is lying on his conscience ; and death 
 comes on that very account, to take him out of th j land 
 of the living ; as was the case with many of the Corin- 
 thian believers, 1 Cor. xi. SO. " For this cause, (namely, 
 of unworthy communicating) many are weak and sickly 
 among you, and many sleep." If a person is surprised 
 with the approach of death, while lying under the guilt 
 of some unpardoned sin, it cannot but cause a mighty 
 consternation ( ( 2) When death catches him napping. 
 The midnight cry must be frightful to sleeping virgins. 
 The man who lies in a ruinous house, and awakens not 
 till Lhe timber begin to crack, and the stones to drop 
 down about his ears, may indeed get out of it safely but 
 not without fears of being crushed by its fall. When a 
 Christian has been going on in a course of security and 
 backsliding ; and awakens not till death comes to his bed- 
 side ; it is 'no marvel if he get a fearful- awakening. 
 Lastly, When he has lost sight of his saving interest in 
 Christ, and cannot produce evidences of his title to hea- 
 ven. It is hard to meet death without some evidence of 
 a title to eternal life at hand : hard to go through the 
 dark valley without the candle of the Lord shining up- 
 on the head It is a terrible adventure to launch out in- 
 to eternity, when a man can make no better of it than to 
 leap in the dark, not knowing where he shall light, whe- 
 ther in heaven or hell. 
 
 Nevertheless, the state of the saints in their death is 
 always in itself hopeful. The presumptuous hopes of the 
 ungodly in their death cannot make their state hopeful : 
 neither can the hopelessness of a saint make his state 
 hopeless ; for God judgeth according to the truth of the 
 thing, not according to men's opinion about it. Howbeit, 
 the saints can no more be altogether without hope, than 
 they can be altogether without faith. Their faith may be 
 very weak but it fails not ; and their hope very low, yet 
 they will and do hope to the end. Even while the godly 
 seem to be carried away with the stream of doubts and 
 fears, there remains still as much hope as determines
 
 (Bases answered. [STATB ir. 
 
 them to lay hold on the tree of life, that grows on the 
 banks of the river, Jonah ii. 4. " Then 1 said, I am cast 
 out of thy sight ; yet I will look again toward thy tem- 
 ple." 
 
 Use. This speaks comfort to the godly against the* 
 fear of death. A godly man may be called a happy man 
 before his death ; because, whatever befal him in life, he 
 shall certainly be happy at death. You who are in Christ, 
 who are true Christians, have hope in your end, and 
 such a hope as may comfort you against all those fears 
 which arise from the consideration of a dying hour. 
 This I shall branch out, in answering some cases briefly. 
 
 Case I. The prospect of death (will some of the saints 
 say) is uneasy to me, not knowing what shall become of 
 my family when I am gone. Answer The righteous 
 hath hope in his death as to his family as well as himself. 
 Although you have little for the present to live upon, 
 which have been the case of God's chosen ones, 1 Cor. iv. 
 11 " We (namely the apostles, ver. 9. both hunger and 
 thirst, and are naked, and are buffetted, and have no 
 certain dwelling place ;" and though you have nothing 
 to leave them, as was the case of that son of the pro- 
 phets, " who did fear the Lord," and yet died in debt 
 which .he was unable to pay ; as his poor widow repre- 
 sents, 2 Kings, iv 1. Yet you a good friend to leave 
 them to, a covenanted God to whom you may confident- 
 ly commit them, Jer. xlix. 11. Leave thy fatherless chil- 
 dren, 1 will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust 
 in me.. The world can bear witness of signal settlements 
 maHe upon the children of providence ; such as by their 
 pious parents have been cast upon God's providential 
 care. It has been often remarked, that they wanted nei- 
 ther provision nor education. Moses is an eminent in- 
 stance of this. He albeit he was an outcast infant (Ex- 
 od ii. 3.) yet was " learned in all the wisdom of the 
 Egyptians." Acts vii. 22. and became king in .Jeshurun, 
 Dent, xxxiii. 5. O ! may we not be ashamed, that we 
 fio not securely trust him with the eoncerng of our fami-
 
 HEAD ii.] Cases answered. 345 
 
 *" y 
 
 lies to whom, as our Saviour and Redeemer, we have com- 
 mitted our eternal interests ? 
 
 Case II. Death will take us away from our dear friends ; 
 yea, we shall not see the Lord in the land of the living., 
 in the blessed ordinances. Answer, It will take you to 
 your best friend, the Lord Christ. And the friends you 
 leave behind you, if they be indeed persons of worth, you 
 will meet again, when they come to heaven, and you will 
 never be separated any more. If death take you away 
 from the temple below, it will carry you to the temple 
 above. It will indeed take you from the streams, but 
 it will set you down by the fountain. If it put out your 
 candle, it will carry you where there is no night, where 
 there is an eternal day. 
 
 Case III. I have so much ado in time of health, to 
 satisfy myself as to my interest in Christ, about my be- 
 ing a real Christian, a regenerate man, that I judge it is 
 almost impossible I should die comfortable. Answer, If 
 it is thus with you, then double your diligence " to make 
 your calling and election sure." Endeavour to grow in, 
 knowledge, and walk closely with God : be diligent in 
 self-examination, and pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit, 
 whereby you may know the things freely given you of 
 God. If you are enabled by the power and spirit of Christ 
 thus diligently to prosecute your spiritual concerns, 
 though the time of your life be neither day nor night, 
 " yet at evening-time it may be light." Many weak 
 Christians indulge doubts and fears about their spiritual 
 state, as if they placed at least some part of religion in 
 this imprudent practice ; but towards the period of life, 
 they are forced to think and act in another manner. The 
 traveller who reckons he has time to spare, may stand 
 still debating with himself, whether this or the other be 
 the right way : but when the. sun begins to set, he is 
 forced to lay aside his scruples, and resolutely to go for- 
 ward in the road he judges to be the right one, lest he 
 iie all night in the open fields. Thug some Christians. 
 
 2 Y
 
 346 Case answered. [STATE iv. 
 
 who perplex themselves much through the course of 
 their lives, with jealous doubts and fears, content them- 
 selves when they come to die, with such evidences of 
 the safety of their state, as they could not be satisfied 
 with before ; and by disputing less against themselves, 
 and believing more, court the peace they formerly re- 
 jected, and gain it too. 
 
 Case IV. I am under a sad decay, in respect of my 
 spiritual condition. Answer, Bodily consumptions may 
 make death easy : but it is not so in spiritual decays. I 
 will not say that a godly man cannot be in such a case 
 when he dies ; but I believe it is rarely so. Ordinarily 
 (I suppose) a cry comes t waken sleeping virgins, before 
 death comes. Samson is set to grind in the prison, until 
 his locks grow again. David and Solomon fell under 
 great spiritual decays ; but before they died they recover- 
 ed their spiritual strength and vigour. However, bestir 
 ye yourselves without delay, to strengthen the things 
 that remain : your fright will be the less, that ye awake 
 from spiritual sleep, before death come to your bed-side: 
 and you ought to lose no time, seeing you know not how 
 soon death may seize you. 
 
 Case V. It is terrible to think of the other world, that 
 world of spirits, which I have so little acquaintance with. 
 Answer, Thy best friend is the Lord of that other world 
 Abraham's bosom is kindly even to these who never saw 
 his face. After death thy soul becomes capable of con- 
 verse with the blessed inhabitants of that other world. 
 The spirits of just men made perfect, weie once such as 
 thy spirit now is. And as for the angels, howsoever they 
 be of a superior nature in the rank of beings, yet our 
 nature is dignified above theirs, in the man Christ ; and 
 they are, all of them, thy Lord's servants, and so thj 
 fellow-servants. 
 
 Case VI. The pangs of death are terrible. Answer, 
 Yet not so terrible as pangs of conscience, caused by a 
 piercing sense of guilt and apprehensions of divine wrath, 
 with which I suppose thee to be not altogether unac-
 
 HEAD ii.] Case answered. #47 
 
 quaiuted. But who would not endure bodily sickness, 
 that the soul may become sound, and every whit whole ? 
 Each pang of death will set sin a step nearer the door, 
 and with the last breath the body of sin will breathe out 
 its last. The pains of death will not last long ; and the 
 Lord thy God will not leave, but support thee under 
 them. 
 
 Case VII. But I am like to be cut off in the midst of 
 my days. Answer, Do not complain, you will be the soon- 
 er at home ; you thereby have the advantage of your 
 fellow-labourers, who were at work before you in the 
 vineyard. God, in the course of his providence, hides 
 some of his saints early in the grave, that they may be 
 taken away from the evil to come. An early removal out 
 of this world, prevents much sin and misery ; and they 
 have no ground of complaint, who get the residue of 
 their years in ImanueFs lane'. Surely thou shalt live as 
 long as thou hast work cut out for thee by the great 
 Master, to be done for him in this world, and when that 
 is at an end, it is high time to be gone. 
 
 Case VIII. I am afraid of sudden death. Answer, Thou 
 mayest indeed die so. Good Eli died suddenly, 1 Sam. 
 iv. 18. Yet death found him watching, ver. 13. "Watch 
 therefore, for ye know not at what hour the Lord doth 
 come," Matt. xxiv. 42. But be not afraid, it is an in- 
 expressible comfort, that death, coine when it will, can 
 never catch thee out of Christ ; and therefore can never 
 seize thee, as a jailer, to hurry thee into the prison of 
 hell. Sudden death may hasten and facilitate thy passage 
 to heaven, but can do thee no prejudice. 
 
 Case IX. I am afraid it may be my lot to die want- 
 ing the exercise of reason. Answer, I make no question 
 but a child of God, a true Christian, may die in this case. 
 But what harm ? There is no hazard in it, as to his eter- 
 nal state : a disease at death may divest him of his rea- 
 son, but not of his religion. When a man going a long 
 voyage, has put his aifairs in order, and put all his goods 
 aboard, lie himself may be carried aboard the ship sleep-
 
 34-8 Considerations, <|r. [STATE iv. 
 
 ing: all is safe with him, although he knows not where 
 he is, till he awakes in the ship. Even so the godly man 
 who dies in this case, may die uncomfortably, but not 
 unsafely. 
 
 Case X. I am naturally timorous, and the very 
 thoughts of death are terrible to me. Answer, The less 
 you think on death, the thoughts of it will be the more 
 frightful : but make it familiar to you by frequent medi- 
 tations upon it, and you may hereby allay your fears. 
 Look at the white and bright side of the cloud : take 
 faith's view of the city that hath foundations ; so shall you 
 see hope in your death. Be duly affected with the body 
 of sin and death, the frequent interruptions of your com- 
 munion with God, and with the glory which dwells on 
 the other side death : this will contribute much to re- 
 move slavish fear. 
 
 It is pity saints should be so fond of life as they often 
 are : they ought to be always on good terms with death. 
 When matters are duly considered, it might well be ex- 
 pected every child of God, every regenerate man, should 
 generously profess concerning this life, what Job did, 
 chap. vii. 16. 1 loathe it, I would not live always. In order 
 to gain their hearts to this desirable temper, I offer the 
 following additional considerations. 
 
 First, Consider the sinfulness that attends life in this 
 world. While ye live here, ye sin, and see others sin- 
 ning. Ye breathe infectious air. Ye live in a pest- 
 house. Is it at all strange to loathe such a life ? (1.) 
 Your own plague-sores are running on you. Doth not 
 the sin of your nature make you groan daily ? Are you 
 not sensible, that though the cure be begun, it is yet far 
 from being perfected ? Has not the leprosy got into the 
 walls of the house, which cannot be removed without 
 pulling it down ? Is not your nature so vitiate, that no 
 less than the separation of the soul from the body can 
 root out the disease ? Have ye not your sores without, 
 as well as your sickness within ? Do ye not leave marks 
 of your pollution, on whatsoever passes through your
 
 HEAD n.] Considerations, ^c. S49 
 
 hands ? Are not all your actions tainted and blemished 
 with defects and imperfections ? Who else then should 
 be much in love with life, but such whose sickness is 
 their health, and who glory in their shame / (2.) The 
 loathsome sores of others are always before your eyes go 
 where you will. The follies and wickedness of men are 
 every where conspicuous, and make but an upleasant 
 scene. This sinful world is but an unsightly company, 
 a disagreeable crowd, in which the most loathsome are 
 the most numerous. (3.) Are not your own sores oft- 
 times breaking out again after healing? Frequent re- 
 lapses may well cause us to remit our fondness for this 
 life. To be ever struggling, and anon falling into the 
 mire again, makes weary work. Do ye never wish for 
 cold death, thereby effectually to cool the heat of these 
 lusts, which often take fire again ; even after aTflood of 
 godly sorrow has gone over them f (-4.) Do not ye some- 
 times infect others, and others infect you ? There is no 
 society in the world, in which every member of it doth 
 not sometimes lay a stumbling-block before the rest. 
 The best carry about with them the tinder of a corrupt 
 nature which they cannot be rid of while they live, and 
 which is liable to be kindled at all times, and in all 
 places : yea, they are apt to inflame others, and become 
 the occasions of sinning. Certainly these things are apt 
 to embitter this life to the saints. 
 
 Secondly, Consider the misery and troubles that at- 
 tend it. Rest is desirable, but it is not to be found on 
 this side of the grave. Worldly troubles attend all men 
 in this life. This world is a sea of trouble, where one 
 wave rolls upon another. They who fancy themselves 
 beyond the reach of trouble, are mistaken : no state, no 
 stage of life, is exempted from it. The crowned head 
 is surrounded with thorny cares. Honour many times 
 paves the way to deep disgrace : riches, for the most 
 part, are kept to the hurt of the owners. The fairest 
 rose wants not prickles, and the heaviest cross is some* 
 times found wrapt up in the greatest earthly comfort.
 
 350 Directions how to [STATE if. 
 
 Spiritual troubles attend the saints in this life. They 
 are like travellers travelling in a cloudy night, in which 
 the moon sometimes breaks out from under one cloud, 
 bat quickly hides her head again under another : no 
 wonder they long to be at their journey's end. The 
 sudden alterations the best frame of spirit is liable t(\ 
 the perplexing doubts, confounding fears, short-lived 
 joys, and long-running sorrows, which have a certain af- 
 finity with the present life, must needs create in the 
 saints a desire to be with Christ, which is best of all. 
 
 Lastly., Consider the great imperfections attending 
 this life. While the soul is lodged in this cottage of clay, 
 the necessities of the body are many, it is always crav- 
 ing. The mud walls must be repaired and patched up 
 daily, till the clay cottage fall down for good and all. 
 Eating, drinking, sleeping, and the like, are in them- 
 selves but mean employments for a rational creature, 
 and will be reputed such by the heaven-born soul. They 
 are badges of imperfection, and as such, unpleasant to 
 the mind, aspiring unto that life and immortality which 
 is brought to light throught the gospel ; and would be 
 very grievous, if this state of things were of long con- 
 tinuance. Doth not the gracious soul often find itself 
 yoked with the body, as with a companion in travel, un- 
 able to keep pace with it ? When the spirit is willing 
 the flesh is weak. When the soul would mount upward, 
 the body is a clog upon it, and as a stone tied to the 
 foot of a bird attempting to fly. The truth is, O believer, 
 thy soul in this body is, at best, but like a diamond in 
 a ring, where much of it is obscured : it is far sunk in, 
 the vile clay, till relieved by death. 
 
 I conclude this subject with a few directions, how to 
 prepare for death, so as we may die comfortably. I 
 speak not here of habitual preparation for death, which 
 a true Christian, in virtue of his gracious state, never 
 wants, from the time he is born again and united to 
 Christ : but of actual preparation, or readiness in respect 
 of his circumstantiate case, frame, and disposition of
 
 HI AD ii.] prepare for death. 351 
 
 mind and spirit : the want of which makes even a saint 
 very unfit to die. 
 
 First, Let it be your constant care to keep a cleaa 
 conscience, a conscience void of offence toward God and 
 toward man, Acts xxir. 16. Beware of a standing con- 
 troversy betwixt God and you, on the account of some 
 iniquity regarded in the heart. When an honest man is 
 about to leave his country, and not to return, he settle* 
 accounts with those he had dealing with, and lays down 
 methods for paying his debts timeously, lest he be reck- 
 oned a bankrupt, and be attacked by an officer when he 
 is going off. Guilt lying on the conscience is a fountain 
 of fears, and will readily sting severely, when death 
 stares the criminal in the face. Hence it is, that many, 
 even of God's children, when dying, are made to wish 
 passionately, and desire eagerly, that they may live to 
 do what they ought to have done before that time. 
 Wherefore walk closely with God, be diligent, strict, a.nd 
 exact in your course ; beware of loose, careless, and ir- 
 regular conversation, as ye would not lay up for your- 
 selves anguish and bitterness of spirit, in a dying hour. 
 And because, through the infirmity cleaving to us, in our 
 present state of imperfection, " in many things we of- 
 fend all," renew your repentance daily, and be ever 
 washing in the Redeemer's blood. As long as ye are in 
 the world, ye will need " to wash your feet," John xiii. 
 10. that is to make application of the blood of Christ a- 
 new for purging your consciences from the guilt of daily 
 miscarriages. Let death find you at the fountain ; and, 
 if so, it will find you ready to answer its call. 
 
 Secondly, Be always watchful, waiting for your change, 
 " Like unto men that wait for their Lord, that when he 
 cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immedi- 
 ately," Luke xii. 26. Beware of " slumbering and sleep- 
 ing, while the bridegroom tarries." To be awakened 
 out of spiritual slumber, by a surprising call to pass into 
 another world, is a very frightful thing : but he, who is 
 daily " waiting for the coming of his Lord," shall com-
 
 S52 Directions how to [STATE iv. 
 
 fortably receive the grim messenger, while he beholds 
 him ushering in him, of whom he may confidently say, 
 " This is my God, and I have waited for him." The 
 way to die comfortably is " to die daily." Be often as- 
 saying (as it were) to die. Bring yourselves familiarly 
 acquainted with death, by making many visits to the 
 grave, in serious meditations upon it. This was Job's 
 practice, chap. xvii. 15, 14. " I have made my bed in 
 darkness." Go thou and do likewise ; and when death 
 comes thou shalt have nothing ado but to lie down. " I 
 have said to corruption thou art my father; to the 
 worm thou art my mother and my sister." Do thou say 
 so too, and thou wilt be the fitter to go home to their 
 house. Be frequently reflecting upon your conduct, 
 and considering, what course of life you wish to be 
 found in, when death arrests you, and act accordingly. 
 When you do the duties of your station in life, or are 
 employed in acts of worship, think with yourselves that 
 it may be, this is the last opportunity, and therefore as if 
 you were never to do more of that kind. When you lay 
 down at night, compose your spirits, as if you were not 
 to awake, till the heavens be no more. And when you 
 awake in the morning, consider that new day as your 
 last, and live accordingly. Surely that night cometh, 
 of which you will never see the morning ; or that morn- 
 ing, of which you will never see the night. But which 
 of your mornings or nights will be such, you know not. 
 
 Thirdly, Employ yourselves much in weaning your 
 hearts from the world. The man, who is making ready 
 to go abroad, busies himself in taking leave of his friends. 
 Let the mantle of earthly enjoyments hang loose about 
 you ; that it may be easily dropt, when death comes to 
 carry you away into another world. Moderate your af- 
 fections towards your lawful comforts of life ; and let 
 not your heart be too much taken with them. The 
 traveller acts unwisely, who suffers himself to be so al- 
 lured with the conveniences of the inn, where he lodgeth, 
 as to make his necessary departure from it grievous. 
 Feed with fear, and walk through the world as pilgrims
 
 n.] prepare for deafh. 353 
 
 and strangers. Like as. when the corn -s i'orsakin;; the 
 ground, it is ready for the sickle , wlien t!ie fruit is rij>e, 
 it falls off the tree easily : so when a Christian's hnrt 
 is truly weaned from the world, he is prepared for death; 
 and it will be the more easy to him. A heart disengaged 
 from the world is an heavenly one: and then are we 
 ready for heaven, when '* our heart is there," before 
 us, Matt. vi. 21. 
 
 Fourthly, Be diligent in gathering and laying up evi- 
 denres of your title to heaven, for your support and com- 
 fort at the hour of death. The neglect hereof mars the 
 joy and consolation, which some Christians might other- 
 wise have at their death. Wherefore examine yourselves 
 frequently as to your spiritual state ; that evidences, 
 which lie hid and unobserved, may be brought to light 
 and taken notice of And if you would manage this 
 work successfully, make solemn serious work of it. Set 
 apart some time for it. And, after earnest prayer to 
 God, through Jesus Christ, for the enlightening influ- 
 ences of his Holy Spirit, whereby ye may be enabled to 
 understand his own word, and to discern his own work 
 in our souls ; sift yourselves before the tribunal of your 
 consciences, that ye may judge yourselves in this 
 weighty matter. 
 
 And in the first place, Let the marks of a regenerate 
 state be fixed, from the Lord's word : and have recourse 
 to some particular text for that purpose : such as Prov. 
 viii. 17. "I love them that love me." Compare Luke 
 xiv. 26. " If any man come to me, and hate not his fa- 
 ther and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
 and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my 
 disciple." Psal. cxix. 6, " Then shall I not be ashamed: 
 when I have respect unto all thy commandments." Psal. 
 xviii. 23. " I was also upright before him : and I kept 
 myself from mine iniquity." Compare Rom. vii. 22, 23, 
 " For I delight in the law of God, after the inward mam 
 but I see another law in my members, warring against 
 
 2 z
 
 3,34. Directions how to [STATB iv. 
 
 the law of my mind, <$;<?. 1 John iii. 3. " And every man 
 that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he 
 is pure " Matt. v. 3. ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, for 
 theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Phil. iii. 3. " For we 
 are the circumcision which worship (or serve) God in 
 the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no con- 
 fidence in the flesh." The sum of the evidence arising 
 from these texts lies here. A real Christian is one who 
 loves God for himself, as well as for his benefits; and 
 that with a supreme love, above all persons, and all 
 things : he has an awful and partial regard to God's 
 commands : he opposeth and wrestleth against that sin, 
 which of all other, most easily besets him : he approveth 
 and loveth the holy law, even in that very point where- 
 in it strikes against his most beloved lust : his hope of 
 heaven engageth him in the study of universal holiness ; 
 in the which he aims at perfection, though he cannot 
 reach it in life : he serves the Lord, not only in acts of 
 worship, but in the whole of his conversation : and, as 
 to both is spiritual in the principle, motive, aims, and 
 ends of his service : yet he sees nothing in himself to 
 trust to, before the Lord : Christ and his fulness is the 
 stay of his soul : and his confidence is cut off from all 
 that is not Christ, or in Christ, in point of justification, 
 or acceptance with God ; and in point of sanctification 
 too. Every one in whom these characters are found has a 
 title, to heaven, according to the word. It is convenient 
 and profitable to mark such texts, for this special use, as 
 they occur, while you read the scriptures, or hear ser- 
 mons. The marks of a regenerate state thus fixed ; in 
 the next place, impartially search and try your own 
 hearts thereby, as in the sight of God, with dependence 
 on him for spiritual discerning, that ye may know whe- 
 ther they be in you or not. And when you find them, 
 form the conclusion deliberately and distinctly ; namely, 
 that therefore you are regenerate, and have a title to 
 heaven. Thus you may gather evidences. But be sure 
 to have recourse to God in Christ, by earnest prayer, 
 for the testimony of the Spirit, whose office it is to " bear
 
 HEAD ii.] prepare for dcaih. 355 
 
 witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God," 
 Rom. viii. 16. Moreover, carefully observe the course 
 and method of providence towards you ; and likewise, 
 how your soul is affected under the same, in the various 
 steps thereof. Compare both with scripture-doctrines, 
 promises, threaten ings, and examples ; so shall you per- 
 ceive, if the Lord deals with you as he useth to do unto 
 those that love his name," and if you be " going forth by 
 the footsens of the flock."' This may afford you com- 
 fortable evidence. Walk tenderly and circumspectly, 
 and the Lord will " manifest himself to you " according 
 to in* promise, John xiv. 2J. "He that hath my com- 
 mandments, and keepeth them, he it is that lovath me ; 
 and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my father ; and 
 I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. But 
 it is in vain to think of successful self-examination, if ye 
 be loose and irregular in your conversation. 
 
 Lastly, Dispatch the work of your day and genera- 
 tion with speed and diligence. " David, after he had 
 served his own generation by the will of God, fell on 
 lleep," Acts xiii. 36. God has allotted us certain pieces 
 of work of this kind, which ought to be dispatched be- 
 fore the time of working be over, Eccl. ix. 10 "What- 
 soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for 
 there is no work, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the 
 grave, whither thou goest," Gal. vi. 10, "As we have 
 therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, es- 
 pecially unto them who are of the household of faith." 
 If a passenger, after he has got on ship-board, and the 
 ship is getting under sail, remember that he has omitted 
 to dispatch a piece of necessary business when he was a- 
 sbore, it must needs be uneasy to him : even so, reflec- 
 tion in a dying hour, upon neglected seasons, and lost 
 opportunities, cannot fail to disquiet a Christian. Where- 
 fore, whatever is incumbent upon thee to do for God's 
 honour and the good of others, either as the duty of 
 thy station, or by special opportunity put into thy hand, 
 perform it seasonably, if thou wouldest die comfortably.
 
 H F, A D ITF. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 JOHN v. 28, 20. 
 
 Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in which all that are iit 
 the graves tha/l hear his vo ce : 
 
 Ami Ahull comefoith, : iiey that have done good, unto the resurrection 
 of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. 
 
 THESE words are part of the defence our Lord 
 Jesus Christ makes for 'himself, when persecuted 
 by the Jews, for curing the impotent man, and ordering 
 him to carry away his bed on the sabbath : and for vin- 
 dicating his conduct when accused by them of having 
 thereby profaned that day. On this occasion he profes- 
 seth himself not only Lord of the sabbath, but also Lord 
 of life and death ; declaring, in the words of the text, 
 the resurrection of the dead to be brought to pass by his 
 power. This he introduced with these words, as with a 
 solemn preface Marvel not at this : i. e. at this strange 
 discourse of mine : do not wonder to hear me. whose ap- 
 pearance is so very mean in your eyes, talk at this rate ; 
 for the day is coming, in which the dead shall be raised 
 up in my power. 
 
 Observe in this text, (1.) The doctrine of the resur- 
 rection asserted : All that are in the graves shall hear his 
 voice, and shall come forth. The dead bodies, which are 
 reduced to dust, shall revive, and evidence life by hear- 
 ing and moving. (2.) The author of it. Jesus Christ, 
 " the Son of Man," ver. 27. The dead shall hear his 
 voice, and be raised thereby. (3 ) The number that shall 
 be raised, " All that are in the graves," i. e. all the dead
 
 HEAD in.] Possibility of the resurrection. S57 
 
 bodies of men, howsoever differently disposed of, as it 
 were, in different kinds of graves ; or all the dead, good 
 and bad. They are not all buried in graves, properly so 
 called: some are burnt to ashes : some drowned, and 
 buried in the bellies of fishes ; yea, some devoured by 
 man-eaters, called cannibals : but wheresoever the mat- 
 ter or substance of which the body was composed, is to 
 be found, thence they shall come forth. (4.) The givat 
 distinction that shall be made betwixt the i;-o!ly and the 
 wicked. They shall indeed both rise again " in the re- 
 surrection." None of the godly shall be missing, though, 
 perhaps, they either had no burial, or a very obscure one : 
 and all the wicked shall come forth ; their vaulted tombs 
 shall hold them no longer than the voice is uttered. But 
 the former shall have a joyful resurrection to life, whilst 
 the latter have a dreadful resurrection to damnation. 
 Lastly. The set time of this great evrnt : there is an 
 hour, or certain fixed period of time, appointed of God 
 for it. We are not told when that hour will be, but that 
 it is coming ; for this, among other reasons, that we may 
 always be ready. 
 
 DOCTRINE, TH^RE SHALL BE A RESURRECTION OF 
 
 THE DEAD 
 
 In discoursing of this subject, I shall first show the 
 certainty of the resurrection ; next. I shall inqu ; re into 
 the nature of it ; and, lastly, make some practical im- 
 provement of the whole. 
 
 I. In showing the certainty of the resurrection, I shall 
 evince, (1.) That God can raise the dead. And (2.) That 
 he will do it ; which are the two grounds or topics laid 
 down bv Christ himself, when disputing with the Saddu- 
 cees, Matt. xxii. 29, Jesus answered and xaid unra them. 
 Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of 
 God. 
 
 First, Seeing God is almighty, surely he can raise the 
 dead. We have instances of this powerful work tf
 
 S5S Possibility of the resurrection. [STATE iv. 
 
 both in the Old and New Testament. The son of the 
 widow in Sarepta was raised from the dead, 1 Kings xvii. 
 22. The Shunamites's son, 2 Kings iv. 35. And the 
 man " cast into the sepulchre of Elisha," chap. xiii. 2S. 
 In which we may observe a gradation, the second of these 
 miraculous events being more illustrious than the first, 
 and the third than the second. The first of these persons 
 was raised when he was but newly dead ; the prrphet 
 Elijah, who raised him, being present at his <c cease. 
 The second, when he bad lain dead a considerable t : me ; 
 namely, while his mother travelled from Shunt. m to- 
 mount Carmel (reckoned about the distance of sateen 
 miles,) and returned from thence to her house with Eli- 
 aha, who raised him. The last, not till they were bury- 
 ing him, and the corpse was cast into the prophet's grave. 
 In like manner, in the New Testament, Jairus's daugh- 
 ter, (Mark v. 41.) and Dorcas, (Acts ix. 40.) were both 
 raised to life, when lately dead ; the widow's son in Nain, 
 when they were carrying him out to bury him, Luke vii. 
 11, 15. And Lazarus, when stinking in the grave, John 
 xi. 39, 44. 
 
 Can men make curious glasses out of ashes, reduce 
 flowers into ashes, and raise them again out of these ash- 
 es, restoring them to their former beauty ? and cannot 
 the great Creator, who made all things of nothing, raise 
 man's body, after it is reduced into dust ? If it be ob- 
 jected, How can men's bodies be raised up again, after 
 they are resolved into dust, and the ashes of many gene- 
 rations are mingled together ? Scripture and reason fur- 
 nish the answer ; With men it is impossible, but not 
 with God. It is absurd for men to deny that God can 
 do a thing, because they see not how it may be done. 
 How small a portion do we know of his ways ! How ab- 
 solutely incapable are we of conceiving distinctly of the 
 extent of almighty power, and much more of compre- 
 hending its actings, and the method of procedure ! I ques- 
 tion not but illiterate men are as great infidels to manj 
 chemical experiments as some learned men are to the
 
 HIAD in.] * Possibility of the resurrection. 359 
 
 doctrine of the resurrection ; and as these last are ready- 
 to dc'rid: 1 the former, " so the Lord will have them in 
 derision." What a mystery was it to the Indians, that 
 the Europeans could, by a piece of paper, converse to- 
 gether at the distance of some hundreds of milts ? And 
 how much were they astonished to see them, with their 
 guns, produce, as it were, thunder and lightning in a 
 moment, and at pleasure kill men afar off? Shall some 
 men do such things as are wonders in the eyes of others, 
 because they cannot comprehend them ; and shall men 
 confine the infinite power of God within the narrow 
 boundaries of their own shallow capacity, in a matter 
 no ways contrary to reason ? An inferior nature has 
 but a very imperfect conception of the power 01 a supe- 
 rior. Brutes do not conceive of the actings of reason in 
 men ; and men have but lame notions of the power of 
 angels : how low and inadequate a conception then, must 
 a finite nature have of the power of that which is infin- 
 ite ! Though we cannot conceive how God acts, yet we 
 ought to believe he can do above what we can think or 
 conceive of. 
 
 Wherefore let the bodies of men be laid in the grave ; 
 let them rot there, and be resolved into the most minute 
 particles ; or let them be burnt, and the ashes cast into 
 rivers, or thrown up -into the air, to be scattered by the 
 wind : let the dust of a thousand generations be mingled, 
 and the streams of the dead bodies wander to and fro in 
 the air ; let birds or wild beasts eat the dead bodies, or 
 the fishes of the sea devour them, so that the parts of 
 human bodies thus destroyed, pass into substantial parts 
 of birds, beasts, or fishes : or what is more than that, let 
 man-eaters, who themselves must die, and rise again, 
 devour human bodies ; and let others devour them a- 
 gain, and then let our modern Sadducees propose the 
 question in these cases, as the ancient Sadducees did in 
 the case of the woman who had been married to seven 
 husbands successively, Matt. xxii. 28. We answer, as 
 ur blessed Lord and Saviour did, ver. 29. " Ye do err,
 
 Possibility of the resurrection. [STATE iv, 
 
 pot knowing- the scriptures, nor the power of God." ~ 
 We believe Gad to be omniscient, and omnipotent ; in- 
 fi lite in knowledge and in power : and hence, agreeable 
 to the dictates of reason, we conclude the possibility of 
 the resurrection, even in the cases supposed. 
 
 Material things may change their forms and shapes, 
 may be resolved into the principles of which they are 
 formed ; but they are not annihilated, or reduced to no- 
 thing ; nor can they be so, by any created power : God 
 is omniscient, ' his understanding is infinite :" therefore 
 he knows all things whatsoever ; what they were at any 
 time, what they are, and where they are to be found. 
 Though the country-man, who comes into the apotheca- 
 ry's shop, cannot find out the drug he wants ; yet the 
 apothecary himself knows what he has in his shop, 
 whence it came, and where it is to be found. And in a 
 mingle of many different seeds, the expert gardener can 
 distinguish betwixt seed and seed. Why then may not 
 Omniscience distinguish betwixt dust and dust ? Can 
 he. who knows all things to perfection, be liable to any 
 mistake about his own creatures ? Whoso believes an 
 infinite understanding, must needs own, that no mass of 
 dust is so jumbled together, but God perfectly compre- 
 hends, and infallibly knows, how the most minute par- 
 ticle, and every one of them, is to be matched. And 
 therefore he knows, where the particles of each dead 
 body are ; whether in the earth, sea, or air, how confu- 
 sed soever they lie. And particularly, he knows where 
 to find the primitive substance of the man-eater ; 
 howsoever evaporate or reduced, as it were, into the air 
 or vapour, by sweat or perspiration ; and how to sepa- 
 rate the parts of the body, that was eaten, from the 
 body of the eater howsoever incorporate or made one body 
 with it. And so understands, not only how, but whence, 
 he is to bring back the primitive substance of the man- 
 eater to its proper place ; and also to separate from the 
 man-eater's body, that part of the devoured body which 
 g-oes into its substance, and is indeed but a very small
 
 HEAD in ] Possibility of the resurrection. 361 
 
 part of it. It is certain the bodies of men, as of all other 
 animals or living 1 creatures, are in a continual flux : they 
 grow and are sustained by daily food ; so small a part 
 whereof becomes nourishment, that the most part is eva- 
 cuate. And it is reckoned that, at least, as much of the 
 food is evacuate insensibly by perspiration, as is voided 
 by other perceptible ways. Yea, the nourishing part of 
 the food, when assimilate, and hereby become a part of 
 the body, is evacuate by perspiration through the pores 
 of the skin, and a^ain supplied by the use of the food : 
 yet the body is still reckoned one and the same body. 
 Whence we may conclude, that it is not essential to the 
 resurrection of the body, that every particle of the mat- 
 ter, which at any time was part of a human body, should 
 be restored to it. when it is raised up from (loath to life. 
 Wore it so, the bodies of men Would become of so huge 
 a size, that they would bear no resemblance to the per- 
 sons. It is sufficient to denominate it the same body 
 that died, when it is risen again, if the body that is rais- 
 ed be formed in its former proportions, of the same par- 
 ticles of matter which at any time were its constituent 
 parts, howsoever it be refined. Like as we reckon it is 
 the same body that was pined away by long sickness, 
 which becomes fat and fair again after recovery. 
 
 Now to this infinite understanding join infinite power, 
 "whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself;" 
 and this glorious great work appears most reasonable. 
 If Omniscience discover every little particle of dust, 
 where it is, and how it is to be matched, cannot Omni- 
 potence bring them, and join them together in order ? 
 Can the watch-maker take up the several pieces of a 
 watch, lying in a confused heap before him, and set 
 each in its proper place ; and cannot God put the hu- 
 man body into order after its dissolution ? Did he speak 
 this world into being, out of nothing, and cannot he form 
 man's body out of its pre-existent matter? If he "calleth 
 those things which be not, as though they were ;" sure- 
 
 3 A
 
 362 Certainty of the resurrection. [STATE iv*. 
 
 ly he can call thing's that are dissolved, to be as they 
 were, before the compound was resolved into its part 
 and principles. Wherefore God can raise the dead. 
 " And why should it be theught a thing incredible with 
 you. that God should raise the dead ?" Acts xxvi. 8. 
 
 Secondly, God will do it. He not only can do it. but 
 he certainly Will do it, because he has said it. Our text 
 is very full to this purpose. " All that are in the graves 
 shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that 
 liave done good unto the resurrection of life, and they 
 that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." 
 These words relate to, and are an explanation of, that 
 part of Daniel's prophecy, Dan. xii. 2. " And many of 
 them that sleep in the daist of the earth shall awake, 
 some to everlasting contempt." The which appears to 
 have been calculated to confront the doctrine of the 
 Sadducees, which the Holy Ghost knew was to be at a 
 great height in the Jewish church, under the persecution 
 of Antiochus. There are many other texts in the Old 
 and New Testament that might here be adduced ; such 
 as Acts xxiv. 15. "And have hope towards God, which 
 they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resur- 
 rection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." And 
 Job xix. 26, 27. " And though after my skin worms des- 
 troy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom 
 I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and 
 not another ; though my reins be consumed within me.'* 
 But I need not multiply testimonies in a matter so clear- 
 ly and frequently taught in sacred scripture. Our Lord 
 and Saviour himself proves it against the Sadducees, in 
 that remarkable text, Luke xx. 37, 38. " Now that the 
 dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when 
 he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God 
 of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of 
 the dead, but of the living, for all live unto him " These 
 holy patriarchs were now dead ; nevertheless the Lord 
 Jehovah is called their God, namely, in virtue of the co- 
 venant of grace, and in the sense thereof; in which sense
 
 HEAD in.] Certainty of the resurrection. 363 
 
 the phrase comprehends all blessedness, as that which, 
 by the covenant, is secured to them who are in it, Heb. 
 xi. 16. God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he 
 hath prepared for them a city. He is not called the God 
 of their souls only ; but their God the God of their per- 
 sons, souls, aud bodies ; the which by virtue of his truth 
 and faithfulness, must have its full effect. Now it can- 
 not have its full effect on the dead, who, in as far as 
 they are dead, are far from all blessedness ; but on the 
 living, who alone are capable of it. Therefore, since 
 God is still called their God, they are living in respect 
 of God, although their bodies are yet in the grave ; for, 
 in respect of him, who by his power can restore them to 
 life, and in his covenant has declared his will and pur- 
 pose so to do, and whose promise cannot fail, they all 
 are to be reckoned to live ; and, consistent with the co- 
 venant, their death is but a sleep, out of which, in virtue 
 of the same covenant, securing all blessedness to their 
 persons, their whole man, they must and shall certainly 
 be awakened. The apostle Paul proves the resurrection 
 at large, 1 Cor. xv. and shews it to be a fundamental 
 article, the denial whereof is subversive of Christianity, 
 ver. 13, 14. " If there he no resurrection of the dead, 
 then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, 
 then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." 
 
 To assist us in conceiving of it, the scripture gives us 
 types of the resurrection of the dead : as the dry bones 
 living, Ezek. xxxvii. Jonah's coming out of the whale's 
 belly, Matt. xii. 40. And nature affords us emblems and 
 resemblances of it as the sun's setting and rising again ; 
 night and day ; winter and summer ; sleeping and awa- 
 kening; swallows in winter lying void of all appearance 
 of life, in ruinous buildings, and subterraneous caverns, 
 and reviving again in the spring season ; the seeds dying 
 under the clod, and thereafter springing up a^ain : all 
 which, and the like, may justly be admitted, as ik sign- 
 ed by the God of nature, though not for proofs, yet for 
 memorials, of the resurrection ; whereof we have assu-
 
 364? The nature oftKe resurrection. [STATE iv. 
 
 ranee froiui the scripture, 1 Cor. xv. 36. " Thou fool, that 
 which thou sowest is not quickened except it die.". 
 
 II. I shall inquire into the nature of the resurrection, 
 show ing, Jirst, Who shall be raised. Secondly, What shall 
 be raised. Thirdly, How the dead shall be raised. 
 
 I. Who shall be raised ? Our text tells who they are ; 
 namely, " All that are in the graves," that is, all man- 
 kind who are dead. As for these persons who shall t be 
 found alive at the second coming of Christ, they shall 
 not die, and soon thereafter be raised again ; but such a 
 change shall suddenly pass upon them, as shall be to them 
 instead of dying and rising again ; so that their bodies 
 shall become like to those bodies which are raised out of 
 the graves, 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. " We shall not all sleep, 
 but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling 
 of an eye." Hence these who are to be judged at the 
 great day are distinguished into quick and dead. Acts x. 
 42. All the dead shall rise, whether godly or wicked, 
 just or unjust, (Acts xxiv. 15.) old or young: the whole 
 race of mankind, even those who never saw the sun, but 
 died in their mother's belly, Rev. xx. 12. And I saw the 
 dead, small and great, stand before God. The sea and 
 earth shall give up their dead, without reserve ; none 
 shall be kept back. 
 
 II. What shall be raised ? The bodies of mankind. A 
 man is said to die, when the soul is separated from the 
 body, "and returns unto God who gave it," Each xii. 7. 
 But it is the body only which is laid in the grave, and 
 can properly be said to be raised : wherefore the resur- 
 rection is, strictly speaking, competent to the body only. 
 Moreover, it is the same body that dies, which shall rise 
 again. At the resurrection, men shall not appear with 
 other bodies for substance, than these which they now 
 have, and which are laid down in the grave ; but with 
 the self-same bodies endowed with other qualities. The 
 very notion of a resurrection implies this, since nothing 
 can be said to rise again, but that which falls. But to 
 illustrate it a little, First, It is plain from scripture tes-
 
 HEAD in.] The nature of the resurrection. 36& 
 
 timony. The apostle tells us, it is ' this mortal which 
 must put on immortality," 1 Cor. xv. 53. And that 
 Christ "' shall change our vile body, that it may be ' 
 fashioned like unto his glorious body," Phil. iii. 21. 
 Death, in scripture language, is a sleep, and the resur- 
 rection an awakening out of that sleep, Job xvi. 12. 
 which shows the body rising up, to be the self-same that 
 died. Secondly, The equity of the divine procedure, both 
 with respect to the godly and the wicked, evinces this. 
 It is not reckoned equal among men, that one do the 
 work, and another get the reward. Though the glorify- 
 ing of the bodies of the saints is not, properly speaking, 
 and in a strict sense, the reward of their services or suf- 
 ferings on earth ; yet this is evident, that it is not at all 
 agreeable to the manner of the divine dispensation, that 
 one body serve him, and another be glorified ; that one 
 fight, and another receive the crown. How can it be 
 imagined, that " the temples of the Holy Ghost*' (as 
 these bodies of believers are termed, 1 Cor. vi. 19.) should 
 always lie in rubbish, ' and others be reared up in their 
 stead ? That these " members of Christ," (ver. 15.) shall 
 perish utterly, and other bodies come in their room ? Nay, 
 surely, as these bodies of the saints now bear a part in 
 glorifying God, and some of them suffer in his cause, so 
 they shall partake of the glory that is to be revealed. 
 And these bodies of the wicked which are laid in the dust 
 shall be raised again, that the same body which sinned 
 may suffer. Shall one body sin here, and another suffer 
 in hell for that sin ? Shall that body, which was the soul's 
 companion in sin, lie for ever hid in the dust : and ano- 
 ther body, which did not act any part in sinning, be its 
 companion in torment ? No, no ; it is that body, which 
 now takes up all their thoughts to provide for its back 
 and belly that ?hall be raised up, to suffer in hell. It is 
 that tongue, that is now the swearing, lying tongue, which 
 will need water to cool it, in eternal flames. These same 
 feet, that now * stand in the way of sinners," and carry 
 men in their ungodly courses, shall stand in the burning
 
 366 The nature of the resurrection. [STATE iv. 
 
 lake. And these now covetous and lascivious, eyes shall 
 take part in fire and smoke of the pit. 
 
 III. How the dead shall be raised. The same Jesus, 
 who was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem, shall 
 at the last day, to the conviction of all, be declared both 
 " Lord and Christ ;" appearing as judge of the world, 
 attended with his mighty angels, 2 Thess. i. 7. He shall 
 descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the 
 archangel, and ivith the trump of God, 1 Thess, iv. 16. 
 The trumpet shall sound, and thv dead shall be raised, 
 and these who are alive changed, 1 Cor. xv. 52. Whether 
 this shout, voice, and trumpet, do denote some audible 
 voice, or only the workings of divine power, for the rai- 
 sing of the dead, and other awful purposes of that day, 
 (though the former seems probable) 1 will not positively 
 determine. There is no question, but this coming of the 
 Judge of the world will be in greater majesty and terror 
 than we can conceive ; yet that awful grandeur, majesty, 
 and state, which was displayed at the giving of the law, 
 viz. " thunders heard, lightnings, and a thick cloud upon 
 the mount seen, the Lord descending in fire, the whole 
 mount quaking greatly, and the voice of the trumpet 
 waxing louder and louder," (Exod. xix. 16, 18, 19.) may 
 help forward a becoming thought of it. However, the 
 sound of this trumpet shall be heard all the world over ; 
 it shall reach to the depths of the sea, and into the bow- 
 els of the earth. At this loud alarm bones shall come to- 
 gether, " bone to his bone ; the scattered dust of all the 
 dead shall be gathered together, dust to his dust ; nei- 
 ther shall one thrust another, they shall walk every one 
 in his path :" and meeting together again shall make up 
 their very same body which crumbled into dust in the 
 grave. And. at the same alarming voice, shall every soul 
 come again into its own body, never more to be separa- 
 ted. The dead can stay no longer in their graves, but 
 must bid an eternal farewell to their long homes ; " They 
 hear his voice," and must " come forth," and receive their 
 final sentence.
 
 HEAD in.] The nature of the resurrection. 367 
 
 Now, as there is a great difference betwixt the godly 
 and the wicked in their life, and in their death, so will 
 there be also in their resurrection. 
 
 The godly shall be raised up out of their graves by 
 virtue of the Spirit of Christ, the blessed bond of their 
 union with him. Rom. viii. 11." He that raised up Christ 
 from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by 
 his Spirit that dwelleth in you/' Jesus Chris': arose 
 from the dead, as the '* first-fruits of them that slept," 
 1 Cor. xv. 2O. " So they that are Christ's " shall follow" 
 at his coming," ver 23. The mystical head having got 
 above the waters of death, he cannot but bring forth the 
 members after him in due time. 
 
 They shall come forth with inexpressible joy ; for 
 shall that passage of scripture, which, hi its imme< te 
 scope, respected the Babylonish captivity, be full) ac- 
 complished in its extensive spiritual view, Isa. xxvi 19. 
 " Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust." As a bride 
 adorned for her husband, goes forth of her bed-cham!:er 
 unto the marriage, so shall the saints go forth of their 
 graves, " unto the marriage of the Lamb." Joseph had 
 a joyful outgoing from the prison, Daniel from the lion's 
 den, and Jonah from the whale's belly ; yet those are 
 but faint representations of the saints' outgoing from the 
 grave at the resurrection. Then shall they sing the song 
 of Moses and the Lamb in highest strains, death be ing 
 quite " swallowed up in victory." They had, whik in 
 this life, sometimes sung, by faith, the triumphant song 
 over death and the grave, " O death where is thy sting? 
 O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Cor. xv. 5.5.) Bat 
 then they sing the same from sight and sense. The black 
 band of doubts and fears which frequently disturbed them, 
 and disquieted their minds, is for ever cashiered. 
 
 May we not suppose the soul and body of every saint 
 as in mutual embrace, to rejoice in each other, and tri- 
 umph in their happy meeting again ? and may not one 
 imagine the body to address the soul thus : O my soul,
 
 S68 The nature of the resurrection. [STATE iv. 
 
 have we got together again, after so long a separation ! 
 Art thou come back to thine old habitation, never more 
 to remove ! O joyful meeting ! how unlike is our present 
 state to what our case was when a separation was made 
 betwixt us at death ! now is our mourning turned unto 
 joy ; the light and gladness sometimes sown, are now 
 sprung up, and there is a perpetual spring in Immanuel's 
 land. Blessed be the day in which I was united to thee, 
 whose chief care was to get " Christ in us the hope of 
 glory," and to make me a temple for his Holy Spirit. O 
 blessed soul, which in the time of our pilgrimage kept 
 thine eye to the land then afar off. but now near at hand ! 
 thou tookest me into secret places, and there madest me 
 bow these knees before the Lord, that I might bear a 
 part in our humiliation before him ; and now is the time, 
 and I am lifted Thou didst employ this tongue in con- 
 fessions, petitions, and thanksgiving, which henceforth 
 shall be employed in praising for evermore. Thou madest 
 these (sometimes) weeping eyes, sow that seed of tears, 
 which is now sprung up in joy that shall never end. I 
 was happily beat down by thee, and kept in subjection, 
 while others pampered their flesh, and made their bellies 
 their gods, to their own destruction ; and now I glorious- 
 ly arise, to take my place in the mansions of glory, whilst 
 they are dragged out of their graves, to be cast into fiery 
 flames. Now my soul, thou shalt complain no more of a 
 sick and pained body : thou shalt be no more clogged 
 with weak and weary flesh : I shall now hold peace with 
 thee in the praises of our God for evermore. And may 
 not the soul say. ** O happy day, in which I return 
 to dwell in that blessed body which was, and is, and will 
 be for ever a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy 
 Spirit ! Now shall I be eternally knit to thee ; the silver 
 cord shall never be loosed more ; death shall never make 
 another separation betwixt us. Arise then, my J^dy, and 
 come away ! and let these eyes, which served to weep 
 over my sins, behold now, with joy. the face of our glo- 
 rious Redeemer ; lo ! this is our God, and we have wait- 
 ed for him. Let these ears, which served to hear the
 
 UBAD in.] The nature of the resurrection. 869 
 
 word of life in the temple below, come now and hear the 
 hallelujahs in the temple above Let these feet, that car- 
 ried me to the congregation of saints on earth, take their 
 place now among those who stand by. And let that 
 tongue, which confessed Christ before men, and used to 
 be still droping something to his commendation, join the 
 choir of the upper house, in his praises for ever more. 
 Thou shalt fast no more, but keep an everlasting feast ; 
 thou shalt weep no more, neither shall thy countenance 
 be overclouded, but thou shalt shine for ever, as a star in 
 the firmament. We took part together in the fight, come 
 now, let us go together to receive and wear the crown." 
 
 But on the other hand the wicked shall lie raised " by 
 the power of Christ," as a just Judge, who is to render 
 vengeance to his enemies. The same divine power which 
 shut up their souls in hell, and kept their bodies in a 
 grave, as in a prison, shall bring them forth, that soul 
 and body together may receive the dreadful sentence of 
 eternal damnation, and be shut up together in the prison 
 of hell. 
 
 They shall come forth of their graves, with unspeaka- 
 ble horror and consternation. They shall be dragged 
 forth as so many malefactors out of a dungeon, to be led 
 to execution, crying to the mountains and to the rocks 
 to fall on them, and hide them from the face of the 
 Lamb. Fearful was the cry in Egypt, that niirht the 
 destroying angel went through and slew their first-born. 
 Dreadful were the shouts, at the earth's opening her 
 mouth, and swallowing up Dathan and Abiram, and all 
 that appertained to them. What hideous crying then 
 must there be, when, at the sound of the last trumpet, 
 the earth and sea shall open their mouths, and cast forth 
 all the wicked world, delivering them up to the dread- 
 ful Judge ? How will they cry, roar, and tear them- 
 selves '* how will the jovial companions weep and howl, 
 and curse one another? how will the earth lie filled with 
 their doleful shrieks and lamentations, wliile they are 
 
 3 B
 
 37 The nature of the resurrection. [STATB iv. 
 
 " pulled out like sheep for the slaughter ?" They who, 
 while they lived in the world, were prophane debauchees, 
 covetous worldlings, or formal hypocrites, shall then, in 
 anguish of mind, wring their hands, beat their breasts, 
 and bitterly lament their case, roaring forth their com- 
 plaints, and call ing themselves beasts, fools, and madmen, 
 for having acted so mad a part in this life, and not ha- 
 ving believed what they then see. They were "driven 
 away in their wickedness," at death : and now all their 
 sins rise with them, and like so many serpents, twist 
 themselves about their wretched souls and bodies too, 
 which now have a frightful meeting, after a long sepa- 
 ration. 
 
 Then we may suppose the miserable body thus to accost 
 the soul : " Hast thou again found me, O mine enemy, 
 my worst enemy, savage soul more cruel than a thousand 
 tigers ? Cursed be the day that ever we met. O that 
 I had remained a lifeless lump, rotted in the belly of my 
 mother, and had never received sense, life, nor motion ! 
 O that I had rather been the body of a toad or serpent, 
 than thy body ; for then had I lain still, and had not seen 
 this terrible day ! If I behoved to be thine, O that I had 
 been thy ass ! or one of thy dogs, rather than thy body ! 
 for then wouldest thou have taken more true care of me 
 than thou didst. O cruel kindness ! hast thou thus hugged 
 me to death, thus nourished me to the slaughter ? Is this 
 the effect of thy tenderness .for me ? Is this what I am to 
 reap of thy pains and concern about me ? What do riches 
 and pleasure avail now, when this fearful reckoning is 
 come, of which thou hadst fair warning ? O cruel grave, 
 why didst thou not close thy mouth upon me for ever ? 
 Why didst thou not hold fast thy prisoner ? Why hast thou 
 shaken me out, while I lay still, and was at rest ? Cur- 
 sed soul, wherefore didst thou not abide in thy place 
 wrapt up in flames of fire ? Wherefore art thou come 
 b ack to take me also down to the bars of the pit ? 
 Thou madest me an instrument of unrighteousness ; and 
 now I must be thrown into the fire. This tongue
 
 HEAD in.] The nature of the resurrection. 371 
 
 by thee employed in mocking at religion, cursing, swear- 
 ing-, lying, backbiting, and boasting ; and withheld from 
 glorifying God : and now it must not have so much as a 
 drop of water to cool it in the flames. Thou didst withdraw 
 thine ears from hearing the sermons which gave warn- 
 ing of thia day. Thou foundest ways and means to stop 
 them, from attending to seasonable exhortations, admo- 
 nitions, and reproofs. But why didst thou not stop them 
 from hearing the sound of this dreadful trumpet ? Why 
 dost thou not now rove and fly away on the wings of ima- 
 gination, thereby as it v/ere, transporting me during 
 these frightful transactions ; as thou was wont to do, 
 when I was set down at sermons, communions, pray- 
 ers, and godly conferences : that 1 might now have as 
 little sense of the one, as I formerly had of the other ? 
 But ah ! I must burn for ever, for thy love to thy lusts, 
 thy profanity, thy sensuality, thy unbelief and hypocri- 
 sy." But may not the soul answer, " Wretched and vile 
 carcase, I an now driven back into thee, O that thou 
 hadst lain retting for ever in thy grave ! Had I not tor- 
 ment enough before? Must I be knit to thee again, 
 that being joined together as two dry sticks, for the fire, 
 the wrath of God may the more kindly burn us up ? It 
 was by caring for you I lost myself. It was your back 
 and your belly, and the gratifying of your senses, which 
 ruined me. How often was I ensnared by your ears ? 
 How often betrayed by your eyes ? It was to spare you, 
 that I neglected opportunities of making peace with God, 
 loitered away sabbaths, lived in the neglect of prayer, 
 went to the house of mirth, rather than the house of 
 mourning ; and that I choosed to deny Christ and forsake 
 his cause and interests in the world ; and so am fallen a 
 sacrifice to your cursed case. When at any time my con- 
 science began to awake, and I was setting myself to think 
 of my sins, and the misery I have felt since we parted, 
 and now feel, it was you that diverted me from these 
 thoughts, and drew me off to make provision for thee, 
 
 wretched flesh ! by your silken cords of fleshly lusts., 
 
 1 was drawn to destruction, over the belly of my light
 
 372 JBodies of the saints. [STATE if. 
 
 conscience, but now they are turned into iron chains, 
 with which I am to be held under wrath for ever more. 
 Ah wretched profits ! ah cursed pleasures ; for which I 
 must lie for ever in utter darkness !" But no complaints 
 will then avail. O that men were wise, that they under- 
 stood this, that they would consider their Latter end. 
 
 As to the qualities, with which the bodies of the saints 
 shall be endowed at the resurrection, the apostle tells us, 
 they shall be raised incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and 
 spiritual, 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44. " It is sown in corrup- 
 tion, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, 
 it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised, 
 in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spi- 
 ritual body." 
 
 First, The bodies of the saints shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible. They are now as the bodies of others, a very 
 mass of corruption, fi^ll of the seeds/jf diseases, and death; 
 and, when dead, become so nauseous, even to their dea- 
 rest friends, that they must be buried out of their sight, 
 in a grave, there to rot, and be consumed : yea, loath- 
 some sores and diseases make some of them very unsight- 
 ly, even when alive. But, at the resurrection, they leave 
 all the seeds of corruption behind them in the grave ; and 
 rise incorruptible, incapable of the least indisposition, 
 sickness, or sore, and much more of dying. External 
 violences, and inward causes of pain, shall for ever cease ; 
 they shall feel it no more : yea, they shall have an ever- 
 lasting youth and vigour, being no more subject to the 
 decays which age produce in this life. 
 
 Secondly, They shall be glorious bodies ; not only beau- 
 tiful, comely, and w^ll -proportioned, but full of splendor 
 and brightness. The most beautiful face, and best pro- 
 portioned body, that now appears in the world, is not to 
 be named in comparison w^th the body of the meanest 
 saint at the resurrection ? for " then shall the righteous 
 shine forth as the sun " Matt. xiii. 43. If there was a 
 dazzling glory on Moses' face, when he came down from 
 the mount ; and if Stephen's face was, " as it had been
 
 iff AD in.] Bodies of the saints. 373 
 
 the face of an angel," when he stood before the council : 
 how much more shall the faces of the saints be beautiful 
 and glorious, full of sweet, agreeable majesty, when they 
 have put off all corruption, and " shine as the sun ?" But 
 observe, this beauty of the saints is not restricted to their 
 faces, but diffuses itself through their whole bodies ; for 
 the whole body is " raised in glory," and shall be fash- 
 ioned like unto their Lord and Saviour's glorious body ; 
 in whose transfiguration, not only did "his face shine as 
 the sun," but also " his raiment was white as the light," 
 Matt. xvii. 2. Whatever defects or deformities the bo- 
 dies of the saints had, when laid in the grave, occasion- 
 ed by accidents in life, or arising from secret causes in 
 their formation in the womb, they shall rise out of the 
 grave free of all these. But suppose " the marks of the 
 Lord Jesus," the scars or prints of the wounds and brui- 
 ses some of the saints received while on earth, for his sake, 
 should remain in their bodies after the resurrection ; like 
 as the print of the nails remained in the Lord Jesus's bo- 
 dy after his resurrection : these marks will rather be bad- 
 ges of distinction, and add to their glory than detract 
 from their beauty. But however that be, surely Isaac's 
 eyes shall not then be dim, nor will Jacob halt : Leah 
 shall not be tender-eyed, nor Mephibosheth lame of 
 his legs. For as the goldsmith melts down the old cra- 
 zy vessel, and casts it over again in a new mould, bring- 
 ing it forth with a new lustre ; so shall the vile body, 
 which lay dissolved in the grave, come forth at the re- 
 surrection, in perfect beauty, and comely proportion. 
 
 Thirdly, They shall be powerful and strong bodies ; 
 the strongest man on earth being frail and mortal, may 
 justly be reckoned weak and feeble, in regard to their 
 strength, howsoever great, is quickly worn out and con- 
 sumed. Many of the saints now have weaker bodies 
 than others ; but the feeble among them (to allude to 
 Zech. xii, 8.) " at that day shall be as David, and the 
 house of David shall be as God." A grave divine says, 
 that one shall be stronger at the resurrection, than an
 
 37* The qualities of the raised [STATE iv 
 
 hundred, yea, than thousands, are now. Certainly great 
 ai]J vastly great, must the strength of glorified bodies 
 be : seeing they shall bear up under an " exceeding and 
 external weight of glory." The mortal body is not at all 
 adapted to such a state. Do transports of joy occasion 
 death, as well as excessive grief does ? And can it bear 
 up under a weight of glory ? Can it subsist in union with 
 a soul filled with heaven's raptures? Surely not. The 
 mortal body would sink under that load, and such a fill 
 would make the earthen pitcher to fly all in pieces. The 
 scripture as plainly told us, " that flesh and blood, (name- 
 ly, in their present frail state, though it were the flesh 
 and blood of a giant) cannot inherit the kingdom of 
 God," 1 Cor. xv. 50. How strong must the bodily eyes 
 be. which, to the soul's eternal comfort, shall behold the 
 dazzling glory and splendor of the new Jerusalem ; and 
 stedfastly look at the transcendent glory and brightness 
 of the man Christ, the Lamb, who is the light of the 
 city, the inhabitants whereof " shall shine as the sun !" 
 The Lord of heaven doth now, in mercy, " hold back 
 the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it ;" 
 that mortals may not be confounded with the rays of 
 glory, which shine forth from it, Job xxvi. 9. But then 
 the veil shall be removed, and they be made able to be- 
 hold it, to their unspeakable joy. How strong must 
 their bodies be, who shall not rest night nor day, but 
 be, without intermission, for ever employed in the hea- 
 venly temple, to sing and proclaim the praises of God 
 without weariness, which is a weakness incident to the 
 frail mortal, but incompetent to the glorified body. 
 
 Lastly, They shall be spiritual bodies. Not that they 
 shall be changed into spirits ; but they shall be spiritual, 
 in respect of their spirit-like qualities and endowments. 
 The body shall be absolutely subservient to the soul, 
 subject to it, and influenced by it; and therefore no 
 more a clog to its activity, nor the animal appetites a 
 snare to it. There will be no need to beat it down, nor 
 drag it to the service of God. The soul, in this life, is
 
 MEAD in.] Bodies of the wicked. 375 
 
 so much influenced by the body, that, in scripture-style, 
 it is said to be carnal : but then the body shall be spiri- 
 tual, readily serving the soul in the business of heaven ; 
 and in that only, as if it had no more relation to earth 
 than a spirit. It will have no further need of the now 
 necessary supports of life, namely, food and raiment, and 
 the like. " They shall hunger no more, neither thirst 
 any more," Rev. vii. 15. For in the resurrection they 
 neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the 
 angels of God in heaven. Then shall the saints be strong 
 without meat or drink, warm without clothes, ever in 
 perfect health without medicine, and ever fresh and vi- 
 gorous, though they shall never sleep, but " serve him 
 night and day in his temple," Rev. vii. 15. They will 
 need none of these things more than spirits do. They 
 will be nimble and active as spirits, and of a most refi- 
 ned constitution. The body that is now lumpish and 
 heavy, shall then be most sprightly. No such thing as 
 melancholy shall be found to make the heart heavy, and 
 the spirits flag and sink. " Where the carcase is, there 
 shall the saints, as so many eagles, be* gathered together." 
 I shall not farther dip into this matter : " the day will 
 declare it." 
 
 As to the qualities of the bodies of the wicked at 
 the resurrection, I find the scripture speaks but little of 
 them. Whatever they may need, they shall not get a 
 drop of water to cool their tongues, Luke xvi. 2-4, 25. 
 Whatever may be said of their weakness, it is certain 
 they will be continued for ever in life, that they may be 
 ever dying; they shall bear up, howsoever unwilling, un- 
 der the load of God's wrath, and shall not faint away un- 
 der it. " The smoke of their torment asc % endeth up for 
 ever and ever ; and they have no rest day nor night." 
 Surely they shall not partake of the glory and beauty of 
 the saints. All their glory dies >vith them, and shall ne- 
 ver rise again. Daniel tells us,' they shall awake " to 
 shame and everlasting contempt," chap. xii. 2. Shame 
 follows sin, as the shadow followeth the bedy ; but the
 
 376 Raised bodies of the wicked. [STATB iv. 
 
 wicked in this world walk in the dark, and often under 
 a disguise ; nevertheless when the Judge comes in flam- 
 ing 1 fire, at the last day, they will be brought to the light ; 
 their mask will be taken off, and the shame of their na- 
 kedness will clearly appear to themselves and others, and 
 fill their faces with confusion. Their shame will be too 
 deep for blushes but all faces shall gather blackness, at 
 that day, when they shall go forth of their graves, as ma- 
 lefactors out of their prisons, to execution ; for their re- 
 surrection is the resurrection of damnation. The great- 
 est beauties, who now pride themselves in their comeli- 
 ness of body, not regarding their deformed souls, will then 
 appear with the ghastly countenance, a grim and death- 
 like visage. Their looks will be frightful, and they will 
 be horrible spectacles, coming forth of their graves like 
 infernal furies out of the pit. They shall rise also to 
 everlasting contempt They shall then be most con- 
 temptible creatures, filled with contempt from God, as 
 vessels of dishonour, whatever honourable uses they have 
 been employed to in this world ; and filled also with con- 
 tempt from men. They will be most despicable in the 
 eyes of the saints, even of those saints who gave them 
 honour here, either for their high station, the gifts of 
 God in them, or because they where of the same human 
 nature with themselves. But then shall their bodies be 
 as many loathsome carcases, which they shall go forth 
 and look upon with abhorrence ; yea, " they shall be an 
 abhorring unto all flesh," Isa. Ixvi. 24>. The word here 
 rendered an abhorring, is the same which in the other 
 text is rendered contempt ; and Isaiah and Daniel point 
 at one and the same thing, namely, the loathsomeness of the 
 wicked at the resurrection. They will be loathsome in the 
 eyes of one another. The unclean wretches were never 
 lovely to each other, as then they will be loathsome ; 
 dear companions in sin will then be an abhorring, each 
 one to his fellow ; and the wicked great and honourable 
 men, shall be no more regarded by their wicked subjects, 
 their servants, their slaves, than the mire in the streets.
 
 HEAD in.] Comfort to the people of God. 377 
 
 Use. I. Of comfort to the people of God. The doc- 
 trine of the resurrection is a spring of consolation and 
 joy unto you. Think on it, O believers, when ye are in 
 the house of the mourning, for the loss of your godly re- 
 lations or friends, " that ye sorrow not, even as, others 
 which have no hope," for ye will meet agaiit, 1 Thess. 
 iv. 13. I4f. They are but lain down to " rest in their beds" 
 for a little while (Isa. Ivii. 2.) but in the morning- of the 
 resurrection they will awake again, and come forth of 
 their graves. The vessel of honour was but coarse, it 
 had much alloy of base metal in it; it was too weak, too 
 dim and inglorious, for the upper house, whatever lustre 
 it had in the lower once. It was cracked, it was pollu- 
 ted, and therefore behoved to be melted down that it 
 may be refined, and fashioned more gloriously. Do but 
 wait awhile, and you shall see it come forth out of the 
 furnace of earth, vying with the stars in brightness : nay, 
 " as the sun when he goeth forth in his might." 
 
 Have you laid your infant children in the grave ? you 
 will see them again. Your God calls himself " the God 
 of your seed ;" which, according to our Saviour's expo- 
 sition, secures the glorious resurrection of the body. 
 Wherefore let the covenant you embraced, for yourself 
 and your babes now in the dust, comfort your heart in 
 the joyful expectation, that by virtue thereof, they shall 
 be raised up in glory ; and that as being no more infants 
 of days, but brought to a full and perfect stature, as is 
 generally supposed. Be not discouraged by reason of a 
 weak and sickly body ; there is a day coming, when 
 thou shalt be every whit whole. At the resurrection, 
 Timothy shall be no more liable to his often infirmities, 
 his body, that was weak and sickly, even in youth, shall 
 be raised in power ; Lazarus shall be healed and sound, 
 his body being raised incorruptible. And although per- 
 haps, thy weakness will not allow thee now, to go one 
 furlong to meet the Lord in public ordinances : yet the 
 day cometh. when thy body shall be no more a clog to 
 
 M r
 
 terror to unregenerate men- [STAT iv. 
 
 thee, but thou shalt " meet with the Lord in the air," J 
 Thess. iv. 1 7. It will be with saints coming up from the 
 grave, as with the Israelites, when they came out of E- 
 gypt, Psal. cv. 37. " There was not one feeble person 
 among -their tribes." Hast thou an uncomely or deform- 
 ed body ? There is a glory within, which will then set 
 all right without, according to all the desire of thine heart. 
 It shall rise a glorious body, beautiful handsome and well- 
 proportioned body Its uncomeliness or deformities may 
 go with it to the grave, but they shall not come back 
 with it. O that those who' are now so desirous to be 
 beautiful and handsome, would not be too hasty to effect 
 it with their foolish and sinful arts, but wait and study 
 the heavenly art of beautifying the body, by endeavour- 
 ing now to become all glorious within, with the graces 
 of God's Spirit ! This would at length make them ad- 
 mirable and everlasting beauties. Thou must indeed, 
 O believer, grappel with death, and shall get the first 
 fall ; but thou shalt rise again, and come off victorious at 
 last. Thou must go down to the grave, but, though it 
 be thy long home, it will not be thine everlasting home. 
 Thou wilt not hear the voice of thy friends there, but 
 thou shalt hear the voice of Christ there. Thou mayest 
 be carried thither with mourning, but shall come up from 
 it rejoicing. Thy friends indeed will leave thee there, 
 but thy God will not. What God said to Jacob con- 
 cerning his going down to Egypt (Gen. xlvi. 3, 4.) he 
 says to thee, about thy going down to the grave, " Fear 
 not to go down I will go down with thee, and I will 
 also surely bring thee up again." O solid comfort ! O glo- 
 rious hopes ! " Wherefore comfort yourselves, and one 
 another, with these words," 1 Thess. iv. 18. 
 
 USE II. Of terror to all unregenerate men. Ye who 
 are yet in your natural state, look at this piece of the e- 
 ternal state : and consider what will be your part in it, 
 if ye be not in time brought into the state of grace. 
 Think, O sinner, on that day, when the trumpet shall 
 sound, at the voice of which the bars of the pit shall fee
 
 HEAD in.] Terror to unregencratc men. 379 
 
 broken asunder, the doors of the grave shall fly open, the 
 devouring depths of the sea shall throw up their dead, 
 the earth cast forth her's ; and death every where in the 
 excess of astonishment, shall let go his prisoners; and 
 thy wretched soul and body shall be reunited, to be sift- 
 ed before the tribunal of God. Then, if thou hadst a 
 thousand worlds, at thy disposal, thou wouldest gladly 
 give them all away, upon condition thou mightest lie 
 still in thy grave, with the hundred part of that ease 
 wherewith thou hast sometimes lain at home on the 
 Lord's day : or (if that cannot be obtained) that thou 
 mightest be but a spectator of the transactions of that 
 day ; as thou hast been at some solemn occasions, and 
 rich gospel feasts : or (if even that is not to be purchased) 
 that a mountain or rock might fall on thee, and cover 
 thee from the face of the Lamb. Ah ! how are men be- 
 witched, thus to trifle away the precious time of life, in 
 (almost) as little concern about death, as if they were 
 like the beasts that perish ! Some will be telling where 
 their corpses must be laid ; while yet they have not se- 
 riously considered, whether their graves shall be their 
 beds, where they shall awake with joy, in the* morning 1 
 of the resurrection ; or their prisons, out of which they 
 shall be brought to receive the fearful sentence. Remem- 
 ber, now is your seed-time ; and as ye sow, ye shall reap. 
 God's seed-time begins at death ; and at the resurrection, 
 the bodies of the wicked, that were sown " full of sins, 
 that lie down with them in the dust," (Job xx. 11.) shall 
 spring up again, sinful, wretched and vile. Your bodies, 
 which are now instruments of sin, the Lord will lay a- 
 aide for the fire at death ; and bring them forth for the 
 fire, at the resurrection. That body, which is not now 
 employed in God's service, but is abused by uncleanness 
 and lasciviousness, will then be brought forth in all its 
 vileness, thenceforth to lodge with unclean spirits. The 
 body of the drunkard shall then stagger by reason of the 
 wine of the wrath of God ; poured out to him, and pour- 
 ed into him, without mixture. These who now please 
 themselves in their revellings, will reel to and fro at an-
 
 380 Terror to unrcgenerate men. [STATE ir. 
 
 other rate ; when, instead of their songs and music, they 
 shall hear the sound of the last trumpet. Many toil 
 their bodies for worldly gain, who will be loath to dis- 
 tress them for the benefit of their souls : by labour, un- 
 reasonably hard, they will quite disfit them for the ser- 
 vice of C4od : and when they have done, will reckon it a 
 very good reason for shifting duty, that they are already 
 tired out with other business : but the day cometh, when 
 they will be made to abide a yet greater stress. They 
 will go several miles for back and belly, who will not go 
 half the way for the good of their immortal souls : they 
 will be sickly and unable on the Lord's day, who will 
 be tolerably well all the rest of the week. But when 
 that trumpet sounds, the dead shall find their feet, and 
 none shall be missing in that congregation. When the 
 bodies of the saints shine as the sun, frightful will the 
 looks of their persecutors be. Fearful will their condi- 
 tion be, who sometimes shut up the saints in nasty pri- 
 sons, stigmatized, burned them to ashes, hanged them, 
 and stuck up their heads and hands in public places, to 
 fright others from the way of righteousness, which they 
 suffered for. Many faces now fair will then gather 
 blackness. They shall be no more admired and caress- 
 ed for that beauty which has a worm at the root, that 
 will cause it to issue in loathsomeness and deformity. 
 Ah ! what is that beauty, under which there lurks a 
 monstrous, deformed, and graceless heart ? What, but a 
 sorry paint, a slight varnish ; which will leave the body 
 so much the more ugly, before that flaming fire, in which 
 the Judge shall be " revealed from heavetf, taking ven- 
 geance on them that know not God, and that obey not 
 tlie gospel," 2 Thess. i. 7, 8 They shall be stript of all 
 the ornaments, and not have a rag to cover their naked- 
 ness : but their carcases shall be an abhorring to all flesh, 
 and serve as a foil to set off the beauty and glory ol the 
 righteous, and make it appear the brighter. 
 
 Now is the time to secure, for yourselves, a part in 
 the resurrection of the just. The which if ye would do,
 
 HEAD iv.] The general ''vdgment. 381 
 
 unite with Jesus Christ by faith, rising spiritually from 
 in, and glorifying God. with your hodies. He is ' the 
 resurrection and the life," John xi. 25 If your hodies 
 be members of Christ, " temples of the Holy Ghost :" 
 they shall certainly arise in glorv. Get into this ark 
 now. and ye shall come forth with joy into the new 
 world. Rise from your sins ; cast away these grave- 
 clothes, putting off your former lusts. How can one 
 imagine that these who continue " dead while they live," 
 shall come forth, at the last day, unto the resurrection 
 of life ? But that will be the privilege of all those, who 
 having first consecrated their souls and bodies to the 
 Lord by faith, do glorify him with their bodies as well 
 as their souls : living and acting to him. and for him, 
 yea, and suffering for him too, when he calls them to it. 
 
 HEAD IV. 
 
 THE GENERAL JUDGMENT. 
 
 - 
 
 MATT xxv. 31, 32, 33, 34, 41, 46. 
 
 When the Son tf Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels 
 with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his ghry. 
 
 And before him shall be gathered aV. nations, and he shall separate thtm 
 ne from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his gonts. 
 
 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 
 
 Then shall the King fay unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed, CSV. 
 Unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, &c. 
 
 And these shall go away into everlasting punishmtut ; but the righteous 
 into life eternal. 
 
 THE dead being raised, and these found alive at the 
 coming of the Judge, changed, follows the gene- 
 ral judgment, plainly and awfully described in this por-
 
 382 A general judgment proved. [STATE iV. 
 
 tion of scripture ; in which we shall take notice of the 
 following particulars. (I) The coming of the Judge, 
 When the Son of Man shall come in hi* glory, &c. The 
 Judge is Jesus Christ, the Son of Man ; the same by 
 whose almighty power, as he is God, the dead will be 
 raised. He is also called the King, ver. 34>. The judg- 
 ing of the world being an act of the royal Mediator's 
 kingly office. He will come in glory ! glorious in his 
 own person, and having a glorious retinue, even all the 
 holy angels with him, to minister unto him at this great 
 solemnity. (2.) The mounting the tribunal. He is a 
 king, and therefore it is a throne, a glorious throne, " He 
 shall sit upon the throne of his glory," ver. 31. (3.) 
 The appearance of the parties. These are all nations : 
 all and every one, small and great, of whatsoever nation, 
 who ever were, are, or shall be, on the face of the earth ; 
 all shall be gathered before him, sifted before his tribu- 
 nal. (4.) The sorting of them. He shall separate the e- 
 lect sheep and reprobate goats, setting each party by 
 themselves ; as a shepherd, who feeds his sheep and goats 
 together, all the day, separates them at night, ver. 32, 
 It seems to be he will set the righteous on his right hand 
 as the most honourable place : the wicked on the left, 
 ver. 33. Yet so as they shall be both before him, ver. 
 32. It seems to be an allusion to a custom in the Jew- 
 ish courts, in which one sat at the right hand of the judg- 
 es, who wrote the sentence of absolution, another at their 
 left, who wrote the sentence of condemnation, { 5. ) The 
 sentencing of the parties, and that according to their 
 works ; the righteous being absolved, and the wicked 
 condemned, ver. 34, 41. Lastly, The execution 
 of both sentences, in the driving away of the wicked hit* 
 hell, and carrying the godly to heaven, ver. 46. 
 
 DOCTRINE THERE SHALL BE A GINERAL 
 JUDGMENT. 
 
 This doctrine I shall (1.) confirm, (2.) explain, and (3.) 
 apply.
 
 Ha AD iv.] A general judgment proved. 383 
 
 I. For confirmation of this great truth, that there shall 
 be a general judgment. 
 
 First, It is evident from plain scripture testimonies. 
 The world has in all ages been told of it. Enoch, be- 
 fore the flood, taught it in his prophecy, related Jude, 
 ver. 14, 15. " Behold the Lord cometh with ten thou- 
 sands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all. ' &c. 
 Daniel describes it, chap. vii. 9, 10. "I beheld till the 
 thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, 
 whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his 
 head like the pure wool : his throne was like the fiery 
 flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream 
 issued and came forth from before him : thousand thou- 
 sands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten 
 thousand stood before him : the judgment was set, and 
 the books were opened." The apostle is very express, 
 Acts xvii. 31. " He hath appointed a day in the which 
 he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man 
 whom he hath ordained." See Matt. xvi. 27. 2 Cor. v. 
 10. 2 Thess i. 7, 8, 9, 10. Rev xx. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. 
 God has not only said it, but he has sworn it, Rom. xiv. 
 10, 11. " We must all stand before the judgment-seat 
 f Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, 
 every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall con- 
 fess to God." So that the truth of God is most solemn- 
 ly plighted for it. 
 
 Secondly, The rectoral justice and goodness of God, 
 the sovereign Ruler of the world, do necessarily require 
 it, inasmuch as they require its being well with the righ- 
 teous, and ill with the wicked. Howbeit we often now 
 see wickedness exalted, while truth and righteousness 
 fall in the streets ; piety oppressed, while profanity and 
 irreligion do triumph. This is so very ordinary, that 
 every one who sincerely embraceth the way of holiness, 
 must and doth lay his account with the loss of all he has, 
 which the world can take away from him, Luke xiv. 26. 
 ** If any man come to me and hate not his father, and 
 mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters,
 
 SS4> A general judgment proved. [STATB iv. 
 
 yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." 
 But it is inconsistent with the justice and goodness of 
 God, that the affairs of men should always continue in 
 this state, which they appear in, from one generation to 
 another : but that every man be rewarded according to 
 his works : and since that is not done in this life, there 
 must be a judgment to come, ' seeing it is a righteous 
 tiling with God to recompense tribulation to them that 
 trouble you : and to you who are troubled, rest with us, 
 win n the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven," 2 
 Thess. i. 6, 7. There will be a day in which the tables 
 will be turned ; and the wicked shall be called to an ac- 
 count for all their sins, and suffer the due punishment of 
 them; and the pious shall be the prosperous. For, as 
 the apostles argues for the happy resurrection of the 
 saints, " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we 
 are of all men most miserable," 1 Cor. xv. 19. It is 
 true, God sometimes punisheth the wicked in this life : 
 that men may know - he is a God that judgeth in the 
 earth." But yet much wickedness remains unpunished 
 and undiscovered : to be a pledge of the judgment to 
 come. If none of the wicked were punished here, they 
 would conclude that God had utterly forsaken the earth : 
 if all of them were punished in this life, men would be 
 apt to think there is no after-reckoning. Therefore, in 
 the wisdom of God. some are punished now, and some 
 not. Sometimes the Lord smites sinners in the very act 
 of sin ; to show unto the world, that he is witness to all 
 fheir wickedness, and will call them to an account lor it. 
 Sometimes he delays long ere he strikes, that he may 
 discover to the world, that he forgets not men's ill deeds, 
 though he does not presently punish them. Besides all 
 this, the sins of many do out-live them, and the impure 
 fountain, by them opened, runs long after they are dead 
 and gone. As in the case of Jeroboam the first king of 
 the ten tribes, whose sin did run on all along unto the 
 end of that unhappy kingdom. <j Kings xvii. 22. " The* 
 children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam
 
 HBAD iv.] A general judgment proved. 885 
 
 which he did, they departed not from them." V<r. 23. 
 " Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight." 
 
 Thirdly, The resurrection of Christ is a certain proof 
 that there shall he a day of judgment. This argument 
 Paul useth to convince the Athenians, that Jesus Christ 
 shall be the judge of the world, " Whereof. ' says he, ' he 
 hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised 
 him from the dead," Acts xvii. 31. The judge is alrea- 
 dy named, his patent written and sealed, yea. and read 
 before all men, in his rising again from the dead. He 
 hath by raising Christ from the dead, exhibited his cre- 
 dentials as judge of the world. When, in the days of his 
 humiliation, he was sifted before a tribunal, arraigned, 
 accused, condemned of men ; he plainly told them of the 
 judgment, and that he himself would be the judge, Matt, 
 xxvi. 64<. Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man nil-rig 
 on the right hand of power, and corning in the clouds of 
 heaven. And now that he was raised from the dead, 
 though condemned as a blasphemer on this very head, is 
 it not an undeniable proof, from heaven, of the truth of 
 what he asserted ? Moreover, this was one of the great 
 ends of Christ's death and resurrection, "For to this end 
 Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might 
 be the Lord (i. e. the Lord judge, as is evident from the 
 text) both of the dead and of the living," Rom. xiv 9. 
 
 Lastly, Every man bears about with him a witness to 
 this, within his own breast, Rom. ii. 15. ' Which show 
 the work of the law written in their hearts, their consci- 
 ence also bearing witness, and their thoughts the im-an 
 while accusing, or else excusing, one another." There 
 is a tribunal erected within every man, where conscience 
 is accuser, witness, and judge, binding over the sinner to 
 the judgment of God. This fills the most profligate wret- 
 ches with horror, and inwardly stings tin m upon the com- 
 mission of some atrocious crime ; in effect summoning 
 them to answer for it, before the judge of the quick and 
 dead. And thus it doth, even when the crime is secret 
 
 3 D
 
 386 Jesus Christ the judge [STATE iv. 
 
 and hid from the eyes of the world. It reacheth those 
 whom the laws of men cannot reach, because of their 
 power or craft. When men have fled from the judgment 
 of their fellow-creatures ; yet, go where they will, con- 
 science, as the supreme Judge's officer, still keeps hold of 
 them, reserving them in its chains to the judgment of the 
 great day. And whether they escape punishment from 
 men, or fall by the hand of public justice, when they per- 
 eeive death's approach, they hear, from within, of this 
 after-reckoning ; being constrained to hearken thereto, 
 in these the most serious minutes of their lives. If there 
 be some, in whom nothing of this doth appear, we have 
 no more ground thence to conclude against it, than we 
 have to conclude, that because some men do not groan, 
 therefore they have no pain : or that dying is a mere 
 jest, because there hav been, who seemed to make little 
 else of it. A good face may be put upon an ill counten- 
 ance : and the more hopeless men's case is, they reckon 
 it more their interest to make no reflections on their state 
 and case. But every one who will consult himself seri- 
 ously, shall find in himself the witness to the judgment 
 to come. Even the heathens wanted not a notion of it, 
 though mixt with fictions of their own. Hence, though 
 some of the " Athenians, when they heard of the resur- 
 rection of the dead, mocked," Acts xvii. 32. yet there is 
 no account of their mocking, when they heard of the "ge- 
 neral judgment," verse 31. 
 
 II. For explication, the following particulars may 
 serve to give some view of the nature and transactions 
 of that great day. 
 
 I. God shall judge the world by Jesus Christ " He 
 will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom 
 he hath ordained," Acts xvii. 31. The Psalmist tells us 
 that " God is judge himself." Psal. 1. 6. The holy bles- 
 sed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is judge, in 
 respect of judiciary authority, dominion, and power : but 
 the Son incarnate is the judge, in respect of dispensation, 
 and special exercise of that power. The judgment shall be
 
 HEAD iv.] The coming of the judge. 557 
 
 exercised or performed by him, as the royal Mediator, 
 for he has a delegated power of judgment from the Fa- 
 ther, as his .Servant, his King, whom. he hath "set upon 
 his holy hill of Zion," Psal. ii. G. and to whom he " hath 
 committed all judgment," John v. 22. This is a part of 
 the Mediator's exaltation, given him in consequence of 
 his voluntary humiliation, Phil. ii. 8, 9, 10. " He humbled 
 himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
 of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted 
 him, and given him a name, which is above every name," 
 (i. e. power and authority over all, to wit) " that at (or 
 in) the name of Jesus (not the name Jesus, that is not 
 the name above every name, being common to others, as 
 to Justice Col. iv. 1 1. and Joshua, Heb. iv. 8.) every knee 
 shall bow." The which is explained by the apostle him- 
 self, of "standing before the judgment-seat of Christ," 
 Rom. xiv. 10, 11. So he who was judged and condemn- 
 ed of men, shall be the judge of men and angeis. 
 
 II. Jesus Christ the Judge, descending from heaven 
 into the air, (1 Thess. iv. 16, 1 7.) shall come in the clouds of 
 heaven uith power and great glory, Matt. xxiv. 30. This 
 his coming will be a mighty surprise to the world, which 
 will be found in deep security ; foolish virgins sleeping, 
 and the wise slumbering. There will then be much lux- 
 ury and debauchery in the world, little sobriety and 
 watchfulness ; a great throng of business, but a great scar- 
 city of faith and holiness. " As it was in the days of No- 
 ah, so also shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. 
 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were 
 given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into 
 the ark : and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 
 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot : they did eat, 
 they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they 
 
 builded. Even thus shall it be in the day when the 
 
 Son of Man is revealed," Lukexvii. 26, 27, 28, 30. The 
 coming of the Judge will surprise some at markets, buy- 
 ing and selling ; others at table, eating and drinking, and 
 making merry ; others busy with their new plantings ;
 
 388 The judge's sitting down., fyc. [STATE iv. 
 
 some building new houses ; nay, some's wedding-day will 
 be their own and the world's judgment day. But the 
 Judge cometh ! the markets are marred ; the buyer 
 throws away what he has bought ; the seller casts down 
 his money ; they are raised from the table and their 
 mirth is extinguished in a moment. Though the tree be 
 set in the earth, the gardener may not stay to cast the 
 earth about it ; the workmen throw away their tools, 
 when the house is half built, and the owner regards it 
 no more ; the bridegroom, bride, and guests must leave 
 the wedding- feast, and appear before the tribunal : for, 
 Behold he cometh with clouds, ana every eye shall see him, 
 R<?v. i. 7. He shall come most gloriously ; for he will 
 come in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels, Mark 
 viii. 38. When he came in the flesh, to die for sinners, 
 he bid aside the robes of his glory, and was despised and 
 rejected of men ; but when he comes again, to judge the 
 world, such shall be his visible glory and majesty, that 
 it shall cast an eternal veil over all earthly glory, and 
 fill his greatest enemies with fear and dread. Never had 
 prince or potentate in the world, such a glorious train as 
 will accompany this Judge. All the holy angels shall 
 come with him, for his honour and service. Then he, who 
 was led to the cross with a band of soldiers, will be glo- 
 riously attended to the place of judgment, by (not " a 
 multitude of the heavenly host," but) the whole host of 
 angels ; " all his holy angels," says the text. 
 
 III. At the coming of the Judge, the summons are 
 given to the parties, by the sound of the last trumpet ; 
 at which the dead are raised, and these found alive chan- 
 ged ; of which before, 1 Thess. iv. 16', 17. O loud trum- 
 pet ; that shall be heard at once, in all corners of the 
 earth, and of the sea ! O wonderful voice, that will not 
 only disturb those who sleep in the dust ; but effectually 
 awaken, rouse them out of their sleep, and raise them 
 from death ! Were trumpets sounding now, drums beat- 
 ing, furious soldiers crying and killing men, women, and 
 children running and shrieking, the wounded groaning 1
 
 HEAD iv.] The judge's sifting down, $c. 389 
 
 and dying ; those who are in the graves, would have no 
 more disturbance, than if the world were in most pro- 
 found peace. Yea, were stormy winds casting down the 
 lofty oaks, the seas roaring and swallowing up the ships, 
 the most dreadful thunders going along the heavens, 
 lightnings every where flashing, the earth quaking, 
 trembling, opening and swallowing up whole cities, and 
 burying multitudes at once ; the dead would still enjoy 
 a perfect repose, and sleep soundly in the dust ; though 
 their own dust should be thrown out of its place. But at 
 the sound of this trumpet they shall all awake. The mor- 
 ning is come, they can sleep no longer ; the time of the 
 dead, that they must be judged : they must get out of 
 their graves, and appear before the Judge. 
 
 IV. The Judge shall sit down on the tribunal ; he 
 shall 3\t on the throne of his glory. Some time he stood 
 before a tribunal on earth, and was condemned as a ma- 
 lefactor ; then he shall sit on his own tribunal, and judge 
 the world. Some time he hung upon the cross covered 
 with shame ; then he shall sit on a throne of glory. What 
 this throne shall be, whether a bright cloud, or what else, 
 I shall not inquire. Our eyes will give an answer to that 
 question at length. "John saw a great white throne," 
 Rev. xx. 11. *'His throne (says Daniel) was like the 
 fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire," chap. vii. 9. 
 Whatever it be, doubtless it shall be a throne glorious be- 
 yond expression ; and in comparison with which, the. 
 most glorious throne on the earth, is but a seat on a dung- 
 hill ; and the sight of it will equally surprise kings, who 
 sat on thrones in this life, and beggars who sat on dung- 
 hills. It will be a throne for stateliness and glory, suited 
 to the quality of him, who shall sit on it. Never had a 
 judge such a throne, and never had a throne such a judge 
 on it. 
 
 Leaving the discovery of the nature of the throne un- 
 til that day, it concerns us more nearly to consider, what 
 a judge will sit on it : a point \r which we nrf not left 
 to uncertain conjectures. The judge on tbe throne will
 
 390 The judge's sitting down, <|c. [STATE iv. 
 
 be, (1.) A visible Judge, visible to our bodily eyes, Rev. 
 i. 7. Even/ eye shalt see him. When God gave the law 
 en Mount Sinai, the people " saw no similitude, only they 
 heard a voice :" but when he calls the world to an account, 
 how they have observed his law ; the man Christ being 
 Judge, we shall see our Judge with our eyes, either to 
 our eternal comfort or confusion ; according to the en- 
 tertainment we give him now. That very body which 
 was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem, betwixfc 
 two thieves, shall then be seen on the throne, shining in 
 glory. We now see him symbolically in the sacrament of 
 his supper : the saints see him by the eye of Faith : then, 
 ail shall see him with these eyes now in their heads. (2.) 
 A Judge having full authority, and power, to render un- 
 to every one according to his works. Christ as God hath 
 authority of himself; and as Mediator he hath a judicial 
 power and authority, which his Father has invested him 
 with ; according to the covenant betwixt the Father and 
 the Son, for the redemption of sinners. As his divine glo- 
 ry will be a light, by which all men shall see clearly to 
 read his commission, for his great and honourable em- 
 ployment. " All power is given unto him, in heaven and 
 inearth," Matt, xxviii. 18. He hath " the keys of hell 
 and of death," Rev. i. 18. There can be no appeal from 
 his tribunal : sentence once past there must stand for 
 ever ; there is no reversing of it. All appeals are from an 
 inferior court to a superior one : but when God gives sen- 
 tence against a man, where can he find a higher court to 
 bring his process to ? This judgment is the Mediator's 
 judgment, and therefore the last judgment. If the inter- 
 cessor be against us, who can be for us ? If Christ con- 
 demn us, who will absolve us ? (3.) A Judge of infinite 
 wisdom. His eyes will pierce into and clearly discern, 
 the most intricate cases. His omniscience qualifies him 
 for judging of the most retired thoughts as well as of 
 words and of works. The most subtle sinner shall not 
 be able to outwit him, nor by any artful management, 
 to palliate the crime. He is the Searcher of hearts, to 
 whom nothing can be hid or perplexed : but all things
 
 ill AD iv.] The appearance of the parties. S91 
 
 are naked and open unto his eyes, Heb. iv. IS. (5.) A 
 most just Judge ; a Judge of perfect integrity. He is "the 
 righteous judge," (2 Tim. iv. 8.) and his throne a great 
 " white throne," (Rev. xx. 11.) from whence no judgment 
 shall proceed, but what is most pure and spotless. The 
 Thebans painted justice blind, and without hands ; for 
 judges ought not to respect persons, nor take bribes. The 
 Areopagites judged in the dark, that they might not re- 
 gard who spoke, but what was spoken. With the Judge 
 on this throne, there will be no respect of persons ; he 
 will neither regard the persons of the rich, nor of the 
 poor : but just judgment shall go forth, in every one's 
 cause. Lastly, An omnipotent Judge, able to put his 
 sentence in execution. The united force of devils and 
 wicked men will be altogether unable to withstand him. 
 They cannot retard the execution of the sentence against 
 them one moment : far less can they stop it altogether. 
 Thousand thousands (of angels) minister unto him., Dan. 
 vii. 10. And by the breath of his mouth, he can drive 
 the cursed herd whither he pleaseth. 
 
 V. The parties shall appear. These are men and de- 
 vils : although these last, the fallen angels, were from the 
 first moment of their sinning, subjected to the wrath of 
 God, and were cast down to hell : wheresoever they go, 
 they carry their hell about with them : yet it is evident 
 that they are " reserved into judgment/' (2 Pet. ii. 4.) 
 namely, " unto the judgment of the great day," Jude 6. 
 And then they shall be solemnly and publicly judged, 
 1 Cor. vi. 3. "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" 
 At that day they shall answer for their trade of sinning 
 and tempting to sin, which they have been carrying on. 
 from the beginning. Then many a hellish brat which 
 Satan has laid down at the saint's door, but not adopted 
 by them, shall be laid at the door of the true father of 
 it, that is, the devil : and he shall receive the due reward 
 of all the dishonour he has done to God, and of all the 
 mischief he has done to men. Those wicked spirits now 
 in chains, (though not in such strait custody, but that
 
 592 Separation of the [STA^E iv. 
 
 they go about, like roaring lions, seeking whom they may 
 devour) shall then receive their final sentence, and be 
 shut up in their den, namely, in the prison of hell ; where 
 they shall be held in extreme and unspeakable torment, 
 through all eternity, Rev. xx. 1O. "And the devil that 
 deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brim- 
 stone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and 
 shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 1 ' In 
 prospect of which the devils said to Christ, " Art thou 
 come hither to torment us before the time ?" Matt. viii. 
 29. 
 
 But what we are chiefly concerned to take notice of* 
 is the case of men at that day. All men must appear 
 before this tribunal. All of each sex, of every age, qua- 
 lity, and condition ; the great and small, noble and ig- 
 noble : none are excepted. Adam and Eve, with all 
 their sons and daughters, (every one who has had, or, to 
 the end of the world, shall have, a living soul united to 
 a body) will make up this great congregation. Even 
 those, who refused to come to the throne of grace, shall 
 be forced to the bar of justice : for there can be no hid- 
 ing from the all-seeing Judge, no flying from him who is 
 present every where, no resisting of him who is armed 
 with almighty power. " We must all stand before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ," 2 Cor. v. 10. " Before him 
 shall be gathered all nations, "' says the text. This is to 
 be done by the ministry of angeli. By them shall the 
 elect be gathered, Mark xiii. 27. " Then shall he send 
 his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four 
 winds/' And they also shall gather the reprobate, Matt. 
 xiii. 40, 41. "So shall it be in the end of this world. 
 The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they 
 shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, 
 and them which do iniquity." From all corners of the 
 world, shall the inhabitants thereof be gathered unto the 
 place, where he shall set his throne for judgment. 
 
 VI. There shall be a separation made betwixt the 
 righteous and the wicked ; the fail- company of the eleat-
 
 HEAD iv.] righteous and wicked. $93 
 
 sheep being sat on Christ's right hand, and the repro- 
 bate goats on his left. There is no necessity to wait for 
 this separation, till the trial be over ; since the parties 
 do rise out of their graves, with plain outward marks of 
 distinction, it was cleared before. The separation seems 
 to be effected by that double gathering before mention- 
 ed; the one of the elect, Mark xiii. 27- the other of 
 " them that do iniquity," Matt. xiii. 41. The elect, be- 
 ing " caught up together in the clouds, meet the Lord 
 in the air,'' (1 Thess. iv. 47.) and so are set on his right 
 hand; and the reprobate left on the earth, (Matt. xxiv. 
 40 ) upon the Judge's left hand. Here is now a total 
 separation of two parties, who were always opposite to 
 each other in their principles, aims, and manner of life, 
 who when together, were a burden the one to the other 
 under which the one groaned, and the other raged : but 
 now they are freely parted ; never to come together any 
 more. The iron and clay (allude to Dan. ii. 41, 43.) 
 which could never mix, are quite separate ; the one being 
 drawn up into the air by the attractive virtue of * the 
 stone cut out of the mountain," namely, Jesus Christ ; 
 the other left upon its earth, to be trod under foot. 
 
 Now let us look to the right hand, and there will we 
 see a glorious company of saints shining, as so many 
 stars in their orbs ; and with a cheerful countenance be- 
 holding him, whositteth upon the throne. Here will be 
 two wonderful sights winch the world used not to see. 
 (1.) A great congregation of saints, in which not so much 
 as an hypocrite. There was a bloody Cain in Adam's 
 family, a cursed Ham in Noah's family, in the ark ; a 
 treacherous Judas in Christ's own family : but in that 
 company shall be none but sealed ones, members of 
 Christ, having all one Father. And this is a sight re- 
 served for that day. (2 ) All the godly upon one side. 
 Seldom or never do the saints on earth make such a har- 
 mony, but there are some jarring strings among them. 
 It is not to be expected that men, who see but in part. 
 
 3 v
 
 Separation, $c. [STATE iv. 
 
 though they all be going to one city, will agree as to 
 every step in the way ; no, we need not look for it, in 
 this state of imperfection. But at that day Paul and 
 Barnabas shall meet in peace and unity, though once the 
 " contention was so sharp between them, that they de- 
 parted asunder, the one from the other," Acts xv. 39. 
 There shall be no more division, no naore separate stand- 
 ing amongst those who belong to Christ. All the godly 
 of the different parties shall then be upon one side ; see- 
 ing" whatever were their differences in lesser things while 
 in the world, yet even then they met and concentrated 
 a"! 1 <n one Lord Jesus Christ, by a true and living faith, 
 and in the one way of holiness, or practical godliness. 
 And naughty hypocrites, of whatever party, shall be " led 
 forth with the workers of iniquity." 
 
 Look to the left hand, and there you will see the cur- 
 sed goats (all the wicked ones from Cain to the last un- 
 godiy person who shall be in the world) gathered toge- 
 ther into one most miserable congregation. There are 
 many assemblies of the wicked now, then there shall be 
 but one. But all of them shall be present there, brought 
 together as one herd for the slaughter, bellowing and 
 roaring, weeping and howling for the miseries come, and 
 that are coming on them. (And remember, thou shalt 
 not be a mere spectator, to look at these two so different 
 companies ; but must thyself take thy place in one of 
 the two, and shalt share with the company, whatever 
 hand it be upon.) Those who now abhor no society so 
 much as that of the saints, would then be glad to be al- 
 lowed to get in among them, though it were but to lie 
 among their feet. But then not one tare shall be found 
 with the wheat, " he will thoroughly purge his floor."- 
 Many of the right hand men of this world, will be left 
 hand men in that day. Many who must have the door 
 on the right hand of these who are better than they (if 
 " the righteous be more excellent than his neighbour") 
 shall then be turned to the left' hand as most despicable 
 wretches. O how terrible will this separation be to the
 
 HEAD iv.l Trial of the parties. 395 
 
 ungodly ! how dreadful will this gathering i\\*m tog-ether 
 into one company be ! what they will not believe, they 
 will then see, namely, that but - lew are saved." They 
 think it -enough now to be neighbour-like, and can se- 
 curely follow the multitude ; but the multitude on the 
 left hand will yield them no comfort. How will it sting 
 the ungodly Christian to see himself set on the same hand 
 with Turks and Pagans? I low will it gall men to find 
 themselves standing, profane Protestants with idolatrous 
 Papists, praying people with their profane neighbours, 
 who mocked at their religious exercises : formal profes- 
 sors, strangers to the new birth and the power of godli- 
 ness, with persecutors ! Now there are many opposite 
 societies in the world, but then all the -uugodly shall be 
 in one society. And how dreadful will the faces of com- 
 panions in sin be to one another there ! What doleful 
 shrieks, when the whoremonger and his whore shall meet; 
 when the drunkards, who have had many a jovial day to- 
 gether, shall see one another in the face ; when the hus- 
 band and wife, the parents and children, masters and 
 servants, and neighbours, who have been snares and 
 stumbling-blocks to one another, to the ruin of their 
 own souls and those of their relatives, shall meet again 
 in that miserable society ! then will there be curses in- 
 stead of salutations : and tearing of themselves, and 
 raging against one another, instead of the wonted em- 
 braces. 
 
 VII. The parties shall be tried. The trial cannot be 
 difficult, because the -judge is omniscient, and nothing 
 can be hid from him. But, that his righteous judgment 
 may be made evident to all, he will set the 
 things of darkness" in the clearest light at that trial, 1 
 Cor. iv. 5. 
 
 Men shall- be tried, First, Upon their works ; for God 
 
 shall bring every work into judgment, with cverr/ ,v. 
 thing, whether it be good, or whether it !><' evil. Eccl. xii. 
 I4i. The judge will try every man's conversation, and 
 set his deeds done in the body, with all the circumstances
 
 396 Trial of the parties. ESTATE iv. 
 
 thereof, in a true light. Then will many actions com- 
 mended and applauded of men as good and just, be dis- 
 covered to have been evil and abominable in the sight 
 of God ; and many works now condemned in the world, 
 will be approved and commended by the great Judge as 
 good and just. Secret things will be brought to light, 
 and what was hid from the view of the world, shall be 
 laid open. Wickedness, which hath kept its lurking- 
 place in spite of all human search, will then be brought 
 forth to the glory of God, and the confusion of impeni- 
 tent sinners, who hid it. The world appears now very vile 
 in the eyes of those who are exercised to godliness ; and 
 it will then appear a thousand times more vile, when that 
 which is done of men in secret comes to be discovered. 
 Every good action shall then be remembered, and the 
 hidden religion and good works most industriously con- 
 cealed by tiie saints from the eyes of men, shall no more 
 lie hid : for though the Lord will not allow men to pro- 
 claim every man his own goodness, yet he himself will 
 do it in due time. Secondly, Their words shall be judg- 
 ed, Matt. xii. 37 For by thy words thou shall be justified, 
 and by thy words thou shall be condemned. Not a word 
 spoken for God and his cause in the world, from love to 
 himself, shall be forgotten. They are all kept in re- 
 membrance, and shall be brought forth as evidences of 
 faith, and of an interest in Christ, Mai. iii. 16. "Then 
 they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, 
 and the Lord hearkened and heard it ; and a book of 
 remembrance was written before him." Ver. 17. "And 
 they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day 
 when I make up my jewels." And the tongue which 
 did run at random, shall then confess to God ; and the 
 speaker shall find it to have been followed, and every 
 word noted, that dropped from the unsanctified lips, 
 *' Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give 
 account thereof in the day of judgment," Matt. xii. $6. 
 And if they shall give account of idle words, that is, words 
 spoken to no good purpose, neither for God's glory, one's 
 own, nor one's neighbour's good : how much more shall
 
 HEAD iv.] Trial of the parlies. 397 
 
 men's wicked words, their sinful oaths, curses, lies, filthy 
 communications, and bitter words, he called over again 
 that day ? The tongues of many shall then fall upon 
 themselves" and ruin them. Thirdly., Men's thoughts 
 shall be brought into judgment ; the Judge " will make 
 manifest the counsels of the heart," 1 Cor. iv. 5. Thoughts 
 go tree from man's judgment, but not from the judgment 
 of the heart-searching God, who knows men's thoughts 
 without the help of signs to discern them by. The se- 
 cret springs of men's actions will then be brought to 
 light, and the sins that never came further than the 
 heart, will then be laid open. O what a figure will man's 
 corrupt nature make, when his inside is turned out, and 
 all his speculative impurities are exposed ! The rotten- 
 ness that is within many a whited sepulchre, the specu- 
 lative filthiness and wantonness, murder and malignity, 
 now lurking in the hearts of men, as in the chambers of 
 imagery, will then be discovered, and what good was in 
 the hearts of any, shall no more lie concealed. If it was 
 in their hearts " to build a house to the Lord.** they shall 
 hear, that " they did well that it was in their heart." 
 
 This trial will be righteous and impartial, accurate 
 and searching, clear and evident. The judge is " the 
 righteous Judge," and he will do right to every one. 
 He has a just balance for good and evil actions, and for 
 honest and false hearts. The fig-leaf cover of hypocrisy 
 will then be blown aside, and the hypocrite's nakedness 
 will appear, as when the Lord came to judge Adam and 
 Eve " in the cool (or as the word is, in the wind) of the 
 day," Gen. iii. 8. " The fire (which tries things most ex- 
 quisitely) shall try every man's work, of what sort it is," 
 1 Cor. iii. 13. Man's judgment is oft-times perplexed 
 and confused ; but here the whole process shall be clear 
 and evident, as written with a sun-beam. It shall be 
 clear to th Judge, to whom no case can be intricate ; to 
 the parties, who shall be convinced, Jude 15. And the 
 multitudes on both sides shall see the Judge is clear 
 when he judgeth ; for then " the heavens shall declare
 
 598 The books opened. [STATE iv. 
 
 his righteousness" in the audience of all the world ; and 
 so it shall be universally known, Psal. 1. 6. 
 
 On these accounts it is, that this trial is held out in 
 the scripture under the notion of opening 1 of books, and 
 men are said to be "judged out of those things written 
 in the books," Rev. xx. 12. The judge of the world, 
 who infallibly knoweth all things, hath no need of books 
 to be laid before him, to prevent mistakes in any point 
 of law or fact : but the expression points at his proceed- 
 ing, as most nice, accurate, just, and well grounded in 
 every step of it. Now there are four book that shall be 
 opened in that day. 
 
 First, The book of God's remembrance or omnis- 
 cience, Mai. iii. 16. This is an exact record of every 
 man's state, thoughts, words, and deeds, good or evil ; it 
 is, as it were, a day-book in which the Lord puts down 
 all that passeth in men's hearts, lips, and lives ; and it is 
 a filling up every day that one lives. In it are recorded 
 men's sins and good works, secret and open, with all 
 their circumstances. Here are registered all their pri- 
 vileges, mercies temporal and spiritual, sometimes laid 
 to their hand ; the checks, admonitions, and rebukes, 
 given by teachers, neighbours, afflictions, and men's own 
 consciences ; every thing in its due order. This book 
 will serve only as a libel in respect of the ungodly, but 
 it will be for another use in respect of the godly, name- 
 ly, for a memorial of their good. The opening of it is 
 the Judge's bringing to light what is written in it ; the 
 reading, as it were, of the libel and and memorial, re- 
 spectively, in their hearing. 
 
 Secondly^ The book of conscience will be opened, and 
 shall be a thousand witnesses to prove the fact, Rom. i. 
 15. "Which shew the work of the law written in their 
 hearts, their consciences also bearing witness." Con- 
 science is a censor going with every man whithersoever 
 he goes, taking an account of his deeds done in the body, 
 and, as it were, noting them in a book ; the which be- 
 ing opened, will be found a double of the former, so far
 
 HEAD iv.j The looks opened. 399 
 
 ^- ~ , f ^-~ 
 
 as it relates to one's own state and case. Much is writ- 
 ten in is which cannot be read now, the writing of con- 
 science being, in many cases, like to that which is made 
 with the juice of lemons, not to be read till it be held 
 before the fire ; but then men shall read it clearly and 
 distinctly ; the fire which is to try every man's work, 
 will make the book of conscience legible in every point. 
 Though the book be sealed now (the conscience blind, 
 dumb, and deaf,) the seals will then be broken, and the 
 book opened. There shall be no more a silent conscience, 
 and far less a seared conscience amongst all the ungod- 
 ly crew ; but their consciences shall be most quick-sight- 
 ed, and most lively, in that day. None shall then call 
 good evil, or evil good. Ignorance of what sin is, and 
 what things are sins, will have no place amongst them ; 
 and the subtle reasonings of men in favour of their lusts, 
 will then be for ever baffled by their own consciences. 
 None shall have the favour (if I may so speak) of lying 
 under the soft cover of delusion, but they shall all be 
 " convicted by their consciences." They shall look on 
 this book, read, and be confounded, and stand speech- 
 less, knowing that nothing is charged upon them by 
 mistake, since this is a book which was always in their 
 own custody. Thus shall the Judge make every man 
 see himself in the glass of his own conscience, which will 
 make quick work. 
 
 Thirdly, The book of the law shall be opened. This 
 book is the standard and rule by which is known what is 
 right and what is wrong, as also what sentence is to be 
 passed according, on those who are under it. As to the 
 opening of the book, in its statutory part, which shews 
 what is sin, and what is duty ; it tails in with the open- 
 ing of the book of conscience. For conscience is s 
 the Sovereign Lawgiver in every man's breast, to be his 
 private teacher, to shew him the law ; and his private 
 pastor, to make application of the same ; and at that 
 day, it will be perfectly fit, for its office : so that the con- 
 science, which is most stupid now, shall then read to the
 
 400 The books opened. [STATE iv. 
 
 man, most accurate but dreadful lectures on the law. 
 But what seems (mainly at least) pointed at, by the o- 
 pening of this book, is the opening 1 of that part of it 
 which determines the reward of men's works. Now the 
 law promises life upon perfect obedience, but none can 
 be found on the right hand, or on the left, who will pre- 
 tend to that when once the book of conscience is opened. 
 It threateneth death upon disobedience, and will e; Ac- 
 tually bring it upon all under its dominion. And this 
 part ef the book of the law, determining the reward of 
 men's works, is opened only to shew what must be the 
 portion of the ungodly, and that there thev may read 
 their sentence before it be pronounced. But it is not 
 opened for the sentence of the saints, for no sentence 
 absolving a sinner, could ever be drawn out of it. The 
 law promiseth life, not as it is a rule of actions, but as a 
 covenant of works ; and therefore innocent man could 
 not have demanded life upon his obedience, till the law 
 was reduced into a form of a covenant, as was shewn 
 before. But the saints having been in this life brought 
 under a new covenant, namely, the covenant of grace, 
 were " dead to the law," as a covenant of works, and it 
 was dead to them. Wherefore, as they shall not now 
 have any fears of death from it, so they have no hopes 
 of life from it, since " they are not under the law, but 
 under grace," Rom. vi. 14. But for their sentence, ano- 
 ther book is opened ; of which in the next place. 
 
 Thus the book of the law is opened, for the sentence a- 
 gainst all those on the left hand; ami by it they will clear- 
 ly see the justice of the judgment against them, and how 
 the judge proceeds therein according to law. Never- 
 theless, there will be dris difference, namely, that those 
 who had only the natural law, and lived not under any 
 special revelation, shall be Judged by that law of nature 
 they had in their hearts ; which law bears, " That they 
 which commit such things (as they will stand convicted 
 of) are worthy of death," Rom ; .. 32. But those who 
 had the written law, to whom the word of God came as
 
 HEAD iv.] The books opened. 401 
 
 it is sounded in the visible church, shall he judged by 
 that written la\v. So says the apostle, Rom. ii. 12. ' tor 
 SL> ,nany as have sinned w.t'iout (the written) law, shall 
 also perish without v the written) law ; and as many as 
 have sinned in the law (i. e. under the written law) shall 
 be judged by the ^written) law." 
 
 Lastly, " Another book shall be opened, which is the 
 Jbook of life," Rev. xx 12 In this, the names of all the 
 elect are written, as Christ said to his disciples, Luke x. 
 2O. " Your names are written in lieav.-n." This book 
 contains God's gracious and unchangeable purple to 
 bring 1 all the elect to eternal life, and that in order th'-re- 
 to, they be redeemed by the bloo-i of his Son. effectually 
 called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and raised up by 
 him at the last day, without sin It is now lodged in 
 the Mediator's hand, as the book of ' the manner of the 
 kingdom;" and having perfected the work the Father 
 gave him to do, he shall on the great day produce and 
 open the book, and present the persons therein named, 
 " faultless before the presence of his glory," Jude 24. 
 " Not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing," Eph. 
 v. 27- None of the?n all, who are named in the book, 
 shall be missing. They shall be found qualified, accord- 
 ing to the order of the book, redeemed, called, justified 
 sanctified, raised up, without spot : what remains then, 
 but that, according to the same book, they obtain the 
 great end, namely, everlasting life ? This may be ga- 
 thered from that precious promise, Rev. iii. 5. " He 
 that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white rai- 
 mant (being raised in glory,) and I will not blot his name 
 out of the book of life, but I will confess his name (it 
 shall be, as it were, read out, among the rest of God's 
 elect) before my Father, and before his angels." Here 
 is now the ground of his saint's absolviture, the ground 
 of the blessed sentence they shall receive. The book of 
 life being opened, it will be known to all, wh<< r.re elect- 
 ed and who are not. Thus far for the trial of the parties. 
 
 8 F
 
 402 Sentence on the saints. [STATE iv. 
 
 VIII. Then shall the judge pronounce that blessed 
 sentence on the saints, " Come ye blessed of my Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
 tion of the world," Matt. xxv. 34>. It is most probable, 
 the man Christ will pronounce it with an audible voice, 
 which not only all the saints, but all the wicked like- 
 wise, shall hear and understand. Who can conceive the 
 inexpressible joy with which these happy ones shall hear 
 these words ? Who can imagine that fulness of joy 
 which will be poured into their hearts, with these words 
 reaching their ears ? And who can conceive how much 
 of hell shall break into the hearts of all the ungodly 
 crew by these words of heaven ? It is certain this sen- 
 tence shall be pronounced before the sentence of dam- 
 nation, Matt. xxv. 34. " Then shall the King say to 
 them on his right hand, Come ye blessed," c. ver. 41. 
 " Then shall he also say to them on the left hand, De- 
 part from me ye cursed," <%c. There is no need of this 
 order, that the saints may without fear and affrightment 
 hear the other sentence on the reprobate : they who are 
 raised in glory, caught up to meet the Lord in the air, 
 presented without spot, and whose souls (for the far 
 greater part of them) have been so long in heaven be- 
 fore, shall not be capable of any such fear. But hereby 
 they will be orderly brought in to sit in judgment as 
 Christ's assessors, against the ungodly, whose torments 
 will be aggravated by it. It will be a hell to them to 
 be kept out of hell, till they see the doors of heaven open- 
 ed to receive the saints, who once dwelt in the same 
 world with them, and, perhaps, in the same country, pa- 
 rish, or town, and sat under the same ministry with 
 themselves. Thus will they see heaven afar off. to make 
 their hell the hotter ; like that unbelieving lord, 2 Kings 
 viii. 20. They shall see the plenty " with their eyes, 
 but shall not eat thereof." Every word of the blessed 
 sentence shall be like an envenomed arrow shot into 
 their hearts, while they see what they hare lost, and 
 from thence gather what they are to expect.
 
 HEAD iv.] Sentence on the saints. 403 
 
 This sentence passeth on the saints, " according to 
 their works/' Rev. xx. 12. But not for their works, nor 
 for their faith neither, as if eternal life were merited by 
 them. The sentence itself overthrows this absurd con- 
 ceit. The kingdom they are all called to, was ' prepar- 
 ed for them, from the foundation of the world ;" not left 
 to be merited by themselves, who were but of yesterday. 
 They inherit it as sons, but procure it not to themselves 
 as servants do the reward of their work. They were re- 
 deemed by the blood of Christ, and clothed with spotless 
 righteousness, which is the proper cause of the sentence. 
 They were also qualified for heaven, by the sanctifica- 
 tion of his Spirit ; and hence it is " according to their 
 works :" so that the ungodly world shall see now, that 
 the Judge of the quick and dead does good to them, 
 who were good. Therefore it is added to the sentence, 
 " For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat," <^c. 
 ver. 35, 36. which doth not denote the ground, but the 
 evidence, of their right to heaven ; as if a judge should 
 say, he absolves a man pursued for debt ; for the wit- 
 nesses depone, that is paid already. So the apostle says, 
 1 Cor. x 5. " But with many of them God was not well 
 pleased : for they were overthrown in the wilderness." 
 Their overthrow in the wilderness was not the ground 
 of God's displeasure with them, but it was an evidence 
 of it. And thus our Lord teacheth us the necessary 
 connection betwixt glory and good works, namely, works 
 evangelically good; works having a respect to Jesus 
 Christ, and done out of faith in him, and love to him 
 without which they will not be regarded, in that day. 
 And the saints will so far be judged according to such 
 works, that the degrees of glory amongst them shall be 
 according to these works : for it is an eternal truth, 
 " He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly," 2 
 Cor. ix. 6. 
 
 Thus shall the good works of the godly have a glori- 
 ous but a gratuituous reward ; a reward of grace, not 
 f debt which will fill them with wonder at the riches of
 
 The saint* judge the world. [STATE iv. 
 
 free grace, and the Lord's condescending 1 to take any no- 
 tice, especially such public notice, of their poor worthless 
 works. The which seems to he the import of what they 
 are said to answer, ' saying. Lord, when saw we thee 
 an hungered, ' c ver. 37. 38 39 \nd may they not 
 justly wonder to see themselves set down to the mar- 
 riage supper of the Lamb, in consequence of a dinner or 
 supper, a little meat or drink (such as they had) which 
 they gave to a hungry or thirsty member of Christ, for 
 his sake ? O plentiful harvest, following upon the seed 
 of good works! Rivers of pleasure springing up from 
 (perhaps) a cup of cold water given to a disciple in the 
 name of a disciple ! Eternal mansions of gfory rising out 
 of a night's lodging given to a saint, who was a stranger! 
 Everlasting robes of glory given in exchange of a new 
 coat, or (it may be) an old one, bestowed on some saint, 
 who had not necessary clothing! A visit to a sick saint, 
 repaid by Christ himself, coming in the glory of his Fa- 
 ther, with all his hoh angels ! A visit made to a poor 
 prisoner, for the cause of Christ, repaid with a visit 
 from the Judge of all, taking away the visitant with him 
 to tht- palace of heaven, there to be, ever with himself! 
 These things will be matter of everlasting wonder ; and 
 shouU 1 stir up all. to sow liberally in time, while the 
 seed-time of good works doth last. But it is Christ's 
 stamp on good works, that puts a value on them, in the 
 eye of our gracious God ; which seems to be the import 
 of our Lord's reply, ver. 40. " Inasmuch as ye have done 
 it unto one of the least oi these my brethren, ye have 
 done it unto me." 
 
 IX. Now the saints having received their own sen- 
 tence. " they shall judge the world." 1 Cor. vi 2. This 
 was not fulfilled, when the empire became Christian, 
 and Christians were made magistrates. No. th psal- 
 mist tells us, " This honour have all the saints," Psal. 
 cxlix. 9. And the apostle, in the forecited place, adds, 
 "and if the world shall be judged by you. are ye unwor- 
 thy to judge the smallest matters," ver. 3. " Know ye
 
 Hi An iv.] Sentence OK the vngndly. 4O5 
 
 that we shall judge angris ' Being tailed, they 
 com*.' to receive their kingdom in tin- view of angels and 
 men : they go. as it were, from the bar to tht throne, 
 " To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with m-2 
 in my tlirone," Rev. iii. 21. They shal! not only juc<ge 
 the world, in Christ their head, by way of commutmm 
 with hiir by th?ir works compared with them of the 
 ungodly; or way of "n sti-i ony against then: but they 
 shall be accessors to Jesus Christ the Judge, giving 
 th^'.r voice against them, consenting to his^udgment as 
 j.is< r.nd saying. AiTK-n, to the doom pronomn :ist 
 
 al! ti',c' ungodly : as is saicl to the sa-nts, u;>on the judg- 
 n v, of the great whore, Rev. xix. 1. 2 -Halleluiah 
 for true and righteous :>re his judgments." i hus ** the 
 u . ,!it shall have dominion over them, in the morning" 
 of the .resurrection, Psal xlix. 14*. Then, and not till 
 then, shall that be fully accomplished as you may read, 
 Ps: i. ixlix. 6, 7, 8, 9 " Let the high praises of God be 
 in t ) sr mouth, and a two-edged sword m their hand, to 
 exe '-lite v ngefince upon the lieathen, and punishments 
 ujKin the pt;ople this honour have all the saints." O 
 what a strange turn of affairs will appear here ! \Vhat 
 an astonishing sight will it l-e to s< e w ke<' ehurri-men 
 an.' statesmen standing as cnminals 1; icre the haints, 
 whom sometimes they condemn as heretics rebels, and 
 traitors ! To see men of riches and power stand pale- 
 faced before those whom they oppressed ! To set the 
 mo' ker stand trembling befwre those he mocked! The 
 worldly-wise man before tbos* whom he ac ounted fools? 
 Tben shall the despised faces of the saints be dreadful 
 faces to the wicked ; and those who sometimes were 
 "the song of the drunkards," shall then be a terror to 
 them. All wrongs must be righted at length, and every 
 one set in his proper place. 
 
 X. The Judg^e shall pronounce the sentence of dam- 
 nation on all th< ungodly itu Ititude. "Then shall he 
 say .i 1 --') mt" t ; -.vMp on th( ' bai T part from roe, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
 
 406 Sentence on the ungodly, [STATB n*. 
 
 his angels," ver. 41. Fearful doom ! And that from the 
 same mouth from whence proceeded the sentence of ab- 
 solution before. It was an aggravation of the misery of 
 the Jews, when their city was destroyed, that they were 
 ruined by one who was accounted the darling of the 
 world. O what an aggravation of the misery of the 
 wicked will it be, that he shall pronounce this sentence 
 also ! To hear the curse from mount Zion, must need 
 be most terrible. To be damned by him who came to 
 save sinners, must be double damnation. But thus it 
 will be. The Lamb of God shall roar as a lion against 
 them ; he shall excommunicate and cast them out of his 
 presence for ever by a sentence from his throne, saying, 
 *' Depart from me, ye cursed." He shall adjudge them 
 to " everlasting fire," and the society of devils for ever- 
 more. And this sentence also, we suppose, shall be pro- 
 nounced with an audible voice by the man Christ. And 
 all the saints shall say, " Hallelujah, true and righteous 
 are his judgments." None were so compassionate as the 
 saints when on earth, during the time of God's patience. 
 But now that time is at an end ; their compassion on 
 the ungodly is swallowed up in joy in the Mediator's 
 glory, and his executing of just judgment, by which his 
 enemies are made his footstool. Though sometimes the 
 righteous man did weep in secret places for their pride, 
 and because they would not hear, yet then he shall " re- 
 joice when he seeth the vengeance, he shall wash his feet 
 in the blood of the wicked." Psal. Iviii. 10. No pity shall 
 then be shewn' to them from their nearest relations. 
 The godly wife shall applaud the justice of the Judge, 
 in the condemnation of her ungodly husband the godly 
 husband shall say Amen to the damnation of her who lay 
 in his bosom ; the godly parent shall say Hallelujah, at 
 the passing of the sentence against their ungodly child ; 
 and the godly child shall, from his heart, approve the dam- 
 nation of his wicked parents* the father who hegat him, 
 and the mother who bare him. The sentence is just, they 
 are judged "according to their works," Rev. xx. 12.
 
 a I AD iv.] Sentence on the ungodly. 4Ot 
 
 There is no wrong done them, " for I was an hunger- 
 ed, (saith our Lord) and ye gave me no meat : I was 
 thirsty, and ye gave nie no drink ; I was a stranger and 
 ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick 
 and in prison, and ye visited me not," vcr. 42, 43. These 
 are not only evidences of their ungodly and cursed state, 
 but most proper causes and grounds of their condemna- 
 tion : for though good works do not merit salvation, yet 
 evil works merit damnation. Sins of one kind only, viz. 
 of ommission, are here mentioned ; not that these alone 
 shall then be discovered, (for the opening of the books 
 lays all open) but because these, though there were no 
 more, are sufficient to damn unpardoned sinners. And 
 if men should be condemned for sins of omission, much 
 more for sins of commission. The omission of works of 
 charity and mercy, is condescended on particularly, to 
 stop the mouths of the wicked : for it is most just, that 
 he have judgment without mercy, " that hath shewed no 
 mercy," James ii. 13. The mentioning of the omission 
 of acts of charity and mercy, towards the distressed 
 members of Christ, intimates, that it is the judgment of 
 those who have heard of Christ in the gospel, that is 
 principally intended here, in this portion of scripture : 
 and that the slighting of Christ will be the great cause 
 of the ruin of those who hear the gospel ; but the enmi- 
 ty of the hearts of the wicked against Christ himself is 
 discovered by the entertainment they now give to his 
 members. 
 
 In vain will they say, " When saw we thee an hunger- 
 ed, or a thirst ?" &c. ver. 44. For the Lord reckons, 
 and will reckon, the world's unkindness to his people, 
 unkindness to himself; " Inasmuch as ye did not to one 
 of the least of these, ye did it not to me/' ver. 4.5. O 
 meat and drink unhappily spared, when a member of 
 Christ was in need of it ! O wretched neglect, that the 
 stranger saint was not taken in ! It had been better for 
 them, they had quitted their own room, and their own 
 bed, than he had wanted lodgings. O cursed clothing 1 ,
 
 4O8 Sentence, on the ttttgodty. [STATH ,v. 
 
 ni'i / the wicked say. that was irv my house, locker} U p in 
 mv < % hest. or hanging in my wardrobe, and was not 
 brought out to clothe such an on? ! O that 1 ha<f strip- 
 ped myself rather than he had gone away without Clo- 
 thing ! Cursed business, that diverted me from visiting 1 
 such a sick saint! O that I had rather watched whole 
 nights with him. Wretch that I was ! Why did I sit at 
 ease in my house, when he \vas in prison, and did not 
 visit him? But now the tables are turned: Christ's 
 servants shall eat but I shall he hungry; his servants 
 shall drink, but I shall be thirsty ; they rejoice, but I 
 am ashamed, Isa. Iv 13 they are taken in. but I am cast 
 out. and bid to depart: they are clothed with robes of 
 glory, but I " walk naked, and they see my shame,'' Hev. 
 xvi. 1.5. they are now raised up on high, beyond the 
 reach of sickness or pain ; but I must now "lie down in 
 sorrow," Isa. 1. H Now shall thev go to the palace of 
 heaven, but I must go to the prison of hell. 
 
 But if our Lord do thus resent men's neglecting to 
 hel t j his people under these and the like distresses, whr.t 
 may they expect who are the authors and instruments 
 of them ? If they shall be fed with wrath, who fed 
 thc-m not, when they were hungry ; what shall become 
 of those, who robbed and spoiled them, and took their 
 own bread away from them ? What a full cup of wrath 
 shall be the portion of those, who were so far from giv- 
 ing them meat or drink, when hungry or thirsty, that 
 they made it a crime for others to entertain them, and 
 made themselves " drunken with their blood !" They 
 must lodge with devils for evermore, who took not in the 
 Lord's people, when strangers : then, what a lodging 
 shall those have, who heave them out of their own houses, 
 out of their native land, and made them strangers ? Men 
 will be condemned for not clothing them, when naked : 
 Then how heavy must the sentence of those be. who 
 have stript them and made them go without clothing ? 
 Surely, if not vis ; t : n',>- of thvia in sickness, or in a prison, 
 shall be so severely punished ; they shall not escape a
 
 HKAB iv.] Sentence on the ungodly. 409 
 
 most heavy doom, who have cast th< j m into prison, and 
 have put them under such hardships as have impaired 
 their health, brought sickness on them, and cut their 
 days in prison or out of prison. 
 
 To put a face upon such wicked practices, men will 
 prt<Mid to retain an honour for Christ and religion, while 
 they thus treat his members, walking in h.s wav and keep- 
 iiv the truth. They are her r r ir>ent.'d i"> say. " When 
 saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or 
 naked or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto 
 thee ?" ver. 44-. As if hey should sav, Our bread, drink, 
 lodging, clothing, and visits, were indeed refused, hut 
 not to Christ; but to a set of men of a bad' character, 
 men, " who turned the world upside down," (Acts xvii. 
 6.) who trouble Israel, (1 Kings xviii. 17.) an hmiiour- 
 ou-j and fantastic sort of people, having '-laws diverse 
 from all people," factious and rebellious, (they did not 
 keep the kind's laws.) and therefore a very dangerous 
 set of m"n It was " not for the king's profit to surfer 
 them." Esther iii. 8-. But although men cast iniquity- 
 upon the godly, and give them ill names, that they iv 
 treat theia as criminals ; all these preten< es will avail 
 them nothing in the great day before the righteous Judge, 
 nor before their own consciences neither : but the real 
 ground of their enmity against the saints will be found 
 (to their own conviction,) to be their enmity against 
 Christ himself This seems to be the import of the ob- 
 je* t;on or the damned (ver 44. and of the answer to it, 
 ver. 4G.) "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least 
 of these, ye did it not to me." 
 
 Lastly, Sentence being passed on both parties, follows 
 the full execution of the same, ver. 4.5. " And these shall 
 go away unto everlasting punishment, but the righteous 
 into life eternal." The damned shall get no reprieve, 
 but go to their place without delay ; they shall be driven 
 awav from the judgment seat into hell, and the saints 
 "shall enter into the king's palace," (Pal. xlv. 15.) viz.
 
 The general conflagration. [STATE ir. 
 
 into heaven, the seat of the blessed. But our Lord Christ, 
 and his glorious company, shall keep the field that day, 
 and see the backs of all these enemies ; for the damned 
 go off first. 
 
 In this clay of the Lord, the great day, shall be the 
 general conflagration, by which those visible heavens, 
 the earth and sea, shall pass away. Not that they shall 
 be annihilated (or reduced to nothing,) that is not the 
 operation of fire ; but they shall be dissolved, and purg- 
 ed by that fire, from all the effects of sin, or of the curse 
 upon them, and then renewed and made more glorious 
 and stable. Of this conflagration, the apostle Peter 
 speaks, 2 Pet. iii. 10. " But the day of the Lord will 
 come as a thief 'in the night, in the which the heavens 
 shall pass away way with a great noise, and the elements 
 shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also and the 
 works that are therein shall be burnt up." See also ver. 
 7, 12. And of the renewing of the world he adds, ver. 
 13 * Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look 
 for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
 righteousness." 
 
 It seems most agreeable to the scriptures, and to the 
 nature of the thing, to conceive this conflagration to fol- 
 low after the general judgment, sentence being passed 
 on both parties before it. And I judge it probable that 
 it will fall in with the putting of the sentence in execu- 
 tion against the damned, so as they shall (according to 
 their sentence) depart, and the heavens and the earth 
 pass away, together and at once, at that furious rebuke 
 from the throne, driving away the damned out of the 
 world (in this fire) to the everlasting fire prepared for 
 the devil and his angels. Even as in the deluge, with 
 which the apostle Peter compares the conflagration, or 
 burning of the world (2 Pet. iii. 6, 7.) the world itself, 
 and the wicked upon it, perished together; the same 
 water which destroyed the earth, sweeping away the in- 
 habitants. For it is not likely that the wicked shall at 
 all stand on the new earth, " wherein dwelleth righteous-
 
 H IAD iv.] The general conflagration. 411 
 
 ness," (2 Pet. iii. 13.) And as for this earth, it shall 
 flee away (which seems to denote a very quick dispatch) 
 and it shall " flee from his face who sits on the throne," 
 Rev. xx. 11. "And I saw a great white throne, and 
 him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
 heaven fled away." The execution of the sentence on 
 the wicked is also thus expressed ; they " shall be pun- 
 ished with everlasting destruction from the presence, or 
 from the face of the Lord," 2 Thes. i. 9. The original 
 word is the same in both texts, the which being compar- 
 ed, seem to say, that these creatures, abused by the 
 wicked being left to stand as witnesses against them, 
 in the judgment, are, after sentence passed on their abu- 
 sers, made to pass away with them from the face of the 
 Judge. , It is true, the flying away of the earth and hea- 
 ven is narrated (Rev- xx. 11.) before the judgment ; but 
 that will not prove its going before the judgment, more 
 than the narrating of the judgment, ver. 12. before the 
 resurrection, ver. 13. will prove the judgment to be be- 
 fore it. Further it is remarkable, in the execution of 
 the sentence, Rev. xx. 14, 15. that not only the repro- 
 bate are cast into the lake, but death and hell are cast 
 into it likewise ; all effects of sin and of the curse are re- 
 moved out of the world, (for which very cause shall the 
 conflagration be,) and they are confined to the place of 
 the damned. Besides all this, it is evident the end of 
 the world is by the conflagration ; and the apostle tells 
 us, (1 Cor. xv. 24, 25.) that " then cometh the end, when 
 he shall have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the 
 Father ; when he shall have put down ail rule, and all 
 authority, and power. For he must reign till he hath 
 put all enemies under his feet." The which last, as it 
 must be done before the end, so it seems not to be done 
 by putting the sentence in execution, past in the day of 
 judgment against the wicked. 
 
 Now, if the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, that 
 are " set forth for an example,' (Jude 7.) was so dread- 
 ful, how terrible will that day be when the whole world
 
 The general conflagration. [STATE iv. 
 
 shall he at once in flames ! How will wretched world- 
 lings look when their darling world shall he all on fire? 
 Then shall strong castles nd towering palaces, with all 
 their rich furniture, go up together, in one flame, with 
 the lowest cottages. What heart can fully conceive the 
 terror of that day to the wicked, when the whole fabric 
 of heaven and earth shall at once he dissolved by that 
 fire ! When that miserable company shall bedrivtn from 
 the tribunal to the pit with fire within them, and on 
 every hand of them : and fire before them awaiting them 
 in the lake, whither this fire (for ought appears) may 
 follow them ! 
 
 As for the particular place of this judgment, though 
 some point us to the valley of Jehoshephat for it ; yet 
 our Lord, who infallibly knew it, being asked the ques- 
 tion by his disciples, "Where Lord?" told them only, 
 ** Wheresoever the body is. thither will the eagles be ga- 
 thered together," Luke xvii. 57. after which answer it 
 is too much for men to renew the question. As for the 
 time when it shall be, in vain do men search for what 
 the Lord has purposely kept secret, Acts i. 7. " It is not 
 for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Fa- 
 ther hath put in his own power." The apostle Paul, af- 
 ter having very plainly described the second coming of 
 Christ, 1 Thes. iv. 16,' 17 adds (chap. v. 1, 2.) "But of 
 the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I 
 write unto you ; for yourselves know perfectly, that the 
 day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night ' 
 Nevertheless some, in several ages, have made very bold 
 with the time; and several particular years, which are 
 now past, have been given out to the world for the time 
 of the end, by men who have pried into the -secrets of 
 God. Time has proclaimed to the world their rashness 
 and folly ; and it is likely they will be no more happy 
 in their conjectures, whose determinate time is yet to 
 come. Let us rest in that he cometh. Cod has kept 
 the day bid from us. that we mr.\ be every i;ay n ,'r; for 
 it, Matt. xxv. 13. " Watch therefore, for ye know aei-
 
 H-EAO iv.] Comfort to taints. 41 S 
 
 i he day nor the hour, wherein the Son of Man com- 
 >i let us remember, that the lust day of our life 
 will determine our state in the last day of the world: and 
 a* Hie <iic, so shall we be judged. 
 
 ! viall now shut up this subject, with some application 
 of what has been said. 
 
 USE I. Of comfort to all the saints. Here is abun- 
 dance of consolation to all who are in the state of grace.. 
 Whatever he your nrFi.-tion* in the world, this day will 
 make up all your losses. "Though ye have lain among 
 the pots, yet shall ye be as th. w ings of a dove covered 
 with silver, anci her feathers with yellow gold," Psal. 
 Ixviii. IS. Though the world reproa< h, judge, and con- 
 demn you, the Judge will at that day al>solve you, and 
 "bring forth righteousness as the light." The world's 
 fools will then appear to have been the only wise men 
 who were in it. Though the cross be heavy, you may 
 we;' bear it. in expectation of tht crown of righteousness 
 which the righteous Judge will then give you. If the 
 world do despise you. and treat you with the utmost con- 
 tempt, regard it not : the day cometh wherein you shall 
 sit with C'hr'st on his throne. Be not discouraged by rea- 
 son of manifold temptations ; but resist the devil, in con- 
 fidence of a full and complete victory, for you shall judge 
 the tempter at last. Though you have hard wrestling now 
 with the body of sin and death, yet ye shall get all your 
 enemies under vour feet at length, and "be presented 
 faultless before the presence of his glory." Let not the 
 terror of that day d'spirit you, when you think upon it; 
 let tiiose who have slighted the Judge, and continue ene- 
 ni- s to him. and to the way of holiness, droop and hang 
 do>. n their heads when they think of his coming ; but 
 lif; ye up your heads with joy, for the last day will be 
 y< ' r best day. The Judge is your head and husband, 
 your ficdet mer and your advocate. \ e must appear be- 
 fore the jud; meat seat, hut ye " shall not come into con- 
 de . nation.' 1 John v. 24. H;< coming will not be against 
 you, but for you. He tame in the flesh to remove the
 
 Terror to unbelievers. [STATE iv. 
 
 lawful impediments of the spiritual marriage by his death : 
 he came in the gospel to you to espouse you to himself : 
 he will come at the last day to solemnize the marriage, 
 and take the bride home to his Father's house. " Even 
 so, come Lord Jesus." 
 
 USE II. Of terror to all unbelievers. This may serve 
 to awaken a secure generation, a world lying in wicked- 
 ness, as if they were never to be called to an account 
 for it : and slighting the Mediator, as if he were not to 
 judge them. Ah ! how few have the lively impressions 
 of the judgment to come ! Most men live as if what was 
 said of it from the word, were but idle tales. The pro- 
 fane lives of many speak the thoughts of it to be far from 
 their hearts, and in very deed make a mock of it before 
 the world, saying in effect, " Where is the promise of his 
 coming ?" The hypocrisy of others, who blind the eyes 
 of the world with splendid profession, being in appear- 
 ance Christ's sheep, while they are indeed the devil's 
 goats, is an evidence that the great separation of the sheep 
 from the goats is very little laid to heart. How do ma- 
 ny indulge themselves in secret wickedness, of which 
 they would be ashamed before witnesses ; not consider- 
 ing, that their most secret thoughts and actions will, at 
 that day, be discovered before the great congregation ! 
 How eagerly are men's hearts set on the world, as if it 
 were to be their everlasting habitation ! The solemn 
 assemblies, and public ordinances, wherein the Judge is 
 upon a transaction of peace with the criminals, are un- 
 dervalued : men's hearts will swim like feathers, in the 
 waters ef the sanctuary, that will sink like stones to the 
 bottom, in cares of this life ; they will be very serious in 
 trifles of this world, and trifle in the most serious and 
 weighty things of another world. But O consider the 
 day that is approaching, in which Christ shall come to 
 judgment, the world shall be summoned by the sound of 
 the last trumpet, to appear before his tribunal. The 
 Judge shall sit on his throne, and all nations shall be sift- 
 ed before him : the separation shall be made betwixt the
 
 HBAD IT.] Terror to unbelievers. 
 
 godly and the wicked, the books opened, and the dead 
 judged out of them ; one party shall be adjudged to ever- 
 lasting life, and the other to everlasting fire, according 
 to their works. 
 
 It would be a sight of admirable curiosity, if thou 
 couldst wrap up thyself in some dark cloud, or hide thy- 
 self in the clift of some high rock, from whence thou 
 mightest espy wicked kings, princes, judges, and great 
 ones of the earth, rising out of their marble tombs and 
 brought to the bar, to answer for all their cruelty, injus- 
 tice, oppression, and profanity, without any marks of dis- 
 tinction, but what their wickedness puts upon them ; pro- 
 fane, unholy, and unfaithful churchmen, pursued with the 
 curses of the ruined people, from their graves to the judg^ 
 ment-seat, and charged with the blood of souls to whom 
 they gave not faithful warning; mighty men standing 
 trembling before the Judge, unaljle to recover their wont- 
 ed boldness, to outwit him with their subtleties, or de- 
 fend themselves by their strength : delicate women cast 
 forth of their graves, as abominable branches, dragged 
 to the tribunal, to answer for their ungodly lives ; the ig- 
 norant, suddenly taught in the law to their cost ; and the 
 learned, declared before the world fools and laborious tri- 
 flers : the atheist convinced ; the hypocrite unmasked ; 
 and the profane, at long run, turned serious about his e- 
 ternal state ; secret murders, adultries, thefts, cheats, and 
 other works of darkness, which scorned all human search, 
 discovered and laid open before the world, with their 
 most minute circumstances ; no regard had to the rich, 
 no pity shewn to the poor; the scales of the world turn- 
 ed ; oppressed and despised piety set on high, and pros- 
 perous wickedness at last brought low : all not found in 
 Christ arraigned, convicted, and condemned, without re- 
 spect of persons, and driven -from the tribunal to the pit : 
 while those found in him at that day, being absolved be- 
 fore the world, go with him into heaven. Nay, but thou 
 canst not so escape. Thyself, whosoever thou art, not 
 being in Christ, must bear a part in this tragical and 
 frightful action.
 
 Terror to unbelievers. [STATE iv. 
 
 Sinner, that same Lord Christ whom now thou des- 
 pisest, whom thou woundcst through the sides of his mes- 
 sengers, and before whom thou dost prefer thy lusts, will 
 be thy Judge. And a neglected Saviour will he a severe 
 Judge. O! what mountain, what rock wiit thou i>et to 
 fall on thee, and hide thet- inm. the lace of him who sit- 
 teth on the throne? '! hou hast now a rock within thee, 
 a heart of adamant, so that thou canst count the darts 
 of the word as stubble, and laugh at the shaking of the 
 spear-: but that rock will rend at the sight 01 the .lucge, 
 that hard heart will then break, and thou shalt v tep 
 and wail, when w.eeping arid wailing will be to no- pur- 
 pose. DeathV hands will fall off, the grave will vomit 
 thee out, and the mountains shall skip from thee, and 
 the rocks refuse to grind thee to powder. How will 
 these cursed eyes abide the sight of the Judge ! Behold 
 he cometh ! Where is the profane swearer who tore his 
 wounds? The wretched worldling now abandoned 01 his 
 God? The formal hypocrite who kissed him and betray- 
 ed him ? The despiser of the gospel who sent him away 
 in his messengers u roan ing, profaned his ordinances and 
 trampled underfoot his pi -clous blood ? O murder r the 
 slain man is thy Judge: there he is- whom thou didst so 
 maltreat; behold the neglected Lamb of God appealing 
 as a lion against thee. Hov will thine heart endure ti.e 
 darts of his fiery looks ! That rocky heart, now holding 
 out against him, shall then b blown up ; that face, which 
 refuseth to blush now, shall then gather bla< kness ; ar- 
 rows of wrath shall pierce, where arrows of conviction 
 cannot enter now. What wilt thou answer him when 
 he riseth up and charget* thee with thy unbelief and im- 
 patience ? Wilt thou say. thou wast not warned ? Consci- 
 ence with thee will giw thee the lie; the secret ^ror-ns 
 and weariness of those who w r arned thee. will v Itm-ss 
 the contrary. If a chilf> or a fool did nil you that your 
 bouse were on fire, you would iinn.ediat, b run to quench 
 it; but in matters of eternal concern men will first fill 
 their hearts with prejudices agairst H:< n cssengers. and 
 then cast their message behind their backs. But these
 
 MEAD IT.] ISzhorlatitm. 4 I*/ 
 
 silly shifts and pretences will not avail in the day of the 
 Lord. How will these cursed ears, now deaf to the call 
 of the gospel, inviting sinners to come to Christ, hear 
 the fearful sentence, * Depart from me ye cursed into 
 everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." 
 No sleepy hearer shall be there ; no man's heart shall 
 then wander ; their hearts and eyes will then be fixed 
 on their misery, which they will not now believe. O that 
 we knew in this our day, the things that belong to our 
 peace ! 
 
 Lastly, Be exhorted to believe this great truth, and 
 believe it so as you may prepare for the judgment betimes. 
 Set up a secret tribunal in your own breasts, and often- 
 times call yourselves to an account there. Make the judge 
 your friend in time, by closing with him in the offer of 
 the gospel; and give all diligence, that ye may be found 
 in Christ at that day. Cast off the works of darkness, 
 and live as believing you are at all times, and in all pla- 
 ces, under the eye of your Judge, who will " brin^ every 
 work into judgment, with every secret thing." Be fruit- 
 ful in good works, knowing that as ye sow ye shall reap. 
 Study piety towards God, righteousness and charity to- 
 wards men. Lay up in store plenty of works of charity 
 and mercy towards them who are in distress, especially 
 such as are of the household of faith, that they may be pro- 
 duced that day, as evidences that ye belong to Christ. 
 Shut not up your bowels of mercy now towards the needy, 
 lest ye then find no merry. Take heed, that in all your 
 works ye be single and sincere, aiming in the.-n all at the 
 glory of your Lord, a testimony of your love to him, and 
 obedience to his command Leave it to hypocrites, who 
 have their rewards, to proclaim every man his own good- 
 ness, and " to sound a trumpet" when they do their alms. 
 It is a base and unchristian spirit, which cannot have sa- 
 tisfaction in a good work, unless it be exposed to the view 
 of others; it is utterly unworthy of out \\hobelieves 
 that the last trumpet shall call tog-ether the whole world. 
 
 3 H
 
 418 Explanation of the text. [STATE iv. 
 
 before whom the Judge himself shall publish works truly 
 good, how secretly soever they were done. Live in a be- 
 lieving expectation of the coming of the Lord. Let your 
 loins be always girt, and your lamps burning ; so when 
 he conies, whether in the last day of your life, or in the 
 last day of the world, ye shall be able to say with joy, 
 '* Lo, this is our God, and we have waited for him." 
 
 HEAD V. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 
 
 MATT. xxv. 34. 
 
 Then shall the King say tint* them on his right hand, Come ye bless* 
 ed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
 tion of the world. 
 
 AVING, from this portion of scripture, which the 
 text is a part of, discoursed of the general judg- 
 ment ; and being to speak of the everlasting happiness 
 of the saints, and the everlasting misery of the wicked, 
 from the respective sentences to be pronounced upon 
 them in the great day, I shall take them in the order 
 wherein they lie before us ; the rather that, as sentence 
 is first past upon the righteous, so the execution thereof 
 is first begun, though possibly the other may be fully ex- 
 ecuted before it be completed. 
 
 The words of the text contain the joyful sentence it- 
 self, together with an historical introduction thereto, 
 which gives us an account of the Judge pronouncing the 
 sentence, the King, Jesus Christ ; the parties on whom 
 it is given, them on his right hand ; and the time when, 
 then, as soon as the trial is over. Of these I have spo- 
 ken already. It if the sentence itself we are now to con-
 
 HEAD v . ] Explanation of th e text. 4> 1 9 
 
 sider ; " Come ye blessed of my Eather," &c. Stand 
 back, O ye profane goats ; have away all unregenerate 
 souls not united to Jesus Christ, this is not for you. 
 Come, O ye saints, brought out of your natural state, in- 
 to the state of grace, behold here the state of glory 
 awaiting you. Here is glory let down to us in words and 
 syllables ; a looking-glass, in which you may see your 
 everlasting happiness ; a scheme (or draught) of Christ's 
 Father's house, wherein there are many mansions. 
 
 The glorious sentence bears two things. (1.) The com- 
 plete happiness to which the saints are adjudged, the 
 kingdom. (2.) Their solemn admission to it, " Come ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit," &c. First, their complete 
 happiness is a kingdom. A kingdom is the top of world- 
 ly felicity ; there is nothing on earth greater than a king- 
 dom, therefore the hidden weight of glory in heaven is 
 held forth to us under that notion. But it is not an ordina- 
 ry kingdom it is the kingdom of heaven, surpassing all the 
 kingdoms of the earth inglory, honour, profit, andpleasure, 
 infinitely more than they do in these excel the low and in- 
 glorious condition of a beggar in rags, and on a dunghill. 
 Secondly^ There is a solemn admission of the saints into 
 this their kingdom, " Come ye, inherit the kingdom." In 
 view of angels, men, and devils, they are invested with roy- 
 alty, and solemnly inaugurated, before the whole world, by 
 Jesus Christ, " the heir of all things, who hath all power 
 in heaven and in earth." Their right to the kingdom is 
 solemnly recognized and owned ; they are admitted to it 
 as undoubted heirs of the kingdom, to possess it by inhe- 
 ritance or lot, as the word properly signifies, because, of 
 old, inheritances were designed by lot, as Canaan to Is- 
 rael, God's first-born, as they are called, Exod. iv. 22. 
 And because this kingdom is the Father's kingdom, there- 
 fore they are openly acknowledged in their admission to 
 it, to be the blessed of Christ's Father ; the which bles- 
 sing was given them long before this sentence, but is 
 now solemnly recognized and confirmed to them by the 
 Mediator, in his Father's name. It is observeable, he
 
 420 The kingdom of heaven. [STATE iv. 
 
 says not, ye blessed of the Father, but ye blessed of my 
 Father ; to shew us. that all blessings are derived up>on 
 us from the Father, the fountain of blessing, as he is 
 " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," 
 through whom we are blessed, Eph. i. 3. And finaViy, 
 they are admitted to this kingdom, as that which was 
 "prepared for them from the foundation of the world," 
 in God's eternal purpose, before they or any of them 
 were, that all the world may see eternal life to be the 
 free gift of God. 
 
 DOCTRINE. THE SAINTS SHALL BE MADE COMPLETELY 
 HAPPY IN THE POSSKSSION OF THE KINGDOM OF 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 T\vo things I shall here inquire into. 0) The nature 
 of this kingdom. (2) The admission of the saints there- 
 to And then I shall make some practical improvement 
 of the whole. 
 
 First, As to the nature of the kingdom of heaven, our 
 knowledge of it is very imperfect ; for " eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart 
 of man, the things which God hath prepared for them 
 that love him," 1 ("or. ii. 9. As by familiar resemblan- 
 ces parents instruct their little children, concerning things 
 of which otherwise they can have no tolerable notion, so 
 our gracious God, in consideration of our weakness, is 
 pleased to represent to us heaven's happiness under simi- 
 litudes taken from earthly things, glorious in the eyes of 
 men ; since naked discoveries of the heavenly glory, di- 
 vested of earthly resemblances, would be too bright for 
 our weak eyes, and in them we would but lose ourselves. 
 Wherefore now one can but speak as a child of these 
 things, which the day will fully discover, 
 
 The state of glory is represented under tlie notion of 
 a kingdom, a kingdom among men being that in which 
 the greatest number of earthly good things doth concen- 
 trate. Now every saint shall, as a king, inherit a king- 
 dom. All Christ's subjects shall be kings, each one with
 
 HIAO v.] The ensigns of royalty. 421 
 
 h ; ^ ' - n upon his head : not that the great Ring shall 
 div xt himself of his royalty, but he will make all his 
 children partakers of his kingdom. 
 
 I. The saints shall have ** kindly power and authority** 
 given them. Our Lord gives not empty titles to his fa- 
 vourites, he makes them kim r s indeed. The dominion 
 of the saints will be a domin';>n far exceeding that of the 
 greatest monarch ever was on earth. They will be ab- 
 solute masters over sin, that sometime had the dominion 
 over them. They will have a complete rule over their 
 own spirits ; an entire management of all their affections 
 and inclinations, which now create them so much moles- 
 tation : the turbulent root of corrupt affections shall be 
 for ever expelled out of that kingdom, and never be able 
 any more to give them the least disturbance. They shall 
 have " power over the nations." the ungodly of all na- 
 tions, "and shall rule over them with a rod of iron," 
 Rev. ii. 20, 27. The whole world of the wicked shall 
 be broken before them ; " Satan shall be bruised under 
 their feet," Rom. xvi. 20. He shall never be able to 
 fasten a temptation on them any more, but he will be 
 judged by them, and in their sight cast with the repro- 
 bate crew into the lake of fire and brimstone. So shall 
 they rale over their oppressors. Haviog fought the good 
 fight, and got the victory, Christ will entertain them as 
 Jo-oua did his captains, causing them " to come near, 
 and put their feet on the necks of kings/' Josh. x. 24. 
 
 II They shall have the ensigns of royalty. For a 
 throne Christ will grant them " to sit down with him on 
 his throne," Rev. iii. 21. They will be advanced to the 
 highest honour and dignity they are capable of, and in 
 the enjoyment of it, they will have an eternal undis- 
 turbed repose, after all the tossing they meet with in the 
 world, in their way to the throne. For a crown, they 
 shall "receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away, 8 ' 
 1 Pet. v. 4. Not a crown of flowers, as subjects being 
 conquerors or victors sometimes have got, such a crown 
 but their crown never fades. Not a crown
 
 422 White garments. [STATE iv. 
 
 of gold, such as earthly kings do wear ; even a crown of 
 gold is often stained, and, at the best, can never make 
 them happy who wear it. But it shall be " a crown of 
 glory." A crown of glory is " a crown of life," Rev. ii. 
 10. that life which knows no end, a crown which death 
 can never make to fall off one's head. It must be an a- 
 biding crown, for it is " a crown of righteousness," 2 Tim. 
 iv. 8. It was purchased for them by " Christ's righte- 
 ousness," which is imputed to them : they are qualified 
 for it by inherent righteousness ; God's righteousness or 
 faithfulness secures it to them ; they shall have " a scep- 
 tre, a rod of iron," (Rev. ii. 27.) terrible to all the wicked 
 world. And a sword too, " a two edged sword intheirhand, 
 to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments 
 upon the people," Psal. cxlix. 6, 7. They shall have roy- 
 al apparel. The royal robes in this kingdom are white 
 robes, Rev. iii. 4. " They shall walk with me in white.*' 
 And these last do, in a very particular manner, point at 
 the inconceivable glory of the state of the saints in hea- 
 ven. 
 
 The Lord is pleased often to represent unto us, the 
 glorious state of the saints, under the notion of their be- 
 ing clothed in white garments. It is promised to the 
 overcomer, that he shall be '* clothed in white raiment," 
 Rev. iii 5. The elders about the throne are "clothed 
 in white raiment," chap. iv. 4. The multitude before 
 the throne are "clothed with white robes," chap, vii.9. " ar- 
 rayed in white robes," ver. 13. " made white in the blood 
 of the Lamb," ver. 14. I own, the last two testimonies 
 adduced, do respect the state of the saints on earth ; but 
 withal the terms are borrowed from the state of the 
 church in heaven. All garments, properly so called, be- 
 ing badges of sin and shame, shall be laid aside by the 
 saints when they come to their state of glory. But if 
 we consider on what occasions white garments were wont 
 to be put on, we shall find much of heaven under them. 
 
 First, The Romans, when they manumitted their 
 bond-servants, gave them a white garment as a badge of
 
 MI AD y.] White garments. 
 
 their freedom. So shall the saints that day, get on their 
 white robes, for it is the day of " the glorious liberty of 
 the children of God," (Rom. viii. 21.) the day of the " re- 
 demption of their body, ver. 23. They shall no more see 
 the house of bondage, nor lie any more among the pots. 
 If we compare the state of the saints on earth, wjth that 
 of the wicked, it is indeed a state of freedom, whereas 
 the other is a state of slavery ; but in comparison with 
 their state in heaven, it is but a servitude. A saint on 
 earth is indeed a young prince, and heir to the crown ; but 
 his motto may be, I serve, for " he differeth nothing from 
 a servant, though he be Lord of all," Gal. iv. J. What 
 are the groans of a saint, the sordid and base work he is 
 sometimes found employed in, the black and tattered 
 garments he walks in, but badges of this comparative 
 servitude ? But from the day the saints come to the 
 crown, they receive their complete freedom, and serve no 
 more. They shall be fully freed from sin, which of all 
 evils is the worst, both in itself, and in their apprehen- 
 sion too ; how great then must that freedom be, when 
 these " Egyptians whom they see to-day, they shall see 
 them again no more for ever ?" They shall be free from 
 all temptation to sin ; Satan can have no access to tempt 
 them any more, by himself nor by his agents. A full an- 
 swer will then be given to that petition they have so 
 often repeated, Lead us not into temptation. No hissing 
 serpent can come into the paradise above ; no snare nor 
 trap can be laid there to catch the feet of the saints, 
 they may walk there fearlessly, for they can be in no 
 hazard ; there are no lion's dens, no " mountains of the 
 leopards" in the promised land. Nay, they shall be set 
 beyond the possibility of sinning, for they shall be con- 
 firmed in goodness. It will be the consummate freedom 
 of their will, to be for ever unalterably determined to 
 good. And they shall be freed from all the effects of sin ; 
 " there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry- 
 ing, neither shall there be any more pain, Rev. xxi. 4. 
 What kingdom is like unto death ? Death makes its way 
 now into a palace, as easily as into a cottage ; sorrow 
 fills the heart of one who wears a crown on his head,
 
 424. White garments. [s r f A*B iv. 
 
 royal robes are no fence against pain, and crying by rea- 
 son of pain. But in this kingdom no miser v can have 
 place ; all reproaches shall be wiped off, and never shall 
 a tear drop any more from their eyes. They shall not 
 complain of desertions again; the Lord will never hide 
 his face from them, but the Sun of Righteousness shining 
 upon them in his meridian brightness, will dispel all 
 clouds, and give them an everlasting day, without the 
 least mixture of darkness. A deluge of wrath, after a 
 fearful thunderclap from the throne, wii' \\t . [> away the 
 wicked from before the judgment-seat, into the 
 of fire ; but they are, in the *!rst place, like Noah, brou^nt 
 into the ark, and out of harm's way. 
 
 Secondly, White raiment hath been a token of purity. 
 Therefore the Lamb's wife is arrayed in fine linen, cU';m, 
 and white," Rev. xix. 8. And these who stood before 
 the throne, "washed their robes, and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb," chap. vii. 14. The saints 
 shall, then, put on the robes of perfect purity, and shine 
 in spotless holiness, like the sun in his strength, without 
 the least cloud to intercept his light. Absolute inno- 
 cence shall then be restored, and every appearance of 
 sin banished far from this kingdom. The guilt of sin, 
 and the reigning power of it, are now taken away in 
 the saints, nevertheless sin clwelleth in them, Rom vii. 
 20. but then it shall be no more in them, the corrupt na- 
 ture will be quite removed; that root of bitterness will 
 be plucked up, and no vestiges of it left in their sorls : 
 their nature .shall be altogether pure and sinless. There 
 shall be no darkness in their minds; but the understand- 
 ing of every saint, when he is come to his kingdom, will 
 be as a globe of pure and unmixed light. There shall 
 not be the least aversion to good, nor inclination to evil 
 in their wills ; but they will be brought to a perfect con- 
 formity to the will ofGod ; blessed with angelical purity, 
 and fixed therein. Their affections shall not be ! iable to 
 the least disorder or irregularity : .' ; ' t t effi no 
 trouble to keep them right : they will get such a set of
 
 HEAD v.] White garment,?. 
 
 purity, as they can never lose. They will be so refined 
 from all earthly dross, as never to savour more of any 
 thing but heaven. Were it possible they should be set 
 again amidst the ensnaring objects of an evil world, they 
 should walk among them without tSie least defilement ; 
 as the sun shines on the dunghill, yet untainted ; and as 
 the angels preserved their purity in the midst of Sodom. 
 Their graces shall then be perfected ; and all the imper- 
 fection now cleaving to them, done away. There will 
 be no more ground for complaints of weakness of grace; 
 none in that kingdom shall complain of an ill heart, or 
 a corrupt nature. " It doth not yet appear what we shall 
 be, but when we shall appear, we shall be like him," 
 1 John iii. 2. 
 
 Thirdly; Among the Jews, those who desired to be* 
 admitted into the priestly office, being tried and found 
 to be of the priest's line, and without blemish, were 
 clothed in white, and inrolled among the priests. This 
 seems to be alluded to, Rev. iii. 15 He that overcometh, 
 the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not 
 blot out his name out of the book of life. So the saints 
 shall not be kings only, but priests withal ; for they are 
 " a royal priesthood," 1 Pet. ii 9. They will be priests 
 upon their thrones. They are judicially found, descend- 
 ed from the great high priest of their profession, begot- 
 ten of him by his Spirit, of the incorruptible seed of the 
 word, and without blemish : so the trial being over, 
 they are admitted to be priests in the temple above, that 
 they may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. 
 There is nothing upon earth more glorious than a king- 
 dom ; nothing more venerable than the priesthood : and 
 both meet together in the glorified state of the saints. 
 " The general assembly of the first-born." (Heb. xii. 23.) 
 whose is the prieshood. and the double portion, appear- 
 ing in their white robes of glory, will be a reverent and 
 glorious company That day will shew them to be the 
 persons, whom the Lord hath chosen, out of all the 
 
 3 J
 
 426 White garments. [STATB ir. 
 
 tribes of the earth, to be near unto him, and to enter in- 
 to his temple, even into his holy place. Their priest- 
 hood, begun on earth, shall be brought to its perfection, 
 \rhile they shall be employed in offering the sacrifice of 
 praise to God and the Lamb for ever and ever. They 
 got not their portion, in the earth, with the rest of the 
 tribes : but the Lord himself was their portion, and will 
 be their double portion, through the ages of eternity. 
 
 Fourthly, They were wont to wear white raiment in 
 time of triumph ; to the which also there seems to be an 
 allusion, Rev. iii. 5. He that overcometh, the same shall 
 be clothed in white raiment. And what is heaven, but 
 an everlasting triumph ? None get thither, but such as 
 fight, and overcome too. Though Canaan was given to 
 the Israelites, as an inheritance ; they behoved to con- 
 quer it, before they could be possessors of it. The saints 
 in this world, are in the field of battle ; often in red gar- 
 ments, garments rolled in blood : but the day approach- 
 eth, in which they shall " stand before the throne, and 
 before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms 
 in their hands/' (Rev. viii. 9.) having obtained a com- 
 plete victory over all their enemies. The palm was used 
 as a sign of victory : because that tree, opprest with 
 weights, yieldeth not, but rather shooteth upwards. 
 And palm-trees were carved on the doors of the most 
 holy place, (1 Rings vi. 32.) which was a special type of 
 heaven ; for heaven is the place, which the saints are 
 received into as conquerors. 
 
 Behold the joy and peace of the saints, in their white 
 robes. The joys arising from the view of past dangers, 
 and of riches and honours gained at the very door of 
 death, do most sensibly touch one's heart : and this will 
 be an ingredient to the everlasting happiness of the 
 saints, which could have had no place, in the heaven of 
 innocent Adam, and his sinless offspring, supposing him 
 to have stood. Surely the glorified saints will not for- 
 get the entertainment they meet with in the world ; it 
 will be for the glory of God to remember it, and also
 
 HEAD v.] While garments. 427 
 
 for the heightening of their joy. The Sicilian king, by 
 birth the son of a potter, acted a wise p^rt, in that he 
 would be served at his table with earthen vessels ; the 
 which could not but put an additional sweetness in his 
 meals, not to be relished by one born heir to the crown. 
 Can ever meat be so sweet to any as to the hungry man ? 
 Or can any have such a relish of plenty, as he who has 
 been under pinching straits ? The more difficulties the 
 saints have passed through in their way to heaven, the 
 place will be the sweeter to them when they come at it. 
 Every happy stroke, struck in the spiritual warfare, will 
 be a jewel in the crown of glory. Each victory obtain- 
 ed against sin, Satan, and the world, will raise their 
 triumphant joy the higher. The remembrance of the 
 cross will sweeten the crown : and the memory of their 
 travel through the wilderness, will put an additional ver- 
 dure on the fields of glory ; while they walk through 
 them, minding the day, when they " went mourning 
 without the sun." 
 
 And now that they appear " triumphing in white 
 robes," it is a sign they have obtained an honourable 
 peace ; such a peace as their enemies can disturb no 
 more. So every thing peculiarly adapted to their mili- 
 tant condition is laid aside. The sword is laid dow n ; 
 and they betake themselves to " the pen of a ready wri- 
 ter," to commemorate the praises of him, by whom they 
 overcame. Public ordinances, preaching, sacraments, 
 shall be honourably laid aside ; there is " no temple 
 there, 3 ' Rev. xx. 22. Some time these were sweet to 
 them : but the travellers being all gone home, the inns 
 appointed for their entertainment by the way are shut 
 up ; the candles are put out when the sun is risen : and 
 the tabernacle used in the wilderness is folded up, when 
 the temple of glory is come in its room. Many of the 
 saints' duties will then be laid aside ; as one gives his 
 staif out of his hand, when he is come to the end of his 
 journey. Praying shall then be turned to praising, and 
 there being no sin to confess, no wants to seek the sup-
 
 428 White garments. [STATE iv. 
 
 ply of; confession and petition shall then be swallowed 
 up in everlasting thanksgiving. There will be no mourn- 
 ing in heaven : they have sown in tears. The reaping 
 time of joy is come, " and God shall wipe away all tears 
 from their eyes," Rev. xxi. 4. No need of mortification 
 there ; and self-examination is then at an end. They 
 will not need to watch any more; the danger is over. 
 Patience has had its perfect work, and there is no use 
 for it there. Faith is turned into sight, and hope is 
 swallowed up in the ocean of sensible and full enjoy- 
 ment. All the rebels are subdued, and the saints quiet- 
 ly sit on their thrones ; and so the forces, needful in the 
 time of the spiritual warfare are disbanded ; and they 
 carry on their triumph in the profoimdest peace. 
 
 Lastly, White garments were worn on festival days 
 in token of joy. And so shall the saints be clothed in 
 white raiment, for they shall keep an everlasting sabbath 
 to the Lord, Heb. iv. 9. " There remaineth therefore 
 ji rest (or keeping of a sabbath) to the people of God." 
 The sabbath in the esteem of saints, is the queen of days; 
 and they shall have an endless sabbatism in the kingdom 
 of heaven, so shall their "garments be alwa\s white. ' 
 They will have an eternal rest with an uninterrupted 
 joy ; f or heaven is not a resting place where men may 
 sleep out an eternity (there they rest not day nor night) 
 but their work is their rest and continual recreation, and 
 toil and weariness have no place there. They rest there 
 in God, who is the centre of their souls. Here they find 
 the complement, or satisfaction, of all their desires, hav- 
 ing the full enjoyment of God, and uninterrupted com- 
 munion with him. This is the point, unto the which, 
 till the soul come, it will always be restless ; but that 
 point reached, it rests ; for he is the last end, and the 
 soul can go- no farther. It cannot understand, will, nor 
 desire more ; but in him it has what is commensurable 
 to its boundless desires. This is the happy end of all 
 the labours of the saints, their toil and sorrows issue in 
 a joyful rest. The Chaldeans measuring the natural
 
 HEAD v.] Kingdom of the saints. 429 
 
 day, put the day first, and the night last ; but the Jews 
 counted the night first, and the day last. Even so the 
 wicked begin with a day of rest and pleasure, but end 
 with a night of everlasting toil and sorrow ; but God's 
 people have their gloomy night first, and then comes 
 their day of eternal rest. The which Abraham, in the 
 parable, observed to the rich man in hell, Luke xvi. 25. 
 " Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivest thy 
 good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now 
 he is comforted, and thou art tormented." 
 
 Ill If one inquire where the kingdom of the saints 
 lies ? It is not in this world, it lies in a better " country, 
 that is an heavenly," (Heb vi. 16.) a country better than 
 the best of this world, namely, the heavenly Canaan, Im- 
 manuel's land, where nothing is wanting to complete the 
 happiness of the inhabitants. This is the happy country, 
 blest with a perpetual spring, and which yieldeth all things 
 for necessity, con veniency and delight There men shall eat 
 angel's food ; they shall be entertained with " the hidden 
 manna," (Rev. ii. 17) without being set to the painful ga- 
 thering of it : they will, be fed to the full, with the pro- 
 duct of the land falling into their mouths, without the 
 least toil to them. That land enjoys an everlasting day, 
 for there is " no night there/ Rev. xxi. 25. An eternal 
 sun-shine beautifies this better country, but there is no 
 scorching heat there. No clouds shall be seen there for 
 ever, yet it is not a land of drought : the trees of the 
 Lord's planting are set by the rivers of waters, and shall 
 never want moisture, for they will have an eternal sup- 
 ply of the Spirit, by Jesus Christ from his Father. This 
 is the only country from whence our Lord came, and 
 whither he is gone again ; the country which all the 
 holy patriarchs and prophets had their eye upon while 
 on the earth, and which all the saints, who have gone 
 before us, have fought their way to ; and unto which 
 the martyrs have joyfully swimmed through a sea of 
 blood. This earth is the place of the saints' pilgrimage ;
 
 430 The royal city and palace. [STATE IY. 
 
 that is their country where they find their everlasting 
 rest. 
 
 IV. The royal city is, " That great city, the holy Je- 
 rusalem." described at large, Rev. xxi. 10. to the end of 
 the chapter (It is true, some learned divines place this 
 city in the earth ; but the particulars of the description 
 seem to me to favour these most who point us to the 
 other world for it.) The saints shall reign in that city 
 whose wall is of jasper (ver 16) and the foundations of 
 the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones, 
 (ver. 19.) and the street of pure gold." (ver 21.) So that 
 their feet shall be set on that which the men of this world 
 set their hearts upon. This is the city God has " pre- 
 pared for them," Heb. xi. 16. "A city that hath founda- 
 tions, ver. 10. A continuing city," (chap, xiii, 14.) which 
 shall stand and flourish when all the cities of the world 
 are laid in ashes, and which shall not be moved when the 
 foundations of the world are overturned. It is a city 
 that never changeth its inhabitants ; none of them shall 
 ever be removed out of it, for life and immortality reign 
 there, and no death can enter into it. It is blessed with 
 a perfect and perpetual peace, and can never be in the 
 least disturbed. Nothing from without can annoy it; 
 the gates thereof are " not shut at all by day," and there 
 is no night there, Rev. xxi. 25. There can nothing from 
 within trouble it. No want of provision there, no scar- 
 city, no discord amongst the saints now, no vestige of 
 their former jarrings shall remain there. Love to God, 
 and to one another, shall be perfected ; and those of 
 them who stood at the greatest distance here, will joy- 
 fully embrace and delight in one another there. 
 
 The royal palace is Christ's Father's house, in which 
 " are many mansions," John xiv. 2. There shall the 
 saints dwell for ever. That is the house prepared for 
 all the heirs of glory, even those of them who dwell in 
 the meanest cottage now, or have not where to lay their 
 heads. As the Lord calls his saints to a kingdom, he 
 will provide them a house suitable to the dignity he puts
 
 MEAD v.] Palace-garden and royal treasures. SSI 
 
 upon them. Heaven will be a convenient, spacious, and 
 glorious house, for those whom the King delighteth to 
 honour. Never was a house purchased at so great a 
 rate as this, being the purchase of the Mediator's blood, 
 and no less could it be afforded for to them : never was 
 there so much ado to fit inhabitants for a house. The 
 saints were, by nature, utterly unfit for this house, and 
 human art and industry could not make them meet for 
 it. But the Father gives the designed inhabitants to 
 the Son, to be by him redeemed ; the Son pays the price 
 of their redemption, even his own precious blood, that 
 with the allowance of justice, they may have access to 
 the house ; and the Holy Spirit sanctifies them by his 
 grace, that they may be meet to come in thither, where 
 no unclean thing can enter. And no marvel, for it is 
 "the Ring's palace, they enter into," (Psal. xiv. 15.) the 
 house of the kingdom where the great King keeps his 
 court, where he has set his throne, and shews forth his 
 glory, in a singular manner, beyond what mortals can 
 conceive. 
 
 VI. Paradise in their palace-garden. " This day shalt 
 thou be with me in paradise,'' said our Saviour to the pe- 
 nitent thief on the cross, Luke xxiii. 43. Heaven is a 
 paradise for pleasure and delight, where there is both 
 wood and water : " a pure river, of water of life, clear 
 as chrystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of 
 the Lamb ; and of either side of the river, the tree of life, 
 which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit 
 every month," Rev. xxii. 1, 2. How happy might inno- 
 cent Adam have been in the earthly paradise, where 
 there was nothing wanting for necessity, nor delight ! 
 Eden was the most pleasant spot of the uncorrupted 
 earth, and paradise the most pleasant spot of Eden ; but 
 what is earth in comparison of heaven ? The glorified 
 saints are advanced to the heavenly paradise. There 
 they shall not only see, but " eat of the tree of life, which 
 is in the midst of the paradise of God." Rev. iii. 7. They 
 shall behold the Mediator's glory, and be satisfied with
 
 332 The royal temple. 
 
 his goodness. No flaming- sword will be there, " to keep 
 the way of that tree of life," but they shall freely eat of 
 it, and live for ever. And they shall drink " of the ri- 
 vers of pleasures," (Psal. xxxvi. 8.) these sweetest and 
 purest pleasures, the which Immanuel's land doth afford, 
 and shall swim in an ocean of unmixt delight for ever- 
 more. 
 
 VII. They shall have royal treasures, sufficient to sup- 
 port the dignity they are advanced unto. Since*the street 
 of the royal city is pure gold, and the twelve gates there- 
 of are twelve pearls, their treasures must be of that which 
 is better than gold or pearl. It is an '* eternal weight 
 of glory," 2 Cor. iv.' 17. O precious treasure ! A trea- 
 sure not liable to insensible corruption by moths or rust; 
 a treasure which none can steal from them, Matt. vi. 20. 
 Never did any kingdom afford such a precious treasure, 
 nor a treasure of such a variety ; " for he that overcome th 
 shall inherit all things," Rev. xxi. 7. No treasures on 
 earth are stored with all things ; if they were all put to- 
 gether in one, there would be far more valuable things 
 wanting in that one, than found in it. This then is the 
 peculiar treasure of these kings, who inherit the king- 
 dom of heaven. They shall want nothing that may con- 
 tribute to their full satisfaction Now they are rich in 
 hope, but then they will have their riches in hand. Now 
 all things are theirs in respect of right, then all shall be 
 theirs in possession. They may go for ever through 
 Immanuel's land, and behold the glory and riches there- 
 of, with the satisfying thought, that all they see is their 
 own It is pity these should ever be uneasy under the 
 want of earthly good things, who may be sure they shall 
 inherit all things at length. 
 
 VIII. Albeit there is no (material) temple therein, no 
 mediate serving of God in the use of ordinances, as here 
 on earth ; yet as for this kingdom, " the Lord God Al- 
 mighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it," Rev. xxi. 
 22. As the temple was the glory of Canaan, so will the 
 celestial temple be the glory of heaven. The saints shall
 
 HEAD v.] The society of the saints. 
 
 be brought in thither, as a royal priesthood, to dwell in 
 the house of the Lord for ever ; for Jesus Christ will then 
 make every saint a ' pillar in the temple of God, and he 
 shall go no more out," (Rev iii. 12.) as the priests and 
 Levites did in their courses, go out of the material tem- 
 ple. There the saints shall have the cloud of glory, the 
 divine presence, with most intimate, uninterrupted com- 
 munion with God ; there they shall have Jesus Christ as 
 the true ark, wherein the fiery law shall be for ever hid 
 from their eyes ; and the mercy-seat, from which nothing 
 shall be breathed but everlasting peace and good-will to- 
 wards them ; the cherubims, the society of holy angels, 
 who shall joy with them in eternal admiration of the 
 mystery of Christ : " The golden candlestick, with its 
 seven lamps, for the glory of God doth lighten it." and 
 and the Lamh is the light thereof," Rev. xxi. 23. The 
 incense-altar, in the intercession of Christ, who " ever 
 liveth to make intercession for them." (Tleb. vii. 25.) e- 
 ternally exhibiting the merit of his death and sufferings, 
 and efficaciously willing for ever, that those whom the 
 Father hath given him, be with him ; and ' the shew- 
 bread table" in the perpetual feast, they shall have toge- 
 ther in the enjoyment of God. This leads me more par- 
 ticularly to consider, 
 
 IX. The society in this kingdom. What would royal 
 pow,T and authority, ensigns of royalty, richest treasures, 
 and all other advantages of a kingdom, avail without- 
 comfortable society ? Some crowned heads have had but 
 a sorry life through the want of it ; their palaces have 
 been unto them as prisons, and their badges of honour 
 as chains on a prisoner ; while hated of all, they had 
 none they could trust in, or whom they could fiave com- 
 fortable fellowship with. But the chief part of heaven's 
 happiness lies in the blessed society the saints shall have 
 there. For clearing of which consider these few things. 
 
 First, The society of the saints among themselves, 
 will be no small part of heaven's happiness. The com- 
 
 3 K
 
 The society of the saints. [STATE rr. 
 
 munion of saints on earth is highly prized by all those 
 who are travelling through the world to Zion ! and com- 
 panions in sin can never have such true pleasure and de- 
 light in one another, as sometimes the Lord's people have 
 in praying together, and conversing about those things 
 which the world is a stranger to. Here the saints are but 
 few in company at best, and some of them are so posted, 
 as that they seem to themselves to dwell alone, having no 
 access to such as they could -freely unbosom themselves 
 to in the matter of their spiritual case. They sigh and 
 say, " Wo is me, for I am as when they have gathered 
 the summer-fruits there is no cluster to eat the good 
 man is perished out of the earth," Mic. vii. 1 , 2. But 
 in the general " assembly of the first-born" in heaven, 
 none of all the saints who ever were, or will be on the 
 earth, shall be missing. They will be all of them toge- 
 ther in one place, all possess one kingdom, and all sit 
 down together to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. 
 Here the best of the saints want not their sinful imper- 
 fections, making their society less comfortable ; but there 
 they shall be perfect, without " spot or wrinkle, or any 
 such thing," Eph. v. 27. And all natural, as well as sin- 
 ful imperfections, are then done away ; they shall " shine 
 as the brightness of the firmament," Dan. xii. 3. 
 
 There we shall see Adam and Eve in heavenly para- 
 dise, freely eating of the tree of life. , Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, and all the holy patriarchs, no more wander- 
 ing from land to land, but come to their everlasting rest ; 
 all the prophets, feeding their eyes on the glory of him 
 of whose coming they prophesied ; the twelve apostles 
 of the Lamb, sitting on their twelve thrones ; all the ho- 
 ly martyrs in their long white robes, with their crowns 
 on their heads ; the godly kings advanced to a kingdom 
 which cannot be moved ; and them " that turn many to 
 righteousness, shining as the stars for ever and ever.'' 
 There we shall see our godly friends, relations, and ac- 
 quaintances, " pillars in the temple of God, to go no 
 more out" from us. And it is more than probable, that,
 
 HEAD v.] Society with the. angels, 
 
 the saints will know one another in heaven : that, at 
 least, they will know their friends, relatives, and those 
 they were acquainted with on earth, and such as have 
 been most eminent in the church : howbeit that know- 
 ledge will be purged from all earthly thoughts and affec- 
 tions. This seems to be included in that perfection of 
 happiness to which the saints shall be advanced there. 
 If Adam knew who and what Eve was at first sight, 
 when the Lord God brought her to him (Gen. ii. 23, 24.) 
 why should one question but husbands and wives, parents 
 and children, will know each other in glory ? If the Thes- 
 salonians, converted by Paul's ministry, shall be his 
 " crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ at his coming," (1 Thess. ii. 19.) why may not 
 one conclude, that ministers shall know their people, and 
 people their ministers, in heaven ? And if the disciples, 
 on the mount of transfiguration, knew Moses and Elias, 
 whom they had never seen before (Matt. xvii. 4.) we have 
 ground to think, we shall know them too, and such as 
 they, when we come to heaven. The communion of saints 
 shall be most intimate there ; " they shall sit down with 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven," 
 Matt. viii. 1 1 . Lazarus was carried by the angels into 
 Abraham's bosom, (Luke xvi. 23 ) which denotes most 
 intimate and familiar society. And though diversity of 
 " tongues shall cease," (1 Cor. xiii. 8.) I make no ques- 
 tion but there will be an use of speech in heaven, and 
 that the saints will glorify God in their bodies there, as 
 well as in their spirits, speaking forth his praises with an 
 audible voice. (As for the language, we shall understand 
 what it is when we come thither.) When Paul was 
 caught up to the third heaven, the sent of the Messed, 
 he heard their " unspeakable words, which it is not 
 lawful for a man to utter/' 2 Cor xii. 4. Moses and E- 
 lias, on the mount with Christ, " talked with him," Matt, 
 xvii. 3. and " speak of his decease, which he should ac- 
 complish at Jerusalem," Luke ix. 31.
 
 436 Society uith the angels. [STATE iv. 
 
 Secondly, The saints will have the society of all the 
 holy angels there. " An innumerable company of an- 
 gels" shall be companions to them, in their glorified state. 
 Happy were the shepherds' who heard the song of the 
 heavenly host when Christ was born ; but thrice happy 
 they who shall join their voices with theirs, in the choir 
 of saints and angels in heaven, when he shall be glorified 
 in ail who shall be about him there. Then shall we be 
 brought acquainted with these blessed spirits who never 
 sinned. How bright will these morning stars shine in 
 the holy place ! They were ministering spirits to the 
 heirs of salvation ; loved them for their Lord and Mas- 
 ter's sake ; encamped round about them to preserve them 
 from danger : how joyful will they welcome them to their 
 everlasting habitations, and rejoice to see them come at 
 length to their kingoom, as the tutor doth in the pros- 
 perity of his pupils. The saints shall be no more afraid 
 of them, as sometimes they were wont to be ; they shall 
 then have put off mortality, and infirmities of the flesh, 
 and be themselves " as the angels of God," fit to enter- 
 tain communion and fellowship with these shining ones. 
 And both being brought under one head, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, they shall join in the praises of God and of the 
 Lamb, saying with a loud voice, " Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain, ' &c. Rev. v. 11. 12. Whether the angels 
 shall (as some think) assume airy bodies, that they may 
 be seen by the bodily eyes of the saints, and be in a near- 
 er capacity to converse with them, 1 know not: but as 
 they want not ways of converse among themselves, 
 we have reason to think, that conversation betwixt them 
 and the saints shall not be for ever blocked up. 
 
 Lastly, They shall have society with the Lord him- 
 self in heaven, glorious communion with God and Christ, 
 which is the perfection of happiness. I choose to speak 
 of communion with God and the man Christ together ; 
 because, as we derive our grace from the Lamb, so we 
 shall derive our glory from him too, the man Christ be- 
 ing (if I may be allowed the expression) the centre of
 
 HKAP v.j Presence of God and the Lamb. 437 
 
 tin divine glory in heaven, irom whence it is difiused un- 
 to all the saints. This seems to be taught us by these 
 scriptures which expresses heaven's happiness by *' be- 
 inj/ u-ith Christ, ' Luke xxiii. 43. " This da; shalt >hou 
 be with me in paradise,' John xvii. 24. " Father, I 
 will that these also, whom thou hast given me. be with 
 me," (And remarkable to this purpose is what follows, 
 "That they beheld my glory.") 1 Thess. iv 17. "So 
 shall we ever be with the Lord." to wit. the Lord Christ 
 whom we shall meet in the air. This also seems to be 
 the import "of these scriptures, wherein God and the 
 Lamb, the slain Saviour, are jointly spoken of, in the 
 point of the happiness of the saints m heaven, Rev. vii. 
 17. " For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, 
 shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains 
 of water, and God shall wipe away all tears trom their 
 eyes." chap. xxi. 3. " Behold the tabernacle of God is 
 with men. and he will dwell with them," to wit, as in a 
 tabernacle (so the word signifies,) that is, in the flesh of 
 Christ (compare John i. 14. and ver. 22.) " The Lord 
 Go<! Almighty, 'and the Lamb, are the temple of it." 
 II ! lies the chief happiness of the saints in heaven, .that 
 without which they could never be happy, though lodg- 
 ed in that glorious place, and blessed uith the society of 
 angels there. \\ hat 1 will venture to say of it shall be 
 comprised in three things. 
 
 .' irst, 7'he saints in heavt n shall have the glorious pre- 
 sence of God and of the Imh : God himself shall " be 
 with them," Rev. xxi. 3. And they shall *' ever be with 
 the Lord." God is every where present in respect of his 
 essence; the saints militant have this special gracious 
 presence, but in heaven they have his glorious presence. 
 There they are brought near to the throne of the great 
 King, and stand before him, where he shows his incon- 
 ceivable glory. There they have " the tabernacle of God" 
 on w ( icli the cloud of glory rests, the all-glorious human 
 m ! ol Chr'st. vhcrein the rirness of the godhead 
 dwell ; not vatied as in the days of his humiliation, but
 
 438 Presence of God and the Lamb. [STATE IY. 
 
 -"- --.-|-J1__-1.- '-I.' _...!- I" . -i , r-i^-.- ----i- T -_.!.-- __ 
 
 shining through that blessed flesh (that all the saints 
 may behold his glory,) and making that body more glo- 
 rious than a thousand suns ; so that the city has no need 
 of the sun nor of the moon, but " the glory of God doth 
 lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof," (properly 
 the candle thereof) Rev. xxi. 23. i. e. the Lamb is the lu- 
 minary or luminous body which gives light to the city, 
 as the sun and moon now give light to the world, or as 
 a candle lightens a dark room ; and the light proceeding 
 from that glorious luminary for the city, is the glory of 
 God. Sometimes that candle burnt very dim, it was hid 
 under a bushel in the time of his humiliation, but that 
 now and then it darted out some rays of this light, which 
 dazzled the eyes of the spectators ; but now it is set on 
 high, in the city of God, where it shines, and shall -shine 
 for ever in perfection of glory. It was sometimes laid 
 aside, as a stone disallowed of the builders ; but now it 
 is, and for ever will be, the light or luminary of that ci- 
 ty, and that *' like unto a stone most precious, even like 
 a jasper stone, clear as crystal," ver. 1 1 . 
 
 Who can conceive the happiness of the saints in the 
 presence-chamber of the great King, where he sits in his 
 chair of state, making his glory eminently to appear in 
 the man Christ ? His glorious presence makes a mighty 
 change upon the saints in this world ; his glorious pre- 
 sence in heaven then must needs screw up their graces 
 to their perfection, and elevate their capacities. The 
 saints do experience, that the presence of God, now with 
 them in his grace, can make a little heaven of a sort of 
 hell. How great must the glory of heaven then be, by 
 his presence there in his glory ! If a candle in some sort 
 beautifies 'a cottage or prison, how will the shining sun 
 beautify a palace or paradise ? The gracious presence of 
 God made a wilderness lightsome to Moses, the valley 
 of the shadow of death to David, a fiery furnace to the 
 three children ; what a ravishing beauty shall then arise 
 from the Sun of Righteousness, shining in his meridian 
 brightness, on the street of the city laid with pure gold ; 
 this glorious presence of God in heaven will put a glory
 
 HBAD v.] Full enjoyment of God and the Lamb. 439 
 
 on the saints themselves. The pleasant garden hath no 
 beauty when the darkness of the night sits clown on it : 
 but the shining sun puts a glory on the blackest moun- 
 tains ; so those who are now as bottles in the smoke, 
 when set.in the glorious presence of God, will be glori- 
 ous both in soul and body. 
 
 Secondly, The saints in heaven shall have the full en- 
 joyment of God and the Lamb. This is it that perfect- 
 ly satisfies the rational creature, and here is the saints' 
 everlasting rest. This will make up all their wants, and 
 fill the desires of their souls, which, after all here obtain- 
 ed, still cry, Give, give, not without some anxiety, be- 
 cause, though they do enjoy God, yet they do not enjoy 
 him fully. A.S to the way and manner of his enjoyment, 
 our Lord tells us, John xvii. 3. This is life eternal, that 
 they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
 whom thou hast sent. Now there are two ways, how a 
 desirable object is known most perfectly and satisfying- 
 ]y, the one is by sight, the other by experience ; sight 
 satisfies the understanding, and experience satisfies the 
 will. Accordingly, one may say, that the saints enjoy 
 God and the Lamb in heaven, (1.) By an intuitive know- 
 ledge. (2.) By an experimental knowledge, both of them 
 perfect, I mean, in respect of the capacity of the creature : 
 for otherwise a creature's perfect knowledge of an 
 infinite being is impossible. The saints below enjoy 
 God in that knowledge they have ftf him by report, 
 from his holy word, which they believe ; they see 
 him likewise darkly in the glass of ordinances, which 
 do, as it were, represent the Bridegroom's picture 
 or shadow, while he is absent ; they have also some ex- 
 perimental knowledge of him, they " taste that God is 
 good," and " that the Lord is gracious." But the saints 
 above shall not need a good report of the king ; they 
 shall see himself, therefore faith ceaseth ; they will be- 
 hold his own face, therefore ordinances are no more, there 
 is no need of a glass. They shall drink, and drink a- 
 bundantly of that whereof they have tasted ; and so hope 
 ceaseth, for they are at the utmost bounds of their de- 
 sires.
 
 440 Full enjoyment of [STATE iv. 
 
 I. The saints in heaven shall enjoy ^4od and the Lamb 
 by si^ht. and that in a most perfect manner. I Cor. xiii. 
 12. For now we see f /trough a glass darkly, but then fice 
 to face. Here our si^ht is but me.liate, as by a glass, in 
 which we see not things themselves, but the images of 
 things ; but there we shall have an immediate view of 
 God and the Lamb. Here our knowledge is but obscure, 
 there it shall be clear without the least mixture of dark- 
 ness. The Lord doth now converse with his saints through 
 the lattice of ordinances, but then shall they be in the 
 presence Chamber with him. There is a vail now on 
 the glorious face as to us ; but when we come to the up- 
 per-house, that vail through which some rays of beauty 
 are now darted, will be found entirely taken off, and 
 then shall glorious excellencies and perfections, not seen 
 in him by mortals, be clearly discovered, for we shall 
 " see his face," Rev. xxii. 4. The phrase seems to be 
 borrowed from the honour put upon some in the courts 
 of monarchs, to be attendants on the king's person. 
 We read. Jer liii. 25 of " seven men of them that were 
 (Heb. seers of the kind's face. i. e. as we read it) n ar 
 the king's person." O unspeakable glory ! The great 
 King keeps his court in heaven, and the saints shall 
 all be his courtiers, ever near the King's person, 
 seeing his face. * The throne of God and of the Lamb 
 shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. And 
 they shall see his face," Rev. xxii. 3, 4. 
 
 I. They shall see Jesus Christ with their bodily eyes, 
 since he will never lay aside the human nature, 'i hey 
 will always behold that glorious blessed body, which is 
 personally united to the divine nature, and exalted far 
 above principalities and powers, and every name that is 
 named. There we shall see, with our eyes, that very 
 body which was born of Mary at Bethlehem, and cruci- 
 fied at Jerusalem betwixt two thieves ; the blessed h."ad 
 that was crowned ;th thorns, the face that was s- it 
 upon, the hands ana j'eet that were nailed to the cross,
 
 HEAD v.] God and the Lamb. 441 
 
 all shining with inconceivable glory. The glory of the 
 man Christ will attract the eyes of all the saints, and he 
 will be for ever " admired in all them that believe," 2 
 Thess. i. 10. Were each star in the heavens shining as 
 the- sun in its meridian brightness, and the light of the 
 sun so increased, as the stars in that case should bear 
 the same proportion to the sun in point of light, that 
 they do now, it might possibly be some faint resemblance 
 of the glory of the man Christ, in comparison with thai 
 of the saints ; for though the saints ; ' shall shine forth 
 as the sun," yet not they, but the Lamb shall be " the 
 light of the city." The wise men fell down and wor- 
 shipped him, when they saw him a " young child, with 
 Mary his mother, in the house." But, O what a ravish- 
 ing sight will it be to see him in his kingdom, on his 
 throne, at the Father's right hand. " The word was 
 made flesh," (John i. 14>.) and the glory of God shall 
 shine through that flesh, and joys of heaven spring out 
 from it, unto the saints, who shall see and enjoy God in 
 Christ For, since the union betwixt Christ and the 
 Saints is never dissolved, but they continue his members 
 for ever ; and the members cannot draw their life but 
 from their head, seeing that which is independent on the 
 head, as to vital influence, is no member; therefore Je- 
 sus Christ will remain the everlasting bond of union be- 
 twixt God and the saints, from whence their eternal life 
 shall spring, John xvii. 2, 3. " Thou hast given him 
 power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to 
 as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eter- 
 nal, that they might know thee the only true God." &c. 
 rer. 22, 23. " And the glory which thou gavest me, I 
 have given them, that they may be one, even a* we are 
 one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made 
 perfect in one." Wherefore the immediate enjoyment 
 of God in heaven is to be understood in respect of the 
 laying aside of the word and sacraments, and such ex- 
 ternal means as we enjoy God by in this world ; but not 
 as if the saints should then cast off their dependence on 
 
 3 t,
 
 442 Full enjoyment of [STATE FV". 
 
 their head for vital influences ; nay, " the Lamb which 
 is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead 
 them unto living fountains of waters." Rev. viii. 17. 
 
 Now when- we shall behold him who died for us, that 
 we might live for evermore, whose matchless love made 
 him swim through the red sea of God's wrath, to make 
 a path in the midst of it for us, by which we might pass 
 safely to Canaan's land ; then we will see what a glori- 
 ous oi>e he was, who suffered all this for us ; what en- 
 tertainment he had in the upper house ; what hallelu- 
 jahs of angels could not hinder him to hear the groans 
 of a perishing multitude on earth, and to come down for 
 their help ; and what a glory he laid aside for us. Then 
 will we be more able to " comprehend with all saints, 
 what is the breadth, length, and depth, and height ; and 
 to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," 
 Eph. iii. 18, 19. When the saints shall remember, that 
 the waters of wrath he was plunged into are the wells 
 of salvation, from whence they draw all their joy ; they 
 that have got the cup of salvation in exchange of the 
 cup of wrath his Father gave him to drink, which his 
 sinful human nature shivered at : how will their hearts 
 leap within them, burn with seraphic love, and like coals 
 of juniper, and the arch of heaven ring with their songs 
 of salvation ! The Jews celebrating the feast of taber- 
 nacles (which was the most joyful of all their feasts, and 
 lasted seven days,) went once every day about the altar, 
 singing hosanna, with their myrtle, palm, and willow 
 branches in their hand (the two former signs of victory, 
 the last of chastity,) in the mean time bending their 
 boughs towards the altar. When the saints are present- 
 ed " as a chaste virgin to Christ," and as conquerors, 
 have got their palms in their hands, how joyfully will 
 they compass the altar evermore, and sing their hosan- 
 uas, or rather their hallelujahs about it, bending their 
 palms towards it, acknowledging themselves to owe all 
 unto the Lamb that was slain, and redeemed them with 
 his blood ! And to this agrees what John saw, Rev. vii.
 
 HEAD v.] God and the Lamb. 
 
 9, 10. "A great multitude stood before the throne, and 
 before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms 
 iu their hands : and cried with a loud voice, saying, Sal- 
 vation to our God which sitteth upon the throue, and 
 unto the Lamb. 
 
 2. They shall see God, Matt. v. 8. They will be liap- 
 py in seeing the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, (not with 
 their bodily eyes, in respect of which God is invisible, 1 
 Tim. i. 17. but) with the eyes of their understanding, 
 being blessed with the most perfect, full, and clear know- 
 ledge of God and divine things, which the creature is ca- 
 pable of. This is called the beatific vision, and is the 
 perfection of understanding, the utmost term thereof. 
 It is but an obscure delineation of the glory of God, that 
 mortals can have on earth ; a sight, as it were, of his 
 back parts, Exod. xxxiii. 23. But there they will see 
 his face, Rev. xxii. 4. They shall see him in the fulness 
 of his glory, and behold him fixedly ; whereas it is but 
 a passing view they can have of him here, Exod. xxxiv. 
 6. There is a vast difference betwixt the sight of a 
 king in his night-clothes, quickly passing by us, and a 
 fixed leisure view of him sitting on his throne in his 
 royal robes, his crown on his head, and his sceptre in his 
 hand : such a difference will there be betwixt the great- 
 est manifestation of God, that ever a saint had on earth, 
 and the display of his glory, that shall be seen in heaven. 
 There the saints shall eternally, without interruption, 
 feed their eyes upon him, and be ever viewing his glori- 
 ous perfections. And as their bodily eyes shall be 
 strengthened and fitted to behold the glorious majesty 
 of the man Christ, as eagles gaze on the sun without 
 being blinded thereby ; so their minds shall have such an 
 elevation as will fit them to see God in his glory ; their 
 capacities shall be enlarged, according to the measure in 
 which he shall be pleased to communicate himself unto 
 them, for their complete happiness. 
 
 This blissful sight of God, being quite above our pre- 
 sent capacities, we must needs be much in the dark
 
 444 Full enjoyment of [STATE iv. 
 
 about it But it seems to be something else, than the 
 sight of tiiat glory, which we shall see with our bodily 
 eyes in the saints, and in the man Christ, or any other 
 splendor or refulgence from the Godhead whatsoever ; 
 for no created thing can be our chief good and happi- 
 ness, nor fully satisfy our souls ; and it is plain, that 
 these things are somewhat different from God himself. 
 Therefore I conceive, that the souls of the saints shall 
 see God himself: so the scriptures teach us that we shall 
 *' see face to face, and know even as we are known," 1 
 Cor. xiii. 12. And that "we shall see him as he is." 1 
 John iii 2. Howbeit the saints can never have an ade- 
 quate conception of God : they connot comprehend that 
 which is infinite. They may touch the mountain, but 
 cannot grasp it in their arms. They cannot with one 
 glance of their eye behold what grows on every side ; 
 but the divine perfections will be an unbounded field in 
 which the glorified shall walk eternally, seeing more and 
 more of God ; since they can never come to -an end of 
 that which is infinite. They may bring their vessels to 
 this ocean every moment, and fill them with new waters. 
 What a ravishing sight would it be, to see all the per- 
 fections and lovely qualities, that are scattered here and 
 there among the creatures, gathered together into one ! 
 But <3ven such a sight would be infinitely below this 
 blissful sight, the saints will have in heaven. For they 
 shall see God, in whom all these perfections shall emi- 
 nently appear, infinitely more ; whereof there is no ves- 
 tige to be found in the creatures. In him shall they 
 see every thing desirable, and nothing but what is desi- 
 rable. 
 
 Then snail they be perfectly satisfied, as to the love 
 of God towards them, which they are now ready to ques- 
 tion on every turn. They will be no more set to per- 
 suade themselves of it, by marks, signs, and testimonies : 
 they will have an intuitire knowledge of it They shall 
 (with the profoundest reverence be it spoken) look into 
 the heart of God, and there see the love he bore to them
 
 UBAD T. God and the Lamb. 445 
 
 from all eternity, and the love and good-will he will bear 
 to them for evermore. The glorified shall have a most 
 clear and distinct understanding of divine truths, " for 
 in his light \ve shall see light," Psal. xxxvi. 9. The light 
 of glory will 'be a complete commentary on the Bible, 
 and loose all the hard and knotty questions in divinity. 
 There is no joy on earth comparable to that which aris- 
 eth from the discovery of truth ; no discovery of truth 
 comparable to the discovery of scripture truth, madi by 
 the Spirit of the Lord unto the soul. " I rejoice at thy 
 word," says the psalmist, "as one that findeth great 
 spoil," Psal. cxix. 162. Yet it is but an imperfect dis- 
 covery we have of it while here. Flow ravishing then 
 will it fee to see the opening of the whole treasure hid 
 in that field ! They shall also be led into the under- 
 standing of the works of God. The beauty of the works 
 of creation and providence will then be set in a due 
 light. Natural knowledge will be brought to perfec- 
 tion by the light of glory. The web of providence con- 
 cerning the church, and all men whatsoever, will then 
 be cut out, and laid before the eyes of the saints : and 
 it will appear a most beautiful mixture, so as they shall 
 all say together, on the view of it, " He hath done all 
 things well." But, in a special manner the work of re- 
 riennption shall be the eternal wonder of the saints, and 
 they wifl admire and praise the glorious contrivance for 
 erer. Then shall they get a full view of its suitableness 
 of the divine perfections, ad to the case of sinners, and 
 clearly read the covenant that passed betwixt the Father 
 and the Son. from all eternity, touching their salvation. 
 They shall for ever wonder and praise, and praise and 
 wonder at tlie mysteries of wisdom and love, goodness 
 aaci holiness, mercy and justice, appearing in the glori- 
 ous device. Their souls shall be eternally satisfied with 
 the sight of God himself, and of their election by the Fa- 
 ther, their redemption by the Son. and application there- 
 of to tfaem by the Holy Spirit.
 
 44(5 Full enjoyment of [STATE iv. 
 
 II. The saints in heaven shall enjoy God in Christ by 
 experimental knowledge, which is, when the object it-, 
 self is given aud possest. This is the participation of 
 the divine goodness in full measure ; which is the per- 
 fection of the will, and utmost term thereof. * The 
 Lamb shall lead them unto living fountains of waters," 
 Rev vii. 17. These are no other but God himself, the 
 fountain of living waters, who will fully and freely com- 
 municate himself unto them. He will pour out of his 
 goodness eternally into their souls ; and then shall they 
 have a most lively sensation, in the innermost part of 
 their souls, of all that goodness they heard of, and be- 
 lieved to be in him ; and of what they see in him, by 
 the light of glory. This will be an everlasting practical 
 exposition of that word, which men and angels cannot 
 sufficiently unfold, to wit, God himself shall " be their 
 God," Rev. xxi. 3. God will communicate himself unto 
 them fully : they will no more be set to taste of the 
 streams of divine goodness in ordinances, as they were 
 wont, but shall drink of the fountain-head. They will 
 be no more entertained, with sips and drops, but filled 
 with all the fulness of God. And this will be the en- 
 tertainment of every saint : for, though in created things, 
 what is given to one is withheld from another ; yet an 
 infinite good can fully communicate itself to all, and fill 
 all. These who are heirs of God, the great heritage, 
 shall then enter into a full possession of their inheritance: 
 and the Lord will open his treasures of goodness unto 
 them, that their enjoyment may be full. They shall not 
 be stinted to any measure : but the enjoyment shall go 
 as far as their enlarged capacities can reach. As a nar- 
 row vessel cannot contain the ocean, so neither can the 
 finite creature comprehend an infinite good ; but no 
 measure shall be set to the enjoyment, but what ariseth 
 from the capacity of the creature. So that, although 
 there be degrees of glory, yet all shall be filled, and have 
 what they can hold ; though some will be capable to 
 hold more than others. There will be no want to any 
 of them ; all shall be fully satisfied, and perfectly blessed
 
 HEAD v.] God and the Lamb. 447 
 
 in the full enjoyment of divine goodness, according to 
 their enlarged capacities. As when bottles of different 
 sizes are filled, some contain more, others less ; yet all 
 of them have what they can contain. The glorified shall 
 have all, in God, for the satisfaction of all their desires. 
 No created thing can afford satisfaction to all our desires; 
 clothes may warm us, but they cannot feed us ; the light 
 is comfortable, but cannot nourish us. But in God we 
 shall have all our desires, and we shall desire nothing 
 without him. They shall be the happy ones, that de- 
 sire nothing but what is truly desirable ; and withal have 
 all they desire. God will be all in all to the saints, he 
 will be their life, health, riches, honour, peace, and all 
 good things. He will communicate himself freely to 
 them : the door of access to him shall never be shut a- 
 gain, for one moment. They may, when they will, take 
 of the fruits of the tree of life, for they will find it on 
 each side the river, Rev. xxii. 2. There will be no vail 
 betwixt God and them to be drawn aside ; but his fulness 
 shall ever stand open to them. No door to knock at, 
 in heaven ; no asking to go before receiving : the Lord 
 will allow his people an unrestrained familiarity with 
 himself there. 
 
 Now they are in part made partakers of the divine na- 
 ture ; but then they shall perfectly partake of it ; that 
 is to say, God will communicate to them his own image, 
 make all his goodness not only pass before them, but 
 pass unto them, and stamp the image of all his own per- 
 fections upon them, so far as the creature is capable to 
 receive the same ; from whence shall result a perfect 
 likeness to him, in all things in or about them ; which 
 completes the happiness of the creature. And this is 
 what the psalmist seems to have had in view, Psal xvii. 
 15. "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy like- 
 ness ;" the perfection of God's image, following upon 
 the beatific vision. And so says John, 1 John iii. 2. " We 
 shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is." Hence 
 there shall be a most close and intimate union betwixt
 
 448 Fullness of joy. [STATE rv. 
 
 God and the saints : God shall be in them, and they in 
 God, in the way of a glorious and most perfect union ; 
 for then shall they dwell in love made perfect. God 
 is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in 
 God, and God in him, ' 1 John iv. 16. How will the 
 saints knit with God. and he with them, when he shall 
 see nothing in them but his own image ; when their love 
 shall arrive at its perfection, no nature but the divine 
 nature, being left in them ; and all imperfection swal- 
 lowed up in their glorious transformation into the 1 ike- 
 ness of God ! Their love to the Lord, being purged from 
 the dross of self-love, shall be most pure ; so as they will 
 love nothing but God, and in God. It shall be no more 
 faint and languishing, but burn like coals of juniper. 
 It will be a light without darkness, a flaming fire u ith- 
 out smoke. As the live coal when all the moisture is 
 gone out of it, is all fire ; so will the saints be all love, 
 when they come to the full enjoyment of God in heaven, 
 by intuitive and experimental knowledge of him by sight 
 and full participation of the divine goodness. 
 
 Lastly, From this glorious presence and enjoyment 
 shall arise an unspeakable joy, which the saints shall be 
 be filled with. " In thy presence is fulness of joy," Psal. 
 xvi. 11. The saints sometimes enjoy God in the world, 
 when their eyes being held, that they cannot perceive it, 
 they have not the comfort of the enjoyment : but then 
 all mistakes being removed, they shall not only enjoy 
 God, but rest in the enjoyment with inexpressible joy 
 and satisfaction. The desire of earthly things breeds 
 torment, and the enjoyment of them often ends in loath- 
 ing. But though the glorified saints shall ever desire 
 more and more of God, their desires shall not be mixt 
 with the least anxiety, since the fulness of the Godhead 
 stands always open to them ; therefore they shall hunger 
 no more, they shall not have the least uneasiness in their 
 eternal appetite after the hidden manna, neither shall con- 
 tinued enjoyment breed loathing, they shall never think 
 they have too much; therefore it is added, "neither
 
 HEAD r.] Fulness of joy. 449 
 
 shall the sun light on them, nor any heat," Rev. vii. 16. 
 The enjoyment of God and the Lamb will be ever fresh 
 and new to them, through the ages of eternity, for they 
 shall drink of living fountains of waters, where new waters * 
 are continually springing up in abundance, ver. 17. They 
 shall eat of the tree of life, which, for variety, affords 
 " twelve manner of fruits." and these always new and 
 fresh, for it yields every month, Rev. xxii. 2. Their joy 
 shall be pure and unmixed, without any dregs of sorrow: 
 not slight and momentary, but solid and everlasting, 
 without interruption They will "enter into joy," Matt. 
 xxv. 21. " Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." The 
 expression is somewhat unusual, and brings me in mind 
 of that word of our suffering Redeemer, Mark. xvi. 34. 
 " My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." His 
 soul was beset with sorrows, as the word there used will 
 bear ; the floods of sorrow went round about him, encom- 
 passing him on every hand ; whithersoever he turned his 
 eyes, sorrow was before him ; it sprang in upon him 
 from heaven, earth, and hell, at once ; thus was he en- 
 tered into sorrow, and therefore saith. Psalm Ixix. 2 " I 
 am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow 
 me." Now wherefore all this, but that his own might 
 enter into joy ? Joy sometimes enters into us now, much 
 ado to get access, while we are encompassed about with 
 sorrows; but then joy shall not enter into us, but we 
 shall enter into it. and swim for ever in an ocean of joy, 
 where we shall see nothing but joy, whithersoever \re 
 turn our eyes. The presence and enjoyment of God and 
 the Lamb will satisfy us with " pleasures for evermore," 
 and the glory of our souls and bodies arising from thonce, 
 will afford us everlasting delight. The spirit of heavi- 
 ness, howsoever closely it cleaves to any , of the saints 
 now, shall drop off then : their weeping shall be turned 
 into songs of joy, and bottles of tears shall issue in rivers 
 of pleasures. Happy they who now sow in tears, which 
 shall spring up in joy in heaven, and bow their heads 
 there with a weight of glory upon them. 
 
 3 M
 
 45O Duration of the kingdom. [STATE iv. 
 
 ' ' '. .w. 
 
 Thus far of the society in the kingdom of the saints. 
 
 X. In the last place. The kingdom shall endure for 
 t ever. As every thing- in it is eternal, so the saints shall 
 have undoubted certainty and full assurance of the eter- 
 nal duration of the same. This is a necessary ingre- 
 dient in perfect happiness ; for the least uncertainty as 
 to the continuance of any good with one. is not without 
 Some fear, anxiety, and torment, and therefore is utterly 
 inconsistent with perfect hfippiness. But the glorified 
 shall never have fear, nor cause of fear of any loss ; they 
 shall " be ever with the Lord," 1 Thess. iv. 17 They 
 shall all attain the full persuasion, that nothing shall be a- 
 ble to separate them from the love of God, nor from the 
 full enjoyment of him, for ever. The inheritance " re- 
 served in heaven is incorruptible," it hath no principle 
 of corruption in itself to make it liable to decay, but en- 
 dures for evermore ; it is undefiled, nothing from with- 
 out can mar its beauty, nor is there any thing in itself 
 to oifend those who enjoy it. And therefore it fadeth 
 not away, but ever remains in its native lustre, and pri- 
 mitive beauty, 1 Pet. i. 4>. Hitherto of the nature of the 
 kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Secondly, Proceed we now to speak of the admission 
 of the saints into this their kingdom, where I shall brief- 
 ly touch upon two things. 1. The formal admission, in 
 the call unto them from the Judge, to come to their 
 kingdom. 2. The quality in which they are admitted 
 and introduced to it. 
 
 I. Their admission, the text shews to be, by a voice 
 from the throne; the King calling to them from the throne, 
 before men and angels, to come to their kingdom. Come 
 and go are but short words, but they will be such as will 
 afford matter of thought to all mankind through the ages 
 of eternity, since upon the one depends everlasting hap- 
 piness, and upon the other everlasting misery. Now 
 our Lord bids the worst of sinners, who hear the gospel, 
 Come, but the most part will not come unto him. Some 
 few, whose hearts are touched by his Spirit, who em-
 
 HI AD v.] Admission info the Kingdom. 
 
 brace the call, and their souls within them say, " Behold 
 we come unto thee ;" they give themselves to the Lord, 
 forsake the world and their lusts for him : they bear his 
 yoke, and cast it not off, no not in the heat of the day, 
 when the weight of it (perhaps) makes them sweat the 
 blood out of their bodies. Behold the fools ! saith the 
 carnal world, whither are they going ? But stay a little, 
 O foolish world ! from the same mouth whence they 
 had the call they are now following, another call shall 
 come which will make amends for all. *' Come ye bles- 
 sed of my Father, inherit the kingdom." 
 
 The saints shall find an inexpressible sweetness in this 
 call to come. (1) Hereby Jesus Christ shews his desire 
 of their society in the upper house, that they may be 
 ever with him there. Thus he will open his heart unto 
 them, as sometimes he did to his Father concerning 
 them, saying, " Father, I will that they be with me, 
 where 1 am," John xvii. 24>. Now the travail of his soul 
 stands before the throne, not only the souls, but the bo- 
 dies he has redeemed ; and they must come, for he must 
 be completely satisfied. (2) Hereby they are solemnly 
 invited to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. They were 
 invited to the lower table by the voice of the servants 
 and the secret workings of the Spirit within them, and 
 they came and did partake of the feast of divine com- 
 munications in the lower house ; but Jesus Christ in per- 
 son shall invite them, before the world to the higher ta- 
 ble. (2) By this he admits them into the mansions of 
 glory. The keys of heaven hang at the girdle of our 
 royal Mediator ; " All power in heaven is given to him," 
 (Matt, xxviii. 18.) and none get in thither, but whom he 
 admits. When they were living on earth with the rest 
 of the world, he opened the everlasting doors of their 
 hearts, entered into them himself, and shut them again, 
 so as sin could never re-enter, to reign there as formerly ; 
 and now he opens heaven's doors to them, draws his 
 doves into the ark, and shuts them there, so as the law, 
 death, and hell, can never get them out again. The
 
 452 Quality in which they are introduced. [STATE v. 
 
 saints in this life were still labouring to enter into that 
 rest, but Satan was always pulling them back, their cor- 
 rui.dons always drawing them down, insomuch that they 
 ha.e sometimes been left to hang by a hair of promise 
 (if I may be allowed the expression.) not without fears 
 of /ailing into the lake of fire ; but now Christ gives the 
 word for their admission, they are brought in and put 
 beyond all hazard Lastly, Thus he speaks to them as 
 thv-; person introducing them into the kingdom into the 
 pr< st-nce chamber of the great King, and unto the throne. 
 Jesus Christ is the great secretary of heaven whose of- 
 fice it is to bring the saints into the gracious presence of 
 Go<f ; and to whom alone it belongs to bring them into 
 the glorious presence of God in heaven, whose heaven 
 would be a strange place to them if Jesus w/s not there; 
 bi!^ a Son will introduce his brethren into his Father's 
 V dom ; they shall go in " with him to the marriage," 
 Matt. xxv. 10. 
 
 II. Let us consider in what quality they are intro- 
 duced by him. 
 
 First, He brings them in as the " blessed of his Fa- 
 ther ." so runs the call from the throne, Come ye bles- 
 sed of my Father ;" &c. It is Christ's Father's house 
 they are to come into, therefore he puts them in mind, 
 that they are blessed of his Father, dear to the Father, 
 as well as to himself. This is it that makes heaven home 
 to them, namely, that it is Christ's Fathers house, where 
 they may be assured of welcome, being married to the 
 Son, and being his Father's choice for that very end. 
 He brings them in for his Father's sake as well as for 
 his own : They are the blessed of his Father, who, as 
 he is the fountain of his Deity, is also the fountain of all 
 blessings conferred on the children of men. They are 
 those to whom God designed well from eternity. They 
 were blessed in the eternal purpose of God, being elect- 
 ed to everlasting life ; at the opening of the book of life, 
 their names were found written therein. So that, bring- 
 ing them to the kingdom, he doth but bring them to
 
 Hi AD y. 1 ] Qualify in which they are introduced. 458 
 
 what the Father, from all etmiity, desiimd for them. 
 Bein^ saved by the Son. they are saved according to 
 his (i. e. the Father's) purpose/' 2 Tim. i. 9. They are 
 thosc j to whom the Father has spoken well. He spoke 
 \\> 'I to them in his word, which must now receive its 
 full accomplishment. They had his promise of the king- 
 dom. Jived and died in the faith of it. and now they come 
 to receive the thing 1 promised. Unto them he has done 
 well. A gift is often in scripture called a blessing, and 
 God's blessing is ever real, like Isaac's blessing, by which 
 Jacob became his heir ; they were all by grace justified, 
 sanctified, and made to persevere unto the end; now 
 they are raised up in glory and. being tried, stand in 
 the judgment. What remains then, but that God crown 
 his own work of gracV in them, in the giving them their 
 kin. oni. in the full enjoyment of himself for ever ? 
 Fin-.lly They nre those whom God has consecrated, 
 the which also is a scripture notion of blessing, I Cor. x. 
 16. God set tuem apart for himself, to be kings and 
 priests unto him ; and the Mediator introduceth them as 
 such, in their kingdom and priesthood. 
 
 Secondly, Christ introduceth them as "heirs of his 
 kingdom," to the actual possession of it, " Come ye bles- 
 sed, inherit the kingdom," They are the children of 
 God by regeneration and adoption : " And if children, 
 then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," 
 Rom. viii. 17 Now is the general assembly of the first- 
 born before the throne ; their minority is overpast, and 
 the timr appointed oi the Father for their receiving of 
 their inheritance, is come. The Mediator purchased the 
 inheritance tor them with his own Mood; their rights 
 am: evidents were drawn loniv ago. and registered in the 
 B le : nay they have infeofiment of their inheritance in 
 tht person of Jesus Christ as their proxy, when he as- 
 cended into heaven, ' whither the Forerunner is for us 
 entered," Heb. vi 2O. Nothing n-maineth but that they 
 enter into persona' possession ihereol. which, begun at 
 death, is perfected at the last aay, when the saints in
 
 454 Quality in which they are introduced. [STATE IT 
 
 their bodies, as well as their souls, go into their king- 
 dom. 
 
 Lastly, They are introduced to it, as " these it was 
 prepared for from the foundation of the world. 3 " The 
 kingdom prepared for them in the eternal purpose of 
 God, before they or any of them had a being, which 
 shews it to be a gift of free grace to them. It was from 
 eternity the divine purpose, that there should be such a 
 kingdom for the elect, and that r,ll impediments which 
 might mar the access to it should be removed out of the 
 way;; and withal by the same eternal decree, every one's 
 place in it was determined and set apart to be reserved 
 for him, that each of the children coming home at length 
 into their Father's house, might find his own place a- 
 waiting him, and ready for him; as at Saul's table, 
 David's place was empty, when he was not there to oc- 
 cupy it himself, 1 Sam. xx. 25. And now that the ap- 
 pointed time is come, they are brought in to take their 
 several places in glory, set apart and reserved for them 
 till they should come at them. 
 
 USE, I shall shut up my discourse on this subject with 
 a word of application, (1.) To all who claim right to 
 this kingdom. (2 ) To those who have indeed a right 
 to it. (3.) To those who have no right thereto. 
 
 First, Since it is evident there is no promiscuous ad- 
 mission into the kingdom of heaven, and none do obtain 
 it, but those whose claim to it is solemnly tried by the 
 great Judge, and after trial sustained as good and valid * 
 it is necessary that all of us impartially try and examine 
 whether, according to the laws of the kingdom contained 
 in the holy scriptures, we can verify and make good our 
 claim to this kingdom ? The hopes of heaven, which 
 most men have, are built on such a sandy foundation as 
 can never abide the trial, having no ground in the world 
 but in their own deluded fancy ; such hopes will leave 
 those who entertain them, miserably disappointed at last. 
 Wherefore it is not only our duty, but our interest, to 
 put the matter to a fair trial in time. If we find we have
 
 HEAD v.] Trial of claim, S$c. 45.5 
 
 no right to heaven, indeed we are yet in the way, and 
 what we have not we may obtain ; but if we find we 
 have a right to it, we shall then have the comfort of a 
 happy prospect into eternity, which is the greatest com- 
 fort one is capable of in the world. If ye inquire, How 
 ye may know whether ye have a right to heaven or not ? 
 I answer, Ye must know that by the state ye are now in. 
 If ye are yet in your natural state, ye are children of 
 wrath, and not of this kingdom ; for that state to them 
 who live and die in it, issues in eternal misery. If you 
 be brought into the state of grace, you have a just claim 
 to the state of glory ; for grace will certainly issue in 
 glory at length. This kingdom is an inheritance which 
 none but the children of God can justly claim ; now we 
 become the children of God, by regeneration and union 
 with Christ his Son ; " and if children, then heirs, heirs 
 of God, joint-heirs with Christ," Rom. viii 1 7. These 
 then are the great points upon which one's evidences for 
 the state of glory do depend. And therefore I refer you 
 to what is said on the state of grace, for clearing of you 
 as to your right to glory. 
 
 If you be heirs of glory, the kingdom of God is within 
 you, by virtue of your regeneration and union with Christ. 
 (1.) The King of heaven has the throne in thy heart, if 
 thou hast a right to that kingdom. Christ is in thee, 
 and God is in thee ; and having chosen him for thy por- 
 tion, thy soul has taken up its everlasting rest in him, 
 and gets no kindly rest but in him, as the dove, until 
 she came unto the ark. To him the soul habitually in- 
 clines, by virtue of the new nature, the Divine nature, 
 which the heirs of glory are partakers of, Psal. Ixxiii. 25. 
 Whom have I in heaven but thee f And there is none upon 
 earth that I desire besides thee. (2.) The laws of heaven are 
 in thy heart, if thou art an heir of heaven, Heb. viii. 1O. 
 " I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in 
 their hearts." Thy mind is enlightened in the know- 
 ledge of the laws of the kingdom, by the Spirit of the 
 Lord, the instructor of all the heirs of glory, for whoever
 
 4>56 Dufy and C9mforf of heirs. [STATB IV. 
 
 may want instruction, sure an heir to a crown shall not 
 want it. " It is written in the prophets. And they shall 
 be al! taught of God." John vi 45 Therefore though fa- 
 ther and mother leave them early, or be in no concern 
 about their Christian education, and they shall be soon 
 put to work for their daily bread, yet they shall not lack 
 teaching. Withal thy heart is changed, and thou bear- 
 est God's image, which consists in " righteousness and 
 true holiness. Eph. iv. 24. Thy soul is reconciled to 
 the whole law of God, and at war with all known sin. 
 In vain do they pretend to the holy kingdom, who are 
 not holy in heart and life, for " without holiness no man 
 shall see the Lord," Heb. xii. 24. It heaven is a rest, 
 it is for spiritual labourers, and not for loiterers If it 
 is an eternal triumph, they are not in the way to it w ho 
 avoid the spiritual warfare, and are in no care to subdue 
 corruption, resist temptation, and to cut their way to it 
 through the opposition made by the devil, the world, and 
 the flesh. (3.) The treasure in heaven is the chief in thy 
 esteem and desire, for it is your treasure, and ** where 
 your treasure is. there will your heart he also, 1 ' Matt, 
 ri. 2K If it is not the things that are seen, which thy 
 heart is in greatest care and concern to obtain ; if thou 
 art driving a trade with heaven, and thy chief business 
 lies there, it is a sign thy treasure is there, for thy heart is 
 there. But if thou art of those who wonder why so much 
 ado about heaven and eternal life, as if less might serve the 
 turn, thou art like to have nothing ado with it at all. Car- 
 nal men value themselves most on their treasures upon earth, 
 withthemthethingsthatarenotseen, areweigheddown by 
 the things that are seen, and no losses do so much effect 
 them as earthly losses ; but the heirs of the crown of 
 glory will value themselves most on their treasures in 
 heaven, and will not put their private estates in the ba- 
 lance with their kingdom ; nor will the loss of the for- 
 mer go so near their hearts, as the thoughts of the loss 
 of the latter. Where these first fruits of heaven are to 
 be found, the eternal weight of glory v\.i!1 surely follow 
 after, while the want of them must be admitted, accord-
 
 HEAD v.] Duty and comfort of heirs. 457 
 
 in;: to the word, to be an uncontestible evidence of an 
 heir of wrath. 
 
 Secondly Let the heirs of the kingdom behave them- 
 selves suitable to their character and dignity. Live as 
 having the faith and hope of this glorious kingdom ; let 
 your conversation be in heaven, Phil. iii. 2O Let your 
 souls delight in communion with God while ye are on 
 earth since ye look for your happiness in communion 
 with him in heaven. Let your speech and artions savour 
 of heaven, and in your manner of life look like the coun- 
 try to which ye are going, that it may be said of you as 
 of Gideon's brethren. Judges viii. 18. Each one "resem- 
 bled the children of a king." Maintain a holy contempt 
 of the world, and of the things of the world. Although 
 others, whose earthly things are their best things, do set 
 their hearts upon them, yet it becomes you to set your 
 feet on them, since your best things are above. This 
 world is but the country through which lays your road 
 to Immanuel's lawd ; therefore pass through it as pilgrims 
 and strangers, and dip not into the incumbrances of it, 
 so as to retard you in your journey. It is unworthy of 
 one born to a palace, to set his heart on a cottage to 
 dwell there ; and of one running for a prize of gold, to 
 go off his way to gather the stones of the brook ; but 
 much more is it unworthy of an heir of the kini>'dom of 
 heaven, to be hid among the stuff of this world, when he 
 should be going on to receive his crown. The prize set 
 before you challengeth your utmost zeal, activity, and 
 diligence; and holy courage, resolution, and magnanimi- 
 ty, become those who are to inherit the crown. Ye can- 
 not come at it without fighting your way to it through 
 difficulties from without and from within ; but the king- 
 dom before you is sufficient to balance them all, though 
 ye should be called to resist even unto blood. Prefer 
 Christ's cross before the world's crown, and wants in the 
 way of duty, before ease and wealth in the way of sin ; 
 " choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
 
 458 Duty and comfort of heirs. [STATE iv. 
 
 than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," Heb. ^.i. 
 25. In a common inn, strangers (perhaps) fare better 
 than the children ; but here lies the difference, the chil- 
 dren are to pay nothing for what they have got, but the 
 strangers get their bill, and must pay completely for all 
 they have had. Did we consider the wicked's after-reck- 
 oning for all the smiles of common providence they meet 
 with in the world, we should not grudge them their good 
 things hore, nor take it amiss that God keeps our best 
 things last. Heaven will make up all the saints' losses, 
 and all tears will be wiped a\ray from their eyes there. 
 
 It is worth observing, that there is such a variety pf 
 scripture notions of heaven's happiness, as may suit every 
 afflicted case of the saints. Are they oppressed ? The 
 day cometh in which they shall have the dominion. Is 
 their " honour laid in the dust ?" A throne to sit upon, 
 a crown on their head, and the sceptre in their hand r 
 will raise it up again. Are they reduced to poverty ? 
 Heaven is a treasure ; if they be forced to quit their own 
 habitations, yet Christ's Father's house is ready for them. 
 Are they driven to the wilderness ? There is a city pre- 
 pared for them. Are they banished from their native 
 country ? They shall inherit a better country. If they 
 are " deprived of public ordinances," the Lord God Al- 
 mighty and the Lamb are the temples there, whither 
 they are going : a temple, the doors of which none can 
 shut. If their life be full of bitterness, heaven is a para- 
 dise for pleasure. If they groan under the remains of 
 spiritual bondage, there is a glorious liberty abiding them. 
 Do their denied garments make them ashamed ? The 
 day cometh in which their robes shall be white, pure, 
 and spotless. The battle against flesh and blood, prin- 
 cipalities and powers, is indeed sore, but a glorious tri- 
 umph is awaiting them. If the toil and labours of the 
 Christian life be great, there is an everlasting rest for 
 them in heaven. Are they judged unworthy of society 
 in the world ? They shall be admitted into the society of 
 angels in heaven. Do they complain of frequent inter-
 
 Hi AD v.] Exhortation to the unconverted, 459 
 
 ruptions of their communion with God ? There they shall 
 go no more out, but shall see his face for evermore. If 
 they are in darkness here, eternal light is there. If they 
 grapple with death, there they shall have everlasting life. 
 And, to sum up all in one word, " He that overcometh 
 shall inherit all things," Rev. xxi. 7. He shall have 
 peace and plenty, profit and pleasure, every thing desira- 
 ble, full satisfaction to his most enlarged desires. Let 
 the expectants of heaven then lift up their heads with 
 joy, gird up their loins, and so run as they may obtain, 
 trampling on every thing that may hinder them in the 
 way to the kingdom. Let them never account any duty 
 too hard, nor any cross too heavy, nor any pains too much, 
 so as they may obtain the crown of glory. 
 
 Lastly, Let those who have no right to the kingdom 
 of heaven be stirred up to seek it with all diligence. 
 Now is the time, wherein the children of wrath may be- 
 come heirs of glory ; and when the way to everlasting 
 happiness is opened, it is no time to sit still and loiter. 
 Raise up your hearts towards the glory that is to be re- 
 vealed ; and do not always lie along on this perishing 
 earth. What can all your worldly enjoyments avail you, 
 while you have no solid ground to expect heaven, after 
 this life is gone ? These riches and honours, profits and 
 pleasures, that must be buried with us, and cannot ac- 
 company us into another world, are but a wretched por- 
 tion, and will leave men comfortless at long run. Ah ! 
 why are men so fond, " in their life time, to receive their 
 good things !" Why are they not rather in care, to secure 
 an interest in the kingdom of heaven, which would never 
 be taken from them, but afford them a portion, to make 
 them happy, through the ages of eternity ! If you desire 
 honour, there you may have highest honour, and which 
 will last, when the world's honours are laid in the dust ; 
 if riches, heaven will yield you a treasure ; and. there are 
 pleasures for evermore. be not despisers of the plea- 
 sant land, neither judge yourselves unworthy of eternal 
 life ! But marry the Heir, and heaven shall be vour dow-
 
 46O The damned are shut up. [STATE iv. 
 
 ry ; close with Christ, as he is offered to you in the gos- 
 pel, and ye shall inherit all things. Walk in the way of 
 holiness, and it will lead you to the kingdom. Fight 
 against sin and Satan, and ye shall receive the crown, 
 forsake the world, and the doors of heaven will be open- 
 ed to receive you. 
 
 HELL. 
 
 MATT. xxv. 41. 
 
 Then shall he say also to them on the left hand, Depart from me ye 
 cursed, into evi i lasting Jire, preparedfor the devil and his angels. 
 
 " 7 ' ERE there no other place of eternal lodging but 
 heavtn, I should here have closed my discourse 
 of man's eternal state ; but seeing in the other world 
 there is a prison for the wicked, as well as a palace for 
 the saints, we must also inquire into that state of ever- 
 lasting misery, the which the worst of men may well bear 
 with, without crying, * Art thou come to torment us be- 
 fore the time?" Since there is yet access to fly from the 
 wrath to come, and all that can be said of it comes short 
 of what the damned will feel, for " who knoweth the 
 power of God's anger ?" 
 
 The last thing our Lord did before he left the earth, 
 was, he lift up his hands and blessed his disciples, Luke
 
 HI AD vi.] The damned are shut up. 461 
 
 xxiv. 50, 51. But the last thing he will do, before he 
 leaves the throne, is to curse and condemn his enemies, 
 as we learn from the text which contains the dreadful 
 sentence, wherein the everlasting misery of the wicked 
 is wrapt up. In which three things may be taken notice 
 of. First, The quality of the condemned : ye cursed. 
 The Judge finds the curse of the law upon them as trans- 
 gressors, and sends them away with it from his presence 
 into hell, there to be fully executed upon them. Secondly, 
 The punishment which they are adjudged to, and to 
 which they were always bound over by virtue of the curse, 
 and it is two-fold, the punishment of loss, in separation 
 from God and Christ, depart from me : and the punish- 
 ment of sense, in most exquisite and extreme torments, 
 depart from me intojire. Thirdly. The aggravations of 
 their torments. 1. They are ready for them, they are 
 not to expect a moment's respite. The fire is prepared 
 and ready to catch hold of those who are thrown into it. 
 2. They will have the society of devils in their torments, 
 being shut up with them in hell. They must depart in- 
 to the same fire prepared for Beelzebub, the prince of 
 devils, and his angels ; namely, other reprobate angels 
 who fell with him, and became devils. It is said to be 
 prepared for them because they sinned, and were con- 
 demned to hell before man sinned. This speaks further 
 terror to the damned, that they must go into the same 
 torments, and place of torment, with the devil and his 
 an^ds They hearkened unto his temptations, and they 
 must partake in his torments; his works they would do, 
 and they must receive the wages, which is death. In 
 this life they joined with devils in enmity against God 
 and Christ, and the way of holiness ; and in the other 
 they must lodge with them. Thus all the goats shall be 
 shut up together, for that name is common to devils and 
 wicked men, in scripture, Lev. xvii. 7, where the word 
 rendered devils, properly signifies hairy ones, or goats, 
 in the shape of which creatures devils delighted much to 
 appear to their worshippers. 3. The last aggravation 
 of their torments in the eternal duration thereof, they
 
 466 The Curst under which [STATI* IV. 
 
 must depart into everlasting fire. This is it that puts 
 the cape-stone upon their misery, namely, that it never 
 have aft end. 
 
 DOCTRINE. -^THE WICKED SHALL BE SHUT UP, UN- 
 
 DER THE CURSE OF GOD IN EVERLASTING MISERY, 
 WITH THE DEVILS IN HELL. 
 
 After having evinced, that there shall be a resurrec- 
 tion of the body, and a general judgment, I think is not 
 needful to insist to prove the truth of future punishments. 
 The same conscience there is in men of a future judg- 
 ment, bear witness also of the truth of future punish- 
 ments. (And that the punishment of the damned shall 
 not be annihilation or a reducing them to nothing, will 
 be clear in the progress of our discourse.) In treating of 
 this awful subject, I shall inquire into these four things. 
 (1) The curse under which the damned shall be shut up. 
 (2.) Their misery under that curse. (3.) Their society 
 with devils in this miserable state. (4.) The eternity 
 of the whole. 
 
 I. As to the curse, under which the damned shall be 
 shut up in hell ; it is the terrible sentence of the law, by 
 which they are bound over to the wrath of God; as trans- 
 gressors. This curse does not first seize them, when, 
 standing before the tribunal, they receive their sentence; 
 but they were born under it, they led their life under it 
 in this world, they died under it, rose with it out of their 
 graves ; and the Judge finding it upon them, sends them 
 away with it into the pit ; where it shall lie on them, 
 through all the ages of eternity. By nature all men are 
 under the curse ; but it is removed from the elect, by 
 virtue of their union with Christ. It abides on the rest 
 of sinful mankind, and by it they are devoted to destruc- 
 tion, " separated to evil," as one may describe the curse 
 from Deut. xxxix. 21. "And the Lord shall separate 
 him unto evil." Thus shall the damned, for ever, be 
 persons devoted to destruction ; separate and set apart 
 from among the rest of mankind unto evil, as vessels of
 
 H1AD TI.] the damned are shut up. 
 
 wrath, set up for marks to the arrows of Divine wrath : 
 and made the common receptacle and shore of ven- 
 geance. 
 
 Thiscursehathitsfirst-fruits on earth, which are apledgc 
 of the whole lump that is to follow. And hence it is, 
 that as temporal and eternal benefits are bound up toge- 
 ther, under the same expressions in the promise to the 
 Lord's people, as Isa. xxxv. 1O. " And the ransomed of 
 the Lord shall return, and come to Zion," &?c. relating 
 both to the return from Babylon, and to the saints going 
 to their eternal rest in heaven : even so temporal aruj 
 eternal miseries, on the enemies of God, are sometimes 
 wrapt up under one and the same expression in the 
 threatening, as Isa. xxx. 33. "For Tophet is ordained of 
 old : yea, for the king it is prepared, he hath marta it 
 deep and large : the pile thereof is fire and much wood, 
 the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth 
 kindle it." Which relates both to the temporal and e- 
 ternal destruction of the Assyrians, who fell by the hand 
 of the angel before Jerusalem, See also Isa. Ixvi. 24.- 
 What is that judicial blindness, to which many are given 
 up, " in whom the god of this world hath blinded their 
 eyes," 2 Cor. iv. 4. but the first-fruits of hell and of the 
 curse ? Their sun is going down at noon-day : their 
 darkness increasing as if it would not stop, till it issue in 
 utter darkness. Many a lash in the dark, doth conscience 
 give the wicked, which the world doth not hear of : and 
 what is that, but that the never-dying worm is already be- 
 gun to gnaw them ? And there is not one of these, but 
 they may call it Joseph for " the Lord shall add ano- 
 ther;" or rather Gad, for a troop cometh. These drops 
 of wrath are terrible forebodings of the full shower 
 which is to follow. Sometimes they are given up to 
 their evil affections, that they have no more command 
 over them, Rom. i. 26. So their lusts grow up more 
 and more towards perfection, if I may so speak. As in 
 heaven graces comes to its perfection, so in hell sin ar- 
 rives at its highest pitch ; and as sin is thus advancing'
 
 The eurse under which [STATE IV. 
 
 upon the man, he is the nearer and the more like to hell. 
 There are three things that have a fearful aspect here. 
 First, When every thing that might do good to men's 
 souls is blasted to them ; so that their blessings are cursed, 
 (Mai. ii. 2.) Sermons, prayers, admonitions, and reproofs, 
 which are powerful towards others, are quite inefficacious 
 to them. Secondly, When men go on sinning still, in the 
 face of plain rebukes from the Lord, in ordinances and 
 providences, God meets them with rods in the way of 
 their sin, as it were striking them back ; yet they rush 
 forward. What can be more like hell, where the Lord 
 is always smiting, and the damned always sinning against 
 him ? Lastly, When every thing in one's lot is turned 
 into fuel to one's lusts. Thus adversity and prosperity, 
 poverty and wealth, the want of ordinances, and the en- 
 joyment of them, do all but nourish the corruptions of 
 many. Their vitious stomach's corrupt whatsoever they 
 receive, and all does but increase noxious humours. 
 
 But the full harvest follows in that misery, which they 
 shall for ever lie under in hell; that wrath, which, by vir- 
 tue of the curse, shall come upon them to tbe uttermost ; 
 the which is the curse fully executed. This black (lend 
 opens upon them, and the terrible thunderbolt strikes 
 them, by that dreadful voice from the throne. Depart 
 from me, ye cursed, &p. which will give the whole wick- 
 ed world a dismal view of what is in the bosom of the 
 curse. It is (1.) a voice of extreme induynation and 
 wrath, a furious rebuke from ** the lion of the tribe of 
 Judah." His looks will be most terrible to them : his 
 eyes will cast flames of fire on them : and his words will 
 pierce their hearts, like envenomed arrows. When he 
 will thus speak them out of his presence for ever, and 
 by his word chase them away from before the throne ; 
 they will see how keenly wrath burns in his heart against 
 them, for their sins. (2.) It is a voice of extreme disdain 
 and contempt from the Lord. Time was when they \vere 
 pitied, besought to pity themselves, and to he the Lord's : 
 but they despised him, they would none of him : but now
 
 MIAD TI.] Consideration.? under the curse. 46,5 
 
 they shall be buried out of his sight, under everlasting 
 contempt. (S.i It is a voice of extreme hatred. Here- 
 by the Lord shuts them out of his bowels of love and 
 mercy. Depart ye cursed, q. d. I cannot endure to look 
 at you : there is not one purpose of good to you in mine 
 heart, nor shall ye ever hear one word more of hope from 
 me. Lastly, It is a voice of eternal rejection from the 
 Lord. He commands them to be gone, and so casts 
 them off for ever Thus the doors of heaven are shut 
 against them ; the gulf is fixed between them and h id 
 they are driven to the pit. Now should they cry, with 
 all possible earnestness, " Lord, Lord, open to us." they 
 will hear nothing but " Depart, depart, ye cursed." Thus 
 shall the damned be shut up under the curse. 
 
 USE. First, Let all those who, being yet in their na- 
 tural state, are under the curse, consider this, and flee 
 to Jesus Christ betimes, that they may be delivered from 
 it. How can ye sleep in that state, being wrapt in the 
 curse? Jesus Christ is now saying unto you, come ye 
 cursed, I will take the curse from off you, and give you 
 the blessing. The waters of the sanctuary are now run- 
 ning, to heal the cursed ground ; take heed to improve 
 them for that end to your own souls, and fear it as hell, 
 to get no spiritual advantage thereby Remember that 
 " the miry places (which are neither sea, nor dry land, 
 a fit emblem of hypocrites,) and the marshes (that nei- 
 ther breed fishes, nor bear trees, but the watets of the 
 sanctuary leave them as they find them, in their barren- 
 ness) shall not be healed, (seeing they sjjur - *he only 
 remedy) they shall be given to salt," (left under eternal 
 barrenness, set up for the monuments of the wrath of 
 God, and concluded for ever under the curse) Ezek. xlvii. 
 1 1. Secondly, Let all cursers consider this, whose mouths 
 are filled with cursing themselves and others. He who 
 ' clothes himself with cursing," shall find the curse 
 " come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his 
 bones," (Psal. cix. 18.) if repentance prevent it not. He 
 
 3 c
 
 466 " Misery of the damned. TSTATE iv. 
 
 y */ L 
 
 shall get all his imprecations against himself fully an- 
 swered in the day wherein he stands before the tribunal 
 of God, and shall find the killing weight of the curse of 
 God, which he makes light of now. 
 
 II. I proceed to speak of the misery of the damned 
 under that curse, a misery which the tongues of men and 
 angels cannot sufficiently express. God always acts like 
 himself. No favours can be equal to his, and his wrath 
 and terrors are without a parallel. As the saints in 
 heaven are advanced to the highest pitch of happiness, 
 so the damned in hell arrive at the height of misery. 
 Two things here I shall soberly inquire into, the punish- 
 ment of loss, and the punishment of sense, in hell. But 
 since these also are such things as eye hath not seen, nor 
 ear heard, we must (as geographers do,) leave a large 
 void for the unknown land, which the day will discover. 
 
 First, The punishment of loss, which the damned shall 
 undergo, is separation from the Lord, as we learn from 
 the text, " Depart from me, ye cursed." This will be a 
 stone upon their grave's mouth, as " the talent of lead," 
 Zech. v. 7, 8. that will hold them down for ever. They 
 shall be eternally separated from God and Christ. Christ 
 is the way to the Father ; but the way, as to them, shall 
 be everlastingly blocked up, the bridge shall be drawn, 
 and the great gulph fixed, so shall they be shut up in a 
 state of eternal separation from God the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost. They will be locally separated from the 
 man Christ, and shall never come into the seat of the 
 blessed, where he appears in his glory, but be cast out 
 into utter darkness. Matt. xxii. 13. They cannot indeed be 
 locally separated from God, they cannot be in a place where 
 he is not, since he is, and will be, present every where. 
 " If I make my bed in hell," says the psalmist, " behold 
 thou art there," Psal. cxxxix. 8. But they shall be 
 miserable beyond expression, in a relative separation 
 from God. Though he will be present in the very cen- 
 tre of their souls (if I may so express it,) while they are 
 wrapt up in fiery flames, in utter darkness, it shall only
 
 HEAD vi.] The punishment of loss. 467 
 
 be to feed them with the rinegar of his wrath, to enter- 
 tain them with the emanations of his revenging justice, 
 but they shall never taste more of his goodness and 
 bounty, nor have the least glimpse of hope from him. 
 They will see his heart to be absolutely alienated from 
 them, and that it cannot be towards them, but that they 
 are the party, against whom the Lord will have an in- 
 dignation for ever. They shall be deprived of the glo- 
 rious presence and enjoyment of God ; they shall have 
 no part in the beatific vision, nor see any thing in God 
 towards them, but one wave of wrath rolling at the 
 back of another. This will bring upon them overwhelm- 
 ing floods of sorrow for evermore. They shall never 
 taste of the rivers of pleasures, the saints in heaven en- 
 joy, but shall have an everlasting winter, and a perpetu-, 
 al night, because the Sun of Righteousness has departed 
 from them, and so they are left in utter darkness. So 
 great as heaven's happiness is, so great will their loss be, 
 for they can have none of it for ever. 
 
 This separation of the wicked from God will be (1.) 
 An involuntary separation. Now they depart from him, 
 they will not come to him though they are called, en- 
 treated, and obtested to come ; but then they shall be 
 driven away from him, when they would gladly abide 
 with him. Although the question, " What is thy be- 
 loved more than another beloved ?" is frequent now 
 amongst the despisers of the gospel, there will be no 
 such question among all the damned crew, for then they 
 will see that man's happiness is only to be found in the 
 enjoyment of God, and that the loss of him is a loss that 
 can never be balanced. (2.) It will be a total and utter 
 separation. Albeit the wicked are in this life separated 
 from God, yet there is a kind of intercourse betwixt 
 them ; he gives them many good gifts, and they give 
 him, at least, some good words, so that the peace is not 
 altogether hopeless. But then shall there be a total 
 separation, the damned being cast into utter darkness, 
 where there will not be the least gleam of light or fa-
 
 46S The punishment of loss. [STATE iv. 
 
 vour from the Lord, the which will put an end unto all 
 their fair words to him. Lastly, It shall be a final se- 
 paration ; they will part with him never more to meet, 
 being shut up under everlasting horror and despair. 
 The match betwixt Jesus Christ and unbelievers, which 
 has so often been carried forward, and put back again, 
 shall then be broken up for ever, and never shall one 
 message of favour or good-will go betwixt the parties 
 any more. 
 
 This punishment of loss, in a total and final separati- 
 on from God, is a misery beyond what mortals can con- 
 ceive, and which the dreadful experience of the damned 
 can only sufficiently unfold. But that we may have 
 some conception of the horror of it, let these following 
 things be considered. 
 
 First, God is the chief good, and therefore to be se- 
 parated from him must be the chief evil. Our native 
 country, our relations, and our life, are good, and there- 
 fore to be deprived of them we reckon a great evil ; and 
 the better any thing is, so much the greater evil is the 
 loss of it : wherefore God being the chief good, and no 
 good comparable to him, there can be no loss so great as 
 the loss of God. The full enjoyment of him is the high- 
 est pinnacle of happiness the creature is capable of arriv- 
 ing at : to be fully and finally separated from him, must 
 then be the lowest step of misery which the rational 
 creature can be reduced to. To be cast off by men, by 
 good men, is heavy ; what must it then be to be reject- 
 ed of God, of goodness itself ! 
 
 Secondly, God is the fountain of all goodness, from 
 which all goodness flows unto the creatures, and by 
 which it is continued in them and to them. Whatsoever 
 goodness or perfection, natural as well as moral, is in 
 any creature, it is from God, and depends upon him, 
 as the light is from, and depends on the sun ; for 
 every created being, as such, is a dependent one. Where- 
 fore a total separation from God, wherein all comforta- 
 ble communications betwixt God and a rational creature
 
 HEAD vi ] The punishment of loss. 469 
 
 is absolutely blocked up, must of necessity bring along 
 with it a total eclipse of all light, of comfort, and ease 
 whatsoever. If there is but one window, or open place 
 in a house, and that be quite shut up, it is evident there 
 can be nothing but darkness in that house. Our Lord 
 tells us. Matt. xix. 17- "There is none good but one, 
 that is God." Nothing good or comfortable is originally 
 from the creature; whatever good or comfortable thing 
 one finds in one's self, as health of body, peace of mind : 
 whatever sweetness, rest, pleasure, or delight, one finds 
 in other creatures, as in meat, drink, arts, and sciences, 
 all these are but some faint rays of the divine perfections 
 communicate from God unto the creature, and depend- 
 ing on a constant influence from him for their conserva- 
 tion, which failing they would immediately be gone ; for 
 it is impossible that any created thing can be to us more or 
 better than what God makes it to be. All the rivulets of 
 comfort we drink of, within of without ourselves, come 
 from God as their spring-head ; the course of which to- 
 ward us being stopt, of necessity they must all dry up. 
 So that when God goes, all that is good and comfortable 
 goes with him ; all ease and quiet of body or mind, Hos. 
 ix. \ 1 2. Woe also to them when I depart from them. When 
 the wicked are totally and finally separated from him, 
 all that is comfortable in them, or about them, returns 
 to its fountain, as the light goes away with the sun, and 
 darkness succeeds in the room thereof. Thus in their 
 separation from God, all peace is removed far away from 
 them, and pain in body, and anguish of soul, succeed to 
 it : all joy goes, and unmixt sorrow settles in them : all 
 quiet and rest separate from them, and they are filled 
 with horror and rage : hope flies away, and despair seiz- 
 eth them : common operations of the Spirit, which now 
 restrain them, are withdrawn for ever, and sin comes to 
 its utmost height. And thus we have a dismal view of 
 the horrible spectacle of sin and misery, which a crear 
 ture proves when totally separated from God and left to 
 itself ; and one may see this separation to be the very 
 hell of hell.
 
 470 The punishment of loss. [STATE iv. 
 
 Being separated from God, they are deprived of all 
 good. The good things, which they set their heart up- 
 on in this world, are beyond their reach there. The co- 
 vetous man cannot enjoy his wealth there, nor the am- 
 bitious man his honours, nor the sensual man his plea- 
 sures, no not a drop of water to cool his tongue, Luke 
 xxi. 23, 25. No meat nor drink there to strengthen 
 the faint; no sleep to refresh the weary ; and no music 
 nor pleasant company, to comfort and cheer up the sor- 
 rowful. And as for these good things they despised in 
 the world, they shall never more hear of them, nor see 
 them. No offers of Christ there, no pardons, no peace ; 
 no wells of salvation in the pit of destruction. In one 
 word, they shall be deprived of whatsoever might com- 
 fort them, being totally and finally separated from God, 
 the fountain of all goodness. 
 
 Thirdly, Man naturally desires to be happy, being 
 withal conscious to himself that he is not self-sufficient ; 
 and therefore has ever a desire of something, without him- 
 self, to make him happy, and the soul being, by its na- 
 tural make and constitution, capable of enjoying God ; 
 and nothing else being commensurable to its desires ; it 
 can never have true and solid rest, till it rest in the en- 
 joyment of God. This desire of happiness, the rational 
 creature can never lay aside, no not in hell. Now while 
 the wicked are on earth, they seek their satisfaction in 
 the creature ; and when one fails, they go to another : 
 thus they put off their time in the world, deceiving their 
 own souls, and luring them on with vain hopes. But in 
 the other world, all comfort in the creatures having fail- 
 ed together and at once ; and the shadows, they are now 
 pursuing, having all of them vanished in a moment ; 
 they shall be totally and finally separated from God, and 
 see they have thus lost him. So the doors of earth and 
 heaven both, are shut up against them at once. This 
 will create them unspeakable anguish, while they shall 
 live under an eternal gnawing hunger after happiness, 
 which they certainly know shall never be in the least
 
 HEAD v.] The punishment of loss. 471 
 
 _.. ....._-...-.-' ' * ...'.' 
 
 measure satisfied, all doors being closed on them. Who 
 then can imagine how this separation from God shall cut 
 the damned to the heart ; how they will roar and rage 
 under it, and how it will sting them and gnaw them, 
 through the ages of eternity ! 
 
 Fourthly, The damned shall know that some are per- 
 fectly happy, in the enjoyment of that God, from whom 
 they themselves are separate : and this will aggravate 
 the sense of their loss, that they can never have any 
 share with these happy ones. Being separated from 
 God, they are separated from the society of the glorified 
 saints and angels. They may see " Abraham afar off, 
 and Lazarus in his bosom," (Luke xvi. 23.) but can ne- 
 ver come into their company ; being as unclean lepers 
 thrust out without the camp, and excommunicated from 
 the presence of the Lord, and of all his holy ones. It 
 is the opinion of some, that every person in heaven or 
 hell, shall hear and see all that passeth in either state. 
 Whatever is to be said of this, we have ground from the 
 word to conclude, that the damned shall have a very 
 exquisite knowledge of the happiness of the saints in 
 heaven ; for what else can be meant by the rich man in 
 hell seeing " Lazarus in Abraham's bosom ?" One thing 
 is plain in this case, that their own torments will give 
 them such notions of the happiness of the saints, as a 
 sick man has of health, or a prisoner has of liberty. 
 And as they cannot fail of reflecting on the happiness of 
 those in heaven, more than they can attain to content- 
 ment with their own lot, so every thought of that hap- 
 piness will aggravate their loss. It would be a mighty 
 torment to a hungry man, to see others liberally feasting, 
 while he is so chained up as he cannot have one crumb 
 to stay his gnawing appetite. To bring music and danc- 
 ing before a man labouring under extreme pains, would 
 but increase his anguish ; how then will the songs of the 
 blessed in their enjoyment of God, make the damned 
 roar under their separation from him !
 
 472 The punishment of loss. .. [STATE 
 
 Fifthly, They will remember, that time was when 
 they might have been made partakers of the blessed state 
 of the saints, in their enjoyment of God, and this will 
 aggravate their sense of the loss. All may remember, 
 there was once a possibility of it, that some time they 
 were in the world, in some corners of which the way of 
 salvation was laid open to men's view. a!ftd may wish they 
 had gone round the world till they had found it out. 
 Despisers of the gospel will remember with bitterness, 
 that Jesus Christ, with all his benefits, was offered to 
 them, that they were exhorted, entreated, and pressed to 
 accept, but would not ; and that they were warned of the 
 misery they feel, and obtested to fly from the wrath to 
 come, but they would not hearken The gospel offer 
 slighted will make a hot hell and the loss of an offered 
 heaven will be a sinking weight on the spirits of unbelie- 
 vers in the pit. Some will remember that there was a 
 probability of their being eternally happy ; that some 
 time they seemed to stand fair for it. and were *' not far 
 from the kingdom of God ;" that they had once almost 
 consented to the blessed bargain, the pen was in their 
 hand (as it were) to sign the marriage contract betwixt 
 Christ and their souls, but unhappily they dropped it, 
 and turned back from the Lord to their lusts again. And 
 others will remember, that they thought themselves sure 
 of heaven, but being blinded with pride and self conceit, 
 they were above ordinances, and beyond instruction, and 
 would not examine their state, which was their ruin : but 
 then shall they in va ; n wish they had reputed themselves 
 the worst of the congregation in which they lived and 
 curse the fond conceit they had of themselves, and that 
 others had of them too. Thus it will sting the damned 
 that they might have escaped this loss. 
 
 Lastly, They will see the loss to be irrecoverable, that 
 they must eternally lie under it, never never to be re- 
 paired. Might the damned, after millions of ao-es in hell, 
 regain what they have lost, it would be some ground of 
 hope ; but the prize is gone, and never can be recovered.
 
 HEAD vi.~| The punishment of loss.' 47$ 
 
 And there are two things here which will pit n, in 
 to the heart. 1. That th<-y never knew the worth of it, 
 till it was irrecoverably last.- Should a man give away 
 an earthen pot full of gold far a trifle, never knowing 
 what was in it. till it were quite gone from him, and past 
 recovery : how would this foolish action gall him, upon 
 the discovery of the riches in it! Such an one's case may 
 be a faint resemblance of the case of despisers of the gos- 
 pel, when in hell " they lift up their eyes," and behold 
 that to their torment, which they will not see now to 
 their salvation. 2. That they have lost it for dross and 
 dung, sold their part of heaven, and not enriched them- 
 selves with the price. They lost heaven for earthly pro- 
 fits and pleasures, and now both are gone together from 
 them. The drunkard's cups are gone, the covetous man's 
 gain, the voluptuous man's carnal delights, and the slug- 
 gard's ease ; nothing is left them to comfort them now. 
 The happiness they lost remains indeed, but they can 
 have no part in it for ever. 
 
 USE. Sinners be persuaded to come to God through Je- 
 sus Christ, uniting with him through a Mediator, that ye 
 may be preserved from this fearful separation from him. 
 O be afraid to live in a state of separation from God, lest 
 that which ye BOW make your choice, become your eter- 
 nal punishment hereafter. Do not reject communion 
 with God, cast not off the communion of saints, f it 
 will be the misery of the damned to he driven out from 
 that communion. Cease to build up the wall of separa- 
 tion betwixt God and you, by continuing* in your sinful; 
 courses : repent rather in time, and so pull it down, lest 
 the cape-stone be laid upon it, and it stand for ever be- 
 tween you and happiness. Tremble at the thoughts of 
 rejection and separation from God. By whomsoever mea 
 are rejected on the earth, they ordinarily find some pity- 
 to them : but if ye be thus separated from God. ye 
 find all doors shut against you. Ye will find no pity from 
 any in heaven ; neither saints nor angels will pity them, 
 
 X P
 
 474 The punishment of sense. [STATE iv. 
 
 whom God has utterly cast off: none will pity you in 
 hell, where there is no love but loathing : all being loath- 
 ed of God, loathing him, and loathing one another. This 
 is a day of losses and fears. I show you a loss, you would 
 do well to fear in time ; be afraid lest you lose God ; if 
 ye do, a long eternity will be spent in roaring out lamen- 
 tations for this loss. O horrid stupidity ! Men are in a 
 mighty care and concern to prevent worldly losses : but 
 they are in hazard of losing the enjoyment of God for 
 ever and ever, in hazard of losing heaven, the communi- 
 on of the blessed, and all good things for soul and body 
 in another world ; yet as careless in that matter, as if 
 they were incapable of thought. O compare this day 
 with the day our text aims at. This day heaven is open- 
 ed for them, who hitherto have rejected Christ, and yet 
 there is room, if they will come : but that day the doors 
 shall be shut. Now Christ is saying unto you, Come : 
 then he will say, Depart ; seeing ye would not come 
 when ye were bidden. Now pity is shown ; the Lord 
 pities you, his servants pity you, and tell you that the 
 pit is before you, and cry to you, that ye do yourselves 
 no harm : but then shall ye have no pity from God nor 
 man. 
 
 Secondly, The damned shall be punished in hell, with 
 the punishment of sense ; they must depart from God 
 into everlasting fire. I am not in a mind to dispute what 
 kind of fire it is, which they shall depart into, and be tor- 
 mented by for ever, whether a material fire or not. Ex- 
 perience will more than satisfy the curiosity of those who 
 are disposed rather to dispute about it, than to seek how 
 to escape it. Neither will I meddle with that question, 
 Where it is ? It is enough, that the. worm which never di- 
 eth, and fyejire that is never quenched, will be found some 
 where by impenitent sinners. But (1.) I shall evince 
 that, whatever kind of fire it is ; it is more vehement 
 and terrible than any fire we, on earth, are acquainted 
 with. (2.) I shall condecend on some properties of these 
 fiery torments.
 
 HEAD vi.] The punishment of sense. 475 
 
 As to the first of these ; burning is the most terrible 
 punishment, and brings the most exquisite pain and tor- 
 ment with it. By what reward could a man be induced to 
 hold but his hand in the flame of a candle, for one hour ? 
 All imaginable pleasures on earth would never prevail 
 with the most voluptuous man to venture to lodge but one 
 half hour in a burning fiery furnace ; nor would all the 
 wealth in the world prevail with the most covetous to do 
 it. Yet, on much lower terms, do most men, in effect, 
 expose themselves to everlasting fire in hell, which is 
 more vehement and terrible than any fire we on earth 
 are acquainted with ; as will appear by the following 
 considerations. 
 
 First, As in heaven grace being brought to its perfec- 
 tion, profit and pleasure do also arrive at their height 
 there ; so sin being come to its height in hell, the evil 
 of punishment doth also arrive at its perfection there. 
 Wherefore as the joys in heaven are far greater than any 
 joys which the saints obtain on earth, so the punishments 
 of hell must be greater than any earthly torments what- 
 soever ; not only in respect of the continuance of them, 
 but also in respect of vehemency and exquisiteness. 
 
 Secondly, Why are the things of the other world re- 
 presented to us in an earthly dress, in the word ; but 
 that the weakness of our capacities in such matters 
 (which the Lord is pleased to condescend unto) does re,- 
 quire it ; it being always supposed, that these things of 
 the other world are in their kind more perfect, than that 
 by which they are represented ? When heaven is repre- 
 sented to us under the notion of a city, with gates of 
 pearl, and the street of gold, we look not to find gold 
 and pearls there, which are so mightily prized on earth, 
 but something more excellent than these finest and most 
 precious things in the world ; when therefore we hear 
 of hell-fire, it is necessary we understand by it something 
 more vehement, piercing and tormenting, than any fire 
 ever seen by our eyes. And here it is worth considering 
 that the torments of hell are held forth under several
 
 476' The punishment f sense. [STATE IT 
 
 .-. -r. __ - ^ 
 
 other notions than that of fire simply ; and the reason of 
 it is plain, namely, that hereby what of horror is wanting 
 in one notion of hell is supplied by another. Why is hea- 
 ven's happiness represented under the various notions of 
 a treasure, a paradise, a feast, a rest, &c, but that there 
 is not one of these things sufficient to express it ? Even 
 so hell torments are represented under the notion of fire, 
 which the damned are cast into. A dreadful represen- 
 tation indeed ! yet not sufficient to express the misery 
 of the state of sinners in them. Wherefore we hear al- 
 so of " the second death," (Rev. xx. 6.) for the damned 
 in hell shall be ever dying : of " the wine-press of the 
 wrath, of God," (chap. xiv. 19.) wherein ^bey will be 
 " trodden in anger, trampled in the Lord's fury," (Isa. 
 Ixiii. 3.) pressed, broken, and bruised, without end : " the 
 worm that dieth not," (Mark. ix. 43.) which shall eter- 
 nally gnaw them : " a bottomless pit," where they will 
 be ever sinking, Rev. xx. , 4*. r-It is not simply called a 
 fire, but the " lake of fire and brimstone," ver. 19 "A 
 lake of fire burning with brimstone." (chap. xix. 2,0.) than 
 which one can imagine nothing more dreadful Yet, 
 because fire gives light, and light (as Solomon observes, 
 Eccl. xi. 7) is sweet, there is no light there, but dark- 
 ness, " Otter darkness," Matt. xxv. 3O. ; For they must 
 have an everlasting night, since nothing can be there 
 which is in any measure comfortable or refreshing. 
 
 Thirdly^ Our fire cannot affect a spirit, but by way 
 of sympathy with the body, to which it is united : but 
 hell- fir* will not only pierce into the bodies, but directly 
 into the souls of the damned, for it is " prepared for the 
 devil and his angels," those wicked spirits whom no fire 
 on earth can hurt. Job complains heavily, under the 
 chastisement of God's fatherly hand, saying, " The ar- 
 rows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof 
 drinketh up my spirit," Job vi. 4 But how will the spi- 
 rits of the damned be pierced with the arrows of reveng- 
 ing justice! How will they be drunk with the poison of 
 the curse on these arrows ! How vehement must that fire 
 be that pierceth directly into the soul, and makes an
 
 HIAD vi.] The punishment nf sense. 477 
 
 everlasting burning in the spirit, the most lively and ten- 
 der part of a man, wherein wounds or pains are most in- 
 tolerable ! 
 
 Lastly, The preparation of this fire evinceth the inex- 
 pressible vehemency and dreadliilness of it. The text 
 calls it prepared Jin\ yea, the prepared fire by way of 
 eniinency. As the three children were not cast into an 
 ordinary fire, but a fire prepared on a particular design, 
 which therefore was exceeding hot, the furnace being 
 heated seven times more than ordinary, Dan ii. 22. so 
 the damned shall find in hell a prepared fire, the like to 
 which was^never prepared by human art ; it is a fire of 
 God's own preparing, the product of infinite wisdom on 
 a particular design, to demonstrate the most strict and 
 severe divine justice against sin which may sufficiently 
 evidence to us the inconceivable exquisiteness thereof. 
 God always acts in a peculiar way becoming his own in- 
 finite greatness, whether for or against the creature. 
 And therefore, as the things he hath " prepared for them 
 that love him," are great and good beyond expression or 
 conception ; so one may conclude, that the things he hath 
 prepared against those who hate him, are great and ter- 
 rible beyond what men can either say or think of them. 
 The pile of Tophet is fire and much wood (the coals Of 
 fire are coals of juniper, a kind of wood which, set on 
 fire, burns most fiercely, Psal. cxx. 4.) "and the breath 
 of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it," 
 Isa. xxx. 33. Fire is more or less violent, according to 
 the matter of it. and the breath by which it is blown : 
 what heart then can fully conceive the horror of coals of 
 juniper, blown up " with the breath of the Lord ?" Nay, 
 God himself will be " a consuming fire," (Deut. iv. 24.) 
 to the damned ! intimately present as " a devouring fire" 
 in their souls and bodies It is a fearful thing- to fall into 
 a fire, or to be shut up in a fiery furnace, on earth ; but 
 the terror of these vanisheth when one considers, how 
 "fearful it is to fc.ll into the hands of the living God," 
 which is the lot of the damned ; for " who shall dwell
 
 478 The punishment of sense. [STATE iv. 
 
 with devouring fire ? Who shall dwell with everlasting 
 burnings?" Isa. xxxiii. 14. 
 
 As to the second point proposed, namely, the proper- 
 ties of the fiery torments in hell. 
 
 First. They will be universal torments, every part of 
 the creature being tormented in that flame. When one 
 is cast into a burning fiery furnace, the fire makes its 
 way into the very bowels, and leaves no member un- 
 touched. What part then can have ease, when the damn- 
 ed swim in " a lake of burning fire with brimstone ?" 
 There will theirbodiesbe tormented and scorched for ever. 
 And as they sinned, so shall they be tormented in all the 
 parts thereof, that they shall have no sound side to turn 
 them to ; for what soundness or ease can be to any part 
 of that body, which, being separated from God, and all 
 refreshment from him, is still in the pangs of the second 
 death, ever dying but never dead ? But as the soul was 
 chief in sinning, it will be chief in suffering too, being 
 brimful of the wrath of a sin-revenging God. The 
 damned shall ever be under deepest impressions of God's 
 vindictive justice against them ; and this fire will melt 
 their souls within them like wax. Who knows the pow- 
 er of that wrath, which had such an effect on the Medi- 
 ator, standing in the room of sinners? Psal. xxii. 14. 
 " My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my 
 bowels." Their minds shall be filled with the terrible 
 apprehensions of God's implacable wrath. And what- 
 ever they can think upon, past, present, or to come, will 
 aggravate their torment and anguish. Their will shall 
 be crossed in all things for evermore ; as their will was 
 ever contrary to the will of God's precepts, so God in 
 his dealing with them in the other world, shall have war 
 with their will for ever. What they would have, they 
 shall not in the least obtain ; but what they would not, 
 shall be bound upon them without remedy. Hence no 
 pleasant affection shall ever spring up in their hearts 
 any more ; their love of complacency, joy, and delight, 
 in any object whatsoever, shall be plucked up by the
 
 HBAD vi.] The punishment of sense. 479 
 
 roots, and they will be filled with hatred, fury, and rage, 
 against God, themselves, and their fellow-creatures, 
 whether happy in heaven, or miserable in hell, as they 
 themselves are. They will be sunk in sorrow, racked 
 with anxiety, filled with horror, galled to the heart with 
 fretting, and continually darted with despair, which will 
 make them weep, gnash their teeth, and blaspheme for 
 ever, Mat. xxii. 13. " Bind him hand and foot, and take 
 him away, and cast him into utter darkness ; there shall 
 be weeping and gnashing of teeth," Rev. xvi. 21. " And 
 there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every 
 stone about the weight of a talent : and men blasphemed 
 God because of the hail, for the plague thereof was ex- 
 ceeding great." Conscience will be a worm to gnaw 
 and prey upon them ; remorse for their sins shall seize 
 them and torment them for ever, and they shall not be 
 able to shake it off, as sometimes they did, for " in hell 
 their worm dieth not," Mark ix. 45, 46. Their memory 
 will serve but to aggravate their torment, and every 
 new reflection will bring another pang of anguish, Luke 
 xvi. 25. " But Abraham said said, (viz. to the rich man 
 in hell) Son, remember that thou in thy life time receiv- 
 edst thy good things." 
 
 Secondly, The torments in hell are manifold. Put the 
 case, that a man were, at one and the same time, under 
 the violence of the gout, gravel, and whatsoever diseases 
 and pains have ever met together in one body, the tor- 
 ment of such an one would be but light in comparison 
 with the torments of the damned ; for as in hell there is 
 an absence of all that is good and desireable, so there is 
 the confluence of all evils there, since all the effects of 
 sin and of the curse take their place in it, after the last 
 judgment, Rev. xx. 14. And death and hell were cast in- 
 to the lake of jire. There they will find a prison they 
 can never escape out of; a lake of fire wherein they 
 will be ever swimming and burning ; a pit whereof they 
 will never find a bottom. The worm that dieth not, 
 shall feed on them, as on bodies which are interred ; the
 
 480 The punishment of sense. [STATE 
 
 fire that is not quenched shall devour them, as dead bo- 
 dies which are burned. Their eyes shall be kept in 
 blackness of darkness, without the least comfortable 
 gleam of light ; their ears filled with the frightful y el- 
 lings of the infernal crew They shall taste nothing, but 
 the vinegar of God's wrath, the dregs of the cup of his 
 fury." The stench of the burning lake of brimstone wilt 
 be the smell there, and they shall feel extreme pains for 
 evermore. 
 
 Thirdly, They will be most exquisite and vehement 
 torments causing * weeping, wailing, and gnashing of 
 teeth," Matt, xxiii. 42. and xxii. 13. They are rvpre- 
 sented to us under the notion of pangs in travail, which 
 are very sharp and exquisite. So says the rich man in 
 hell. Luke xvi. 24. I am tormented (to wit, as one in 
 the pangs of child bearing) in this flame. Ah ! dreadful 
 pangs ! horrible travail, in which bath soul and body are 
 in pangs together ; helpless travail, hopeless and endless ! 
 The word used for hell, Matt, v 22. and in divers other 
 places of the New Testament, properly denotes - the 
 valley of Hinnom," the name being taken trom " the 
 valley of the children of Hinnom," in which was Tophet 
 (2 Kings xxiii. 10.) where idolaters offered their chil- 
 dren to Molech. This is said to have been a great bra- 
 zen idol, with arms like a man's; the which being heat- 
 ed by fire within it. the child was set in the burning 
 arms of the idol ; and, that the parent might not hear 
 the shrieks of the child burning to death, they beat drums 
 in the time of the horrible sacrifice; whence the place 
 had the name of Tophet. Thus the exquisiteness of the 
 torments in hell are pointed out to us. Some have en- 
 dured grievous torments on earth, with a surprising ob- 
 stinacy and undaunted courage : but men's courage 
 will fail them there, when they find themselves fallen 
 into the hands of the living God, and no out gate to be 
 expected for ever. It is true, there will be degrees of 
 torment in hell : " it shall be more tolerable for Tyre 
 and Sidon, than for Chorazin and Bethsaida," Matt.jKJ.
 
 HEAD VI.} The punishment of sense. 481 
 
 21, 22 But the least load of wrath there will be insup- 
 portable ; for how can the heart of the creature endure, 
 or his hands be strong, when God himself is a consuming 
 fire to him ? When the tares are bound in bundles for 
 the fire, there will be bundles of covetous persons, of 
 drunkards, profane swearers, unclean persons, formal hy- 
 pocrites, unbelievers and despisers of the gospel, and the 
 like. The several bundles being cast into hell-fire some 
 will burn more keenly than others, according as their 
 sins have been more heinous than those of others : a 
 fiercer flame shall seize the bundle of the profane, than 
 the bundle of unsanctified moralists ; the furnace will 
 be hotter to those who sinned against light, than to 
 those who lived in darkness, Luke xii 47, 4S. " That ser- 
 vant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not him- 
 self, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten 
 with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did com- 
 mit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few 
 stripes " But the sentence common to them all, Matt, 
 xiii. 30. " Bind them in bundles to burn them." speaks 
 the great vehemency and exquisiteness of the lowest de- 
 gree of torment in hell. 
 
 Fourthly, They will be uninterrupted ; there is no in- 
 termission there, no ease, no not for a moment. They 
 shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever, Rev. 
 xx. 1O. Few are so tossed in this world, but sometimes 
 they get rest ; but the damned shall get none, they took 
 their rest in the time appointed of God for labour. No 
 storms are readily seen, but there is some space between 
 showers : but no intermission in the storm that falls on 
 the wicked in hell There, deep will be calling unto 
 deep, and waves of wrath continually rolling over them. 
 There the heavens will be always black to them, and 
 they shall have a perpetual night, but no rest, Rev. xiv. 
 11. " They have no rest day nor night." 
 
 Fifthly, They will be unpitied The punishments in- 
 flicted on the greatest male i actors on earth, do draw
 
 482 The punishment of sense. [STATB iv 
 
 forth some compassion from them who behold them in 
 their torments, but the damned shall have none to pity 
 them. God will not pity them, but " laugh at their cala- 
 mity," Prov. i. 26. The blessed company in heaven shall 
 rejoice in the execution of God's righteous judgment, 
 and sing while the smoke riseth up for ever. Rev. xix. 3. 
 " And again they said, Hallelujah : and her smoke rose up 
 for ever and ever." No compassion can be expected from 
 thedevil and his angels, who delight in the ruin of the chil- 
 dren of men, and are and will be for ever void of pity. 
 Neither will one pity another there where every one is 
 weeping and gnashing his teeth, under his own insup- 
 portable anguish and pain. There natural affections will 
 be extinguished : the parents will not love their children, 
 nor children their parents ; the mother will not pity the 
 daughter in these flames, nor will the daughter pity the 
 mother ; the son will show no regard to his father there, 
 nor the servant to his master, where every one will be 
 roaring under his own torment. 
 
 Lastly, To complete their misery, their torments shall 
 be eternal, Rev. xiv. 11. " And the smoke of their tor- 
 ment ascendeth up for ever and ever." Ah ! what a 
 frightful case is this, to be tormented in the whole body 
 and soul, and that not with one kind of torment, but 
 many ; all *of these most exquisite, and all this without 
 any intermission, and without pity from any ! What 
 heart can conceive those things without horror ? Never- 
 theless, if this most miserable case were at length to 
 have an end, that would afford some comfort ; but the 
 torments of the damned will have no end ; of the which 
 more afterwards. 
 
 USE. Learn from this, (1.) The evil of sin. It is a 
 stream that will carry down the sinner, till he be swal- 
 lowed up in an ocean of wrath. The pleasures of sin 
 are bought too dear, at the rate of everlasting burning. 
 What availed the rich man's purple clothing and sump- 
 tuous fare, when in hell he was wrapt up in purple flames, 
 and could not have a drop of " water to cool his tongue? "
 
 HEAD vi.] The punishment of sense. , 488 
 
 Alas ! that men should indulge themselves in sin, which 
 will be such bitterness in the end ; that they should 
 drink so greedily of the poisonous cup, and hug that ser- 
 pent in their bosom that will sting them to the heart, 
 and gnaw out their bowels at length ! (2.) What a God 
 be is with whom we have to do ; what a hatred he bears 
 to sin, and how severely he punisheth it. Know the 
 Lord to be most just, as well as most merciful ; and 
 think not that he is such an one as you are : away with 
 the fatal mistake ere it be too late, Psal. I. 21, 22. 
 " Thou thoughtest that 1 was altogether such an one as 
 thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order 
 before thine eyes. Now consider^ this, ye that forget 
 God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to de- 
 liver." The fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 
 as dark as it is, will serve to discover God to be a severe 
 revenger of sin. 
 
 Lastly, The absolute necessity of flying to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ by faith, the same necessity of repentance, 
 and holiness of heart and life. The avenger of blood is 
 pursuing thee, O sinner, haste and escape to the city of 
 refuge. Wash now in 'the fountain of the Mediator's 
 blood, that you may not perish in the lake of fire. Open 
 thy heart to him, lest the pit close its mouth on thee. 
 Leave thy sins, else they will ruin thee ; kill them, else 
 they will be thy death for ever. 
 
 Let not the terror of hell-fire put thee upon hardening 
 thy heart more, as it may do, if thou entertain that 
 wicked thought, viz. " there is no hope," Jer. ii. 25. 
 which, perhaps, is more rife among the hearers of the 
 gospel than many are aware of. But there is hope for 
 the werst of sinners, who will come unto Jesus Christ. 
 If there are no good qualifications in thee (as certainly 
 there can be none in a natural man, none in any man 
 but what are received from Christ in him,) know, that he 
 has not suspended tky welcome on any good qualifica- 
 tions : do tlvni take himself and his salvation, freely of- 
 fered unto all to whom the gospel comes. " Whosoever
 
 484 The punishment of sense. [STATE iv. 
 
 will, let him take of the water of life freely." Rev xxii. 
 17. "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast 
 out," John vi. 37. It is true thou art a sinful creature, 
 and canst not repent ; thou art unholy, and canst not 
 make thyself holy ; nay, thou hast essayed to repent, to 
 forsake sin and to be holy, hut still missed of repentance, 
 reformation, and holiness, and therefore thou saidst, 
 " There is hope. No, for I have loved strangers, and 
 after them will I go." Truly, no marvel that the suc- 
 cess has not answered thy expectation since thou hast 
 always begun thy work amiss But do thou, first of all, 
 honour God by believing the testimony he has given of 
 his Son, namely, that eternal life is in him : and honour 
 the Son of God by believing on him, that is. embracing 
 and falling in with the free offer of Christ, and of his 
 salvation from sin and from wrath, made to thee in the 
 gospel, trusting in him confidently for righteousness to 
 thy justification, and also for sanctifiration, seeing " of 
 God he is made unto us both righteousness and sanctifi- 
 cation," 1 Cor. i. '60, Thea, if thou hast as much credit 
 to give to the word of God, as thou wouldst allow to 
 the word of an honest man offering thee a gift, and say- 
 ing. Take it, and it is thine ; thou mayest believe that 
 God is thy God. Christ is thine, his salvation is thine, 
 thy sins are pardoned, thou hast strength in him for re- 
 pentance and for holiness ; for all these are made over 
 to thee in the free offer of the gospel. Believing on the 
 Son of God thou art justified, the curse is removed. 
 And while it lies upon thee how is it possible thou 
 shouldest bring forth the fruits of holiness ? But the 
 curse is removed, that death which seized en thee with 
 the first Adam (according to the threatening. Gen. ii. 
 17.) is taken aw r ay, In consequence of which, thou shalt 
 find the bands of wickedness (now holding thee fast in 
 impenitency) broken asunder, as the bands of that death, 
 so as thou wilt be able to repent indeed from the heart ; 
 thou shalt find the Spirit of life, on whose departure that 
 death ensued, returned to thy soul ; so as thenceforth 
 thou shalt be enabled to " live unto righteousness.''
 
 HEAD vi. ^ Society with devils 485 
 
 man's case is so bad hut it may be mended this way in 
 time, to be perfectly right in eternity ; and no man's 
 case is so good, but another way being taken, it will be 
 marred for time and eternity too. 
 
 Ill The damned shall have the society of devils in 
 their miserable state in hell, for they must depart into 
 " fire prepared for the devil and his angels." O horrible 
 company ! O frightful association ! Who would choose 
 to dwell in a place haunted with devils? To be con- 
 fined to the most pleasant spot of e;irth, with the devil 
 and his infernal furies, would be a most terrible confine- 
 ment. How would men's hearts tail them, and their 
 hair stand up, finding themselves environed with the 
 hellish crew, in that <-ase But ah ! how much more 
 terrible must it be, to be cast with the devils into one 
 fire, locked up with them in one dungeon, shut up with 
 them in one pit ! To be closed up in a den of roaring 
 lions, girded about with serpents, surrounded with ve- 
 nomous asps, and to Lave the bowels eaten out by vi- 
 pers. altogether, and at once, is a comparison too low to 
 shew the misery of the damned, shut up in hell with 
 " the devil and his angels." They go about now, as 
 roaring lions seeking whom they may devour, but then 
 shall they be confined in their den with their prey. 
 They shall be filled to the brim with the wrath of God, 
 and receive the full torment (Matt. viii. 29.) which they 
 tremble in expectation of, (James ii 19.) being cast into 
 the ; ' fire prepared for them." How will these lions roar 
 and tear ! how w r ill these serpents hiss ! these dragons 
 vomit out fire ! What horrible anguish will seize the 
 damned, finding themselves in the lake of fire with the 
 devil who deceived them, drawn thither with the silken 
 cords of temptation by these wicked spirits, and bound 
 with them in everlasting chains under darkness ! Rev. 
 xx. 10 " And the devil that deceived them was cast in- 
 to the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and 
 the false pro;h t are and shall be tormented day and 
 night for ever and ever."
 
 Eternal state of the damned. [STATE IT. 
 
 O that men would consider this in time, renounce the 
 devil and his lusts, and join themselves to the Lord in 
 faith and holiness. Why should men choose that com- 
 pany in this world, and delight in that society they would 
 not desire to associate with in the other world ? Those 
 irho like not the company of the saints on earth, will get 
 none of it in eternity ; but as godless company is their 
 delight now, they will afterwards get enough of it, when 
 they have an eternity to pass in the roaring and blas- 
 pheming society of devils and reprobates in hell. Let 
 thoste who use to invocate the devil to take them, soberly 
 consider, that the company so often invited will be terri- 
 ble at last, when come. 
 
 IV. And lastly, Let us consider the eternity of the 
 whole, the everlasting continuance of the miserable state 
 f the damned in hell. 
 
 First, If I could, I should show what eternity is, I 
 mean the creature's eternity. But who can measure the 
 waters of the ocean, or whocan tell you the days, years, 
 and ages of eternity, which was infinitely more than the 
 drops of the ocean ? None can comprehend eternity, but 
 the eternal God. Eternity is an ocean whereof they 
 will never see the shore ; it is a deep where we can find 
 no bottom ; a labyrinth from whence we cannot extri- 
 cate ourselves, and where we shall ever lose the door. 
 There are two things one may say of it. (1.) It has 
 a beginning. God's eternity has no beginning, but the 
 creature's eternity has. Sometime there was no lake of 
 fire, and those who have been there for some thousands 
 of years were once in time as we now are. But (2.) It 
 shall never have an end. The first who entered into eter- 
 .nity of woe is as far from the end of it, as the last who 
 shall go thither will be at his entry. They who have 
 launched out furthest into that ocean, are as far from 
 land as they were the first moment they went into it ; 
 and thousands of ages after this, they will be as far from 
 it as ever. Wherefore, eternity, which is before us, is a 
 duration that hath a beginning, but no end. It is a be*
 
 MIAD vi.] Eternal state of the damned. 4S 
 
 ginning without a middle, a beginning 1 without an end. 
 After millions of years past in it, still it is a beginning. 
 God's wrath in hell will ever be the wrath to come. Butt 
 there is no middle in eternity. When millions of age: 
 are past in eternity, what is past bears no proportion to 
 what is to come ; no, not so much as one drop of water 
 falling from the tip of one's finger, bears to all the wai- 
 ters of the ocean. There is no end of it, while God h|, 
 it shall be. It is an entry without an out-gate, a conti- 
 nual succession of ages, a glass always running, which 
 shall never run out. 
 
 Observe the continual succession of hours, days, montlas 
 and years, how one still follows upon another ; and think 
 of eternity, wherein there is a continual succession with- 
 out end. When you go out in the night, and behold the 
 stars of heaven, how they cannot be numbered for mul- 
 titude, think of the ages of eternity ; considering withal, 
 there is a certain definite number of the stars, but ni 
 number of the ages of eternity. When you see a water 
 running, think how vain a thing it would be, to sit down 
 by it and wait till it should run out. that you may .pass 
 over ; look how new water strill succeeds to that which 
 passeth by you : and therein you have an image of eteir- 
 nity, which is a river that never dries up. They who 
 wear rings, have an image of eternity on their fingers ; 
 and they who handle the wheel have an emblem of eter- 
 nity before them : for to which part soever of the rung 
 or wheel one looks, one will still see another part beyo nd 
 it ; and on whatsoever moment of eternity you cone le- 
 scend, there is still another beyond it. When you tire 
 abroad in the fields, and behold the piles of the grass on 
 the earth, which no man can reckon ; think for yourselves, 
 that, were there as many thousands of years to come as 
 there are piles of grass on the ground, even those vn Hild 
 have an end at length, but eternity will have none. 
 When you look to a mountain, imagine in your hearts 
 how long it would be ere that mountain should be re- 
 moved, by a little bird coming but once every thousand
 
 488 Eternal state of the damned. [STATE 
 
 years, and carrying away hut one grain of the dust there- 
 of at once, the mountain would at length be removed that 
 way, and brought to an end, but eternity will never end. 
 Suppose this with respect to all the mountains of the 
 earth! nay with repect to the whole globe of the earth; the 
 grains of dust whereof the whole earth are made up, are 
 not infinite, and therefore the last grain would, at long 
 run, come to be carried away in the way supposed. But 
 when that slowest work would be brought to an end, 
 eternity would be, in effect, but beginning. 
 
 These are some rude draughts of eternity ; and now 
 add misery and woe to this eternity, what tongue can ex- 
 press it? What heart can conceive it? In what balance 
 can that misery and that woe be weighed ? 
 
 Secondly, Let us take a view of what is eternal in the 
 state of the damned in hell Whatsoever is included in 
 the fearful determining their eternal state, is everlasting ; 
 
 ~ * 
 
 therefore all the doleful ingredients of their miserable 
 State will be everlasting they will never end The text 
 expressly declares the fire into which they must depart, 
 to be everlasting fire. And our Lord elsewhere tells us, 
 that in "hell, the fire shall n< ver be quenched," (Matt. 
 IK. 4*3.) with an eye to the valley of Hinnom, in which, 
 besides the already mentioned fire, for burning of the 
 children to Molech, there was also another fire burning 
 continually, to consume the dead carcases and filth of Je- 
 rusalem : so the scripture, representing hell fire by the 
 fire of that valley, speaks it not only to be most exqui- 
 site,. but also everlasting. Seeing then the damned must 
 depart, as cursed ones into everlasting fire, it is evident 
 that, 
 
 First, The damned themselves shall be eternal ; they 
 wiU have a being for erer. and will never be substantial- 
 ly destroyed or annihilated. To what end is the fire eter- 
 nal, if those who are rast into it, be not eternally in it ? 
 It is plain, the everlasting continuance of the fire is an 
 aggravation of tiie misery of the damned. But surely 
 if they be annihilated, or substantially destroyed, it is
 
 HEAD vi.] Eternal state of the damned. 
 
 all a case to them whether the fire be everlasting or not. 
 Nay, hut they depart into everlasting fire, to be ever- 
 lastingly punished in it, Matt. xxv. 46. " These shall 
 go away into everlasting punishment." Thus the execu- 
 tion of the sentence is a certain discovery of the mean- 
 ing of it. " The worm that dieth not," must have a sub- 
 ject to live in. They who shall have no rest day nor 
 night, (Rev. xvi. 11.) but shall be "tormented day and 
 night for ever and ever," (chap. xx. 10.) will certainly 
 have a being for ever and ever, and not be brought into 
 a state of eternal rest in annihilation. Destroyed indeed 
 they shall be ; but their destruction will be an everlast- 
 ing " destruction," (2 Thess. i 9.) A destruction of their 
 well-being, but not of their being What is destroyed 
 is not therefore annihilated. " Art thou come to torment 
 us ?" said the devil to Jesus Christ, Luke iv. 84. How- 
 beit the devils are afraid of torment, not of annihilation. 
 Matt. viii. 29. " Art thou come hither to torment us 
 before the time ?" The state of the damned is indeed a 
 state of death ; but such a death it is, as is opposite only 
 to a happy life, as is clear from other notions of their 
 state, which necessarily include an external existence ; 
 of which before. As they who are dead in sin, are dead 
 to God and holiness, yet live to sin ; so dying in hell they 
 live, but separated from God and his favour, in which 
 life lies Psal. xxx. 5. They shall ever be under the pangs 
 of death, ever dying, but never dead, or absolutely void 
 of life. How desirable would such a death be to them f 
 But it will fly from them for ever. Could each one kill 
 another there, or could they with their own hands rend 
 themselves into lifeless pieces, their misery would quick- 
 ly be at an end ; but there they must live who choose 
 death, and refused life, for there death lives, and the end 
 ever begins. 
 
 Secondly, The curse shall lie upon them eternally, as 
 the everlasting chain to hold them in the everlasting fire ; 
 a chain that shall never be loosed, being fixed for ever 
 
 S R
 
 490 Eternal state of the damned. [STATE iv 
 
 about them by the dreadful sentence of the eternal judg- 
 ment. . This chain, which spurns the united force of de- 
 vils held fast by it, is too strong to be broken by men, 
 who, being solemnly anathematized and devoted to des- 
 truction, can never be recovered to any other use. 
 
 Thirdly, Their punishment shall be eternal, Matt, 
 xxv. 46. "These shall go away into everlasting punish- 
 ment." They will be, for ever, separated from God and 
 Christ, and from the society of the holy angels and saints, 
 between whom and them an impassable gulf will be fix- 
 ed, Luke xvi. 26 " Between us and you (says Abraham 
 in the parable, to the rich man in hell) there is a great 
 gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to 
 you cannot, neither can they pass to us, that would come 
 from thence." They shall, for ever, have the horrible 
 society of the devil and his angels. There will be no 
 change of company for evermore, in that region of dark- 
 ness. Their torment in the fire will be everlasting, they 
 must live for ever in it. Several authors, both ancient 
 and modern, tell us of earth-flax, or salamander's hair, 
 that cloth made of it, being cast into the fire, is so far 
 from being burnt or consumed, that it is only made clean 
 thereby, as other things are by washing. But, however 
 that is, it is certain the damned shall be tormented for 
 ever and ever in hell fire, and not substantially destroy- 
 ed, Rev. xx. 1O. And indeed nothing is annihilated by 
 fire, but only dissolved. Of what nature soever hell fire 
 is, no question, the same God who kept the bodies of the 
 three children from burning in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery 
 furnace, can also keep the bodies of the damned from 
 any such dissolution by hell-fire, as many infer privation 
 of life. 
 
 Lastly, Their knowledge and sense of their misery 
 shall be eternal, and they shall assuredly know that it 
 will be eternal. How desirable it would be to them to 
 have their senses for ever blocked up, and to loose the 
 consciousness of their own misery ; as one may rational- 
 ly suppose it to fare at length with some in the punish-
 
 HEAD vi.] Eternal state of the damned. 491 
 
 ment of death inflicted on them on earth, and as it is 
 with some mad people in their miserable case. But that 
 agrees not with the notion of torment for ever and ever, 
 nor the worm that dieth not. Nay, they will ever have 
 a lively feeling of their misery, and strongest impres- 
 sions of the wrath of God against them. And that dread- 
 ful intimation of the eternity of their punishment, made 
 to them by the Judge of their sentence, will fix such im- 
 pressions of the eternity of their miserable state upon 
 their minds, as they will never be able to lay aside, but 
 will continue with them evermore, to complete their mi- 
 sery. This will fill them with everlasting despair, a most 
 tormenting passion, which will continually rend their 
 hearts, as it were, in a thousand pieces. To see floods 
 of wrath ever coming, and never cease ; to be ever in 
 torment, and withal to know there shall never, never be 
 a release, will be the cape-stone put on the misery of the 
 damned. If " hope deferred maketh the heart sick," Prov. 
 xiii. 12. how killing will be hope rooted up, slain out- 
 right, and buried for ever out of the creature's sight 
 This will fill them with hatred and rage against God, 
 their known irreconcilable enemy : and under it they 
 will roar for ever like wild bulls in a net, and fill the pit 
 with blasphemies evermore. 
 
 Lastly, I might here show the reasonableness of the 
 eternity of the punishment of the damned ; but having 
 already spoken of it in vindicating the justice of God, in 
 his subjecting men, in their natural state, to eternal 
 wrath, I only remind you of three things. 1. The infi- 
 nite dignity of the party offended by sin, requires an in- 
 finite punishment to be inflicted for the vindication of 
 his honour, since the demerit of sin riseth according to 
 the dignity and excellency of the person against whom 
 it is committed. The party offended is the great God, 
 the chief good ; the offender a vile worm ; in respect of 
 perfection infinitely distant from God, to whom he is in- 
 debted for all that ever he had, implying any good or 
 perfection whatsoever. This then requires an infinite
 
 Eternal state of the damned. [STATE iv. 
 
 punishment to he inflicted on the sinner, the which, since 
 it cannot in him he infinite in value, must needs be infi- 
 nite in duration, that is to say, eternal. Sin is a kind of 
 infinite evil, as it wrongs an infinite God : and the guilt 
 and defilement thereof is never taken away, but endures 
 for ever, unless ihe Lord himself in mercy do remove it. 
 God, who is offended, is eternal, his being' never comes 
 to an end ; the sinful soul is immortal, and the man shall 
 live for ever : the sinner being without strength (Rom. 
 v. 6.) to expiate his guilt, can never put away the offence, 
 therefore it ever remains, unless the Lord do put it away 
 himself, as in the elect, by his Son's blood. Wherefore 
 the party offended, the offender, and the offence, ever re- 
 maining, the punishment cannot but be eternal. 2. The 
 sinner would have continued the course of his provoca- 
 tions against God, for ever without end, if God had not 
 put a check to it by death. As long as they were capa- 
 ble to act against him in this world, they did it, and there- 
 fore justly will he act against them while he is, that is, 
 for ever. God who judgeth of the will, intents, and in- 
 clinations of the heart, may justly do against sinners in 
 punishing, as they would have done against him in sin- 
 ning. Lastly, (though I put not the stress of the 
 matter here, yet) it is just and reasonable the damned 
 suffer eternally, since they will sin eternally in hell 
 "gnashing their teeth" (Matt. viii. 12.) under their pain,' 
 in rage, envy, and grudge, and blaspheming God there* 
 (Rev. xvi.21.) while they are "driven away in their wick- 
 edness," Prov. xiv. 32. That the wicked be punished for 
 their wickedness is just ; and it is no ways inconsistent 
 with justice, that the being of the creature be continued 
 for ever; wherefore it is just, that the damned who con- 
 tinue wicked eternally, do suffer eternally for their wick- 
 edness. The misery under which they sin, can neither 
 free them from the debt of obedience nor excuse the ir 
 sinning, and make it blameless. The creature, as a crea- 
 ture, is bound unto obedience to his CVeator. and no 
 punishment inflicted on him can free him from it. more 
 than the malefactor's prison, irons, whipping, and the
 
 HEAD vr.] A measuring reed. 49S 
 
 like, do set him at liberty to commit anew the crimes 
 for which he is imprisoned or whipt. Neither can the 
 torments of the damned excuse* or make blameless, their 
 horrible sinning under them, more than exquisite pains 
 inflicted upon men on earth, can excuse their murmur- 
 ing, fretting, and blaspheming against God under them ; 
 for it is not the wrath of God, but their own wicked na- 
 ture, tliat is the true cause of their sinning under it ; and 
 so the holy Jesus bore the wrath of God, without so much 
 as one unbecoming thought of God, and far less any one 
 unbecoming word. 
 
 USK I. Here is a measuring reed : O that men would 
 apply it ! First, Apply it to your own time in this world, 
 and you will find your time to Le very short. A pros- 
 pect of much time to f.-ome, proves the ruin of many 
 souls. Men will be reckoning their time by years ^like 
 that rich man, Luke xii. 19, 2O.) when it may be, there 
 are not many hours of it to run. But reckon as you will, 
 laying your time to the measuring reed of eternity, you 
 will see your age is as nothing. What a small and in- 
 considerable point is sixty, eighty, or a hundred years, in 
 respect of eternity ? Compared with eternity, there is a 
 greater disproportion, than between a liair's breadth and 
 the circumference of the whole earth. Why do we sleep 
 then in such a short day, while we are in hazard of los- 
 ing rest through the long night of eternity ? Secondly, 
 Apply it to your endeavours for salvation, and they will 
 be found very scanty. When men are pressed to dili- 
 gence in their salvation-work, they are ready to say, 
 ** To what purpose is this waste ?'' Alas ! if it were to 
 be judged by our diligence, what it is that we have in 
 view, as to the most part of us, no man could thereby 
 conjecture that we have eternity in view. If we duly 
 considered eternity, we could not but cenclude, we ought 
 to leave no means appointed of God unessayed, till we 
 get HT salvation securrd; to refuse rest or comfort in 
 any thing till we are sheltered under the wings of the
 
 494 A balance of the sanctuary. [STATE iv. 
 
 Mediator ; to pursue our great interest with the utmost 
 vigour, to cut off lusts dear as Tight .hands and right 
 eyes, to set our faces resolutely against all difficulties, 
 and fight our way through all opposition made by the 
 devil, the world, and the flesh ; are all of them together 
 little enough for eternity. 
 
 USE II. Here is " a balance of the sanctuary," by 
 which one may understand the lightness of what is false- 
 ly thought weighty ; and the weight of some things, by 
 many, reckoned to be very light. 
 
 First, Some things seem very weighty, which, weigh- 
 ed in this balance, will be found very light. 1. Weigh 
 the world, and all that is in it, " the lust of the flesh, the 
 lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," and the whole^will 
 be found light in the balance of eternity. Weigh herein 
 all worldly profits, gains, and advantages, and you will 
 quickly see, that a thousand worlds will not quit the 
 cost of the eternity of woe. " For what is a man pro- 
 fited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
 soul ?" Matt. xvi. 26. Weigh the pleasures of sin, which 
 are but for a season, with the fire that is everlasting, and 
 you must account yourselves fools and madmen, to run 
 the hazard of the one for the other. 2. Weigh your afflic- 
 tions in this balance, and you will find the heaviest of 
 them very light in respect of the weight of eternal an- 
 guish. Impatience under affliction, especially when 
 worldly troubles do so imbitter men's spirits that they 
 cannot relish the glad tidings of the gospel, speaks great 
 regardlessness of eternity. As a small and inconsidera- 
 ble loss will be very little at heart with him who sees 
 himself in hazard of losing his whole estate ; so troubles in 
 the world will appear but light to him who has a lively 
 view of eternity. Such an one will stoop and take up 
 his cross, whatever it be, thinking it enough to escape 
 eternal wrath. 3. Weigh the most difficult and uneasy 
 duties of religion here, and you will no more reckon the 
 yoke of Christ insupportable. Repentance and bitter 
 mourning for sin on earth, are very light in comparison
 
 HEAD vi.] A balance of the sanctuary. 495 
 
 of eternal " weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth in 
 hell." To wrestle with God in prayer, weeping and 
 making supplication for the blessing in time, is far easier 
 than to lie under the curse through all eternity. Mor- 
 tification of the most beloved lust, is a light thing in 
 comparison with the second death in hell. Lastly, Weigh 
 your convictions in this balance. O how heavy do these 
 lie upon many, till they get them shaken off ! They are 
 not disposed to fall in with them, but strive to get clear 
 of them as of a mighty burden. But the worm of an ill 
 conscience will neither die nor sleep in hell, though one 
 may now lull it asleep for a time. And certainly it is 
 easier to entertain the sharpest convictions in this life, 
 so as they may lead one to Christ, than to have them 
 fixed for ever in the conscience, while in hell one is to- 
 tally and finally separated from him. 
 
 Secondly, But, on the other hand, 1. Weigh sin in this 
 balance ; and though now it seems but a light thing to 
 you, we will find it a weight sufficient to turn up an e- 
 ternal weight of wrath upon you. Even idle words, vain 
 thoughts, and unprofitable actions, weighed in this ba- 
 lance, and considered as following the sinner into eter- 
 nity, wuTeach of them be heavier than the sand of the 
 sea : time idly spent will make a weary eternity. Now 
 is your seed-time ; thoughts words, and actions, are the 
 seed sown ; eternity is the harvest ; though the seed now 
 lies under the clod unregarded by ^most men, every the 
 least grain shall spring up at length, and the fruit shall 
 be according to the seed. Gal. vi. 8. " For he that sow- 
 eth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption, (i. e. 
 destruction ;) but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of 
 the spirit reap life everlasting." 2. W^eigh in this ba- 
 lance your time of opportunities of grace and salvation, 
 and you will find them very weighty. Precious time and 
 seasons of grace, sabbaths, communions, prayers, ser- 
 mons, and the like, are by many, now-a-days, made light 
 of, but the day is coming, when one of these will be 
 reckoned more valuable than a thousand vvorld^, by those
 
 496 Exhortation <ojty from wrath [STATE iv. 
 
 who now have the least value for them, When they are 
 gone for ever, and the loss cannot be retrieved, these 
 will see the worth of them who will not now see it. 
 
 USE III. and last, Be warned and stirred up to " fly 
 from the wrath to come." Mind eternity, and closely 
 ply the work of your salvation. What are you doing-, 
 while you are not so doing ? Is heaven a fable, or hell a 
 mere scare-crow ? Must we live eternally , and will we 
 be at no more pains to escape everlasting misery ? Will 
 faint wishes '* take the kingdom of heaven by force ?" 
 And will such drowsy endeavours as most men satisfy 
 themselves with, be accounted " flying from the wrath 
 to come ?" Ye who have already fled to Christ, up and 
 be doing ; ye have begun the work, go on, loiter not, but 
 <; work out your salvation with fear and trembling," 
 Phil. ii. 12. " Fear him which is able to destroy both 
 soul and body in hell," Matt. x. 28. Remember ye are 
 not yet ascended into heaven, ye are but in your middle 
 state. Ye who are yet in your natural state, lift up your 
 eyes and take a view of the eternal state. Arise, ye pro- 
 fane persons, ye ignorant ones, ye formal hypocrites, 
 strangers to the power of godliness, " fly from the wrath 
 to come." Let not the young adventure delay a moment 
 longer, nor the old put off this work any more. " To 
 day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,'* 
 lest he swear in his wrath, that ye shall never enter in- 
 to his rest. Take warning in time, they who are in hell 
 are not troubled with such warnings, but are enraged 
 against themselves, for that they slighted the warning 
 when they had it. 
 
 Consider. I pray you, 1 . How uneasy it is to lie one 
 whole night on a soft bed, in perfect health, when one 
 very fain would have sleep, but cannot get it, sleep be- 
 ing departed from him. How often would one in that 
 case wish for rest ! How " full of tossings to and fro !'" 
 But ah ! how dreadful must it then be to lie in sorrow, 
 wrapt up in scorching flames through long eternity, in 
 that place where they have no rest day nor night ! 2.
 
 HEAD vi.j Exhortation to fly from wrath. 497 
 
 How terrible would it be to live under violent pains of 
 the cholic or gravel, for forty or sixty years together 
 without any intermission ! yet that is but a very small 
 thing in comparison of eternal separation from God, the 
 worm that never dieth, and the fire that is never quench- 
 ed. 3. Eternity is an awful thought. O long, long, 
 endless eternity ! shut will not every moment, in eternity 
 of woe, seem a month, and every hour a year, in that 
 most wretched and desperate condition ? Hence ever and 
 ever, as it were a double eternity. The sick man in the 
 night, tossing to and fro on his bed, says, It will never 
 be day ; complains that his pain ever continues, never, 
 never abates. Are these petty time-eternities, which 
 men form to themselves, in their own imaginations, so 
 very grievous ! Alas ! then, how grievous, how utterly 
 insupportable must a real eternity of woe, and all man- 
 ner of miseries be ! Lastly r , There will be space enough 
 there to reflect on all the* ills of one's heart and life, 
 which one cannot get time to think of now ; and to see 
 that all that was said of the impenitent sinner's hazard, 
 was true, and that the half was not told. There will 
 be space enough in eternity to carry on delayed repent- 
 ance, to rue one's follies, when it is too late ; and in a 
 state past remedy, to speak forth the fruitless wishes, 
 " O that I had never been born ! that the womb had 
 been my grave, and I had never seen the sun ! O that I 
 had taken warning in time, and fled from this wrath, 
 while the door of mercy was standing open to me ! O 
 that I had never heard the gospel that I had lived in 
 some corner of the world, where a Saviour, and the great 
 salvation, were not once named !" But all in vain. 
 What is done cannot be undone, the opportunity is lost 
 and cannot be retrieved ; time is gone, and cannot be 
 recalled. Wherefore improve time while you have it, 
 and do not wilfully ruin yourselves by stopping your 
 ears to the gospel-call. 
 
 And now, if you would be saved from the wrath to 
 
 3 s
 
 498 Exhortation to fly from wrath. [STATE iv. 
 
 come, and never go into this place of torment, take no 
 rest in your natural state ; believe the sinl'ulness and 
 misery of it, and labour to get out quickly, flying unto 
 Jesus Christ by faith Sin in you is the seed of hell; 
 and if the guilt and feigning power of it be not removed 
 in time, they will bring you to the second death in eter- 
 nity. There is no way to get them removed but by re- 
 ceiving of Christ, as he is offered in the gospel for jus- 
 tification and sanctification ; and he is no^v offered to 
 you with all his salvation. Rev. xxii. 12, 17- "And be- 
 hold, T come quickly, and my reward is with me, toiiive 
 to every man according as his work shall be. And the 
 Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hear- 
 eth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And 
 whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." 
 Jesus Christ is the Mediator of peace, and the fountain 
 of holiness ; he it is who - delivereth us from the wrath 
 to come." " There is no condemnation to them which 
 are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but af- 
 ter the Spirit," Rom. viii. 1 . And the terrors of hell, as 
 well as the joys of heaven, are set before you, to stir 
 you up to cordial receiving of him with all his salvation, 
 and to determine you unto the way of faith and holiness; 
 in which alone you can escape the everlasting fire 
 May the Lord himself make them effectual to that end. 
 
 Thus far of man's eternal state ; the which, because it 
 is eternal, admits no succeeding one, for ever. 
 
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