THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE DAMNATION OF SINNERS
Romans 3:19 -- That every mouth may be stopped.
THE main subject of the doctrinal part of this epistle, is the free
grace of God in the salvation of men by Christ Jesus; especially as it
appears in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And the more
clearly to evince this doctrine, and show the reason of it, the
apostle, in the first place, establishes that point, that no flesh
living can be justified by the deeds of the law. And to prove it, he is
very large and particular in showing, that all mankind, not only the
Gentiles, but Jews, are under sin, and so under the condemnation of the
law; which is what he insists upon from the beginning of the epistle to
this place. He first begins with the Gentiles; and in the first chapter
shows that they are under sin, by setting forth the exceeding
corruptions and horrid wickedness that overspread the Gentile world:
and then through the second chapter, and the former part of this third
chapter, to the text and following verse, he shows the same of the
Jews, that they also are in the same circumstances with the Gentiles in
this regard. They had a high thought of themselves, because they were
God's covenant people, and circumcised, and the children of Abraham.
They despised the Gentiles as polluted, condemned, and accursed; but
looked on themselves, on account of their external privileges, and
ceremonial and moral righteousness, as a pure and holy people, and the
children of God; as the apostle observes in the second chapter. It was
therefore strange doctrine to them, that they also were unclean and
guilty in God's sight, and under the condemnation and curse of the law.
The apostle does therefore, on account of their strong prejudices
against such doctrine, the more particularly insists upon it, and shows
that they are no better than the Gentiles; and as in the 9th verse of
this chapter, "What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise; for
we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin." And, to convince them of it, he then produces certain passages
out of their own law, or the Old Testament, (to whose authority they
pretend a great regard,) from the ninth verse to our text. And it may
be observed, that the apostle, first, cites certain passages to prove
that all mankind are corrupt, (verses 10-12.) "As it is written, there
is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God: They are all gone out of the way, they
are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not
one." Secondly, the passages he cites next, are to prove, that not only
all are corrupt, but each one wholly corrupt, as it were all over
unclean, from the crown of the head to the soles of his feet; and
therefore several particular parts of thebody are mentioned, the
throat, the tongue, the lips, the mouth, the feet, (verses 13-15.)
"Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used
deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of
cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood." And,
Thirdly, he quotes other passages to show, that each one is not only
all over corrupt, but corrupt to a desperate degree, by affirming the
most pernicious tendency of their wickedness; "Destruction and misery
are in their ways." And then by denying all goodness or godliness in
them; "And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of
God before their eyes." And then, lest the Jews should think these
passages of their law do not concern them, and only the Gentiles are
intended in them, the apostle shows in the text, not only that they are
not exempt, but that they especially must be understood: "Now we know
that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law." By those that are under the law is meant the Jews; and the
Gentiles by those that are without law; as appears by the 12th verse of
the preceding chapter. There is a special reason to understand the law,
as speaking to and of them, to whom it was immediately given. And
therefore the Jews would be unreasonable in exempting themselves. And
if we examine the places of the Old Testament whence these passages are
taken, we shall see plainly that special respect is had to the
wickedness of the people of that nation, in every one of them. So that
the law shuts all up in universal and desperate wickedness, that every
mouth may be stopped; the mouths of the Jews, as well as of the
Gentiles, notwithstanding all those privileges by which they were
distinguished from the Gentiles.
The things that the law says, are sufficient to stop the mouths of all
mankind, in two respects.
1. To stop them from boasting of their righteousness, as the Jews were
wont to do; as the apostle observes in the 23rd verse of the preceding
chapter.- That the apostle has respect to stopping their mouths in this
respect, appears by the 27th verse of the context, "Where is boasting
then? It is excluded." The law stops our mouths from making any plea
for life, or the favor of God, or any positive good, from our own
righteousness.
2. To stop them from making any excuse for ourselves, or objection
against the execution of the sentence of the law, or the infliction of
the punishment that it threatens. That it is intended, appears by the
words immediately following, "That all the world may become guilty
before God." That is, that they may appear to be guilty, and stand
convicted before God, and justly liable to the condemnation of his law,
as guilty of death, according to the Jewish way of speaking.
And thus the apostle proves, that no flesh can be justified in God's
sight by the deeds of the law; as he draws the conclusion in the
following verse; and so prepares the way for establishing of the great
doctrine of justification by faith alone, which he proceeds to do in
the following part of the chapter, and of the epistle.
DOCTRINE
"It is just with God eternally to cast off and destroy sinners."- For
this is the punishment which the law condemns to- The truth of this
doctrine may appear by the joint consideration of two things, viz.
Man's sinfulness, and God's sovereignty.
I. It appears from the consideration of man's sinfulness. And that
whether we consider the infinitely evil nature of all sin, or how much
sin men are guilty of.
1. If we consider the infinite evil and heinousness of sin in general,
it is not unjust in God to inflict what punishment is deserved; because
the very notion of deserving any punishment is, that it may be justly
inflicted. A deserved punishment and a just punishment are the same
thing. To say that one deserves such a punishment, and yet to say that
he does not justly deserve it, is a contradiction; and if he justly
deserves it, then it may be justly inflicted.
Every crime or fault deserves a greater or less punishment, in
proportion as the crime itself is greater or less. If any fault
deserves punishment, then so much the greater the fault, so much the
greater is the punishment deserved. The faulty nature of any thing is
the formal ground and reason of its desert of punishment; and therefore
the more any thing hath of this nature, the more punishment it
deserves. And therefore the terribleness of the degree of punishment,
let it be never be so terrible, is no argument against the justice of
it, if the proportion does but hold between the heinousness of the
crime and the dreadfulness of the punishment; so that if there be any
such thing as a fault infinitely heinous, it will follow that it is
just to inflict a punishment for it that is infinitely dreadful.
A crime is more or less heinous, according as we are under greater or
less obligations to the contrary. This is self-evident; because it is
herein that the criminalness or faultiness of any thing consists, that
it is contrary to what we are obliged or bound to, or what ought to be
in us. So the faultiness of one being hating another, is in proportion
to his obligation to love him. The crime of one being despising and
casting contempt on another, is proportionably more or less heinous, as
he was under greater or less obligations to honour him. The fault of
disobeying another, is greater or less, as any one is under greater or
less obligations to obey him. And therefore if there be any being that
we are under infinite obligations to love, and honour, and obey, the
contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty.
Our obligation to love, honour, and obey any being, is in proportion to
his loveliness, honourableness, and authority; for that is the very
meaning of the words. When we say any one is very lovely, it is the
same as to say, that he is one very much to be loved. Or if we say such
a one is more honourable than another, the meaning of the words is,
that he is one that we are more obliged to honour. If we say any one
has great authority over us, it is the same as to say, that he has
great right to our subjection and obedience.
But God is a being infinitely lovely, because he hath infinite
excellency and beauty. To have infinite excellency and beauty, is the
same thing as to have infinite loveliness. He is a being of infinite
greatness, majesty, and glory; and therefore he is infinitely
honourable. He is infinitely exalted above the greatest potentates of
the earth, and highest angels in heaven; and therefore he is infinitely
more honourable than they. His authority over us is infinite; and the
ground of his right to our obedience is infinitely strong; for he is
infinitely worthy to be obeyed himself, and we have an absolute,
universal, and infinite dependence upon him.
So that sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations,
must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving of infinite
punishment.- Nothing is more agreeable to the common sense of mankind,
than that sins committed against any one, must be proportionably
heinous to the dignity of the being offended and abused; as it is also
agreeable to the word of God, I Samuel 2:25. "If one man sin against
another, the judge shall judge him;" (i.e. shall judge him, and inflict
a finite punishment, such as finite judges can inflict;) "but if a man
sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?" This was the
aggravation of sin that made Joseph afraid of it. Genesis 39:9. "How
shall I commit this great wickedness, and sin against God?" This was
the aggravation of David's sin, in comparison of which he esteemed all
others as nothing, because they were infinitely exceeded by it. Psalm
51:4. "Against thee, thee only have I sinned."-The eternity of the
punishment of ungodly men renders it infinite: and it renders it no
more than infinite; and therefore renders no more than proportionable
to the heinousness of what they are guilty of.
If there be any evil or faultiness in sin against God, there is
certainly infinite evil: for if it be any fault at all, it has an
infinite aggravation, viz. that it is against an infinite object. If it
be ever so small upon other accounts, yet if it be any thing, it has
one infinite dimension; and so is an infinite evil. Which may be
illustrated by this: if we suppose a thing to have infinite length, but
no breadth and thickness, (a mere mathematical line,) it is nothing:
but if it have any breadth and thickness, though never so small, and
infinite length, the quantity of it is infinite; it exceeds the
quantity of any thing, however broad, thick, and long, wherein these
dimensions are all finite.
So that the objections made against the infinite punishment of sin,
from the necessity, or rather previous certainty, of the futurition of
sin, arising from the unavoidable original corruption of nature, if
they argue any thing, argue against any faultiness at all: for if this
necessity or certainty leaves any evil at all in sin, that fault must
be infinite by reason of the infinite object.
But every such objector as would argue from hence, that there is no
fault at all in sin, confutes himself, and shows his own insincerity in
his objection. For at the same time that he objects, that men's acts
are necessary, and that this kind of necessity is inconsistent with
faultiness in the act, his own practice shows that he does not believe
what he objects to be true: otherwise why does he at all blame men? Or
why are such persons at all displeased with men, for abusive,
injurious, and ungrateful acts towards them? Whatever they pretend, by
this they show that indeed they do believe that there is no necessity
in men's acts that is inconsistent with blame. And if their objection
be this, that this previous certainty is by God's own ordering, and
that where God orders an antecedent certainty of acts, he transfers all
the fault from the actor on himself; their practice shows, that at the
same time they do not believe this, but fully believe the contrary: for
when they are abused by men, they are displeased with men, and not with
God only.
The light of nature teaches all mankind, that when an injury is
voluntary, it is faulty, without any consideration of what there might
be previously to determine the futurition of that evil act of the will.
And it really teaches this as much to those that object and cavil most
as to others; as their universal practice shows. By which it appears,
that such objections are insincere and perverse. Men will mention
others' corrupt nature when they are injured, as a thing that
aggravates their crime, and that wherein their faultiness partly
consists. How common is it for persons, when they look on themselves
greatly injured by another, to inveigh against him, and aggravate his
baseness, by saying, "He is a man of a most perverse spirit: he is
naturally of a selfish, niggardly, or proud and haughty temper: he is
one of a base and vile disposition." And yet men's natural and corrupt
dispositions are mentioned as an excuse for them, with respect to their
sins against God, as if they rendered them blameless.
2. That it is just with God eternally to cast off wicked men, may more
abundantly appear, if we consider how much sin they are guilty of. From
what has been already said, it appears, that if men were guilty of sin
but in one particular, that is sufficient ground of their eternal
rejection and condemnation. If they are sinners, that is enough. Merely
this, might be sufficient to keep them from ever lifting up their
heads, and cause them to smite on their breasts, with the publican that
cried, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But sinful men are full of
sin; full of principles and acts of sin: their guilt is like great
mountains, heaped one upon another, till the pile is grown up to
heaven. They are totally corrupt, in every part, in all their
faculties, and all the principles of their nature, their
understandings, and wills; and in all their dispositions and
affections. Their heads, their hearts, are totally depraved; all the
members of their bodies are only instruments of sin; and all their
senses, seeing, hearing, tasting, &c. are only inlets and outlets of
sin, channels of corruption. There is nothing but sin, no good at all.
Romans. 7:18. "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing."
There is all manner of wickedness. There are the seeds of the greatest
and blackest crimes. There are principles of all sorts of wickedness
against men; and there is all wickedness against God. There is pride;
there is enmity; there is contempt; there is quarreling; there is
atheism; there is blasphemy. There are these things in exceeding
strength; the heart is under the power of them, is sold under sin, and
is a perfect slave to it. There is hard-heartedness, hardness greater
than that of a rock, or an adamant-stone. There is obstinacy and
perverseness, incorrigibleness and inflexibleness in sin, that will not
be overcome by threatenings or promises, by awakenings or
encouragements, by judgments or mercies, neither by that which is
terrifying nor that which is winning. The very blood of God our Saviour
will not win the heart of a wicked man.
And there are actual wickednesses without number or measure. There are
breaches of every command, in thought, word, and deed: a life full of
sin; days and nights filled up with sin; mercies abused and frowns
despised; mercy and justice, and all the divine perfections, trampled
on; and the honour of each person in the Trinity trod in the dirt. Now
if one sinful word or thought has so much evil in it, as to deserve
eternal destruction, how do they deserve to be eternally cast off and
destroyed, that are guilty of so much sin!
II. If with man's sinfulness, we consider God's sovereignty, it may
serve further to clear God's justice in the eternal rejection and
condemnation of sinners, from men's cavils and objections. I shall not
now pretend to determine precisely, what things are, and what things
are not, proper acts and exercises of God's holy sovereignty; but only,
that God's sovereignty extends to the following things.
1. That such is God's sovereign power and right, that he is originally
under no obligation to keep men from sinning; but may in his providence
permit and leave them to sin. He was not obliged to keep either angels
or men from falling. It is unreasonable to suppose, that God should be
obliged, if he makes a reasonable creature capable of knowing his will,
and receiving a law from him, and being subject to his moral
government, at the same time to make it impossible for him to sin, or
break his law. For if God be obliged to this, it destroys all use of
any commands, laws, promises, or threatenings, and the very notion of
any moral government of God over those reasonable creatures. For to
what purpose would it be, for God to give such and such laws, and
declare his holy will to a creature, and annex promises and
threatenings to move him to his duty, and make him careful to perform
it, if the creature at the same time has this to think of, that God is
obliged to make it impossible for him to break his laws? How can God's
threatenings move to care or watchfulness, when, at the same time, God
is obliged to render it impossible that he should be exposed to the
threatenings? Or, to what purpose is it for God to give a law at all?
For according to this supposition, it is God, and not the creature,
that is under the law. It is the lawgiver's care, and not the
subject's, to see that his law is obeyed; and this care is what the
lawgiver is absolutely obliged to! If God be obliged never to permit a
creature to fall, there is an end of all divine laws, or government, or
authority of God over the creature; there can be no manner of use of
these things.
God may permit sin, though the being of sin will certainly ensue on
that permission: and so, by permission, he may dispose and order the
event. If there were any such thing as chance, or mere contingence, and
the very notion of it did not carry a gross absurdity, (as might easily
be shown that it does,) it would have been very unfit that God should
have left it to mere chance, whether man should fall or no. For chance,
if there should be any such thing, is undesigning and blind. And
certainly it is more fit that an event of so great importance, and that
is attended with such an infinite train of great consequences, should
be disposed and ordered by infinite wisdom, than that it should be left
to blind chance.
If it be said, that God need not have interposed to render it
impossible for man to sin, and yet not leave it to mere contingence or
blind chance neither; but might have left it with man's free will, to
determine whether to sin or no: I answer, if God did leave it to man's
free will, without any sort of disposal, or ordering [or rather,
adequate cause] in the case, whence it should be previously certain how
that free will should determine, then still that first determination of
the will must be merely contingent or by chance. It could not have any
antecedent act of the will to determine it; for I speak now of the very
first act of motion of the will, respecting the affair that may be
looked upon as the prime ground and highest source of the event. To
suppose this to be determined by a foregoing act is a contradiction.
God's disposing this determination of the will by his permission, does
not at all infringe the liberty of the creature: it is in no respect
any more inconsistent with liberty, than mere chance or contingence.
For if the determination of the will be from blind, undesigning chance,
it is no more from the agent himself, or from the will itself, than if
we suppose, in the case, a wise, divine disposal by permission.
2. It was fit that it should be at the ordering of the divine wisdom
and good pleasure, whether every particular man should stand for
himself, or whether the first father of mankind should be appointed as
the moral and federal head and representative of the rest. If God has
not liberty in this matter to determine either of these two as he
pleases, it must be because determining that the first father of men
should represent the rest, and not that every one should stand for
himself, is injurious to mankind. For if it be not injurious, how is it
unjust? But it is not injurious to mankind; for there is nothing in the
nature of the case itself, that makes it better that each man should
stand for himself, than that all should be represented by their common
father; as the least reflection or consideration will convince any one.
And if there be nothing in the nature of the thing that makes the
former better for mankind than the latter, then it will follow, that
they are not hurt in God's choosing and appointing the latter, rather
than the former; or, which is the same thing, that it is not injurious
to mankind.
3. When men are fallen, and become sinful, God by his sovereignty has a
right to determine about their redemption as he pleases. He has a right
to determine whether he will redeem any or not. He might, if he had
pleased, have left all to perish, or might have redeemed all. Or, he
may redeem some, and leave others; and if he doth so, he may take whom
he pleases, and leave whom he pleases. To suppose that all have
forfeited his favor, and deserved to perish, and to suppose that he may
not leave any one individual of them to perish, implies a
contradiction; because it supposes that such a one has a claim to God's
favor, and is not justly liable to perish; which is contrary to the
supposition.
It is meet that God should order all these things according to his own
pleasure. By reason of his greatness and glory, by which he is
infinitely above all, he is worthy to be sovereign, and that his
pleasure should in all things take place. He is worthy that he should
make himself his end, and that he should make nothing but his own
wisdom his rule in pursuing that end, without asking leave or counsel
of any, and without giving account of any of his matters. It is fit
that he who is absolutely perfect, and infinitely wise, and the
Fountain of all wisdom, should determine every thing [that he effects]
by his own will, even things of the greatest importance. It is meet
that he should be thus sovereign, because he is the first being, the
eternal being, whence all other beings are. He is the Creator of all
things; and all are absolutely and universally dependent on him; and
therefore it is meet that he should act as the sovereign possessor of
heaven and earth.
APPLICATION
In the improvement of this doctrine, I would chiefly direct myself to
sinners who are afraid of damnation, in a use of conviction. This may
be matter of conviction to you, that it would be just and righteous
with God eternally to reject and destroy you. This is what you are in
danger of. You who are a Christless sinner are a poor condemned
creature: God's wrath still abides upon you; and the sentence of
condemnation lies upon you. You are in God's hands, and it is uncertain
what he will do with you. You are afraid what will become of you. You
are afraid that it will be your portion to suffer eternal burnings; and
your fears are not without grounds; you have reason to tremble every
moment. But be you never so much afraid of it, let eternal damnation be
never so dreadful, yet it is just. God may nevertheless do it, and be
righteous, and holy, and glorious. Though eternal damnation be what you
cannot bear, and how much soever your heart shrinks at the thought of
it, yet God's justice may be glorious in it. The dreadfulness of the
thing on your part, and the greatness of your dread of it, do not
render it the less righteous on God's part. If you think otherwise, it
is a sign that you do not see yourself, that you are not sensible what
sin is, nor how much of it you have been guilty of. Therefore for your
conviction, be directed,
First, To look over your past life: inquire at the mouth of conscience,
and hear what that has to testify concerning it. Consider what you are,
what light you have had, and what means you have lived under: and yet
how you have behaved yourself! What have those many days and nights you
have lived been filled up with? How have those years that have rolled
over your heads, one after another, been spent? What has the sun shone
upon you for, from day to day, while you have improved his light to
serve Satan by it? What has God kept your breath in your nostrils for,
and given you meat and drink, that you have spent your life and
strength, supported by them, in opposing God, and rebellion against
him?
How many sorts of wickedness have you not been guilty of! How manifold
have been the abominations of your life! What profaneness and contempt
of God has been exercised by you! How little regard have you had to the
Scriptures, to the word preached, to sabbaths, and sacraments! How
profanely have you talked, many of you, about those things that are
holy! After what manner have many of you kept God's holy day, not
regarding the holiness of the time, not caring what you thought of in
it! Yea, you have not only spent the time in worldly, vain, and
unprofitable thoughts, but in immoral thoughts; pleasing yourself with
the reflection on past acts of wickedness, and in contriving new acts.
Have not you spent much holy time in gratifying your lusts in your
imaginations; yea, not only holy time, but the very time of God's
public worship, when you have appeared in God's more immediate
presence? How have you not only attended to the worship, but have in
the mean time been feasting your lusts, and wallowing yourself in
abominable uncleanness! How many sabbaths have you spent, one after
another, in a most wretched manner! Some of you not only in worldly and
wicked thoughts, but also a very wicked outward behavior! When you on
sabbath-days have got along with your wicked companions, how has holy
time been treated among you! What kind of conversation has there been!
Yea, how have some of you, by a very indecent carriage, openly
dishonored and cast contempt on the sacred services of God's house, and
holy day! And what you have done some of you alone, what wicked
practices there have been in secret, even in holy time, God and your
own consciences know.
And how have you behaved yourself in the time of family prayer! And
what a trade have many of you made of absenting yourselves from the
worship of the families you belong to, for the sake of vain company!
And how have you continued in the neglect of secret prayer! Therein
wilfully living in a known sin, going abreast against as plain a
command as any in the Bible! Have you not been one that has cast off
fear, and restrained prayer before God?
What wicked carriage have some of you been guilty of towards your
parents! How far have you been from paying that honour to them which
God has required! Have you not even harboured ill-will and malice
towards them? And when they have displeased you, have wished evil to
them? yea, and shown your vile spirit in your behavior? and it is well
if you have not mocked them behind their backs; and, like the cursed
Ham and Canaan, as it were, derided your parents' nakedness instead of
covering it, and hiding your eyes from it. Have not some of you often
disobeyed your parents, yea, and refused to be subject to them? Is it
not a wonder of mercy and forbearance, that the proverb has not before
now been accomplished on you, Proverbs 30:17. "The eye that mocketh at
his father, and refuseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley
shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it."
What revenge and malice have you been guilty of towards your neighbors!
How have you indulged this spirit of the devil, hating others, and
wishing evil to them, rejoicing when evil befell them, and grieving at
others' prosperity, and lived in such a way for a long time! Have not
some of you allowed a passionate furious spirit, and behaved yourselves
in your anger more like wild beasts than like Christians?
What covetousness has been in many of you! Such has been your
inordinate love of the world, and care about the things of it, that it
has taken up your heart; you have allowed no room for God and religion;
you have minded the world more than your eternal salvation. For the
vanities of the world you have neglected reading, praying and
meditation; for the things of the world, you have broken the sabbath:
for the world you have spent a great deal of your time in quarreling.
For the world you have envied and hated your neighbor; for the world
you have cast God, and Christ, and heaven, behind your back; for the
world you have sold your own soul. You have as it were drowned your
soul in worldly cares and desires; you have been a mere earth-worm,
that is never in its element but when grovelling and buried in the
earth.
How much of a spirit of pride has appeared in you, which is in a
peculiar manner the spirit and condemnation of the devil! How have some
of you vaunted yourselves in your apparel! others in their riches!
others in their knowledge and abilities! How has it galled you to see
others above you! How much has it gone against the grain for you to
give others their due honour! And how have you shown your pride by
setting up your wills and in opposing others, and stirring up and
promoting division, and a party spirit in public affairs.
How sensual have you been! Are there not some here that have debased
themselves below the dignity of human nature, by wallowing in sensual
filthiness, as swine in the mire, or as filthy vermin feeding with
delight on rotten carrion? What intemperance have some of you been
guilty of! How much of your precious time have you spent at the tavern,
and in drinking companies, when you ought to have been at home seeking
God and your salvation in your families and closets!
And what abominable lasciviousness have some of you been guilty of! How
have you indulged yourself from day to day, and from night to night, in
all manner of unclean imaginations! Has not your soul been filled with
them, till it has become a hold of foul spirits, and a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird? What foul-mouthed persons have some of you
been, often in lewd and lascivious talk and unclean songs, wherein were
things not fit to be spoken! And such company, where such conversation
has been carried on, has been your delight. And with what unclean acts
and practices have you defiled yourself! God and your own consciences
know what abominable lasciviousness you have practised in things not
fit to be named, when you have been alone; when you ought to have been
reading, or meditating, or on your knees before God in secret prayer.
And how have you corrupted others, as well as polluted yourselves! What
vile uncleanness have you practised in company! What abominations have
you been guilty of in the dark! Such as the apostle doubtless had
respect to in Ephesians 5:12. "For it is a shame even to speak of those
things that are done of them in secret." Some of you have corrupted
others, and done what in you lay to undo their souls, (if you have not
actually done it;) and by your vile practices and example have made
room for Satan, invited his presence, and established his interest, in
the town where you have lived.
What lying have some of you been guilty of, especially in your
childhood! And have not your heart and lips often disagreed since you
came to riper years? What fraud, and deceit, and unfaithfulness, have
many of you practised in your own dealings with your neighbours, of
which your own heart is conscious, if you have not been noted by
others.
And how have some of you behaved yourselves in your family relations!
How have you neglected your children's souls! And not only so, but have
corrupted their minds by your bad examples; and instead of training
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, have rather brought
them up in the devil's service!
How have some of you attended that sacred ordinance of the Lord's
supper without any manner of serious preparation, and in a careless
slighty frame of spirits, and chiefly to comply with custom! Have you
not ventured to put the sacred symbols of the body and blood of Christ
into your mouth, while at the same time you lived in ways of known
sins, and intended no other than still to go on in the same wicked
practices? And, it may be, have sat at the Lord's table with rancour in
your heart against some of your brethren that you have sat there with.
You have come even to that holy feast of love among God's children,
with the leaven of malice and envy in your heart; and so have eaten and
drank judgment to yourself.
What stupidity and sottishness has attended your course of wickedness:
which has appeared in your obstinacy under awakening dispensations of
God's word and providence. And how have some of you backslidden after
you have set out in religion, and quenched God's Spirit after he had
been striving with you! And what unsteadiness, and slothfulness, and
long misimprovement of God's strivings with you, have you been
chargeable with!
Now, can you think when you have thus behaved yourself, that God is
obliged to show you mercy? Are you not after all this ashamed to talk
of its being hard with God to cast you off? Does it become one who has
lived such a life to open his mouth to excuse himself, to object
against God's justice in his condemnation, or to complain of it as hard
in God not to give him converting and pardoning grace, and make him his
child, and bestow on him eternal life? Or to talk of his duties and
great pains in religion, as if such performances were worthy to be
accepted, and to draw God's heart to such a creature? If this has been
your manner, does it not show how little you have considered yourself,
and how little a sense you have had of your own sinfulness?
Secondly, Be directed to consider, if God should eternally reject and
destroy you, what an agreeableness and exact mutual answerableness
there would be between God so dealing with you, and your spirit and
behaviour. There would not only be an equality, but a similitude. God
declares, that his dealings with men shall be suitable to their
disposition and practice. Psalm 18:25, 26. "With the merciful man, thou
wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man, thou wilt show thyself
upright; with the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the
froward, thou wilt show thyself froward." How much soever you dread
damnation, and are affrighted and concerned at the thoughts of it; yet
if God should indeed eternally damn you, you would be met with but in
your own way; you would be dealt with exactly according to your own
dealing. Surely it is but fair that you should be made to buy in the
same measure in which you sell.
Here I would particularly show,- 1. That if God should eternally
destroy you, it would be agreeable to your treatment of God. 2. That it
would be agreeable to your treatment of Jesus Christ. 3. That it would
be agreeable to your behaviour towards your neighbours. 4. That it
would be according to your own foolish behaviour towards yourself.
I. If God should for ever cast you off, it would be exactly agreeable
to your treatment of him. That you may be sensible of this, consider,
1. You never have exercised the least degree of love to God; and
therefore it would be agreeable to your treatment of him, if he should
never express any love to you. When God converts and saves a sinner, it
is a wonderful and unspeakable manifestation of divine love. When a
poor lost soul is brought home to Christ, and has all his sins forgiven
him, and is made a child of God, it will take up a whole eternity to
express and declare the greatness of that love. And why should God be
obliged to express such wonderful love to you, who never exercised the
least degree of love to him in all your life? You never have loved God,
who is infinitely glorious and lovely; and why then is God under
obligation to love you, who are all over deformed and loathsome as a
filthy worm, or rather a hateful viper? You have no benevolence in your
heart towards God; you never rejoiced in God's happiness; if he had
been miserable, and that had been possible, you would have liked it as
well as if he were happy; you would not have cared how miserable he
was, nor mourned for it, any more than you now do for the devil's being
miserable. And why then should God be looked upon as obliged to take so
much care for your happiness, as to do such great things for it, as he
doth for those that are saved? Or why should God be called hard, in
case he should not be careful to save you from misery? You care not
what becomes of God's glory; you are not distressed how much soever his
honour seems to suffer in the world: and why should God care any more
for your welfare? Has it not been so, that if you could but promote
your private interest, and gratify your own lusts, you cared not how
much the glory of God suffered? And why may not God advance his own
glory in the ruin of your welfare, not caring how much your interest
suffers by it? You never so much as stirred one step, sincerely making
the glory of God your end, or acting from real respect to him: and why
then is it hard if God doth not do such great things for you, as the
changing of your nature, raising you from spiritual death to life,
conquering the powers of darkness for you, translating you out of the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son, delivering you
from eternal misery, and bestowing upon you eternal glory? You were not
willing to deny yourself for God; you never cared to put yourself out
of your way for Christ; whenever any thing cross or difficult came in
your way, that the glory of God was concerned in, it has been your
manner to shun it, and excuse yourself from it. You did not care to
hurt yourself for Christ, whom you did not see worthy of it; and why
then must it be looked upon as a hard and cruel thing, if Christ has
not been pleased to spill his blood and be tormented to death for such
a sinner.
2. You have slighted God; and why then may not God justly slight you?
When sinners are sensible in some measure of their misery, they are
ready to think it hard that God will take no notice of them; that he
will see them in such a lamentable distressed condition, beholding
their burdens and tears, and seem to slight it, and manifest no pity to
them. Their souls they think are precious: it would be a dreadful thing
if they should perish, and burn in hell for ever. They do not see
through it, that God should make so light of their salvation. But then,
ought they not to consider, that as their souls are precious, so is
God's honour precious? The honour of the infinite God, the great King
of heaven and earth, is a thing of as great importance, (and surely may
justly be so esteemed by God,) as the happiness of you, a poor little
worm. But yet you have slighted that honour of God, and valued it no
more than the dirt under your feet. You have been told that such and
such things were contrary to the will of a holy God, and against his
honour; but you cared not for that. God called upon you, and exhorted
you to be more tender of his honour; but you went on without regarding
him. Thus have you slighted God! And yet, is it hard that God should
slight you? Are you more honourable than God, that he must be obliged
to make much of you, how light soever you make of him and his glory?
And you have not only slighted God in time past, but you slight him
still. You indeed now make a pretence and show of honouring him in your
prayers, and attendance on other external duties, and by sober
countenance, and seeming devoutness in your words and behaviour; but it
if all mere dissembling. That downcast look and seeming reverence, is
not from any honour you have to God in your heart, though you would
have God take it so. You who have not believed in Christ, have not the
least jot of honour to God; that show of it is merely forced, and what
you are driven to by fear, like those mentioned in Psalm 66:3. "Through
the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves to
thee." In the original it is, "shall lie unto thee;" that is, yield
feigned submission, and dissemble respect and honour to thee. There is
a rod held over you that makes you seem to pay such respect to God.
This religion and devotion, even the very appearance of it, would soon
be gone, and all vanish away, if that were removed. Sometimes it may be
you weep in your prayers, and in your hearing sermons, and hope God
will take notice of it, and take it for some honour; but he sees it to
be all hypocrisy. You weep for yourself; you are afraid of hell; and do
you think that is worthy of God to take much notice of you, because you
can cry when you are in danger of being damned; when at the same time
you indeed care nothing for God's honour.
Seeing you thus disregard so great a God, is it a heinous thing for God
to slight you, a little, wretched, despicable creature; a worm, a mere
nothing, and less than nothing; a vile insect, that has risen up in
contempt against the Majesty of heaven and earth?
3. Why should God be looked upon as obliged to bestow salvation upon
you, when you have been so ungrateful for the mercies he has bestowed
upon you already? God has tried you with a great deal of kindness, and
he never has sincerely been thanked by you for any of it. God has
watched over you, and preserved you, and provided for you, and followed
you with mercy all your days; and yet you have continued sinning
against him. He has given you food and raiment, but you have improved
both in the service of sin. He has preserved you while you slept; but
when you arose, it was to return to the old trade of sinning. God,
notwithstanding this ingratitude, has still continued his mercy; but
his kindness has never won your heart, or brought you to a more
grateful behaviour towards him. It may be you have received many
remarkable mercies, recoveries from sickness, or preservations of your
life when exposed by accidents, when if you had died, you would have
gone directly to hell; but you never had any true thankfulness for any
of these mercies. God has kept you out of hell, and continued your day
of grace, and the offers of salvation, so long a time; while you did
not regard your own salvation so much as in secret to ask God for it.
And now God has greatly added to his mercy to you, by giving you the
strivings of his Spirit, whereby a most precious opportunity for your
salvation is in your hands. But what thanks has God received for it?
What kind of returns have you made for all this kindness? As God has
multiplied mercies, so have you multiplied provocations.
And yet now are you ready to quarrel for mercy, and to find fault with
God, not only that he does not bestow more mercy, but to contend with
him, because he does not bestow infinite mercy upon you, heaven with
all it contains, and even himself, for your eternal portion. What ideas
have you of yourself, that you think God is obliged to do so much for
you, though you treat him ever so ungratefully for his kindness
wherewith you have been followed all the days of your life.
4. You have voluntarily chosen to be with Satan in his enmity and
opposition to God; how justly therefore might you be with him in his
punishment! You did not choose to be on God's side, but rather chose to
side with the devil, and have obstinately continued in it, against
God's often repeated calls and counsels. You have chosen rather to
hearken to Satan than to God, and would be with him in his work. You
have given yourself up to him, to be subject to his power and
government, in opposition to God; how justly therefore may God also
give you up to him, and leave you in his power, to accomplish your
ruin! Seeing you have yielded yourself to his will, to do as he would
have you, surely God may leave you in his hands to execute his will
upon you. If men will be with God's enemy, and on his side, why is God
obliged to redeem them out of his hands, when they have done his work?
Doubtless you would be glad to serve the devil, and be God's enemy
while you live, and then to have God your friend, and deliver you from
the devil, when you come to die. But will God be unjust if he deals
otherwise by you? No, surely! It will be altogether and perfectly just,
that you should have your portion with him with whom you have chosen to
work; and that you should be in his possession to whose dominion you
have yielded yourself; and if you cry to God for deliverance, he may
most justly give you that answer. Judges 10:14. "Go to the gods which
you have chosen."
5. Consider how often you have refused to hear God's calls to you, and
how just it would therefore be, if he should refuse to hear you when
you call upon him. You are ready, it may be, to complain that you have
often prayed, and earnestly begged of God to show you mercy, and yet
have no answer of prayer: One says, I have been constant in prayer for
so many years, and God has not heard me. Another says, I have done what
I can; I have prayed as earnestly as I am able; I do not see how I can
do more; and it will seem hard if after all I am denied. But do you
consider how often God has called, and you have denied him? God has
called earnestly, and for a long time; he has called and called again
in his word, and in his providence, and you have refused. You was not
uneasy for fear you should not show regard enough to his calls. You let
him call as loud and as long as he would; for your part, you had no
leisure to attend to what he said; you had other business to mind; you
had these and those lusts to gratify and please, and worldly concerns
to attend; you could not afford to stand considering of what God had to
say to you. When the ministers of Christ have stood and pleaded with
you, in his name, sabbath after sabbath, and have even spent their
strength in it, how little was you moved! It did not alter you, but you
went on still as you used to do; when you went away, you returned again
to your sins, to your lasciviousness, to your vain mirth, to your
covetousness, to your intemperance, and that has been the language of
your heart and practice, Exodus 5:2. "Who is the Lord, that I should
obey his voice?" Was it no crime for you to refuse to hear when God
called? And yet is it now very hard that God does not hear your earnest
calls, and that though your calling on God be not from any respect to
him, but merely from self-love? The devil would beg as earnestly as
you, if he had any hope to get salvation by it, and a thousand times as
earnestly, and yet be as much of a devil as he is now. Are your calls
more worthy to be heard than God's? Or is God more obliged to regard
what you say to him, than you to regard his commands, counsels, and
invitations to you? What can be more justice than this, Proverbs 1:24,
&c. "Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my
hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel,
and would none of my reproof: I will also laugh at your calamity, I
will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish
cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."
6. Have you not taken encouragement to sin against God, on that very
presumption, that God would show you mercy when you sought it? And may
not God justly refuse you that mercy that you have so presumed upon?
You have flattered yourself, that though you did so, yet God would show
you mercy when you cried earnestly to him for it: how righteous
therefore would it be in God, to disappoint such a wicked presumption!
It was upon that very hope that you dared to affront the majesty of
heaven so dreadfully as you have done; and can you now be so sottish as
to think that God is obliged not to frustrate that hope?
When a sinner takes encouragement to neglect secret prayer which God
has commanded, to gratify his lusts, to live a carnal vain life, to
thwart God, to run upon him, and contemn him to his face, thinking with
himself, "If I do so, God would not damn me; he is a merciful God, and
therefore when I seek his mercy he will bestow it upon me;" must God be
accounted hard because he will not do according to such a sinner's
presumption?
Cannot he be excused from showing such a sinner mercy when he is
pleased to seek it, without incurring the charge of being unjust; if
this be the case, God has no liberty to vindicate his own honour and
majesty; but must lay himself open to all manner of affronts, and yield
himself up to the abuse of vile men, though they disobey, despise, and
dishonour him, as much as they will; and when they have done, his mercy
and pardoning grace must not be in his own power and at his own
disposal, but he must be obliged to dispense it at their call. He must
take these bold and vile contemners of his majesty, when it suits them
to ask it, and must forgive all their sins, and not only so, but must
adopt them into his family, and make them his children, and bestow
eternal glory upon them. What mean, low, and strange thoughts have such
men of God, who think thus of him! Consider, that you have injured God
the more, and have been the worse enemy to him, for his being a
merciful God. So have you treated that attribute of God's mercy! How
just is it therefore that you never should have any benefit of that
attribute!
There is something peculiarly heinous in sinning against the mercy of
God more than other attributes. There is such base and horrid
ingratitude, in being the worse to God because he is a being of
infinite goodness and grace, that it above all things renders
wickedness vile and detestable. This ought to win us, and engage us to
serve God better; but instead of that, to sin against him the more, has
something inexpressibly bad in it, and does in a peculiar manner
enhance guilt, and incense wrath; as seems to be intimated, Romans 2:4,
5. "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and
long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up
unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God."
The greater the mercy of God is, the more should you be engaged to love
him, and live to his glory. But it has been contrariwise with you; the
consideration of the mercies of God being so exceeding great, is the
thing wherewith you have encouraged yourself in sin. You have heard
that the mercy of God was without bounds, that it was sufficient to
pardon the greatest sinner, and you have upon that very account
ventured to be a very great sinner. Though it was very offensive to
God, though you heard that God infinitely hated sin, and that such
practices as you went on in were exceeding contrary to his nature,
will, and glory, yet that did not make you uneasy; you heard that he
was a very merciful God, and had grace enough to pardon you, and so
cared not how offensive your sins were to him. How long have some of
you gone on in sin, and what great sins have some of you been guilty
of, on that presumption! Your own conscience can give testimony to it,
that this has made you refuse God's calls, and has made you regardless
of his repeated commands. Now, how righteous would it be if God should
swear in his wrath, that you should never be the better for his being
infinitely merciful!
Your ingratitude has been the greater, that you have not only abused
the attribute of God's mercy, taking encouragement from it to continue
in sin, but you have also presumed that God would exercise infinite
mercy to you in particular; which consideration should have especially
endeared God to you. You have taken encouragement to sin the more, from
that consideration, that Christ came into the would and died to save
sinners; such thanks has Christ had from you, for enduring such a
tormenting death for his enemies! Now, how justly might God refuse that
you should ever be the better for his Son's laying down his life! It
was because of these things that you put off seeking salvation. You
would take the pleasures of sin still longer, hardening yourself
because mercy was infinite, and it would not be too late, if you sought
it afterwards; now, how justly may God disappoint you in this, and so
order it that it shall be too late!
7. How have some of you risen up against God, and in the frame of your
minds opposed him in his sovereign dispensations! And how justly upon
that account might God oppose you, and set himself against you! You
never yet would submit to God; never willingly comply, that God should
have dominion over the world, and that he should govern it for his own
glory, according to his own wisdom. You, a poor worm, a potsherd, a
broken piece of an earthen vessel, have dared to find fault and quarrel
with God. Isaiah 45:9. "Woe to him that striveth with his Maker. Let
the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth: shall the clay say
to him that fashioned it, What makest thou?" But yet you have ventured
to do it. Romans 9:20. "Who art thou, O man, that repliest against
God?" But yet you have thought you was big enough; you have taken upon
you to call God to an account, why he does thus and thus; you have said
to Jehovah, What dost thou?
If you have been restrained by fear from openly venting your opposition
and enmity of heart against God's government, yet it has been in you;
you have not been quiet in the frame of your mind; you have had the
heart of a viper within, and have been ready to spit your venom at God.
It is well if sometimes you have not actually done it, by tolerating
blasphemous thoughts and malignant risings of heart against him; yea,
and the frame of your heart in some measure appeared in impatient and
fretful behaviour.- Now, seeing you have thus opposed God, how just is
it that God should oppose you! Or is it because you are so much better,
and so much greater than God, that it is a crime for him to make that
opposition against you which you make against him? Do you think that
the liberty of making opposition is your exclusive prerogative, so that
you may be an enemy to God, but God must by no means be an enemy to
you, but must be looked upon under obligation nevertheless to help you,
and save you by his blood, and bestow his best blessings upon you?
Consider how in the frame of your mind you have thwarted God in those
very exercises of mercy towards others that you are seeking for
yourself. God exercising his infinite grace towards your neighbours,
has put you into an ill frame, and it may be, set you into a tumult of
mind. How justly therefore may God refuse ever to exercise that mercy
towards you! Have you not thus opposed God showing mercy to others,
even at the very time when you pretended to be earnest with God for
pity and help for yourself? Yea, and while you was endeavouring to get
something wherewith to recommend yourself to God? And will you look to
God still with a challenge of mercy, and contend with him for it
notwithstanding? Can you who have such a heart, and have thus behaved
yourself, come to God for any other than mere sovereign mercy?
II. If you should for ever be cast off by God, it would be agreeable to
your treatment of Jesus Christ. It would have been just with God if he
had cast you off for ever, without ever making you the offer of a
Saviour. But God hath not done that; he has provided a Saviour for
sinners, and offered him to you, even his own Son Jesus Christ, who is
the only Saviour of men. All that are not for ever cast off are saved
by him. God offers men salvation through him, and has promised us, that
if we come to him, we shall not be cast off. But if you have treated,
and still treat, this Saviour after such a manner, that if you should
be eternally cast off by God, it would be most agreeable to your
behaviour towards him; which appears by this, viz. "That you reject
Christ, and will not have him for your Saviour."
If God offers you a Saviour from deserved punishment, and you will not
receive him, then surely it is just that you should go without a
Saviour. Or is God obliged, because you do not like this Saviour, to
provide you another? He has given an infinitely honourable and glorious
person, even his only begotten Son, to be a sacrifice for sin, and so
provided salvation; and this Saviour is offered to you: now if you
refuse to accept him, is God therefore unjust if he does not save you?
Is he obliged to save you in a way of your own choosing, because you do
not like the way of his choosing? Or will you charge Christ with
injustice because he does not become your Saviour, when at the same
time you will not have him when he offers himself to you, and beseeches
you to accept of him as your Saviour?
I am sensible that by this time many persons are ready to object
against this. If all should speak what they now think, we should hear a
murmuring all over the meeting-house, and one and another would say, "I
cannot see how this can be, that I am not willing that Christ should be
my Saviour, when I would give all the world that he was my Saviour: how
is it possible that I should not be willing to have Christ for my
Saviour when this is what I am seeking after, and praying for, and
striving for, as for my life?"
Here therefore I would endeavour to convince you, that you are under a
gross mistake in this matter. And, First, I would endeavour to show the
grounds of your mistake. And Secondly, To demonstrate to you, that you
have rejected, and do wilfully reject, Jesus Christ.
First, That you may see the weak grounds of your mistake, consider,
1. There is a great deal of difference between a willingness not to be
damned, and a being willing to receive Christ for your Savior. You have
the former; there is no doubt of that: nobody supposes that you love
misery so as to choose an eternity of it; and so doubtless you are
willing to be saved from eternal misery. But that is a very different
thing from being willing to come to Christ: persons very commonly
mistake the one for the other, but they are quite two things. You may
love the deliverance, but hate the deliverer. You tell of a
willingness; but consider what is the object of that willingness. It
does not respect Christ; the way of salvation by him is not at all the
object of it; but it is wholly terminated on your escape from misery.
The inclination of your will goes no further than self, it never
reaches Christ. You are willing not to be miserable; that is, you love
yourself, and there your will and choice terminate. And it is but a
vain pretence and delusion to say or think, that you are willing to
accept of Christ.
2. There is certainly a great deal of difference between a forced
compliance and a free willingness. Force and freedom cannot consist
together. Now that willingness, whereby you think you are willing to
have Christ for a Saviour, is merely a forced thing. Your heart does
not go out after Christ of itself, but you are forced and driven to
seek an interest in him. Christ has no share at all in your heart;
there is no manner of closing of the heart with him. This forced
compliance is not what Christ seeks of you; he seeks a free and willing
acceptance, Psalm 110:3. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power." He seeks not that you should receive him against your will, but
with a free will. He seeks entertainment in your heart and choice.- And
if you refuse thus to receive Christ, how just is it that Christ should
refuse to receive you? How reasonable are Christ's terms, who offers to
save all those that willingly, or with a good will, accept of him for
their Saviour! Who can rationally expect that Christ should force
himself upon any man to be his Saviour? Or what can be looked for more
reasonable, than that all who would be saved by Christ, should heartily
and freely entertain him? And surely it would be very dishonourable for
Christ to offer himself upon lower terms.- But I would now proceed,
Secondly, To show that you are not willing to have Christ for a
Saviour. To convince you of it, consider,
1. How it is possible that you should be willing to accept of Christ as
a Saviour from the desert of a punishment that you are not sensible you
have deserved. If you are truly willing to accept of Christ as a
Saviour, it must be as a sacrifice to make atonement for your guilt.
Christ came into the world on this errand, to offer himself as an
atonement, to answer for our desert of punishment. But how can you be
willing to have Christ for a Saviour from a desert of hell, if you be
not sensible that you have a desert of hell? If you have not really
deserved everlasting burnings in hell, then the very offer of an
atonement for such a desert is an imposition upon you. If you have no
such guilt upon you, then the very offer of a satisfaction for that
guilt is an injury, because it implies in it a charge of guilt that you
are free from. Now therefore it is impossible that a man who is not
convinced of his guilt can be willing to accept of such an offer;
because he cannot be willing to accept the charge which the offer
implies. A man who is not convinced that he has deserved so dreadful a
punishment, cannot willingly submit to be charged with it. If he thinks
he is willing, it is but a mere forced, feigned business; because in
his heart he looks upon himself greatly injured; and therefore he
cannot freely accept of Christ, under that notion of a Saviour from the
desert of such a punishment; for such an acceptance is an implicit
owning that he does deserve such a punishment.
I do not say, but that men may be willing to be saved from an
undeserved punishment; they may rather not suffer it, than suffer it.
But a man cannot be willing to accept one at God's hands, under the
notion of a Saviour from a punishment deserved from him which he thinks
he has not deserved; it is impossible that any one should freely allow
a Saviour under that notion. Such an one cannot like the way of
salvation by Christ; for if he thinks he has not deserved hell, then he
will think that freedom from hell is a debt; and therefore cannot
willingly and heartily receive it as a free gift.- If a king should
condemn a man to some tormenting death, which the condemned person
thought himself not deserving of, but looked upon the sentence as
unjust and cruel, and the king, when the time of execution drew nigh,
should offer him his pardon, under the notion of a very great act of
grace and clemency, the condemned person never could willingly and
heartily allow it under that notion, because he judged himself unjustly
condemned.
Now by this it is evident that you are not willing to accept of Christ
as your Saviour; because you never yet had such a sense of your own
sinfulness, and such a conviction of your great guilt in God 's sight,
as to be indeed convinced that you lay justly condemned to the
punishment of hell. You never was convinced that you had forfeited all
favour, and was in God's hands, and at his sovereign and arbitrary
disposal, to be either destroyed or saved, just as he pleased. You
never yet was convinced of the sovereignty of God. Hence are there so
many objections arising against the justice of your punishment from
original sin, and from God's decree, from mercy shown to others, and
the like.
2. That you are not sincerely willing to accept of Christ as your
Saviour, appears by this, That you never have been convinced that he is
sufficient for the work of your salvation. You never had a sight or
sense of any such excellency or worthiness in Christ, as should give
such great value to his blood and his mediation with God, as that it
was sufficient to be accepted for such exceeding guilty creatures, who
have so provoked God, and exposed themselves to such amazing wrath.
Saying it is so and allowing it be as others say, is a very different
thing from being really convinced of it, and a being made sensible of
it in your own heart. The sufficiency of Christ depends upon, or rather
consists in his excellency. It is because he is so excellent a person
that his blood is of sufficient value to atone for sin, and it is hence
that his obedience is so worthy in God's sight; it is also hence that
his intercession is so prevalent; and therefore those that never had
any spiritual sight or sense of Christ's excellency, cannot be sensible
of his sufficiency.
And that sinners are not convinced that Christ is sufficient for the
work he has undertaken, appears most manifestly when they are under
great convictions of their sin, and danger of God's wrath. Though it
may be before they thought they could allow Christ to be sufficient,
(for it is easy to allow any one to be sufficient for our defense at a
time when we see no danger,) yet when they come to be sensible of their
guilt and God's wrath, what discouraging thoughts do they entertain!
How are they ready to draw towards despair, as if there were no hope or
help for such wicked creatures as they! The reason is, They have no
apprehension or sense of any other way that God's majesty can be
vindicated, but only in their misery. To tell them of the blood of
Christ signifies nothing, it does not relieve their sinking, despairing
hearts. This makes it most evident that they are not convinced that
Christ is sufficient to be their Mediator.- And as long as they are
unconvinced of this, it is impossible they should be willing to accept
of him as their Mediator and Saviour. A man in distressing fear will
not willingly betake himself to a fort that he judges not sufficient to
defend him from the enemy. A man will not willingly venture out into
the ocean in a ship that he suspects is leaky, and will sink before he
gets through his voyage.
3. It is evident that you are not willing to have Christ for your
Saviour, because you have so mean an opinion of him, that you durst not
trust his faithfulness. One that undertakes to be the Saviour of souls
had need be faithful; for if he fails in such a trust, how great is the
loss! But you are not convinced of Christ's faithfulness; as is
evident, because at such times as when you are in a considerable
measure sensible of your guilt and God's anger, you cannot be convinced
that Christ is willing to accept of you, or that he stands ready to
receive you, if you should come to him, though Christ so much invites
you to come to him, and has so fully declared that he will not reject
you, if you do come; as particularly, John 6:37. "Him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out." Now, there is no man can be heartily
willing to trust his eternal welfare in the hands of an unfaithful
person, or one whose faithfulness he suspects.
4. You are not willing to be saved in that way by Christ, as is
evident, because you are not willing that your own goodness should be
set at nought. In the way of salvation by Christ men's own goodness is
wholly set at nought; there is no account at all made of it. Now you
cannot be willing to be saved in a way wherein your own goodness is set
at nought, as is evident, since you make much of it yourself. You make
much of your prayers and pains in religion, and are often thinking of
them; how considerable do they appear to you, when you look back upon
them! And some of you are thinking how much more you have done than
others, and expecting some respect or regard that God should manifest
to what you do. Now, if you make so much of what you do yourself, it is
impossible that you should be freely willing that God should make
nothing of it . As we may see in other things; if a man is proud of a
great estate, or if he values himself much upon his honourable office,
or his great abilities, it is impossible that he should like it, and
heartily approve of it, that others should make light of these things
and despise them.
Seeing therefore it is so evident, that you refuse to accept of Christ
as your Saviour, why is Christ to be blamed that he does not save you?
Christ has offered himself to you, to be your Saviour in time past, and
he continues offering himself still, and you continue to reject him,
and yet complain that he does not save you.- So strangely unreasonable,
and inconsistent with themselves, are gospel sinners!
But I expect there are many of you that still object. Such an objection
as this, is probably now in the hearts of many here present.
Objection. If I am not willing to have Christ for my Saviour, I cannot
make myself willing.- But I would give an answer to this objection by
laying down two things, that must be acknowledged to be exceeding
evident.
1. It is no excuse, that you cannot receive Christ of yourself, unless
you would if you could. This is so evident of itself, that it scarce
needs any proof. Certainly if persons would not if they could, it is
just the same thing as to the blame that lies upon them, whether they
can or cannot. If you were willing, and then found that you could not,
your being unable would alter the case, and might be some excuse;
because then the defect would not be in your will, but only in your
ability. But as long as you will not, it is no matter, whether you have
ability or no ability.
If you are not willing to accept of Christ, it follows that you have no
sincere willingness to be willing; because the will always necessarily
approves of and rests in its own acts. To suppose the contrary, would
be to suppose a contradiction; it would be to suppose that a man's will
is contrary to itself, or that he wills contrary to what he himself
wills. As you are not willing to come to Christ, and cannot make
yourself willing, so you have no sincere desire to be willing; and
therefore may most justly perish without a Saviour. There is no excuse
at all for you; for say what you will about your inability, the seat of
your blame lies in your perverse will, that is an enemy to the Saviour.
It is in vain for you to tell of your want of power, as long as your
will is found defective. If a man should hate you, and smite you in the
face, but should tell you at the same time, that he hated you so much,
that he could not help choosing and willing so to do, would you take it
the more patiently for that? Would not your indignation be rather
stirred up the more?
2. If you would be willing if you could, that is no excuse, unless your
unwillingness to be willing be sincere. That which is hypocritical, and
does not come from the heart, but is merely forced, ought wholly to be
set aside, as worthy of no consideration; because common sense teaches,
that what is not hearty, but hypocritical is indeed nothing, being only
a show of what is not; but that which is good for nothing, ought to go
for nothing. But if you set aside all that is not free, and call
nothing a willingness, but a free hearty willingness, then see how the
case stands, and whether or no you have not lost all your excuse for
standing out against the calls of the gospel. You say you would make
yourself willing to accept if you could; but it is not from any good
principle that you are willing for that. It is not from any free
inclination, or true respect to Christ, or any love to your duty, or
any spirit of obedience. It is not from the influence of any real
respect, or tendency in your heart, towards any thing good, or from any
other principle than such as is in the hearts of devils, and would make
them have the same sort of willingness in the same circumstances. It is
therefore evident, that there can be no goodness in that would be
willing to come to Christ: and that which has no goodness, cannot be an
excuse for any badness. If there be no good in it, then it signifies
nothing, and weighs nothing, when put into the scales to counterbalance
that which is bad.
Sinners therefore spend their time in foolish arguing and objecting,
making much of that which is good for nothing, making those excuses
that are not worth offering. It is in vain to keep making objection.
You stand justly condemned. The blame lies at your door: Thrust it off
from you as often as you will, it will return upon you. Sew fig-leaves
as long as you will, your nakedness will appear. You continue wilfully
and wickedly rejecting Jesus Christ, and will not have him for your
Saviour, and therefore it is sottish madness in you to charge Christ
with injustice that he does not save you.
Here is the sin of unbelief! Thus the guilt of that great sin lies upon
you! If you never had thus treated a Saviour, you might most justly
have been damned to all eternity: it would but be exactly agreeable to
your treatment of God. But besides this, when God, notwithstanding, has
offered you his own dear Son, to save you from this endless misery you
had deserved, and not only so, but to make you happy eternally in the
enjoyment of himself, you have refused him, and would not have him for
your Saviour, and still refuse to comply with the offers of the gospel;
what can render any person more inexcusable? If you should now perish
for ever, what can you have to say?
Hereby the justice of God in your destruction appears in two respects:
1. It is more abundantly manifest that it is just that you should be
destroyed. Justice never appears so conspicuous as it does after
refused and abused mercy. Justice in damnation appears abundantly the
more clear and bright, after a wilful rejection of offered salvation.
What can an offended prince do more than freely offer pardon to a
condemned malefactor? And if he refuses to accept of it, will any one
say that his execution is unjust?
2. God's justice will appear in your greater destruction. Besides the
guilt that you would have had if a Saviour never had been offered, you
bring that great additional guilt upon you, of most ungratefully
refusing offered deliverance. What more base and vile treatment of God
can there be, than for you, when justly condemned to eternal misery,
and ready to be executed, and God graciously sends his own Son, who
comes and knocks at your door with a pardon in his hand, and not only a
pardon, but a deed of eternal glory; I say, what can be worse, than for
you, out of dislike and enmity against God and his Son, to refuse to
accept those benefits at his hands? How justly may the anger of God be
greatly incensed and increased by it! When a sinner thus ungratefully
rejects mercy, his last error is worse than the first; this is more
heinous than all his former rebellion, and may justly bring down more
fearful wrath upon him.
The heinousness of this sin of rejecting a Saviour especially appears
in two things:
1. The greatness of the benefits offered: which appears in the
greatness of the deliverance, which is from inexpressible degrees of
corruption and wickedness of heart and life, the least degree of which
is infinitely evil; and from misery that is everlasting; and in the
greatness and glory of the inheritance purchased and offered. Hebrews
2:3. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation."
2. The wonderfulness of the way in which these benefits are procured
and offered. That God should lay help on his own Son, when our case was
so deplorable that help could be had in no mere creature; and that he
should undertake for us, and should come into the world, and take upon
him our nature, and should not only appear in a low state of life, but
should die such a death, and endure such torments and contempt for
sinners while enemies, how wonderful is it! And what tongue or pen can
set forth the greatness of the ingratitude, baseness, and perverseness
there is in it, when a perishing sinner that is in the most extreme
necessity of salvation, rejects it, after it is procured in such a way
as this! That so glorious a person should be thus treated, and that
when he comes on so gracious an errand! That he should stand so long
offering himself and calling and inviting, as he has done to many of
you, and all to no purpose, but all the while be set at nought! Surely
you might justly be cast into hell without one more offer of a Saviour!
Yea, and thrust down into the lowest hell! Herein you have exceeded the
very devils; for they never rejected the offers of such glorious mercy;
no, nor of any mercy at all. This will be the distinguishing
condemnation of gospel-sinners, John 3:18. "He that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God."- That outward smoothness of your carriage towards
Christ, that appearance of respect to him in your looks, your speeches,
and gestures, do not argue but that you set him at nought in your
heart. There may be much of these outward shows of respect, and yet you
be like Judas, that betrayed the Son of man with a kiss; and like those
mockers that bowed the knee before him, and at the same time spit in
his face.
III. If God should for ever cast you off and destroy you, it would be
agreeable to your treatment of others.- It would be no other than what
would be exactly answerable to your behaviour towards your
fellow-creatures, that have the same human nature, and are naturally in
the same circumstances with you, and that you ought to love as
yourself. And that appears especially in two things.
1. You have many of you been opposite in your spirit to the salvation
of others. There are several ways that natural men manifest a spirit of
opposition against the salvation of souls. It sometimes appears by a
fear that their companions, acquaintances, and equals, will obtain
mercy, and so become unspeakably happier than they. It is sometimes
manifested by an uneasiness at the news of what others have hopefully
obtained. It appears when persons envy others for it, and dislike them
the more, and disrelish their talk, and avoid their company, and cannot
bear to hear their religious discourse, and especially to receive
warnings and counsels from them. And it oftentimes appears by their
backwardness to entertain charitable thoughts of them, and by their
being brought with difficulty to believe that they have obtained mercy,
and a forwardness to listen to any thing that seems to contradict it.
The devil hated to own Job's sincerity, Job 1:7, &c. and chapter 2,
verses 3, 4, 5. There appears very often much of this spirit of the
devil in natural men. Sometimes they are ready to make a ridicule of
others' pretended godliness; they speak of the ground of others' hopes,
as the enemies of the Jews did of the wall that they built. Nehemiah
4:3. "Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, That which they
build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall."
There are many that join with Sanballat and Tobiah, and are of the same
spirit with them. There always was, and always will be, an enmity
betwixt the seed of the serpent and the seed of the women. It appeared
in Cain, who hated his brother, because he was more acceptable to God
than himself; and it appears still in these times, and in this place.
There are many that are like the elder brother, who could not bear that
the prodigal when he returned should be received with such joy and good
entertainment, and was put into a fret by it, both against his brother
that had returned, and his father that had made him so welcome. Luke
15.
Thus have many of you been opposite to the salvation of others, who
stand in as great necessity of it as you. You have been against their
being delivered from everlasting misery, who can bear it no better than
you; not because their salvation would do you any hurt, or their
damnation help you, any otherwise than as it would gratify that vile
spirit that is so much like the spirit of the devil, who, because he is
miserable himself, is unwilling that others should be happy. How just
therefore is it that God should be opposite to your salvation! If you
have so little love or mercy in you as to begrudge your neighbour's
salvation, whom you have no cause to hate, but the law of God and
nature requires you to love, why is God bound to exercise such infinite
love and mercy to you, as to save you at the price of his own blood?
you, whom he is no way bound to love, but who have deserved his hatred
a thousand and a thousand times? You are not willing that others should
be converted, who have behaved themselves injuriously towards you; and
yet, will you count it hard if God does not bestow converting grace
upon you that have deserved ten thousand times as ill of God, as ever
any of your neighbours have of you? You are opposite to God's showing
mercy to those that you think have been vicious persons, and are very
unworthy of such mercy. Is others' unworthiness a just reason why God
should not bestow mercy on them? And yet will God be hard, if,
notwithstanding all your unworthiness, and the abominableness of your
spirit and practice in his sight, he does not show you mercy? You would
have God bestow liberally on you, and upbraid not; but yet when he
shows mercy to others, you are ready to upbraid as soon as you hear of
it; you immediately are thinking with yourself how ill they have
behaved themselves; and it may be your mouths on this occasion are
open, enumerating and aggravating the sins they have been guilty of.
You would have God bury all your faults, and wholly blot out all your
transgressions; but yet if he bestows mercy on others, it may be you
will take that occasion to rake up all their old faults that you can
think of. You do not much reflect on and condemn yourself for your
baseness and unjust spirit towards others, in your opposition to their
salvation; you do not quarrel with yourself, and condemn yourself for
this; but yet you in your heart will quarrel with God, and fret at his
dispensations, because you think he seems opposite to showing mercy to
you. One would think that the consideration of these things should for
ever stop your mouth.
2. Consider how you have promoted others' damnation. Many of you, by
the bad examples you have set, by corrupting the minds of others, by
your sinful conversation, by leading them into or strengthening them in
sin, and by the mischief you have done in human society other ways that
might be mentioned, have been guilty of those things that have tended
to others' damnation. You have heretofore appeared on the side of sin
and Satan, and have strengthened their interest, and have been many
ways accessary to others' sins, have hardened their hearts, and thereby
have done what has tended to the ruin of their souls.- Without doubt
there are those here present who have been in a great measure the means
of others' damnation. One man may really be a means of others'
damnation as well as salvation. Christ charges the scribes and
Pharisees with this, Matthew 23:13. "Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them
that are entering, to go in." We have no reason to think that this
congregation has none in it who are cursed from day to day by poor
souls that are roaring out in hell, whose damnation they have been the
means of, or have greatly contributed to.- There are many who
contribute to their own children's damnation, by neglecting their
education, by setting them bad examples, and bringing them up in sinful
ways. They take some care of their bodies, but take little care of
their poor souls; they provide for them bread to eat, but deny them the
bread of life, that their famishing souls stand in need of. And are
there no such parents here who have thus treated their children? If
their children be not gone to hell, no thanks to them; it is not
because they have not done what has tended to their destruction. Seeing
therefore you have had no more regard to others' salvation, and have
promoted their damnation, how justly might God leave you to perish
yourself!
IV. If God should eternally cast you off, it would but be agreeable to
your own behaviour towards yourself; and that in two respects:
1. In being so careless of your own salvation. You have refused to take
care for your salvation, as God has counselled and commanded you from
time to time; and why may not God neglect it, now you seek it of him?
Is God obliged to be more careful of your happiness, than you are
either of your own happiness or his glory? Is God bound to take that
care for you, out of love to you, that you will not take for yourself,
either from love to yourself, or regard to his authority? How long, and
how greatly, have you neglected the welfare of your precious soul,
refusing to take pains and deny yourself, or put yourself a little out
of your way for your salvation, while God has been calling upon you!
Neither your duty to God, nor love to your own soul, were enough to
induce you to do little things for your own eternal welfare; and yet do
you now expect that God should do great things, putting forth almighty
power, and exercising infinite mercy for it? You was urged to take care
for your salvation, and not to put it off. You was told that was the
best time before you grew older, and that it might be, if you would put
it off, God would not hear you afterwards; but yet you would not
hearken; you would run the venture of it. Now how justly might God
order it so, that it should be too late, leaving you to seek in vain!
You was told, that you would repent of it if you delayed; but you would
not hear: how justly therefore may God give you cause to repent of it,
by refusing to show you mercy now! If God sees you going on in ways
contrary to his commands and his glory, and requires you to forsake
them, and tells you that they tend to the destruction of your own soul,
and therefore counsels you to avoid them, and you refuse; how just
would it be if God should be provoked by it, henceforward to be as
careless of the good of your soul as you are yourself!
2. You have not only neglected your salvation, but you have wilfully
taken direct courses to undo yourself. You have gone on in those ways
and practices which have directly tended to your damnation, and have
been perverse and obstinate it. You cannot plead ignorance; you had all
the light set before you that you could desire. God told you that you
was undoing yourself; but yet you would do it. He told you that the
path you was going in led to destruction, and counselled you to avoid
it; but you would not hearken. How justly therefore may God leave you
to be undone! You have obstinately persisted to travel in the way that
leads to hell for a long time, contrary to God's continual counsels and
commands, till it may be at length you are got almost to your journey's
end, and are come near to hell's gate, and so begin to be sensible of
your danger and misery; and not account it unjust and hard if God will
not deliver you! You have destroyed yourself, and destroyed yourself
wilfully, contrary to God's repeated counsels, yea, and destroyed
yourself in fighting against God. Now therefore, why do you blame any
but yourself if you are destroyed? If you will undo yourself in
opposing God, and while God opposes you by his calls and counsels, and,
it may be too, by the convictions of his Spirit, what can you object
against it, if God now leaves you to be undone? You would have your own
way, and did not like that God should oppose you in it, and your way
was to ruin your own soul; how just therefore is it, if, now at length,
God ceases to oppose you, and falls in with you, and lets your soul be
ruined; and as you would destroy yourself, so should put to his hand to
destroy you too! The ways you went on in had a natural tendency to your
misery: if you would drink poison in opposition to God, and in contempt
of him and his advice, who can you blame but yourself if you are
poisoned, and so perish? If you would run into the fire against all
restraints both of God's mercy and authority, you must even blame
yourself if you are burnt.
Thus I have proposed some things to your consideration, which, if you
are not exceeding blind, senseless, and perverse, will stop your mouth,
and convince you that you stand justly condemned before God; and that
he would in no wise deal hardly with you, but altogether justly, in
denying you any mercy, and in refusing to hear your prayers, though you
pray never so earnestly, and never so often, and continue in it never
so long. God may utterly disregard your tears and moans, your heavy
heart, your earnest desires, and great endeavours; and he may cast you
into eternal destruction, without any regard to your welfare, denying
you converting grace, and giving you over to Satan, and at last cast
you into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, to be there to
eternity, having no rest day or night, for ever glorifying his justice
upon you in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb.
Objection. But here many may still object, (for I am sensible it is a
hard thing to stop sinners' mouths,) "God shows mercy to others that
have done these things as well as I, yea, that have done a great deal
worse than I."
Answer. 1. That does not prove that God is any way bound to show mercy
to you, or them either. If God bestows it on others, he does not so
because he is bound to bestow it: he might if he had pleased, with
glorious justice, have denied it them. If God bestows it on some, that
does not prove that he is bound to bestow it on any; and if he is bound
to bestow it on none, then he is not bound to bestow it on you. God is
in debt to none; and if he gives to some that he is not in debt to,
because it is his pleasure, that does not bring him into debt to
others. It alters not the case as to you, whether others have it, or
have it not: you do not deserve damnation the less, than if mercy never
had been bestowed on any at all. Matthew 20:15. "Is thine eye evil,
because mine is good?"
2. If this objection be good, then the exercise of God's mercy is not
in his own right, and his grace is not his own to give. That which God
may not dispose of as he pleases, is not his own; for that which is
one's own, is at his own disposal: but if it be not God's own, then he
is not capable of making a gift or present of it to any one; it is
impossible to give what is a debt.- What is it that you would make of
God? Must the great God be tied up, that he must not use his own
pleasure in bestowing his own gifts, but if he bestows them on one,
must be looked upon obliged to bestow them on another? Is not God
worthy to have the same right, with respect to the gifts of his grace,
that a man has to his money or goods? Is it because God is not so
great, and should be more in subjection than man, that this cannot be
allowed him? If any of you see cause to show kindness to a neighbour,
do all the rest of your neighbours come to you, and tell you, that you
owe them so much as you have given to such a man? But this is the way
that you deal with God, as though God were not worthy to have as
absolute a property in his goods, as you have in yours.
At this rate God cannot make a present of any thing; he has nothing of
his own to bestow: if he has a mind to show peculiar favour to some, or
to lay some particular persons under peculiar obligations to him, he
cannot do it; because he has no special gift at his own disposal. If
this be the case, why do you pray to God to bestow saving grace upon
you? If God does not do fairly to deny it you, because he bestows it on
others, then it is not worth your while to pray for it, but you may go
and tell him that he has bestowed it on others as bad or worse than
you, and so demand it of him as a debt. And at this rate persons never
need to thank God for salvation, when it is bestowed; for what occasion
is there to thank God for that which was not at his own disposal, and
that he could not fairly have denied? The thing at bottom is, that men
have low thoughts of God, and high thoughts of themselves; and
therefore it is that they look upon God as having so little right, and
they so much. Matthew 20:15. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will
with mine own?"
3. God may justly show greater respect to others than to you, for you
have shown greater respect to others than to God. You have rather
chosen to offend God than men. God only shows a greater respect to
others, who are by nature your equals, than to you; but you have shown
a greater respect to those that are infinitely inferior to God than to
him. You have shown a greater regard to wicked men than to God; you
have honoured them more, loved them better, and adhered to them rather
than to him. Yea, you have honoured the devil, in many respects, more
than God: you have chosen his will and his interest, rather than God's
will and his glory: you have chosen a little worldly pelf, rather than
God: you have set more by a vile lust than by him: you have chosen
these things, and rejected God. You have set your heart on these
things, and cast God behind your back: and where is the injustice if
God is pleased to show greater respect to others than to you, or if he
chooses others and rejects you? You have shown greater respect to vile
and worthless things, and no respect to God's glory; and why may not
God set his love on others, and have no respect to your happiness? You
have shown great respect to others, and not to God, whom you are laid
under infinite obligations to respect above all; and why may not God
show respect to others, and not to you, who never have laid him under
the least obligation?
And will you not be ashamed, notwithstanding all these things, still to
open your mouth, to object and cavil about the decrees of God, and
other things that you cannot fully understand. Let the decrees of God
be what they will, that alters not the case as to your liberty, any
more than if God had only foreknown. And why is God to blame for
decreeing things? Especially since he decrees nothing but good. How
unbecoming an infinitely wise Being would it have been to have made a
world, and let things run at random, without disposing events, or
fore-ordering how they should come to pass? And what is that to you,
how God has fore-ordered things, as long as your constant experience
teaches you, that it does not hinder your doing what you choose to do.
This you know, and your daily practice and behaviour amongst men
declares that you are fully sensible of it with respect to yourself and
others. Still to object, because there are some things in God's
dispensations above your understanding, is exceedingly unreasonable.
Your own conscience charges you with great guilt, and with those things
that have been mentioned, let the secret things of God be what they
will. Your conscience charges you with those vile dispositions, and
that base behaviour towards God, that you would at any time most highly
resent in your neighbour towards you, and that not a whit the less for
any concern those secret counsels and mysterious dispensations of God
may have in the matter. It is in vain for you to exalt yourself against
an infinitely great, and holy, and just God. If you continue in it, it
will be to your eternal shame and confusion, when hereafter you shall
see at whose door all the blame of your misery lies.
I will finish what I have to say to natural men in the application of
this doctrine, with a caution not to improve the doctrine to
discouragement. For though it would be righteous in God for ever to
cast you off, and destroy you, yet it would also be just in God to save
you, in and through Christ, who has made complete satisfaction for all
sin. Romans 3:25, 26. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to
declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just,
and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Yea, God may,
through this Mediator, not only justly, but honourably, show you mercy.
The blood of Christ is so precious, that it is fully sufficient to pay
the debt you have contracted, and perfectly to vindicate the Divine
Majesty from all the dishonour cast upon it, by these many great sins
of yours that have been mentioned. It was as great, and indeed a much
greater thing, for Christ to die, than it would have been for you and
all mankind to have burnt in hell to all eternity. Of such dignity and
excellency is Christ in the eyes of God, that, seeing he has suffered
so much for poor sinners, God is willing to be at peace with them,
however vile and unworthy they have been, and on how many accounts
soever the punishment would be just. So that you need not be at all
discouraged from seeking mercy, for there is enough in Christ.
Indeed it would not become the glory of God's majesty to show mercy to
you, so sinful and vile a creature, for any thing that you have done;
for such worthless and despicable things as your prayers, and other
religious performances. It would be very dishonourable and unworthy of
God so to do, and it is in vain to expect it. He will show mercy only
on Christ's account; and that, according to his sovereign pleasure, on
whom he pleases, when he pleases, and in what manner he pleases. You
cannot bring him under obligation by your works; do what you will, he
will not look on himself obliged. But if it be his pleasure, he can
honourably show mercy through Christ to any sinner of you all, not one
in this congregation excepted.- Therefore here is encouragement for you
still to seek and wait, notwithstanding all your wickedness; agreeable
to Samuel's speech to the children of Israel, when they were terrified
with the thunder and rain that God sent, and when guilt stared them in
the face, 1 Samuel 12:20. "Fear not; ye have done all this wickedness;
yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all
your heart."
I would conclude this discourse by putting the godly in mind of the
freeness and wonderfulness of the grace of God towards them. For such
were the same of you.- The case was just so with you as you have heard;
you had such a wicked heart, you lived such a wicked life, and it would
have been most just with God for ever to have cast you off: but he has
had mercy upon you; he hath made his glorious grace appear in your
everlasting salvation. You had no love to God; but yet he has exercised
unspeakable love to you. You have contemned God, and set light by him:
but so great a value has God's grace set on you and your happiness,
that you have been redeemed at the price of the blood of his own Son.
You chose to be with Satan in his service; but yet God hath made you a
joint heir with Christ of his glory. You was ungrateful for past
mercies; yet God not only continued those mercies, but bestowed
unspeakably greater mercies upon you. You refused to hear when God
called; yet God heard you when you called. You abused the infiniteness
of God's mercy to encourage yourself in sin against him; yet God has
manifested the infiniteness of that mercy, in the exercises of it
towards you. You have rejected Christ, and set him at nought; and yet
he is become your Saviour. You have neglected your own salvation; but
God has not neglected it. You have destroyed yourself; but yet in God
has been your help. God has magnified his free grace towards you, and
not to others; because he has chosen you, and it hath pleased him to
set his love upon you.
O! what cause is here for praise! What obligations you are under to
bless the Lord who hath dealt bountifully with you, and magnify his
holy name! What cause for you to praise God in humility, to walk humbly
before him. Ezekiel 16:63. "That thou mayest remember and be
confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame,
when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the
Lord God!" You shall never open your mouth in boasting, or
self-justification; but lie the lower before God for his mercy to you.
You have reason, the more abundantly, to open your mouth in God's
praises, that they may be continually in your mouth, both here and to
all eternity, for his rich, unspeakable, and sovereign mercy to you,
whereby he, and he alone, hath made you to differ from others.
