The saints everlasting rest, or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory wherein is shewed its excellency and certainty, the misery of those that lose it, the way to attain it, and assurance of it, and how to live in the continual delightful forecasts of it and now published by Richard Baxter ...

CHAP. II. The aggravations of the loss of Heaven to the ungodly.

* 1.1SECT. I.

I Know many of the wicked will be ready to think, If this be all, they do not much care; they can bear it well enough: what care they for losing the perfections above? What care they for losing God, his favor, or his presence? they lived merrily without him on earth, and why should it be so grievous to be without him hereafter? And what care they for being deprived of that Love, and Joy, and Praising of God? They never tasted sweet∣ness in things of that nature? Or what care they for being de∣prived of the Fellowship of Angels and Saints? They could spare their company in this world well enough; and why may they not be without it in the world to come? To make these men there∣fore to understand the truth of their future condition, I will here annex these two things.

1. I will shew you why this forementioned loss will be in∣tollerable, and will be most tormenting then, though it seem as nothing now.

2. I will shew you what other losses will accompany these; which though they are less in themselves, yet will now be more sensibly apprehended by these sensual men. And all this from Rea∣son, and the truth of Scripture.

1. Then, That this loss of heaven will be then most tormenting, may appear by these considerations following.

First,* 1.2 The Understandings of the ungodly will be then cleared, to know the worth of that which they have lost. Now they lament not their loss of God, because they never knew his ex∣cellency, nor the loss of that holy imployment and society, for they were never sensible what they were worth: A man that hath lost a Jewel, and took it but for a common stone, is never troubled at his loss; but when he comes to know what he lost, then he la∣menteth it: Though the understandings of the damned wil not then be sanctified (as I said before) yet will they be cleared from a mul∣titude of errors which now possess them, and mislead them to their ruine; They think now that their honor with men, their estates, their pleasures, their health and life, are better worth their studies and ••••••our, then the things of another world which they never saw; but when these things which had their hearts, have left them in misery, and given them the slip in their greatest need, when they come to know by experience the things which before they did but read and hear of, they will then be quite in another minde. They would not believe that water would drown, till they were in the sea, nor that the fire would burn, till they were cast into it; but when they feel it they will easily believe: All that error of their minde which made them set light by God, and abhor his worship, and vilifie his people, will then be confuted and removed by ex∣perience; their knowledg shall be increased,* 1.3 that their sorrows may be increased: as Adam by his fall did come to the knowledg of Good and Evil, so shall all the damned have this increase of knowledg: As the knowledg of the excellency of that Good which they do enjoy, and of that Evil which they have escaped, is neces••sary to the glorified Saints, that they may rationally and truly en∣joy their glory, so is the knowledg of the greatness of that good which they have lost, and of that evil which they have procured to themselves, necessary to the tormenting of these wretched sinners; for as the joyes of heaven are not enjoyed so much by the bodily

senses, as by the intellect and affections; so it is by understanding their misery, and by affections answerable, that the wicked shal en∣dure the most of their torments; for as it was the soul that was the chiefest in the guilt (whether positively, by leading to sin, or onely privatively▪ in not keeping the Authority of Reason over Sense, the Understanding be guilty, I will not now dispute) so shall the soul be chiefest in the punishment; doubtless those poor souls would be (comparatively) happy, if their understandings were wholly taken from them, if they had no more knowledg then Ideots, or bruit beasts; or if they knew no more in hell, then they did upon earth, their loss and misery would then less trouble them.

Though all knowledg be Physically good, yet some may be neither Mo∣rally good, nor good to the owner.

Therefore when the Scripture saith of the wicked, that They shall not see life, Joh 3.36. nor see God, Heb. 12.14. The meaning is, they shall not possess life, or see God as the Saints do, to enjoy him by that sight, they shall not see him with any comfort, nor as their own, but yet they shall see him to their terror, as their enemy; and (I think) they shall have some kinde of eternal knowledg or beholding of God and heaven, and the Saints that are there happy, as a necessary ingredient to their unutterable calamity: The rich man shall see Abraham and La∣zarus, but afar off;* 1.4 as God beholdeth them afar off, so they shal they behold God afar off: Oh how happy men would they now think themselves, if they did not know that there is such a place as hea∣ven, or if they could but shut their eyes, and cease to behold it: Now when their knowledg would help to prevent their misery, they will not know, or will not read and study, that they may know: Therefore then when their knowledg will but feed their consum∣ing fire, they shall know whether they will or no; as Toads and Serpents know not their own vile and venemous nature, nor the excellent nature of man or other creatures, and therefore are nei∣ther troubled at their own, nor desirous of ours; so is it with the wicked here; but when their eyes at death shall be suddenly open∣ed, then the case will be suddenly altered. They are now in a dead sleep, and they dream that they are the happiest men in the world, and that the godly are but a company of precise fools, and that ei∣ther heaven will be theirs as sure as anothers, or else they may make shift without it, as they have done here; but when death smites these men, and bids them awake, and rowseth them out of

their pleasant dreams, how will they stand up amazed and con∣founded? How will their judgments be changed in a moment? and they that would not see, shall then see, and be ashamed.

SECT. II.* 1.5

2. ANother reason to prove that the loss of heaven will more torment them then, is this, Because as the Understanding will be cleared, so it will be more enlarged, and made more ca∣pacious to conceive of the worth of that Glory which they have lost. The strength of their apprehensions, as well as the truth of them, will be then encreased. What deep apprehensions of the wrath of God, of the madness of sinning, of the misery of sinners, have those souls that now endure this misery, in comparison of those on earth that do but hear of it? what sensible apprehensions of the worth of life hath the condemned man that is going to be executed, in comparison of what he was wont to have in the time of his prosperity? Much more will the actual deprivation of eternal blessedness make the damned exceeding apprehensive of the greatness of their loss; and as a large Vessel will hold more water then a shell, so will their more enlarged understandings con∣tain more matter to feed their torment, then now their shallow capacity can do.

SECT. III.* 1.6

3. ANd as the damned will have clearer and deeper apprehen∣sions of the Happiness which they have lost, so will they have a truer and closer application of this Doctrine to themselves, which will exceedingly tend to encrease their torment. It will then be no hard matter to them, to say, This is my loss, and this is my everlasting remediless misery. The want of this, is the main cause, why they are now so little troubled at their condition. They are hardly brought to believe, that there is such a state of misery; but more hardly to believe that it is like to be their own. This makes so many Sermons to them to be lost, and all threatnings and warnings to prove in vain. Let a Minister of Christ shew

them their misery never so plainly and faithfully, and they will not be perswaded that they are so miserable: Let him tell them of the Glory they must lose, and the sufferings they must feel, and they think it is not They whom he means; such a Drunkard, or such a notorious sinner they think may possibly come to such a doleful end, but they little think that they are so neer it themselves. We finde in all our Preaching by sad experience, that it is one of the hardest things in the world to bring a wicked man to know that he is wicked; and a man who is posting in the way to Hell, to know that he is in that way indeed, or to make a man see himself in a state of wrath and condemnation: Yea, though the Preacher do mark him out by such undoubted signs which he cannot deny, yet will he not apply them, nor be brought to say, It is my case; Though we shew them the Chapter and the Verse where it is written,* 1.7 that without Regeneration and Holiness, none shall see God; and though they know no such work that was ever wrought upon themselves; nay, though they might easily finde by their strangeness to the new Birth, and by their very enmity to Holi∣ness, that they were never partakers of them, yet do they as verily expect to see God and to be saved, as if they were the most san∣ctified persons in the world: It is a most difficult work to make a proud person know that he is proud, or a covetous man to know that he is covetous or an ignorant, or erronious heretical man to know himself to be such a one indeed; But to make any of these to confess the sin, and to apply the threatning, and to believe them∣selves the children of wrath, this is to Humane strength an impos∣sibility. How seldom do you hear men after the plainest discovery of their condemned state, to cry out and say, I am the man? or to acknowledg, that if they dye in their present condition, they are undone for ever? And yet Christ hath told us in his Word, That the most of the world are in that estate; yea, and the most of those that have the preaching of the Gospel, For many are called but few are chosen; so that it is no wonder that the worst of men are not now troubled at their loss of Heaven, and at their eternal misery: because if we should convince them by the most undeniable Arguments, yet we cannot bring them to acknowledg it: If we should Preach to them as long as we have breath, we cannot make them believe that their danger is so great; except a man rise from the dead, and tell them of that place of torments, and tell them

that their merry Jovial friends, who did as verily think to be sa∣ved as they, are now in hell in those flames, they will not believe. Nay more, though such a Messenger from the dead should appear and speak to them, and warn them that they come not to that place of torments, and tell them that such and such of their dear, beloved, worshipfull, or honorable friends are now there, desti∣tute of a drop of water, yet would they not be perswaded by all this. For Christ hath said so, That if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets,* 1.8 neither will they be perswaded, though one should rise from the dead.

There is no perswading them of their misery till they feel it, except the Spirit of the Almighty do perswade them.

Oh, but when they finde themselves suddenly in the land of dark∣ness, and perceive by the execution of the sentence that they were indeed condemned and feel themselves in the scorching flames, and see that they are shut out of the presence of God for ever, it will then be no such difficult matter to convince them of their misery: This particular Application of Gods Anger to themselves, will then be the easiest matter in the world: then they cannot chuse but know and apply it whether they will or no. If you come to a man that hath lost a leg or an arm, or a childe, or goods, or house, or his health, is it any hard matter to bring this man to apply it? and to acknowledg that the loss is his own? or that the pain which he feels in his sickness is his own? I think not. Why, it will be far more easie for the wicked in hell, to apply their misery in the loss of heaven, because their loss is incomparably greater. O this Ap∣plication which now if we should dye we cannot get them to, for prevention of their loss, will then be part of their torment it self: O that they could then say, It is not my case! But their dolourous voyces will then rore out these forced confessions; O my misery! O my folly! O my unconceiveable unrecoverable loss!

SECT. IV.* 1.9

4. AGain, as the Understandings and Consciences of sinners will be strengthened against them, so also will their Af∣fections be then more lively and enlarged then now they are: As

Judgment will be no longer so blinded, nor Conscience stifled and bribed, as now it is; so the Affections will be no longer so stupified and dead. A hard heart now makes Heaven and Hell to seem but trifles; And when we have shewed them everlasting Glory and Misery, they are as men half asleep, they scarce take notice what we say, our words are cast as stones against a hard wall, which fly back in the face of him that casteth them, but make no impression at all where they fall We talk of terrible astonish∣ing things, but it is to dead men, that cannot apprehend it: We may rip up their wounds, and they never feel us; we speak to Rocks rather then to men, the earth will as soon tremble as they: O but when these dead wretches are revived, what passionate sensibility! what working Affections! what pangs of horror! what depth of sorrow will there then be! How violently will they fly in their own faces! How will they rage against their former mad∣ness! The lamentations of the most passionate wife for the loss of her husband, or of the tenderest mother for the loss of her children, will be nothing to theirs for the loss of heaven. O the self-accusing, and self-tormenting fury of those forlorn wretches! How they will even tear their own hearts, and be Gods Executio∣ners upon themselves! I am perswaded, as it was none but them∣selves that committed the sin, and themselves that were the onely meritorious cause of their sufferings, so themselves will be the chiefest executioners of those sufferings: God will have it so for the clearing of Justice, and the aggravating of their distress: even Satan himself, as he was not so great a cause of their sinning as themselves, so will he not be so great an instrument as themselves of their torment. And let them not think here, that if they must torment themselves, they will do well enough, they shall have wit enough to ease and favor themselves, and resolution enough to command down this violence of their passions: Alas poor souls, They little know what passions those will be! and how much be∣yond the power of their resolutions to suppress! Why have not lamenting, pining, self-consuming persons on earth so much wit or power as this? Why do you not thus perswade despairing soul, who lye as Spira, in a kinde of Hell upon earth, and dare not eat, nor drink, nor be merry, but torment themselves with continual terrors? Why do you not say to them, Sir, why will you be so mad, as to be your own Executioner? and to make your own life

a continual misery, which otherwise might be as joyful as other mens? Cannot you turn your thoughts to other matters, and ne∣ver think of Heaven or Hell? Alas, how vain are all these per∣swasions to him? how little do they ease him? you may as well perswade him to remove a mountain, as to remove these hellish thoughts that feed upon his spirit, it is as easie to him to stop the stream of the Rivers, or to bound the overflowing waves of the Ocean, as to stop the stream of his violent passions, or to restrain those sorrows that feed upon his soul. O how much less then can those condemned souls, who see the Glory before them which they have lost, restrain their heart-renting, self-tormenting Passions! So some direct to cure the Toothach, Do not think of it, and it will not grieve you; and so these men think to ease their pains in Hell: O, but the loss and pain will make you think of it whether you will or no. You were as Stocks or Stones under the threatnings, but you shall be most tenderly sensible under the ex∣ecution: O how happy would you think your selves then, if you were turned into Rocks, or any thing that had neither Passion nor Sense! O now how happy were you, if you could feel as lightly as you were wont to hear! and if you could sleep out the time of Execution, as you did the time of the Sermons that warned you of it! But your stupidity is gone, it will not be.

SECT. V.* 1.10

5. MOreover, it will much increase the torment of the dam∣ned▪ in that their Memories will be as large and strong as their Understandings and Affections; which will cause those vio∣lent Passions to be still working: Were their loss never so great, and their sense of it never so passionate, yet if they could but lose the use of their Memory, those passions would dye, and that loss being forgotten, would little trouble them. But as they cannot lay by their life and beeing, though then they would account an∣nihilation a singular mercy; so neither can they lay aside any part of that beeing: Understanding, Conscience, Affections, Memory, must all live to torment them, which should have helped to their Happiness: And as by these they should have fed upon the Love of God, and drawn forth perpetually the Joys of his Presence;

so by these must they now feed upon the wrath of God, and draw forth continually the dolours of his absence. Therefore never think, that when I say the hardness of their hearts, and their blindness, dulness, and forgetfulness shall be removed, that therefore they are more holy or more happy then before: No, but Morally more vile, and hereby far more miserable. O how many hundred times did God by his Messengers here call upon them, Sinners, consider whether you are going: Do but make a stand a while, and think where your way will end; what is the offered Glory that you so carelesly reject? will not this be bitter∣ness in the end?

And yet these men would never be brought to consider. But in the later days (saith the Lord) they shall perfectly consider it;* 1.11 when they are ensnared in the work of their own hands; when God hath Arrested them, and Judgment is past upon them, and Vengeance is poured out upon them to the full, then they cannot chuse but consider it, whether they will or no. Now they have no leasure to consider, nor any room in their Memories for the things of another life: Ah, but then they shall have leasure enough, they shall be where they have nothing else to do but consider it; their Memories shall have no other imployment to hinder them; it shall even be engraven upon the Tables of their Hearts.* 1.12 God would have had the Doctrine of their eternal State to have been written on the posts of their doors, on their houses, on their hands, and on their hearts; He would have had them minde it, and mention it, as they rise and lye down, as they sit at home, and as they walk abroad, that so it might have gone well with them at their latter end: And seeing they rejected this counsel of the Lord, therefore shall it be written always before them in the place of their thraldom, that which way soever they look, they may still behold it.

Among others, I will briefly lay down here some of those Con∣siderations which will thus feed the anguish of these damned wretches.

SECT. VI.* 1.13

FIrst, It will torment them to think of the greatness of the Glo∣ry which they have lost. O if it had been that which they could have spared, it had been a small matter: or If it had been a losse repairable with any thing else; If it had been health, or wealth, or friends, or life, it had been nothing; But to lose that exceeding Eternall weight of Glory! —

SECT. VII.* 1.14

SEcondly, It will torment them also to think of the possibility that once they were in of obtaining it. Though all things con∣sidered there was an impossibility of any other event then what did befall; yet the thing in it self was possible, and their will was left to act without constraint. Then they will remember, The time was when I was in as faire possibilitie of the Kingdome as others: I was set up on the stage of the world; If I had plaid my part wisely and faithfully, now I might have had possession of the inheritance: I might have been amongst yonder blessed Saints, who am now tormented with these damned fiends! The Lord did set before me life and death, and having chosen death, I deserve to suffer it; The prize was once held out before me If I had run well, I might have obtained it, If I had striven, I might have had the mastery, If I had fought valiantly, I had been crowned.

SECT. VIII.* 1.15

THirdly, It will yet more torment them to remember, not only the possibility,* 1.16 but the great Probability that once they were in, to obtain the Crown and prevent the misery. It will then wound them, to think, Why I had once the gales of the spirit

ready to have assisted me. I was fully purposed to have been ano∣ther man, to have cleaved to Christ, and to have forsook the world; I was almost resolved to have been wholly for God: I was once even turning from my base seducing lusts; I was purposed never to take them up again, I had even cast off my old companions: and was resolved to have associated my self with the godly; And yet I turned back, and lost my hold, and broak my promises, and slacked my purposes; Almost God had perswaded me to be a re∣all Christian, and yet I conquered those perswasions; What workings were in my heart when a faithfull Minister pressed home the truth? O how fair was I once for Heaven? I had almost had it, and yet I have lost it; If I had but followed on to seek the Lord, and brought those beginnings to maturity, and blown up the spark of desires and purposes which were kindled in me, I had now been blessed among the Saints.

Thus will it wound them, to remember what hopes they once had, and how a little more might have brought them over to Christ, and have set their feet in the way of peace.

* 1.17SECT. IX.

FOurthly, Furthermore, it will exceedingly torment them, to remember the fair opportunity that once they had, but now have lost. To look back upon an age spent in vanity, when his salvation lay at the stake. To think, How many weeks▪ and months, and yeers did I lose, which if I had improved, I might now have been happy? Wretch that I was! Could I finde no time to study the work for which I had all my time?* 1.18 Had I no time among all my labours, to labour for eternity? Had I time to eat, and drink, and sleep, and work; and none to seek the saving of my soul? Had I time for sports, and mirth, and vain discourse, and none for prayer, or meditation on the life to come? Could I take time to look to my estate in the world? And none to try my title to Heaven, and to make sure of my spirituall and everlasting state? O pretious time, whither art thou fled? I had once time enough, and now I must have no more! I had so much that I knew not what to do with it; I was fain to devise pastimes; and to talk it away, and trifle it away, and now it is gone, and cannot be re∣called!

O the golden hours that I did enjoy! Had I spent but one yeer of all those yeers, or but one month of all those months, in through examination, and unfeigned conversion, and earnest seeking God with my whole heart, it had been happy for me that ever I was born; But now its past, my dayes are cut off, my glass it run, my Sun is set, and will rise no more; God himself did hold me the candle, that I might do his work, and I loitered till it was burnt out; And now how fain would I have more, but cannot? O that I had but one of those yeers to live over again! O that it were possible to recall one day, one hour of that time! Oh that God would turn me into the world, and try me once again, with another lives time! How speedily would I re∣pent! How earnestly would I pray! And lye on my knees day and night! How diligently would I hear! How carefully would I examine my spirituall state! How watchfully would I walk! How strictly would I live! But its now too late; alas, too late. I abused my time to vanity whilest I had it, and now I must suffer justly for that abuse.

Thus will the remembrance of the time which they lost on earth, be a continuall torment to these condemned souls.

SECT. X.* 1.19

FIfthly, And yet more will it add to their calamity, to remem∣ber how often they were perswaded to return, both by the ministery in publike, and in private by all their godly faithfull friends; every request, and exhortation of the Minister will now be as a fiery dart in his spirit. How fresh will every Sermon come now into his minde? even those that he had forgotten, as soon as heard them. He even seems to hear still the voice of the Mini∣ster, and to see his tears; O how fain would he have had me to have escaped these torments! How earnestly did he intreat me! With what love and tender compassion did he beseech me! How did his bowels yearn over me! And yet I did but make a jest of it, and hardened my heart against all this. How oft did he con∣vince me, that all was not well with me! And yet I stifled all these convictions. How plainly did he rip up my sores! And open to me my very heart! And shew me the unsoundness and deceit••fulness

of it! And yet I was loath to know the worst of my self, and therefore shut mine eyes, and would not see. O how glad would he have been after all his study and prayers and pains, if he could but have seen me cordially entertain the truth, and turn to Christ! He would have thought himself well recompenced for all his labors and sufferings in his work, to have seen me converted and made happy by it. And did I withstand and make light of all this? Should any have been more willing of my happiness then my self?* 1.20 Had not I more cause to desire it then he? Did it not more neerly concern me? It was not he, but I, that was to suffer for my obstinacie: He would have laid his hands under my feet to have done me good, he would have fallen down to me upon his knees to have begged my obedience to his message, if that would have prevailed with my hardened heart. O how deserved∣ly do I now suffer these flames, who was so forewarned of them, and so intreated to escape them! Nay my friends, my parents, my godly neighbours did admonish and exhort me; They told me what would come of my wilfulness and negligence at last, but I did neither believe them, nor regard them; Magistrates were fain to restrain me from sinning by Law and punishment; Was not the foresight of this misery sufficient to restraine me!— Thus wil the Remembrance of all the means that ever they enjoy∣ed, be fuell to feed the flames in their consciences. O that sinners would but think of this, when they sit under the plain instruction and pressing exhortations of a faithfull Ministry! How dear they must pay for all this, if it do not prevaile with them! And how they will wish a thousand times in the anguish of their souls, that they had either obeyed his doctrine, or had never heard him. The melting words of exhortation which they were wont to hear, will be hot burning words to their hearts upon this sad review. It cost the Minister dear, even his daily study, his earnest prayers, his compassionate sorrows for their misery, his care, his sufferings, his spending, weakning, killing pains; But O how much dearer will it cost these rebellious sinners? His lost tears, will cost them blood, his lost sighs, will cost them eternall groans, and his lost exhortations, will cause their eternall lamentations. For Christ hath said it, that if any City or people receive not, or welcome

not the Gospel,* 1.21 the very dust of the messengers feet (who lost his travaile to bring them that glad tidings) shall witness against them, much more then his greater pains: And it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement then for that City. That Sodom which was the shame of the world for unna∣turall wickedness, the disgrace of mankind: that would have committed wickedness with the Angels from Heaven; that were not ashamed to prosecute their villany in the open street; that pro∣ceeded in their rage against Lots admonitions yea under the very miraculous judgement of God, and groped for the door when they were stricken blinde; That Sodom which was consumed with fire from Heaven, and turned to that deadly Sea of waters, and suffers the vengeance of eternall fire (Jud. 7.) even that Sodome shall scape better in the day of Judgment, then the neg∣lecters of this so great Salvation. It will somewhat abate the heat of their torment,* 1.22 that they had not those full and plain offers of grace, nor those constant Sermons, nor pressing perswasions, nor clear convictions, as those under the sound of the Gospel have had. I beseech thee who Readest these words, stay here a while, and sadly think of what I say. I professe to thee from the Lord, it is easier thinking of it now, then it will be then; What a dole∣full aggravation of thy misery would this be, that the food of thy soul, should prove thy bane? And that That should feed thy ever∣lasting torment, which is sent to save thee, and prevent thy tor∣ments?

SECT. XI.* 1.23

SIxthly, Yet further, it will much add to the torment of these wretches to remember, that God himself did con∣descend to intreat them, That all the intreatings of the Mi∣nister were the intreatings God: How long he did wait, How freely he did offer, how lovingly he did invite, and how importunately he did solicite them. How the spirit did con∣tinue striving with their hearts, as if he were loath to take a deny∣all. How Christ stood knocking at the door of their hearts, Ser∣mon after Sermon, and one Sabbath after another; crying out, Open, sinner, open thy heart to thy Saviour, and I will come in, and sup with thee, and thou with me, Rev. 3.20. Why sinner ••

Are thy lusts and carnall pleasures better then I? Are thy world∣ly Commodities better then my everlasting Kingdom? Why then dost thou resist me? Why dost thou thus delay? What dost thou mean,* 1.24 that thou dost not open to me? How long shall it be till thou attain to innocency?* 1.25 How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?* 1.26 Wo to thee, O unworthy sinner; wilt thou not be made clean? Wilt thou not be pardoned, and sanctified, and made happy?* 1.27 When shall it once be? O that thou wouldst hearken to my word, and obey my Gospel! Then should thy peace be as the river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the Sea: though thy sins were as red as the Crimson, or Scarlet, I would make them as white as the Snow, or Wooll. O that thou were but wise,* 1.28 to consider this! and that thou wouldest in time remember thy latter end! before the evil dayes do come upon thee,* 1.29 and the yeers draw nigh when thou shalt say of all thy vain delights; I have no pleasure in them! Why sinner! Shall thy Maker thus bespeak thee in vain? shall the God of all the world beseech thee to be happy, and beseech thee to have pitty upon thy own soul, and wilt thou not regard him? Why did he make thy ears, but to hear his voice? VVhy did he make thy understanding, but to consider?* 1.30 Or thy heart, but to entertain the Son in obedi∣entiall Love? Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider thy wayes.—

O how all these passionate pleadings of Christ, will passionately transport the damned with self-indignation! That they will be ready to tear out their own hearts! How fresh will the remem∣brance of them be still in their minds? launcing their souls with renewed torments! What self-condemning pangs will it raise within them, to remember how often Christ would have gathered them to himself▪ even as the Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings,* 1.31 but they would not? Then will they cry out against them∣selves, O how justly is all this befallen me! Must I tire out the patience of Christ? Must I make the God of Heaven to follow me in vain, from home to the Assembly? from thence to my Chamber? from Alehouse to Alehouse? Till I had wearied him with crying to me, Repent, Return? Must the Lord of all the world thus wait upon me? and all in vain? O how justly is that Patience now turned into fury? which falls upon my soul with irresistible violence? when the Lord cryed out to me in his word▪ How long will it be before thou wilt be made clean and holy?

My heart, or at least my practice answered, Never; I will never be so precise; And now when I cry out, How long will it be till I be freed from this torment, and saved with the Saints? How justly do I receive the same answer? Never, Never? — O sinner, I beseech thee for thy own sake, think of this for preven∣tion, while the voice of mercy soundeth in thine ears: Yet pati∣ence continueth waiting upon thee: Canst thou think it will do so still? yet the offers of Christ and life are made to thee in the Gospel; and the hand of God is stretched out to thee: But will it still be thus? The spirit hath not yet done striving with thy heart;* 1.32 But dost thou know how soon he may turn away, and give thee over to a reprobate sense, and let thee perish in the stubborn∣ness and hardness of thy heart?* 1.33 Thou hast yet life, and time, and strength, and means; But dost thou think this life will alwayes last? O seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is neer; He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what Christ now speaketh to his soul.* 1.34 And to day, while it is called to day, harden not your hearts; lest he swear in his wrath that you shall never enter into his Rest. For ever blessed is he, that hath a Hearing heart and ear, while Christ hath a Calling voice.

SECT. XII.* 1.35

SEventhly, Again, it will be a most cutting consideration to these damned sinners, to remember on what easie tearms they might have escaped their miserie; and on what easie conditions the Crown was tendered to them. If their work had been, to remove Mountains, to conquer Kingdoms, to fulfill the Law to the smallest tittle, then the impossibility would somewhat asswage the rage of their self-accusing conscience: If their conditions for heaven had been, the satisfying of Justice for all their transgressi∣ons, the suffering of all that the Law did lay upon them, or bear∣ing that burden which Christ was fain to bear; Why this were nothing but to suffer Hell, to escape hell: but their conditions were of another nature; The yoke was light, and the burden was easie which Jesus Christ would have laid upon them,* 1.36 his command∣ments were not grievous. It was but to repent of their former

transgressions, and cordially to accept him for their Saviour and their Lord; to study his will, and seek his face; to renounce all other happiness, but that which he procureth us, and to take the Lord alone for our Supream Good: to renounce the government of the world and the flesh, and to submit to his meek and gratious go∣vernment; to forsake the wayes of our own devising, and to walk in his holy delightfull way, to engage our selves to this by Covenant with him, and to continue faithfull in that Covenant. These were the tearms on which they might have enjoyed the Kingdom: And was there any thing unreasonable in all this? Or had they any thing to object against it? Was it a hard bargain to have Heaven upon these conditions? When all the price that is required, is only our Accepting it in that way that the Wisdom of our Lord thinks meet to bestow it? And for their want of ability to perform this, it consisteth chiefly in their want of will: If they were but willing, they should finde that God would not be backward to assist them, If they be willing, Christ is much more willing.

O when the poor tormented wretch, shall look back upon these easie tearms which he refused, and compare the labour of them with the pains and loss which he there sustaineth, it cannot be now conceived how it will rent his very heart! Ah (thinks he) how justly do I suffer all this, who would not be at so small cost and pains to avoid it! Where was my understanding when I neglect∣ed that gratious offer! When I called the Lord, a hard Master! and thought his pleasant service to be a bondage, and the service of the Divel and my flesh, to be the only delight and freedom! Was I not a thousand times worse then mad, when I censured the holy way of God, as needless preciseness! And cryed out on it as an intollerable burden! When I thought the Laws of Christ, too strict! and all too much that I did for the life to come! O, what had all the trouble of duty been, in comparison of the trouble that I now sustain? Or all the sufferings for Christ and wel-doing, in comparison of these sufferings that I must undergo for ever? What if I had spent my dayes in the strictest life that ever did Saint? what if I had lived still upon my knees? What if I had lost my credit with men? and been hated of all men for the sake of Christ? and born the reproach and scorn of the foolish? What if I had been imprisoned, or banished, or put to death? O what

had all this been to the miseries that I now must suffer? Then had, my sufferings now been all over, vvhereas they do but now begin but vvill never end: Would not the heaven vvhich I have lost, have recompenced all my losses? and should not all my sufferings have been there forgotten? What if Christ had bid me do some great matter? as to live in continual tears and sorrow, to suffer death a hundred times over? (vvhich yet he did not) should I not have done it? How much more, vvhen he said but, Believe and be saved? Seek my face, and thy soul shall live: Love me above all, vvalk in my sweet and holy vvay, take up thy Cross and follow me, and I vvill save thee from the vvrath of God, and I vvill give thee everlasting life. O gracious offer! O easie tearms! O cursed wretch, that vvould not be perswaded to accept them.

SECT. XIII.* 1.37

EIghthly, Furthermore, this also will be a most tormenting Consideration; to remember what they sold their eternal welfare for, and what it was that they had for heaven? when they compare the value of the pleasures of sin, with the value of the re∣compence of reward which they forsook for those pleasures: how will the vast disproportion astonish them! To think of a few mer∣ry hours, a few pleasant cups, or sweet morsels, a little ease, or low delight to the flesh, the applauding breath of the mouth of mortal men, or the possession of so much a 1.38 gold or earth; and then to think of the everlasting glory! what a vast difference between them will then appear? To think, This is all I had for my soul, my God, my hopes of ••••lessedness! It cannot possibly be expressed how these thoughts will tear his very heart. Then will he exclaim against his folly, O deservedly miserable wretch! Did I set my soul to sale on so base a price? Did I part with my God for a little * 1.39 dirt and dross? and sell my Saviour, as Judas, for a little silver? O for how small a matter have I parted with my Happiness? I had but a dream of delight, for my hopes of heaven; and now I am awaked, it is all vanished: where are now my honors and at∣tendance? who doth applaud me, or trumpet out my praises?

where is the Cap and Knee that was wont to do me reverence? my Morsels now are turned to Gall, and my Cups to Wormwood: They delighted me no longer then while they were passing down, when they were past my taste, the pleasure perished. And is this all that I have had for the inestimable treasure? O what a mad exchange did I make? what if I had gained all the world and lost my soul? would it have been a saving match? But alas, how small a part of the world was it, for which I gave up my part in Glory? —O that sinners would forethink of this, when they are swimming in delights of flesh; and studying how to be rich, and honorable in the world! when they are desperately ven∣turing upon known transgression, and sinning against the checks of Conscience!

* 1.40SECT. XIV.

NInthly, Yet much more will it add unto their torment, when they consider that all this-was their own doings, and that they most wilfully did procure their own destruction: Had they been forced to sin whether they would or no, it would much abate the rage of their consciences; Or if they were punished for an∣other mans transgressions; or if any other had been the chiefest author of their ruine; But to think, that it was the choice of their own will; and that God had set them in so free a condition, that none in the world could have forced them to sin against their wils, this will be a griping thought to their hearts. What (thinks this wretched creature) had I not enemies enough in the world, but I must be an enemy to my self? God would neither give the devil nor the world so much power over me, as to force me to commit the least transgression: if I had not consented, their temprations had been in vain, they could but intice me, it was my self that yielded, and that did the evil; and must I needs lay hands upon mine own soul? and imbrew my hands in my own blood? who should pitty me, who pittied not my self, and who brought all this upon mine own head? When the enemies of Christ did pull down his Word and Laws, his Ministry and Worship, the news of it did rejoyce me; when they set up dumb, or seducing, or ungodly Ministers, in stead of the faithful Preachers of the Gospel, I was glad to have it so; when the Minister told me the evil of

my ways, and the dangerous state that my soul was in, I took him for mine enemy, and his Preaching did stir up my hatred against him and every Sermon did cut me to the heart, and I was ready to gnash my teeth in indignation against him. If a drunken Ceremonious Preacher did speak me fair, or read the Common Prayer, or some toothless Homily instead of a searching plain-dealing Sermon, why, this was according to my own heart; never was I vvilling of the means of mine own welfare; never had I so great an enemy as my self; never did God do me any good, or offer me any for the wel∣fare of my soul, but I resisted him, and vvas utterly unwilling of it: he hath heaped mercy upon me, and renewed one deliverance after another, and all to intice my heart unto him, and yet vvas I never heartily willing to serve him: He hath gently chastized me, and made me groan under the fruit of my disobedience, and yet, though I promised largely in my affliction, I was never unfainedly vvilling to obey him: Never did a good Magistrate attempt a Reformation, but I vvas against it, nor a good Minister labour the saving of the Flock, but I vvas ready to hinder as much as I could; nor a good Christian labour to save his soul, but I vvas ready to discourage and hinder him to my power, as if it vvere not enough to perish alone, but I must draw all others to the same destruction. O vvhat cause hath my vvife, my children, my servants, my neighbours, to curse the day that ever they saw me! As if I had been made to resist God, and to destroy my own and other mens souls, so have I madly behaved my self. Thus will it gnaw upon the hearts of these wretches, to remember that they were the cause of their own undoing; and that they vvilfully and obsti∣nately persisted in their Rebellion, and were meer Voluntiers in the service of the Devil; They vvould venture, they vvould go on, they would not hear him ••hat spoke against it: God called to them, to hear and stay, but they vvould not; Men called, Con∣science called,* 1.41 and said to them (as Pilates vvife,) Have nothing to do vvith that hateful sin, for I have suffered many things be∣cause of it, but they vvould not hear, their Will vvas their Law, their Rule and their Ruine.

* 1.42SECT. XV.

TEnthly and lastly, It will yet make the vvound in their Con∣sciences much deeper, vvhen they shall remember, that it vvas not onely their own doing, but that they vvere at so much cost and pains for their own damnation: What great undertakings did they ingage in for to effect their ruin? To resist God, to conquer the Spirit, to overcome the power of Mercies, Judgments, and the Word it self, to silence Conscience! all this did they take upon them, and perform. What a number of sins did they manage at once? vvhat difficulties did they set upon? even the conquering of the power of Reason it self. What dangers did they adven∣ture on? Though they walked in continual danger of the wrath of God, and knew he could lay them in the dust in a moment; though they knew they lived in danger of eternal perdition, yet would they run upon all this. What did they forsake for the service of Satan, and pleasures of sin? They forsook their God, their Conscience, their best Friends, their eternal hopes of salva∣tion▪ and all. They that could not tell how to forsake a lust, or a little honor or ease for Christ; yet can lose their souls, and all, for sin. O the labour that it costeth poor wretches to be damned! Sobriety they might have at a cheap rate, and a great deal of health and ease to boot; and yet they will rather have Gluttony and Drunkenness, with poverty, and shame, and sickness, and belch∣ings, and vomitings; with the outcries and lamentations of wife, and children, and Conscience it self. Contentedness they might have with ease and delight; yet will they rather have Covetous∣ness and Ambition, though it cost them study and care, and fears and labour of body and minde, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 continual unquietness and distraction of spirit, and usually a shameful overthrow at the last Though their anger be nothing but a tormenting themselves, and Revenge and Envy do consume their spirits, and keep them upon a continual ••ack of disqu••et, though uncleanness destroy their bo∣dies, and states, and names; and though they are foretold of the hazard of their eternal Happiness, yet will they do and suffer all this▪ rather then suffer their souls to be saved. How fa••t runs Gehezi for his Leprosie? what cost and pains is Nimrod at to purchase an universal confusion? How doth an Amorous Amnon pine himself

away for a self destroying lust? How studiously and painfully doth Absalon seek a hanging? Ahitophels reputation and his life must go together; even when they are struck blinde by a Judgment of God,* 1.43 yet how painfully do the Sodomites grope and weary them∣selves to finde the door? what cost and pains are the Idolatrous Papists at for their multifarious Wilworship?* 1.44 How unweariedly and unreservedly have the Malignant enemies of the Gospel a∣mong us, spent their estates and health, and limbs, and lives, to overthrow the power of Godliness, and set up Formality? to put out the light that should guide them to heaven? and how earnestly do they still prosecute it to the last? How do the Nations gene∣rally rage▪ and the people imagine a vain thing? The Kings of the Earth setting themselves, and the Rulers taking counsel together▪ against the Lord, and against his Christ? that they may break the bonds of his Laws asunder, and cast away the cords of his Govern∣ment from them, though he that sitteth in heaven do laugh them to scorn, though the Lord have them in derision; though ••e speak to them in his vvrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure, and re••solve them that yet in despite of them all, He vvill set his King upon his holy Hill of Sion? Yet vvill they spend and tire out them∣selves as long as they are able to stir against the Lord. O how the reviews of this vvill feed the flames of Hell? With vvhat rage vvill these damned wretches curse themselves? and say, Was dam••nation vvorth all my cost and pains? vvas it not enough that I perished through my negligence, and that I sit still vvhile Satan played his game, but I must seek so diligently for my own perdi••tion? Might I not have been damned on free-cost, but I must pur∣chase it so dearly? I thought I could have been saved without so much ado; and could I not have been destroyed without so much ado? How wel is all my care, and pains, and violence now requited? Must I work out so laboriously my own damnation, vvhen God commanded me to vvork out my Salvation! O if I had done as much for Heaven, as I did for Hell, I had surely had it. I cried out of the tedious vvay of Godliness, and of the painful course of Duty and Self-denial; and yet I could be at a great deal more pains for Satan, and for death. If I had loved Christ as strongly as I did my pleasures and profits, and honors, and thought on him as often, and sought him as painfully, O how happy had I now been! But justly do I suffer the flames of Hell, who would rather

rather buy them so dear, then have Heaven on free cost, when it was purchased to my hands! —

Thus I have shewed you some of those thoughts, which will ag∣gravate the misery of these wretches for ever. O that God would perswade thee, who readest these words, to take up these thoughts now seasonably and soberly for the preventing of that unconceiv∣able calamity, that so thou mayest not be forced in despite of thee, to take them up in Hell as thy own Tormentor.

It may be some of these hardened wretches, will jest at all this, and say, How know you what thoughts the damned in Hell will have?

Ans. First, VVhy read but the 16 of Luke, and you shall there finde some of their thoughts mentioned.

Secondly I know their understandings will not be taken from them, nor their conscience, nor Passions: As the Joyes of Hea∣ven are chiefly enjoyed by the Rationall soul in its Rationall act∣ings: so also must the pains of Hell be suffered. As they will be men still, so will they act as men.

Thirdly, Beside, Scripture hath plainly foretold us as much, that their own thoughts shall accuse them,* 1.45 Rom. 2.15. and their hearts condemn them. And we see it begun in despairing persons here.

Notes

• * 1.1

  §. 1.
• * 1.2

  Ignis geh••nnae, luc••bit miseris ut vid. ant unde doleant, ad augmentum, & non ad consola∣tion••m n•• vi∣deant unde gaudeant. Isidor. de de summo. bon. lib. 1.
• * 1.3

  Eccles. 1.18.
• * 1.4

  Luk 16.23. Psal. 138 6.
• * 1.5

  §. 2.
• * 1.6

  §. 3.
• * 1.7

  Joh. 3.3▪ Heb. 12.14.
• * 1.8

  Luke 16.31.
• * 1.9

  §. 4.
• * 1.10

  §. 5.
• * 1.11

  Jer 23 20. Psal. 9.16.
• * 1.12

  Deut. 6 9.
• * 1.13

  §. 6.
• * 1.14

  §. 7.
• * 1.15

  §. 8.
• * 1.16

  O verè Recon∣ciliatio facilis sed perutilis! quam facilis modo tam diffi••••lis crit postea: et sicut modò nemo est qui reconciliari non possit; it a post paululum nemo qui poss••••: quoniam sicut benignitas apparuit ultra omnem spem, ultra omnem aestimationem; si∣milem expectare possumus judicij districtonem. Bern. Serm. 1. in Epiphan.
• * 1.17

  §. 9.
• * 1.18

  Stu'tae valetu∣din••s fructus est peccatum. Nazianz.
• * 1.19

  §. 10.
• * 1.20

  When I hear men under all the means that we enjoy, yet think that their Ignorance shal excuse them, it maketh me think of the Answer of the Agent of Charles the 5. Emperor to the Ambassador of Siena. The Sienois having rebelled a∣gainst the Em∣peror sent their Ambas∣sador to ex∣cuse it; who when he could finde no other excuse, thought in a jest to put it of thus; What, saith he, shall not we of Siena be excus¦ed, seeing we are known to be all fools? The Agent re∣plyed: Even that shall ex∣cuse you; but upon the condition which is ••it for fools, which is, to be kept bound and en∣chained. Lord Remy his Civill considerations, Chap. 79. pag. 200.
• * 1.21

  Mat. 10.14, 15.16.
• * 1.22

  Heb. 2 3.
• * 1.23

  §. 11.
• * 1.24

  Hos. 8.5.
• * 1.25

  Jer. 4.14.
• * 1.26

  Jer. 13.27.
• * 1.27

  Psa. 81.13, 14. Isai. 48.17, 18.
• * 1.28

  Isa. 1.18. Deut. 32.29.
• * 1.29

  Eccl. 12.1.
• * 1.30

  Hag. 1.5.
• * 1.31

  Mat. 27.37.
• * 1.32

  Isa. 55.6, 7.
• * 1.33

  Rev. 2. & 3.
• * 1.34

  Heb. 3▪8, 11, 15.
• * 1.35

  §. 12.
• * 1.36

  Mat. 11.28, 29. 1 John 5.3.
• * 1.37

  §. 13.
• a 1.38

  Avarus pati••s vult in inferno aete••naliter comburi, quam haereditatem false acquisitam minui, vel in∣j••stè retentam restituere. Alexand. Fa∣britius in De∣structorio vitiorum part. 4. cap. 2 M.
• * 1.39

  Lutum, est divitiarū pro∣prii••••imum epi∣theton: ut lu∣tum enim in plateis a pedi∣bus ambulan∣tium conculca∣tur, ita Deus in paenis opes, vet maximas dispergit & delet. Wigandus in Habuc. 2. pag. 400. Avarus est pueris similis papiliones sequentibus, magna negligentibus, Fabritius ubi supra ••.
• * 1.40

  §. 14.
• * 1.41

  Matt. 27.19
• * 1.42

  §. 15.
• * 1.43

  Gen. 19.11.
• * 1.44

  As Phocion, when being condemned to die, his fellows had drunk up all the poyson before him so that he could not have any, except he would pay for it a dear price, he desi••es his friend to pay for it, quoni∣am A••henis ne mori qui∣d••m gratis li∣••••t; so, be∣cause God in mercy hath resolved that no man shall be damned except he buy it with his sin∣ful labour, they will pay the price ra∣ther then es∣cape. Phil. 2.12.
• * 1.45

  1 Joh. 3.19.20.22.