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God-head, in a direct contrariety to it, making his glory itself a fire upon it. The same principle and power which in heavenly bodies is a glorious light, in earthly bodies is a raging, consuming fire; so is the God-head a delightful light in itself, and to all good spirits, but to sinful man a devouring fire. O, sinner, what will become of thee, when God shall thus break forth upon thee in the naked appearance of his wrath, and what a dreadful estate art thou in, whilst in thy natural state; thou art but as so much fuel, so much dry stuble for this wrath to kindle upon thee, and consume thee. O fly from this wrath: that love, that pure love which kindles this wrath at last upon thy final provoking it, is every moment ready to receive thee, and prevent it.

power of thy wrath, who knows these evils beyond every name of evil, that is named in this life of sickness, melancholy, and horrors, which the anger of God is able to bring forth, as twenty several shillings lie together with advantage in one twenty shilling piece of gold, and that in a more precious metal, so all particular evils that are scattered through earth and hell, they all lie wrapt up together, summed up in one head in the wrath of God, and that in a more eminent way, in an higher nature. 2dly. There is an immediate, a naked presence in the wrath of God, to give a weight to it; some divines, as I remember, express hell after this manner, all diseases, pains, griefs; here are evils by a weak tincture only of divine wrath, a little drop of wrath mingling itself with them; hell is pure wrath. Hell Obj. But sinners may say to me, what do is the abstract of wrath, the evil of diseases, you mean to terrify us thus, by telling us we pains, and griefs abstracted from them and are in a state of wrath, and that the wrath of heightened to the utmost. I have no curiosi- God abides in us? For our parts, we feel noty about this matter, but as all the joys in the thing of all this you have said, and will not creatures are a weak tincture, a weak glance trouble ourselves about such bugbears and of divine love, like the sun shining upon the hobgoblins as you have been endeavouring to water, a weak touch of divine love, like the fright us with. And indeed, who is there rays of the sun-beams reflected in a burning among all the natural and carnal men in the glass, as the same person expresses it; but in world that will believe this report before they God, in Christ, all good, all beauty, all sweetess feel it, and how few are they that feel it be is to be found in an infinite purity without before it be too late? Take therefore these few ing alloyed, or limited by any mixture. In such a manner may all evil be in the wrath of God. They tell us again, that God puts forth his strength to uphold the miserable wretches in hell under their torments, else they were un-mented him. Thy life in this world is an able to bear them. Admitting the one, the other must be true. That God himself puts forth himself immediately and naked upon them, at once to torment them, and also to sustain them for their torments, I understood no more of this, but in order to a refining; and let God take his own methods for doing that, I am sure the almightiness of love and goodness cannot eternally exact such an infinite power to sustain his own offspring in

eternal torments.

We read, Isa. xxx. 33: "Tophet is prepared of old," &c. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it; the breath or the spirit of the Lord is the Lord in his spiritual and naked appearance, coming forth in that appearance to torment a soul. This gives me a purer notion than the vulgar ones of the torments of hell; and this gives me also a hope that that breath which kindles that torment will blow it out. When an angel only appeared as a friend and to a great prophet, to the prophet Daniel, yet he was not able to bear the presence. O! whither, poor sinner, wilt thou sink, what will become of thee, when God himself shall appear nakedly, and immediately upon thee, in the fulness of his God-head, and that as an enemy in the greatest contrariety to thee, at the highest enmity against thee as can be? O! who can express the riches of the joy and glory of those spirits, upon whom God shall appear immediately and nakedly as a friend, as a lover in union with them? And who can express those pangs, those horrors, those unspeakable and nameless things which that poor soul must then sink under, upon whom the same God shall appear with the same nakedness of his

accounts of their insensibleness.

1. You read in 1 Sam. xvi. 23, that when David took his harp and played upon it, Saul had some ease from that evil spirit which tor

harp, which, while it is played upon, it entertains thee, diverts thee, and takes off from thee the sense of that wrath which thou liest under, and which abides upon thy soul. But alas, for all this, thy condition in this respect is no better than the devil's; for although he be bound up in chains of darkness, yet hath he leave to go up and down upon the face of this earth, carrying his chains with him: he hath liberty to enjoy the light of this world, and this is some mitigation to his torment, and therefore in the story of the possessed man, when Christ came to dispossess him, the devil first cries out, " art thou come to torment us before our time?" to cast us from the face of the earth, where we have some relief to our torments, and so shut us up in the bottomless pit, Mat. viii. 29. before the great and the last day. And the same devil beseeches Jesus Christ that he would not send them out of the country, but that he would let them enter into the swine, rather than not live upon the earth at all. Thus thou and the devil are both in one condition in this respect. The noise of vain delights in this worldly life, doth for a while drown and lay asleep the miserable sense of the sorrows of that state, of the sin and wrath under which thy soul lies, and this is a great device of the devil upon thee, and there wants nothing but the breaking up of the charms, and the dissolving of the enchantment of a seeming false life; there wants nothing but the opening of thy eyes, which may happen every moment, and thou art in hell, as is said of Dives; the charms, the sorceries of a false seeming life suffer thee not to have any sense of this thy state that as a bird of wings thou mayest dy from it; but when thy eyes come

to be opened the charms are broken, the sorceries are dissolved, the false seeming life is fled away; now by dismal experience thou findest sin to be a knot of devils twining about thy whole body and spirit, fixing in every part their venomous and burning stings, filling all with the fire of hell.

2. Let wicked persons do all they can to dissemble this matter, yet they are not without sharp pangs, and quick feelings of their dreadful state. Sinner, I appeal to the secret of thy own bosom, what means that horrid darkness which surrounds thy soul continually, which shuts out from thee the light of God, and a comfortable eternity? What means that worm of fear and anxiety which is continually at thy heart, in the midst of all thy pleasures? What means those strugglings and agitations of spirit, those dividings and sinkings of souls, as on a tempestuous sea, as the length of a bottomless gulf without any harbour to receive thee, without any bed in thy spirits on which thou mayest cast thyself and rest? Art thou not, whether thou wilt or not, afraid of God? and is there not a terror in thy soul as often as thou thinkest of him; and when he at any time thrusts himself into thy thoughts, is it not with thee as it was with Felix? Acts xxiv. 23: "and as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, Felix trembled."

3. In the 2 Cor. iv. 4, St. Paul tells us: "If his gospel be hid, it is hid from them which are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Thy insensibleness then of the fearful condition thou art in, is, O sinner, the greatest part of thy misery, and the greatest design of the devil upon thee is to blind thine eyes and harden thy heart against the sight and sense of the light of the divine beauty, and the glory of the God-head, shining in the heavenly and eternal person of Christ. He blinds thine eyes and hardens thy heart to the sight and sense of that wrath thou art under, that so thou mayest be absolutely lost until the final recovery.

In the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that Gehenna of the Jews, that Tophet, you read that the idolatrous parents came and put their children into the arms of the brass image, and then kindled a fire upon it and offered them up as a sacrifice by fire to Moloch! and whilst the poor infants and children were there lamenta. bly consuming in the arms of the idol image, the drums did beat perpetually to drown the noise of their screechings, lest their parents, hearing their cries, should be moved with compassion and save them before they were quite consumed. Thus, O sinner, Satan deals with thee; he hath shut up thy soul, fast in the brazen arms of a spiritual death and wrath; but whilst thou art in this world, there is some possibility, some hope of thy being saved from this death and wrath, of thy flying from this wrath, and escaping if thou art once made sensible of it. The devil to prevent this, beats up the drums of all worldly pleasure, pomps and entertainments continually upon thee, filling all thy senses with the sound of vanity, of fleshly impressions and pleasure, that so he might drown in thy spirit the sense of that death and wrath in which thy soul is

the stage of this world; then he thinks he is sure of thee, and that thou art lost for ever. But he knows not the after-counsel of God, and not only he, but perhaps the angels in heaven do not yet know it. And now as Adam when once he had fallen, had his eyes open to see from whence and whither he was fallen: so now thy soul is lost and past recovery, as the blind devil thinks. The devil of himself makes haste to open thine eyes, and give thee tender senses, that thou mayest inwardly have the sharpest feeling of that death and wrath which all this while hath lain upon thee.

God himself, who best knows the spirits of poor men, tells the wicked men, Isa. lvii. 20, 21, that "they are like a troubled sea which cannot rest, and there is no peace to the wicked." Let wicked men strive never so much to make themselves deaf to conscience, yet it is not in their power, as one speaks, to make conscience dumb to them; every sinner hath that in his own breast which is still accusing, convicting and condemning him: for there is in every man a light, either shining or burning, refreshing or tormenting him, according to his actions; a witness which is not to be re-consuming until he hath hurried thee off from proached or contradicted; a judge which is not to be bribed, an executioner which cannot be resisted. I appeal to all sinners, whether their own spirits are not as a den of lions, bears, and wolves, within the midst of all their jollity without? I appeal to them, whether their mirth be not a forced, a necessitous thing to prevent and anticipate their sad, dark, and melancholy thoughts, like a poor man that is not easy at home, and therefore abandons himself to ill courses abroad? I appeal to them, whether they are not often afraid of themselves, and their own shadows? whether they are not filled with shame, confusion, griefs, affrights, distractions, and despairs? O my friends, think of this dreadful scripWhether their very rose buds are not as so ture: "if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that many briars and thorns, burning their hearts, are lost, in whom the God of this world hath their flesh, their souls? Whether their very blinded the minds of them that believe not, joys and pleasures, are not so many torment-lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, ing as well as tempting forms of things? who is the image of God, should shine into Whether in the heights of all their delights, them." they are without their sharp pangs? Are not these things irresistible symptoms of that sense which sinners more or less continually carry about in their bosoms of that dreadful state of wrath which they do feel themselves to be in, or are at least afraid they are?

I beseech you here to take notice of two things which I will only mention:

1. The devil's grand design and end, and that is to blind your mind. To what? To the image of God. To what image of God? To the spiritual and heavenly image of God,

which is in the person of Christ. This is his grand design and end, to blind your minds that you should not see that spiritual image of God which is in the person of Christ, lest the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face or person of Christ should shine into your heart and destroy his kingdom; for there needs no more to the undoing of a cheat and impostor than a discovery.

2. Observe here the devil's highway to accomplish his grand design and end; and this is the world; he makes use of his power and prerogative, as he is God of this world. There is then another inferior image of God, beside this spiritual image of God in Christ, and this is the world, or the creation. Jesus Christ is the essential increated image of God; this world is a shadowy and created image of him and divides itself into several images.

There is the sensual image, which consists of the pleasant, the beautiful, the glorious things of the earth here below.

There is the celestial image which is made up of sun, moon, and stars, and their bright and potent bodies above.

There is the rational, the intellectual, the angelical image, which consists in the invisible things, in the intellectual pleasures and perfections of this world, in the principles and powers and sweetnesses of this creation. Now the devil makes use of all these, or any of these, to set them before your eyes instead of Jesus Christ, and so to blind you, that you should never look farther to that supreme and heavenly image, to that original glory which is Jesus Christ himself.

The devil, as the god of this world and the father of lies, clothes himself with this worldly image of things, either in the visible, in the sensual, in the rational, intellectual, or angelical parts of it; and thus he blinds your mind, draws your soul down into his own foul and hellish embraces, and so fills your spirit with the filthy and polluted images of this world, that you are insensible of your own wretched condition, and incapable of taking in the light of heavenly beauties which shines from the face or person of Christ. He sets before your understanding the sensual image of earthly created things in their brightest beauty and sweetest pleasure, and if he can fix this upon your souls instead of Jesus Christ, and make you to settle here, he satisfies himself, he destroys your souls with the less cost and trouble. But if you are yet restless in the midst of all the beauties and pleasures of sense, he will cover his hook and catch your souls with a bait of rational and intellectual pleasures, and persuade you to think that you have here what should satisfy the better inclination of your souls. If he cannot here stop the unquiet and restless powers of your souls, he will then carry you up to the invisible glories of this world, he will make you taste of the invisible powers of it, in all the moral, literal, and angelical powers of it, and now he will persuade you that you are without doubt in a good condition. He will present those invisible and angelical images of this world before you in such a glory, and counterfeit resemblance of Jesus

Christ, that if your heart be taken with any thing of the creature, you will cast your souls now into the arms of it, and cry out, certainly the altar of the Lord is before us. And this is the devil's strong delusion; and thus are ye in continual danger, and under the power of his delusion, whilst your hearts cleave to any part of this creation whatsoever it be.

I beseech you, according to this method of the devil, and this way of his delusion, to learn the true reason of your insensibleness of your own condition, and of the excellencies of Christ; it is because the God of this world hath blinded your eyes, that you should not see the dreadfulness of one, and the glory of the other; and if ye continue thus in this blindness, it is because you are to perish with this world and the God of it. Till the God of this world and the master of the devil save it and him.

God at the beginning did set up the image of his own beauties in the creation; the devil at the fall, did set up this image instead of the true beauties, so it became of an image an idol, a representation, a rebellion.

Thus the devil hath persuaded and deluded you to fix your affections upon that shadowy image, instead of Jesus Christ the true image, and so fight against Christ in the defence of that.

Hear this all ye souls that have any sense of your wretched condition, and no discerning of, no desire after Christ.

The devil as the God of this world, and the father of lies, hath presented himself be fore you, in all the delightful forms and images of things, making you believe that these empty flying shadows are the true riches, the only realities, the only substance, and that Jesus Christ, the heavenly image of God, is but a pleasant fancy and fiction. Through this created image of things, the devil pours forth himself, his filthy lusts, his false loves: thus the God of this world hath wed you in a counterfeit shape of false beauties, sweet nesses, glories, powers, and joys. Thus the father of lies hath deceived and possessed your souls, and made them his strumpets, upon which he continually begets young devils, false forms of things, which you kiss and dandle upon your knee, and play and sport yourself with, stopping your ears to all the alarms and music of the preacher, who would waken you into a sense of your miserable condition, and open to you, that by these dalliances you suck in the poison and fire of hell, and of all the devils into all your veins. I beseech sinners to consider seriously of this matter in their retirement, and to think assuredly, as often as this world attracts you, in any image of it, in its visible excellencies, and in its invisible powers, that the devil is now casting you into an enchanting sleep, and in your sleep deluding you with false dreams. That as often as this world presents itself to you in any of its beautiful and pleasant forms, you are as a man to whom this present world presents herself as a woman, with all the advantages of wisdom, loveliness, extraordinary skill and power to work wonderful things, and she offers herself to this man to be his spouse; but all this while, this woman is a witch, a sorceress, an

apparition from hell; think assuredly with yourself, that all these worldly images of things are the cup of the devil, that all the fleshly lusts, the false loves that we drink in so greedily from this cup, are but the poisons given us from the devil, the very spirit of hell, and of all the devils; this is the spirit that makes hell to be hell, and all the evil spirits to be devils. Think assuredly with yourselves that this world in all the parts of it is the devil's mouth, by which he woos and solicits you into his embraces; that while you court and kiss your harlots and strumpets, your idols of gold and silver, of worldly wisdom and power, these earthly and fleshly images of things, this world and the lusts thereof, the delusive objects of this world in their vain and vile pleasures, profits and delights, you kiss the mouth of the devil and are kissed by him, you embrace him and are embraced by him; and that by these kisses and embraces he invisibly and insensibly breathes his own spirit into you, the spirit of darkness, ignorance, blindness and unbelief; the spirit of lust, passions, wrath and uncleaness; the spirit of vain, false, hellish loves, lulling you thus asleep, and benumbing all your senses, that you apprehend not the danger you are in. Think assuredly with yourselves, that this spirit is indeed a stream of brimstone, of devouring flames, of anguish and torment, and your bodies and spirits will burn unquenchably and endlessly while this spirit lasteth in you, until God refine you out of it.

Think with yourselves how soon this bed of filth, shame, and security, into which the devil hath allured you, will be changed into a bed of fire and flame. How soon the devil, who now woos you as a great prince, and gains you as the god of this world, in these counterfeit shapes of false beauty and sweetness, will break forth upon you in his own shape, as he thinks, of endless terrors and horrors; and though God will defeat his thoughts, yet do not you venture to try. You are now so fondly pursuing the joys of the creature, that you can hear and think of nothing else.

But the time will quickly come when all the joys of the creature will vanish in the smoke and fire of the bottomless pit; and the God of this world, who is now pouring out his false loves and filthy lusts into your hearts through all these joys of the creature, will cast off his angelical, his god-like form, and appear in his own form to torment you, until God, which God knows when, will release you and him.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The last scripture I shall mention is Rom. v. 20, 21: "Moreover the law entered, that the of fence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord."

THE very face and complexion of this scripture, and much more the inward sense of it, gives me very comfortable assurances of my

hypothesis. Every word is here fraught with a great and rich treasure of divine sense and sweetness. I will not enlarge upon this text, but only take notice of four words in it, and leave the ingenuous and candid reader to make the application of it in my stead.

1. The first word, the law came in. The Greek word is raps, the law entered subintravit, it came in by the by, in the way, and under something else as subordinate and subservient to it.

The great, the principal, the universal design in the counsel of God, which runs along and spreads itself over all, through all, from eternity, is grace and love. This divine grace and love, is that design from which all things are constituted, to which all things serve, in which God beginneth and endeth all his counsels, all his works, and in which he eternally resteth. In the current and stream of this design, in the course of this contrivance, the law is brought in, together with sin and death, not for their own sakes, but to serve and heighten the chief design, as subservient to it, to set off and heighten the grand divine contrivance of divine love and grace, to be to it like a foil well placed beneath a rich diamond, or as a black ground skilfully laid for a beautiful picture. That comes in like that part in a dramatic poem which we call Desis, the tying of the knot; that the other part which we call Lusis, the untying of the knot, may be more surprising and delightful.

Sin reigns unto death, but sin and death comes in by the law. The law together with these comes in, in the way and passage of the grand design, which is the reign of free grace, of divine love, by that divine righteousness unto eternal life.

2. The second word is where; where sin abounded, grace did superabound. O, what a ground of faith to the most doubting and despairing sinner! O, what a sweet consolation to the most weary and heavey laden soul! O, what a hidden ground of hope, for the greatest, the worst, the most undone sinner is here! No presence, no prevalency or predominancy of any sin can be a bar to the grace of God; yea, rather (bear it who can) great sins are arguments of greater grace. God himself saith, where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded. It is no matter what thou sayest, or any sinner, or what the devil saith against thee and them; God hath said thus, say thou also, here in this soul of mine sin hath abounded; then draw the conclusion in the form of a prayer, and say, be it unto me according to thy word; here in this soul of mine, sin hath abounded, let thy grace much more abound. Thou canst not make this prayer unless the spirit of God help thee. Will not that God, that spirit, which makes this prayer for thee, make it sooner or later for all his poor creatures; for thou couldst not make it without that spirit, nor can they do it without it. So we read, the Psalmist saith: "O thou that hearest the prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." When did you make a prayer that you could call the prayer above all other? I then say that 'Christ is the prayer for us all, as the Dutch

annotations upon the Bible, do render that text; and so he is sooner or later, the prayer that God makes for us all to him, that he might see the fruit of his sacrifice for all he offered up himself for.

If this text be true that I am upon, it gives us hopes, that wherever sin hath abounded most, grace shall at last, and in God's due season, superabound.

and lie down over the greatest part of the works of his hands? Shall he who com mands us "not to be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good," not overcome at last all the evil in us? Sure I am, God can never cease to be good, till he ceases to be God. To this goodness I have faith to resign all things.

so shall grace reign." As, here maketh it not a comparison in the proportion and measure of the reign of these two kings; for the fore

of grace doth transcend the kingdom of sin and death in the height of power and sovereignty beyond all comparison and proportion. The comparison then is in the certainty of the reign of this king, grace to all its subjects, and then must be over all, unless a greater king can rise up against it and subdue this God and grace.

4. The fourth word is, as sin. Here we 3. And there is the third word in this scrip- have a parallel between the reign of two great ture I would take notice of, grace hath super-kings; "As sin hath reigned unto death, even abounded, hath abounded much more; it is a compound word; the simple word signifies to exalt, to excel, to transcend, to abound, to overflow. The word added to it adds a tran-going word makes it plain that the kingdom scendency to that transcendency, a vast admirable super-abounding grace, as one expresseth it, above all measure, above all comparison. The grace of God abounds above all sin, where sin hath most of all abounded, as the waters in the deluge, as one speaks, increased until they covered the tops of the highest mountains. The grace of God abounds above all measure or expression, all conception, all comprehension. It abounds above all things, above all names and thoughts of excellency, or transcendency, until it swallow up all with a most delightful admiration into itself. We have another compound word to this purpose, 1 Tim. i. 14, 15, where the apostle saith, "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me Jesus Christ first might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should come after to believe on him to everlasting life." The grace of God was exceeding abundant, vi var, and I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ might show forth all long-suffering. A first supposes a second, and a second a third, and so on without number; and whom in this case will not God first or last take in? "And I obtained mercy,” for a pattern, iTunлw, for a type; as Paul was here typical of the chiefest of sinners that should come after him. God hath in his case provided against the despair of the greatest sinners in all succeeding times. It is as if he had said, let no sinner after my obtaining mercy despair of God's grace.

Who dare? who can set bounds to this unbounded, this unlimited, this uncontrollable, this superabounding grace? If this grace be super-abounded by the creature's sin and misery, how doth this grace demand the glory of super-abounding-and of superabounding where sin hath abounded! If sin super-abounds over this grace;-if this grace leave sin and death reigning over the greatest part of mankind, where is it super-abounding?

Can this ocean of grace run itself dry? Can this sun of grace ever spend all its light? Shall infinite, eternal love ever fail? Shall the wrath and severity of God out-live his love, his grace, his sweetness? Is his wrath greater than his love? Is it not, as hath been said, a servant to it? Shall this wrath set

So certain as the winter in its season lies upon us with its chilling snows and killing frosts, so certain shall the summer, in its season, shine and smile upon us with its golden sky and sunshine, with its garden of roses and fields of corn. The reign of sin hath and doth evidence itself to us, by most effectual proofs and solid arguments in all the powers of our souls and parts of our bodies, and in all things round about us; it hath sealed itself upon us with plain and deep characters of darkness, deformity, confusion, incessant pain, endless cares, and woeful mortality. Let this comfort us, that as cer tain, in its season, the kingdom of grace shall evidence itself to us, with such divine proofs and glorious demonstrations, that the kingdom of sin shall vanish and be seen no more. The kingdom of grace shall seat itself upon all the powers of our souls-the. same parts of our bodies-the same face of things round about us; in the most lively, the most lovely, the most deeply delightful, and most delightfully deep characters of the divine righteousness; with all the ravishing and pure beauties of the divine nature shining in it-with deep and lasting characters of the immortal and eternal life, with all its boundless, endless joys-with the eternal characters of the glorified humanity of Christ-with all his trans forming loves and loveliness upon our humanity, making it like his own glorious humanity. The result of this scripture is this: The law came in that sin might abound. Sin reigned unto death; but it never was in the design of God, or in the nature of the law, as the law is in the letter and covenant of works, that righteousness or life should be by the law. No, by the law came in sin, not from any evil in the law, which is good, holy, and spiritual, but through the weakness of the flesh. By the law, sin being come in, is increased and heightened through enmity in the flesh. The law from its own native purity, power and spirituality, discovers, sentences, and condemns sin; so the sinner dies, so sin by the law reigned unto death. But doth that God, whose beauty is holiness, whose essence is love, take pleasure in sin, or in the death

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