though hell may not be so hot to thee as others, yet hell is as certain to thee as others, unless the glorious grace of God shine forth upon thee in the face of Christ. God will suit men's punishment to their sin, the greatest sin shall be attended with the greatest punishment: alas! what poor comfort will it be to thee, when thou comest to die, to consider, that thou shalt not be equally tormented with others, yet must. be for ever shut out from the glorious presence of God, Christ, angels and saints, and from those good things of eternal life,* that are so many, that they exceed number; so great, that they exceed measure; so precious, that they exceed estimation. Sure it is, that the tears of hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven; the worm of grief gnaws as painful as the fire burns. If those souls, Acts xx. wept, because they should see Paul's face no more, how deplorable is the eternal deprivation of the beatific vision? But this is not all, Thou shalt not only be shut out of heaven, but shut up in hell for ever;t not only shut out from the presence of God and angels, &c. but shut up with devils and damned spirits for ever; not only shut out from those * The gate of indulgence, the gate of hope, the gate of mercy, the gate of glory, the gate of consolation, and the gate of salvation will be for ever shut against thèm. Mat. xxv. 10. It was a good saying of Chrysostom, speaking of hell, "Let us not seek where it is, but how we shall escape it." sweet, surpassing, inexpressible, and everlasting pleasures that are at God's right hand; but shut up for ever under those torments that are remediless.' Ah, sirs! were it not ten thousand times better for you to break off your sins by repentance, than to go on in your sins, till you feel the truth of what you now hear? The God of Israel is very merciful; ah, that you would repent and return, that your souls might live for ever. Remember the torment of the damned is grievous, for the bitterness of the punishment, but most grievous for the eternity of it. To be tormented without end, is that which goes beyond all bounds of desperation! ah! how do the thoughts of this make the damned roar and cry out for disquietude of heart, tear their hair, gnash their teeth, and rage for madness, that they must dwell in everlasting burnings? *Surely one good means to escape hell, is to take a turn or two in hell, by our daily meditations. I 2 CHAPTER XI. The eleventh Device that Satan hath to draw the soul to sin, is, BY polluting and defiling the souls and judgments of men with such dangerous errors, as naturally tend to carry the souls of men to all looseness and wickedness, as woful experience abundantly evidences. Ah! how many are there who are filled with these, and such like Christdishonouring, aud soul-undoing opinions, viz. 'That ordinances are poor, low, carnal things, not only to be lived above, but without also. That the scriptures are full of fallacies and uncertainties, and no further to be heeded than they agree with that spirit that is in them. That it is a poor low thing, if not idolatry, to worship God in a Mediator. That the resurrection is already past. That there never was any such man or person as Jesus Christ; but that all is an allegory, and signifies nothing but light and love, and such good frames born in men. That there is neither God nor devil, heaven nor hell, but what is within us. That there is no sin in the saints, that they are under no law but that of the Spirit, which is all freedom. That sin and grace are equally good, and agreeth to his will.' With a hundred other horrid opinions, which have caused wickedness to break in as a flood among us, &c.-Now the remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow : Remedy 1. Against this device of Satan, solemnly consider, that an erroneous vain mind is as odious to God, as a vicious life. He that had the leprosy in his head, was to be pronounced utterly unclean.* Gross errors make the heart foolish, render the life loose, and the soul light in the eye of God. Error spreads and frets like a gangrene, and renders the soul a leper in the sight of God.t It was God's heavy and dreadful plague upon the Gentiles, to be given up to a mind void of judgment, or an injudicious, rejected mind, disallowed and abhorred of God; a mind that none have cause to glory in, but rather to be ashamed of. I think, that in these days God punisheth many men's former wickednesses, by giving them up to soul-ruining errors. Ah, Lord! this mercy I humbly beg, that thou wouldst rather take me into thine own hand, and do any thing with me, than give me up to those sad errors, which thousands have fallen into, and are in a way of perishing for ever.‡ 44. "A blind eye is worse than a lame foot." Lev. xiii. †The breath of the erroneous is infectious; and like the dogs of Conge they bite, though they bark not. Through animosity to persist in error, is diabolical; it were best that we never erred, next to that, that we amended our error. Rem. 2. Receive the truth affectionately, and let it dwell in your souls plenteously; when men stand out, and bar the door of their souls against truth, when truth would enter, God in justice gives up such persons to be deluded and deceived by error, to their eternal destruction, 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11, 12. 'Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, God shall send them strong delusion, (or as the Greek hath it, The efficacy of error.") That they should believe a lie. That they all might be DAMNED, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' Ah sirs! as you love your souls, do not tempt and provoke God, by withstanding and out-facing his truth, to give you up to believe a lie, that you may be damned. There are no men on earth so fenced against error, as those are, who receive the truth in the love of it. Such souls are not easily tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.' It is not he that receives most of the truth into his head, but he that receives most of the truth affectionately into his heart, that enjoys the happiness of having his judgment sound *The greatest sinners are sure to be the greatest suffer ers. † Eph. iv 14. EN TE KUBEIA, Gr. signifies cogging with a dye; such sleights as cheats and false gamesters use at dice. |