CAPTIVES Bound IN CHAINS Made FREE by CHRIST THEIR SURETY▪ OR, The Misery of Graceless Sinners, AND Their Recovery by Christ their Saviour. By T. DOOLITTEL Isa. 42. 6. I the Lord have called thee in right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and will hold 〈…〉 hand, and will keep thee, and g●●● 〈…〉 for a Cov●●an●●f the people, for a light of the Ge●●●● 7. To open the blind-●yes, to bring out 〈◊〉 ●●●soners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the ●●●●●●-house. Isa. 49▪ ●● That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that ●re in darkness, Show yourselves— Zac. 9 11. As for thee also, by the blood of thy ●●●●nant 〈◊〉 have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein 〈…〉 12. Turn ye to the strong-hold, ye prisoners of hope— LONDON, Printe● 〈…〉 A. M. for Tho. Parkhurst, at the Bible and three ●●●wns in Cheapside, near Mere●●- Chapel, and a●●he Bible on Londo●-Bridg, 1674. To the Congregation to whom these Sermons do belong, whether Bond or Free. 〈…〉 ●ear●●●elo●●d, and longed-for, my Joy and Crown; THE serious consideration of the immortality of your Souls; the captivity of many amongst you to Satan and to sin; the eternity you are approaching to; the necessity of being made free from spiritual bondage; the shortness and uncertainty of your abode upon earth; your capacity of being set at liberty by Christ (whilst you are on this side the grave); th● impossibility of redemption and deliverances 〈…〉 sinful and hellish thraldom after death; moved me at first t 〈…〉 a●h these Sermons on this Subject to your 〈…〉, and now to present them to your eyes; hoping that as the having of them in your hands to view what hath been said unto you, will be an help unto your memories, so also a means to continue, further, and increase that sense of the evil of Soul-captivity, that sorrow that you had been Capti●●●o Sat 〈…〉 ong▪ and those desires to change your Master, and have your fetters knocked off, and be brought into the liberty of the Sons of God, by Christ the Son of God; all which many of you (through the grace of God, for his work it was, and the glory thereof is due alone to him) did manifest and declare; ●ot only in your earnest desires for God's sake, and for Christ's sake, that the Congregation, if they had any l●●e for, o●●ity to miserable enthralled Souls, would so●●●nly and fervently pray to God, that the chains of sin, wherewith you▪ had been held, might now be cut, and the bonds broke; but also in your private converse with me: Which is here related (the Lord knows) not that I may be accounted any thing (for I know that I am nothing), or that I do put any great esteem upon any thing that I can do; for I do judge myself, as to gifts or grace, or both, to be the meanest 〈…〉 se employed in the work of the Lord, and ●●vice of immortal Souls: But that if God be pleased to work by a weak and silly man, the Glory might be ascribed unto him 〈◊〉. Man at first was made the most noble and most excellent creature of all Gods visible works; endued with such powers that he was capable of knowing, loving, and enjoying God his maker as his happiness, felicity, and end; created free from sin and corruption, and free from sorrow and affliction; t●ough not free from temptation, nor from a possibility of losing his freedom, yet he had a power and a liberty to have continued in that condition, without any necessity of coaction to departed from it. But this free and noble creature assaulted and set upon by the crafty and malicious Serpent, and left to the freedom of his own will, was prevailed with, and overcome by Satan, to transgress the law of his maker, and violate his Covenant, proved an Apostate, and turned rebel against God that gave him his being, and that good condition in which he was created, who by the abusing of his liberty lost his freedom, and brought himself and all his posterity into an estate of slavery and bondage, out of which he was no way able to help himself. Man lying in this pitiful plight, in this forlorn, miserable, and deplorable condition, the God of grace and mercy (of his mere grace and mercy) did commiserate, seek after him, find him out, and made known a way of Redemption for him, even by the Incarnation, Passion, and Crucifixion of his own Son; which he did more and more clearly in several ages discover to the captivated children of enthralled Adam; whereas he provided no Redeemer for fallen Angels, but where they fell, there they lie, bound in chains of darkness, without hope of help, or possibility of recovery to all eternity. Behold, ye Captive Sons of men, a remedy for you, but not for Devils; for God sent not his Son to take upon him the nature of Angels, but the seed of Abraham; and that when the Apostatising Angels sinned, and were falling down to hell, Christ did not take hold on them; but on man (when by reason of sin he was tumbling and sinking into everlasting misery) he did take hold, and snatched him from the flames of eternal burn, from the curse of the Law, and from the intolerable wrath of an angry and provoked God. This God and Saviour that did foresee your thraldom and bondage, did from all eternity agree and covenant betwixt themselves in this way of Redemption to afford you succour and relief; that Christ should become your Surety, and be bound for you, that were bound, and died for you that should eternally have died, and set you at liberty by paying down a valuable ransom for you; of which you should be partakers, if you turn from sin to God, from Satan to his Son, hearty consenting to take him for your Lord-Redeemer, for your Prophet, Priest, and King, to rule, instruct, sanctify and save you; resigning up yourselves and all you have and are to him, preferring him before all, loving him above all, believing on him, and obeying of him sincerely, constantly, and universally, without partiality, and sinful, secret reservations; and if you like not him, and accept not of deliverance from your bonds and fetters upon these conditions, you must lie and perish in your chains of sin and guilt for ever. This is that Redeemer that is preached, published and tendered unto you: This is He, and He alone that can make you free, and if he do, you shall be free indeed; accept him as he is offered, and deliverance and salvation is come unto you; refuse him, slight him, or neglect him finally, and you are Captives without ransom irrecoverably. All of you by nature were in this state of spiritual Captivity, and all of you now are Bond or Free: For as there are but two places in the other world appointed by God to be receptacles of men's Souls, namely, Heaven and Hell; so in this world there are but two sorts of men (so distinguished by their spiritual state) Captives or Free; the one continuing so, so shall be plunged into hell; the other shall be possessed of heaven. Under which of these you are comprehended, you may be helped to discern, if you will read, consider, search, and pray: If you find yourselves yet Captives, to know your misery, and the Chains wherewith you are bound, and how to get them off, read the former part of this little book: If Free, to inflame your hearts with love to your Redeemer and Surety, that paid the ransom for you; and learn how you are engaged to hearty and everlasting thankfulness for his mercy towards you; and to express it by holy walking while you live, consult the latter part of this Treatise. In all which I have endeavoured to use plainness of speech, avoiding hard words and terms of art, as also controversies that might have been brought into this subject; concerning the Power and Will of man, concerning the Satisfaction of Christ, and such like, contenting myself with what may suit the end I aimed at in preaching of them, the awakening of the Conscience of Captive-sinners, that are fast asleep in their fetters and bonds of iniquity; and the bringing of the more ignorant to sight and sense of their necessity of deliverance by Christ; (as for the more knowing, let them read the works of men of more knowledge); for if I may by any means help the weak and ignorant, that cannot understand the elaborate works of the more judicious, I shall account it a singular mercy: For if I could, I dare not usually, when I am to speak in the Name of God to immortal Souls, soar aloft above the capacity of the meanest; the strong might stoop to the plainness of wholesome words, when the weak and ignorant cannot come up to the understanding of what is more sublime; though rude and undigested matter becometh not the place of any that stands to speak to people going to another world, about things of everlasting concernment; yet I judge, that he shall have but little comfort another day, that stands and speaks one word for Christ, and two or ten for himself; a little to set forth Christ, and much to set forth his own parts: If any look for such things here, that they may not lose their labour, let me desire them to lay it by, for you will not find it: But that this in its plain dress and stile, without all pomp of words, being read by you, or any others, might be to the profit of you or them, is the desire, and shall be the prayers of him that is Yours for the Service of your Souls, THO. DOOLITTEL. March 18. 1674. The Contents. CHAP. I. COntaining the Explication of the Text. Page 1. CHAP. II. The Doctrine, that unconverted men are the Devil's Captives, fast bound with the Chains and Bonds of their own iniquity and sin; wherein they are resembled unto Captives. 11 CHAP. III. Ten several Chains with which these Captives are bound; the first is Ignorance, with an attempt for the breaking of it. 29 CHAP. IV. The second Chain, is Prejudice against the ways of God and serious Religion; several Links in this Chain. 34 As 1. The ways of God are melancholy ways. 35 2. The meanness of those that walk therein. 47 3. It is a way full of trouble & opposition. 52 4. The difficulty of Religious Duties. 57 With an attempt to break each other Link in this Chain. Ibid. CHAP. V. The third Chain is the immoderate and predominant love of the profits and riches of this world. p. 68 An attempt to break this Chain, being a misery to be bound Captive in Chains of Gold. ib CHAP. VI The fourth Chain, is false Hopes of Heaven; several Links in this Chain. 76 Viz. Hopes falsely bottomed upon The Mercy of God. 79 The Death of Christ. 85 Troubles of Conscience. 95 Good meanings. 98 Strong parts and gifts. 100 With an attempt to break each Link in this Chain. 101 CHAP. VII. The fifth Chain is Despair. 115 An attempt to break it. 116 CHAP. VIII. The sixth Chain, is men's satisfying themselves with a moral blameless Life. 123 An attempt for the breaking of this Chain. 124 The seventh, Resting in Religious Duties. 126 CHAP. IX. The Eighth, the Examples of others. 130 The Ninth Chain, Procrastination, purposing to repent hereafter. 135 The Tenth, Unbelief. 138 An Attempt for the breaking of these also, that the Captive might be set free. ibid. CHAP. X. Showing the Captivity of sinners by Satan is worse than the Captivity of Men in the sorest corporal slavery. 140 In that it is, 1 The Captivity of the Soul. 141 2 They are unsensible of it. 143 3 It is voluntary Bondage. 144 4 It is plenary and full Captivity. 146 5 These Captives are children of God's wrath. ib. 6 Death doth not free them. 147 7 A worse Prison is prepared for them after death. 148 Being a 1 Close 148 2 Dark 149 3 Filthy 150 4 Strong ib. Prison Made fast with the Bars of God's Decree 151 Justice ibid. Truth 152 Power ib. 5 Company in this Prison ib. 6 The Remembrance of what they shall be imprisoned for 153 7 The Remembrance of the price that was paid for the ransom of Captives 154 CHAP. XI. There is Liberty for Captive-sinners. p. 156 Man considered in a state. ibid. 1 Q. What free Captives have not a liberty from in this life. 159 2 Q. What is the liberty such have by Christ in this life. 163 3 Q. What more in the life to come. 169 4 Q. What are the positive privileges they are free to. ib. CHAP. XII. The Use of the whole. 177 Exam. 1. How we might know that of Captives we are made free. 178 Exh. 2. To them that are Captives. How to get free. 2 To them that are free, 185 This liberty binds to duty. 1 To be thankful for it 186 2 Have compassion on them that are bound 199 Because of the price that was paid. 2 Because you have Chains of Gold for Chains of Iron. 3 Christ became your Surety & was bound for you. 3 Walk worthy. 205 Advertisement. THere is lately Published Forty Six Sermons upon the whole Eighth Chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, Preached by the Reverend and Learned Tho. Horton, D. D. late Minister of St. Helen's, London. There is also a Printing of the same Authors these following Treatises: 8. Sermons upon the whole Fourth Psalm. 10. Sermons upon the whole 42 Psalm. 19 Sermons upon the whole 51 Psalm. All which were left under his own hand Ready for the Press. Printed for Tho. Parkhurst. THe Young Man's Instructor and the Old Man's Remembrancer, in an Explication of the Assemblies Catechism. Published for an help to Masters of Families in instructing of their Children and Servants in the Truth of the Gospel, and applying them to their Consciences. By Tho. Doolittel, Minister of the Gospel. Isa. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me, to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the , to proclaim liberty to the Captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. — to proclaim liberty to the Captives, and the opening of the prison to that are bound. CHAP. I. Containing the Explication of the Text. THese words, though true of the Prophet Isaiah, yet have principally reference unto Christ; who going into the Synagogue on the Sabbath-day, chose these words for his Text, and preached upon it, to the admiration of his hearers, Luk. 4. 18. And applied these words unto himself, as chief intended v. 21. Other holy men of God had the Spirit of the Lord upon them, and was imparted to them, by which they spoke, 1 Pet. 1. 11. & 2 Pet. 1. 21; But Christ in a more eminent manner and measure, Isa. 11. 2, And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Isa. 42. 1, Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. Yea, Christ had the Spirit more abundantly than all others, Joh. 3. 34, For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God; for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. All Believers are anointed of God, have received a spiritual and holy Unction in some measure of sanctifying-grace, 2 Cor. 1. 21, Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God. 1 Joh. 2. 20, But ye have an Unction from the holy One, and ye know all things. Ver. 27, But the anointing which ye have received of him, abideth in you; and ye need not that any man should teach you, [the grounds of Religion which ye have already learned, or any new Doctrines which ye have not already received] but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things (needful to be known in order to salvation, or to preserve you from being deceived or drawn away by false Teachers) and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Besides this anointing common to all God's people, there is a more special Unction, whereby certain persons chosen and called of God to holy employment especially, are fitted and qualified with gifts and graces for the better discharge of their Office, in former times typified by material Unctions, Leu. 8. 12, And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him to sanctify him. But Christ was anointed in a more large manner and fuller measure than any other, being chosen and called and appointed by God to the office of Mediator betwixt God and man, which no other was capable of, or fitted for, Psal. 45. 7— therefore God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Christ had a fullness of abundance, Col. 2. 3, In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Ver. 9, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And Christ had a fullness of redundance, that floweth over unto his people. Like the ointment upon the head of Aaron, that ran down to the skirts of his garments, Psal. 133. 2; so there is a conveyance of grace and spiritual gifts from Christ unto his members, who is like a fountain, that though it overflows, yet ever-flows; sendeth forth its streams, and yet is full still, Col. 1. 19, For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell. Joh 1. 16, And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. As from the fullness of sin in the first Adam, we have all received sin for sin; so from the fullness of grace in Christ the second Adam, all God's people receive grace for grace. Christ was thus anointed [to preach good tidings to the meek]. When man had sinned sad tidings were brought unto him, cursed is the ground for thy sake, tidings of toil and labour, tidings of death, and of the evils contained in the threatening, tidings of wrath and sore displeasure from a provoked God. Yet God himself did preach the first tidings of a Saviour to lost man, Gen. 3. 15. When the Lord sent a message to Israel by Moses, that because they were a stiffnecked people, he would come into the midst of them, and consume them; these were evil tidings, and cause of mourning, Exod. 33. 4. The Prophet was sent to the Wife of Jeroboam with heavy tidings, 1 King. 14. 6. But when man was in a lost condition, the discoveries of a Saviour were the best and gladdest tidings that could be brought unto him. If God had said to man, I will make thee rich, but I will not forgive thy sins; thou shalt live long in the world, but not eternally with me in heaven; thou shalt live on earth all thy days in ease and pleasure, but after death in pain and torments; these would have been heavy tidings. But for God to say and send to lost man this news, thou hast undone thyself, but I will help thee; thou hast lost thy soul, thy God, thy happiness, but I will restore thee, I will give and send my Son to seek and to save lost sinners; was not this joyful tidings? God sent his Prophets to publish these tidings to the world, Isa 52. 7. And Apostles came with these glad tidings, Act 13. 32. And Angels, Luk. 2. 10. The Angel said, fear not, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people. But these tidings were not only brought by Prophets, Apostles, and Angels, but by Christ himself, Luk. 8. 1, He went through every Village and City, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. David said of Ahimaaz, he is a good man, and bringeth good tidings, 2 Sam. 18. 27. But Christ, we may say, is a good Saviour, and bringeth good, the best tidings that ever were reported to the children of men. And when Christ returned to heaven, he hath given commission to his Ministers to preach and publish the same tidings. As Cushi said running in haste, tidings my Lord the King, 2 Sam. 18. 31; so we come to poor sinners, saying, tidings to you poor perishing sinners, tidings; tidings from God, tidings from heaven. What? what are they? are they glad tidings? may sinners expect any glad tidings? Tell us, oh tell us, what are these tidings that you bring? What are they? Christ a Saviour for lost sinners. Christ a Physician for sick and wounded sinners. Pardon for the guilty sinner. Peace for the troubled sinner; Life to the condemned sinner; Heaven for the Hell-deserving sinner. These, these are tidings that are brought unto you! Oh how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things, Rom. 10. 15. But do you bring these tidings to great sinners of a Scarlet die? Yes, if you do repent, and turn to God, and accept of Christ upon Gospel-terms for Lord and Saviour, here are tidings in the Gospel brought by Christ himself of pardon and salvation, Joh. 3. 16. But what if we do not, hath Christ brought any sad and heavy tidings; Yes verily, as you may read, Mark 16. 16, He that believeth not, shall be damned. It was sad tidings when news was brought that the Ark was lost, 1 Sam. 4. 19 But oh what heavy tidings will it be to the refusers of mercy, to the slighters of Christ and his grace, when it shall be told them; Now your Souls are for ever lost, and God and Christ is for ever lost, and heaven's happiness is for ever lost. In a word Christ came principally to preach good tidings to poor sinners; but yet he bringeth also terrible tidings to the impenitent and unbelieving. He hath sent me to bind up the ]. When man by sin had broke Covenant with God, he broke the peace with God, and all mankind did break in Adam, and proved Bankrupts; and though all are broken by sin, yet few are broken for sin; all of us put up broken duties, but few of us have broken hearts; many are broken in their estates through poverty, and many men's bodies are broken through age and sickness; but yet their hearts do not break for their sin. But this is the comfort of sinners, that Christ himself was sent to bind you up, to dress and to heal your wounded broken hearts. Chirurgeons may set and bind broken and dis-jointed bones, but Christ alone can set, and bind, and give ease to broken hearts. When by sinning thou dost break the commands of God, he is highly offended and provoked, Num. 15. 30, But the soul that doth aught presumptuously,— the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 31, Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his Commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him. But when by sorrowing and repenting thy heart is broken because thou hast broken the command of God, he is well-pleased with thee, Psal. 51. 17, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise. When thou didst break the command of God, thou didst despise God, 2 Sam. 12. 9 But when thy heart is broken for thy sin, God will not despise thy broken-heart, but God himself will come and bind and heal thee, Psal. 147. 3. He will come and revive thy contrite spirit, Isa. 57 15. He will come and be nigh unto thee, and will save thee, Psal. 34. 18. The sum of all is this, if thou be broken for thy sins, thou shalt not die of the wounds by sin made in thy Soul. To proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound]. This might partly refer to the temporal deliverance by Cyrus from the Babylonian Captivity; but chief denotes the spiritual freedom from the bondage and thraldom of Satan and sin by Christ. In these words you may observe, 1. A choice and precious privilege. Bondage and thraldom is a sore evil, liberty as great a good; but the spiritual bondage and slavery of the Soul to Satan and to sin, is far worse than corporal bondage, than Turkish slavery; therefore spiritual liberty by Christ is far beyond (in its excellency and desirableness) any outward deliverance from bodily bondage. 2. The persons that this privilege is for. For those that are Captives. The blessings and privileges that sinners have by Christ are suitable to their necessity, restoring of sight to the blind, limbs to the lame, health to the sick, ease to the pained, and liberty to the Captive, are all seasonable and suitable mercies. 3. The publishing, declaring, and making of it known, by way of proclamation. The great God that might have kept sinners in bonds for ever, and in prison for ever; doth pass an act of grace, and sent his own Son into the world, to proclaim liberty to spiritual bondmen; proclamation hath been made by Christ himself, that prisoners may be released, that those that are bound in Chains may have their fetters knocked off, and such as have been taken Captive by the Devil, the common enemy of man's salvation, may be set at liberty; and the Ministers of the Gospel are given by Christ, and sent by him as the Heralds of the great King of Heaven and Earth, to proclaim pardon to the penitent, healing to the wounded, ease to the burdened, liberty to the captives. This Christ did in person in the days of his flesh upon earth, Joh. 7. 37; and now the Ministers of Christ do proclaim the same things in Christ's stead, 2 Cor. 5. 18, 19, 20. Cyrus' King of Persia, put forth a proclamation throughout all his Kingdom, to give free liberty to the Captive Jews to go back unto Jerusalem, to build the House of the Lord, saying, Who is there among you of all his people, the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up, 2 Chron. 36. 22, 23. So the Lord, the King of Nations, hath made a proclamation, and put it in writing, and commands his Servants to go up and proclaim, return, ye sinners unto me, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord God, and I will not keep anger for ever, Jer. 3. 12. I might be angry with you, as long as I am God; but if you will repent and turn, I will not. I might pour out my wrath upon you for ever; but if you will forsake your wicked ways, Iniquity shall not be your ruin, Ezek. 18. 30, 31. Isa. 55. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7. Who is there among you, that are weary of the service of sin? you might be received into better service, and have a better reward. Who is there among you, that are weary of your Chains and Fetters? be but willing, and you shall be freed from them. Who is there among you, that hath lain long in the Gaol of Satan, in the filthy darksome dungeon of an unconverted state? behold Christ is come to open the prison doors; Go ye forth, come away, sinners, come away, not only one by one, which yet would be matter of joy, to see one one Lords day, and another on another Lord's day to come out of prison; but since the prison doors are open, and Christ is come to knock off your fetters, come, come away by companies; come, come away in numbers; come, who steps out of this prison first? who would not? Methinks, I see one, he is loath to come forth; and another he regards it not. What ails you Sirs? Is a prison delightful? Are bonds pleasant? Is a dungeon so delicate, that you are loath to leave it? What ails you? sinner! Art thou thyself, thine own man? Art thou in thy wits? Thou art worse than mad, that wilt not put off Chains of Iron, for Chains of Gold; that wilt not leave a Prison for a Palace; thick darkness for marvellous, glorious, shining light. Do you think, if all the prison doors in the Land were opened, and proclamation made, that whosoever would, might have free liberty to go forth, that any would remain therein? Oh, why then are the Devils prisoners, add those that are captives to their lusts, the only persons that like and love their bondage? that might have deliverance, but will not? But give thyself the labour to hear what shall be said of the miserable condition of these Captives, and afterwards I hope thou wilt be more wise for thyself, for thy Soul, than to refuse spiritual freedom, and to choose thy Chains and Fetters. CHAP. II. The Doctrine. Showing also wherein unconverted men are resembled unto Captives. 1. Doct. UNconverted men are the Devil's Captives, being fast bound with the chains and bonds of their own iniquity and sin. Presently after the Creation of man, there was a spiritual war, conflict, and combat betwixt man and the Devil; the place where this war began was Paradise, in which sight the Devil overcame, and did prevail, not only against our first Parents, but their posterity also; Then was man first carried captive and taken prisoner by the Devil, and doth remain so till he is rescued, redeemed, and delivered by Jesus Christ the Captain of our salvation. Thus wicked men are said to be taken captive by the Devil at his will, 2 Tim. 2. 26; and keepeth them in a peaceable, quiet subjection to him, Luk. 11. 21; and dwelleth, worketh, and ruleth in their hearts, Eph. 2. 2. The heart of an unregenerate sinner, is the Devil's garrison, fort, and strong-hold, where he sits, and acts, and commands like an usurping Tyrant; and the poor sinner yieldeth obedience to him without opposition or resistance. Thus are they also said to be bound fast in the bond of iniquity and sin, Act. 8. 23; and are the servants of sin, and slaves to their own corruption and lusts, Rom. 6. 16; and serve divers lusts, Tit. 3. 3; and are the servants of corruption, who being overcome by Satan and by sin, are brought into bondage by them, 2 Pet. 2. 19 In these particulars following, it will appear that unconverted, graceless men are captives and bondmen to Satan and to sin. 1. Captives and bondmen are disarmed; their weapons and armour of defence are taken from them, that they are not able to make resistance against those by whom they are taken captives and prisoners. Sirs, the enemies of your Souls are, 1. Powerful enemies. Called Principalities and Powers, Eph. 6. 12; compared to a Lion for their mighty strength, 1 Pet. 5. 8. And what is a naked and unarmed man against a powerful enemy! 2. Politic as well as powerful. Strength and stratagems, power and policy make an enemy very formidable. Hence Satan is compared to a Serpent for his subtlety and craft, Gen. 3. 1; and the old Serpent, that by the experience of many thousand years hath obtained greater skill in his cursed art of tempting and destroying the Souls of men, Rev. 12. 9 And if he beguiled our first Parents through his subtlety, when they were perfect in wisdom and knowledge, 2 Cor. 11. 3; Oh what danger is the Soul of a sinner now in, when he is become not only weak, but foolish also? Tit. 3. 3. The Devil hath a thousand methods, and stratagems, and devices to entrap and to ensnare your Souls, of which you read, 2 Cor. 2. 11. 3. The enemies of your souls are many and numerous. It is not one sin, nor one temptation, nor one Devil that do set themselves to bring your Souls unto damnation; but many Devils, and many lusts against one poor unarmed sinner; a whole Legion of Devils entered into one poor man, Luk. 8. 30. So not one only, but many Devils might busy themselves to ruin and unto thy Soul. 4. The enemies of your souls are malicious as ●ell as numerous. When the Devil was dispossessed of his first estate, he envied the happiness of man, and most maliciously set himself to endeavour that man might not for ever enjoy what he and his angels with him had for ever lost. The Devil is often called the wicked one, Mat. 13. 19 Eph. 6. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 13. & 5. 18. But the original word signifieth something more than barely wicked, a troublesome one; or the malicious one, for the Devil through his malice is the troubler of men, being studious and desirous to do men mischief, especially as to their Souls and everlasting concerns. 5. The enemies of your souls are invisible, because they be spiritual wickednesses, Eph. 6. 12. An enemy not seen, nor discerned, is the more dangerous; that tempts you oftentimes and you do not perceive him; that wounds you, but you do not discern him; setting upon thee secretly, because invisibly, before thou art ware of him. 6. They are indefatigable or unwearied enemies. Satan hath been employed in this work of tempting and destroying Souls for some thousand years, and yet he is not weary, so as to desist, unto this day. This work he began but a very little after the beginning of the world and this will he unweariedly carry on to the end of the world; whilst there are men out o● Heaven and Hell, he will not leave off his soul-destroying study and endeavours; and when on earth he shall have no more to tempt then shall he torment them for ever, that by temptations he hath got to hell; Thus like a restless spirit he is always going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it; going from one person to another, from one house to another, to and fro, backwards and forwards, up and down, here and there, as one that cannot be at quiet without his prey, Job 1. 7. & 2. 2, he walks about, seeking whom he might devour; seeking not to devour Souls one by one, but if it may be by whole families, by whole Parishes by whole Kingdoms and Nations; and so he doth too many in the world, where the Gospel and a Saviour hath not been heard of, 1 Pet. 5. 8. Thus are graceless sinners like a company of poor unarmed prisoners in the midst of many, malicious, powerful, politic, and unwearied enemies; that do design nothing less than the damnation of thy soul, the loss, the eternal loss of the blessed, glorious, and eternal God; that design nothing less than to bring thee to a place of torment, to a fiery furnace, to a lake of brimstone, to a place of utter darkness, where there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, woe and lamentation, shriekings, and howl, and bitter cries for ever and ever. Oh how should it pity us, to see these poor naked unarmed sinners surrounded by such mighty enemies, carrying them captives to a place of eternal separation from God, and Christ, and Angels, and all the Saints of God; to see them going to the slaughter-house of Hell, and to the place, of dreadful execution. Poor captivated souls! are you thus in the hands of your enemies, and not one piece of spiritual armour to safeguard yourselves? Captives lie at the mercy of those whose slaves they be; but Satan hath no such thing as mercy or pity to the souls of men; malice enough, but no mercy; cruelty enough, but no favour. If God should have no mercy for you, the Devil will have none. Except the God of mercy, and pity, and patience had restrained the enemies of your souls, they would have dragged you down to the bottomless pit long before this day. There is no armour of proof against those that have taken you captive, but the armour of God: but this is your misery, you have not one piece thereof, neither the girdle of truth, nor the breastplate of righteousness, nor the helmet of salvation; and though you may have the Sword of the Spirit, the word of God in your hands, yet you know not how to use it against the assaults of your spiritual adversaries. Think then of this, Captives are naked and unarmed men. 2. Captives lose the riches they had, when taken Captives. That though they were rich before, yet are made poor, and are stripped of all. If a rich Merchant at Sea have many goods in a Ship, costly Jewels, precious Pearls, and be taken prisoner, and carried captive, he is spoiled of all, and loseth all. Man at first was exceeding rich, rich in the knowledge of God, rich in love and likeness to God. The holiness of man was his riches, the enjoyment of God was his riches, the spiritual endowments of man at first, were not to be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious Onyx or the Saphire; Gold and Crystal could not equal them, they were not to be exchanged for Jewels of fine Gold, the Topaz of Ethiopia could not equal them, neither were they to be valued with pure Gold, Coral or Pearls were not worthy to be mentioned with them, for their price was above Rubies, as Job setteth forth the excellency of wisdom, Job 28. 15, to the 20th verse. But when man was overcome by the Devil, and taken captive by him, he was spoiled of all, all was taken from him, that he became miserably poor, lost his knowledge of God, the image of God, the favour of God, communion with God, the gracious comfortable presence of God, his abode in Paradise; and though before he was Lord of all, and had dominion over all inferior creatures; yet being captivated by the Devil, he lost his right to all, and was turned out of all. So it is with all unregenerate men, whatever be their outward riches and worldly enjoyments, as to spirituals they are miserably poor, very beggars indeed, Rev. 3. 17; the true riches they have not, suitabl● riches for their Souls they have not, durabl● riches they have not; no man is rich indeed till he is good indeed and free indeed. God i● the freeman's riches, Christ is the freeman's riches, the graces of the Spirit, the priviledge● purchased by Christ, the promises of God, th● treasures laid up in heaven, these, these are th● riches of redeemed persons; but those that stil● remain captives and bondslaves to Satan an● to sin, have no interest in them, no title t● them. If thou that readest these lines be one o● them, whatever be thy outward plenty and abundance, thou art wretchedly poor. Men● say of a poor person, he is worth nothing; bu● we might truly say of these persons, they are worth nothing, nay they are worse than nothing. 3. Captives are not governed by the same Law● as freemen are. Laws are made in favour for free subjects; but Laws for slaves and bondmen are more severe, and to make their yoke● more heavy. Souls in spiritual bondage and captivity are not governed by the Law of God● which is holy, just, and good, made in favour of, and for the good of the Lords redeemed one's; but by the Laws of sin and lust, which are unjust, oppressing, and tyrannical, and oftentimes contrary one to another, covetousness imposing one thing upon the sinner, and prodigality the quite contrary. The Lords spiritual freemen are under the Laws of God, but the the Devil's captives are under the Law of sin. 4. Captives and bondmen are put to base employment; To toil and drudge, to dig in the Mine, to work at the Oar, very great and hard burdens are imposed upon them. Thus it was with Israel in the house of bondage, the taskmasters of Egypt denied them straw, and yet required the full number of bricks, so laid hard service upon them. But there is no work so vile and sordid and base, as works of sin; and yet it is the whole and only employment of spiritual bondslaves, to please the flesh and Devil, and gratify their filthy lusts. What is base slavery than to lead a sensual flesh-pleasing life? What is more sordid drudgery, than to be a servant of Satan and sin? than to be under the commanding power of their own vile affections? to take pains to dishonour God that made them? to work and labour to undo themselves, and damn and ruin their own immortal Souls? Whereas the work and employment of those that are redeemed from their spiritual captivity, is the most noble, rational, high and honourable, the most delightful and profitable as any can be engaged in on this side the everlasting, full, and perfect state of the Saints in glory; such as is our loving of God, conversing with the blessed glorious God, believing on Christ, applying of promises, living by faith, hoping, looking, longing for heaven, waiting for the glory that shall be revealed, and for the glorious appearing of our desired and longed fo● Lord and Saviour, in getting assurance of his love, and solacing and delighting our souls with the comfort thereof when we have obtained it in using utmost diligence to escape the damnation of hell; and the everlasting torments to b● endured by the Devil's captives in the other endler world, and getting safe to heaven when we dye● in pleasing God while we live. Nay, the mos● displeasing works to flesh and blood, are mor● delightful and sweet than any, than all th● pleasures of sin; as in mourning for sin, weeping bitterly for sin, mortifying of sin, praying against sin, watching against sin, combating and conflicting with sin, warring with Satan; yea the ver● duty of self-denial, most ungrateful to flesh an● blood, hath sweetness in it, and bringeth i● that peace of conscience which surpasseth th● choicest delights of the Devils bondslaves. 5. Captives and bondslaves meet with har● usage in their hard work and base employments many times are fed with bread and water, an● that in small allowance too, are whipped and beaten when they have put forth their strength t● do their utmost, they have stripes and blow in stead of a reward for what they do. Thus I●rael in Egyptian bondage was beaten, when fo●ced to gather stubble in stead of straw, cou● not bring in the full tale of bricks, Exod. 5. 1● 15, 16. So the Devil's captives that lay themselves outmost in the Devil's service, shall have their wages; but what? plagues and punishments here and hereafter, lashes, stripes and wounds. And that, 1. Sometimes from God in this world; they have punishments and judgements inflicted upon them by a just and righteous, angry God, who scourgeth them often in this life for their sin, and plagueth them for their iniquity. So those that are slaves unto their lusts are punished with filthy diseases in their bodies, Prov. 7. 22. He goeth after her (a whorish Woman) straightway as an Ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks. 23. Till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. 26. She hath cast down many wounded; yea many strong men have been slain by her. 27. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. And this you may too often see and observe in the Weekly bills of Mortality, that these silly filthy slaves of lust are rewarded with the loss of life. So those that are slaves to their sensitive appetite, and given to please their flesh in excessive eating and drinking are brought to poverty, Prov. 23. 21. and to death, digging their ●raves with their own teeth. And if they do ●scape outward judgements on body and e●ate, yet they are under Spiritual judgements ●n their Souls, as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, loss of God's favour, under the reigning power of sin, which are a thousand times worse than any bodily plagues, though less lamented. 2. Sometimes they have lashes from their own Consciences, being filled with inward gripes and pangs, with horror and amazement, which they are not able to bear, but cry out and roar, that they would rather die than live to feel these inward scourge of their own Consciences. Those two slaves of Sin, and captives of the Devil, Cain and Judas, when they had done the Devil's drudgery, the one in murdering of his Brother, the other in selling and betraying of his Lord, were so filled with inward terrors of Soul, that the one cryeth out, My punishment is greater than I can bear, Gen. 4. 13. and would rather be slain by any that should meet him, than live to feel the terrors of his Conscience; the other in the anguish of his heart confessed, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood; and would rather hang himself and die by his own hands, and be his own executioner, than suffer what he felt in the accusations of his Conscience, Mat. 27. 3, 4, 5. thus these wretched slaves of Satan and Sin, are sometimes filled with Hellish sorrows before they come to Hell; are no● these then hard wages for the works o● Sin? 3. At the last these Captives shall certainly and eternally after death have harder wages, and greater misery than any in this life, from God, from Devils, and their own Consciences. 1. God shall pour out his wrath upon them; he shall support them in their beings by his ower, that they may not die under his heavy hand, and shall plague and punish them by his Justice, with one hand shall keep them from sinking into nothing, and with the other shall inflict such wrath upon them, that they would rather die than live to suffer and endure. 2. The Devil shall be Executioner of God's wrath; He that tempts them now shall torment them then; he that sets them now at work shall hereafter pay them their wages; the very company of the Devils shall affright them; and the presence of so many Devils shall be no little torment to them. 3. Their own Consciences when they come to Hell shall for ever vex and gnaw upon them; if now thy Conscience be asleep, and mercies do not waken it, and judgements do not waken it, and Ministers cannot waken it, but thou sinnest, and Conscience is silent; thou sinnest, and thy Friends reprove thee, and Ministers reprove thee, but thy Conscience doth not reprove thee: but though nothing doth awaken thy Conscience now, yet the flames of Hell shall certainly awaken it, the pains and torments there shall certainly awaken it; then Conscience shall be at rest no longer, and suffer thee to be at rest and peace no longer; then this sleeping Lion shall awake, and it will cry out and roar most hideously, and then thou canst not go unto thy drinking bouts, to bowls and sports, and recreations, that thou mayst not hear the clamours and the outcries of thy Conscience: And shouldst thou say unto thy Conscience, Peace, be still, and let me alone; say no more unto me now, than thou didst when I was upon the earth; what! shall Conscience say, be at peace? Oh I cannot, I cannot, though I would yet now I cannot, God is angry, I see his anger, I feel his anger, and the smarting pain of his Indignation, I cannot be at peace; I was blinded, but now I see, I was seared, but now I feel, I feel such heavy strokes of revenging justice, that I must cry out against thee for thy folly, and thy madness, to be a servant to thy lusts, and flesh, and devil, that brought thee to this place of torment: God is lost, and Christ is lost, and Heaven is for ever lost, be silent now! I cannot, Oh I cannot; these are intolerable pains, this fire burns, it burns, Oh it burns; these flames are hot, exceeding hot, and thou art tumbling in a lake of brimstone, and can I be silent in the midst of flames, in a burning fiery furnace, I cannot, I must not, I will not be silent; do not entreat me, for I cannot now be silent. But that which yet still is worse than all the rest, all this misery is eternal, eternal, woe and alas, it is eternal; had this fire been to burn only for a thousand thousand years, and this pain to be endured only for a million of years, yet I must have made my complaint against thee, and accuse thee of thy madness and folly, that wouldst serve these Devils, and hearken to the temptations of these Devils, against the counsels and commands of God himself; that thou shouldst be such a very fool to buy short and fading pleasures, at so dear a rate as to suffer for them such lasting pains; but when I do consider these torments are not for certain years, but for eternity; here I am in flames, in restless scorching flames, and which is worse, here I must for ever be, there is no end, there is no end; woe is me, there is no end; if I weep, my tears cannot quench these flames, do not put out this fire, they are but like the water which the Smith casteth on his fire, that makes it burn so much the more; I weep but the fire burns; Oh let me call to all this damned crew, to all this cursed company of damned captives, weep, weep, weep abundantly, come and try, you would not weep out your sins, come and let us try if we can weep out these flames. Weep! so we do, so we have these thousand years, and yet our tears do not put out these flames. Oh then there is no hope, there is no hope; Oh to think of this there is no hope, saith Conscience, makes me to cry out of thy folly and thy madness, that wouldst be a servant and a slave unto the Devil and thy flesh, for which now thou art tormented in these flames; thou drunkest hard to come unto this place, thou swearedst hard to come unto these torments. Oh how didst thou labour to undo thyself! How didst thou daily work in the service of the Devil, and thy lusts! and thou art thus rewarded for thy pains. Now thou feelest what Ministers did often tell thee; now thou findest what God did declare, that the wages of sin is death. Sin was thy work, Hell is thy wages. This this is the fruit of thy do; this is the place of misery which the Devil and thy Sin hath led thee captive to; and while thou and I live (saith Conscience) I must be putting thee in remembrance, that thy sin, and thy own do have brought thee to this place. Thus you see what hard wages these Captives will receive for all the service (as the Devils bondslaves they do here) remaining captives to him. 6. Captives and bondslaves have not the privileges and the immunities that of right do belong to freemen. Many, great, and precious are the privileges of Gods redeemed people, purchased by the blood of Christ, but those that are yet in Spiritual bondage, servants of Sin, are not partakers of them; if ever God give Spiritual privileges, pardon of Sin, peace with God, well-grounded peace of Conscience, he will make you free, and bring you out of the house of bondage, before he put you into the possession of Canaan. Free Citizens have some advantages that those that are not free, have not, which if they would enjoy they must buy their freedom; Spiritual freedom is purchased indeed by Christ, but freely bestowed upon those that are made free, and then, and not till then, are the privileges of redeemed persons conferred upon them. 7. Captives and bondslaves cannot satisfy the greedy desires of their cruel exactors; though they work hard, and toil much, yet they never think they do enough, but are ready to impose double tasks still upon them. When the Children of Israel in Egyptian Bondage had their task much increased, and complained unto Pharaoh, he replied, Ye are idle, ye are idle, go ye therefore now and work, Exod. 5. 17, 18. Spiritual captives in their bondage take much pains in the service of Satan and Sin, yet these Taskmasters never think that they sin enough, or that they do dishonour God enough, though they sin with greediness, yet the Devil would have them to be more vile still, and to be more wicked still; to swear more, and to hate God and his people, and his ways yet more. It is true, the Redeemed of the Lord, never do so much but they ought still to do more, to love God more and more, and to delight in God, and desire after God still more and more; but the difference is great, their work is good, and the more the better, but the works of the Devils bondmen are evil, and the more the worse: and this hellish Imposer will not be satisfied with all the wickedness thou dost commit, but will provoke thee still, and tempt thee still, that thou mayest sink thee lower, and be plagued more in hellish torments in the life to come. 8. Captives and bondslaves are fettered and bound in chains at the pleasure of those whose captives they be. When Nabuchadnezzar King of Babylon took Zedekiah King of Judah, he bond him in chains, and put him in prison till the day of his death, Jer. 52. 11. When the Philistines took Samson captive, they bond him with fetters of brass, Judg. 16. 21. So Simon Magus was bound with the bond of iniquity, Act. 8. 23. There are the bonds and cords of love, Hos. 11. 4. but with these they are not drawn to God and Christ. There are the bonds and cords of duty, the commands of God, but these they break and snap asunder with ease, Psal. 2. 3. as Samson did the with'hs and ropes with which he was bound. But there are the cords of sin with which they are fast bound, Prov. 5. 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself; and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. CHAP. III. Containing Ten several Chains, or several links in the same chain; with which the captives and bondslaves of Satan are bound. OF the first. 1. The captives and bondslaves of Satan are bound with the Chain of Ignorance; As the Syrians were smitten with Blindness, thought they were going after their Leader to Dothan, but he brought them into the midst of Samaria, and then their eyes were opened, they saw they were in Samaria, in the midst of their enemies, 2 King. 6. 18, 19, 20. You may lead a blind man which way you will; these Captives are blind, and except God open their eyes they will not see their misery till they be in the midst of Hell; they think they are going to Heaven while they live, but after death when the eyes of their bodies are shut, the eyes of their souls shall be opened, and behold they see themselves in the midst of Hell, among Devils and Damned Spirits. When the King of Babylon took Zedekiah captive he put out his eyes, Jer. 52. 11. and when the Philistines did take Samson captive they put out his eyes, Judg. 16. 21. and when Satan set upon our first Parents, and overcame them, their eyes were put out, I mean, of their understanding, they lost their knowledge of God, and of the way to eternal Happiness; and all his Children to this day are born Spiritually blind, and have their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of the heart, Ephes. 4. 18. 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 into them, 2 Cor. 4. 4. and this is one of the first Chains which God knocketh off, when he comes to set a poor Captive at liberty, Act. 26. 18. But this chain or cord with which they are bound is fourfold, and so not easily broken, no, not at all but by Almighty power. 1. These Captives are bound with the chain of Ignorance of sin. The Devil keeps from the eyes of his bondslaves the evil of Sin, that they should not see it in its own nature, in its proper deformity and evil shape; for Sin is such a monster, that if men did see it as it is, they would abhor it, for evil as evil is not desirable; but Satan sets it out in the paint and dress of pleasure or profit, and so Sinners are the faster held thereby; this way he brought Mankind into bondage, and took them captive at the first, Gen. 3. 4, 5, 6. and by this means he keeps them still in slavery and captivity. 2. They are bound with the chain of Ignorance of their misery and danger by reason of sin. These captivated Souls are in danger of God's eternal wrath and curse, and do not fear it, because they do not see it; in danger of eternal torments and do not tremble at it, because it is hid from their eyes; they see not the evil in sin, and consider not the evil after sin, but think themselves to be safe, though there is but a single thread of a frail life betwixt them and the miseries of the Damned. When sinners eyes are opened to discern their dangerous condition, the conscience awakened, they cry out, as they Act. 2. 37. Men and Brethren what shall we do? I see I am lost, tell me, Oh tell me, what shall I do? I am in danger of the torments of the damned, if you can, for God's sake tell me, if you have any love or pity to a poor perishing Soul, tell me, what shall I do? if you know of any way or means for me to escape that Hell I have deserved, tell me; is there pardon for such sins as mine? is there any hope for such a sinner as I have been, and as yet I am? my time is short, my days are few, and I now do see I am as near to Hell, as to the Grave; Oh what shall I do that I may escape so great damnation! So the Jailor, Act. 16. 30, 31. but while sinners are ignorant of their misery and danger Satan hath them fast bound. 3. They are bound with the chain of Ignorance of the remedy to escape this misery and danger that their souls are in. Christ is the only Saviour of lost Sinners, Act. 4. 12. Ignorance of Christ is a strong bond to hold men in their state of bondage. Some are grossly ignorant of Christ, they know not who he was, nor what he did, nor what he did endure, ignorant of his Natures, and ignorant of his Offices, ignorant of his Satisfaction, and of his Intercession; how should these get out of bondage that cannot (while thus ignorant) believe on him that is the only Redeemer of such captives? And how should they believe on him whom they have no knowledge of? others might have some notional knowledge of Christ the only Redeemer, that they may be able to talk of Christ, and of his sufferings, and of his undertake for Sinners, that yet have not any saving knowledge of him, that do not experimentally know the power of his Death, and the power of his Resurrection; as one might have some knowledge by hear-say of a man, that they have no acquaintance with, but are utter strangers to; if you see your sin, and if you see your misery by sin, yet if you do not see the Redeemer, have no knowledge of him, you are captive still, and fast bound in the Devil's fetters. 4. They are bound in the chains of Ignorance of the Covenant of Grace, that was framed on purpose for the relief of captive sinners; they know not the terms and conditions of the New Covenant, how Christ and his benefits purchased by his Death, are to be applied and conveyed over unto them. Faith in Christ is a riddle to them; and while they remain ignorant of the way, means, and conditions proposed in the Gospel, how they should be partakers of Redemption purchased by Christ, they will remain in a state of bondage and captivity; for the breaking of this cord consider (1) the necessity of Spiritual knowledge, no Salvation without it, Isa. 27. 11. 2 Thes. 1. 7, 8. (2) The excellency of it, Phil. 3. 7, 8. (3) The utility of it; it is profitable to your avoiding of sin, resisting temptation, performance of duty, escaping of misery, obtaining of glory. The means to get it. 1. Read the Scripture. 2. Learn some Catechism: What do you make Children of us? you are so being ignorant, old in years, but Children in point of understanding. If thou wert an hundred years old, if thou dost not know them it is no shame to learn them. Set thyself under the constant preaching of the Word, there God often opens the eyes of the blind. 4. Keep company with the people of God; they will be discoursing with thee of things needful to Salvation. The lips of the righteous feed many. 5. Pray to God to open thine eyes, that thou mayst see such things as yet thou never sawest, Mat. 20. 30, 31, 32, 33. CHAP. IU. The second Chain is Prejudice. 2. THe Captives and Bondslaves of Satan are bound with the chain of Prejudice against the ways of God and serious Religion; they have misapprehensions of Godliness, hard thoughts of God, of the people of God, they judge before they try; and prejudice against a man's person makes men will not hearken to his counsel, or have to do with him, I knew that thou wast an hard, austere man, and therefore I hide thy talon in a napkin, there is what is thine, said the prejudiced slothful servant, Mat. 25. 24. Prejudice against a calling, a particular trade, or way and manner of living, keeps a person from being of that calling, or entering into that way. Prejudice against the way of Godliness holds sinners fast in the way of wickedness. Slaves in Turk● have good thoughts of the condition of those that are free and at liberty in their own Country, and therefore are exceeding desirous to be in their capacity; but the slaves of Satan have a prejudicated opinion of the condition of God● freemen, and therefore care not to be of their number. And there are several Links in this Chain, which we will bring forth and shew● how they may be broken, that poor sinner might not be any longer bound or detained in their slavery thereby. 1. They have this prejudice against the ways of God, that they are melancholy ways; if they become serious in Religion they must be mourning and sorrowing, and leave their pleasures, and never have a merry day more.— This is a clear mistake, a groundless prejudice; for first though there must be sorrow and mourning and repenting, yet this is in order to rejoicing. Have you not sinned? and if you have sinned, must you not, should you not sorrow? is it not reasonable you should grieve that you have dishonoured God, provoked God, wronged and undone your own Souls? If your Child hath rebelled against you▪ would you have him go on in his rebellion and disobedience still, because if he return unto his duty and be received into your favour, he should be humbled, and profess his sorrow and repentance that ever he did rebel against you? do you expect this from your stubborn and disobedient Child, and might not God expect this much more from you? and would you look upon it as an aggravation of his disobedience to go on therein without sorrow and repentance, and that it would be much better for him to sorrow and return? if you would judge impartially, you would determine the case to be as reasonable betwixt God and you. 2. Is it not better to go mourning and repenting to Heaven, than to go merrily and rejoicing to Hell? Had you not better mourn and have a sad and heavy heart for sin upon Earth, and hereafter be filled with the joys of Heaven, than to have a light heart upon Earth under the heavy weight and load of sin, and be filled hereafter with the sorrows of Hell? Had you not better have short sorrows for a time, and afterwards eternal joys; than to have short joys for a time, and afterwards eternal sadness and sorrows? sinned you have, and sorrow you must, on Earth or in Hell, here among men, or hereafter among Devils, and the cursed crew of damned Souls. If you can avoid all sorrow after sin, do if thou thinkest thou canst have, as merry and as light an heart in Hell, and canst lead as jolly, jovial, pleasant life in the midst of scorching fiery flames, as now thou dost in the ways of sin, go on and take thy course; but if thou canst not, as indeed thou canst not; and if thou couldst speak with a damned Soul that was of thine acquaintance that hath been in Hell but a Month or two, he would tell thee that thou canst not; he would tell thee, amongst us damned wretches, there is no singing and carousing; amongst us there are no merry meetings, no juncatings and delights; no sports and pleasures; all full of sadness and sorrow, all lamenting their woeful case; all bewailing their miserable condition, one crying out, Woe is me, I am undone. And another, in another place, lamenting, Woe is me, I am undone, I am undone, woe is me I am undone! my sports are spent, my pleasures are all past and gone, but my pain remains, my joys are gone, are fled away, but my sorrow fills my heart; those that mourned upon earth, are now rejoicing in Heaven, but I that had my sensual joy, my fleshly delights am sorrowing here in Hell; and every thing I think upon, doth much increase and add unto my sorrow, if I think that God is lost, the glorious, gracious, blessed God is lost, this doth increase my sorrow, and the heaviness of my heart; if I think that I had time, but it is past, I had means of grace, Ministers once preaching to me in the name of God, forewarning me of this place, directing me, how I might have escaped these tormenting flames, and got safely to the place of bliss, and rest and joy, and did entreat me and beseech me with that earnest seriousness, as if they could not have been happy without my Salvation, as if their comfort had wrapped up in my Salvation; but these have done with me for eve●▪ I cannot expect one Sermon more, one offer of Christ, one tender of mercy more for ever, many a one I had, but now not one, not one, woe and alas that ever I was born, not one more for ever; woe and alas, that ever I had any, and did slight them all, and because I must have not one tender of a Saviour more for ever; this, all this doth add unto my sorrow. Or if I think, how loath I was to sorrow upon earth, to have my heart made heavy for my sin, nothing would please me but my pleasure; I was for mirth and joy, but the more I had of joy while I lived on the Earth, the more I have of sadness and sorrow now I am in Hell. I had indeed a short and merry life upon the Earth, but now I have a long and heavy sorrowful life in the flames of Hell; on Earth I was for joy and no sorrow, and now in Hell I have sorrow, and no joy. Oh I had better, I had better, I had a thousand times better repent upon Earth, and have been now rejoicing in Heaven, than to rejoice, like a fool as I was, upon Earth, and must now weep and howl, and fruitlessly lament in Hell; these would be the tidings of a damned Soul, and far more sad and heavy than these; he would tell you, that if one go quite through Hell, there is not one merry heart amongst them all. Think then of this and see, and judge if there be any reason you should be prejudiced against the condition of God's freemen, or the ways of holiness, because of sorrow and repentance there must be for sin. Oh that after this, poor captive, thou mayst be no longer bound with this chain of the Devil; but yet to knock of● this fetter, and to cut this chain asunder, let us strike the other blow. Therefore I say, 3. The ways of God and holiness are not heavy, sad and melancholic ways: Holiness is the foundation of Joy, and the reason of it, had Adam ever a more joyful comfortable life than when he was perfectly holy? and who are more joyful and more glad, and filled more with pleasure and delight than the Saints above that are perfectly holy? and there are no persons upon earth have more cause of joy and true delight than those that are truly though imperfectly holy. Who have more reason to rejoice than those that have made their peace with God, that do enjoy his savour and his gracious presence? Who have cause to lead a more cheerful, comfortable life, than those that have the pardon of their sin, that are the Children of the everliving God? Who have more reason to spend their days and pilgrimage upon Earth with joy and gladness than those that are past the danger of damnation, and have the assurance, or a lively hope of being happy in the full and perfect enjoyment of the blessed God in Heaven for ever? Do but bring forth the grounds and reasons of your rejoicing, and set them over against the reasons of the righteous man's joy▪ and then judge which of the two are more weighty and more rational. Dost thou lead a merry life because thou dost enjoy the world? and might not a godly man much more that doth enjoy God himself? Art thou so pleasant in thy life, because thou hast this world's delights? and might not a godly man much more that hath Heavenly delights? Methinks the thoughts of what thou wantest, should dash all the joy thou takest in what thou hast. Thou hast Riches, but thou wantest Grace; thou hast the favour of thy friends, but thou hast not the favour of the great eternal God; thou hast no debts to pay, or none but what thou canst discharge, but thou hast not the pardon of thy sin, this debt remains uncrossed in the Book of God, and thou art never able to discharge this debt. Methinks the thoughts and fears of what thou shalt hereafter feel should damp thy joy, and in thy greatest merry mood should check thy folly and change thy countenance, and fill thy heart with sorrow and sadness; what! thou be merry when thou art so near to Hell? what! upon the very brink and border of the bottomless pit? what! when thou mayst not be out of Hell a year or two, nay, not a month or two, nay not a day or two; nay, when it is more than thou canst tell, whether thou shalt be out of Hell an hour or two? Is this the man, that is so merry? Is this the man that pleads so much for pleasure and delight? Is this the man indeed that would spend his present time in joy and gladness? If this man should die to day, how soon would his tone be altered? How soon, alas how soon would his tune be changed? What think you all ye that hear me this day, that know and understand the dreadful danger of a graceless, christless, unconverted sinner? can you see him sporting with delight about the brink of Hell, and not fear and tremble, lest ye see him falling down into it? Can you see him so jocund, when so near the place of utter darkness, and not stand amazed at his boldness and his blindness? Do not your hearts pity such a one, though he hath no pity for himself? Come sinner, judge thyself, if of all men in the world thou hast any cause of such a joyful life thou pleadest for; and whether if thou wouldst lead a cheerful life indeed, it would not be thy wiser, surer, safer course to leave thy serving of the Devil and thy lusts, and to break thy cords and chains wherewith thou hast been bound, and held captive so many years as thou hast been. Besides, what are these pleasures which thou findest in the Creature? What are these joys and comforts which thou fetchest from any thing besides God, or below God? are they not sensual and brutish? are they not only found in the sensitive part of thy Soul, and not in the more noble and rational part? Dost thou place thy pleasure and delights in eating and drinking, and gratifying thy sensitive appetite; why thy very beast, thy horse, thy dog, hath this delight as well as thou? and some creatures more than man. I can tell thee of a man that hath tried more than what these pleasures are; that had a greater estate, and greater varieties of all sorts to delight himself, that hath made such search what there is in all things under the Sun to delight the heart of man, that no man that comes after him can do more; and yet he hath left it upon record from his own experience, that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, and that is Solomon, Eccles. 2. throughout; take thy Book and read it; his Conclusion is, that the delights and pleasures fetched from things above the Sun do far surpass and exceed all pleasures and delight taken from all things under the Sun; the same man that tells thee, all under the Sun is vanity, doth also tell thee that the ways of wisdom, are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace, Pro. 3. 17. Come then, poor captive Sinners, come and try what comforts and delights are to be found in the ways and service of our God. Do not judge before you try; how can you tell, what are the ways of God, before you have made experience what they be? How can you tell, there are no comforts, joys that the Saints meet with, when you were never qualified for those comforts and those joys? I do not persuade you to cast away a comfortable life, but to change it for a better; I do not persuade you to leave delights and pleasures, but to change them for more noble, more rational, more spiritual, more durable delights: Come and get a real taste and relish of the sweet delights in communion with God, in the sense of his love, in a right applying of his promises, in hoping for his Kingdom; and if you do not like them better, and find them sweeter, then return again to your present comforts, and fetch them again from the same Objects that now you do; but then be sure your heart be changed, that you might taste indeed the sweetness of delights and comforts in God, in Christ, in the promises and privileges of the Gospel and I dare be bold to say, you will then say these are better, greater, sweeter than ever any before you found in Satan's service, or in the way of Sin: Come therefore, come and try. Obj. What needs that? though we have not tried ourselves, yet we see how it is by those that have? do not we see that those that have forsaken their former ways, and since have become more precise and strict, that they spend their days in sorrow? are always mourning and complaining; their tears and countenances show the heaviness and sadness, and sorrow of their hearts. Answ. 1. What, all! always! it is not so; There are those Believers that are sometimes filled with unspeakable joy, 1 Pet. 4. 8. that are so delighted with the love of God unto their Souls, and with hopes of glory, that they can and do rejoice in the sorest tribulation, Rom. 5. 3. that have such believing views of future glory, and such present tastes of the sweetness of Gospel-priviledges, that filleth their Souls with such holy admirations, and divine comforts, that cannot be expressed with words, 1 Joh. 3. 1. 2. Those that you do see so much to mourn and weep, and grieve for their sins, they have cause and ground and reason to rejoice, and so have not you that yet are captives to the Devil; and are not they in a better condition, that have ground and reason to rejoice, but do not, than you are in, that do rejoice, when you have no cause nor reason so to do? of the two I would rather have my Soul in their Soul's condition, than in thine. 3. You do not know how sweet and pleasant, and delightful these bitter tears of Repentance are unto them that shed most of them; It is exceeding comfortable to have an heart to mourn and grieve kindly for their sins; their tears thou seest, but their inward peace and comfort that often follows after these, thou takest no notice of. 4. But how dost thou know the true cause and reason of their sorrow? Thou art apt to impute it to the way that they walk in; did ever any truly godly Soul, that leads the saddest and most sorrowful life, tell thee, his sorrow is, because now he is become an holy man; did ever any tell thee, it is because they have left their former wicked ways? and because they are become new creatures, and have given up their names, their wills, their hearts, and all to God, and Christ? if this, and no such like thing be the cause of their sadness, is there any reason thou shouldest thus be prejudiced against the state of the Lords Redeemed ones, and please thyself rather in this present bonds, than to desire to be released and delivered from them? But what if these tears thou seest them shed, and the sorrow thou dost perceive they are filled with, be 1. Because they were captives to the Devil so long, and served sin and lust so long, that they lay in chains and fetters so long, when a Redeemer was so often offered to them, and they had not hearts to close with him sooner than they did; that they served the Devil, an hard cruel master so long, and came into Christ, so good and so gracious a Lord, as by experience now they find him to be, and his work and wages to be so sweet, that they came to him so late; if this be the true reason, is their sorrow than any real reason of your prejudice against godliness? no verily, it doth commend it so much the more. 2. What if the reason of their sorrow be because they have made no more progress in holiness since they came into the ways of holiness? that they have attained no more likeness unto God, to no more faith and love, to no more humility and heavenly-mindedness; they are weeping and mourning as you see, not because they are come into the ways of God, as you do think, but because they have gone yet no further in them; not because they have left their sin, but because they did sin so much, and now can leave their sin no more; they are so sorrowful because they are no more fruitful, because they are no better; ask them if this be not the reason? and if so, is there any reason their sorrow should prejudice your hearts against godliness? no verily, it doth commend it so much the more, when they that have a true and real taste of the sweetness of it, sorrow so much because they have attained to no more degrees thereof. 3. What if the reason of their sorrow be, because they can do no more for God and Christ, by way of thankfulness to him, who hath done so much for them as of bondslaves to make them free? that God should give his own only Son, and Christ should give himself, his life, his soul, his blood for a ransom to bring them out of their captivity; to deliver them from hell and wrath to come and make them that were the other day in bondage, and liable to damnation, now meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light; and yet that they can honour him no more, might be the reason of their sorrow. 4. What if the reason of their sorrow be, because they see so many still remain in bonds, so many still continue servants to the Devil, and to sin, and do refuse to serve and live unto the blessed, holy, glorious God? and is not this matter of sorrow indeed to see the Devil leading precious and immortal Souls captive unto hell? that men should be so forward to follow the Devil, their destroyer unto eternal torments, and so backward to follow Christ, the only Saviour unto eternal joys? these are mourning, not that they are made free, but because you and so many more remain captives to the Devil. 5. What though the reason of their sorrow be for their sin which they did commit when they were bondslaves to the Devil, doth this discommend holiness, to bewail wickedness, or is this for the credit and the commendation of your sinful way of life, that men that are serious and have their eyes opened, do see so much evil in it, that they think they can never lament it enough? certainly it doth disgrace the way of sin. 2. Another link in this chain of prejudice wherewith these captives are bound, is, the offence they take from the iutward mean condition of Gods redeemed people; they see them to be the poorer sort of people that are full of zeal for strictness in Religion; the rich men, and the great men, and the gallants are not of this way; this did prejudice many against Christ, that came to purchase and proclaim, and bestow liberty o● poor captive sinners, Mat. 13. 55. Is not this the Carpenter's son? 57 they were offended at him. And the Pharisees were held in this bond, Joh. 7. 46. Never man spoke like this man. 47. Then answered the Pharisees, are ye also deceived? 48. Have any of the Rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him? 49. But this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed. Let us try to remove this prejudice, and break this bond in these five answers briefly. 1. Shall the greatness and the riches, and the gallantry of sinner's advantage them any thing beyond the grave, or profit them one whit in another world, or at the Bar of God? Shall they be preserved from Hell, and the torments of the damned because they are rich and great, and prosper in the world? or shall they be saved or received into Heaven when they die, because they were rich while they lived in the world? will not death strip them of their estates, of their costly robes? will not death make these gallants as ghastly as the poor, and is there any difference betwixt the Corpse of the nicest Dame, and the poorest beggar? must not the one rot in the earth as well as the other? and be fed upon by worms? or will the very worms make any difference betwixt the one and the other? when the graves are opened, where poor and rich were buried, and rotten, and their skulls and bones are cast up, can you know the bones and skulls of the rich from the bones and skulls of the poor? which it was that was clothed with silks, and which with rags or coarser cloth? which it was that was fed with sweetest morsels, and with greatest delicacies, and which with harder fare and meaner diet? No, you cannot. Why then, when you shall be so soon equalised with the poorest beggar, are you so prejudiced by the meanness of Christ's followers? Must you not stand as naked before the just Tribunal of an Impartial God, as those that now for their poverty you contemn and scorn? or shall you appear in your locks and curls, with which you so much vainly pride yourselves? shall you appear with your Rings, and Jewels, and Bracelets, or be then regarded, because you trick up your mortal bodies with such things now? No, no, it is more likely you will then wish you had never had them, you had never used them, especially since your heart was so puffed up with pride, that you disdained Redemption by Christ, because many of his followers were so far below you in outward enjoyments of the world. 2. What if the rich and the poor were sick of the same disease, and there was but one only remedy for the recovering of both, would the rich refuse the only remedy▪ because the poorer sort do make use of it? Would they rather die, and go unto their graves, or lie in pain rather than use the same remedy that the meaner sort are cured by? this is the very case, a Prince and a beggar, the noble and the ignoble, high and low, rich and poor are sick of the same Soul-distempers, all are all alike guilty of and polluted with Original Sin, all are by nature children of wrath, under the curse of the Law, have deserved the damnation of Hell; and there is but one only way of Salvation, one only Redeemer and Saviour, Act. 4. 12. and the way and means to be partakers of Christ and his benefits is one and the same to all; God hath not prescribed one way of Salvation to the rich, and another to the poor; but the same to both; must the poor believe, so must the rich, or be damned; must the poor be holy and converted, so must the rich, or else never see God, nor enter into his Kingdom; will you then rather perish for ever, than be saved the same way, and by the same means that the poorer sort are saved by? If you are so stout and proud, and highminded, for this reason to neglect God, let him alone, and for this reason to reject Christ, let him alone, and in the end see who will have cause to complain, God or you, and who will have the worst of it, the poor or you. 3. If it be the pleasure of God, to call and convert the meaner sort of people, to bestow his Son, his spirit, and his grace upon them, what have you to do to quarrel with God, or be offended at the method of his grace? Is not Christ Gods own gift, and his Grace and Kingdom, and eternal Life his own gift, and in his own power, and may he not give it to whom he will? what if God hath chosen the poor in this world to make them rich in faith, and to be heirs of glory, Jam. 2. 5. will you rather remain children of wrath, and captives still to Sin and Satan, than to be coheirs with such contemptible in your eyes? Who do you think will be the losers and the sufferers but yourselves? if their poverty and low estate doth not diminish God's love to them, there is no reason it should cause or increase your prejudice against the only way to eternal happiness. 4. It is better to be a poor man, and to be ● freeman than to be a rich man under close restraint and bondage. Civil liberty is to be preferred before many enjoyments, much more ●s spiritual freedom to be valued and desired ●bove honours, pleasures and profits of the ●orld. Is it not better be in a low condition ●hile you live and be saved when you die, ●an to be ungodly, though rich in this world, ●nd damned in the next? Is it not better to ●o with truly gracious and believing persons ●hough poor) to Heaven and eternal glory, ●an with christless, graceless persons, (though ●ch and honourable) to everlasting tor●ents? 5. If you speak of the true riches, and who ●e rich indeed, Believers are not poor; then the scale is turned, than the ungodly are the poor, and the godly are the rich; these have the surest riches, the safest, the most suitable, and the most lasting, the everlasting riches; Go● is their riches, and Christ in whom are unsearchable riches, is their riches; and the treasure● that are above are their riches; they are ric● in grace, and rich in promises, and rich in special spiritual privileges; and when worldly riches shall fail, and stand you in no stead● will not profit, nor advantage you; then shal● their riches comfort them, remain with them and be continued to them for ever; and i● there now any reason why you should be boun● with this bond of prejudice against the freedom you might have by Christ, because many whom Christ makes free, are poor and mea● in their outward condition in the world? 3. Another Link in this Chain of prejudice by which these captives are bound, is, that th● way whereby spiritual freedom is obtained is ● persecuted way, it is full of thorny troubles, an● of smarting tribulations; such as Christ mak● free, they are many times afflicted with th● loss of Goods, with the loss of outward liberty and of life itself; such are mocked, scorne● and reproached, and do often suffer while others flourish and prosper.— This indeed hath been a strong temptation to good a● gracious men, as to David, Psal. 73. and to J●remiah, cap. 12. 1. and to Habbakkuk, cap. 1. 13, 14. But it is a strong bond wherewith wicked men are held back from entering into the way in which they might be made free; but Oh, that God would enable you to break this bond, and cut in two this Chain, by working upon your hearts such considerations as these following. 1. They have peace with God when they have trouble in the world; they have favour with God, when frowns from men; when men are their foes, God is their friend; though men do Joath them, yet God doth love them; though men be against them, and devils be against them, yet God is for them; yea, all in God is for them; his mercy is for them, his power is for them, his truth is for them; and is there not more in peace and friendship with God to make them happy, than in all the troubles they have from men to make them miserable? and is it not better to have one powerful, true, eternal God to be one's friend, though all the world should be one's enemy, than to have such a God to be one's enemy, and weak and mortal men to be one's friend, whereas if you while in your sins be at rest and ease, yet God is against you, his justice is against you, his truth is against you, and his power is against you; and as God's people shall find God to be the surest friend; so the wicked shall find him to be the sorest enemy. 2. Though they have outward troubles, yet they have inward joys and comforts; as they have peace with God, so they have peace in and with themselves; and their joy is such that no man can take it from them; their outward enjoyments and their lives they may take from them, but their comfort and their joy they cannot take from them, Joh. 16. 22. the testimony of their Conscience makes them to rejoice, 2 Cor. 1. 12. they are filled with such inward consolations that they can triumph and sing in their outward tribulations, Rom. 5. 3. when cast and bound in prison, Act. 16. 23, 24▪ 25. when beaten and scourged, Act. 5. 40, 41▪ and the sweetness of their inward comforts doth much abate and take away the bitterness of their outward sorrows. Their troubles you see, their afflictions you see, but their comforts you are strangers to; else you would not be so much prejudiced against the way of holiness for the outward evils that befall them that walk therein. 3. The troubles and the sufferings of Gods redeemed one's are but short, but for a little, little while; but the sufferings of the Devil's captives are long and lasting, for a long, a long, a long Eternity. Compare their sufferings here with the eternal joys they shall hereafter have and they are short; or with the eternal torments that the slaves of Sin shall hereafter feel, and so they are but for a moment; at the longest their sufferings shall last, no longer than their life on Earth shall last, and that will be but for a while; after a few more years or months, or weeks, and all their sorrow shall be over, past and gone; and in as short a time, your joy and ease will pass away and return no more for ever, their sufferings will shortly end, and their rest and ease and joy begin, but never end, and your ease will shortly end, and your sufferings and sorrows will begin, but never, never end. What think you now? is it not better be in trouble for a while, and afterwards be lodged in a place of everlasting rest, and love and joy, than live at ease a while in sin, and afterwards roll and tumble in a restless Lake of burning Brimstone to all eternity. If you are not of this mind now, it will not be long before you will. 4. The troubles of Gods holy, humble, sanctified people, they are but light as well as short: True indeed in themselves they may be heavy, and to flesh and blood they may be heavy, but comparatively they are but light. Compare them with that weighty Crown of Glory that shall be put upon their heads, and so they are but light, 2 Cor. 4. 17. not worthy to be compared with it, Rom. 8. 18. And compare their troubles here with the sufferings of the Devil's captives hereafter, and still they will be found to be but light. The sufferings of the one are from angry and displeased men, but the sufferings of the other are from an angry and offended God: and is the arm of men to be compared with the arm of God? the wrath of men to the wrath of God? and can feeble men lay on such blows as can a strong and mighty God? Can a Child strike such a stroke as a mighty Giant can? Oh you shall shortly feel the heavy weight of God's revenging fury; and if you think it will not be so bad, nor so heavy upon you, but you shall do well enough to bear it; tell me why then do you so cry out and roar under extremity of the Toothache? why do you complain and say, you cannot rest, nor sleep? why do you make so great a stir under a fit of Colic, Gout▪ or Stone? why do you not say, this is nothing to be born? this is easy to be endured? why do you then so frown and fret, and make such bitter lamentation? but alas what is this to the torments of the damned? to lying in a fiery furnace? in a place of utter darkness, where shall be weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth for ever? where the worm never dies, and the fire shall not be quenched? what is this to lying in those flames which God on purpose hath caused to burn, for the punishment of sin? to lying in that place, which God on purpose hath provided for the showing forth the glory of his Justice, and his Holiness, and his utter hatred of sin, in pouring out his fury, and his sorest indignation in the punishment of the sinner. Oh that God would break this bond, that hereby you might be no longer kept as bondslaves to the Devil. 4. Another Link in this Chain of Prejudice, by which these captives are bound is their apprehension of the difficulty of religious duties; the duties to be performed, as mortification of sin, self-denial, heavenly-mindedness, fervent prayer, constant, holy, watchfulness in the whole course of life, close and narrow self examination, these and such like are displeasing, because of the difficulty they apprehend in them, and will not be at the pains to perform them, and if they try they find it to be an heavy and a grievous burden, and cast it off again. Towards the breaking of this bond consider. 1. It is to sinful man, and the sinful part of man that holy duties are so displeasing and so burdensome; it is because your Souls are distempered, and not from any thing in the nature of holiness; this is plain, because the Angels of God that are without sin, do not find it a burden but a pleasure to be obedient unto God; and when the people of God shall be perfectly cured of all Soul-diseases they shall not find any difficulty or tedious irksomeness in constant and perpetual holy actings; and man as made at first by God, did take pleasure, and did find great delight in his conformity to the will of God. It is plainly then from the corruption of your depraved nature, and the wickedness of your own hearts, that you find this difficulty in Religion, and that holiness is such a burden to you; as a man that is distempered doth not savour nor relish his food; what others taste sweetness in, is bitter unto him; the cause is not in the meat, but in the ; should this man cry out, my meat is bitter, or rather my disease is great and dangerous; or should he therefore refuse his sustenance, and rather die with hunger than receive his food? So should you cry out and complain, Godliness is burdensome, and Religion is a tedious task? or rather blame the corruption of your heart, that what is pleasant and delightful unto others is so heavy and displeasing unto you? do you say God's commands are grievous, others have said and found they are not so, 1 Joh. 5. 3. Do you say, Christ's yoke is heavy, and his burden not to be born? Christ tells you, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light, Mat. 11. 30. Do you find the serious constant study of the holy Word of God to be burdensome to you? David found it to be sweet▪ and pleasant, and delightful, Psal. 119. 35. as sweet to him as riches to a worldly man, Psal. 119. 14. and better to him than thousands of gold and silver, Psal. 19 72. do you find Gods commands to be to you as bitter as gall, others have found them to be sweeter than honey, or the honeycomb, Psal. 19 10. are they unto you unpleasant? they are to others more desirable than their necessary food▪ Job 23. 12. whence comes this to pa●s, that the ●ame commands of God, and the same religious duties are sweet to others, but bitter to you, pleasant to others but burdensome to you? is it not apparent that it is from the wickedness of your own depraved hearts? and have you distempered yourselves, and now cry out of the burden of the ways of God? have you done what you ought not to do, and thereby become weak and unable, and then cast the blame upon the commands of God, that is indeed, upon God himself? It is not your wisdom but your wickedness so to do. 2. It is the external part of duties without the enjoyment of God in them, that makes them to be so heavy and so burdensome unto you; because you do not get into the spiritual part of religious performances. To pray indeed and not to meet with God in prayer, to sit and hear, to fast and afflict the body without communion with God, this is that which is the cause of this tediousness in Religion you do so much cry out against; but in the internal part of Religion, in loving of God, in believing on Christ, in meeting with God, in the desires of the Soul after God there is sweetness, and when it is thus with the Soul, it finds not duty to be a burden; but the●e the Soul could dwell, there it could with pleasure stay and make its abode. Nay there is more true delight in denying the pleasures of the flesh, than in fulfilling of them. These things you have no experience of, but ask God's people, and they will tell you, this is so; inquire of them and they will assure you this is so; and should you be thus prejudiced against what you do not know? If you did know, your prejudice would quickly be removed. You engage in the matter of a duty, and do not mind the manner of it, and that increaseth your prejudice against it: Come then love God in Prayer, mourn for Sin in Prayer; were you able and subjects capable of applying promises to yourselves, promises of pardon, and promises of Heaven, as your own, in reading and hearing of the Word, than it would be sweet and pleasant. Though you in your unconverted state do not find it to be so, yet do not say, it is not so, but believe them that have had experience, and come over to God and Christ indeed, and then with the Samaritans you will say, Joh. 4. 42. as they unto the Woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that he is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Or you will find, as the Queen of Sheba said concerning Solomon, 1 King. 10. 4. 5. She said unto the King, it was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts, and of thy wisdom. 7. Howbeit, I believed not the words until I came and mine eyes have seen it; and behold the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. 8. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. The flesh doth make false reports of the ways of God, but come and try, and you will say, you heard much was said against the tediousness of Religion, and for the easiness of Christ's yoke, but now I find, the one half was not expressed, of what might be experienced of the delight and sweetness in it, which takes off the burdensomeness of it. 3. Set the necessity of being found in the ways of God against the difficulty of walking in them. If a thing be difficult and unpleasing, yet if you apprehend it to be necessary, that it must be done, you set upon it; it is a burden to some people to take Physic, but when they are so sick that they must take it or die, they set themselves unto it. Sirs, do not stand disputing, it is a difficult matter to be holy, to love God, to turn from Sin, it is a burden to you to serve God; hard or not hard, it must be done, burden or no burden, it must be done, or you die and that for ever. You must do the things that God requireth, repent, believe, become new creatures, accept of Christ, be holy, or you must be damned; here is no trifling in the case; here is no arguing pro and con to be admitted, these things must be done, or your Souls shall not be saved; if the word of God be true, this is true. They are not my words but the words of the true eternal God; turn and see, Mat. 18. 3. M●r. 16. 15, 16. Rom. 8. 13. Joh. 3. 3. Luk 13. 3, 5. Gal. 6. 7, 8. Gal. 5. 19, 20, 21. 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. Rev. 2●. 8. What say you now? do you believe this to be the Word of God or no? do you believe you must be judged by it, be damned or saved according to this word? doth not God speak his mind plainly, and declare his purpose, and his unalterable resolution, that you must turn to him, or burn in hell? that you must repent and believe, and that quickly too, or you must be lost for ever? why dost thou poor captive sinner, stand thus delaying and loitering, crying it is hard to leave my sins, to repent, a burden to give myself to holy duties. Speak Sinner, in the name of God I demand thy answer, wilt thou do what God requires, or wilt thou not? is it not fl●●y necessity, if thou wilt be saved? and if it 〈◊〉 foe difficult, and so necessary, why art thou so long before thou goest about i●? hadst thou not the more need to take all the time before thee to do this work that is so hard and yet so necessity. Why then do you put it off till you come to be sick, and till you come to die? are you likely to be fit for the hardest work when you shall be fit for no work at all? dost thou sometime think that this is easy, and therefore dost defer it to the last, and sometime think it too hard for thee to meddle with it at all? poor captive Soul! dost thou thus turn and wind in thine own thoughts, and harbour any thing that may prolong the time of thy captivity, and bind thee faster and faster still in thy fetters and thy chains? wilt thou still say, it is an hard case, it is a burdensome thing to be really religious, to be truly holy, then tell me further. 4. Will it not be an harder case to bear the wrath of God for ever? is duty now a burden to thee? and will not the torments of Hell be a burden to thee? cast thou not bear the burden of a holy life? and canst thou bear the damnation of Hell? dost thou not think, the thoughts of the loss of God and Christ, and Heaven will be an heavy and continual burden to thee? dost thou not think, the sight of Devils round about thee, will not be a burden to thee? and thy constant hearing such horrible howl, such doleful lamentations, such bitter cries of woe, woe for ever woe, that we were born, what sholl we do, what shall we do, woe and alas what shall we do, this place is hot, is hot, oh, oh, it is exceeding hot, this pain is great, this pain is great, oh, it is exceeding great, it is extreme, it is extreme; and which is worse and doth increase our woe and sorrow, it is eternal too, it is eternal too! will not such hearing of such dreadful out cries be a burden to thee? dost thou not, poor captive sinner, think what thou shalt feel in pain upon thy body, by the burning fiery-flames, and the anguish in thy soul by the ever-gnawings of the never-dying-worm, will not be a burden to thee? is it difficult to love God, and will it not be difficult to bear the wrath of God? is it difficult to serve him, and will it not be difficult to suffer from him? I tell thee, it will be the hardest task that ever thou wast put upon, to bear the torments of the damned. Oh, come then, sinner, come away, though it be hard to leave thy sins, yet do it, though it be hard to walk strictly before the Lord, yet come and do it, else something will befall thee shortly, that thou shalt say, is hard to suffer. 5. This difficulty that thou findest in religious duties, is, because as yet thou hast no strength but what is thine own to do them with; but if thou dost renounce the Devil and the flesh, and give thyself to God and Christ, thou shalt have help from Heaven, and then they will be more easy to thee. While thou art in bonds of sin, thou hast neither strength nor skill to do them with, and that makes it hard, but if God make thee free, thou shalt have both, and then it will be easy; If thou wantest skill, God will show thee, and if thou wantest strength, God will help thee, and then praying work, and repenting work, will go more smoothly forward. When God shall come and break and melt thy heart, it will be more easy to repent; when God shall come, and give to thee, a sight and sense of thy sins and wants; of thy want of grace and pardon, of thy want of Christ and a renewed heart, it will be more easy for thee to bewail thy sins, and to pray and beg supplies for what thou wantest. God is not an hard Master to his servants, to put them upon work, and give them neither power nor reward, for he gives both to those that in sincerity give up themselves unto his service. That though without Christ we can do nothing, Joh. 15. 5. yet being strengthened by Christ, we can do all things in order to the saving of our Souls, Phil. 4. 13. and the spirit is purchased and promised by Christ, to help the weaknesses and infirmities of his servants, Rom. 8. 26. he shall help thee unto words in prayer, to express thy wants, thy heart, and thy desires unto God, and when thou wantest words, he shall help thee, with sighs and sobs, and tears, which are powerful plead with the Lord, who understandeth the stammerings and the groan of his Children, Rom. 8. 27. Thus we have showed the second Chain with which these Captives are bound, the Prejudice of their hearts against the holy ways of God's Redeemed, and free newborn people, and have endeavoured to cut it in twain, to knock it off; but alas this is too hard a work for man to do, for any Minister upon earth to do, or for any Angel in Heaven to do; Sinners are so fast locked in their fetters, that it requires Almighty power to break them that the captive may escape and be set at liberty; Oh that therefore God would come, and burst and break it quite asunder! Oh that God would come and take it off, were it but from one or two amongst you this day! that though you came captives in your chain, yet you might go home freemen, and at liberty; but yet something is required from you, that you should consider and weigh with yourselves impartially and deliberately what hath been said, to remove this prejudice of your hearts, which makes you like your present captive-state, and not desirous to come forth from it; and if what hath been spoken is not sufficient ground to silence these carnal pleas, I beg the prayers of the Congregation for me, that God would forgive my weakness, and pardon my unskilfulness, that know no better how to deliver a message from the Lord, and to pray that for the future I might be more fitted for this weighty work; but if there be evidence of truth in what hath been delivered and spoken in your ears, I charge you in the name of the dreadful and eternal God, in the name of Christ my Lord that sent me, that you do not slight it; if I have spoken my own words, fling them back in my face, and tell me that I lie; but if it be according to the Scripture, then slight them at your peril; either show wherein I have erred, or else submit unto it; but if thou whosoever thou art, or what name soever thou art called by, art convinced in thy Conscience, and thy reason and judgement is satisfied that these grounds of Prejudice have been made appear to be vain and frivolous, and yet shalt upon these accounts choose rather to continue in thy captive state, than come to Christ and be made free, and goest to thy grave, and hell, with these fetters on thy Soul; know that thou art hereby rendered inexcusable. CHAP. V. The Third Chain is the love of the world. 3. A Third Chain wherewith these Captives are bound is the immoderate and prevailing love of the profits and riches of this world: This bindeth thousands fast that they will not, cannot stir or move, or come to Christ, that they may be set at liberty; these are bound with chains of gold; and because they are golden chains, therefore they like them so much the more; the Devil doth not care for cost, if by all he can keep you still in bondage; he will not grudge you the riches of the world, if he can keep you out of heaven. Many moral men that have escaped the gross pollutions of the world, that are no Swearers, nor Drunkards, nor openly profane, that bless themselves with the thoughts of their supposed good condition, yet are as sure the Devils prisoners, and in slavery and bondage, and shall as certainly perish and be damned (except they get this bond broken) as any Drunkard in the Town, or Parish where they live. Believe this as a certain truth, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it; turn and read Ephes. 5. 5. Shall not the Whoremonger be saved, nor the World▪ monger neither? Shall not the unclean person inherit the Kingdom of God, no nor the person that hath his heart and affections set upon the world? And the Holy Ghost gives a reason, because such a man is an Idolater, making his Gold his god; that love and delight, and joy which God should have is given to the world, and that God will never bear; that hope and trust which should be placed in the living God, is placed in uncertain riches, and this the jealous God will never brook. Turn again to Col. 3. 5, 6. God tells you this over and over, in one place after another, that so you might the more beware of being kept in bondage by this golden chain, which is so very strong that the Lord doth tell us, the love of money is the root of all evil, 1 Tim. 6. 10. There are many branches of sin which shoot out in the lives of men, but all do grow upon this root, the heart being fixed in its love unto the world. 1. Omissions of duty, neglect of Closet and Family-prayer, worldliness is the root, the heart is so eager after riches, that they have no time, nor leisure for better things; and when they have time, yet the worldly heart is indisposed to perform them, and is listless to Heavenly employment. 2. Commissions of sin, the use of false balances, and deceitful measures, overreaching, breach of promises, falsifying their words, speaking often against Conscience; the Seller commending his goods beyond, and above what he knows them to be, affirming they cost them more than they did, and if he sells them not for so much, he shall be a loser by them, and all this to screw the buyer to an higher price; and the Buyer discommends the Sellers ware, saying, it is naught, it is naught; to bring him down to a lower rate, but all this cometh from this evil bitter root, the immoderate love of the world. Many men engage in company and are over-taken with excessive drinking, and when reproved, will reply, It was with such as were my Customers, and I cannot avoid such occasions, if I will not drink with some, they will not trade with me, except I go to the Alehouse, or the Tavern, I shall lose the taking of many a pound. Shall you so? yes, and would prevent many a drunken bout. But what have you houses of your own for, and what are your Shops for, and what is the Exchange for, but for your trades and dealing in the world. It is a shame, that it is brought into so great a custom, that many cannot buy and sell but over a pot. But if you do go, what need you drink unto excess? do others urge thee? but they cannot, they do not force thee, is it not thine own hand that often lift▪ the glass unto thy mouth? and is not thy hand commanded by thy own will to do it? thou hadst better be without such a Customer, and without the profit thou gainest by him, than to sin, and wound, and lose thy Soul. But this branch of wickedness groweth on this cursed root, the love of Money, which if some may gain, they will go from one drinking-place into another, from morning to night, one day after another; yes, and to Hell too at the last, if they might but gain, what their heart doth so much love while they are here. By this bond was Balaam bound, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 2 Pet. 2. 15. And Achan, Josh. 7. 20▪ 21. And Gehazi, who framed falsehoods, for worldly profit, and afterwards would have hid it from his Master with a lie, 2 King. 5. 20. to the end. And the young man, Mat. 19 21, 22. whom, when Christ saw so fast fettered with this chain, he preached to his Disciples, that it was exceeding hard for a rich man to be saved; though he explained, that it is not so much the having, as the overloving of them, and trusting in them that hinders men's Salvation, Mar. 10. 24. Judas also was detained the Devils captive, being bound with this bond, who for the love of Money sold his Lord, and Soul and all, Mat. 26. 14, 15, 16. And Demas, 2 Tim. 4. 10. And doubtless thousands are now in everlasting chains of darkness, being kept in bondage by the love of the world, while they lived in the world. But shall we try to break this bond, for till your hearts be weaned from the world, we shall not win them for Jesus Christ, for you cannot love God and the world too with a prevailing and predominant love, 1 Joh. 2. 15. Jam. 4. 4. and while you love the world you cannot value Christ, nor are you worthy of him, Mat. 10. 37, 38. Consider, 1. Have you not other things and better things to set the love of your hearts upon? and is there not a God and Christ for thee to love? And (1) is not God infinitely a more noble, and excellent object for thy love? (2) Is he not a more suitable good unto thy Soul? (3) Is he not a sufficient good? and therefore (4) a satisfying good? (5) Is he not a more necessary good, seeing without the things of the world thou mayst be happy, but not without God? (6) Is he not a more durable, lasting everlasting good? do but get a right knowledge of God and the world, and then thou wilt see cause to call off thy heart from earthly things, and set them upon God. 2. Shouldst thou set thy heart and love upon earthly things which thou must shortly leave, and canst not carry with thee into another world? Dost thou forget that thou art a pilgrim upon earth, and that this is not the place of thy abode? after thou hast slept out a few more nights, and walked up and down a few more days, will not thy last hour come, when thou must bid adieu to all this world, and take thy farewell of all upon earth? whether thou shalt go to Heaven or to Hell, here thou must not tarry; whether thou shalt be damned or saved, or go to God or Devils, here thou must not abide; and wilt thou take thy riches with thee? what to do, Silver and Gold doth not go in another world. Whether thou goest to Heaven or to Hell after death, Riches will be of no use unto thee; God would then stand by thee, and Christ would then stand by thee, and Grace would then go with thee, but thou must leave thy worldly riches, and they will then leave thee, when thou standest in greatest need of comfort and support, Luc. 12. 19, 20. Psal. 49. 17. Eccles. 5. 15. 1 Tim. 6. 7. Why wilt thou then so fix thy heart upon these things, and be fettered and entangled with the love of them as thereby to be kept from God, and Christ, and Heaven for ever. 3. Can these things comfort thee at thy departure? Or will it not then wound thy Soul that thou hast loved the world, but not God and Christ? didst thou never stand by the bedside of a dying man, who in the anguish of his Soul hath roared and cried out, Woe is me, that I have spent my time in labouring for the world, for this vain and empty world, While God and Christ, and Heaven have been neglected by me! Oh if I had loved God and Christ, as I have loved the world, I had been now an happy, blessed man, though I am a dying man, yet I had been now an happy blessed man. God would now have comforted me, and Christ would now have comforted me, and solid lively hopes of Heaven would now have comforted me, but the things that had my heart, and all my love, they do not comfort, I find, I feel they do not comfort me. Shalt thou neither stay to enjoy them here, and canst thou not take them with thee whether thou art going, nor yet will they comfort thee in thy passage to Eternity, and is it reasonable than thou shouldst be thus fettered and bound in thy love unto them, as to keep thee from God and Christ, here and hereafter too? 4. Was this the end for which thou wast born, and did God give thee such affections as love desire and delight, that thou shouldst set them upon such things as these? Did God make these things to be the chiefest object of thy Souls affections, or thy Souls affections for these things? Did God send thee into this world to scrape together an heap of refined earth, and then to love it when thou hast done, better than himself that made thee? Is not this a setting God below the creature, and exalting the creature in the room of God? is not this to lose the end of thy Creation? 5. Is not this to love such things as do not, cannot love thee back again? If God had thy heart, thou shouldst have his; if thou lovest him, he would love thee, Prov. 8. 17. but Silver and Gold cannot love thee, thy rich Furniture cannot love thee; here thy love is lost, and cannot be requited, nor love returned to thee, but God would love thee more than thou couldst love him, and the love of Christ to thee would exceed and far surpass thy love to him: Come then, and be no longer enslaved to the world, nor kept a captive by the Devil by these chains of gold; I do suppose a man would rather choose liberty with a poor and low condition in the world, than to lie in a p 〈…〉 n and a dungeon all his days, though he 〈…〉 e there bound with chains of Gold. 6. Will the gaining of th●●orld make thee amends for what t●ou losest; for (1) the loss of God. (2) The loss of Christ the only Redeemer. (3) The loss of the company of the Angels and Saints. (4) The loss of thy own only and immortal Soul, Mat. 16. 26. (5) The loss of thy happiness; for canst thou lose all these and yet be happy. (7) Are not these things common to the bad as well as to the good. Some are peculiar mercies, Changed 〈…〉 'tis pardoning grace, title to Heaven. (8) Are they not often given with a curse, and in judgement, but Christ and Grace always in love and mercy. CHAP. VI The Fourth Chain is Presumption. 4. ANother Chain with which these Captives are bound is presumption, vain and false hopes of Heaven: This is the ruin of most that do miscarry for ever, a groundless hope that they shall be saved for ever; how few are there, be they never so ignorant of the way to Heaven, but yet do hope they shall come thither? that walk in the broad way and common road and beaten path to Hell, and yet do hope they shall get to Heaven; as if a man were daily travelling towards the West, and yet were confident he should come unto the East. The Drunkard doth hope he shall be saved; the Swearer and profane, the hypocrite and unbeliever, nay, who is there but doth hope for happiness? this is so strong in the worst of men, that when they would set forth the certainty of a thing, they do it by this expression, as I hope to be saved; as if they should say, it is as true, it is as sure as it is true that I hope to be saved; and though their hope be not a true hope, yet that they hope is true. And the strength of this cord appears in that these hopes are the last thing that wicked men will part withal; when they are so sick, that they perceive they must part with riches, yet they will not part with their hope of Heaven, when they are so sick, that they perceive the hour is drawing on wherein they must part with their dearest friends, yet their hope they will not part withal; and when they see they must part with life, yet they will not part with hope, till soul and body be parted, the soul and hope will not be parted; and then poor captives lose their souls and hopes together; and thus with hopes of Heaven they do go down to Hell, and then and there they can hope no longer. It's one of the hardest things that Ministers have to do, to beat down these false hopes of Heaven in our hearers; if this were done, a great part of our work were done; if we tell you of your misery and danger, of the wrath of God against sinners, of the torments that are prepared by a provoked God for you, yet you hope you shall escape, and ward of all the threaten of the Word with these vain and groundless hopes; if we could but get these false hopes from you, than we should begin to hope that you might be delivered from your bondage, and escape from this captivity, in which you are so strongly held thereby; no man is faster bound in fetters, than he that is ungodly, and yet strongly confidently hopes that he shall be saved. If you could speak with damned Souls thousands of them would tell you, this was their ruin and their bane; should you ask them were not you told, that sin would bring you to this place of torment? were you not told by Ministers, and by God himself, that you were in the way to misery and damnation? what would they reply? Yes, yes, we were often told, and we were plainly told, but this was it that did undo us, we hoped it would be better with us. Shall I then attempt to break this bond asunder? but because man can but show unto you the vanity of your hopes, Oh that God himself would come and powerfully convince you by his Word and Spirit, that your hopes are vain and groundless hopes, that you may be no longer kept in thraldom by the Devil by these fetters of false hopes of Heaven. I know that this is a manifold twisted cord; many things there are that you do bottom these hopes upon; but if I shall show you from the Word of God, that they are no better grounds and reasons of hope, than graceless persons might allege, and many now in hell once had to say, and did, as well as you, that then you will no longer suffer Satan to delude and to deceive you, and keep you as his captives in a state of bondage. Only let me ask you first, whether you will believe that that is true, that God speaketh in his Word, or will you dare to say, that what is contained in the Scripture is forgery and a lie; if you say the latter, God shall shortly convince you of the truth thereof; the flames of Hell shall shortly convince you, and the pains and torments you shall shortly feel shall powerfully convince you, that all these say of God are true: If you say the former, that God's word is true, I do not doubt to make it appear, that your hope is false, if you do agree to try your hopes by the word of God, by which you and I and all must be shortly tried, and acquitted or condemned according to this Word, I do not doubt to show that Satan hath befooled you all this while; God hath as plainly told you, that in an unconverted state, without faith in Christ, without repentance and reformation you cannot be saved, this is as plain as can be spoken, and yet contrary to Gods revealed will, will you hope you shall be saved? which do you think shall be proved false, God's word or your hope, that is contrary to his word? both cannot be true. Will a Drunkard say, God's word is false; no, he will not, than thy hope is false. See 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. Where God doth plainly say, and positively lay down for a certain truth, and which within a few years, or months, or weeks, all the Drunkards, Whoremongers, and graceless persons in the world without exception of any one (dying so) shall find to be so, that they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Come then, you that say, you hope to be saved, as well as the precisest of you all come and produce your reasons, and in the fear of God seriously weigh the answers that shall be given to them. 1. One Link in this Chain of false hopes by which these Captives are bound, is misapprehension and misapplication of the mercy of God; thou sayest, God is a merciful God, and is ready to show mercy to his creature; it is true in me, there is no merit, but in God there is mercy, and God did not make his creatures to damn them, God did make me, and therefore I hope that he will save me. Is this all thou hast to say, in such a weighty matter? why thou thinkest thou art redeemed from thy bondage, and shall be free for ever from the torments of the Damned? that thou mayst be no longer bound with this Chain. Consider, 1. The Devils themselves and the damned souls in Hell themselves can say as much as this: Poor damned Devils do know that God is a merciful God, and that he is willing to show mercy to the penitent and the humble sinner. Devils and damned souls can say, that they are Gods creatures, and yet notwithstanding they are miserable, and must be so for ever; and this is the aggravation of their misery, that though God is merciful, yet they are for ever damned; this cuts them to the heart, that a merciful God hath condemned them, and sentenced them down to eternal torments; what is that to them, that God is merciful in himself, and shows mercy unto others; if he is not merciful unto them? and what is it unto thee, that God is so, if thou by reason of thy continuance in a state of unregeneracy, shalt never be benefited by his mercy? I know there is a difference betwixt the damned in Hell, and wicked men on Earth: the damned in Hell are past a possibility of mercy, but so are not you; they shall have no more tenders of mercy, which you yet have, but than you must repent and be converted, which they were not, or else you shall have no saving benefit by God's mercy, as they had not. 2. God might be infinite in mercy, though thou (and thousands such as thou art) do perish in thy bondage, and be for ever damned. What a proud blasphemous thought is this that God should not be merciful, except he take thee reaking in thy sins, except he take thee off thy Ale-house-bench, and put thee into Heaven. The greatness of God's mercy is not manifested so much by the number of the persons that shall be saved, as by the way and method which he saveth them by. If God had saved but one man out of all the many millions of mankind, without his own desert, and contrary to it, by the death of his own Son, it would have been a plain demonstration of the mercy of God. Must thou measure the mercy of God by thy being saved, or not saved, while thou walkest contrary to his Laws, and to his revealed Will? This is, as if a Malefactor that for murder hath deserved death, and is to be tried for his Life, yet hopes he shall escape, because the Judge is a merciful man, when notwithstanding the Judge proceedeth to pass a sentence of death upon him, you will all acknowledge he might be a very merciful man; and that the Prisoner was a fool, from the mercy of the Judge to be confident he should escape the execution due unto him for the violation of the Law. So it is in this case, which is easy to apply. 3. God is just and true, as well as merciful and gracious, and why mayst thou not fear that God will damn thee, because he is a just God, as well as hope that he will save thee because he is a merciful God? You do not conceive of God aright, when you consider him to be merciful without justice, and to be gracious without truth, there are both in God. This merciful God hath said, Except you repent and turn from sin, you shall find no mercy from him; and what shall become of God's Truth, if contrary to his Word he should save thee without repentance, and while thou goest on in thy sinful ways? must God falsify his word to save thy Soul, never hope for it, for he will never do it. Where God proclaims his mercy to the penitent, he doth also declare his justice, and his jealousy, and his fixed resolution that the guilty shall not go free, Exod. 34. 6, 7. and that he is full of fury to the wicked, as of mercy to the godly; and that as he reserveth a Crown for the one, so also wrath for the other, Nahum 1. 2, 3. 4. Though God be merciful, yet he propoundeth conditions in the Gospel, which you must com● up unto, if you will be partakers of his mercy: and God is resolved that if thou wilt not have mercy upon the terms of mercy thou shalt never have it. When thou shalt come to put in thy claim for mercy, Lord have mercy on me, for thou art a gracious God; yes may God say, and so I am, and those that have repent and believed shall find me to be so, but did I not also tell thee what manner of person thou shouldst have been, holy, humble and repenting, if thou wouldst be saved by my mercy, but that thou wouldst not be: therefore now I have no mercy for thee. God may say unto thee, did I ever promise thee or any other, that I would save thee, or them without repentance and faith in Christ my Son? did I ever promise that I would pardon the Impenitent? that I would save the unbelieving that finally persevere therein? If I have, produce my words, allege my promise, when, and where, and by whom did I ever make thee such a promise? and and if I have not, as indeed I have not promised any such thing, why wast thou so vainly confident of my mercy? therefore take thy answer and be gone? for I tell thee I will have no mercy on thee. Luke 13. 25, 26, 27. Mercy itself will not save thee, but in the way of mercy propounded in the Gospel. 5. Whereas thou sayest, God did make thee, therefore he will save thee; consider, the vilest ●●nner in the world upon this account should go to Heaven, yea, every one of them. The whoremonger whom thou thyself wilt condemn might plead this as well as thou; and so thou wilt make the way to Heaven broader than ever God did make it. Moreover, if thou hadst continued such a one as God did make, he would then have made thee happy indeed for ever. God made thee holy and upright, but thou hast rebelled against him: God did make thee a Creature, but he did not make thee a Drunkard; he did not make thee a Worldling, nor a Liar, therefore let God's creature be holy, and God will not damn his creature; but if thou be a drunkard, or an hypocrite, and God shall damn the drunkard or the hypocrite, what will become of God's creature. God doth peremptorily answer this, and I will give it thee in his own words. Isa. 27. 11.— It is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them, will not have mercy on them, and he that form them, will show them no favour. Is not this directly contrary to the reason of thy hope? wilt thou then plead this no more, while thou continuest in thy sin, and let not Satan keep thee bound with this cord any longer? if thou dost, remember it hath been told thee, that this is but a sandy foundation of thy hope, that thou shalt have the everlasting mercy that shall be shown to Gods redeemed one's, that are indeed delivered from their bondage and captivity. 2. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes whereby Captives are bound is a strong (though false) persuasion of salvation by the death of Christ the Redeemer. If you ask many carnal, ignorant and ungodly persons, why they persuade themselves that they shall be saved, they will tell you, because Christ died for sinners, and I am a sinner (saith one) God help me, as all men are, yea I am the chief of sinners, and therefore I hope it shall go well with me; and so will a second say, and a third, and multitudes will give no better account, without care or knowledge of applying the death of Christ unto them and the virtue and power of it, for the kill of their sins; and thus the very means for the redeeming of captives is abused to make their bonds the stronger, and keep them faster bound in their Captivity. By way of Concession it is granted, (1) that the death of Christ, and the satisfaction made to the justice of God thereby is the only meritorious cause of man's Redemption from his bondage and of Salvation, and whosoever is saved, is saved by Christ's death, for there is no other Saviour nor Redeemer besides him▪ Act. 4. 12. and if Christ had not died, we had certainly been for ever captives without redemption. (2) It is true that this Redeemer is offered unto all where the Gospel is preached, none are excluded from the offers of grace and pardon, and benefits of Redemption, and his death shall be sufficient and effectual for deliverance from bondage, and making of them free that do obey his call, and accept of him for Lord Redeemer, as offered in the Gospel, Act. 10. 43. Joh. 3. 16. But yet that you might not through your own mistake be the more enthralled by the means of Redemption, and be the faster bound by the misunderstanding of the way of Salvation by the death of Christ. Consider, 1. If this were enough to prove your Redemption and Salvation, because Christ died for Sinners, and you acknowledge yourselves to be such, than the damned souls in Hell might have hope of being delivered and saved; for they know that Christ died for Sinners, and they are now sensible that they are Sinners and miserable; the pains they feel do convince them that they are sinners I know (as I have already said) that there is a difference betwixt the state of Devils and damned Souls, and of sinners upon earth, Christ is preached to the one, and not to the other, freedom from bondage is possible to one but not to the other, mercy doth entreat, and the Spirit doth strive, and patience doth wait upon the one, but not upon the other; mercy and patience hath done with them for ever; no more ask them, what? will you have Christ now? and will you be pardoned now? which yet through mercy is not your condition; but yet as to the ground of your plea for Redemption and Salvation by Christ, (before alleged) [Christ died for sinners and you are sinners] what is the difference? all men upon earth, and the damned in hell, that ever heard of Christ might say as much; and is it not matter of great astonishment to sober serious men, to see poor sinners bound so fast in a captive-state with this vain confidence of being set free by Christ, and yet can say no more than damned Souls might say, [That they are sinners, and Christ died for sinners.] 2. Consider that all shall not be saved by the death of Christ that are sinners. Christ hath died, yet thousands shall for ever be tormented, Mat. 7. 13, 14. and the damnation of many shall be the greater than it would have been if Christ had never suffered. 3. Know and understand that the benefits of Redemption, and the completing of all in salvation at the last is propounded by God in the Gospel conditionally, and why then should you be so confident, when you have not come up unto the condition? there is pardon to be had by the blood of Christ, but there is a condition, without which you shall never be pardoned, Act. 10. 43. there is Salvation by Christ, but there is a condition, without which you shall never be saved, Joh. 3. 16, 36 Mar. 16. 16. Act. 16. 31. there is justification to be had by the blood of Christ, but remember still there is a condition without which you shall never be justified, Rom. 5. 1. all along in the Word of God, offers and grants of pardon, deliverance from Hell, and the curse of the Law, offers and grants of Salvation and Eternal life are made conditionally, if you do believe, and if you do repent, and if you are converted and born again, but not else▪ Christ did not die, that sinners merely as sinners should be saved▪ for then all sinners should be saved, and that which is the reason of men's condemnation should be a qualification of men's salvation; bu● Christ did die that believing sinners might be saved, and repenting and returning sinners might be saved; Christ did die, that unholy ones might be made holy, and so be saved; that unbelievers might believe, and so be saved; and not that unholy and impenitent, and unbelieving persons living and dying so should have Salvation by his death. Know therefore, O vain man, that if thou hadst a thousand souls, they should all be damned, though Christ hath died, except thou dost believe, repent, and be converted unto God; for the effusion or shedding of the blood of Christ upon the Cross saveth no man's soul, without the application of it to the Conscience; and Faith in Christ, and Regeneration, and Holiness, and repairing of the Image of God in the Soul are necessary to Salvation in their place, as the death of Christ is necessary in its place, and for its end. As when m●ny persons be in bondage, and are taken captives, that cannot give a ransom for themselves, the King's son pays it down for them, but the King and his Son do propound certain conditions to the Captives, that if they will acknowledge him to be their Redeemer, and will become his servants and his subjects, and be obedient to his Laws, they shall have the benefit of the ransom, but not else; now so many as shall refuse these conditions, must remain, and die, and perish in their fetters, though a sufficient ransom were given for Redemption; so it is in this case, which is easy to apply. I beseech you therefore, Sirs, do not any longer flatter and deceive yourselves with such groundless hopes of being delivered by the death of Christ from your slavery and bondage, without faith in him, and repentance for your s●n. These things that I am now a preaching, and you are hearing are of everlasting concernment to your Souls. And I desire to preach as one that doth believe, I must give an account to God, what doctrine I deliver, and that you would hear with that seriousness and diligent attention, as those should do, that do believe you must give an account to God at the Great day, for what you hear, and how you do obey it; I charge you therefore in the name of the great eternal God, whose Truths I do declare unto you, that you do not henceforward hope for deliverance from Hell and wrath to come, though Christ hath died, except you do believe ●n him, become new creatures, forsake your s●n, be sanctified and made holy; and love him above all, and count all things but dross in comparison of the excellency of Jesus Christ; that you do not continue drunkards, and yet hope you shall be saved, that you do not continue to love your sins, and the world more than Christ, or remain unholy and unconverted, and yet think or hope that Christ's death shall save your Souls. If you do, and if you will still so do, let God be witness for me, and let all those that fear God in the Congregation be witnesses for me, and let the consciences of these Captives themselves be witnesses for me, that I have plainly from the Word of God given warning to you, that you do not perish by this deceit▪ bear witness that I do declare, that those tha● have been Drunkards, Swearers, Profane, Liars, Hypocrites, if they do repent and turn, become holy and believing persons, they may, they shall be saved by the death of Christ, but if they shall continue still in sin, and live and die such, a crucified Christ will not save you; let believing Parents bear me witness against their wicked and ungodly children, and believing children against their ungodly parents. Let believing Husbands bear me witness against their unbelieving Wives, and believing Wives against their unbelieving Husbands. Let believing Masters bear me witness against their unbelieving Servants, and believing Servants against their unbelieving Masters, that all without exception▪ and respect of persons, having not repentance for sin, nor faith in Christ, that are not holy, nor converted before they die, shall be eternally damned, and perish in their bonds and fetters, though Christ hath died to redeem and save holy, humble, repenting and believing sinners. Alas poor captive Sinners! what will you do, and whither will you go, when this Redeemer shall come to judgement? when all shall be raised out of their graves, and stand before the bar of God? to whom will you appeal? and from whom will you expect mercy and salvation? methinks I hear these prisoners at the bar, crying, begging, pleading, Lord Jesus save us! Lord Jesus open unto us! Lord Jesus now glorify us with thyself, save us, Oh save us now from yonder place of torment, from yonder flaming fire, from yonder Lake of burning brimstone I Oh send us not down to yonder dreadful place, for we trusted in thy merits, and hoped to be saved because thou hadst died! Methinks I hear Jesus the Judge reply to the prisoners at the bar, No, oh no, there is no room for you in Heaven; there is no entrance for ungodly men into the holy place; there is no mansion for any such in the Kingdom of my Father; who bid you trust to me for mercy, without believing on me? who bid you hope for Heaven because that I was crucified, without holiness and repentance? Had you any warrant from me in my word so to do? or did my Ministers whom I did send unto you tell you from me, that you may be saved by my death, though you did not repent, believe, nor were converted? did they? which is he? what is his name? Lo, here they stand, point him unto me, that did preach such Doctrine to you. My Ministers come forth, what do you say against the prisoners at the bar? Lord we told them in thy name that there was a ransom paid for captives by thy blessed self, and that thou wast willing they should have the everlasting benefit thereof; and we did study for them, pray for them, and preach unto them thy sufferings and thy death for sinners, and did beg and entreat them to come unto thee; and when we did not prevail one day, we did prepare and preach the next, and so we did continue to do, as long as they lived▪ and till thou didst call us from that work by death. But did you ever tell them that they should be saved by my death, though they continued in their sins; though they had no faith in me, though they were not sanctified, nor converted. Oh no, our blessed Lord, we never did, we never did, there they stand before thee, they cannot say we ever did preach such Doctrine to them; but on the contrary we told them from thy word which we made the rule and matter of our Sermons, and turned them to the places, where thou hast said, without holiness they should not see thy face with comfort, Heb. 12. 14. We bid them turn to Mar. 16. 16. where thou toldst them thyself, that he that believed not should be damned, and to many more such declarations of thy mind to sinners. Lord there stands one that did use to hear me, and he can not deny it; and there stands another that was used to hear me, and turned to the Chapter and the Verse, and turned it down, as if he would have observed what thou hast declared, Lord there he stands, he cannot deny it, yea Lord, here is a whole cluster of them stand together, that were wont to hear me, and there is not one amongst them all that can deny but they were told of what now they find; and here are those that did believe on thee through our preaching of thy Word, that can say and witness for us that we told them of the necessity of converting grace, and faith in thee: In the same Sermon that we preached that thou didst die for sinners; we also told them that they must take thee for their Lord, and obey thy Laws, and resign their hearts and wills, and love, and all to thee, but they would not do it; but they never did it; this is the evidence that we give against the prisoners at the bar. Come then ye captives, is this true, or is it not? Yes, Lord, our consciences do compel us, to acknowledge that thy Ministers did declare such things unto us. Did they so? why then did you not believe them? go, get you gone, go, get you down to your deserved torments. Come hither, ye my glorious Angels take the Prisoners at the bar, that in their life-time were fettered and bound with chains of sin. Now come ye hither, and take them, bind them hand and foot, and cast them into utter darkness; drive them from my presence; away with them, away with them; come ye damned Devils, you took them captive, and kept them in their sinful bondage, I would have redeemed them, and knocked off their fetters from them, but they would not hearken unto me, and now I will not hearken unto them; come take them then, and drag them down to the place of punishment, where you and they shall be for ever. Oh woeful Souls! poor wretched Sinners! ah poor condemned Prisoners! how do they tremble? how do they hang down their heads? How are their countenances changed? what hideous outcries? what doleful lamentations will there be at that day, and especially by those that hoped for Heaven, but their hopes are disappointed? Methinks I hear them say, Is all our hopes come to this? Is this the end of all our confidence? Prisoners we were to the Devil and our lusts, we might have been made free, Woe unto us that ever we were born, that we did befool ourselves, and that these then tempting, and now tormenting Devils should so much befool us, contrary to the plain declarations of the Will of Christ, we should so confidently hope for life and for salvation by him, while we did refuse him for our Lord, and to yield obedience to him. Oh now we are ashamed of our hope, of our vain and foolish hope, yet thus it is, we were deceived, and we are now disappointed. Now farewell Christ for ever, now farewell Heaven for ever, and now farewell hope for ever. Hope we did, but now can hope no longer, but now can hope no more for ever. Farewell all ye holy, blessed Angels, ye shall be rejoicing for ever, while we shall be sorrowing for ever. Farewell all ye Saints of God, ye that are the Lords redeemed, that once were captives as well as we, but ye were redeemed by the blood of Christ, and were sanctified and now are saved for ever, ye shall rejoice, but we must mourn, ye are blessed, but we are cursed, ye shall be with God and Christ your Redeemer for ever, while we shall be with the Devil and his Angels for ever. Farewell, farewell, adieu, adieu, to all eternity. Beloved hearers, if this shall be the doleful end of vain and groundless hopes of unwarrantable and unscriptural confidence in the death of Christ, without faith and sanctifying grace, be no longer kept as captives bound by this chain of false hopes of Heaven. 3. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these captives are bound, is, that they have oftentimes great trouble of Conscience and inward terrors of mind after they have committed sin. I have saith one, been troubled for my Oaths, and cried God forgive me, and if I have been drunk saith another, I have been troubled for it, sometimes it breaks my sleep, and sometimes I cannot eat in peace, nor think of my sin but my heart is filled with horror at the remembrance of it; and therefore I hope that I am redeemed by Christ, and got lose from my bondage state, and that God will have mercy on me, and will save my Soul. I answer, 1. False repentance is a strengthening of false hopes, and many times the more the sinner is troubled for his sin, the faster he is bound in his sinful captive state; the more tears do fall from thine eyes, the faster are thy fetters locked upon thy Soul, because as true repentance maketh way for a well-grounded peace of conscience, and for solid comfort, so a false and counterfeit repentance afterwards makes the sinner more secure, and doth strengthen his mistake concerning his spiritual condition, he hath sinned▪ and he hath sorrowed, and now he thinketh all is well; and the Devil hath him faster in his hold than he had before. 2. Terrors of Conscience for sin, though great and grievous, in so much that thou art restless and weary of thy life, are no argument that of a captive thou art made free. Hast thou ever been so much troubled as was Cain? or hast thou ever been so filled with amazing horrors as was Judas? and yet these were captives to the Devil still, and are bound in chains of sin, and guilt, and punishment, to this day, and so shall be for ever; and who have greater terrors, reprovings and reproaches from their own consciences, than the damned in Hell? and these terrors in thy soul and conscience, might be the forerunners and beginning of those hellish horrors thou shalt be filled with in another world. 3. But what are thy terrors and thy tears, the agonies and anguish of thy heart, without an inward change? What are all these legal fits of sorrow, while thou art the same man in sinning still, and thy love the same unto thy sin; and when the temptation comes, thy course and practice is the same? If thou shouldst wear the skin from off thy knees by going often to confess thy sin, and weep thyself blind, and pine away with sorrow; yet if thy heart do secretly like thy sin, and thou still art not inwardly renewed, nor acceptest of, nor closest with Christ by faith; whatever thy apprehensions are of thy good condition, thou art still a captive to the Devil, especially when one while thou seemest with sorrow to lament thy sin, and another while dost with pleasure and delight commit the sin lamented; dost commit the sin, and then confess it; confess it, and go on again to commit; and so like a slave indeed, runnest round in the Devil's Mill betwixt confession and commission of thy sins, whereas in a true penitent there is the renovation of the heart, and the reformation of the life; a loathing and a leaving of the sin lamented, Ezek. 36. 31. & 18. 30, 31. Isa. 57 7. Joel 2. 12, 13. 4. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes, wherewith these Captives are bound, is, in that they have good meanings, and good wishes and desires; and though they cannot discourse as others can, nor have those gifts that others have; yet they thank God their hearts are good, and ever were even from their childhood, and though they cannot utter themselves, yet they have it in their hearts. Thus the Devil keepeth some in this fetter and this bond; but towards the breaking of it consider, 1. Many have gone to hell with such good meanings in their hearts, and with such good wishes in their mouths; as Balaam for one, Numb. 23. 10, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. Who would not wish to be for ever happy? and who would not wish to be freed from eternal misery, pain, and torment? But these things are not got with such lazy wishes; neither do you approve of them in your idle servants, that sit still and wish their work were done. 2. But can your meanings be good, in many of your wicked acts, and in your sinful neglects? What good meaning is it in thee, to keep Christ out of thy heart? to profane Gods Sabbaths? What good meaning hast thou, in neglecting to make thy peace with God? in not seeking after grace and fitness for Heaven? 3. If thy meanings were good, this doth not make thy action good, nor thy life good; and can it then prove thy condition to be good? 4. If thy heart were good, thy life would be so too. The life indeed might be good before men, where the heart is bad before God; but if the heart be good before God, the life will be good before men; for a good tree bringeth forth good fruit, Mat. 7. 17, 18. and your not-seeing the badness of your hearts, is an evidence that yet they are not good; and the more you justify the goodness of your hearts, in the neglect of your duty, it is the clearer demonstration that yet they are not good; and that thy heart, which thou vainly thinkest is the best part in thee, is indeed the worst of all, Jer. 17. 9, 10. Thou a good heart ever since thou wast born! then there hath been a good Devil ever since he sinned, and when he ceased to be good. 5. Whereas thou sayest, Thou hast good things in thy heart, though thou canst not express them with thy tongue. What is thy heart so full of good? and is it so locked up there, that there is no vent for it? What! neither by works nor words? neither by lip nor life? A likely matter! If thou art pinched with hunger, thou hast words enough to express the sense of thy wants, and if thou art sick, thou hast words enough to express the sense of thy pain: When the Physician comes and asketh after the state of thy body, thou canst quickly reply, O sick, sick, Sir, I am 〈…〉 eeding sick; I am in pain, in pain; Where? ●●ere in this part, and in this; my book, my bowels, my head, my heart, is full of pain. But if a Minister come and inquire into your spiritual state, you reply, Truly Sir, I have good things in my mind and in my heart, but I cannot express them to you. What! not at all? What! nothing of this good boasted of? no, not in broken language? But if we follow you to your shops, there you want no words, there your tongues go glib; Who have words at command more than you? You can talk roundly of the World, of your Goods, and your Estates, of your Furniture and Apparel; but in the things of God you are mute. This is plain, it is not for want of words in these, but for want of a work of God upon their hearts. Therefore let not the Devil keep thee any longer bound with this chain, a vain conceit of the goodness of thy heart, thy wish, and thy meanings. 5. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these Captives are bound, is on the contrary, in that they have strong parts, great knowledge in the things of God, are very full of good discourse; for the Devil hath several Fetters for his several Prisoners; and several Chains for several Captives, various ways and wiles to keep them in Captivity; and this is not the meanest nor the weakest, when men take gifts for grace, and common grace for s 〈…〉 al. But towards the cutting of this chain, 〈…〉 ider: There might be notional kn 〈…〉 dg of the things of God, where a man nev●●●ad any experimental taste and relish of them. A man that never yet repent, might be able to tell you what Repentance is; and a man that is not converted, might tell you much of the method of the Spirit in converting of a sinner. Many can talk of God, that never tasted any sweetness in him; and many can discourse of Heaven, that shall never enter into Heaven. The head might be f●l of knowledge, when the heart is empty of Grace; might talk of faith, of the nature of it, of the actings of it, of the excellency of it, of the necessity and effects of it, and yet have no Faith; and so of Love, and other graces, and yet have no Love, nor any other grace. The greater is your knowledge, the greater is your sin, and the greater will be your misery if it be separated from practice and obedience. Luk. 12. 47, 48. Thus you have heard what a strong bon false hope of Heaven is, and on what grounds ● is built, and by what reasons it is strengthened and how they are removed: What say you now will you continue still bound with this cord, and still be kept thereby in your Captivity? I doubt yet many of you will. Drunkards, for all this that hath been said, will hope for heaven and salvation still; and Swearers and Profane persons will go on in their sinful course, and yet hope still for Heaven and Eternal life. Therefore because this Fetter is so strong, if possible to knock it off from these captive sinners, answer me to these few following questions. 1. What if Christ himself in person were now amongst you, and preaching to you, and telling you with his own mouth, That these alleged grounds of thy hopes of heaven, and redemption by his blood, were not sound nor warrantable, wouldst thou after this hope thou art redeemed, and shalt be saved? If Christ were visibly present, and you should hear him with your own ears telling you, That the Drunkard is a captive to the Devil, and shall not be saved; would you say, No, we are not in bondage to the Devil, or our sins, and therefore will hope we are redeemed and shall be saved? Wouldst thou believe Christ himself? or wouldst thou not? If thou wouldst not, how shall I hope thou wilt hearken to my words? If thou sayest thou wouldst believe him, why then wilt thou not believe what Christ hath indeed already spoken, and left recorded in his Word? The same Doctrine that Christ preached in person in the world, is faithfully recorded in the Gospel. In his Sermon that he preached on the Mount, he tells you, that Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven, Mat. 5. 20. And doth the righteousness of gross sinners, yea or close hypocrites, either exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and the Scribes, who walked so strictly, that many would have judged, if but two men should be saved, the Scribe should be one, and the Pharisee another? What Christ's Doctrine was, see again, Luk. 13. 3. 5. Mar. 16. 16. Mat. 18. 3. And yet when Christ tells you, Except ye repent, ye shall perish; and except ye believe, ye shall be damned; and except ye be converted, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God; you do remain captives still; and do you not repent, nor believe, nor are converted, and yet will you hope you are freemen, and shall be saved? The truth is, if you do not believe Christ's ministers preaching Christ's own words, neither would you believe Christ himself, Luk. 10. 16, He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me; not to hear is to despise, and whom do you despise when you do not hear and obey the doctrine preached according to the Scripture? is it poor mortal men? No, but you despise Christ, and God himself. Believe me then, or believe rather Christ himself, that tells thee, without converting-grace thou shalt be damned, and except thou art converted do not hope thou art delivered out of thy Captivity, or that thou shalt be saved, and so be befooled by the Devil, and thereby be kept still in bondage by him. 2. What if God should send an Angel from heaven to thee, and tell thee while thou art a drunkard swearer, profane, a liar, an hypocrite, a worldling, art unsanctified, Thou art a captive to the Devil, and abiding so, shalt not be saved? Wouldst thou after such a message from God by a glorious Angel, still hope thou art made free, and shalt be saved? Or would you then leave your sins, and look after Grace, and make it your business to get out of bondage? Why, if an Angel should come from Heaven, he would preach this Doctrine to you, the very same that is contained in the Word of God, or else a blessed Angel would be a cursed Creature, Gal. 1. 8. But behold, you have a surer and more certain way of knowing the mind of God, and that is the Scripture, 2 Pet. 1. 17, 18, 19 For if an Angel came from Heaven, you would be doubting whether he came from God or no; but that the Scripture is from God, we have plain, full, and undeniable reasons to believe; and the truth is, if you will not believe the Scripture, neither would you believe an Angel that should come from Heaven. 3. What if thou couldst with safety draw near to the gates of Hell, and take a view of those thousands there in restless torments, that lived once as now thou dost, and were persuaded that they were redeemed and made free, and that they should be saved, as confidently as now thou art; Wouldst thou still continue in thy sinful state and course of life, and yet hope, after such a sight as this? That though thou sawest so many thousands damned before thee for the same sins as thou livest in, wouldst yet be confident, that thou shalt be delivered? Poor sinner! what shall I do for thee? What shall I say unto thee? Will nothing convince thee, nor awaken thee on this side the flames of Hell? Wilt thou believe none of these truths, till thou shalt feel them all made good upon thee? Wilt thou be more brutish than thy very Beast, which thou canst not force nor drive into a burning fire? And yet when thou art told, there is a fire that is kindled, into which the slaves of sin and Satan shall be cast, will voluntarily walk in that way that leads thee to it? What if God should take thee to some place, and bid thee stand and see so many millions rolling in a lake of Brimstone, and bid thee stand, and hearken, and hear their groans and hideous howl, their doleful out-cries, and dolorous complaints; one confessing, God hath justly damned me for my Drunkenness and my Oaths; and another, I am here tormented for my Sabbath-breaking, and pleasing of my flesh; and another, I am suffering in these flames for my Hypocrisy and Unbelief; and a thousand thousand making of the same complaints: After thou hadst heard such things as these, wouldst thou remain a Drunkard, a Swearer, a Sabbath-breaker, an Hypocrite, and an Unbeliever; a Captive in thy bonds of sin, and yet persuade thyself that thou art free, and that thou shalt never be one of the number of this cursed Crew? Methinks such sights and hear of such things, should awaken and alarm thee: Why, tell me then, Why shouldst thou not believe the True Eternal God, as well as thy own eyes and ears? Such are there that died without Repentance and Faith, that died in their bondage-state; and the same God that hath already damned them, doth also threaten thee for the same sins with the same damnation; and yet shall Satan still keep thee bound with this false hope of a better place? Oh! let him not do it, as thou lovest thy soul, and as thou wouldst escape this place, let him no longer do it. 4. What if God should send one of thy Acquaintants and Companions that hath been in Hell a year or two, a month or two, one that thou wast wont to swear and swagger with, to drink with and carouse, whose Corpse not long since thou followedst to the grave; whose soul when separated from the body, went down to Hell; should come to thee and say, I was wont to be merry and jovial in thy company; with thee I was wont to game and sport, and waste and spend my precious time, and I hoped I should be saved when I died, as now thou dost: but woe is me, I find I was mistaken to my everlasting shame and sorrow; I find I was deceived; I find, I find I did but flatter and delude myself; I would not believe it, but now I find it; I would not believe it, but now I feel it. Ministers did warn me of this place, and told me I was going thither, but I would not be convinced till I came to Hell: I hoped still I should go to Heaven, but now I am convinced, alas, when it is too late to be converted; I am at last convinced. Believe me, though a damned soul, believe me, The Word of God is true, the threaten of God are true, and what your Ministers preach out of God's Word concerning sin, and misery by sin, it is all true; believe me now, that have been in Hell ever since the day I died, that the bondslaves of the Devil, that die in their captivity, do all go down to this dark and dreadful Dungeon. If one of thy Neighbours not long since departed and damned, should thus appear unto thee in thy Chamber in the silent night, and bring thee such tidings as these, wouldst thou believe him and repent, and refuse thence-forwards to be a servant and slave unto the Devil? It may be thou thinkest thou shouldst believe this Doctrine then, and take warning and reform and mend thy ways: Tell me then, Should not the True Eternal God of Heaven be believed sooner, rather, more than a damned soul in Hell? But certain it is, if thou wilt not believe the Scriptures, nor the Ministers of God that preach the Truths of God unto thee, nor repent and turn from the drudgery of the Devil to the service of the Lord, neither wouldst thou do it if one came to thee from ●e dead, Luk. 16. 27, to the end. 5. What if thou hadst been in hell thyself a month or two, and felt the pains and torments there, and God should let thee out again, and put thee in the same capacity as now thou art in, and place thee again under the same means and ministry as now thou dost enjoy, and the same Doctrine should be preached unto thee, and the same offers of Christ and pardon, of heaven and eternal life as now thou hearest; Wouldst thou then hearken to our Doctrine, and renounce the Devil's service, and beg and pray that God would knock off thy fetters and thy chains, and of a slave of Satan, make thee a willing servant of the blessed and the living God? Or, wouldst t●ou still live as now thou dost, and hope again upon the same grounds as now, that thou shouldst not the second time be cast into that place of torments? Oh then why then wilt thou not believe that God that cannot lie, as well as thy own experience? Though this God will never do; he will never try thee again, nor set thee in this life again; for once in hell, and for ever there; God will not give thee a second life, to mend what was amiss in thy living upon earth. If thou thinkest thou shouldst be more careful, if God should try thee after he had damned thee, that thou mayest not be damned again; why shouldst thou not be as careful now that thou mayest not be damned at all? What then poor captive sinner! wilt thou after all this that hath been said go on in sin, and yet hope thou shalt do well? Or shall the Devil still keep thee in captivity, and hold thee fast in this bond and chain of a false persuasion, that thy state is good, and groundless hopes that thou shalt be saved? I am afraid he will, oh I do greatly fear he will. Poor prisoner! what dost thou think of? what ails thee? why art thou no more concerned at the hearing of these things? wilt thou still remain in the fools paradise? why do I preach, and why dost thou come and hear, if thou wilt not regard what is spoken to thee from the word of God, in the name of God? Oh how hard a thing is it, to stand and view so many Souls, and think after all the study, pains, prayer, and preaching, for you and to you, so many should still be in the Devil's fetters, and are going in chains to the prison of hell, and bound fast in sin to a place of everlasting torments? Oh how shall I do to bear the thoughts of your damnation? O it is a burden, it is a burden, it is indeed a heavy burden to my Soul to think that any of you should be damned; that you should go from hence to hell; from a place of solemn worship to a place of torment and of blasphemy. Do you think it is not enough to break a poor Ministers heart, to preach and labour that your bonds may be broken, and your souls escape and set at liberty, and after all you are in fetters still? Were it not that some do hearken and obey, were it not that some give great grounds of hope that they are leaving off the Devil's service, and that their Chains are broke, it would be a sore temptation, to preach no more; but alas! though some are set at liberty, what shall we do for the rest that still remain in bonds? especially in this, that is so strong, a false persuasion that you are already free, and false hopes that you shall be for ever saved. Sirs, the stronger is your false hopes, the greater is poor Ministers true and real sorrow; and the more you hope for heaven upon such slender grounds, the more we do despair of being instruments to help you out; the more confident we see you to be that you are not in bondage, the more discouragement it is unto us; for if we set forth the misery of these Captives, we lose our labour as to you, because you think you are not the persons; if we exhort and direct you to look after liberty, as to you we lose our labour, because you are persuaded (strongly though falsely) that you are free already; whereas if you did see yourselves in chains, and were sensible of your bonds, there were more hopes that we might prevail with you to accept of a Redeemer. Oh that God would break this bond! Oh that God would open your eyes, that you may see that you are Captives, and not be so vainly confident that you are made free! Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes fountains of tears, that I might night and day lament the woeful state of these Captives that are on their way to hell, and yet think they are in the way to heaven. But let me leave this particular, by leaving this with such presuming Captives, that if you will hope, while your eyes are open▪ yet when death shall close your eyes, you shall hope no more; let me commend unto you the serious study of three places of Scripture, and I will proceed unto the next: The first is Job 8. 13. The hypocrites hope shall perish. 14. Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. If your hope perish, shall not your souls perish too? If your hope be cut off, will not your souls be cut short of heaven hoped for? if your hope be as a Spider's web, can it be a sure hope? can the Spider's web stand before the broom? God at furthest with the besom of death shall sweep your hope away. The second is Job 11. 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and and their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost. Thou poor Captive, lookest for heaven, but thy eyes shall fail before thou hast it; thou lookest for happiness, but thou shall look thy eyes out, before (without being made free by Christ) thou shalt enjoy it; thou hopest thou shalt escape wrath and hell, but thou shalt not escape; it is the true, infallible God that saith, thou shalt not escape, and thy hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost, in these respects: 1. A man is loath to give up the Ghost; it is the last thing he doth. Thou art loath to give up thy false hopes of heaven; except God prevent it, it will be the last thing thou wilt do. 2. A man must give up the Ghost, though he be never so loath to do it; he would not die, but he must; thou must at last give over hoping; though thou keep this hope till thou diest, yet than thou shalt hope no more; it is as impossible for you to keep these hopes for ever, as it is for you to live upon earth for ever. 3. A man that gives up the Ghost, by all the power on earth cannot be called to life again. When thy soul and body part, than thy soul and hope shall part, and thou shalt lose both hope and soul together. The parting of the soul and body is a sad parting, but the parting of the soul and hope is a sadder parting; and when thy soul hath parted with its hopes at death, hope shall never return again; thy soul parted from thy body shall return to it again, but not thy hope unto thy soul; thy body falls and shall rise again, but there shall never be a resurrection of thy hope. Some translate these words thus, and their hopes shall perish at the expiration of the soul. The sinner shall breathe out his soul and hope at once. These words [The giving up of the Ghost] are but two words in the Hebrew Text; and the one signifies not only the soul, but also the breath, or a puff of wind, and the other, signifieth to blow, which Imports, that the hope of wicked men, the Devil's captives, shall be but as puff of wind, or as the blast of a man's mouth: and one of the words doth signify sometimes to grieve and to be sad; so the hope of these captives shall end in sorrow and sadness; it shall make him sad, to puff and blow, that he trusted for such great and weighty things as Heaven and Salvation upon such sleight and slender grounds. Again, the Hebrew Word hath another signification, to despise, and loath, and nauseated ● thing: this may teach us, that though these captives do now think well of their hope, yet at last they shall loathe it, and abhor it, as a man will do some rotten and unsavoury thing. Now you will not loathe your sins, but hereafter you shall loathe your very hope: now you will not loathe yourselves for your iniquity, but hereafter you shall, for your folly. The third Text is, Job 27. 28. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? yea, what is it indeed? thou hast gained riches, and thou hast gained in a way of hypocrisy (which men could not judge of) credit and esteem a name of a good, and holy, zealous man! but what is this gain, or what is thy hope, though thou hast gained the name of being Religious, when God taketh away thy soul? from whence? from thy body; whither? to eternal torments; what will be your hope then? and will you still be bound by this chain? this hath had a greater proportion of time, than can be allowed to the rest, because I judge it to be one of the strongest bonds in which multitudes are carried captive to the hellish prison. CHAP. VII. The fifth Chain whereby Captives are held is Despair. 5. ANother Chain whereby some Captives are fast bound is contrary to the former, a despairing of mercy; not only a despairing in a man's self, seeing an utter inability to help himself, this is necessary, but a despairing of pardon and salvation notwithstanding the mercy of God, and the merit of Christ; through which pardon and salvation is tendered unto them. The Devil useth various, yea contrary means and methods to hold fast sinners in their bonds; if he can, he will keep them from a sight and sense of sin and misery thereby: If he cannot, but God openeth a sinner's eyes and awakeneth his conscience, the Devil will set out his sins with all the aggravations of them, but endeavours to keep from the sight of Christ; sometimes persuading sinners that their sins are not so great, but they may do well enough, sometimes that they are so heinous, that there is no hope, nor help for them: sometimes he blinds their eyes that they see no need of a Saviour; sometimes he shows them their sin in a multiplying or magnifying glass, that a Saviour can do them no good; and the poor captive is held and kept from Christ the Redeemer either way, thought it is more rare, that sinners do despair, but it is more frequent and more ordinary for them to presume; as it was said of Saul and David; Saul slew his thousands, but David his ten thousands▪ 1 Sam. 18. 7. so we might say, if thousands perish in their captivity by despair, there are ten thousands many times told, that perish by presumption and false hopes of Heaven. Sometimes the sinner cries out with Cain, Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater than can be forgiven; and with Judas is tempted to despair, and to destroy himself. But that the poor Captive that is convinced of his sins, might not be kept from Christ the Redeemer by this bond, I shall speak three things towards the breaking of it. Dost thou then cry out in the anguish of thy soul, Oh the greatness of my sins, they are scarlet, crimson sins! oh the Number of my sins, they cannot be reckoned up! there is not a viler wretch upon God's earth, not a man that hath a worse heart, that breathes in God's air; did you know me, and the wickedness I am guilty of, and were privy to my secret sins, you would think as well as I that there is no mercy for me; that there is no hope. Let such a soul consider, 1. The mercies of God are more and greater than thy sins, let them be never so great, never so many; thy wickedness doth not exceed God's Goodness; his goodness is the goodness of a God, and his mercy the mercy of a God, and therefore Infinite, without bounds, limits, or measure. It is as easy for Infinite mercy to forgive many sins as few, and great as small; the Sea covereth great rocks as well as the smallest sands. If thou hast a multitude of sins, God hath a multitude of mercies, Psal. 51. 1. if thou hast manifold sins, God hath manifold mercies, Nehem. 9 19 if thou hast abundantly sinned, God can and will abundantly pardon, Isa. 55. 7, 8 if thy sins be sins of all sorts, of all sizes, God can and will forgive iniquity, transgression and sin, Exod. 34. 6, 7. only be thou willing, hearty willing to leave thy sins, only be thou willing, sound willing, unfeignedly willing to accept of mercy as it is tendered to thee, and of Christ the Redeemer as he is offered to thee, and the number, the greatness of thy sin shall not hinder thee from pardon and salvation. 2. The merits of Christ the Redeemer are fully sufficient to purchase pardon for thy sins▪ were they more and greater than they be. Darest thou say thy sinnings are more than Christ's sufferings; or that thy debts for which thou art in bonds are more than Christ the Surety for poor captives is able to satisfy and pay? Christ hath more pardons, than thou hast sins; more healings than thou hast wounds; there is more in Christ to save thee, than in thy sins to condemn thee: thy sins are but pennies in comparison of the pounds that Christ hath to pay. Come forward then poor captive sinner, approach nearer to thy Lord-Redeemer, come forwards, why dost thou thus go from him? come, and though thou doubts, yet do not despair. If thou hadst not been a sinner, thou wouldst have stood in no need of a Saviour; and the greater sinner thou hast been, the greater haste thou shouldst make unto a Saviour: methinks I hear Christ calling to thee, poor sinner, why art thou thus dismayed at the sight and thoughts of thy Iniquities! come unto me, and I will help thee! why art thou thus cast down, at the remembrance of what a sinner thou hast been, and what wickedness thou hast done? come, I have healing for thy wounds, I have plasters for thy sores; come to me, I will surely help and heal thee: art thou affrighted by the justice of my Father, come to me, rely on me, leave thy sins, and rely on me, and I will undertake to make thy peace with God; and I will get and give thee pardon of thy sins. Methinks I hear him say, thou criest out because thou hast sinned, and if thou hadst not, there had been no need of my coming from heaven to earth, there had been no need of my dying on the Cross. Art thou a sinner? I knew thou wast; and therefore I came on purpose for to help thee: art thou a lost sinner? I knew thou wast, and therefore I came to seek thee: art thou a captive bound in fetters? I knew thou wast, and therefore I came to ease thee, and release thee; only be but hearty willing to receive me for thy Prophet, Priest and King; and consent to the conditions of the Gospel; and do no more despond as if there were no hope, nor help for thee; come hither, and see me in my sweat and agony; come hither, and behold the wounds made in my side, my feet my hands, my heart and all, and these I suffered for such sinners; look through the wounds made in my side, and see if thou canst not there see Love in my heart, and pity in my heart to poor returning sinners: what did I suffer for, and what did I bleed and die for, but to help and save poor sinners? come, to me, and I will be thy friend; come to me, believe on me, receive me, and God will be thy friend. So then poor captive soul, if thou be willing, indeed willing to leave thy sins, thy fetters and thy bonds, to resign thy will, thy love, thy heart to Christ, make him thy end, and take him for thy Lord-Redeemer, there's no reason thou shouldst despair of pardon and salvation; let not then Satan keep thee in this bond, from coming unto Christ, to be set at liberty. 3. Thy sins and thy wickednesses are not greater, are not more than all the sins of all the elect of God were that are now in Heaven, and yet mercy hath pardoned them, and yet Christ's merits hath purchased life and salvation for them, and they are now in possession of it: thou hast out-sinned any one single man, yet hast thou committed more, or greater sins, than all the sins of all the millions now in glory, put them all together; and yet hath God been able and willing to pardon them, and Christ able and willing to save them? if thou wilt repent and believe, as they did thou shalt be saved as they are! if thou wilt leave thy sins and be converted, as they were, do not despair, nay, do not doubt, but thou shalt be happy as they be, Hast thou sinned more than Adam did, that at one blow did wound and kill so many souls, as never man did the like, no, nor never shall again? Hast thou sinned more than Manasseh, read and judge, 2 Chron. 33. 1. to 14? Hast thou sinned more than Paul that was a bloody persecutor of God's people, 1 Tim. 1. 13. Hast thou sinned more than Peter, that did swear and curse he knew not Jesus Christ? or more than Mary Magdalen? or if thou couldst say, thou hast sinned more than any one of these, yet hast thou sinned more than all these put together, and thousands of thousands more? thou canst not say it. Why then, what is the matter with thee, that thou sittest in thy chains lamenting of thyself, saying, there is no hope for me, there is no help, no mercy for me? what! no hope for a sinner, and a Saviour by thee? no help, no deliverance for a Captive, and the Ransom paid, and the Redeemer come unto thee, waiting that thou would be but willing to receive him for thy Lord and Saviour, and he is ready to receive thee. Say, O say then, what did this tempting Devil mean, one while to draw into sin, because it was no great matter he did tempt me to? and what now doth this accusing Devil mean, that when he hath wounded me, would persuade me, there is no healing for me? O my soul! once this enemy did befool thee, when he did persuade thee, thy condition was so good, that thou didst not need to fear, and now shall he befool thee, to make thee think thy condition is now so bad, that there is no reason why thou shouldst hope? Tell him, O tell him, that yet his condition is is not thine; though thou hast sinned, as he hath done, yet there is a Saviour offered unto thee, that never was, that never shall be offered unto him; Oh my soul! Satan is bound in this chain of despair himself, and it never ●●n be knocked off; tell him then, O mine enemy thou canst not repent, and therefore canst not hope; thou canst not believe, and therefore canst not be saved; Christ did not die for thee, but he died for sinful men, that shall have the benefits of his death by believing on him; Oh I will now repent, and by the grace of God I will believe, and while the Devil doth despair and would hold me from going unto Christ▪ by despairing too; yet since there is mercy in God and merit in Christ, whereby other have been saved, and this is offered unto me, God doth call me, and Christ doth call me, and the Spirit striveth with me to come to Christ, and mercy is promised if I do, and pardon is promised if I do; why then should I sit here lamenting of my doleful case? or why do I sit here despairing of mercy? I will arise and go and venture to cast myself on Christ, and trust my soul with him If I stay here from Christ, I am sure I shall perish; but if I go, it may be I shall live. Did I say it may be, oh God hath declared in his word that if I do repent, and believe, that it shall be, that I shall be saved. Resolve therefore as those four Lepers, 2 Kings 7. 3. that said one to another, Why sit we here until we die. 4. If we say we will enter into the City, than the famine is in the City, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall into the Hosts of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us we shall but die. If thou fittest still in thy natural state, and wilt not go to Christ, thou shalt surely die, and if thou goest to him, thou needs not say I can but die; for if thou goest, thou shalt not die. So then (though all this be no ground to encourage any to go on in sin, and yet hope for Heaven, who were spoken to before, yet) all this is reason of encouragement to those that have already sinned, and are penitentially grieved that they have so done, that they should now despair as once they did presume; and the Lord grant that as you have been convinced and awakened, that you might be no longer kept in bondage by presumption, so now you might go to Christ the Redeemer of Captives, and not be kept Captives still and perish by despair. CHAP. VIII. A Sixth Chain, is taking up Morality. 7. And Resting in Religious duties. 6. ANother Chain wherewith many of these Captives are bound is their satisfying themselves with a moral blameless life; saith one, I live peaceably among my neighbours; I defraud no man, I am just in all my deal, I give to every one their due; saith another, I am no drunkard, no swearer, no open profaner of Sabbaths, no man can lay any thing to my charge, nor say black is my eye. Many sinners rest here, and do persuade themselves their condition is good, and do not think that they are in bondage to the Devil, and so do not look out after Redemption by Jesus Christ. Though all this be good in itself, yet it doth not argue that thy condition is good, because it is not sufficient to salvation, forasmuch as God requireth this and something more; nay, much more than this that thou mayst be meet for Heaven: towards the breaking of this bond, Consider, 1. Negative holiness is not a ground of hope for future glory, nor a proof of a present good condition. Negatives in reference to affirmative Precepts will damn, but negatives in reference to forbidding Precepts will not save. There are commands of God enjoining you to repent, and believe, to pray and to forsake sin; your not repenting, not believing, will undo your souls; and there are commands enjoining you to be no drunkards, to be no swearers, not to defraud, nor over reach others in your deal; now if you be no drunkards, yet if you are not believers you are still in Satan's bonds: you must not only not do evil, but you must also do that which is good. Isa. 1. 16, 17. Mat. 25. 42. 2. If thou art of an unblameable life, yet thou hast a corrupt and sinful heart; if thou hadst been free all thy life-long from every actual sin, (as thou art not) yet there is sin enough in thy heart to sink thee to the lowest hell. There is heart-adultery, and heart-murder, pride of heart, and unbelief in thy heart; so that though thou sayest, fair is thy life, yet God doth see, that foul and filthy is thy heart; and it is not unblameableness of life only, but purity of heart too, that must qualify you for the enjoyment of God, Mat. 5. 8. Heb. 12. 14. Hast thou wronged no man? what! nor God neither? dost thou give to every man his due? what! and to God too? thy heart is Gods due, Prov. 23. 26. dost thou give to God thy heart, which is his due? thy love, and obedience is Gods due, Mat. 22. 37. dost thou indeed give these to God? thy time, and service, and religious worship is God's due, Mat. 4. 10. dost thou deny these unto God, and yet boast thou givest to every one their due? or dost thou look upon it as an evil, to withhold from man, that which doth belong to him, and is it not a greater evil to withhold from God, that which doth belong to him? wilt thou pay to men, and rob God, and yet hold thyself guiltless? wilt thou be righteous towards men, and unholy towards God, and yet hold thyself innocent? whereas the same God that doth command thee to live soberly towards thyself, and righteously towards men, doth also charge thee to be holy towards him, Tit. 2. 12. What if thou art at peace with all men, if thou art not at peace with God? art thou not a captive still? what, if thou art in charity with all the world (as thou makest thy boast) if thou hast no love to God? art thou not in fetters still? what if thou bearest no malice in thy heart to any man, yet if thy heart be full of hatred and enmity to God, hath not the Devil yet fast hold on thee? Didst thou never read Mat. 19 18, 19, 20. that that Moralist said as much as thou dost say, and yet he remained still in the bonds of his Iniquity? Didst thou never read Luke 18. 11. where the Pharisee boasted unto God himself, that he was not as other men are, that he was no Extortioner, no Adulterer, nor unjust, and yet being not justified was fast bound in the guilt of sin? A moral man without converting, sanctifying grace, is like a Swine in a fair Meadow; that though it be not there wallowing in the mire, yet it is a swine still. Oh then stay not here; since there are many now in hell that were not common drunkards, swearers, nor profane debauched persons, let not Satan keep thee any longer bound in thy captive state with this bond of thy applauded moral conversation. 7. Another Chain with which some Captives are bound, is their resting in religious and holy duties; these go a step higher than the former, and yet are as fast bound as others be, and faster too; for when many gross sinners are delivered from captivity, and their bonds are broke, Hypocrites are fast entangled with chains of their own making. Publicans and Harlots enter into the Kingdom of God, when Hypocrites are shut out, Mat. 21 31. as Paul compared himself with others, 2 Cor. 11. 22. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I 23. Are they Ministers of Christ?— I am more, in Labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. So hypocrites comparing themselves with those that are set at liberty by Christ in respect of all external duties, and common gifts, conceiting that therefore they are free too, are the faster bound. Are God's freemen much in prayer? so am I, saith the Hypocrite. Are they frequent in hearing? so am I. Are they admitted to all Ordinances, and received into Church-fellowship by the godly, strict, and careful Ministers of Christ? so am I. Do they talk and discourse of God, and Christ, and Heaven? so do I, and more than many of them do. Do they suffer for Religion, and have been in bonds and prisons for Religious worshipping of God? So have I. These are strong bonds, and the more they pray and hear, the stronger are their bonds, while they are praying and hearing, the Devil is binding these captive-hypocrites so much the faster, and this is their misery more especially, that these Chains which are made for their close imprisonment, they do look upon as chains of ornament, and do glory in them. For the breaking of this Bond, Consider, 1. The external performance of Religious Duties hath been done by many now in Hell, some of the now damned souls when in their bodies, were often present at Sermons as well as you, and often on their knees as well as you; and yet were then in the bonds of sin, and you also yet may be, and are now in chains in utter darkness, which God in mercy grant you may never be. Outward duties may be done to God, when there is Inward prevailing love to self, to sin, and to the world; it is not so much the matter as the manner of your duties, that argues your freedom from captivity, not what you do, as from what principle, and for what end you do them that doth distinguish the Devil's captives from the Lords freemen. Christ plainly tells you, that not every one that makes a profession of Religion shall be delivered from the prison of Hell, Mat. 7. 21, 22, 23. and that the children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness, Mat. 8. 12. Know therefore though you should hear ten thousand Sermons, and make as many prayers, yet without an inward real change by converting grace upon your hearts, except you love God above all, and choose and prize Christ before all, that you may not be released from captivity for the present, nor saved hereafter. 2. There is no certain judgement can be made of your spiritual slavery or freedom by the thoughts that others have of you Men judge charitably, but God judgeth certainly. Men judge of your hearts by your actions, but God judgeth of your actions by your hearts; you might be admitted among the purest Congregation, and yet not admitted into Heaven. If Christ himself were upon the earth thou mightest be an hearer of Christ, and yet a captive to the Devil. Christ tells you as much, Luk. 13. 26, 27, 28. And I pray you, what is it to be applauded or approved by men, and to be condemned by God? You are not to stand or fall, to be damned or saved by what men think of you, but by what God knows of you. Remember Judas, that carried himself so amongst others, that the rest of the Disciples did rather suspect themselves than him, saying, Lord is it I? and another, is it I, when Christ told them, one of them should betray him. Remember him, and beware, that as others are bound captives with the bonds of open and visible iniquity, that you remain not bound with the bonds of hidden and secret Hypocrisy. CHAP. IX. Containing the 8, 9, 10. Chain or Bond of these Captives. 8. ANother Chain by which some are held captive is the Examples of others. And these are either the examples 1. of those that lived formerly, or 2. those that are now alive. And saith one, I am of the same Religion as my forefathers were; my Father, and my Father's Father were of this way; and who will say our forefathers were not Redeemed, nor are saved? who will say that our forefathers died captives and are gone down to hell? will any zealous Preacher of them all condemn our Forefathers? And should we be wiser than our Forefathers? Besides, if we look unto this present age, saith another, the greatest part of the world live as I do, or worse; and if my condition is not good, God help many others: will God send such multitudes to hell? and if I be damned, woe be to thousands; it will be others case as well as mine. Both these ways are persons held in their captivity; towards breaking then of this Bond and cutting off of this Chain, consider in answer to the first. 1. We have nothing to do to pass any sentence upon your Forefathers, they are out of the reach of our preaching and exhortations: them we leave to the righteous judgement of God, who hath disposed of them before this day to the places where they must for ever be; and God doth not send us to tell you, whither your Forefathers souls are gone; our Message is to you that are yet alive, and our business and employment is to tell you of your sin and misery, and to call you unto repentance, and to acquaint you with the conditions of peace to be made betwixt God and you: to tell you, what you must be, and what you must do to escape the Damnation of Hell, and to be partakers of the Redemption which Christ hath purchased for poor captive sinners. 2. You might be of the same profession of Religion as your Forefathers were, and they might be saved, and yet you might be damned; they might be redeemed and delivered, and yet you remain captives still. Your Forefathers professed faith in Christ, did pray to God, and performed religious duties unto God, as you profess to do; and yet if they did these things sincerely, and you hypocritically, they in reality and you in show, their souls are now in glory and at rest, where your souls notwithstanding may never be. Many of the same age make the same profession, and yet some are good, and some are bad; some are made free, and some continue captives: as the five foolish Virgins made the same profession as the wise, Mat. 25. 1. to 13. and Judas, as the rest of the Disciples; and yet the one was captivated, while the others were Redeemed; and so it may be with persons that live and profess in several ages. 3. But why should you content yourselves in being such as your Forefathers were? though I do not, dare not, will not say that they are damned; yet are you so sure that they are saved? are you all sure, that all your Forefathers did believe, and did repent; that they were all sanctified and saved? if so, surely that age was better than this, and better it would have been to have lived then, than Now. But if they did not believe, did not repent, would you then go to the place where now they are? or would it be any ease to your pain, to meet any of your Forefathers there? your wisest, safest course, is not to say, we will live as our Forefathers did, but as God in his Word doth command and direct you to do. 4. But why might you not be wiser and better than your Forefathers were? Were they perfect in wisdom and goodness? If they were not wise indeed for heaven and their souls, and if they were not good indeed, you must be wiser and better than they were, or you shall not be saved. If they were truly wise and good, it was their burden and their grief that they were no wiser, and no better, and why should that be a fault in you to be wiser than they were, which they complained of as a fault in themselves that they were no wiser, and no better than they were? Besides, would you not be richer than your Forefathers were? and greater and more honourable in the World if possibly you can? Do not you labour for greater Estates than they had, had they much or had they little? had they little, would not you have much? had they much, would not you have more? If you would be richer and greater, why may you not endeavour to be wiser, and to be better than they were? 5. What if some of your Forefathers should come from the dead, and tell you they were mistaken, and deceived, and are damned, and have been in hell ever since they died, would you think yourselves concerned then to be wiser and to be better than they were? if your Father or your Father's Father should come to any of you, and say, Oh! do not sleight Christ as we did, do not you, our poor posterity, remain in a natural state as we did, and are now suffering the wrath of God, and the vengeance of eternal flames; Oh! do not follow our example, nor lead your lives as we did, and neglect to worship God in your families, or do it by the halfs, carelessly and negligently as we did, lest you come to the same place of torment, as we are condemned into, and must be in for ever: take the Scripture for your rule, and not our example; do not follow us, oh do not follow us in sin, in careless neglect of God and Christ, lest you follow us to hell and to damnation too. If you content yourselves to live and die as we did, captives to the Devil; and your children after you, content themselves to follow and to imitate you, as you do to imitate and to follow us, the race that did descend from us will be damned from one generation to another. Would you after such warning as this, plead your Forefathers examples not more? let not then the Devil lead you any longer captives by this bond of their example, as if this were more binding than the commands of God. For the breaking of the other piece of this Cord wherewith the Devil binds his Captives; the examples of those that live in the same age, the most live as I do; will God damn such multitudes? if it go ill with me, God help many others. Consider, 1. The most, are not the best. The greatest number is of the bad sort of men. Christ's flock is but little, Luke 12. 32. while the Devil hath great droves, Mat. 7. 13, 14. if thou wilt follow the multitude, they will lead thee to a place of sorrow, Exod. 23. 2. 2. At the day of judgement there will be no escaping in a crowd. Thou shalt not speed the better because multitudes sin as well as thou; If thousands continue captives to the Devil, they shall all be damned? God will damn millions of men, rather than falsify his Word, if Men sin in companies, they shall suffer in companies. 3. That Multitudes are carried Captives to Hell, will not make thy Chains the lighter, nor thy pains the easier; when thou art in hell, to lie there and look round about thee, and see multitudes there besides thyself, will be no mitigation of thy torments. Multitudes sinning doth not lessen thy sin, and multitudes being Damned will not lessen thy Damnation. God hath wrath enough for thee and them: though he pour out more upon millions than they can bear, yet he hath enough to inflict on thee, and more than thou canst endure. Wouldst thou be in Turkish slavery, because more are there besides thyself. Seriously ponder this, and let not Satan keep thee captive to bear others company. 9 Another Chain wherewith these Captives are kept in their bondage-state, is their purposing hereafter to repent and forsake their sins. In thy Childhood thou didst purpose to repent when thou shouldst come to man's estate; then, when thou shouldest be old, and now, when thou comest to be sick and die, and thus from thy Birth to thy Death, thou continuest a Captive to Satan and to sin; thou wast born a Captive, and by these delaying purposes diest so. To break this Bond, Consider. 1. Who was it that did assure thee that thou shalt certainly live to that time in which thou purposest to repent? Did God or Man? Man cannot; God doth not wont to tell sinners how long they shall live. How comest thou to have this knowledge above other? no, I have not. No? what? and yet purpose to repent, and shake off the Devil's Bonds hereafter, when thy body might be in thy grave, and thy soul in hell before that time may come? where will be thy repentance then? are not as young as thou art, gone down into the pit of grave and hell too? go and view the burial places of the dead, measure and see if there be no grave as short as thou art, and many graves of Infants there. Thou art here today and mightest be in eternity tomorrow. Now alive, tomorrow mayest be dead. All flesh is compared to grass, Isa. 40. 6, 7, 8. Mat. 6. 30. to a vapour, Jam. 4. 13, 14, 15. Was not he a fool that reckoned he had many years to live, Luke 12. 19, 20? When thou goest to bed, how knowest thou, that thou shalt rise any more? when thou fallest asleep that thou shalt awake, till the Trumpet sound, and the call be, Arise ye dead, and come to judgement? 2. How knowest thou that when thou shalt be sick, that thou shalt have the use of thy reason and understanding? if not; where is thy repentance then? hast thou not often seen sick persons to be deprived of their understanding? not capable of ask or receiving of counsel and advice. 3. Is repentance in thy own power? or canst thou repent when thou list? canst thou? the more thou art to blame, the more is thy sin, and and shame, that thou dost not now repent. Canst thou not? the more is thy folly, to put it off as though thou couldst: nay, the longer thou continuest in thy sin, the harder thy heart will be, and the harder is thy heart, the harder work will it be for thee to break it, Jer. 13. 23. 4. Dost thou read of any more than one only man that did repent at last, at a dying hour in all the Word of God? Is there any spoken of for this besides the Thief upon the Cross? if thou hast but this one single example, why wilt thou venture thy eternal state upon this? 5. Doth not thy purposing to repent and leave the service of Satan and sin hereafter, imply a present resolution that yet thou wilt not repent? and that yet thou art resolved to go on in sin? and is it not more wickedness to resolve to be a servant to the Devil and thy lusts till thou art sick or old, than goodness in thee, to purpose then to be a servant of God? when thou wilt have neither time, nor strength to do him any service in; no, nor heart neither. Judge if this be reasonable; and if not, let not Satan keep thee captive by this any longer. 6. Is it fit thou shouldest give the first of thy time and strength to Satan rather than to God? is it not wickedness to say I will first serve the Devil, and after him God? shall God have the Devils leave? wilt thou give the Devil the best of thy time and God the dregs? 7. Doth not God require your present turning and present repentance, Heb. 4. 7. Eccles. 12. 1. 8. If you be poor, would you not be presently rich? and if in pain, would you not have present ease? and is not God and Christ, and Grace more desirable? 9 If you had drunk a cup of poison, would you not have a present remedy to save your lives? 10. Might not God give thee up to spiritual judgements, to hardness of heart, and to the reigning power of sin, and say be filthy still, Rev. 22. 11. and say his Spirit shall strive no longer with thee, Gen. 6. 3. 10. Another Chain that keeps them fast indeed is their Unbelief, a wilful refusing to accept of Christ- the only Lord-Redeemer as he is offered to them in the Gospel. This is the Chain that binds the guilt of all other sins upon their souls. To break this Bond, Consider, 1. There is no other Redeemer than Christ, Acts 4. 12. If you will not own him, nor submit unto him, you must perish in your Bonds and die without Redemption. For other sins the wrath of God comes upon men, Col. 3. 5, 6. But by reason of Unbelief the wrath of God abideth on them, John 3. 36. and they abide in their captivity. 2. This is greatest folly. Is it not folly to prefer Bonds before Liberty? especially when you might come out free, freely; without any price paid down by you, but by the ransom which the Redeemer hath already given to God, and the benefit offered unto you: But you thrust the Redeemer from you, as the Israelites did Moses that came to bring them out of bondage, Acts 7. 27. 3. This is highest Ingratitude; That the Son of God should be bound, that thou mayst not be for ever bound; he condemned, that thou mayst be acquitted; he suffered that thou mayst be saved, and offers to thee, the benefit of his Redemption, and calls, and commands and waits for thy acceptance; but thou preferrest the world and sin before him; and wouldst rather keep thy sins with chains of bondage, than accept of him for Lord and Saviour with a crown of glory. Thou seest by this time, what are the Bonds with which Satan hath held thee bound so long: Oh now beg they may be broken? if not, Consider further that which followeth. CHAP. X. Showing that the Captivity of sinners by Satan, is worse than the Captivity of men in corporal Slavery. HAving set before you the resemblance of Sinners to Captives, and several of the chains by which they are bound in this captivity; I shall next proceed to show you wherein the condition of these Captives is far worse than any Captives under the Sun besides; and I beseech you in the fear of God, seriously weigh your danger, and in good sadness consider your misery before you are past remedy recovery, and redemption. If all I have already said be forgotten, and hath been slighted by you; yet do not stop your ears, stiffen your necks, and harden your hearts against what shall further be propounded to you to awaken your Consciences. In respect of civil Liberty you are all freeborn, and many of you are free Citizens; but yet being Satan's Captives, and Sins Bondmen, your case is deplorable; though yet through Mercy tendered to you, and waiting to this day upon you, it is not desperate. If it should move compassion in us to hear of any carried captive by a cruel Enemy, as Jeremiah's eyes were filled with tears, and his heart with sorrow, when he did consider of the captive-state of God's people, Jer. 13. 17, But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive. Lam. 1. 18,— hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. Much more should it be lamented with abundant tears and sorrow of heart, that sinners are captivated by the Devil, by how much this captivity is sorer than any other; as appeareth by these particulars following. 1. It is spiritual bondage, and the captivity of the soul: If a man be a slave to men, they have power only over his body and outward man, his soul may be free: the more noble the subject is, the more grievous is the bondage. Things that concern the soul, if good, they be the best, as promises of blessings to the soul are the best promises, and mercies for the soul are the best mercies; so if things that concern the soul be bad, they are the worst: threaten against the soul are the sorest threaten, and punishments upon the soul are the sorest and the heaviest punishments; and the loss of the soul is the greatest loss, Mat. 16. 26; What is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? It were better to have the body fettered with as many chains as it could carry, if the soul be free, than to have the body be at liberty to go up and down where you will, if the body be in bondage to Satan and to Sin: Sinner, it is thy soul, thy only, precious, and immortal soul that is in chains; and canst thou be at rest, eat, drink, and sleep, with so much peace, while thy soul is carried captive? Canst thou be so merry and so jovial with fetters on thy soul? Canst thou buy, and sell, and trade with so much earnestness after worldly gain, while Satan hath possession of thy soul? If thy Lands were mortgaged, wouldst thou not be careful to redeem them? If thy Jewels were in pawn, wouldst thou not be mindful to have them to be restored to thee? What! dost thou prize and value a few acres of Land, the very Earth thou treadest upon, above thy soul? Are a thousand Jewels better than this one only Jewel of thy Soul? Wouldst thou not be moved with pity to see Malefactors (whose time of execution is approaching) card and dice, carouse and drink, and sing with chains rattling at their heels? And hast thou no pity for thyself, and no compassion for thyself, whose time of death and execution draweth nigh, and will quickly come, and yet canst be so lighthearted, when the Devil hath thy soul in worse than Iron-fetters? Doth not this lightness of thy heart plainly prove the hardness of thy heart? Remember, thou hadst better have thy body possessed by a thousand Devils, or torn by a thousand Devils into a thousand pieces, than to have thy precious soul led captive by the Devil, and held his Prisoner by the reigning-power of any one lust whatsoever. Wilt thou think of this, It is thy soul that is a Captive, and in bonds? 2. This captivity and bondage to Satan and to Sin, is worse than any other, in that these Captives are not sensible of their thraldom; do not lament themselves, nor bewail their own condition, though it be so bad, so very bad. The children of Israel did groan and sigh by reason of their bondage, Exod. 2. 22. When Manasseh was bound with fetters, and carried captive to Babylon, he was sensible of the fetters on his body, that had before no sense of the bonds of sin, with which he was held in bondage by the Devil. And how do poor Captives sigh and groan under Turkish slavery, and bitterly lament because of the hard usage they are under? And how do many Prisoners grieve and take on that they ever did that fact for which they are in Irons? Do men need to spend many hours, and make many long Orations, to convince a Captive amongst the Turks of the sadness of his condition there? But how many hours must a Minister spend in studying and in preaching, before these Captives can be brought to a sense of their own woeful and miserable condition? Before he can convince that indeed they are in this captivity? It is indeed but here and there one amongst a multitude that do see it, believe it, and bewail it. Who is witness of your groans, and of your tears? When did you complain to God or man of the fetters and the bonds of sin that have been so long upon your souls? When didst thou retire to thy Closet, and there lament thy woeful case? Is not this a dreadful case to be near to Hell, and not to see it? to be near damnation, and not to fear it? to be led by the Devil in the chains of sin, to a place of torment, and to be not at all sensible whither you are going? Shall nothing but the flames of Hell convince thee of thy bondage? Wilt thou not believe the Devil is leading thee to Hell, till thou seest, and findest, and feelest, that thou art there? Wilt thou not yield that thou art of the number of Satan's Captives upon earth, till he brings thee to the Lake of burning Brimstone, and look round about thee, and then to thy eternal sorrow see, that thou art one of the number of the captivated souls in Hell? This makes thy captivity the sorer, and thy bonds the stronger, that thou art not sensible of thy bondage. 3. So doth this too, that thou art a voluntary bondslave to Satan and to Sin; thou art the Devil's servant, and art willing to be so; in bondage, and art willing to remain therein; thou mightest have liberty, but thou wilt not. Thou art like the servant that plainly said, I love my Master, I will not go out free; and would rather have his ears bored through with an Awl, and serve him for ever, than be made free, Exod. 21. 5, 6. Slaves in Turkey are there against their wills, it is not matter of their choice; Captives they be, but they are not willing Captives; they do not love their fetters, nor their chains, nor the work and service that they are there put unto: but thou art in Captivity to Satan, and thou lovest to have it so; thou drudgest in his service, and dost love to do it; but what wilt thou do in the end thereof? Jer. 5. 31. Others are by power and force taken and continued Captives, but thou dost voluntarily yield thyself to be a slave; for Satan could not have taken men captive, nor hold them therein, without their own consent. Like Ahab, thou dost sell thyself for a slave, 1 King. 21. 20: and what dost thou sell thyself, thy soul, a captive for? For a little profit, and for a little short and momentary pleasure? That thou mightest gratify thy lusts for a while, and please thy palate and thy flesh for a while, thou art contented to be a slave for ever. When a man is taken captive, yet his will is not taken; when his body is fettered, yet his will is not overcome; he hath a will to resist still, if he had but power; he hath a will to have off his chains, though he cannot; and a will to escape, and be set at liberty, though there is none to lay down a ransom for him: But the Devil's Captives have no will to be delivered, or freed from their bondage, though there be a ransom paid, and the benefit of it be offered unto them. 4. It is a plenary and full Captivity; all the Sinner is in bondage, not only the Will, but all the powers and affections of the soul; so that there is nothing in him free. If a man be in bondage to men, his thoughts might be free, and his affections might be free, free to love God, free to delight in God, free to desire after God. But Satan's Captives have no freedom to any thing that is spiritually good and pleasing unto God; therefore this is a sore bondage. 5. These Captives are Children of the Wrath of God; whereas others that are Captives to men, might be Children of the Love of God; as they love and delight in God when they be in chains, so God may love and delight in them. If a man's outward condition be never so bad, yet he might comfort himself with the thoughts of God's love to him; though I be in prison, yet God loves me; and though I be in chains, yet God loves me: But the Devil's Captives do not love God, nor are beloved by him. A love of goodwill God hath had to many of these Captives, a love of Purpose to do them good in delivering them from their bonds; but a love of complacency and delight, so that God should take pleasure in you while you are voluntarily and totally the Devils Slaves and Servants, there is not in God towards you. O did you but know the Wrath of God, the Fury of the Lord, what it is, how great, how intolerable; Can you please yourselves in that condition in which you are the objects of his Wrath? As there is no love like to the love of God; so there is no wrath like to the wrath of God; therefore that condition (be it what it will) is not so bad in which you may be the object of God's love, as that condition is in which you are and must be the objects of his wrath. 6. Death doth not deliver Satan's Captives from their thraldom and their bondage, but doth straiten their bonds, and strengthen their chains, and puts them into an impossibility of Redemption for ever. If a slave be no way delivered while he liveth, yet he is freed when he dies; death will bring him a release, and give him a discharge; Job 3. 17. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. 18. There the prisoners rest together, they hear not the voice of the oppressor. 19 The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. When the King of Babylon had taken Zedekiah captive, and bound him in fetters, he put him in prison till the day of his death, and then he was his prisoner no longer, Jer. 52. 12. But these are Captives till they die, and which is worse, are Captives after death. The others might say, and comfort themselves therewith, Well, this is hard, but it is not lasting; this is bitter, but it will have an end; though it last as long as life shall last, yet death will come, and then we shall be released; but these may say, It is bad while we live, and it will be worse when we die: if we are not delivered while we live, death will not, death cannot deliver us. Therefore this is worse than any other bondage. 7. A worse and more dreadful Prison is prepared for the Devil's Captives, than any slaves in earth can be cast into. Hell is the Prison appointed and prepared for all Captives that are not made free by Christ, 1 Pet. 3. 19 Several things make this Prison worse than any other. 1. The Prison prepared for these Captives is a close Prison. Now you are like to Prisoners, that sometimes might walk abroad with their Keeper with them. Now thou art a Prisoner at large, that walkest up and down, though in thy Chains of sin and guilt, and the Devil thy Keeper doth attend and watch thee whithersoever thou goest; if thou comest to a Sermon, thy Keeper cometh with thee, to prevent thy breaking lose, and when thou goest from the Sermon, to tempt thee to return to thy course of sin again. But hereafter thou shalt be a close Prisoner, not suffered to step out for ever; and so close shalt thou be kept, that none shall come at thee, to visit or to comfort thee. It is an alleviation of a Prisoners grief, though he hath not liberty to go out and see his friends, yet his friends might come and see and visit him; but neither shall be allowed unto you, when once you are close prisoners in hell. Thy friends on earth will not be desirous of thy company, or thy visits after death, if thou hadst the liberty to come forth; such visits of damned Souls would be a burden, and disquietment, and a terror to the living; that would then rather wish that thou wast confined to thy prison, than to be permitted to come forth to disturb them by thy visits: Neither shall any be suffered to come and comfort thee, if they would; and indeed, none would be desirous, nor venture so far to come to hell to comfort thee, if they might. Though the rich man desired that Lazarus might come and comfort him with one drop of water, it would not be granted to him, for he was a close prisoner, Luk. 16. 24, 25. Besides, there is a great gulf fixed between them and the Saints above, that there is no passing from the one place to the other, ver. 26. 2. It is a dark prison, a very dungeon, a place of utter darkness, a place where there is thickness and blackness of darkness for ever, Mat. 25. 30. Judas v. 13. Darkness addeth to the discomfort of the condition they must be in, in that prison for ever. It was an amazing Judgement on the Egyptians, to be under thick darkness for three days, Exod. 10. 22, 23. What a dreadful dungeon would this world be, without the light of Sun, or Moon, or Stars, or Candle, though you were not in pain, nor want of other outward enjoyments, yet it would be no desirable place to continue in. Oh then, what will be the sadness, frights, and fears of these captives for ever, that shall be in pain, in torment, and in darkness for ever? If a man were to live all his days in a Palace, there to have rich provisions to feed upon, and beds of down to lodge upon, but yet to be always in the dark, would be a great affliction to him: Oh then, what will it be to live in pain and darkness too? to lie and roll and tumble in a bed of flames, in a lake of brimstone, and in darkness too? to be amongst Devils, and this in darkness too? and must not that be a place of darkness for ever, where the light of God's countenance shall not shine upon the prisoners there for ever? 3. It is a filthy prison, full of noisome stenches, and unsavoury smells; prisons are filthy places, very offensive to the nostrils, but the stench of the brimstone shall be more troublesome to the prisoners there, than the most stinking dungeon to any upon earth. 4. It is a strong prison; As it is so close that none can come to them to comfort them, so it is so strong that not a prisoner shall escape, or break through, or get out to all eternity; if once these prison-doors be shut, and if Christ that hath the keys of death and hell, do once put thee in, and turn the key upon thee, there is no opening them for ever. Now you are bound in chains of your own making, even of your sins; but hereafter you shall be bound in chains of Gods making. And there are four Bars or Bolts upon the prison-gates of hell, that the prisoners shall be filled with despair of ever coming forth. 1. This prison-gates shall be made for ever fast and strong by the counsel and decree of God; God hath ordained, that the imprisonment of those Captives that die before they are made free, shall be eternal; it is the unalterable will of God, that they shall lie in chains for ever; God's purpose must be changed before their chains can be broken, or the prisoners delivered: But God is a God that doth not change, he will be always in the same mind, and his Will will be the same for ever; therefore the prisoners must abide by it for ever. 2. This prison-gates shall be made fast and strong by the Justice of God. Justice shall keep the prison-door, that not a prisoner shall come forth till he hath made satisfaction for his sin, till he hath paid his debts to the uttermost farthing, and that will never be. When the prisoner hath been there a thousand years, and should beg, and pray, Lord, I have been here a thousand years, it is a long time, a long time, O methinks it is a long time since the day I came into this place; my time of sinning seemed short, it was indeed but short; but my time of suffering seemeth long, it is indeed exceeding long; now therefore Lord let me come forth. No, saith Justice, yet I am not satisfied. And when the other thousand years be past and the prisoner sooner should again petition for his liberty, the same answer will be returned; No, saith Justice, for yet I am not satisfied, and till that be done, thou must abide in prison. Must I Lord? then there is no hope. 3. This prison-gates shall be made fast upon the prisoners by the Truth of God. God hath told you in his Word, that this fire burns for ever, and that the sinner that is not sanctified shall be cast into it, to lodge there for ever. The truth of God it is eternal truth; and so long as the Word of God abideth true, so long shall these Captives continue in this prison. 4. This prison-gates shall be made fast and strong by the Power of God. There shall be no getting out by force, nor by any opposition that they can make; the same power that sent them thither, shall keep them that they shall neither die in this prison, nor escape out of it. If then the gates of this prison be fastened by the unchangeable decree of God, by the Justice, Truth, and Power of God, the prisoners might set their hearts at rest, or rather shall never be at rest, because they never shall come forth from prison. 5. This prison is far worse than any other prison, because of the company that is there; and yet in many prisons there is a very wicked crew of swearing, cursing, and cursed company; if a godly man were in some prisons amongst such company, the company would be a greater affliction to him, than the prison. But if the company of Devils, and Souls hating and blaspheming God, be wicked company, this shall be found in hell, all bad, not one good amongst the millions that are there; as in heaven, all good, not one bad amongst the thousands that are there. Here these captives sin together, and they shall be in prison all together, one cursing and crying out against another, that ever they were on earth acquainted with them. Nay, than the Devil and his Slaves shall be in prison together, the conqueror and the conquered both cast into a lake of brimstone, Mat. 25. 41. 6. The remembrance of the facts for which these captives shall be cast into this prison, will make it worse than any other. To remember, here we are for obeying the Devil rather than God, for harkening to the temptations of the Devil, when we stopped our ears against all the cries, and calls, and counsels of God; had we but harkened to the voice of mercy, to the entreaties of Christ, or to the exhortations of his Ministers, we had now beenfree from this torment and this pain. Had we served God as diligently, daily, and faithfully as we served the Devil, we had been now in a better place, and we should now have had a better reward. Oh, What are we damned for our pleasing of our flesh to the displeasing of God Do we suffer eternal pains for our folly, in preferring the short pleasures and profits of the world before God, the greatest and the chiefest good! for my pleasing of my palate! This is the fruit of my drinking bouts! The wine in the glass was not so sweet, as the wrath of God in this cup is bitter, which I have been a thousand years a drinking off, but cannot drink it off, but cannot drink it down, but cannot drink it up. Oh, better I had had so much scalding lead poured down my throat, than those pleasant cups for which I am now in greatest pain. The thoughts of what they shall be in prison for will make the prison the more unpleasant. 7. The remembrance of a price and ransom that was given for captives, and the benefit thereof often tendered unto them, will make this prison still the more intolerable; There and then to remember, the Son of God came down from heaven, and did give himself, his blood, his Soul, to redeem sinners out of bondage, and this was tendered unto me, saith one, and to me saith another, but I like a cursed and unthankful wretch did slight it and refuse it, saith one; and I like a miserable Caitiff did prefer my sins and lusts before the Redeemer, saith another; we were often warned of this place, and often asked and entreated to accept of Christ, and deliverance by him; time was, that Ministers in the Name of God did come unto us Sabbath after Sabbath, and in his name did offer liberty unto us; how often did they ask us, to be willing to leave our bonds, how earnestly did they beg that we would be but willing to have our fetters knocked off, and if we had been but willing, it should have been done; but that time is past, those seasons are gone, and here we lie bound in fetters for ever. O time, time, whither art thou fled? Can it not be recalled, can it not be recalled? O no, no, it cannot be recalled; and those offers never shall be repeated, but to our greater aggravation, by the gnawing worm. CHAP. XI. Showing what freedom Captives set free by Christ, enjoy and hope for. Doct. 2. THe second general Head containing the glad tidings to these miserable Captives, is that there is Liberty to be had by Christ; or, that it is by Christ, and Christ alone that poor captive sinners are delivered and set at liberty. Had it not been for Christ, we must have perished in our Bonds, and remained in perpetual slavery while we had lived, and been for ever bound in chains of darkness, when we die. Isa. 59 20. applied to Christ, Rom. 11. 26. Acts 4 12. John 8. 36. Man might be considered in a foursold State. 1. In his first condition as created by God: then man was a freeman, bondage came in by sin: when man sinned he lost his freedom. And in this estate there was a three fold Liberty that man had. 1. Man was free from sin; not the least spot or slain by creation in this pure nature of man; he was then free from pride, and free from the inordinate love of the world, and from every thing offensive and displeasing to God. Eccles. 7. 29.— God made man upright. The uprightness of a man renewed by sanctifying grace denotes the sincerity of his heart, though there be sin inherent in him. So Job was an upright man, Job 1. 1. But the uprightness of man at first created by God denoteth the perfect Image of God in the presence of that which was good, and absence of all sin. Gen. 1. 26, 27. 2. Man had a freedom or liberty of will, to will and to do what God did require from him. 3. A freedom from all misery, calamity and punishment. Man had then a freedom from sickness, from sorrow and from affliction and death; for all these are the fruits of sin: Man had never been in bondage to these, if he had not become a bond slave to Satan and to sin. And in this state man had no need of a Redeemer, because he was not then a captive. 2. Man might be considered in a state of Corruption, and so his condition is quite contrary to what it was in his first estate; as before he was free, so now he is a slave, before at liberty, but now in bondage: and this bondage is opposite to the former threefold Liberty. 1. In man there is now a bondage to sin, in slavery to his own lusts and to his own vile affections, that there is no part in him free from sin; his understanding is not free from ignorance, darkness and error, his will is not free from obstinacy and rebellion, his affections are not free from disorder and confusion, hating what he should love, and loving what he should hate, shunning what he should desire, and desiring what he should shun, rejoicing in that which should be the matter, cause and reason of his sorrow, and grief, and grieving and being weary of that which should be matter of his delight and joy. This is man's sinful bondage. 2. The very will of man is enthralled▪ That though man hath a liberty of will as to natural actions and to civil actions, and to outward spiritual actions, he can come and hear if he will, he can set upon the outward duty of prayer if he will; he can read the Word of God, if he will, yet he hath no liberty of will to supernatural actions without the grace of God, as to believe on Christ, to love God above all; man must have a will as well as a power from God to do these things. Phil. 2. 13. It is God that giveth us to will and to do of his own good pleasure. And this is a sore bondage, though a natural man feel it not, and is not sensible of it. 3. In bondage by reason of punishment, being liable to all the curses, plagues and punishments threatened for sin in the Word of God, both in this life and that which is to come, to sickness, and sorrows, to pain and griefs, to death at last, and to hell and damnation after death. And in this estate man doth need a Redeemer, and a Ransom, and is utterly and eternally undone if he be not delivered from this bondage. 3. Man might be considered in a state of grace as recovered by Christ, as renewed and restored by the Spirit of God; for God doth not suffer all men to remain in their bondage, and those that are redeemed and recovered must not ascribe this to their own freewill but to the free grace of God. And in this estate man is made partaker in part of the fruits of Redemption by Christ. 4. Man might be considered in a state of glory. And there the Saints are all free, and altogether free, they have perfect liberty from sin, from sorrow, from temptations to sin, from all inclication to sin, from a possibility of sinning: and in this estate the Saints of God do fully and eternally enjoy the fruits of Christ's Redemption, and of his giving of himself a ransom for them. Qu. 1. What it is that we have not a liberty from by Christ the Redeemer. There are many things that Christ did not come to purchase or proclaim liberty from while we are in this life. 1. None of God's Elect are freed by Christ from being born in original sin; we are not born free, but are made free; even those that are descended from freemen in Christ, are by birth in spiritual bondage: for grace doth not come by blood, but by the will of God, John 1. 13. No man since the Fall, except Christ the Redeemer hath been free from this sinful contagion that hath infected all mankind, Rom. 5. 12. 17, 18. 2. Christ doth free us in this World from the indwelling of sin; Christ doth free all Believers from the reigning power of sin, Rom. 6. 14, but not from the conflicting power of sin, no, nor altogether from the captivating power of sin: the Lords freemen might sometimes be overpowred with a temptation, and with a corruption, and in a particular combat be carried captive, Rom. 7. 23. nor doth Christ free us at all from the indwelling of sin. As God did not presently free the people of Israel from the Nations that did vex them, nor drive them out at once, but by degrees, he left some of them to prove them and to humble them, Exod. 23. 28, 29. so all Gods redeemed and free servants do still experience the remainders of sin and corruption, and do complain thereof and cry out because of it, Rom. 7. 24. there are still relics of pride, and unbelief, and hardness o● 〈◊〉 Thus we are not free from distracti●● 〈…〉 ghts in holy duties, nor from all dulness of 〈…〉 ction, and deadness of heart in the service of God. This is reserved for the state of glorious freedom in the life to come, when we shall be and live in the immediate presence of the blessed God above, and shall 〈◊〉 in the beholding of him immediately that hath redeem●● us from our Captivity and Bondage. 3. Christ hath not freed us from the service of God, but rather doth engage us to it. Wicked men judge this to be liberty to live as they list, and to walk and act as they please, in gratifying their lusts and pleasing of the flesh. This is not liberty but licentiousness; this indeed is the bondage that Christ came to deliver us from. Oh how is the blind world mistaken, when they take their very bondage for their liberty! The strictest Service of God is the greatest Liberty, Psal. 119. 45. It is not a liberty from duty, but from sin and misery, that Christ came to purchase and proclaim, Luke 1. 74, 75. 1 Pet. 2. 16. Rom. 6. 18. The most under the very Gospel do live in the constant omission of duty, and commission of sin, as if Christ came to give them liberty so to do: which yet they might have done if Christ had never come. 4. This spiritual freedom by Christ doth not exempt us nor excuse us from the service we own to men in the places and relations wh 〈…〉 God hath set us. Indeed the Lords 〈◊〉 must not be the servants of men, so as ●o 〈…〉 e men in that in which they will displease God, 1 Cor. 7. 23. but yet one that is the Lords free man, might be in the place of a servant to man, and aught to follow his calling and mind his Master's business, and that with greater care and conscience than others do, even to such Masters as be the servants of sin, Ephes. 6. 5, 6. 1 Pet. 2. 18. Gal. 5. 13. And to such Masters that are the Lords freemen, 1 Tim. 6. 1, 2. 5. Christ doth not free us from afflictions, nor from troubles from men. Christ hath nowhere told us, he came to free us from scorns, and from reproaches; from prisons, and from tribulations; but the contrary, Joh. 16, last. All Gods Freemen will be hated by the Devil's Slaves; and we shall not be freed from them, till we be out of their reach, and that will not be till we get to Heaven. Those that have spiritual liberty, might lose their civil liberty; as a man might have a civil liberty, but not spiritual; a man might be free of a City, free of a Company, and yet not free by Christ: so a man might be in prison, bound in chains there, and yet be spiritually free; Joseph in the prison, Daniel in the den, Jeremiah in the dungeon, and yet all the Lords Freemen. When Christ calls to many in their bondage to come to him to be made free, they would indent with Christ that they should enjoy freedom from crosses, and troubles, and sufferings; which because Christ doth not free his followers from, they had rather have their freedom from sufferings in their bondage, than sufferings with spiritual freedom. 6. Christ doth not give us freedom from temptations of the Devil, that we should be no more buffeted by that wicked one. Christ himself was not free from temptations from Satan, nor from persecutions from men. Resist the Devil, watch and pray against his temptations, for you are not like to be freed from them, till you get unto Heaven. 7. Christ doth not free us from the stroke of death; the Lords Freemen must be bound with death's bonds as well as others. Our souls and bodies are not free from dissolution, your bodies not free from putrefaction; but yet we are freed from the sting of death; and death is not the same to the Lords Freemen, as it is to the Devils Bondmen. Q. 2. What is the liberty that we have by Christ? This shall be managed in speaking to these two particulars. First, As this liberty and freedom is privative. Secondly, As it is positive; or, what we are freed from; and what it is that we are freed to. 1. What it is that believers are freed from by Christ; and these are great and sore evils, and such as would have made us unspeakably and eternally miserable, if Christ had not freed us from them. 1. Christ hath delivered us, and set us free from the power of Satan, that he hath no more rule in us as formerly he had; he did rule in our hearts, Ephes. 2. 2; and we did yield voluntary subjection and obedience to him; but Christ hath bound this strong man, and spoiled him of his goods, and hath dispossessed him, and turned him out of our hearts, from dwelling, reigning, ruling there, as in a Throne; this Christ came to do, Heb. 2. 14, 15; he hath delivered us from the Justice of God, by price and purchase; from Satan, by power and by a mighty hand. 2. Christ hath set us free from sin; not for the present, or in this life from the indwelling of sin, as you heard before; but in these two respects: 1. By Christ believers have a freedom from the guilt of sin. We are free from the obligation that lay upon us to eternal torments; so that now we shall never come into condemnation for our sins; our many sins are all pardoned, our great and heinous sins are all forgiven, Rom. 8. 1, 33, 34. Many might accuse; the Devil might accuse, and Men might accuse, and Conscience might accuse, and the Law might accuse us; but Christ hath so freed us, that none can condemn. Oh what a blessed piece of our freedom lieth in this! What wouldst thou have done, to have answered for thy sins? What wouldst thou have done to bear the punishment of thy sins? Indeed thou couldst neither answer for thyself, nor yet have born the wrath of God due to thee for thy sin. Oh then see the everlasting obligation laid upon thee to love this blessed Christ, to prize, and value, and esteem this once crucified, and now glorious Christ, that hath taken off this obligation from thee; he hath freed thee from one obligation, and thereby laid upon thee another; he hath freed thee from an obligation to eternal condemnation, and hath laid upon thee a strong and lasting obligation to love him, and to praise and admire his love and grace to thee for ever. 2. Christ hath set us free from the dominion of sin. The Sinner was the Captive, and Sin the Lord and Conqueror; but he that is made free by Christ, is become the Conqueror, and Sin the Captive; the Victory indeed is not yet completed, yet sin is dethroned; the sinner when a captive was in chains; but now made free, sin is become bound. Sin was delighted in, but now it is abhorred; sin was voluntarily yielded unto, but now resisted and opposed; sin was welcomly entertained, but now lamented and bewailed; it was looked upon with pleasure and content, but now it is beheld with a sorrowful heart, and with a weeping eye; it is become the burden and the grief, that before had the love and complacency of the sinner's heart; it is now prayed against, and watched against, and endeavoured against, that before was indulged, and allowed, and provided for, and willingly submitted to. Now saith the Redeemed sinner, my hard heart is a burden to me; my proud and unbelieving heart is a burden and a grief unto me; my vain and worldly heart is a burden, and a trouble, and a sorrow to me; he is freed from the reigning power of sin, Rom. 6. 14. 7. Christ hath set believers free from the curse of the Law. The Law hath its use under the Gospel; by it we come to the knowledge of sin, Rom. 3. 20, and 5. 20; by it we are convinced of our misery, that by sin we have deserved death and damnation, Rom. 7. 10. that we might see the necessity of Christ, and hasten the more to him, Gal. 3. 24. It serveth for a rule to direct us in our walking, and for a glass in which we see the imperfection of our duty and obedience, that we might not rest in them, nor trust unto them for life and salvation. But from the condemning-sentence and curse of the Law, Christ hath made believers free, by being made himself a curse for them, Gal. 3. 10, 13. 4. Christ hath set believers free from the hurt of death. The Lords Freemen must die as well as the Devils Bondmen; but Death will be another thing to a Freeman, than it is unto a Captive: so that which is formidable to a sinner, is desirable to a Saint. Christ hath taken away the sting of Death, 1 Cor. 15. 55: of an Enemy is become a Friend; and Death, that is one of the plagues that befall the Devil's Captives, is become part of the Charter of the Lords Freemen, 1 Cor. 3. 22. 1. De 〈…〉 h to Freemen of the Lord is the utter abolition of their sin; it shall free them from the very being and indwelling of sin: when the soul shall be separated from the body, all sin, and all corruption shall be separated from the soul: whereas the Devils bondmen die in their sin, and after death do still retain their hatred unto God, their enmity to Christ, and are more confirmed and hardened in it than before. 2. Death to the Lords Freemen puts an end to all their sorrow and affliction, to all their troubles and their sufferings. It is God's Handkerchief, whereby he wipes away all tears from the eyes of his redeemed people, Rev. 14. 13. but at death the sorrow of the Devil's Captives doth begin, or is increased; if they were at ease while they lived, they shall be in pain when they die: if they did roar and sing while they lived, they shall roar and lament after death: Death takes them from their riches, from their friends, and from their pleasure, and whatsoever was dear unto them in this world's enjoyments, and puts them into a place of pain and torment, a place of utter darkness, where they shall for ever weep and howl, and fruitlessly lament their woeful state, and their irrecoverably-lost-happiness. 3. Death to the Lords Freemen is the gate to glory, and their passage and entrance into eternal life: It is the opening of the door to let them into their Father's house; a Messenger sent by God to fetch them into the presence of their God and Redeemer, to live, and reign, and dwell with him for ever; that their freedom here begun might be consummated and perfected in heaven. In that very day they die, they are admitted as free Citizens of the glorious Kingdom of God, Luk. 16. 22. 4. Death to the Lords Freemen shall come in the best time. All men die in God's time, whenever he appointeth; but the redeemed by Christ shall die in the best time, when their work is done, and when God seethe it is better for them to die than to live; God takes the best time and fittest season for the removing of his by death out of the world: But the wicked slaves of sin and Satan are cut off in a bad time, they die; it is a bad time to them, because whenever it is, they go that day to hell, and to eternal torments; the day of their dissolution is the day of their damnation; and will not that be the saddest day they ever had? they die before their work is done; before they have believed, and before they have repent, and that must be a sad day it comes. Men cut down Weeds at any time, but the Corn in the best time, in the fittest season, when it is ripe to be carried into the barn. 5. Death to the Lords freemen hath lost its terribleness. And though all Gods redeemed are not actually and totally freed from the fears of death, but sometimes kept in bondage through the fears of death; yet they have grounds and reasons why they might not fear it: But the Devil's Captives have always cause and reason to be terribly afraid of death; and if they be not, it ariseth from the blindness of their minds, and the hardness of their hearts. It is a wonder, that men should be as near to hell as to the grave, and yet not be afraid to die; It is a wonder, that men should be as near to an endless miserable life, as they are to the end of this short uncertain life, and yet their fears should not prevent their sleeping in the night, and their jovial merriments in the daytime. The Devil hath blinded them as well as bound them, and that is one reason of it. But these cannot upon any solid, rational, and religious grounds be freed from the fears of death. But so may the Lords freemen, and this they have from and through Jesus Christ, Heb. 2. 14, 15. 5. Christ will set believers free from the grave by a joyful resurrection; that though they come under the stroke and power of death, and are lodged in the grave for a while, yet it shall be but for a while. Death and the grave shall not always have dominion over their body. Death doth bind them, but Christ will lose these bonds, and will set them free; as Christ did break the bonds of death, for death was not able to hold him in his grave, Act. 2. 24. So he will knock off the fetters of death from all his, and bring them forth, and make them happy; and this as surely as he himself is risen, 1 Cor. 15. 13, etc. And not only free them out of the grave, but also from those evils and imperfections that in this life their bodies are subject to; that though they shall have the same bodies for substance that now they have, yet they shall be better bodies as to the qualities that they then shall have. 1. Then Christ will free them from that mortality that now they are subject to; now liable to death every day and hour, but then they shall die no more for ever. 2. Then Christ shall free them from all pain and sickness, from cold, and hunger, and thirst they are now often sensible of; their head shall never ache, their hearts shall never be sick, no part in the least pained to all eternity. 3. Then Christ shall free them from a necessity of food to sustain them, and of nourishment from the use of creatures, by which they are repaired and supported daily on this side the grave, but on the other side of the grave they shall need this no more than the Angels do in heaven. 4. Then Christ shall free them from that weariness that now our bodies often feel, and do groan under; for he will make them strong and powerful bodies. work in the service of God doth weary our bodies; but hereafter though they shall be employed through an endless eternity, in praising and glorifying of God, they shall neither be weary of it through wickedness, nor weary in it through weakness, for as much as Christ will free them from both, 1 Cor. 15. 42, 43. 5. Christ will then so free them from all imperfections that they shall be made like to Christ's glorious body. And can we desire greater freedom for our bodies, than to be made like to Christ's glorious body, Phil. 3. 21. 6. Christ doth free all his from the damnation of hell, that when the Devils Captives shall be pained and tormented by exquisite and unspeakable punishment, rolling and tumbling, shrieking and howling, and with bitter cries lamenting themselves, the redeemed of Christ shall never be touched with the flames of that fire; the second death shall have no power over them, Rev. 20. 6. Christ will take care, that those that love him above all, and choose him before all, shall never come into condemnation, Joh. 3. 16, 18. Oh what mercy is this, to be freed from hell! Oh what grace and kindness is this, to those that once were Captives, and had deserved it, and were in danger of it, that by Christ they should be freed and delivered from it! Oh what mercy would the damned, that have felt the pains and punishment of hell, think, say, and confess it to be, if they may be let out, and freed from it: But they are in it, and shall never be delivered from it; but the Lords freemen are out of it, and shall never be cast into it; so great is the liberty we have by Christ the Redeemer of Captives, in respect of what we are freed from. What are the positive blessings that by Christ we are made free unto. For Christ did come to poor sinners, to redeem them when Captives, not only that they should not be miserable, but that they should also be happy. These things are many and great and glorious; let me give you a taste in these few: 1. By Christ believers have freedom and liberty to come to the throne of Grace. A burden to wicked graceless hearts it is, to come and pray to God, are backward to it, weary of it, as if it were a part of their slavery and bondage, to come and beg for mercy for their souls, for pardon for their sin, for converting and renewing grace now, and for eternal endless glory hereafter, Judge of this as you will, yet know it cost Christ dear to purchase this liberty for us; it is not only a duty that we must, but it is a real privilege that we may, have the freedom to come to God upon our knees, to beg for special, spiritual, temporal and eternal mercies. Would not a poor prisoner, that hath deserved to die, account it a privilege to have liberty as oft as he will, and when he will to have liberty of access unto the King, to prefer his petitions to him, and to beg for a pardon of his fact, and for the saving of his life; and all this with hopes of speeding and obtaining what he doth petition for? When man had sinned, he was driven out of Paradise, and was afraid because of guilt, and there was no freedom for the rebellious sinner without Christ, to come before a provoked angry God with hopes of mercy; but there is a new and living way now found out for you, Heb. 10. 19, 20, 21, 22. that you might come with freedom, and ask with freedom of spirit, and with freedom of speech, what Christ hath purchased for you, and God hath promised to you, Eph. 3. 12. Heb. 4. 16. You may with freedom come to God, and tell him all your grievances, and all your burdens, and all your temptations, and all your wants, and open all your heart unto him. 2. By Christ believers have a freedom and a liberty to apply the promises of the Gospel to themselves. These promises are many, great, and precious promises, of many, great, and precious things, and you are free to them all; not only free to read them, but free to apply them to yourselves, and to live upon them, and to wait and hope for the fulfilling and performance of them. Here is a promise of pardon, and it is made to me; a promise of more grace and of perseverance, and it is made to me, a promise of eternal life and glory, and the blessed glorious God hath made it unto me, and by Christ I may freely apply it, and build and rest upon it. 3. By Christ we are made free to all the privileges of redeemed people. These are also many, great, and precious; very many, very great, and very precious privileges. 1. Believers by Christ are free to a state of friendship and favour with God. As there is a a freedom betwixt friends, so there is betwixt God and his redeemed by Christ, that are partakers of the benefits of his redemption; from a state of enmity to a state of friendship and reconciliation; God is no more your enemy, nor you any longer enemies to God, a peace is made by Christ betwixt God and your souls, and this is a firm, and lasting, an everlasting peace, Col. 1. 20, 21. Now with comfort thou may'st conclude, though men do hate me, yet God doth love me; though men are my enemies, yet God is my friend, my surest and my fastest friend. 2. By Christ Believers are free to a state of Justification, the righteousness of Christ is freely imputed to them. That as the Devil's Captives are under the imputation of Adam's disobedience, so the Lords freemen are under the imputation of Christ's righteousness and obedience, Rom. 5. 19 2 Cor. 5. 21; and you are free to trust to, and to plead the righteousness of Christ for your Justification in the sight of God. 3. By Christ believers are made free to a state of Sonship, and the privilege of Adoption. Of Slaves you are become not only Servants out Sons; of the children of the Devil, are become the children of God; of the children of God's wrath, the children of his love. Men may redeem Captives, but do not adopt them for their children; but all that Christ redeems, have the liberty to become the Sons of God, Joh. 1. 12. 2 Cor. 6. latter end. 4. By Christ believers are free to have communion with God in his Ordinances. God is no longer a stranger to them, nor they any longer strangers unto God; but have sweet converse and fellowship with God, 1 Joh. 1. 3. They come to duty, and meet with God in duty; in praying, hearing, and receiving, they have experience of the gracious, powerful, and heart-quickening, and soul-comforting, cheering, softening influences of the Spirit of God, and of the go forth of their Souls in love unto desires after, and delight in God. And when it is so, how sweet is this unto their Souls! 5. By Christ believers are free to a right to heaven, and to the enjoyment of the blessed glorious God for ever in his Kingdom. They are made free to the happiness of the life to come; they shall have free admission into the heavenly Paradise; the gates of heaven shall be set wide open for their departing Souls, freely, without any stop or hindrance; they are free in part now, and they shall be perfectly free among the Saints in glory when they die, Rom. 8. 21. This glory is prepared for them, Mat. 25. 34; and they are prepared for it, Rom. 9 23. Col. 1. 12. And what shall be your happiness then, is beyond the power and ability of any man upon earth fully to declare unto you, 1 Cor. 2. 8. It might be better done by a glorious Angel that is in possession of it, than by a sinful (though sanctified) man, that lives, and waits, and hopes, and prayeth in expectation of it. Yet the very names by which it is called, might help you to some conceptions of the greatness of its excellency and glory: (1) It is called a Crown, and that which far surpasseth all earthly Crowns, 1 Pet. 1. 4, 5; a Crown of life, Jam. 1. 12; a Crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. 4. 8; a Crown of glory, 1 Pet. 5. 4. (2) It is called a Kingdom, Mat. 25. 34. (3) It is called our Master's joy, Mat. 25. 21, 23. (4) It is called our Father's house, and the house of the Father of our Lord Jesus, Joh. 14. 2. (5) It is called the inheritance of the Saints in light, Col. 1. 12. (6) It is the purchase of Christ, Eph. 1. 14. (7) It is called eternal life, Rom. 6. 23. Besides these names by which it is called, dwell in your thoughts upon one Text that sets it forth, till you find your hearts to be affected with it, and long to be possessed of it, and that is 2 Cor. 4. 17, where you observe how the Apostle proceeds by steps to come to the top-expression of this happiness to which you are made free. 1. It is called glory. Now free in grace, then in glory. The thought of that glory would darken and disgrace the greatest glory of this world. 2. It is called a weight of glory; not a burdensome weight, not a weight to weary you; are your afflictions weighty? so shall your glory be; but afflictions are but light, if compared to the weight of glory. 3. It is an exceeding weight of glory; it doth exceed all worldly glory. 4. It is a more exceeding weight of glory; more than can be conceived. 5. It is a far more exceeding weight of glory. 6. It is eternal too. All this is not for a little while only, or for some thousands of years only, but for ever and for ever. The glory of the world, as it is but light, if weighed with this; so it is but fading and transitory, and but short, if compared with this that is eternal. Thus you have a little view (and alas it is but little) of the positive freedom and liberty that you have by Christ. CHAP. XII. Containing the Uses of the whole▪ Use 1. THen search your hearts, and examine narrowly and throughly what you are, bondmen, or free; whether yet Captives, or redeemed and set at liberty. The misery of spiritual Captives you have heard doth exceed the misery of Captives by men. And the good estate of such as are made free by Christ, you have also heard; Now say to thyself, Tell me, O my Soul, which of these two is thy state and thy condition; one of them is thy condition, but which it is, is worthy of thy strictest search, and most diligent enquiry. Are thy fetters knocked off, and thy bonds broken, and thy chain ●ut, and thou delivered? or art thou yet held fast by them? Take heed, O my Soul, of being mistaken in this point. If thou takest it for granted, that thou art made free, when yet thou art in bonds, and leavest thy body in this mistake, thou art lost for ever; if on the other hand thou sayest thou art a captive still, when thou art made free, thou will lose the comfort of thy freedom, and wilt spend thy time and life in complaints, and griefs, and fears, which thou shouldst spend in praising and admiring God for his love and mercy in bringing thee out of thy captivity. For your help herein take these few marks to try yourselves by, for the resolution of this question. 1. Freemen have their spiritual eyesight restored unto them. When Christ's opens the prison-doors to let the Captives out, he doth also open their eyes, to let them see that in sin, in God, in Christ, in grace and holiness, that before they never saw. That the redeemed Captive crieth out, Oh I never thought my heart had been so bad, so bad, so very bad as now I see it is: I never thought, that sin had been so vile, so very vile, and so deformed as now I plainly see it is: I never thought that Christ was so excellent, and so necessary, so absolutely necessary for me, as now I see he is; Oh methinks he is now altogether lovely, altogether desirable; after I have had a view of the beauty and the excellency of Christ, methinks all the glory of the world, and all the delights in pleasure and sin is darkened, and doth vanish and disappear: Oh how was I blinded in my captivity, that I never saw the excellency of Christ, and deformity of sin till now, Isa. 42. 6. Act. 26. 18, 23. Col. 1. 13. Rev. 3. 18. 2. When Christ breaks the bonds wherewith poor Captives were held, he also breaketh their hearts that they have been kept and held thereby in the service of Satan and sin, from God and Christ so long. As the eye doth see and weep, so the heart doth consider, and bleed, and grieve at the remembrance of his former folly and sin. Oh what did I do to sin against this blessed, gracious, merciful God Oh what did I mean so long to stop mine ears against all the calls, and woo, and entreatings of this Lord-Redeemer, who was so kind to suffer, bleed, and die for such a wretch as I, for such a wretch as I, for such a rebellious, disobedient, and delaying wretch as I. Oh there is no love like his, there is no mercy like to his, there is no kindness like to his! Oh why did I slight him so much, so long, so very much, so very long as I have done! Oh what a fool was I, to prefer the world, the pleasures and the profits of the world, before this blessed Redeemer! Oh what a beast was I, to prefer my very lusts and sins, and the service of the Devil, before this glorious, gracious Saviour, and the serving of him that died to deliver me from my bondage! O Lord I am grieved that ever I did so; it is the burden and the breaking of my heart that ever I did so; Oh now I could wash myself in tears at the remembrance of my folly and my madness! but if I should, that will not wash me from my guilt, and from my filth; and because that would not do, this blessed Saviour shed his blood for the cleansing of me from my guilt and my pollution. I weep, but not enough; my heart is troubled, but not enough; my Soul is humbled within me, but not enough, for so great rebellion against, and slighting of this Lord Redeemer. But I am troubled because I am no more troubled; Lord I grieve, because my heart is yet so hard, and can grieve no more; my sin is bitter unto me now, which once was sweet and pleasant to my Soul. 3. Such as are made free by Christ, are delivered from the reigning power of sin. For it is impossible to be a willing voluntary servant of sin, and yield obedience to the Law of sin, and to be made free by Christ, 2 Pet. 2. 19 Rom. 6. 16, 18. Doth sin command you, and you obey? hath sin the chiefest room and place in your affections and your hearts, you are then yet in your bondage. 4. Such as are made free by Christ have resigned up themselves, their hearts, their love, their all to him, accept of him for Lord as wel● as for their Saviour, and to consent to take him in all his Offices, for Prophet, Priest, and King, and giving up themselves to him, do become his servants and consequently yield obedience to him; they have changed their master, and they have changed their work and ways, and are become new creatures, having new hearts, wills, and affections, ends and designs, than what they had before. For the Condition of sinners being partakers of Christ's Redemption is their believing on him, and consenting to him as Lord and Saviour, choosing him before all, and loving him above all; and if this you do not do, you are yet in your bondage to Satan and to sin. For is it not reasonable, you should be his Servants▪ that brings you from this slavery? And if he purchase and buy you out, is it not reasonable, you should take him for your Lord, and obey him? and that universally, submitting to all his Laws, even those that are most spiritual, and cross to your corrupt hearts and most beloved sins; not pick and choose, but to have respect unto them all, Psal. 119. 6; constantly, not by fits and starts, not only when in straits and sickness, but at all times to have the frame, and bend, and inclination of your hearts to yield obedience to Christ, your Lord-Redeemer: freely and voluntarily, as matter of your choice; from a free principle of love, because you love him, you will pray to him; because you love him, you will hear from him, and wait and attend upon him, rejoicing when you please him, grieving when you do offend him. If by these things you discover what you are, bond or free, I shall close the whole with an Exhortation to both sorts, both bond and free. Use of Exhortation, 1. To you that are bound, that you would look after spiritual freedom; young men that have hard service, long to be made free; and those that be in prisons and chains, long to be at liberty, and shall any of you be content to abide in your thraldom? what will sin do for you? and what will Satan do for you, that you are so loath to leave their service? Is the Redeemer come, and wilt thou not mind him? hath he paid the ransom, and waiteth for thy acceptance of him, and wilt thou still refuse him, and the liberty and freedom thou mayest have by him, and canst not have without him? What say you, sirs, you young and old? shall I have your answer? will you be made free, or will you continue in your bondage? if thou wilt, thou mayest; be but willing, and thy chain shall be taken from thee. If thou will not remember liberty was offered to thee, and thou didst refuse it, thou wouldst not be free. Though thou hast been a very vile sinner, and rebellious, yet thou mayest be made free, Psal. 68 18. Isa. 49. 6. Do these things. 1. Labour to convince thyself that thou wast born in bondage, a slave by nature to Satan and Sin. The Pharisees did not believe that they were in bondage, and therefore did not look out to Christ to be made free, Joh. 8. 33. This is the undoing of multitudes, that they conclude their condition to be good, when it is not so; and they conclude before they try. Did you but see your bonds, and understand your slavery, Ministers would have hopes that by their Sermons they may do you good. 2. Work upon thy heart by serious consideration, thy misery and deplorable condition while thou art in a state of bondage. When by diligent search thou hast found thyself in a bondage-condition, hold thy thoughts unto this subject till thou art awakened and affected with it; think with thyself, and say, Oh my soul! being yet a Captive to Satan and to Sin, thou art yet an enemy to God, a slighter of Christ, under the guilt of all thy sin, in danger of damnation; awake, arise, and look about thee, and get out of this condition, lest it be too late for ever. 3. Set thyself under the preaching of the word, and constantly attend upon God, and come to the hearing of the word, as to an Ordinance of God; and look upon faithful Ministers as the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ, that come to you in the Name of Christ, as having Authority from God to propose the Gospel-conditions of deliverance from Captivity, and to treat with you in the Name of God about your being made free. So indeed it is 2 Cor. 5. 19, 20. You come to hear a man's Parts; but you do not look upon them as persons in Office, having a commission from God to propound Articles of Peace betwixt God and you; to treat with you from God, and in the Name of God, about your everlasting state, and your deliverance from your present bondage, and future torment. Did you believe this, would you sit and sleep as if what were delivered to you were not worth the hearing and regarding? or would you sit and hear, and go away and slight all that hath been said unto you? 4. Make application of the Word of God, when you hear it, unto yourselves. This is spoken unto me, this is my misery, and this is my condition, and this is my danger; and mercy offered to sinners, is offered unto me; and Christ is tendered unto me to help me out of my woeful state of bondage. The Minister maketh Uses of the Doctrine he delivers, but all this is ineffectual, till you take it and lay it home to your own hearts: for want of this, you sit and hear like people not concerned; you sit and hear without affection, and go away without the due and powerful effect of the Word upon your hearts. Let Conscience tell thee, thou art the Drunkard, the Hypocrite, the Unbeliever, that is threatened and in danger of damnation. 5. Look up to God through the Ordinance, and beyond the Minister that doth speak unto thy ear, that God would speak unto thy heart and conscience. Ministers might speak, and yet Conscience might not speak; Minister and Conscience might both speak; Conscience seconding the Minister, that saith, Thou art in a dreadful condition while thou art in spiritual bondage: Yes, saith Conscience too, so thou art; and yet till God shall speak, thou wilt not hearken. Oh then when you come to the place where sinners are made free, look up to God that he would speak unto your hearts. 6. Pray to God that he would have mercy on thee, and pity thee in thy bondage, and help thee out. As a poor prisoner, look through the grates to Heaven, and say, Lord, some pity for a poor Prisoner, some relief and help for a poor Captive. Lord, I am in chains of sin, but cannot break them; held fast by Satan, oh let me not perish; oh let me not live and die in this spiritual bondage; the ransom is paid for my redemption, I give myself to thee, upon my knees, I do resign myself, my will, my love, my heart, and all to thee. Sinner, Wilt thou, when thou comest home, not sit and talk vainly, and not sit idly as heretofore; but go apart, and beg of God for mercy, and do it earnestly; for it is for thy life, thy soul. 2. Exhortation: To you that are set at liberty; Your privilege is a singular privilege, and calleth for something singular from you. You were debtors to God, and prisoners to his Justice, and were liable to everlasting imprisonment in the life to come; but Christ hath made you free, and you are free indeed, Joh. 8 36. Stir up and awaken yourselves to these following duties. First, Be thankful unto God and Christ, that of bondmen you are made free. If a Captive were delivered out of Turkish slavery by the means of another; or a man exposed to a perpetual Imprisonment for his debt, another should free him from the prison, and the danger thereof; What expressions of thankfulness would he abundantly utter, saying, O Sir, I owe my present ease, and freedom from my future danger, unto you. I shall never forget your kindness while I live. I do acknowledge I have not such another friend that hath done the like for me, in all the world. Forasmuch then as the difference of being a debtor to God, and a debtor to man; of being exposed to a prison upon earth, and to the prison of Hell, is unspeakably great, methinks you should break forth into holy admirations of the grace and love of God, and say, O Lord, I was indebted unto thee in the debt of sin, and of that I am discharged and freed: and now I am indebted in the debt of thankfulness unto thee: O the riches of this grace! O the greatness of this love and favour! Was ever love like this? Was any kindness ever comparable to the kindness and the bounty which thou hast showed to my soul? O Lord, I am forced to cry out, I never had, and never can have in heaven or in earth, such another friend as thou hast been and art unto my soul! But alas, O Lord, I find my heart exceeding dull and dead; a smaller kindness from a fellow-creature would have greatly affected me, and have made deep impressions on my heart; but by sad experience, and to the grieving of my Soul, I find, I am too too stupid and unsensible of this manifest and matchless mercy, which thou hast freely vouchsafed unto me! I believe, that there are many now in the hellish prison, as certainly as if I saw them with mine eyes, where I also might have been; and I see others in this world still Captives to the Devil, fast bound in the cords and chains of lust and sin, that are going to the place of that cursed damned crew of lost souls, eternally separated from the enjoyment of thy blessed Majesty, amongst whom thou hast given me good hope through grace I shall never be; thou showest mercy unto me, while thou pourest out thy wrath and fury upon them. Oh whence is this! and how comes this to pass? why am I poor silly wretch partaker of this love? what didst thou see in me but filth and sin, that might have provoked thee to deal with me as thou hast done with them? surely, Lord, thou hadst mercy on me, because thou wouldst have mercy on me! when I did lie in my blood, and bonds, in my fetters and my chains of sin and guilt, thou didst pass by me, but didst not pass me by, but show'dst grace and goodness to me! When thy Servant and Apostle Peter was in prison, bound with chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison, thou didst send thine Angel, who came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he said unto him, arise up quickly, and his chains fell off from his hands; but when I was in a worse case, and sorer condition, having fetters on my Soul, and darkness in my understanding, and the Devil the keeper of the prison stood to watch me, to keep me in his strong hold, thou didst send thy Son (for an Angel could not do it) to knock off thy chains wherewith I was held, and thy Spirit came upon me, and a light did shine into my mind, and he said, Arise up quickly, and the chains fell off from my Soul: all this thou didst for me, a Captive and a Prisoner; and it was long before I knew that it was true which was done for me: but while I think and muse hereon, how I was bound, and now am set at liberty; how I was enthralled, and in great distress, and thou hast enlarged me; I begin to find and feel my love to kindle in my breast, and my heart to be enlarged with thy praise; and as thy Apostle did sit in the prison and sing, so shall my soul, being brought forth and delivered from captivity, magnify thy name. Come then, awake O my soul! triumph and sing, be glad, and greatly rejoice, since thy loving, holy, Blessed Lord hath opened the Prison-doors, and brought thee forth into the liberty of the Sons of God. Oh! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and and all that is within me, bless his holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases: who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. To quicken your hearts to real thankfulness for deliverance from this Bondage, and captivity, dwell in your thoughts upon these Particulars following. 1. The greatness of your Debt for which you were exposed to everlasting imprisonment. Consider here the kinds of your sins, the number and the aggravations of them. 2. Work upon your thoughts your utter inability and incapacity to make payment of your Debt, for want of which you might have been a Prisoner for ever. You could not say to God as the servant did to his fellow-servant that demanded his Debt of him; Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all, Mat. 18. 29. There was a double Debt that you owed unto God, one as a reasonable creature, the other, as an unreasonable sinner: the first was the debt of obedience required by the Law, the other the debt of punishment for the transgression of the Law; and you could have paid neither of them; Not the debt of perfect and perpetual Obedience; First, because all that you can do is due for the present, and that which is due for the present will not be accepted as payment for that which is past: as if a Tenant own for Rent, due many quarters past, the payment of what is the rent of the last quarter will not satisfy for all that was due before. Secondly, all that you could do is less than what you ought to do; and in strict justice a part of payment is not accepted for the whole; every living man comes far short of his duty to God, and runs more and more in arrears with God, and therefore so far from paying that we run daily behind hand. Thirdly, man in bondage had not the least mite of that kind which the Law requireth and accepts, to wit, sinless, spotless and perfect Obedience without mixture of sin, pure gold without any dross; and if the Prisoner offer for his liberty money that is not current, the Creditor may refuse it, and keep him in the Prison still. And as you could not pay the debt of obedience to the Law, so neither could you satisfy for the debt of punishment due to you for your disobedience thereunto: the payment or satisfaction must be equivalent to the wrong that was done. God that was offended is an infinite God; therefore that which satisfieth, that the Offender might be free, must be something of an infinite value, which no mere man had to give to God; and therefore those Prisoners that are not set free by Christ shall be always paying, but can never fully pay; satisfying, but can never fully satisfy; and therefore such shall never be released, but must lie in Prison for ever. Thirdly, weigh also this, satisfaction must be made, or the Prisoner never have his liberty. God might, and did demand his Debt. When Adam sinned, Hue and Cry was made after the Offender, Adam, Where art thou? was apprehended and arraigned at the Bar, What hast thou done? Hast thou eaten of the fruit of the Tree, of which I commanded that thou shouldst not eat? He was convicted by his own Confession, I did eat; and was condemned and a sad sentence passed upon him, Gen. 3. 17, 18, 19 This was the pitiful case that man was in, sinned he had, apprehended he was, found guilty, under sentence, justice required satisfaction: man could not give it; and thus he knew not which way to turn himself▪ for help & for deliverance from his Bondage and Captivity which by sin he had brought himself unto. Oh what a straight were you in, when you owed millions, and had not one mite to pay? after you have paused upon this, Consider, Fourthly, To release you from your Bonds Jesus Christ did voluntarily undertake for you, did interpose himself betwixt the wrath of God and the poor Captive, enthralled sinner; as if Christ should say, Father, man that was made free, hath abused his liberty and is become a Bond slave, fallen into the hands of revenging justice, which might arrest him, and clap him up in Prison for ever; I see he is undone and lost; help himself he cannot, but I will be his Surety and his Bail; what he oweth thee, set that on my account, I will pay it. I am willing to do and suffer in their nature what may please and satisfy thy justice; if my life will be taken for their salvation, I will lay it down, if my blood will be accepted for the ransom of these poor Prisoners I will she●l it for them, rather than that they shall always remain in this Captivity. Oh can you think how ready Christ was for to engage, and to become your Surety, to die for you, that you might live, to be bound for you, that your Bonds might be broken, and your soul escape, and not have your heart affected with his love, and your tongue employed in his praises? Jer. 30. 21. Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord. Who is this forward Engager, that is so willing and hearty in this work? It is one that is able and mighty to save, to redeem by price and power, poor Captive Sinners, even the only Son of the ever blessed God; and so he is said to be our Surety, Heb. 7. 22. A Surety is one that undertakes for, or gives assurance in the behalf of another; one entering into Bond and standing engaged for another to do & to perform for another, what he was bound to do. Among men Suretyship is a dangerous thing; he dissures his own estate that is surety for another. Prov. 11. 15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretyship is sure. But notwithstanding suretyship is thus among men, yet Christ would become a Surety for us to God himself, to bring us forth from our Bondage; and that you might be the more affected, and inflamed with his love, consider how far he acted for poor Captives beyond what ever man did for any man. 1. How many Captives Christ engageth for! How many millions he became a Surety for, for their ransom and deliverance! one man might be bound, and become a Surety for one, or two, but who will be Surety for thousands? especially if you add, 2. The greatness of the Debt of those he became a Surety for; One man might be persuaded to be Surety for another, if the Debt be small; but if it be for thousands and for millions, men are , but if it be for multitudes that own such great sums, every one so much, who will be persuaded to be Surety for them? but if they be in Prison or in Bondage there they lie for want of money of their own, or Suretyship from another. But Christ became Surety for multitudes, and each one owed abundance, that it doth pass the skill of the ablest Arithmetician to cast up the total sum that one of these Prisoners were in Bondage for. 3. Christ knew most certainly that he should pay undoubtedly the Debt of all, he became a Surety for. Many men are Sureties for others, hoping they shall never be called upon for the Debt, but that the Debtor will pay it himself; some will be bound for a man, whom they judge to be worth as much as they own and more too; but if it be a poor man, not worth one farthing, and his debt be thousands, Who will then become Surety for him? a Prisoner he is, and so he is like to be: and if any become bound for another, and pay the debt for him▪ what trouble doth this cause unto him? it breaks his sleep & he is displeased with himself, that ever he entered into Bond, and saith it shall be a warning to me, while I live, how I become a Surety for another; I thought him able enough, else I would not have brought myself into such snares. But all this was known to Christ, when he did become our Surety. He knew our beggary and our poverty, and that we could not contribute the smallest mite, towards the satisfaction to be made in order to the freeing of the Captives from their Bondage; and he knew that God would not spare him, but exact the utmost from him, and yet he did voluntarily undertake our ransom. Oh what love was this! 4. Christ became a Surety for you, when you were a stranger to him. He did undertake to release you out of your Bonds and Fetters when you had no special actual relation to him. Some men will not be Sureties for their most intimate acquaintance, and near relations, not for a Brother, father, son, but for a stranger who will do it? herein then admire the love of Christ that when you were in Chains of sin and guilt, and a stranger too, Christ did undertake and did pay a ransom for you. 5. Yet more to affect your heart, Consider, that Christ did ransom you from your Captivity when you were an enemy unto him. A man might possibly take some pity on a stranger, but an enemy that hates him, and that would and doth dishonour and reproach him, who would be deeply engaged for him? yet Christ did this for you, when you were enemies unto Christ, Rom. 5. 10. 6. Yet to raise your admiration and affection more, Consider Christ did become a Surety for you, before you did or could desire any such kindness at his hands. What Man or Angel could have thought of the ransoming of Captives by the Son of God, becoming the Son of Man, and God himself redeem us by his blood? How long might you ask, how many might you go to? and how many entreaties might you use before you can prevail with one to be engaged for you for much, when you have nothing of your own? but Christ did this for us all, before any man had any such desire in his heart, thought in his mind, request in his mouth, that he would do so great and wonderful a kindness for us. 7. Christ did this alone, without any other engaging with him. Men require countersecurity. If I be bound for you (saith one) you shall find to be bound with me, to be bound to me, to save me harmless; or you shall make over such houses, or such lands for my security, that if I be called upon, or the Bond be put in suit against me, I might save myself: But as Christ did tread the wine-press of God's wrath alone, so did he alone undertake to ransom and redeem us from our bondage and captivity. 8. Christ did never repent of this undertaking, nor desired to stand bound no longer. Men engaged for others, when they fear they will fail, make all means they can to get out of the bond, and to stand surety no longer; they will scarce sleep till they have got themselves free, though the party that is the principal debtor be arrested and put in prison. But Jesus Christ our Lord-Redeemer and Surety, to bring us out of bondage was constant to the death; and when Peter did dissuade him from suffering (which was the payment of our ransom), how sharply did Christ rebuke him, Mat. 6. 21, 22, 23? Yea he was desirous of the time of actual performance, Luk. 12. 50, I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished. Christ never said, it doth repent me, that I did ever undertake to ransom Captive sinners; God said indeed, it did repent him that he made man, Gen. 6. 6; but Christ never did repent that he had engaged himself to redeem sinners. 9 Consider what it was that was the price that Christ did give to make you free from your captivity. Men might be Surety for men to pay a sum of money; but Christ became our Surety to the shedding of his own most precious blood. Men might give some money to redeem a Captive from Turkish slavery; but Christ himself, his life, his soul and body, to bring us from our bitter bondage, and miserable captivity. Thus take some time to ponder upon the Lord your surety, that did so freely undertake the ransoming of your captivated Souls. Which was the fourth head to get your hearts affected with this privilege of being set at liberty. Fifthly, Consider, That God was pleased to accept of the undertaking of Christ, and what he hath laid down for your ransom from captivity. God might have exacted the debt from man that did owe it. It is a voluntary act for a man to become a surety, no man is to be compelled to it; and it is a voluntary act of the creditor to accept of such a surety, they are both free and at their choice; but when the one offers himself to become bound, and the other doth accept of his suretyship, then is the debtor or prisoner relieved. It was free love in Christ to become our Redeemer; it was grace in God to accept of Christ's ransom for us. The Son might have said, Man hath sinned, why should I suffer? man hath deserved the wrath of God, let him undergo it: And the Father might have said, Man hath transgressed my Law, and violated my Covenant, and I will make him suffer for it; they have brought themselves into bonds of misery, and they shall lie therein, and they that sinned, themselves shall die. Oh wonder then at this blessed agreement between the Father and the Son, for the bringing forth poor Souls in Bondage from their Captivity. Seventhly, From all the former it follows, the Salvation of such as are made free, is sure and certain. Heaven now belongeth unto you; and the glory above you have a title to; Doth Satan object against you, that you have sinned, and deserved to lie in everlasting Chains, you might reply: it is true, but Christ is my Surety and Redeemer, and hath set me free? Doth the Law or Conscience accuse you, you might answer all from the Ransom of your Redeemer. Do you fear the Justice of God, why your Debt is paid by your Surety, and then the Debtor cannot be cast into Prison. The Surety and the Debtor in Law are but one Person, and the Surety is liable to make satisfactory payment, Prov. 22. 26, 27. and Christ hath done it, and you discharged. God hath given some to Christ, whom he is to bring to Heaven; and they shall not perish, John 6. 38, 39, 40. as Judah did engage to Jacob for Benjamin; Gen. 43. 9 I will be Surety for him, of my hands thou shalt require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever. And therefore when Benjamin was to be detained by Joseph, Judah pleads hard, and offers himself to abide in his stead and to be a Bondman there; so that Benjamin might return to his Father with his Brethren Gen. 44. 33. Christ hath undertaken to bring all those out of their Bonds and Fetters, which the Father gave unto him, and to set them in Heaven before him. The price is paid, the Bonds are broken, the Chains fallen from your Souls, in which you were held while unconverted: as he hath opened the Prison-doors that you might come forth, so he will open to you the Palace-gates that you may enter in: for hopes hereof be thankful, be exceeding thankful and rejoice in the Lord your Redeemer. Second Exhortation. The next Duty I would press upon you is, to be compassionate, and to put on tender bowels of pity towards those that yet are bound in the Fetters and Chains of their sin and guilt; whilst you do rejoice in that you are free, do not forget to commiserate them that yet are Captives. 1. Let Ministers think of this when they are studying for, and praying for, and preaching to their people, how they be in Bondage and in slavery, and that except their Chains be loosed and their Fetters broken and knocked off, their souls are lost for ever, and that they will be faster shortly bound hand and foot and cast into a place of outer and eternal darkness; some serious and believing thoughts of their present danger, and their future misery would put more life into all we do for their recovery and prevention of their everlasting condemnation. Should we then preach unto them with such lukewarmness, as if we were telling them a tale, or saying such things in that manner, as if we did not believe ourselves the things we do declare? or as if it were no matter whether our hearers did believe, receive and obey the Message we deliver to them or no? when yet they be the great and weighty truths of everlasting Life or Death: to preach a Redeemer to Captive souls what skill and life, and love doth it require? what zeal and pity to their souls doth it call for? Oh that God would pardon the want of these in me, give me that belief of their eternal state and seriousness of heart, that I may ever speak and preach the Doctrine of Redemption to enslaved sinners, as to those that are undone for ever, except they be prevailed with to come to him, submit to him, accept of him, and give up themselves to be His wholly, and to be his only that hath paid the ransom for their deliverance. When some years since I was called occasionally to preach to the Prisoners in Newgate, and saw my Hearers come in Fetters, and heard their Chains rattling at their heels, methoughts it was an affecting spectacle to see men before me that were shortly to be called to the Bar of Men, and be tried for their lives, and some likely to be sentenced to death and put to execution: but if we do behold our Hearers standing before us, though free from such material Chains of Iron, yet bound fast in their lusts and sins, and consider they must be shortly tried at the Bar of God, and if not delivered by Christ, must receive a sentence of death, banished from the presence of the blessed God, cast down to Devils and damned Spirits, it should move us to pray for them, weep over them, and preach unto them with greatest pity and compassion. To stand and view so many persons, amongst whom many are the Devil's Captives, whom he is leading Fettered to eternal perdition, should raise in our hearts strong workings of affection towards them, and speak unto them with that earnestness and tender love, as becometh those that are speaking in the Name of God to lost sinners in order to their recovery and deliverance from Captivity. 2. Let Parents that are made free, pity and compassionate their Children that yet are bound. If any of your Children should be laid in Irons for some Fact committed against the Laws of men, and carried Bound to Execution, would not this like a Sword pierce your very hearts, be matter of grief and trouble to you? would not tears plentifully flow from your eyes, and bitter lamentations from your mouth, that ever you should bring forth, and bring up children that should end their days in such reproach and infamy to you and them? or if any of you had a Son abroad, and you should hear he were taken Captive by the Turks, or were in the Spanish Inquisition, what shedding of tears! what wring of hands! what smiting on your breast would these tidings make! what dolorous complaints and grievous moans would you make! saying, O my Son, my Son, my poor afflicted and distressed Son, thou art fallen into the hands of barbarous and cruel men; thou art put to drudgery and slavery! O my Son, my Son, what shall I do for thee, my Son. Oh that I could give or find a ransom for him! if all I have would set him free, he should not lie in Chains and Fetters, nor continue in that sore Captivity! Why, you Parents! would you thus lament the misery of your children's body, and do you make nothing of the the misery of your children's souls! would you thus take on, and grieve and mourn for their outward bondage, which is consistent with the good condition of their souls, and will shortly have an end, and yet is it nothing to you, to see them in their spiritual bondage, captivated by Satan, and in danger of being cast into an everlasting Dungeon of black and thick darkness! Oh why do you not speak to them, and tell them of their misery and their remedy; how they came into this condition, and how they may get out of it? why do you not, day and night plead with them, instruct them, and exhort them, that they may escape the torments of Hell hereafter, by being brought out of their bondage now? why do you not pray to God, that he would make them free? why do you not plead at the throne of grace, and say, Lord, I have Children that are Satan's Captives, my poor Children are fast bound in Fetters of sin, in the Bonds of iniquity: O thou God of grace, that hast showed favour unto me, show favour to my children also! Oh that they may be released! Oh that thou wouldst please to pity them in their Bondage, and for the ransom of thy Son let them be redeemed, and by the powerful workings of thy spirit have their wills subdued, and inclined to accept of the only Redeemer; him thou didst send to proclaim liberty to Captives, Oh that by thy grace thou wouldst cause them to come in, and lay hold upon the mercy granted in the proclamation of the Gospel, that they might not perish in their Bonds. 3. Let Masters that are made free and set at liberty have compassion on their servants that are fettered in their Chains of sin. They are not only bound to you (to be so bound is in order to their good and their freedom) but are also bound in the Cords of their iniquity, which is their present slavery, and tendeth to their eternal misery; doth it not pity you, to see your servants, to be servants of the Devil, and in bondage to their lusts? doth not your hearts work within you to consider that any under your Roof, should be drudges unto Satan? or do you see this, and have you nothing to say unto them all the week long, to make them apprehensive of their danger, and sensible of their misery? is it enough for you to teach them the skill and art of your trade, and at the expiration of seven years to make them free, while you do neglect to help them (as instruments under God) out of the thraldom of Satan and of sin? or can it satisfy you that they have at the end of their Service to you, the freedom of the City or Corporation where you and they do dwell, while they are not brought into the liberty of the Sons of God? or can you have peace in the neglect of your duty, to think they came into your family Bondslaves to sin, and after seven years' time, they go out as they came in? or should you not endeavour that they may be spiritually free, while they continue servants unto you? Oh how would they have cause to bless God for you, and that ever they came within your doors, and dwelled within your walls, if they may say, when I first became a Servant to my Master, I was a servant to my lusts also, but by his instructions, admonitions, and example, I became a servant of God, before I ceased to be a servant unto him? if it should be otherwise, let it not be through your neglect; for as it will not be without sin and misery to your servants, so neither will it be without guilt on you. The like I might urge upon other relations, acquaintance and friends, husbands to have compassion on their wives, wives on their husbands, one Neighbour on another; you that know what it is to have been in these cursed Bonds, and what it is to be made free, do your utmost to help and secure them that be in chains of sin, and and know not the evil of it, nor the good of the contrary condition; and therefore mourn not under the one, nor desire to be brought forth into the other. Third Exhortation. Were you in Bonds, and are they broke? in Fetters and are they knocked off? then walk in the whole course of your lives as becomes a ransomed and redeemed people. It will not become you to live and act as others do; as there is a wonderful difference between your condition, and the condition of others, so there must be, betwixt your conversation and the conversation of others. See that you be humble, holy, heavenly: see that you be fruitful in every good work: faithful to your Lord-Redeemer, and be no more entangled with those sins and snares you are delivered from. Now you are enlarged, walk close with God, holy-strictness is the greatest and the truest liberty. Psal. 119. 45. I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy Precepts. Remember he that hath called you to liberty, gives you not leave to live licentiously, but to tread in the paths of piety. Go on then, Hold on your way, continue and persevere therein to the end, and when the servants of sin, at the coming of Death, and the Day of Judgement, shall be bound in a place of darkness, pain and torment, you shall be free in a place, a Palace of rest and light, of life and love, singing, sounding forth the everlasting Praises of your Redeemer. Amen. FINIS. Books to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside. A Commentary on the Hebrews. By John Owen, D. D. Sermons upon the whole Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians. By Mr. John Daille, translated into English by F. S. 2. An Exposition of Temptation, on Mat. 4. v. 1, to the end of the 11 v. A practical Exposition on the third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, with the Godly Man's Choice, on Psal. 4. v. 6, 7, 8. By Anthony Burgess. Twenty-six Sermons Preached by the Reverend John Donne, D. D. Published by his Son John Donne. Quarto's. A seasonable Apology for Religion in two Sermons. By Mat. Pool. The Door of Salvation opened, by the Key of Regeneration. The Incomparableneness of God in his Being, Attributes, Works, and Word, opened and applied. Both by Geo. Swinnock, M. A. An Antidote against Quakerism. By Ste●●● Scanderet. An Exposition on the five first Chapters of Ezekiel, with useful observations thereupon. By Will. Greenhill. The Gospel-Covenant, or the Covenant of Grace opened: Preached in New-England. By P 〈…〉 Bulkley. God's Holy Mind touching Matters Moral, which himself uttered in ten words ●● ten Commandments; also an Exposition on the 〈…〉 s Prayer. By Edward Elton, B. D. Fiery Jesuit, or an Historical Collection of the Rise Increase, Doctrines, and Deeds of the Jesuits. Exposed to view for the sake of London. Horologiographia Optica; Dyalling Universal and Particular, Speculative and Practical; together with the Description of the Court of Arts by a new Method. By Sylvanus Morgan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon several Texts, by the Raumpand Widow 〈…〉 ker, with a short account of the Author in an Epistle Prefixed by Dr. Jacomb, with Dr. Ansley's Sermon preached at his Funeral. Cases of Conscience practically Resolved. By J. Norman. A plain and familiar Discourse concerning the Lord's Supper. By R. Kidder. Heart-Treasure: First and second Part. Closet-Prayer, a Christians Duty. All three by O. Heywood. A Practical Discourse of Prayer, wherein is handled the Nature and Duty of Prayer. By Tho. Cobbet. Heaven taken by Storm. Mischief of Sin. A Divine Cordial. A plea for the Godly. The Holy Eucharist, or the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. These Five by Tho. Watson. The Life and Death of Tho. Wilson of Maidstone in Kent. By G. Swinnock. The Life and Death of D. Samuel Winter of Dublin. The Conversion of a sinner. The Day of Grace. A Covert from the Storm. Worthy walking pressed upon all that have heard the call of the Gospel. All four by Nath. Vincent. The Duty of Parents. The Spirit of Prayer. By Nat. Vincent. Invisible Reality set forth in the Holy Life and triumphant Death of Mr. John Janeway. The Saint's perseverance asserted in its positive ground against Jer. Ives. By Tho. Danson. The Saint's Encouragement to Diligence in Christ's service. By Mr. James Janeway, M. A. The Young Man's Instructor, and the Old Man's Remembrancer, being an Explanation of the Assemblies Catechism. By Tho. Doolittel. The Psalms of David newly translated, more plain and smooth than any heretofore; approved by many Eminent Ministers in London.