A SERMON PREACHED before the KING AT WHITE-HALL, January the 9th 1675/6.
BY THOMAS CARTWRIGHT, D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY.
Published by His Majesties special Command.
In the SAVOY: Printed by T. Newcomb, and are to be sold by Jonathan Edwyn, at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street. 1676.
And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
THe Man whose Soul is once Effectually wrought upon by the Spirit of Grace, bestows his first and chief care in pursuit of Salvation: for he then sees how deep, how spreading, and how mortal an infection Sin is, and is throughly convinced of the manifold danger of every particular Iniquity; in as much, as it puts a Man into a state of Enmity against God, and his Laws, and so Rom. 7. 13. worketh Death, and that Eternal: and therefore he cannot rest, until he be resolv'd of that Important Quaere, which was started by the Pagan Jaylor to Paul and Silas, Sirs, What must I do to be saved? And, being converted himself, he becomes very sollicitous (as St. Peter was commanded to be) for the Luk. 22. 32. strengthening of his Brethren; and doth what in him lies, [...] rouze them out of their Sensuality, [Page 4] that they may not sleep securely in their Sins, till Eternal Flames become their first Awakners.
This is indeed a Catholick and comprehensive Duty, and directed accordingly, as this Epistle is, Vers. 1. Omnibus Christi Fidelibus, To all that are Sanctified by God the Father. But, because that which is every Mans Work, is no Mans Work; as God sent his Angel to bring Lot out of Sodom, and conduct him to Zoar; so, that you might never want Men to guide you to the City of Refuge, when the Avenger pursues you, God hath committed to us the care of your Souls, and given us Commission to invite you to be Reconciled to him, and to accept of that Everlasting Entertainment which he hath provided for you; and, rather then fail, to Compel you to come in to his Mansions of Glory.
And, because we shall meet with Men in the World of as different tempers, as complexions, he hath also given us sufficient Instructions, how to demean our selves towards them; bids us, not serve all our Patients out of the same Box; but, like skilful Physitians, apply different Medicines according to the difference of their Maladies; to manage the Word of God, and our Ministery of Reconciliation, with such [Page 5] Spiritual Skill, and Wisdom, as to give every one his proper portion. Some Mens Hearts are like soft Wax, the heat of the Hand will make them yield, without that of the Fire; a gentle Admonition will prevail more with them, than a dreadful Commination; they have Ingenuity enough to be sham'd out of their Sins upon the least discovery: Others are so hardned in their Villanies, that they must be scar'd, or whipt out of them, as the Buyers and Sellers were out of the Temple, before they will leave them; they, who sin out of infirmity, may be won with gentle means, but Obstinate Offenders are to be humbled with terrours.
Every Man hath his Ignorances and Inadvertencies, his Mistakes and Errours, Infirmities and Indiscretions; in any of which, if he be at any time overtaken, or sin out of blind Zeal, you must neither insult over his fall, nor despair of his rising, but restore him with meekness; for he sins, not by Design, but Folly; he falls, not by Malice, but by Surprize; not by the Strength of his Will, but by the Frailty of his Nature: If he be wavering and unsteady in the Faith, you must recover him with mildness; and, if his fault be small, cover it with the Vail of pity and compassion, and use gentle means to [Page 6] cure him. But yet make a difference, if you meet with Men, whose Distempers are Inveterate, and Incorporated into their Natures by Evil Customs, your Remedies must be sharp and quick; if their sin be bold, your reprehension must not be bashful: The Chirurgion must bring the Saw and the Caustick to such Gangreen'd Members, proclaim the Terrours of the Lord to them, who will not stand in awe, but Heb. 10. 26. sin wilfully, after they have received the Knowledge of the Truth; Sheathe the Two edged Sword of Gods Word in their Bowels; give them a Prospect of the Approaching Destruction, which will suddenly overtake them, if they do not flee for their Lives: Suffer them not to look upon the Wrath to come, at the wrong end of the Prospective-Glass; but, knowing the Terrours of the Lord, use an holy Violence, and snatch them rudely out of that Fire, which will Singe them, if they stay but a minute in it, and will Devour them, if their continuance be any longer, and bring them (if it be possible) to the hatred of all the beginnings, and least degrees of Impurity and Uncleanness; make them so afraid of the Infection of Fleshly Lusts, as to avoid the very Garments that are spotted with it: If private Admonitions do not Reclaim [Page 7] them, proceed to publick; and rather than not pull them out of the flames of Hell, Cut them off from the Communion of the Faithful, and deliver them up to Satan, to which the [...] refers, Reprove them sharply, when they are Convinc'd, or Separated by Church-Censures; when they are debarr'd from sitting at their Fathers Table with the rest of their Brethren, which (although they may be an instance of Severe Discipline) are yet with designs of great Mercy, (the most dreadful of them being Medicinal, not Mortal) that, by punishment of the Flesh, the Soul may be saved in the Day of the Lord: And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the Fire; hating even the Garment spotted by the Flesh.
These words may possibly have an eye to Church Discipline, and be intended as a Direction to the Governours of the Church, for the Exercising, not only of the milder part of the Apostolical Office, but also of those higher degrees of Censures, (call'd, The coming with a Rod) which, in case of Obstinacy, is not only Seasonable, but Ʋnavoidable: But I shall rather consider them at present, either as they [Page 8] concern our selves in the Actions of Repentance, or our Brethren in those of Fraternal Correction, and so may Instruct all Men, but especially us of the Clergy, how to behave our selves towards all, even the worst of recoverable Sinners.
Now, as our Patients and their Distempers are different, so must also our Prescriptions and Directions be; a Green Wound and an Ʋlcer are not to be Cured with the same Application: And, that I may make no other difference but what our Apostle himself hath done, nor be tempted to forsake the Scope and Method of my Text, I shall distinctly sort what I have to say, into a Practical Resolution of these Four Inquiries.
- I. Of whom it is that we are to have Compassion, and with what difference? How that Compassion is to be express'd and exercis'd?
- II. How far we may be instrumental to the Salvation of others? and with what fear and caution we must attempt it?
- [Page 9]III. What is meant by Pulling them out of the Fire? What that Phrase implies, and what it requires of us?
- IV. What is meant by Hating the Garment spotted by the Flesh? and, how it is our Interest, as well as our Duty, to do so.
I. Of some have compassion. This noble and generous Affection of compassion, is so Essential to a Man, so rivetted to his very Being, and implanted in his Nature, that, unless he degenerate from his Humanity, he cannot observe, but he must also condole the Calamities of his Neighbours, out of that relation which he bears to the Species of Mankind; and, by how much the more noble any Man is, by so much is he the more compassionate; and, as all Natural Perfections and Excellencies are improv'd by Religion, so this especially, and that Spiritual Consanguinity which arises from our Christianity, must needs make us suffer by way of consent and sympathy with our fellow Christians, especially when they groan under the burden of their Sins, which of all Loads is the greatest.
So great a Lover of Mankind was our Blessed Saviour, [...] he could not, but with wet Eyes, behold [...] present Sins and future Sufferings, no [...] of his most inveterate Enemies. Nor is he a Living Member of that Body, of which Christ is the Head, who doth not grieve for the Afflictions of Joseph, and mourn over the Sins of his Brethren. Would it not make your Hearts ake, to see your Neighbours Houses on Fire about their Ears, and them fast asleep in their Beds? And, if you have the least spark of Christianity or Compassion in your Breasts, how can your Souls chuse but be moved within you, to see them falling insensibly into those Everlasting Flames, out of which there will be no redemption? This is not only a most necessary Charity to our Brethrens Souls, but such a Christian Duty, as makes it an Act of Righteousness too, for we are Members one of another; nor hath Christ given us any Bill of Divorce, whereby we are separated from the care of our Neighbours, whom we are to love as our selves. A Man truly ingrafted into Christ, is therefore a Common Blessing, of a Communicative Spirit, his large Heart is always set upon doing Publick Good, a Duty which hath been so long out of fashion, that [Page 11] Men begin to question, Whether it be a Duty or not? their Lives do at least speak the same Language which Cain did with his Lips, Gen. 4. 9. Am I my Brothers Keeper? and, Where shall we find a Man of St. Bernard's temper? who thought himself concern'd, wheresoever God or his Brethren were so? Epist. ad Hamericum Cancellar. Etsi non tanti sum ut Romae habeam propria negotia, nulla tamen quae Dei esse constiterit, a me duco aliena.
If ever Bowels of Compassion were fit to put on, it is in this Wicked Age of ours; and 'tis indeed for want of being mindful of our own, that we become so regardless of other Mens concerns: for Compassion is first learn'd at home, and then walks abroad. I must first take my Brother into my self, before I can pity him as I ought; and having felt the anguish of a Broken Spirit in my self, I cannot chuse but pity it in another: When Psal. 102. 3. my Bones are burnt as an Hearth, and I have felt the Scorching Flames of Sin in my own Bosom, I shall easily think my self concern'd, to snatch my Brother out of that Fire; having been deeply affected with the guilt of mine own Iniquities, I shall be quickly invited to let my Compassionate Soul go through this present evil World, as through an Hospital or Bedlam, and into whatsoever corner I cast mine [Page 12] Eyes, I shall behold great Objects of Pity, and be constrained to weep for them, who have not so much sense of their misery as to weep for themselves.
When we behold Men rock'd asleep in the Cradle of Security, and never dreaming of Heaven or Hell, of Death or Judgment, but Courting their Miseries, and Embracing their approaching Ruine, as if they had combin'd to drive on the Interest, and get Possession of the Kingdom of Satan; when we see some groaping in the dark, others taking great care and pains to blow out the light which would discover Happiness to them; Men Sick of Mortal Diseases, and yet like the Drunken Lapithae, despising their Physitians; so desperately tainted with Impurity, that, like Sodom and Gomorrah, nothing but Fire from Heaven can be applyed to them; when we see how near their short-liv'd Happiness is expiring, and how suddenly their Imaginary Pleasures will be exchang'd into Real and Eternal Torments, what can we do less, and indeed, what can we do more than bewail them? St. Bern. Nunquid in te sunt viscera pietatis, qui plangis corpus a quo recessit anima, & non plangis animam a qua recessit Deus? Will pity move you to bewail that Body from whence [Page 13] the Soul is departed? and piety not constrain you to lament that Soul, from whence God is departed? He, who hath any bowels of compassion in him, must needs be affected with such a dismal spectacle, and express his deep sense of it, and sorrow for it; not only in the melting of his fluent Eyes, and the yearnings of his Bowels; but also in such an active compassion, and in such serious attempts, as may relieve and restore them.
Having therefore the Nature of the Crime, the Fitness of the Season, and, the Quality of the Person offending, always before our Eyes, let us come to him, in the cool of the day, and invite him to take cognizance and compassion of himself, lest he Ride Post into Hell for want of one to stop him; and, that he may not have cause to say, you come to cast out Satan by Satan, one Devil by another; be sure to do it with such a composed Spirit, as befits so Compassionate and Divine a Work: The sharp severity of a diseased Mind, will rather spur him on, in the career of his Crimes, than restrain him; rather make him flee out with more speed and violence, than moderate or amend him; and therefore let us not through Pride, or Animosity, out of an itch of Government, or the indignation [Page 14] of an angry Mind, run beyond the gentleness of Christian Monitors, (unto which if they hearken, we have won our Brethren:) but, if they will obstinately perish, after all our Care and Compassion, we shall save our selves, because we would have sav'd them: We may lose our Labour, but we shall not lose our Charity, if after we have forewarn'd them of the danger, they will yet make so mad a choice as to take Hell by violence; their Obstinacy is unpardonable, and we must sit down and bemoan our Ʋnsuccessful Endeavours. Gloss. Miseremini condolendo quod non potestis eos salvare.
Alas! 1 Cor. 2. 14. The Natural Man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned: But he that is Spiritual judgeth all things: He sees by Faith the Heaven, which you neglect, and those Blessed Souls now in Glory, whose Everlasting Companions you might be, if you pleas'd; and he sees also your Brethrens despairing Souls now in Hell, among those Devils that deceived them, who came thither the same way you are going in; and with his Bodily Eyes, doth he also see at the same time a multitude of Senceless and Sensual Sinners living round about [Page 15] him, who lay none of these things to heart, but damn and defile not only their own, but their Brethrens Souls by their Errours, Seductions, and Ungodly Examples, as if they were the Devils Factors, under Commission from him to make Proselytes for Hell, and accordingly he cannot but compassionate their sad Condition, and wonder at their Stupidity. Oh! What a Besotting Thing is Sin, which can thus petrifie the Reasonable Soul, and make Men more insensible than Beasts which perish? What a Bedlam is this wicked World, wherein Thousands are so distracted, as to make it their Business to undo themselves and others to all Eternity? Can we not bring you to some sober thoughts of your condition? Can we not perswade you to take Christ's part, and your own, against the Devil, the World, and the Flesh, [...]hich you have renounc'd in your Baptism? If Importunity could prevail with an unrighteous Judge, to do good to another, how much more should it prevail with you, to do good to your selves? Have Mercy therefore upon your own Souls, and do not render it impossible for us to be any farther serviceable to them. God himself will not save you against your Wills, much less can we [Page 16] do it; which will the better appear, when I shall have given you a satisfactory answer to the second Inquiry, viz.
2. How far we may be instrumental to the Salvation of other Men? and with what fear and caution we must attempt it? As there is no good so great, as that which respects the Souls of Men; so certainly, to be a Fellowworker with Christ, as an Agent in it, or Instrument of it, must needs out-vie all other Priviledges: And, if the Heathens mistook Paul and Barnabas for Gods in the likeness of Men, for restoring the Criple of Lystra to his Limbs again; with much better reason may we magnifie them, who have so much Communion with God upon Earth, as to become Coadjutors with him in the Salvation of a Soul from Sin. Dionys. Carthus. Divinarum omnium perfectionum divinissima est perfectio, cooperatorum esse, in reduc [...]ne animarum ad suum creatorem. Now God hath given all Men some special Powers and Ministries, whereby they may Charitably advance the great Interest of Souls: St. Paul 1 Cor. 7. 16. asserts the possibility of the Christian Wives saving her Ʋnbelieving Husband; and he tells Timothy, 1 Tim. 4. 16. that in taking heed to himself and his Doctrine, he should both save himself, and them that heard him; and he himself [Page 17] 1 Cor. 9. 22. became all things to all men, that he might by all means save some; And, The Salvation of a Soul from death, is attributed to the Instruments of their Conversion, by St. James, to perswade them to diligence in their Office: Save them; that is, Aquin. Quantum in vobis est, ut salventur orate. Pray for their Conversion, and, if by any means you can, Rom. 11. 14. provoke them to emulation, bring them to Faith and Repentance, that you may save them.
Alas! it is God alone who can pierce the scales of this Leviathan, and make the hearts of obdurate Sinners feel, which are harder than the nether Milstone. We are but as Striplings against that Goliah: Our Commission is indeed from the Almighty, and in his Name we are come forth to wrestle, not with Flesh and Blood, but with Principalities and Powers, and the Rulers of the darkness of this World; and, it is our God who must choose out the Stones that we sling, and carry them to the mark, and make them sink, not into the forehead, but into the hearts of these uncircumcised Philistins, and smite them to the ground, that, with Saul, they may get strength by their very falls. We can but Woo and Warn you, we cannot Compel you to be happy, I wish we could. Cornel. a Lapide. A Medico & Pastore [Page 18] requiritur cura, non curatio; utpote cum morbus non raro sit incurabilis. If you will follow our Prescriptions, your Diseases are not incurable; have pity therefore on your perishing Souls, and close with the present Overtures of Mercy. God hath sent Ʋs to You, as he did his Holy Angel to Lot, to lay the Merciful Hands of an Holy Violence upon you, that you may not stay any longer in your Sins, but escape for your Lives, lest you be consumed: If you are afraid of these ensuing Judgments, we are afraid with you; if not, we are afraid for you, and we are the more afraid for you, the less you are for your selves; Psal. 119. 120. Our Flesh trembles for fear of you, and we are afraid of God's Judgments. 'Tis with an aking Heart, and trembling Hand, that the Chirurgion cuts off the Gangreen'd Member of his Bosom-Friend; and, it is also with great Compassion, and no less Fear, that we endeavour to recover you out of that Fire, which will singe you, if you stay but one moment longer in it, and devour you as infallibly, if you do not, whilst it is called To Day, escape it; the great importance and difficulty of which undertaking of yours, will appear, if you consider in the third place,
III. What is meant, by Pulling them out of the Fire, and how we must do it? What the phrase implies, and what it requires of us? [...]. Save them by snatching them out of the Fire, is a Proverbial speech for those who get hardly out of danger; Amos 4. 11. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a Fire brand pluck'd out of the Burning: And, Zac. 3. 2. Is not this a Brand pluckt out of the Fire? 1 Cor. 3. 18. He himself shall be saved, yet so as by Fire; that is, He shall awake and leap out of Danger, as a Man at Midnight doth naked out of his Bed, at the Door or Window, when his House is on Fire: which words do accordingly import these four things:
- 1. The great Danger of Impenitent Sinners.
- 2. The Possibility of their Deliverance.
- 3. The Difficulty of escaping their Imminent and Everlasting Destruction.
- 4. By what Means it is, that we may Charitably assist them in their escape? and which will be the only possible way of doing it?
1. The condition of every impenitent Sinner is very desperate, and his danger greater than we can possibly imagine; for, Matth. 5. 22. he is not only in danger of the Judgment, or of the Council, but also of Hell-Fire, which is always inkindled even in this life; here it burns inwardly, but there it blazes out. When we consider with what variety of Temptations the Devil strives to beguile you, how many Designs and Stratagems he hath laid in the World to undermine and ensnare you; and, that if all the Powers of Darkness can hinder it, we shall never disintangle you out of his snares: and, when we see you live so securely, as if your pretious Souls were already bound up in the Bundle of Life, even when they are ready to drop irrecoverably into Hell; and when you prepare no more to meet God, whilst in wrath he seems to approach you, than if you cared not whether he came or no; Your loose and dissolute, your finful and secure courses, do evidently shew, that there is no fear of God before your eyes. Sampson, for all his strength and stoutness, durst not lie still, when he heard that the Philistins were come upon him: Where there is an apprehension of some great Evil impendent, there cannot but be a great measure of Fear, [Page 21] and where so great fear, there no less vehement desire to escape; and where there is such a vehement desire, there will be a most earnest and careful endeavour of preventing (if by any means it may be) of that evil: But when none of these appear, but men go on confidently in their evil ways, as if there were no danger of their Damnation; it concerns us to try, if we can shake this their carnal confidence, which is founded upon Absurdity, Impossibility and Blasphemy, and is not in Christ, but against him: as if they took him for a False Prophet, and his Denunciations of future Judgments for meer Delusions.
So servilely disingenuous is our corrupt nature, that the proposal of Rewards, though never so great, doth, in no proportion, lead us so forcibly to our Interest and Duty, as do the Threats and Menaces of Punishment; and therefore God is far more obliging to us in the severest of his Temporal Judgments, than he would be in his Mercies; we being a People whom Vengeance only can reclaim; whom nothing but Terrours can allure to Goodness; and, who need some present Flashes of Hell-fire to scare us from embracing those Future and Everlasting Flames. Lest therefore the Messenger [Page 22] of death should hurry you away in the heat and violence of your Sins, and there be none to deliver you from the Worm that dieth not, and the Fire which is not quenched; we, who watch for your Souls, are to do what we can to startle you into the amendment of your Lives. And Oh that I could but uncover the face of the deep and devouring Gulph of Tophet in all its Terrours, and open the Grate of that Infernal Furnace! for if you had but any the least degree of Spiritual Life and Sense in you, (and the Light which is in you were not Darkness) you could not look into Hell by a present Contemplation, but you would make it the Grand Design of your Lives to escape the falling into it, by a future Condemnation. Hide not your selves from your own Souls, and they will tell you, that there is but yet a step between you and Hell: But if you are Obstinati ad moriendum, sturdily resolved not to understand your Misery and Danger, till it be past prevention, there is an end of all our hopes concerning you. If you have the Reason and Understanding of Men, you will not dare to leap into the Bottomless-Pit with your Eyes open, nor to dally with the Vengeance of the Almighty. Will you sit still till the Tide come in, and then harden your selves with a vain [Page 23] conceit, that you shall escape drowning? If we cannot undeceive you, the King of Terrours shortly will; for when Death strikes its Dart through your Liver, it will let out your Souls and Hopes together into the Amazing Gulph of Endless Desperation. We dare not therefore daub your Consciences with such untempered Mortar, as to flatter you into a Fatal Opinion of the Safety of your Condition; but think, we oblige you most, when we shew you, how dear your Sins are like to cost you; in which, if we have terrified you to purpose, with the just apprehension of the manifold Dangers you are in, whilst you continue in a state of Impenitency, your Humiliation will be matter of rejoycing to us; and in the depth of your sorrow and anguish of Spirit, we can safely administer this Cordial to revive you:
2. That though your Danger be great and imminent, yet there is still, by God's Mercy, a Possibility of your Deliverance out of it. Were you shut up in Everlasting Misery, without remedy, we would not come to torment you before your time: but, thanks be to God, (whose Mercy is over all his Works) your case is not yet so desperate, but that you may be everlastingly safe, if you please. 'Tis too true, that you are [Page 24] already in the Fire; your courses are as dangerous and destructive as the Fire; you are in incendio libidinis & obscaenitatis; you burn in your lusts one towards another, but you may be saved for all that: God wills not the death of a Sinner: though the Flames of Hell have sing'd his Garments that were spotted by the Flesh, and taken hold of the Hairs of his Head, yet God sincerely desires that he may be rescued from Damnation: though he be gone beyond all the Methods and Revelations of his Mercy, and run into the horrible Impieties of Impudence, Apostacy, and Ingratitude; yet if he will, even now at last, withdraw his feet from those Paths that lead to Destruction; or if we can snatch, or force him from the brink of the Bottomless Pit, he is not yet out of the power and possibilities of recovering from those Everlasting Burnings; 1 Cor. 3. 15. He shall suffer loss, but he may be saved, yet so as by Fire. If men will leave their Sins whilst it is called To Day, Gods Judgments will also leave them; for their Iniquities pass on to Eternal Flames only by the train of Impenitence; nor can they ever cast them into Hell, if they repent of them timely and effectually; which, that none of us may be tempted to procrastinate, as if there were [Page 25] no danger of our delay, but hasten to flee from the wrath to come, whilst it is yet to come, let us observe in the third place,
3. The difficulty of escaping this their imminent and everlasting destruction: Their Pardon, as well as themselves, must be fetched out of the Fire. They perhaps may see no danger in their condition, and as if, like Salamanders, they were in their proper Element, may be displeased at those who would pluck them out of the Fire; but we must tell them, that they are lost and undone for ever, except they be renewed by the Power of God; nay, 'tis a miraculous Grace, and an extraordinary change, which must turn the current stream of their Iniquity, and their Salvation must be wrought out with infinite fear and trembling; nor is there any entrance for them into Heaven, but by the strait passage of a second birth; the blessed opportunity whereof if they do procrastinate, they may lose for ever. And therefore,
4. By what Means we may assist them in this great Work of their escaping, and what is the only possible way to save them, is to be the most important inquiry of our whole Lives, it being the greatest service we can do to God, or them; and if I can either instruct or [Page 26] quicken you in it, we shall both have abundant cause to bless God for so seasonable an undertaking.
Now first, we must be earnest and importunate with our perishing Brethren, as the Angel was with Lot, and force them out of Sodom; Admonish them with an holy vehemency to flee for their lives, and to escape to the Mountain, lest they be consum'd; Pull them hastily, and, with a charitable violence, out of their sins, as a Mother doth her Child out of the fire, when apprehensive of the danger.
[...], Use a sharp, quick, and cutting reprehension; our words must be as nails driven to the head, so as to be fastned and rivetted in the Soul of a Sinner, and to destroy the Beast, that we may save the Man.
Men must first be forced and fired out of themselves, or else they will never come to Christ: and, We are the Servants of the most high God, who are sent to compel you to come into Heaven, and to Acts 16. 17. shew unto you the way of Salvation. Our Commission and Instructions are to tell you, that if you would be saved from suffering, you must also be saved from sinning; your Lives and your Lusts cannot both be preserv'd: nor will it be sufficient that you [Page 27] forsake some of your sins; but, the whole body of them must be destroyed: You must Crucifie the Old Man, and Mortifie every Iniquity which now reigneth in you; so, that unless you leave the Lap of Dalilah, and be Divorced from your beloved Herodias, you cannot be saved. You must give up every Traytor that is Harbour'd in your Bosom, or you cannot be at Peace with the King of Heaven. Your Right Hand must be cut off, and your Right Eye pulled out, if they stand in opposition to the Laws of Christ, whose Dominion you must chearfully submit to, to all intents and purposes, if ever you expect deliverance by him.
Let not therefore the Voice of your Conscience be drowned, through the Avocation of Sensual Pleasures, or the hurry of Worldly Business, or the noise and clamour of Earthly Cares, Lusts or Affections; but, give it leave to do its Office, and listen to what it speaks here, lest it speak what you would not be willing to hear hereafter. Remember you stand now upon your Good-behaviour for Eternity; and, such as your Present Choice is, will your Everlasting Condition be. I wish it were in my power to fright you into your Wits, and to scare you into the way of Salvation. What [Page 28] will you do when the Philistians are upon you? When the World shall take its last leave of you? When you must bid your Friends, Houses, and Lands; your Pleasures, Places and Preferments, Farewel for ever; and, when he who is now your Tempter, will prove your Tormentor? Can you dwell with Everlasting Burnings? Can you abide the Consuming Fire? If not, how can you perswade your selves to live any longer in such a course of Life, every Act whereof is a step to Perdition? Unless you can perswade your selves, that God's Compassion will Evacuate his Laws, and Frustrate all the Wise Designs of his Justice, you can Dream of no way of Escaping. We are obliged therefore, for your sakes, to become Boanerges, Sons of Thunder; and, to shew you, not only the Greatness, but the Presentness of the Danger you are in; and, to set the Terrours of the Almighty continually before your eyes. Thus Nathan dealt with David, denouncing against him God's heavy Judgments; 2 Sam. 12. 10. The Sword shall never depart from thy House: and, 1 Cor. 5. 5. St. Paul delivered up the Incestuous Person to Satan, for the destruction of the Flesh, that his Spirit might be saved; and thus did Jonah to the City of Nineveh, Jonah 3. Yet forty days and the City shall [Page 29] be destroyed. Some Spirits will not be kept out of the Fire, but by casting them into it: Your terrifying them with the Flames, will be a means to keep them out of them: A Showre of Spiritual Brimstone, such as God rained down upon Sodom in the Letter, is best for them; if you spare them, you destroy them. Some Men must be led to Heaven, by the way of Hell: 'tis a very desirable fear which is a means of pulling Men out of the Fire. We are saved by Faith, as that receiveth and taketh hold of Christ; and, we are also saved by Fear, as that taketh hold of us, and drives us to Christ: By Faith we see, and apply our help in Christ; and, by Fear, we are brought to see our need of his help. Thus is a good Heart bettered, by all the Dispensations of God, as well by his Judgmenti, as his Mercies. If God speak Death, it is an advantage to his Spiritual Life; and, he Mends upon his Threatnings, as well as his Promises. The Devils themselves believe and tremble; and, 'tis impossible for them to escape Hell, who come short of the Religion of such as are already there. Quanta damnatio est à damnatis damnari?
If therefore we can so humble Men with Terrours, that they may be exalted in God's good [Page 30] time, it will be the greatest kindness we can do them: Be the Means never so pungent and dreadful, the Severities never so great; if they be by Experience found necessary, for the prevention of greater Mischiefs, they are to be thankfully receiv'd, as Tokens of the sincerest Friendship: Prov. 27. 6. Faithful are the wounds of a Friend, but the kisses of an Enemy are deceitful. If my Companion be falling into the Fire, or from a Precipice, and I, in snatching him back, put his Arm out of joynt; Would he call his escape, An unkind Deliverance, because it cost him some pain? Physitians must not be moved at the Rage or Revilings of their distempered Patients; but, resolve to do and suffer the utmost, before they give them over: and so must we do, and suffer any thing (but Sin) to save a Soul from death; we must prescribe Men that, which may be best for their Health, how ill soever they may take it.
But, if we cannot rescue you out of those Flames, nor impose the Kingdom of Heaven upon you, by such an holy violence; we must necessarily leave you under greater Guilt than we found you; and, your Pains will be increased even for the loss of ours: It will be a great part of your Hell, to think, what Pains, and Patience, [Page 31] we used, to save you from it, and all in vain: How Scornfully you have refused our Calls, and Rejected our Importunities? You cannot take a more certain course to destroy your selves, and disoblige us, than to turn our Compassion into Complaints, and to force us from interceding for, and with you, to accuse, and witness against you; that, when we had Invited you to the Marriage-Feast, with all the Earnestness imaginable, you would not be Courted; no, nor Compell'd to come in. God, and your own Consciences, will one day tell you, and all the World, what Overtures of Mercy have been made you, and how plainly and frequently you have been forewarned of the Evil Day; when, with Fruitless Cries and Horrour, you shall beseech, too late, for those Opportunities of Grace, which you have so long despised. Now, that it may never be your Doom, thus sturdily to cast away your selves, Consider, whilst it is called To Day, how much it is your Interest, as well as your Duty, to hate the very Garment spotted by the Flesh: The Explication of which Phrase, is the last thing premised, and that which may serve for the Application of the Text.
4. Hating the very Garment spotted by the Flesh. 'Tis a Proverbial Speech; whereby is signified, the abhorrency which we ought to have, of any the least degree of Uncleanness, in allusion to the prohibited, and unclean Garments of the Leprous person; Lev. 13. 47. Heb. 12. 15. looking diligently, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled: Putting off the old man with his deeds; that is, all evil Affections, and separating our selves Vers. 8. from those filthy dreams that defile the Flesh. Deal not with them as Companions, but Physitians; beware of catching that Infection which you come to cure: Draw them out of the Fire, if you can; but, let them not pull you in too.
Aeth. Et intuentes in tegumento suo maculam scortationis suae. The Gnosticks defil'd, not only their Manners and Actions, but also their very Garments; and, I wish I could say, that, This Age were not stain'd with that, or a greater Ʋncleanness. When Christ arose from the Dead, he left his Winding-sheet behind him; and so, in the Spiritual Resurrection, must we leave the Garments of the Old Man behind us. Odio habentes, non solum turpia facta carnis, sed etiam quicquid ullo modo ad turpitudinem pertinet. Abstain from all appearnace of evil; from whatsoever [Page 33] hath a shew of it, 1 Thess, 5. 22. and is liable to misconstruction; not only from the Crime it self, but from every Instrument of it, from every path which leads to it; from all Incentives, Occasions, and Inducements, from whatsoever may begin, or promote, because all these things are of the same Nature with it. Some few there were, even in Sardis, Rev. 3. 4. who had not defiled their Garments: and, I hope, there are some few among us, who have escap'd the Pollutions of this World, through the knowledge of our Saviour; and, who live like Men who are satisfied, that they must live to all Eternity: And, the less appearance there is of a General Innocence, or a Publick Reformation among us, the more doth it concern every private Man, to wash his Hands in innocency, or his Heart in Penitential Tears, because, it may be, God will Save the whole Nation for the Repentance of a few; He may hear the Prayers of Ten for a City, though the Generality of them should remain Unreformed: All his fellow-passengers lives were bestowed upon St. Paul; Sodom had been saved if Ten Penitents had been in it; and Jerusalem, if but One: Or, if the Lord be so peremptorily bent to bring in such a General Judgment, that though Moses, or Samuel; though Noah, Daniel or Job were among [Page 34] them, they should not prevail for the saving of others, yet at least we should save our own Souls alive; especially if we left our Sins out of perfect hatred, before they left us. The Old Man may be sorry, that he cannot be Young; and, the Sick Man, that he cannot Revel as his Companions; but, it is not a Principle of Conscience which makes either of them forsake their Habitual Sins; nor do they hate them, as Men Thoroughly Convinced of the manifold Danger of every Particular Iniquity must needs do.
Lastly, Let us not put it off till to Morrow; for, we know not where the next Night may lodge us: but consider, The Hourly Possibilities of Death; and, The Succeeding State of Torment, which will Revenge, with most Severe Inflictions, the few Minutes of our Reprieve: Then shall we endeavour our Own, and Other Mens Salvation with fear and compassion, and be sollicitous to pull them and our selves out of the Fire; and let all who shall make an Inspection into our Lives, see, That we hate even the Garment spotted by the Flesh; and, That we are led by the holy Spirit of God, in that Good Old Way, which leads to Life, and that Eternal.
I shall close this Discourse, as our Apostle does this Epistle: Vers. 24, 25. Now unto him, who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the Presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy,; To the only wise God our Saviour, be Glory and Majesty, Dominion and Power, now and ever,
Amen.