THE Worm that Dyeth not, OR, HELL TORMENTS, In The CERTAINTY AND ETERNITY of Them. Plainly Discovered in several Sermons, Preached on Mark Chap. the 9th and the 48. v.  
By that Painful and Laborious Minister of the Gospel, William Strong.  
And now published by his own Notes, as a means to deter from Sin, and to stir up to Mortification.  
LONDON, Printed, by T. R. and M. D. and are to be sold by Fra. Titon, at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet. 1672.   

GOOD READER,  
A Discourse of Hell cannot be unprofitable and unseasonable, in an age wherein many deny the eternal recompenses; others live, as if they did not believe them; yea, among those that take on a stricter form of living, many carry it on with such coldness and deadness that their conversations no way look like a flight from wrath to come, or a pursuit after eternal life, and therefore they need to be awakened, Sermons of Hell may keep many out of Hell; yea, it concerneth the best and most serious, to know what wrath they have escaped, to quicken their thankfulness, for that they are as brands plucked out of the burning. As it heightened the sense of their deliverance to the Israelites, when they looked back, and saw the Egyptians tumbling in the waters of the Red-Sea, which they passed through without harm: surely they that cannot endure to hear of Hell, or read of Hell, discover too much of the guilt and security of their own hearts, presumption is a coward and a runaway, but Faith supposeth the worst, Psal. 23.4. and so encountreth its enemy in the open fields, if the torments prepared for the disobedient and impenitent, be so horrible and grievous, we all need to be more srious in settling our e●er●●● interests upon a sure bottom and foundation; and to learn that holy mixture of serving God with fear, and rejoicing with trembling; and so to take sanctuary at the Lords Grace, and enter ourselves heirs to the privileges of the Gospel, that our claim may never be disproved, nor our hope leave us ashamed. This is the design of these Sermons of the reverend Author, which were transcribed from his own Notes, not indeed prepared for the Press but the Pulpit; and if they want any thing of that accuracy, which might be expected from one so able in the work of the Ministry: The Candid Reader, will distinguish between what is intended to be spoken to one Auditory, and written to the World: and how much is reserved to be uttered on the sudden, in the heat and vigour of speaking for enlivening and polishment on such occasions: What is left was conceived useful, and therefore put into thy hands. The Blessing of God Almighty go along with it, and sanctify it to thy Soul, which is the hearty Prayer of  
thy Servants in the Lords Work. Tho. Manton. J. Rowe.   
MARK 9.48. 
Where their Worm dyeth not, and the Fire is not quenched.  
MY purpose is to break up those Treasures of wrath which God hath reserved for his enemies, 
Psal. 90.11. Ephes. 3.19.  which not only passeth knowledge, but also fear; his love to his People passeth knowledge, his wrath to his enemies passeth fear: a full discovery by me you cannot expect, seeing it passeth knowledge, and answerable affections in you I cannot expect; to the utmost, seeing that it passeth fear; but if it may be a means to deter you from sin, and a motive unto mortification, I shall have my end in the discourse, as Christ his end in the exhortation.  
The words are to be considered either respective in reference unto what goes before, and so we see them several times repeated, to press the duty of mortification of a man's dearest & darling Lust, his most pleasant and most profitable sin; that sin is resembled unto a body in Scripture, is clear, 
Rom. 7 4.  the body of sin, and the body of death; and that some sins are in this body ●s the right hand, and the right eye, is as clear; also called a man's sweet morsel, his own iniquity, the peccatum in deliciis, the right eye is in the body the dearest, and the right hand is most useful, serviceable, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  profitable, and advantageous to the body; but if it be a stumbling block to thee, and cause thee to offend God, and forsake the way of his obedience, then cut it off, pluck it out; it is a hyperbolical expression, Sic animo tuo comparatus esto, though thou do not actually, yet intentionally, and in thy purpose and resolution of heart part with what is dearest to thee, then that it should be a means or an occasion of sin unto thee; and the reason it given, better enter into life maimed, that is, though thou thinkest if thou part with such a lust, thou shouldest live uncomfortably, and be as a maimed and but half a man all thy days, yet in common reason the whole is better than any part, therefore better suffer the excision of a member, than the dissolution of the body; in your own judgement, and the judgement of the World, be counted imperfect men all your days, rather than suffer the destruction of the body and soul in Hell.  
Hence we are to learn; First, that whatever is near and dear unto a man, if it be an occasion of his sin, either to hinder from duty in omission, or to provoke unto any lust by way of commission, a man is to reject it with indignation, pluck it out, ●ut it off, cast it from him. The dearest thing must be parted with, either as a snare or as a sacrifice. Secondly, Even Gods own people may have some dear, pleasant, and profitable lusts, right hands to be cut off, and right eyes to be plucked out. thirdly, If they should part with them, they may look upon themselves, and the World may count them as maimed men: but Fourthly, though they may seem so to themselves, and the World to judge of them, yet it is their best course that they could take. Fifthly, The good and evil of all things is to be judged by the end and issue of it; it's better, because thou interest into life; and it's worse, because keeping them thou wilt endanger body and soul in hell, Sixthly, Legal motives are of use even to the regenerated, and therefore Christians may use them, and not be legal Christians: indeed the more ingenious services are, the better; and the more freely and readily the heart comes off from sin upon the principles of the Gospel, and performs duty from a spirit of love, fearing the Lord and his goodness, obeying from a cord of love and thankfulness, the love of Christ constraining. But yet this will work no longer than grace hath the upper hand, and if corruption prevail, to call in these helps, is not only. lawful but necessary.  
But to come to the words of my Text, They are a description of that destruction that keeping a right hand or a right eye, that offends a man will bring upon him: It is destruction in hell, even of the whole man, body, and soul, for to keep one member, or to please one pleasant gainful darling Lust.  
In the torments of hell there are two parts, First, something Privative, a privation of all good whatsoever might make them happy, and something Positive, an addition of whatever might make them miserable. The first is expressed by Christ, depart from me ye cursed. 
Mat. 25.41.  The Positive part of the torments of hell are set forth in these words, where their worm dyeth not: wherein we may observe, First, the torment of the Creature from God. 2dly. From himself, something principal, and something accidental; that from God which is the principal part of he●l torment is the fire, the less principal, the worm. In the words therefore is described the positive part of the torments of hell. First, that which is, Essential and principal, the Fire. Secondly, That which is less Principal, the Worm. Thirdly, The eternity of them both, the fire is never quenched, nor the Worm never dies. I will take them as they lie in the Text, and begin first with that which is less principal the Worm, their worm never dies.  
Here we may note two things, First, the torment itself, a Worm. Secondly, the particularity of the torment, Their Worm. Every man shall have his own Worm. The words are taken out of Isa. 66.24. The Lord had promised the glorious deliverance of the Church, and had threatened the utter destruction of his enemies, and when they were destroyed, the Saints should look upon them and triumph over them, the Saints shall have dominion over them in the morning, and they shall go forth in their contemplation, and consider not only their present outward condition and misery, but their eternal condition, Their Worm never dies, and their fire is not quenched to all Eternity, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh  
To begin with the Torment itself, it's a Worm, which is not to be understood literally, but metaphorically of something that holds some resemblance and some analogy to it. Now a Worm in Scripture is put to resemble two things; First, something that is despicable, and to be contemned, fear not thou worm Jacob. Secondly, something that is tormenting, and continually vexing, and so it's in this place; here the Philosophers tell us Nihil est in intellectu, etc. And therefore the Lord is pleased to help our understandings to express spiritual things by earthly similitudes and resemblances; as Christ saith of the Mysteries of the Gospel, he could not speak them as they were but by earthly things, that is, in respect of the manner of delivery, though the things were in themselves spiritual; and if the Lord do it by things that men have experience of in this life, how much more the things that are reserved for the World to come, as the joys of Heaven by all good things, & the torments of hell by all evil things. Whatever is most terrible to sense, and most tormenting as Fire, Brimstone, darkness and a Worm, which are only to help our understanding in those things which both pass fear and knowledge: as after death it is set forth as a thing dreadful to nature, to have worms breed out of a man, and feed upon him; 
Job. 24.20.  as Job speaks, The Worms shall feed sweetly on him, he shall be no more remembered, etc. And the greatest persons that have lain upon beds of Ivory, and have had Tapestry for their covering, must say unto the worms ye are my sisters; the Moth eats them as a garment, and the Worm devours them as wool, etc. Now to have these bodies that have been clothed sumptuously, and fed delicately, to be clothed with worms, and to become their food, is sad, and even dismal to nature after a man's dissolution. But if these worms should breed in a man, and feed upon him whilst he were alive, it would be much more terrible; as it was a torment invented by a Tyrant to keep a man in a Coffin, and feed him, till by his own filth he breed worms, and these worms devoured his flesh, and he died by them. The judgement that came upon Herod by the immediate stroke of an Angel; 
Acts 12.23.  and the same judgement is said to be inflicted upon Maximinus the Emperor, that his body putrified & bred worms continually. Now this is a fearful thing, and dreadful to nature to come upon the body; but what will it be for a worm to be gnawing upon the soul for ever? For in respect of that fire in Hell, our fire here is but a painted fire; it's true also in reference to the Worm therein.  
This being a Metaphorical expression, let us come to open it a little what it is, and wherein the resemblance doth consist? This Worm is generally to be understood of the furious reflection of the soul upon itself, in consideration of its by past life, neglected opportunities, and it's present hopeless and unrecoverable condition, and so the tormenting acts of Conscience upon the man are resembled by the Worm, and the resemblance lies in two things; First, a Worm is bred out of the putrefaction of the subject in which it is; now in the conscience of men there is much corruption the conscience is as it were the sink where all the evil in a man is, there is first much of the filthiness and defilement of sin in the conscience, Tit. 1.15. Their conscience is defiled; 
Mat. 23.27.  like whited Sepulchers, outwardly fair, but inwardly full of rottenness and all uncleanness, they may easily breed worms. 
Heb. 9.14  Secondly, All the guilt of sin in the soul settles upon the conscience, and it needs purging, for all the works done by an unregenerate man are dead works because they proceed from a dead nature, and because they all tend unto death; and though these things be the work of the whole soul, and every faculty, yet the guilt of them, all is laid upon the conscience; and if there be so much filthiness and putrefaction both of guilt and defilement in the conscience, it is no wonder if it breed a worm as all other putrefactions do; and this being the worst, it is not strange if it breed the worst and the most devouring Worm.  
Secondly, It doth always gnaw upon the subject in which it is bred, and so it is with this Worm, it is always feeding upon the soul, and that for ever. For it is with a man's spirit as with millstones, when there is nothing else, it grinds itself, etc. Now God will stop the current of all the creatures after this life, Luke 16.25. There shall be nothing from without for the spirit of a man to feed upon, and then it will turn in upon itself for ever. Here, most of the acts of a man's soul are dire●● upon objects without him; there are few reflex acts, man will not turn in upon himself; But then a man's acts shall be full of reflection upon himself for ever. Now this furious reflection of the soul upon itself, it's own filthiness and wilful folly. What fair offers and opportunities he has had and neglected, what fair hopes he had conceived, and they are vanished; and how all the pleasures of sin and the promises of Satan have deceived him, as a Brook that passeth by, and this will gnaw upon the soul with remediless and unconceivable torment for ever, this is the Worm that never dies; and truly there is no consideration in the World will work upon the hearts of men, if this dreadful one does not. That a man that lives and dies in sin, in a sinful state, shall be tormented for ever with fire that shall never be quenched, and this nevever dying Worm shall gnaw upon him to all Eternity, with remediless and unconceivable torments for ever, This is the Worm that never dies.  
After this life, a wicked man's own Conscience shall be his tormenter; Doctrine. The Worm dies not, it will be a great instrument that God will use in a man's destruction. There are Four things to be spoken to in the Explication; First, to show what Conscience is, which is here resembled to a Worm. Secondly, To prove that this Conscience shall be a man's tormenter. Thirdly, To give the grounds and the reasons of it. Fourthly, To set forth some of those acts that Conscience, as a Worm shall put forth; the manner of the working of it in the gnawings of a Worm, and then come to the Application.  
Quest. 1. First, What is Conscience.  
Answ. It is an ability in the understanding to judge of a man's self, his Estate, and Actions, according to the rule that God hath prescribed.  
Here observe, First, It is an ability in the understanding; for I make it not, as some do, a distinct faculty, & therefore it is in no Creatures but those that are reasonable, Men and Angels; other Creatures are directed to an end, and they work by a rule thereunto; but they neither know their end, nor their rule, neither are they able to reflect upon their actions, whether they have done good or evil; and therefore no Creature can sin but a reasonable Creature: for sin must be a transgression of a Rule, which a man doth, or aught to know, and to walk answerable unto; and therefore it is made a proper act of a man, Isa. 46.8. Remember this and show yourselves men.  
Secondly, Conscience must have a rule; indeed the Scripture doth require that men should walk according to their consciences, and do as their Conscience doth dictate unto them. Rom. 13.5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for Conscience sake: ye must be subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and when Conscience requires one thing, and Lust another, and the man receives not the rule of Conscience, but of Lust; he doth then imprison the truth in unrighteousness, where the Dictates of Conscience are called the truth, 
Rom. 1.18.  though it be but of a natural Conscience. But yet here men mistake; for Conscience is but regula regulata, not the highest rule; for it must itself have a Rule to judge by; 
Gal 6.16.  and he that doth not go by rule, and hath no higher rule to regulate his Conscience, and yet doth by his Conscience regulate his Actions, Conscience being defiled, Pit. 1.15. He doth walk with God at a venture, Leu. 26.21. And this rule of Conscience is the whole revealed will of God, whether ex principiis naturae, or scripturae; whatever God requires of a man as duty, whether by his word or by his works, and Conscience knows no other rule but the will of God revealed, because it is subjected unto no other: God only can command the Conscience, and bind the Conscience, because he only can judge the Conscience. Now the understanding having nothing else but a principal of nature for its rule; we call that a natural Couscience, and they that have the word of God for their rule, or any special work of illumination from the Holy Ghost, whether it be common or saving, we call this an enlightened Conscience, answerable unto the rule that it has to judge by, either of men's states or ways.  
Thirdly, The chief act of Conscience, and that which is only proper and essential to it, is to judge of the man according to this rule, and to pronounce a sentence upon him, whether good or evil; and hence is the accusing and the excusing power of Conscience; 
Rom. 2.14 15.  if Conscience judge of an action to answer the rule, than it excuseth, and if that be different from the rule, than it accuseth; and therefore 'tis said, Joh. 8.9. They are consinced of their own Consciences; that is, their Consciences laid their acts to the rule, and did tell them that they did not agree to it, and they could not deny it, and therefore went their way; and therefore Conscience is always in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is a knowing and judging of one thing with another; a knowing and judging of a man's state or actions with the rule: 
2 Cor. 4.2.  we approve ourselves to every man's conscience, says the Apostle, in the sight of God, and that is all our aim: we seek not to approve ourselves to your lusts, your fancies, we may sometime in our Ministry reprove sin that you are not willing to leave, and press to duty that you are not willing to practise; we may cross your affections, and provoke your lusts, but yet we know that we have something within you that takes our part, and doth approve the Doctrine that we teach, and the duties that we practise all the while; so that the main of Conscience lies in judging or applying an action to the rule, and pronouncing a sentence accordingly. So that in 1 Cor. 11.31. Judge yourselves, etc. and Isa. 5.3. Judge I pray between me and my Vineyard. So that Conscience is an ability in a man, having a rule given him to reflect upon his actions and state, and ●udge whether it agree with the rule that is given to it or no.  
4thly. That which is subjected to the judgement of Conscience, is a man's state and ways, the whole man. To judge other men, is not properly our work, either their actions or states, unless we are called by special Office thereunto; for thou judgest another man's servant, he stands and falls to his own Master. But a man's whole self is subjected to the judgement of Conscience.  
First, Conscience judges of a man's state, 1 Joh. 3.20. If thy heart condemn thee or do not condemn thee; and Jam. 1.24. The Word doth show a man what manner of man he is, and in what state he stands towards God; whether he be one of the wise, or foolish Virgins, or bvilders; whether he build upon a Rock or the Sand. Now consciscience takes this rule, and lays a man's state to it, and tells the man this is my condition.  
Secondly, Conscience judges of men's actions, Rom. 9.1. I speak the truth, I lie not, my Conscience bearing me witness; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do not speak this with my mouth, and my conscience gives me the lie, but Conscience speaks the same thing, and joint with me in the testimony. 2 Cor. 12. This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the World; but more especially to you-ward, etc. Conscience brings his carriage towards them to the rule, and judges of it, to agree, and to be consonant thereunto; and therefore gives testimony within him and into this Court the spirit of God commonly comes to assist conscience, to pronounce the sentence. For conscience is defiled, and so overawed, and bribed, and blinded by lust, that it cannot many times pronounce a right sentence; till the Spirit of God comes into the Court and acts Conscience, and causeth it to judge aright of his estate and and ways also, and therefore Rom. 9.1. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost doth witness with Conscience, and Conscience in the power of the Spirit does witness to the man; so in a wicked man it is a Spirit of bondage, that is, does cause Conscience to witness bondage, which else by reason of the self love and self flattery that is in the man, it will never do; and in a godly man it witnesseth grace and adoption, which of itself it can never do; and therefore the spirit is a witness in Heaven, and in earth also, even in a renewed Conscience, the spirit does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. We come now to give the reasons or the grounds of the point which will be best done by answering these Questions.  
First, As inordinate love unto a man's self, has been the great cause of all a man's sins, 2 Tim. 3.2, So it is self loathing that is the cause of all a man's Torment, a man shall be a burden to himself, Job 7.20. A terror to himself. Jer. 20, 4. As by self love they have corrupted themselves; so by self loathing, they shall torment themselves for ever; and so the Lord will take the same way in punishing, that they have taken in sinning. That the sin that a man hath here taken most pleasure in, shall hereafter be to him the matter of his his greatest torment; as we see it here, immediately as soon as God does awaken the Conscience: there is no sin so dreadful to a man as his darling, and he fears nothing like that which he has most loved and desired: so it will be hereafter in a man's punishment also, as nothing was so loved, admired, and deified as himself; so there shall be nothing that he shall loathe and abhor like himself for ever; and answerable to a man's self love, so will his self loathing be, for Revel. 8.8. so much pleasure, so much torment. No sin will will pierce Herod's heart, like to his rodias. And there is no sin that a man spares more here than his darling, and there is none will be more cruel to them hereafter, and as a worm, feed upon their hearts, and eat up their inward man for ever; and so it is in itself also, as there is nothing they have loved more, and spared more here, they have wholly been cruel unto others, but unto themselves sparing: they shall not be so hereafter, but above all others they shall be cruel to themselves for ever.  
Quest. 2d. Secondly, Seeing God will torment a man by himself, why is the main of a man's torment in his Conscience above all other faculties? It is true, that as every faculty hath been filled with the fruits of all unrighteousness, so every faculty shall be a Vessel filled with wrath, but above all others, why the Worm in the Conscience.  
Answ. First, Because it is the spirit of the man, and that wherein his main strength lies, Prov. 18.14.  
Secondly, Because it is the tenderest part of the soul, it's resembled to the eye, Matth. 7.3. And therefore most sensible, it is capable of more torment than any other of the faculties and powers of the soul what soever.  
Thirdly, There the Lord will inflict the punishment, where the sin mainly is; now of all the faculties of the soul, there is none so defiled as the Conscience, Tit. 1.15. For the guilt of all the sins of the whole soul is there. 
Jer. 17.1  Heb. 9.4. There are the Treasures of sin; therefore there will the Lord power out the Treasures of wrath, etc.  
Quest. 3. Thirdly, But if the Lord will torment the Conscience why doth not the torment rest there? But he will make that the instrument to torment the whole man. Why shall that do it rather than the will or affections? etc. But the torment of the whole soul must come in by the Conscience: this is the Flood gate, or as I may call it, the Funnel of wrath.  
Answ. First, Because God has given unto Conscience he greatest honour in the soul, and has exalted it above all other powers and abilities of the soul whatsoever. The main of the Image of God was stamped upon it at first, if we judge by the renewing of it, for the great effect of redemption is there. Heb. 9.14. And of renovation: also Ephes. 4 23. It is called the Spirit of the mind, 1 Thes. 5.23. The Spirit. Pro. 18.14. It is to be referred ad illam partem que nobilissima est. Calv  
And therefore the main work of Sanctification lies in the Conscience, a pure Conscience. Now the Image of God in Sanctification is renewed, therefore where this Image is most renewed, there it was most planted: for we are renewed according to the Image of him that created us. And the main thing that God respects in all Ordinances, 
Heb. 9 8.  is to make the man perfect according to his Conscience; and that is Conscientiam puram & pacatam r●ddere, to pacify it, and purify it, this is the perfection of the Conscience, and the perfection of the Conscience, is the perfection of the man. Now that which was the great glory of the soul, that shall be the shame of it. God will turn a man's glory into shame, and that which should have been his perfection, that shall become his torment for ever.  
Secondly, Conscience has the greatest Office, and power, and authority in the soul, it is God's Vicegerent; every man is as it were a petty Kingdom; and as God has set Princes upon earth in their several Kingdoms, so he has in the man also, and he has committed unto Conscience the whole Law of God, and the whole duty of man and Conscience is that in joins it upon all the faculties, and that sees it executed, Rom. 13 5. You must be subject, that is not only ratione externae coactionis, but internae obligationis. Conscience is subject unto none but God; but the whole soul is put in subjection unto the Conscience● and let men, the greatest upon earth command, yet if Conscience gives it non plaeet, it is no law in the man, it shall, never be obeyed, Dan. 3.17. be it known unto thee, O King we will not serve thy gods, etc. Acts 1.20. We cannot but speak, a necessity is laid upon me, I must preach, etc. Jer. 20, 9 The Word was in him as fire, he could not forbear, it is the impulse of Conscience; that was the cause there is a double necessity, Externa & interna, etc. Now according unto this order and subordination of the faculties, so shall the torment be; Conscience is subject to none but God, therefore the spirit of bondage shall come into the Conscience and trouble that, and this shall torment the whole man, and as God does usually set up Governors, and they become Instruments of wrath over the kingdoms where they dwell; if they be good, they are a special blessing, they are the breath of our Nostrils, the stay of our Tribes, the Chariots and Horsemen; but if they be wicked, they ruin the kingdom: Psal. 75.3. Saul had even destroyed the Nation, they are ravening Lions, and evening Wolves, Zeph. 3.3. So it is in the government of the inward man, if the Conscience be good it's the greatest blessing, and if evil the greatest curse; for as none has the Power, the Authority, and the Opportunity to undo a people, like those that have the Rule over them; so it is with the Conscience, there is nothing hath that Authority and Opportunity to undo a man like it, because it is always with him, where soever he goes, and therefore 〈◊〉 Mala domestica: Austin compare an evil Wife, and an evil Conscience because they are both intolerabl● burdensome evils, a continual drooping, none have the Opportunity 〈◊〉 Torment like these.  
Thirdly, Conscience here has 〈◊〉 great hand in corrupting the who● man, and therefore it is no wonder if hereafter it should have the gre● hand in Tormenting him.  
First, Here Conscience is blin● and does not show a man what is 〈◊〉 Duty; and so many men Sin ig●rantly, for want of an enlightened Conscience; when the eye of 〈◊〉 man is darkened, Math. 6. Ho● great is that darkness?  
Secondly, Conscience is dead, a spirit of slumber is upon it, that though it know things to be evil, yet it stirs not against them; or if it does, it is but faintly; but a good Conscience exerciseth Authority over the whole man, and smites him when ever he does evil: as 1 Sam. 24.17.  
Thirdly, it is erroneous, and carries men unto evil violently, under a pretence of good, a zeal not according to knowledge; Joh. 16.2. For zeal persecuting the Church; Tantus eram Saulus, ●hat he thought him worthy of eternal death, that descented from the Authority of his Religion in any thing; it is from a deceived heart, an erroneous Conscience.  
Fourthly, Conscience will be bribed by Lust, takes in carnal reason and corrupt principles, and will be satisfied in them, Rom 1. imprisons truths in unrighteousness, 1 Tim. 4.2. And it is insensible of any thing, and it is just with God, that that Officer in the man, that had the great hand in corrupting, should also have the great hand in tormenting the whole man.  
Quest. 4. Fourthly, Why is not Conscience a Worm here, as well as hereafter in Hell?  
First, Because Conscience cannot work of itself, unless the Spirit of God awaken it, etc.  
Secondly, Here is the working time of Conscience, its suffering time shall be hereafter; Here Conscience has great works to do, and great talents to employ; Heb. 13.18. The charge of the whole Life lies upon the Conscience, and the Lord ha● here a great house, 2 Tim. 2.20. Understand it of the World, or of the Church, yet he has in it Vessek of Honour, and some to Dishonour. Now, Why does God suspend the torment of the Devils? It is because Christ has much work for them to do, and they would have no pleasure in Sin, if their Torments were fuller; so it is with wicked men also, and therefore the Lord has appointed a working time for Conscience to perform its viatory office, and he has a pointed a suffering time for Conscience allo, and he will not Torment them before that time.  
Thirdly, Hereby the Lord does exalt his own patience and long suffering so much the more, for Sin being an infinite evil, and a man that is but dust to provoke God to his Face, and to do it the rather because God forbears them, and sin the more because God forbears them, and because of his patience; because sentence is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the children of men are fully set to do evil, now that God should bear with much patience, and long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that the Lord should not stretch forth his own hand against them, but that he should also suspend the working of their one Consciences, and should not let lose the reins upon them, which would bring them down in the midst of their gallantry, as Belshazer, Felix, Judas, etc. And that God should keep a hand upon their Consciences, and withhold their own thoughts from flying upon them, it does wonderfully set forth the patience of God; The Lord knows how to reserve the wicked to the day of wrath.  
Fourthly, Many things here which stop the mouth of Conscience, shall hereafter be removed, and then Conscience will speak; The Worm of Conscience is to the Soul, as they say the disease of the Wolf is to the Body; If it be fed with something from without, will eat the less inwardly, but take away all supplies from without, and it destroys inwardly (as all the good things of this Life will be gone) and then the Soul turns in upon itself and will be its own Tormentor fo● ever: Rev. 20.12. And I saw th● dead small and great, stand before God; and the Books were opened● and another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the Dea● were judged out of those things whic● were written in the Books, according to their works. It is an allusion to the day of judgement, That's granted by all, The books opened, are First the book of the Law and Gospel; Secondly, of God's Omnisciency; Thirdly, of his Decree; Fourthly, the book of Conscience: All those ancient Records that lay hid as Colours in the dark, 
Rom. 2.15.16.  or as something that is written with the juice of a Lemon; you may read it when you bring it to the fire, but not till then.  
But we will now set forth those Tormenting acts of Conscience hereafter, which shall be as the gnawings of this never dying worm, but before we come to speak unto them particularly, it's necessary that these four things be premised; First, That after this Life the Spirit of God shall come into the Conscience of a wicked man, as a spirit of bondage fully, for ever. Conscience is but a subordinate power, and acts always with reference to a higher Law as a rule, and a higher power as a Judge, it is Regnum sub graviore Regno; And therefore it never works by itself alone, but it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Rom. 2.14.15. & Rom 1.  as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and hence it is that the same thing hath such different effects upon the spirits of men; There were many in the company of Belshazar when the hand-wrighting appeared, 
Dan. 5.5.6.  and yet none that we read of, was affected with it but the King; and it was not the hand-wrighting that troubled him, but at the same time the spirit of God did come into his Conscience; and his own thoughts troubled him, stirred up and acted his Conscience, and they suddenly terrify him as the word doth here signify. And ●rov. 18.14. We rea● of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sad an● troubled broken and tender spirit; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  And who has power over the spirits of a man? It is subject unto none but God, and the spirit of God; and therefore none is able to wound the spirit of a man, no more than they can command it, without the spirit of God come in with it; Therefore one man is moved by a threatening, and another man is not; one man is pricked in his heart, and the other feels it not; It is as t●e spirit of God doth come into the Conscience of men. Now as there is a twofold Covenant, so there is a twofold Spirit; That is, in respect of the double effect that the spirit of God works upon the spirits of men; for every man hath the spirit of God working in him, answerable to the Covenant under which he stands. Christ having the administration of both Covenants, the Covenant of grace, and the Covenant of works; and the spirit of Christ, being the Prorex of Christ in the administration of all things in his kingdom, the spirit that accompanies the first Covenant, and works in all that are under it, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.15. 2 Tim. 1.7. But the spirit that acompanies the Covenant of grace, and works in all those whose Covenant is changed, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Rom. 8.45. 2 Cor. 3.17. And the liberty or the bondage of a man's spirit lies mainly in his Conscience. The spirit of God coming in to a man's Conscience gives him boldness, and a manuduction into the presence of God; the boldness of a man that has a spirit of adoption, 
Job 2  it makes him lift up his face in the presence of God; and the spirit coming into a man's heart as a spirit of Bondage, it casts upon a man chains of darkness. Judas 6. Heb. 2.15.  
Now, As here in this life, the spirit of God as a spirit of Sonship and Adoption comes into the soul but by degrees, and we do but receive the first fruits; Rom. 8.23. The earnest, Ephes. 9.4. All is but as a spark to the Fire, a drop to the Ocean, and the spirit of God works and withdraws itself, and the man is diserted; so now the coming of the spirit of God into the Conscience, is but a pledge, and the first fruits of wrath which now a man receives; but in the first fruits, in a weak measure, and with much intermission, We have our well, and our ill days, etc. And men have their deversions, notwithstanding the pangs of their Consciences; Cain can build Cities, to drown the cry of Conscience; but hereafter as the spirit of God in Heaven shall be perfectly a spirit of Adoption, so in Hell it shall be perfectly a spirit of Bondage and Fear; and that without intermission or interception for ever.  
Secondly, After this Life Conscience shall be perfectly enlightened, and perfectly awakened; There are two great evils that hinder the working of Conscience in this Life.  
First, A blindness, and that both sinful and penal; Luk 19.11. They would not know the things of their peace, in the day of their peace; therefore they were now hid from their eyes; and so men go hoodwinked to Hell, and fall into destruction, ere they apprehend their danger. Mal. 3.8. Will a man rob God? etc. And they say wherein have we robbed thee, Isa. 26.11. The hand of the Lord is lifted up, but they will not see: and Isa. 5.20. They call evil good, and good evil; put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and they Math. 6.7. Did think they had prayed well, when they babbled much, for they did expect to be heard for it; and so there is a great deal of blindness, that does seize upon men Judicially. Rom. 11.7.  
Secondly, There is also a spirit of stumber, Isa. 29.10. The word in the Hebrew, is the same that is used of Adam, when God took out a rib from him. Gen. 2.21. Let God threaten judgement and terror out of his word, and the man awakes not, but is in a deep sleep still; But there are some spiritual Judgements that are also eternal, a man being forsaken of God, and God leaving him to the wilful wickedness of his own spirit; But there are some that are but temporal, and only for the time of this Life; God gives men over to Atheism, and the Fool says there is no God: But though there are Atheists here, there are no Atheists in Hell; God gives men over to blindness here, that they will not see that sin is so great an evil, and the wrath of God is so dreadful as it is; But they shall see, and the blindness of their minds shall be done away, and they shall be awakened, and the spirit of slumber removed, and Conscience shall never sleep again.  
Thirdly, All the faculties of the soul shall be enlarged; here they are straightened by sin, and are of a narrow capacity, and it is little either joy, or sorrow, that they are capable of; also Conscience renewed is capable of a little Grace, there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a measure, a pitch to which they come, and that is but little, before they be translated to Glory, it is but a taste, that the Lord is gracious, it is but the first fruits of the spirit; but after this life, all the faculties shall be enlarged, that they shall be made vessels prepared for Glory; So wicked men, Cain and Judas, they are capable of a little wrath here, as a man cannot see God and live, he is not capable of the glory of Heaven; so neither is a man capable of the torments of Hell and live a child; is capable of more wrath in Hell, than the wickedest man that ever was whilst he lived here; therefore they shall be vessels fitted for destruction. etc. And hence it is that men cannot call to mind the offers of grace and opertunities neglected, rejected motions, the duties omited, the sins committed, Sermons heard, the truths that were offered to be disposed, the several checks of a man's own Conscience, and the several admonitions of friends, reproaches of enemies, etc. A man cannot conceive how it should be, but then our faculties shall be enlarged, and we shall put off our houses of Clay, by which the soul is streightened, and it shall be conversant no more about these straightened objects, but about the vast things of Eternity for ever; The things of Eternity pass knowledge and pass fear. 1 Cor. 13.12. This life in grace is but childhood to Heaven, the faculties and abilities of our souls are straightened, so this life in sin and misery, is but childhood unto Hell; for there shall the soul be enlarged; for God has made the soul capable of greater joys, and greater sorrows; greater blessings, and greater sufferings than there are in this Life; and he would never have prepared such vessels either for wrath, or glory, but that he means to fill them, and this enlargement shall be by degrees, as he will fill them by degrees; and as grace inlarges and prepares the heart for glory, 
Col. 1.12.  so does sin enlarge and prepare the heart for wrath: and therefore they are said, Rom. 9.23. To be vessels fited for destruction, as well as prepared for glory. etc.  
Fourthly, After this Life all comfortable affections and actings of the soul shall have an end; There be some acts of soul that are comforting and cheering, and there are some acts that are afflicting and tormenting, the comforting acts are in reference to good things, either present or to come; if present the soul loves them, and rejoiceth in them, and if absent, the soul loves them, desires them, and hopes for them, and all these do cheer the soul, and in the exercise of these, the life of the soul comes in; but after this Life, all good things of this Life, in present fruition, or future reversion shall have an end From the creatures, all good things at Death shall take their leave, they are but this world's goods; and for all good things from God there shall be none, for they shall have Judgement without mercy, pure and utter darkness, there shall not be a beam of light, or the hope of any good thing for the soul to live upon unto Eternity; for if a man were to lie in Hell a million of years, and were to expect then a release, his soul would live; but being swallowed up in eternity of misery without hope, the soul dies. These affections shall still remain in the soul, but because they have no object, therefore shall never be exercised as fear and sorrow are in the Saints in Heaven; but never are exercised because there is no object upon which it should be exercised: Therefore in Hell there never shall be an act of love, or joy, or hope more to eternity; the hope of the wicked, is as the giving up of the Ghost, he breathes it out with his last breath, and he shall never hope more for ever; and there are in the soul some tormenting and afflicting acts, in reference unto evil things, present or to come; if it be present there is sorrow, and if to come fear, and if it be looked upon as an insuportable and inseparable, no way to escape it, there is despair for ever. Now seeing there shall be the absence of all good at present and in hope, and the presence of all evil, and a man's condition under it helpless and hopeless, therefore after this life to ungodly men, all comforting acts of soul shall cease, and all the tormenting acts shall take place, and act in their full power and vigour for ever.  
Now let us come to the particulars wherein Conscience doth appear to be a worm after this life; manely, There is a four fold act of Conscience, and in every one of them, it does hereafter become a worm. First, There is an act of Accusation, Secondly of Conviction, Thirdly of Condemnation, Fourthly of Execution; The torments that follow the soul after all these, and in these does this furious reflection of the soul upon itself consist.  
First, An act of accusation, Rom. 2.15. Conscience accusing and excusing, and this consists in two things; First, A reviewing and reflecting upon the rule that a man did, and should have walked in. Secondly, Upon the unanswerableness of a man's ways unto this rule, and so Conscience shall charge upon a man all the errors of his way, for an accusation does suppose and lay down a Law, and then charges a man with the breach thereof; there is a double book of Conscience, the first is a book of precepts and rules, secondly a book of practices.  
First, For the book of rules and precepts, there shall be manifested three things after this life; First, There are many rules of duty that we are ignorant of, and so there are many sins of ignorance committed that men know not to be a sin, because they are unacquainted with the rule of duty, for we know in part, and prophecy in part, 1 Cor. 13. There is a vail upon the hearts of men in many things, that they know not what they do. Now to this end, the book of Law and Gospel shall be opened, and thereby a man's Duty discovered, and Conscience enlightened in those things which here it never knew, 
Rom. 2.16.  for he will judge the secrets of all men according unto my Gospel. etc.  
Secondly, There are several sins committed out of error and mistake, and upon false rules; The Lord will bring forth and discover unto a man, all these false and erroneous principles, by which he has been led in his whole course, 
John 16.2. 1 Cor. 2.8.  had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory; 
Rom. 10.2.  they have a zeal but not according to knowledge, many things they did from an erroneous Conscience, now all these false principles that misled a man in his ways shall be brought forth also, and the falsehood of them discovered.  
Thirdly, There are many true principles which Conscience does receive here from the word, and the ministry thereof which are called truth; Rom. 1.18. Who withhold the truth in unrighteousness: All these rules in their authority, holiness and equity shall be set before a man, and how all of them were required of man for his good.  
Thus the book of precepts being opened, and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Conscience enlarged, now follow; the opening of the second book, and that is that of practices.  
First, Conscience does charge upon a man sins of ignorance, this thou hast done through ignorance of such a rule, as Paul knew not Lust to be a sin, before that the Commandment said thou shalt not Lust; and then thy ignorance shall be discovered unto thee before men and angels, and that with all thy means, and opertunities of knowledge, you to whom the Lord wrote the great things of his Law, that had the Scriptures in your own Language, and freedom and liberty to use them, you that had all manner of helps, publicly, and privately, preaching and writing, wherein men do transcribere aias; you that dwelled in the valley of Vision, and yet of these things you are wilfully ignorant, and in the things you know not, in them you have corrupted yourselves; now they that counted it matter of shame to be instructed by a minister, and matter of scorn to be examined by him, fearing lest they should bewray their ignorance; God will charge it upon thy Conscience, and make thee bear the shame of it before men and angels; those sins thou hast committed, and those things thou hast omited out of ignorance, that such rules thou oughtest to have known.  
Secondly, The Lord will charge upon a man the sins that he committed upon false and eroneous principles; Thou hast called the proud happy, and because they that hate the Lord are exalted, therefore thou hast fallen upon those ways, and thought their way to be the only way to peace and prosperity; thou hast thought Usury, Sabbath breaking, petty oaths, officious lies, were little or nothing, and that if a man performed the outward duties of Religion, went to Church, and heard a Sermon, and kept himself unspotted before men, and walked lovingly amongst his neighbours, this was enough to bring him to Heaven, and that what was more, was but either needless scrupulosity, or affected singularity, which is but hypocrisy; and therefore thou hast counted religious men the precise fools of the time, when thou hast seen them, with Dives as a Lazarus, at thy door and regarded them not; but men shall recant their corrupt opinions, and publish their retractations, and be ashamed of them before Men and Angels, Psal. 50.21. thou thoughtest wickedly that I was such a one as thy , but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes.  
Thirdly, Conscience shall charge a man with the Truths he knew and imprisoned, Rom. 1. last and 2.1. who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit such things, are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them: therefore thou art inexcusible; thou knewest this to be a sin, and yet committedst it, and such as thing to be a duty, and yet neglectedst it, and then all a man's omissions and comissions, sins of ignorance, and wilfulness or error shall be charged upon him.  
And here are three things in a special manner that shall be charged. First, in this life our memories are frail, 
Heb. 12.5.  and we let things slip out of them. Heb. 2.1. and ye have forgotten the exaltation which, etc. We forget that we hear; but there shall be no forgetfulness hereafter; Conscience shall record all the rules of duty in their order. Secondly, 
Is. 50 17.  Here there are manifold diversions of our thoughts, and men do cast these rules of duty and their sins against them behind their backs; but it shall then be so set before a man, that it shall be his study for ever, and he shall never be able to turn from it; Conscience shall always set his sins before him, as David said, my sin is ever before me. Thirdly, There is this difference between this life and the life to come, here these rules are set before a man that he might learn and obey them; but hereafter they are set before him to throw the neglect of them upon him, that he might be upbraided with the guilt of them for ever, 
Job 27.22.  and Job 27.6. that our hearts might reproach us for ever; there is a great deal of difference between the admonition of a father, telling the son his duty, or of a minister instructing a man, and between a judge, telling a malefactor his sin and his duty; the one doth it in order to his direction and reformation, and the other doth it in order to his execution and conviction, that he may see and be silenced, that the judgement and sentence passed upon him is just, and to lay the guilt of his own destruction upon his own head for ever.  
Secondly, an act of conviction; here if sin be charged upon men, every man hath a Counsellor within his own breast to plead for him, which is his own carnal reason, and that does many times seek to excuse à toto, and the man pleads not guilty, as David for the death of Vriah, 2 Sam, 11.25. and Pilate gives sentence against Christ, and yet excuses himself that he had nothing to do with the blood of this just man, and the pharisees and Priests, Acts 5.28. they had no hand in the death of Christ: and therefore they are displeased that the Apostles had filled Jerusalem with their doctrine, and intent to bring this man's blood upon us, (reatum & invidiam mortis Christi,) or else it minceth the matter and excuseth à tanto, if it be evil, yet not so great an evil; for it is the common custom, Act. 28.22. it is a sect spoken against every where, etc. and by after inconveniencies, Joh. 11.48 else the Romans will come and destroy place and Nation; and so many plead for Alehouses, Gamehouses, Playhouses, a trade of beging; and usury for Widows and Orphans, how shall they live else? and a subtle distinction for swearing, Mat 23.16. swear by the Temple, for men to swear it is nothing; but who ever shall swear by the Gold of the Temple, he is a debtor; so we hear men say, to swear by God it's a sin, we will allow to be something, but to swear by Faith and Troth, by light, etc. by Creatures, is no evil, as Judg. 21.22. they elude their vow, by saying we did not give them, but they did take them, with our knowledge and consent, etc. and with such kind of pleas, as an ignorant judge is blinded by the subtleties of his Counsel; casting a varnish over an evil cause, and drawing a Cobweb ●awn over it; so is Conscience also: But after this life all these pleas shall vanish, and men shall be convicted of their own Consciences, that they shall have nothing to say for themselves; a man shall be speechless, 
Mat 22.12  he shall have no cloak for his sin, John 15.22. he was without an excuse or apology, Rom. 2.19. a Deus foras in crepabit, & conscientia intus accusabit, 
Greg.  there shall be on means either to deny it or extenuate it; for 2 Cor. 5.11. we are made manifest unto God, and I trust unto your Consciences, and this Conscience shall do by setting before a man. First, The unreasonableness of sin, Jer 2.13. that I did forsake the Fountain of living water, and digged to myself broken cisterns, so foolish was I, and as a beast before thee. Secondly, The causelesness of it, Jer. 2.5. what iniquity have your fathen found in me, Mic. 6 3. oh my people, what have I done to you? testify against me, have I been a Wilderness? Thirdly, God did forbear me with much patience, 2 Pet. 3.5. did not cut me down, but spared me this year also, and I had horae plusquam amenae nunquam rediturae, etc. 4ly from several inducements to obedience, the compassionate calls of God, 
Act. 20.31  oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee; my repentings are kindled within me, Christ weeps over Jerusalem, and his ministers shed tears, the promises of God, and the society of the faithful, & the encouragements you might have from them, you lived amongst the wise Virgins, & yet in a land of uprightness, they will do wickedly. Fifthly, from the unprofitableness of sin, Rom. 6.22. what fruit have you of that whereof you are now ashamed, and the several inconveniencies that thou hast met with, in a way of sinning, Hos. 2.6. sometimes the Angel meets thee, as it did Balam, as it were with a sword in his hand, to stop thee, and yet thouwast as a wild Ass that knew no bounds, had no bridle: and therefore now ye eat the fruit of your own ways, and are filled with your own devices; for you are one of them that have loved death, Pro 8. last.  
Thirdly, an act of condemnation, 1 Joh. 3.21. 
Tit. 3.11.  if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, etc. he is condemned of himself; Conscience passeth the sentence of eternal death upon a man's self, Mat. 27.4. I have sinned, and having been his own judge, he doth quickly become his own executioner, and so Spira hence Apostate, etc. Heb. 10.27. There is a receiving of judgement in a man's self, and upon this act the soul looks upon itself even in Hell already, he casts down the 30. pieces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spurns at Gold, and his soul abhors dainty meats, his life draws near the grave, and his soul to the destroyers, he looks every day when the Devil shall be sent as the executioner to fetch away his soul, oh says he, that I had been made a Dog, a Toad, and that I could creep into my first nothing, rather than have lain under the weight of eternal wrath for ever. I envy the case of Cain and Judas, etc. But there is a great deal of difference between the condemnation of Conscience here, and hereafter.  
First, Here it does condemn for particular sins, as we see in Judas for his treason, in Spyra for his apostasy, etc. but hereafter it shall condemn a man for all his sins at once; for they shall be all set in order before him, and shall be always before his eyes, Rev. 20.12. the book of conscience shall be opened, and all the former condemnations of conscience shall be opened, and all the former condemnations of Conscience shall be set before a man, and the judgement of God confirming all these, and if the condemnation for one sin be so terrible, what will it be for all sins when they shall be all charged on a man.  
Secondly, Here conscience condemns but now and then, etc. and when it does so then Felix trembles, this strikes a terror into the centre of the soul, but hereafter it shall always condemn thee, and shall give thee no respite, thou shalt turn in upon thyself, and hear nothing but the sentence of thy own Conscience for ever; for as it never dies, so it never sleeps, but ever wakes to torment thee.  
Thirdly, Here though Conscience condemns a man to death; yet there may be an appeal and a hope of pardon; for here mercy rejoiceth over judgement; but hereafter the judgement of Conscience shall follow the final judgement of God, and the judgement of the Lord and of Conscience shall stand.  
Fourthly, Here though Conscience condemns a man, yet there is a reprival a while, Gen. 4.7. sin liar at the door, but the door is shut and does not break in upon men, but then the condemnation shall be immediately followed with the execution, go ye cursed, and immediately tho● must go, & there's no reprival, but tho● shalt lie under this sentence for ever.  
Fifthly, from hence there doe● arise in the soul perfect sorrow, this life is a state of imperfection, but i● the world to come, all imperfection shall be done away; here there i● unto godly men an imperfection o● grace and comforts, but hereafter that which is perfect shall come, and and that which is in part shall be done away: so here is also an imperfection in respect of misery unto wicked men, but the earnest of that just recompense of reward, that divine justice, shall render unto men here is but the first fruits of that harvest of wrath which men shall reap according as they have sown, here afflictions are only the beginning of sorrow, perfectum est cui nihil deest, so there shall be nothing wanting unto a man's sorrow for ever, there shall be perfect sorrow, etc. this perfection of sorrow is set forth to us in Scripture in these particulars.  
First, 
Mat. 8.12.  By the several dreadful expressions of it. There shall be utter darkness; As the happiness of the people of God in Scripture, is compared unto light, Col. 1.12. the inheritance of the Saints in light, as light in Scripture is put for all comforts, happiness, and sweetness: so is darkness for all misery and affliction, and it shall be utter darkness, purae tenebrae, the fullness of all misery; there shall not be so much as a beam of light, and comfort to eternity, and there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, that expression is used three ways in Scripture. First, as an experession of the greatest rage and madness, the highest anger and indignation, Psal. 37.12. the wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth against him with his teeth. Secondly, of the highest scorn and contempt, as Lam. 2.16. they hiss and gnash their teeth. Thirdly, of extremity or vexation, when a man cannot tell whither to turn him, Psal. 112.10 they shall gnash their teeth and consume away, as for those thoughts of popish interpreters, that there shall be extremity of heat, by reason of fire, and yet they shall gnash their teeth by reason of extremity of cold, they are but vain inventions and conceits of men ignorant of the Scripture, so Luke 16.23, 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, being in torment, the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does signify to put a man upon the rack, and examine a man by torments, and is taken from those torments, that men do use to invent to put malefactors unto, which does note the greatest extremity of torment, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does signify the pangs of a woman in travel, which are commonly put for the greatest extremity of pain, as Acts 2.24. it is used of the extremity of Christ's suffering, he calls them the travelling pangs of death. Now though a woman undergo extremity of pain, yet it is but bodily, and it is but short, and she has hope of a joyful issue, because a man child is born into the world, she forgets her pain; but when these shall be the Travelling pains of the soul, which shall never be delivered but die in travel, and travel for ever, and never see the fruit of it, this must needs be perfect sorrow.  
Secondly, It will appear from the causes of this sorrow, and they are such as that they must needs bring with them perfect sorrow; First, The wrath of God lets into the soul to the utmost, the curse in the extremity and perfection thereof, Matth 25. Depart from me ye cursed; and the Lord does it to manifest an attribute, to show the power of his wrath. Psal. 90.11. 
Rom 9 22  Now if God manifests his displeasure here by the creature, how miserable can he make a man? But much more when he does it immediately; for that is the fire that is here spoken of, the immediate wrath of God upon the soul; and if but a few drops of it let in upon the hearts of some of his own people, make their strength to consume away, and turn their moisture into the drought in Summer; If when it seized upon Christ, the Green-tree it did come so fiercely, because the Father was pleased to bruise him; how much more will the Lord delight to bruise thee? If Christ did sweat drops of blood, and was in an agony under the sense of this wrath, Oh! where must thy poor soul be, whom the Lord will hate and deal with as an enemy for ever, a vessel of wrath.  
Thirdly, When a man shall in judgement be given over to sin perfectly, and all the restraints of the spirit of God upon a man shall be taken away; there is a twofold restraining grace upon men's acts, and upon their lusts, and men are in many things under both here, for their acts, Gen. 20.6. I withheld thee that thou shouldest not touch her; and their lusts, when thou goest up to worship, no man shall desire thy Land; but now God will let out men's lusts to their full length, and a man's thoughts shall be taken up with them for ever; a man shall feed upon his darling, eat the fruit of his own ways, and be filled with his own devices. Now to be given over to be proud for ever, drunk for ever, from the cup of God's right hand, unclean for ever, scoffers for ever, and that which was before a man's pleasure, shall now be his torment; It is but for God to change a man's apprehensions and it will be so here; Amnon desired Tamar, but after his Lust was satisfied it vanished, and the hatred wherewith he hated her, was more than the love with which he loved her before: 
1 John 2.17.  The world passeth away, and the Lust thereof, as we see in Judas while the Lust of covetuousness was up, there was nothing so desirable as money, though it was but Thirty pieces of silver, but the Lust passeth away, and now there is nothing in the world that troubles Judas like to this, so that he hangs himself to be rid of it; and so it will be hereafter, the Lust shall be gone, and then for a soul to be given over unto it in judgement, shall be a man's continual torment; for as the Saints in Heaven shall be confirmati in bono, so the damned in Hell shall be obfirmati in malo, and that in judgement; therefore Aquinas has well observed, as in Heaven the Saints shall be doing good for ever, but all their good actions pertinent ad beatitudinis praemium, so in Hell the wicked shall be doing evil for ever, and they can do no otherwise but these, mala pertinent ad damnationis poenam, etc.  
Fourthly, The society that a man shall be judged unto for ever, for it is part of the happiness of the saints in Heaven, that they shall be gathered to their fathers, to Abraham and Isaac, to have their souls bound up in the bundle of the living, 
1 Sam. 25.  gathered to the souls of just men made perfect; so for a man to be gathered to the devils, have their portion with the devil and his angels, a creature that we have looked upon with the greatest hatred here; yet then must be thy companions, to run out an eternity with; this is the god of this world, to him thou hast lived here, and with him thou shalt live for ever. Psal. 125.5. Led them forth with the workers of iniquity, for here men are mixed, but then he will rank them with those of their own kind, and they shall remain in Tophet, which was a place in the valley of Ainon; a place famous for three things, there were memorable acts of mourning, there the children of Israel did cause their children to pass through the fire to Molech (that is) sacrifice their children to the Devil, there Eighteen hundred thousand of the Assyrian camp were destroyed by an Angel in one night; 
Isa. 30.31. Isa. 31.33.  Through the voice of the Lord, shall the Assyrian be beaten down, for Tophet is prepared of old, etc. And there did the Babylonians murder the people of Jerusale●n at the taking of the City, Jer. 7, 31. Because they had burnt their sons in Tophet to the Devil, therefore they should fall and be destroyed themselves in Tophet, and they should bury there till there was no place; this place is put for the place of the damned, and Hell is called Tophet, the valley of slaughter, or the invisible valley of Hinnon: Prov. 21.16. It is called Coetus Gigantum, those in Gen. 6. that did provoke God to bring the flood upon the world of the ungodly, they being the first noted inhabitants of Hell, therefore from them the place has its name, and all that go down since, are said to go down into the Congregation of the Giants, whom in their disobedience and rebellion they have followed.  
Fifthly, The very consideration of the happiness of the saints, Luk. 13.28. To see Abraham and Isaac in the kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out; Time was that I had as fair offers, as precious oppertunities as they had, and it may be means and outward mercies far beyond them; but I have despised knowledge, and I would none of the fear of the Lord, I had my portion in this Life, and therefore now they are comforted, but I am tormented; I was so foolish, as to account their life madness, and their end to be without honour, but now they are numbered amongst the Saints of the most high, and I am shut out. Oh that you could call time again! This is the language of souls in Hell.  
Sixthly, Here there is something that may mitigate sorrow, but all such things shall be taken away after this life.  
First, It's an ease to a man's heart here to speak of his misery, and to vent it, that he may have some to pity him and condole him; but there shall be none to pity a man then, for the law of nature shall cease after this Life, and the devils shall not pity men, nor men pity one another; but rather inbitter their condition unto a man for ever.  
Secondly, Here a man in sorrow can turn himself unto some creatures, and comfort himself with them, as Cain fell to building of Cities, etc. But all the creatures are but for the time of this Life, and in this Life they are thy good things, but after this Life there is no sweetness or use of any creature to eternity, for God shall be all in all.  
Thirdly, But it may be said surely God is a God of mercy, he will pity us how ever; No, thou shalt have judgement without mercy, in vengeance and recompense for ever, he will laugh at your destruction, and mock when your fear comes, etc. And therefore consider it: Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall weep, the time of your sorrow hastens, and when God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people, then shall your sorrow and tears begin and endure for ever.  
Secondly, In Hell there shall be perfect shame, Dan. 12. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt; I conceive it is spoken of the calling of the Jews, but in allusion to the day of judgement, some shall arise to shame and everlasting contempt, 1 Joh. 2.28. That we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming, the shame of men in that day shall be great. For,  
First, All a man's foolishness shall be laid open to himself, and to the view of all the world; for Cor. 2.5.11. We shall all be made manifest before the judgement seat of Christ, for it will be a day of revelation, before men and angels, friends and enemies, here men are not ashamed because their ways are hid. Jer. 2.26. The thief is not ashamed, till he is found; but then all those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be all brought to light in that day; now if men did but commonly know all that you know one by another, or much more all that a man knows by himself; then a man looking upon himself what an ugly creature he is, and how the image of God is defaced, and the image of the Devil is upon him, how he has been taught as a beast, and whipped as a slave, when God does at first discover a man to himself in a mercy, by a work of conviction, 
Tanquam monstrum inter filios Dei slo calente me salem insipiisdum.  How does he loathe himself in his own sight, saying that he is hell itself, a beast and no man? And yet this is but a glimpse of himself he can see here; how much self abhorrancy will it be hereafter upon a perfect discovery of a man's self.  
Secondly, For a man to be separated from God with detestation, what a shame must this needs be? Here every man bears up himself out of his self-love, and the self flattery of his spirit, that he is as high in God's esteem as other men, and as much in God's favour; but if God should say to any man in this Congregation before you all, this man I never knew, I have separated him to destruction, as a vessel of wrath, whither could such a man cause his shame to go? how hateful is Cain and Judas that are gone down to their own place? and how hath the Lord made their very name a reproach? so it will be with all ungodly men after this life, at the last and great day, 
1 Co●. 16.22.  the utmost curse is Anathama, Maran, Atha, cursed at the coming of the Lord, and when the Lord shall say to a man at that day, depart from me you cursed, who are Tares and no Wheat, Goats and no Sheep, fo●lish and not wise Virgins, those that I will never show mercy to, how must such men need; lie down in their own shame and confusion for ever.  
Thirdly, A man shall be ashamed because he shall be derided, and there is nothing in the world that goes against the nature of men more than shame. First, by God, Pro. 1.26. I will mock when your fear cometh. Secondly, the Saints. Thirdly, The Devils, Isa. 14.9.12. 
Luk. 16.25 Son, remember that in thy life time receivedst thy good things.  Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming, etc. Fourthly, above all, from a man's spirit, Job 27.6. his heart will reproach him for his days; there is neither men nor Devils can lay such bad reproaches on a man, as his own heart, and men have in some measure experience of it from day to day; And hence shall follow an indignation, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  and a revenge upon a man's self for ever; because a man shall be covered with his own confusions as with a Mantle.  
Thirdly, There shall be perfect despair, Job 11. last, the hope of the wicked is breathed out, his last hope is gone with his last breath, and it must needs be perfect both in respect of good to be obtained, and evil to be avoided.  
First, there is no hope of good to be obtained, or to have any part in the happiness of the Saints for ever; 1. The book of God's decrees shall be opened, and those deeps broken up, and then a man shall see himself fore-ordained unto this condemnation, Judas 4. 
Mat. 7.23.  and God is not as man, that he should repent: it's easier to weigh the fire, or measure the wind, and to call back yesterday, then to call back the decree; for with God is no variableness nor shadow of change. 
Jans. 117.   
Secondly, after this life a man's eternal state is cast, and his condition unchangeable for ever, death is but eternitatis prodromus, Luke 16. it is a gulf, Mat. 25.9. the time of buying is past: therefore the Saints send them to beg; for they have no oil to spare, and of working, there is no work in the grave, etc.  
Thirdly, They shall try all means and avail nothing as they Mat. 7.22. plead with the judge, Lord we have Prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out Devils: therefore open to us etc. Secondly, they shall mince and extenuate their sins, and plead for themselves, Mat. 25.44. Lord when saw we thee an hungered or a thirst, etc. Thirdly, They shall fall to their prayers, Mat. 25.11. Lord, Lord, open unto us; but the Lord shall say, depart you workers of iniquity. Fourthly, They shall turn to the Saints, 
Luk. 16.24  father Abraham send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue. and give us of your oil; for our Lamps are out; but there is neither oil from the one, nor water from the other: and having tried all means and nothing prevails, the soul sinks into perfect despair for ever.  
Secondly, There is no hope of avoiding the misery they lie under.  
First, There shall be no hope of pardon, for their sin shall be seen in its greatness, and thou wilt say with Cain, my iniquity is greater than I can bear, then can be forgiven, thou hast fined all thy life time, and to eternity thou hast the same dispositions; for the fire of Hell can never purge sin, and thy obligation to the Law is eternal: and therefore the Angels that fell are reserved in everlasting chains, Judas 6. and no mercy, but judgement without mercy, 
Jam. 2.13.  fury without compassion; for the time of mercy is past, and the day of vengeance is begun, and as here mercy hath rejoiced over judgement, so there will be a time when judgement shall rejoice over mercy for ever, and it is much easier to change the seasons of the year, that it shall not be summer and winter in its season, rather than the seasons of the attributes of God; for the curse is dying, thou shalt die.  
Secondly, No hope of mitigation or ease, thy honours shall do thee no good, it shall not descend after thee, nor thy Riches shall not profit in the day of wrath, 
Pro. 11.4.  there is nothing but Righteousness can then avail, thou shalt carry nothing with thee to bribe the flames, or corrupt thy torments, and not a drop of water, Luke 16. not the smallest mitigation to eternity, and this is properly the death of the soul, losing the soul Mat. 16.26. for so long the soul will live, as long as there is hope, but hope deferred makes the heart sick, and hope perished makes the heart die; the consideration of eternity swallows up a created understanding to be punished with eternal destruction, depart into everlasting fire, this is astonishment and dreadful amazement, there shall be perfect fear; for a man shall receive the spirit of bondage perfectly, which is, 2 Kin. 1.7. a spirit of fear, we see it in the Devils, Mat. 8.29, though they are in torment for the present, yet there is a time of greater torment which they expect, and that which they know they are reserved for, and this they continually fear, Luke 8.28. 
Here is the Deu. is prayer.  I beseech thee torment me not before the time, etc. so Dives though in torment, yet he desires that his brethren may not come into the same place, not that there is any charity in Hell; for the Devil would have all men damned with himself, and our natural affections shall cease in Hell, but only fear of worse to come, still remains.  
Here in this life, ungodly men are fearless, and they seem to mock at fear, as Job speaks, etc. but there is a time when their fear shall come, Pro. 1.26. I will mock when their fear comes, for it will come upon them as an armed man, and the Lord will pour out upon them a trembling heart, 
Deu●. 28.65.  and fear shall be on very side, they shall be full of terrible apprehensions, and so become Magor Missabib, Jer. 20.3, 4 Isa. 13.8. their faces shall be as flames, which denotes the variety of sad impressions upon them, they shall change, and be as tremulous as a flame.  
Secondly, The terrors of God shall set themselves in array against a man, Job 6.4. and we know the terror of the Lord how dreadful it is, when he shall stir up all his wrath, and thou shalt pay the uttermost farthing, and he will recover all that glory upon thee by thy suffering, that he has lost by thy sinning. Thirdly, Men may say, but though I know not what God can inflict, because it shall be his wrath put forth in the power of it, though I know not what God can do, yet I know what I can suffer; but the Lord will surely enlarge the faculties, and thou shalt be in a continual terror, that thou knowest not what the Lord will enlarge thee to suffer; for thou art a vessel of wrath: and therefore 'tis said, Psal. 90.11. even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath, etc.  
Fourthly, Hence shall follow a distraction and madness, Psal. 88.15. while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted, and also blasphemy: I wish I were above God says Spira, and a desire of annihilation, wishing that he had never been, Job 7.14. his soul chose strangling rather, & Judas does dispatch himself to be rid of his fears, the wicked shall rise to judgement, but they shall not be able to stand in judgement, saith Spira, this I know, and it torments me with pangs unutterable, and yet there is nothing that I desire more than that I might come unto that place where I might know the worst of my torment, and so be freed from the fear of worse to come: Nay fear doth anticipate our evils beforehand, and thereby a man may even bring upon himself an eternity of torments at once, in the fear of it, the creature knows not the terror of the Lord, unless it be discovered to him, my sufferings are great, but my fears are endless, and makes a man to suffer even an eternity of torments at once.  
First, Use. Seeing that Conscience shall be a man's tormentor at the last, and that the Worm is bred from the putrefaction and corruption that is it the Conscience, it should be a seasonable exhortation to get your Conscience purged, that there may be nothing within you to breed this Worm. 2 Tim. 1.3. We read of a pure or a purged Conscience, and 〈◊〉 this be done thou needest not to fear, for there will be nothing in thee fo● this Worm to feed upon. And here it will be good to consider,  
First, By nature thy Conscience i● defiled, for as upon the whole So● defilement came by sin, so Conscience having a special hand in the sin, its defilement came specially upon the Conscience.  
Secondly, 
Tit. 1.15  Every sin committe● adds unto this defilement, as Mark 7.20.21. And this defiles the man, there is not a vain thought in thy heart, a vain word in thy mouth, a sinful glance of thine eye, 
Heb. 9.19.  but it adds unto thy defilement; for Jer. 17.1. It is Conscience that receives all, and registers all, all dead works lie there, this is the Tophet, or the Golgotha in the man; all the filthiness of his life is there laid up, as in a treasure, for wrath and vengeance, against the day of the revelation of the just judgement of God. 
Jer. 2.22.   
Thirdly, There is no power in nature to purge the Conscience, for thou art dead in trespasses and sins; Eph. 2.1. And what can be more suitable to dead works, should a man fast, and pray, could he fill the air with sighs, and weep even to the brim, it would add to his defilement, because all the works of nature are dead works, and their very prayers are turned into sin, and their sacrifices are an abomination, and that which adds unto his defilement can never cleanse it.  
Fourthly, If Conscience be not purged here, it will never be purged hereafter; Here indeed there is a plaster that will kill this Worm, but if it out live the time of this life it is immortal it will never die; peccatum viatorum deleri potest, 
Aquin.  damnatorum non potest, etc. The Lord will say I would have purged you, but you would not be purged; therefore you shall never be purged from your iniquity for ever.  
Fifthly, There is but one medicine in the world will do it, and if you miss of that you will die in your sins, and lie down with your Consciences full of the sins of your youth; you may fly to prayer and preaching, and think to have it done by these, but it will never be, there is but one potion, and therefore it will be good for you to take that in time also: Now what is this medicine that will purge the Conscience? it is the blood of Christ only. Heb. 9.14. It shall purge your Conscience from dead works; and Heb. 10.22. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience; Here is first the disease, and that is dead works, with the subject of it, or the part of the evil affected, that is, the Conscience. Secondly, There is the medicine, it's the blood of Christ who offered himself by the eternal spirit without spot to God. Thirdly, The manner how this blood doth it, it is by sprinkling, and therein the power of this medicine is put forth.  
First, The disease, dead works in the Conscience are of two sorts, Gild and Lust, etc. But to awaken every man's Conscience to get it purged, take these considerations. First, By nature every man's Conscience is defiled, 
Tit. 1.15. Heb. 9.14.  the blood of Christ comes upon no man's Conscience, but it finds it polluted with dead works; for whether we consider either the guilt, or the defilement of sin, it's the Conscience that is the main receptacle of it the guilt is laid up there: Jer. 17.1. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of Iron, and with the point of a Diamond; it is spoken de summo & indelibili reatu, it was written upon their Consciences, and upon the horns of their Altars, nec deleri potest nec latere, for it did appear upon every Altar, and every new act of sin adds unto the defilement of Conscience, that's the Tophet, the Golgotha of the soul; men of corrupt Consciences are graves, though they appear not so. Now when a man shall consider how our iniquities are gone over our heads, and are more in number then the hairs of our head, and even answerable to the sand upon the Sea shore, innumerable; What filthy polluted Consciences must such men needs have.  
Secondly, Consider what a miserable thing it is for a man to have a polluted Conscience;  
First, It breaks a man's peace, the inward man is never quiet, 
Isa. 57.21.  There is no peace says my God to the wicked; It is as Austin compares it to a bad wife, that when a man hath met with hard labour abroad, trouble and afflictions from without, and retires himself, and hopes to find some comfort at home, but there he has never a quiet hour; this is more troublesome than any of his outward crosses can be, for it is an evil Wife that's a continual drooping, so is Conscience, Fugiet ab agro ad civitatem, à publico ad domum, à domo ad cubiculum, & sequitur tribulatio.  
Secondly, It imbitters all a man's comforts, a good Conscience will sweeten every cross, Paul and Silas can sing in the stocks, 
Ubi cunque alibipassus est tribulationes illuc confugiet & ibi inveniet Deum, etc.  and the Martyrs rejoice a the stake; for whensoever any man suffers tribulation for keeping a good Conscience thither God hastens and finds him, and makes him rejoice in the testimony of his Conscience; so an evil Conscience will embitter every comfort, Paul can stand with boldness at the Bar, when Felix doth tremble on the Bench; there is no state can secure a man that has an evil Conscience, his comforts will not secure him, they will all be embittered, take the choicest pleasures of sin that any man of you doth enjoy, it is this adds Water to your Wine, and adds a tincture of Gall and Wormwood to all your sweetness and delicacies: There is an evil spirit that comes upon Saul from the Lord, and what is that, Turbatur i●i anima & Conscientia, immoderata tristitia a diabolo excitata, and when God did suffer Satan to come in and disquiet his Conscience, all the comforts of a kingdom could not sweeten such a man's spirit, neither can he have any sweetness in them all.  
Thirdly, It takes away a man's courage; a good Conscience makes a man to be as bold as a Lion, and he can set his face as a Rock, let the storm come and yet the Rock shakes not, and he is not afraid of evil tidings; but the wicked flies when none pursues them, and indeed they need no other pursuer; for there is within them Lethalis arundo, as a Deer that is shot may run, but still carries his misery with him, and as Cain, surely every one that meets me will slay me. Gen. 11.4. Herod when he heard of the fame of Jesus, he says surely it is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works show forth themselves in him.  
Fourthly, It unfits a man for every duty; for the guilt of it arising in the Conscience stops a man's mouth, and shuts up his heart before the Lord; brings him into the presence of God as a Malefactor into the presence of the Judge, with a vail upon his face, and pollutes all his services, his prayer is turned into sin, for all things are defiled unto them whose Consciences are defiled. Tit. 1.15.  
Fifthly, A man cannot promise himself any acceptance or success in any thing he does; Mal. 3.4. He shall purge them as silver, and then shall their sacrifices be pleasant unto the Lord, etc. and Psal. 51.13. Open thou my lips, then shall I teach transgressors thy way, etc. God may indeed work great things by men of polluted Consciences; but they cannot promise themselves success in any thing that they undertake till their Consciences be purged.  
Sixthly, Thou art in a continual fear and expectation when God will awaken it, as he surely will do, for sin lies at the door; but between a godly man and sin, there is a wall that will never open, but between a wicked man and sin there is a door, that though it may be shut long, it will open at last: and an evil Conscience it is that watcheth at the door till the man dare look out, & miserrimum est talem habere janitorum, Luther.  
A Spirit of slumber upon a man, and a seared Conscience is a great judgement, but it will not last always, it is at farthest but for the time of this Life, and then the callumne upon Conscience shall be worn off, and the slumber cast away, and it shall be awakened so, as never to sleep again. Read the story of Cain and Belteshazar, of Judas, and of Spira, etc. Nay, Lay your ears to Hell a while, and hear the clamours of polluted Consciences there, and you shall see that the greatest plague that can befall a man in this life, is to be left unto the power of an evil Conscience; so that you had need to seek to have your Consciences purged, and this is specially to be considered of you that are grown old in wickedness, and whose bones are still full of the sins of your youth, having been laying in defilement into your Consciences long, surely all this filth, the sink and sodoms of vanity that are there, cannot be easily purged, those unclean stables cannot be soon swept; there is no power in nature to purge it, for we are dead in trespasses and sins, and what is more suitable to dead men then dead works; and it is necessary to consider, that if Conscience is not purged here, it will never be purged, and there is but one means in the world will do it.  
First, Consider the disease, and that is a Conscience defiled with dead works; as all the works of an unregenerat man are, he being a dead man, etc. And Conscience is defiled only by sin, and there are two things in sin that defile the Conscience; First, the guilt of it, Secondly, the defilement of it, and hence Divines say, that as a good Conscience is either honest bona & pacate bona, purged from the filth, purified and and pacified in respect of the guilt: So there is a twofold evil Conscience, either molest mala, a Conscience disquieted with the guilt of sin, or else vitiose mala, polluted with the defilement, the filth of sin, and a man's Conscience must be purged from both these.  
Secondly, Here is the Medicine that must purge the Conscience from both these, and that is the blood of Christ; by the blood of Christ is meant that perfect satisfaction that he did give unto the justice of God for the sin of man, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim 2.6 A price every way answerable to the debt that we did owe: Now there was a double debt that man did owe to God, a debt of obedience as he was a creature, and a debt of service as he was a sinner, a debt of suffering, the one answering the precept, and the other the curse of the Law, and both are here meant by the blood of Christ, his whole and perfect satisfaction, his active and passive obedience: Only, our whole redemption is attributed to his blood. Ephes. 1.7. We have redemption through his blood, because this was the last payment, for the debt that Christ did pay for us, was as a debt that men pay upon a bond by several parcels, a little at one time, and a little at another, but the debt is not paid, nor the bond canceled till it be all paid; so though indeed all the acts of obedience that Christ did perform in our nature they were for us, and were part of that obedience that we did owe, all the acts of obedience that he performs in the days of his humiliation, takeing our nature upon him he did as our surety, and many of his sufferings went before his death, for he was dying all the while; the thirty three years that he lived upon the earth, being indeed a man of sorrows, a worm and no man, his suffering in his hunger and thirst, labour and weariness, and all the persecution that he suffered from men, after he set his foot upon this earth, they are to be counted as part of his satisfaction; but yet the shedding of his blood upon the Cross, and being delivered unto death for us, this was the last and great act: and from the last payment which did fully satisfy the debt, and cancel the bond, hence it has its denomination; and so the whole satisfaction of Christ as our sacrifice and surety is here meant by the blood of Christ.  
Thirdly, The manner how this medicine doth work this Cure, it is by sprinkling of it, a man must have his heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience; It is a Typical expression taken from the sacrifice under the Law, the sacrifice must not only be killed, but the blood must be sprinkled also; where the pascal Lamb was to be slain they must take the blood in the Basin, and with a branch of Hyssop sprinkle it upon the dore-posts, not that the Angel had need to have a signal that he might pass over their houses, for he knew them well enough; but they had need of it, that they might thereby have their faith tried, and strengthened, in the sprinkling of that blood, of which the blood of the Lamb was but a Type: So Exod. 24.8. When they had offered the sacrifice, Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon all the people, 
Leu. 14.14.  and when the Leper was cleansed, he came to the door of the Tabernacle and brought a trespass offering, and the Priest did take of the blood, and put it upon his right ear, and the thumb of his right hand: And in answer to all this Type, the blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling. Heb. 12.24. And this sprinkling is nothing else but the application of his merit, and satisfaction of this blood, unto a man's own particular soul, for in Christ's sacrifice there was a satisfaction and application, the one is in killing the sacrifice, and the other in sprinkling the blood; and this is done when by a mighty work of the Holy Ghost, the Conscience affected, and affrighted with the guilt of sin, doth rely and cast itself upon this satisfaction, to be a sacrifice for him, then is this satisfaction apropriated, and applied unto him; so this blood as sprinkled is a speaking blood, it speaks better things than the blood of Abel (that is) it speaks so in the Conscience, non vindictam clamat sed veniam; Conscience is pacified, and a man thereby puts his sins upon the head of the Beast: Our sacrifice is a sufficient satisfaction, and the Conscience is not terrified with the guilt of sin, as if it were his own, and as if he were to satisfy in his own person no more; for the soul saith he was made sin for us, that knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him: Christ came into the World to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And here are these six things taken in by the soul, to pacify the Conscience in respect of guilt.  
First, When the soul sees by a spiritual and heavenly teaching, that the great plot and design of God under the second Covenant, is to take away sin; Heb. 10.4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To take sin off the sinner; for if God will be just he must punish the sin, and if he be merciful in sparing the sinner, there must be a way to separate the sin from the sinner; and this the Lord will do by an act of Sovereignty, such as he did never exercise unto persons under the first Covenant, and that is by imputing of our sin unto another, who was righteous, 
2 Cor. 5.20.21.  and he was made sin for us, who knew no sin; he will be just, and therefore there shall not be commutatio justitiae, and he will be merciful, and therefore there must be à commutatio personae, there had been else no place for mercy to have come, only there is this one cause, the Lord will change the person, and by an act of absolute sovereignty, the Lord will count it so, that the sin shall be in God's account in the guilt of it taken off from the one, in foro divino and put upon another.  
Secondly, When the soul sees to this end God did call his son Christ, and did appoint him to be a public person, and a representative head, and our surety; for these two are very different considerations; First, a surety is one that enters into bond, and engages himself for the dept of another, and so Christ is become our surety: therefore he was bound by our bond, and engageth himself for the dept of another, for our dept he was made under the Law, and so as a sacrifice he stood in the stead of a sinner, and the sacrifice was to be offered for the man; and so some expound that place, 
2 Cor. 2.21. Isa. 53.  he was made sin for us, that is, a sin-offering: therefore he doth take our sins upon him as his own, and so doth confess them unto God, my iniquities have taken hold upon, Psal. 40.12. and so the Lord doth impute them and lay them upon him as his own; for Isa. 53.6. he did make to meet upon him the iniquities of us all, and the word doth signify hostile, congressu, they met with all their violence upon him, and therefore he was made sin for us, that is, as a surety in our stead, he bears our sins in his body, upon he tree, he was delivered for our transgressions, etc.  
Secondly, Christ is a common person, a representative head, one that represents another man's person, and acts the part of another, according to the appointment of the Law, the acceptation of the judge, that what is done by him, the person is said to do; whose person he doth represent; and so was Adam a common person, and that by an act of God's Sovereignty, appointing him in making a covenant with him so to be, and he did represent all mankind, and hence it comes to pass, that his sin is imputed unto us, and made ours; so in our Law, an Attorney appears in the behalf of his Client, and so Christ is said to be gone to Heaven as our Attorney 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to appear before God for us; 
Heb 9.24.  so in paying a dept, or taking possession, livery and seizin by an Attorney, it's all one as if done by the person himself, who is represented, and is as vailed; so Kings are represented in their Ambassadors, and what is done unto them, or by them, is counted the act of the Prince; if they make peace the King makes peace, and if they denounce war, the King doth it, if an injury be offered to them, as to David's Ambassadors, it is done to the Prince; because they do represent his person; so the Lord Christ is a common person by an act of God's sovereignty, representing the person of all the elect of God, being appointed by God to be a second Adam, and as the first Adam did represent all in him, so the second Adam does represent all in him also: a●d therefore as judgement came upon all i● the first Adam, so righteousness comes upon all in the second Adam, so then says the soul, he is my surety: and therefore is bound to pay my debt, and he is a common person, as in my stead: and therefore the satisfaction that is made unto God by him is in Law to be accounted mine as really as if my Attorney should pay a debt for me, I should rest satisfied that the debt is paid, and in Law shall never be exacted of me, though it was not paid by myself in person, but by another, who did personate me in that act, and did it for me and in my behalf.  
Thirdly, This is a special service that God the father called him unto, and for it he did promise him a reward; so that the plot of all is not Christ's, but it is originally God the fathers, that he might make way for his mercy in pardoning sin: and therefore Christ doth it as God the father's servant, Isa. 42.1. and in it he doth the father's business, and he comes to do the father's will in it, and not his own will, Heb. 10.7. and it is this will that is the ground of all the acceptation of all that Christ has done in our behalf, by which Will we are sanctified; for if Christ had satisfied the justice of God, yet it was free with God to accept it or not, he might have chose, and it's an act of grace, and yet of sovereignty, that he will grant a surety, and a commutation of the person: therefore it's said, 
Joh 10.18  he did it by the father's commandment, 
Joh. 17.2.  I have finished the work thou gavest me to do, and the Lord gives him a reward for it, he gives him a name above every name, 
Phil. 2.9.  and an inheritance, he sits down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Angels, Principalities and Powers being made subject to him.  
Fourthly, This Christ undertook freely and readily, it was a thing that he could not have been compelled unto; for he was in the form of God, & thought it no rohbery to be equal, with God, yet he came readily for the glory of his Father, 
Pro. 8 30.  and he was his delight before the world was, before there was an inhabitant; and Psal 40. I delight to do thy Will, thy Law was within my bones, the Law of laying down his life as a surety, is in the middle of my bowels, the dearest and tenderest affections Christ had for it, Luke 12.56. I have a baptism, and I am pained till it be ended, he speaks it of his sacrifice, and though to show what a great misery it was in itself, he manifested an averseness to it, voluntate naturae, yet as it was his Father's will for our salvation, he cheerfully embraced it, and drank off that bitter cup to the bottom, voluntate officii; therefore Christ became our surety, and representative head for us, freely he did strike hands with the Lord of his own accord willingly, and without regreet, he gave the hand to the Lord.  
Fifthly, 
Isa 5.3.10.  The debt he hath paid, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, 
Num. 11.8.  for it pleased the father to bruise him; the word signifies conterere to break him to pieces as in a Mortar, and he made his grave with the wicked; Rom. 6.10. In that he died, he died unto sin once: and Heb. 9 28. And he was offered to bear the sins of many, etc. And in testimony thereof he was taken from prison and from judgement, Isa. 5.3. His Prison was the grave, and by judgement and condemnation passed upon him by God himself, and after satisfaction given, the Lord sent an Angel and rolled away the stone from the grave; the debt being satisfied, the Lord doth send an Officer to release his person, for it was not to supply any defect of power in Christ that an Angel came; for he that could raise up himself from death, and thereby declare himself the Son of God with power, he that could lose the pains of death, he could roll away the stone from the grave, but it was done in a legal and judiciary way; and therefore he is said to be justified: He is near that justifies me, 
1 Tim. 3.16.  Isa. 50.8. And by this he doth convince the World of righteousness, because the Lord delivered him from death. Because he doth go to the Father.  
Sixthly, For a Soul by an Almighty power of God to rest upon this satisfaction of his, and to plead it before God for himself, at his judgement seat.  
First, To look upon Christ as dying not for himself, but as a surety; for in justification and the purging of Conscience from the guilt of sin, the eye of Faith is mainly set upon Christ crucified, Christ as dying, and that as a surety, to make satisfaction: 
1 Cor. 2.2. Heb 9.22.  I desire to know nothing but Christ, and Christ crucified, for without shedding of blood there is no remission. For though it is true, that the personal excellencies that be in Christ, are the objects of Faith; yet that Faith as it comes to Christ in the act of justyfication, and being quit of the guilt of sin, it mainly looks upon Christ dying, Christ satisfying.  
Secondly, To look upon Christ as a representative head, as one in whom I died as a surety, so as one in whom I risen, he was justyfied and I in him, because as he died for me, so for me he was justified also, and Christ was formerly condemned, therefore there must an act of aquiting pass upon Christ, and therefore Heb. 9.28. That it was so appeared plainly, for he did bear the sins of many in respect of the guilt of them, and he shall appear the second time without sin, that is, have the guilt of no sin charged upon him in opposition unto his former bearing our iniquities, he shall be aquitted before men and angels, and therefore he risen as the first fruits, as a person representing all the rest of the elect, and he was justified in the spirit, that is, raised up by the power of the divine nature, thereby he was manifested to be justified, and as he is sanctified as a common person, and receives an Image for us, that we must bear the Image of the heavenly there, is life eternal laid up in him, so he is justified as a common person from the guilt of sin, that not any iniquity remains unsatisfied for in his behalf, that is, the ransom in his death is fully paid, and as we were condemned in Adam a common person; so it is reason we should be justified by Christ as in a common person also: now when a soul by an almighty work of the spirit of God looks upon all these acts of Christ, and the soul rests upon them, in respect of the guilt of sin, he doth put his sins upon the head of his surety, and looks upon himself as acquitted in his justification and casts himself upon it that he may attain it: thus the blood of Christ is said by a mighty work of the spirit on Christ's part, and faith on ours, to be sprinkled upon our Consciences, to purge them from the guilt of dead works.  
Quest. But how shall I know whether there be such an almighty power put forth in me, that I may stay my soul upon Christ's blood thus satisfying, that I might be able thereby to see my Conscience purged, and pacified, and the terror of sin taken away?  
Answ. A man shall know this almighty work of the spirit, sprinkling this blood of Christ upon the Conscience by enabling a man unto that which all the power and improvement of a natural Conscience cannot perform, and it will be seen in three things.  
First, When a man's Conscience awakened and convinced of sin, doth yet make after reconciliation with God, and union with Christ; for a natural Conscience can find it easy to believe while he goes on still in his sins, and Conscience is a sleep, and indeed the faith of most men is but a good conceit of themselves, from the self flattery of their own hearts; but as soon as Conscience is awakened, by and by they fly from God and look upon him as an enemy, Luke 3.5. there are Mountains to be made a plain, and there are Valleys to be filled: now when a soul considers himself under the condemnation of sin, the curse of the Law, and looks upon God as an angry judge, and yet saith, I have heard that the Lord of Israel is a merciful God; and if mercy save me I shall be saved, and if mercy destroy me I shall but die, I will fly to him whom I have offended, and lie down at his footstool; there is nothing in the world that I desire like unto reconciliation with him, and I would be reconciled to him in his own way, the way of union with Christ, I would he found in him, not having my own righteousness, I would submit to the way of the Gospel: Oh, blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputes this righteousness, and he is made the righteousness of God in Christ, when a soul thus convinced of sin, saith, God be merciful to me a sinner: I will now go to him, and leave myself with him, let him do as it seemeth good to him, as David said, if the Lord delight in me, he will save me, etc. truly all the power of nature improved, can never make men leave themselves with God in this manner.  
Secondly, When a man's sins are discovered, and the Lord leads a man into the wardrobe of Christ's righteousness, and enables him to see how there is enough therein to cover them all, and as God saw enough of Christ's righteousness to satisfy him in point of justice; so the Lord doth by a glorious light show unto the soul enough of Christ's righteousness to satisfy also in point of guilt, that the soul can in some measure in Christ answer all the objections that Conscience can make by some spiritual reasonings drawn from the Lord Jesus Christ, as when Conscience objects, sin is a transgression of the Law; but the soul answers, the sufferings of Christ are the humiliation of the Lawgiver, sin is a dishonour to God in point of goods; but Christ that made all things with him, and had the same title unto all that God the Father had, he laid down all, and became poor, and took a new title unto all, he had more than a world to lay down, sin did wrong God in point of honour, but he that was the brightness of his glory did abase himself, and made himself of no reputation, and did bring thereby more honour to God, he being subject to him, than the subjection of all the creatures could have done; it was a higher honour to the Sovereignty of God to have his son a servant, then could have been to have had the service of all the creatures, and he can do him more service, and bring him in more glory in an hour, than all the creatures could have done if man had stood to eternity; sin did offend God, but Christ's righteousness did please him, in him his soul delights, and is well pleased sin blotted out God's Image in man, Christ restored it again, we were full of all unrighteousness, and he fulfilled all righteousness; my sins are all heinous, but greater were charged upon Christ; he was a sufferer as a Traitor, a blasphemer, a Drunkard, a Seducer, a Conjurer, a Devil, he was made sin for us, he made his grave with the wicked, and thy heart was very wicked, and full of enmity when thou didst commit sin; but Christ's heart was holy, and full of love to God when he satisfied for it, thou didst delight in sin, and so did Christ delight to suffer, he was pained till his sufferings were ended, thou didst sin openly at such a time, and such a place, etc. The Lord suffered without the gate openly in the view of all, and as thy sin is the greatest sin, so is his most shameful suffering in the most solemn time, as it were before all the world, and in a most infamous place, as the greatest malefactor as it were at Tyburn; and for the company he suffered in it was between two Thiefs, etc. when a soul is able to silence the guilt and clamour of his Conscience by answering all that Conscience can object, by finding out something in the righteousness and satisfaction of Christ to answer it, and faith is not nonplussed, truly this is a work of an almighty power; for while men go on in the pleasures of sin, so long sin is nothing, sin sits with no weight upon them; but when their Conscience is awakened to it, by and by their spirits are overwhelmed with it, as Judas was; now for a man to see sin in its utmost dimensions, and not to spare and be straightened in his humiliation, and yet when Conscience has said its worst, yet for him to be able to look into Christ, and see something in him that shall answer all its accusations, with as great strength of spiritual reason as the other can be objected, and for a man's soul to be stayed by such thoughts, when he is even going down to the pit, this is an almighty power.  
Thirdly, When a man is convinced of sin and sees himself to be an undone man, knows not whether God will be merciful unto him or no; he walks in darkness in point of justification, and yet his heart is kept in a constant awe of sinning against God, he would do nothing that should displease him for a world, his darling lust doth yield and strike sail to the contrary grace, 
Sam. 50.10.11.  he fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant, he would do nothing that should displease him for a world, and yet he knows not whether he shall find mercy with him or no, but his soul takes up an unchangeable resolution against sin, and says, I will walk no more in a way of sinning, saved or damned, I will be willing to obey him and count it my happiness to do him service, and I will be willing to wait upon him, let him do with me as it seems good in his sight; if casting a man's self upon Christ make a man fear to sin against him, there is an almighty power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all the power of a natural Conscience will never make the man to yield up his darling-lust, as there is a Conscience molest mala full of perplexity in respect of guilt, and the purging of the Conscience therein lies in its pacification, when a man looking upon sin in its greatness and exceeding sinfulness, and yet can see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the satisfaction of Christ, unto which as a City of refuge he flies, being pursued, Heb. 6.18. and upon that he casts himself and pleads it before the judgement seat of God, that the debt is paid, and the surety acquitted, and this he doth either by an act of recombancy and reliance, or else by an act of assurance, as the Lord is pleased to clear his interest, and so the man is for ever perfected according to his Conscience, that is, 
Heb. 9.6  though sin doth cleave to him, and the guilt of sin may by Satan be presented to him, yet conscience flying unto Christ for a refuge, and finding in him a perfect satisfaction, the man casts all upon his surety, and his Conscience is calm and serene, as a man himself indebted must needs be, when he knows that his surety hath paid his debt, and though there be a daily application of this unto the soul, yet there is but one oblation, and the man upon this ground hath no more Conscience of sin, in respect of the guilt of it for ever, and this pacification of the Conscience is the perfection of the man, etc.  
But there is a Conscience also that is vitiose mala, full of the defilement and pollution of sin, 1 Tit. 1.15. All evil is put under too heads, malum triste, afflicting evil, or malum turpe, defiling evil; and sin has in it both these, as it binds a man over unto all afflicting evil, so there is a guilt; and as it doth fill a man with all polluting evil, so there is a defilement, a macula, a stain, and filthiness of sin, and it hath all the filthiness in the World in it, it is leprosy, pollution in blood, a sepulchre, and the rottenness thereof, it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very excrement of wickedness, 
Jam. 1.21.  that if there could be any thing more filthiness than naughtiness itself it is sin, it has defaced the image of God, and the native beauty of the soul, and it hath brought upon a man positive filthiness, even the image of the Devil, and the dreadful marks of hellish deformity, that cannot be washed away with Niter and much Soap Jer. 17.1.  
Though this be an universal pollution that overspreads the whole man, defiles body and soul, and spirit, yet the main defilement of sin lies in the Conscience; and where every sin doth add to the pollution, as every act intends the habit, above all the faculties, the defilement of the Conscience is increased thereby: Now, the great pollution of the soul lies in a spirit of slumber, Conscience letting a man commit evil and not to tell him it is evil, and in his sencelesness under sin; Isa. 29.10. Ephes. 4.19. Being bribed by Lust, and passions, and pleasures, to give consent to a sin, and to plead for it; for Conscience to pass sentence for a sin, and that in the name of God, 
1 Joh. 16.2  and say that it is a duty, and stirs up a man to it, which it may be is one of the greatest sins of his Life, Conscience pleads for sin and excuses a man, falsely speaking peace to a man in a corrupt and cursed state, saying, I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst, etc. In a reprobate sense, to be in such a mind that Conscience approves things that are evil, and the false reasonings of sin in the Conscience, the man cannot see, men are given over to believe the lies of their own spirits, and cannot say is there not a lie in my right hand; and a seared Conscience with a hot Iron, that man despises the threatening and judgement of God, 
1 Tim. 4.9.  and is wholly insensible as seared flesh: And all this defilement is not brought into the Conscience from without, but grows out of it by custom in sinning. And the ground of it is, because Conscience is the highest faculty and has the highest office in the man, and therefore it is by corruption of the Conscience that all the rest of the faculties are so exceedingly corrupted as they are, because Conscience doth not its duty, and therefore God will mainly lay load upon the Conscience after this life, as this had the main hand in defiling the man, so it shall be the great instrument in tormenting the man; for could men walk on in sin as they do, if Conscience did its duty, if it did instruct, suggest, accuse truly, as in the name of God, and never excuse but upon grounds from the judgement that God gives of things, etc. The great pollution of the whole soul flows from the pollution of the Conscience, and therefore when the Papists, do crowd down the defilement of the soul unto the inferior faculties, the affections and passions, as if they were the sink of the soul, and all the filthiness were swept down upon them, but as for the understanding & the will, they are in a great measure free, the Mistress or Lady in the soul; and if a light be brought into the understanding, the will has a power to follow, and so say the Arminians also, and it is a doctrine that spreads much amongst us; so when you hear Divines say that of all the faculties the Conscience is the least polluted, take heed of it, for the main filthiness of thy soul lies there. And the reason that is commonly given, is because Conscience in the worst men doth many times take part with God against sin, when Lust carries a man and his will is very violently bend upon it; but consider in an unregenerate man, this doth not proceed from the purity of his Conscience, even at that time when it doth take part with God, but because there is the spirit of God comes in and stirs up Conscience, and lays a command upon it, and forceth it to do its duty, which it would be glad to let alone, and let Lust revel in it without control, it would surely gratify the affection it has to Lust; but that the spirit of God comes in and overaws the Conscience, and doth awaken and terrify it, and force it to speak, and therefore it doth not any more argue the purity of Conscience, than Balaams' blessing of the people of Israel in the wilderness, did argue his love to Israel whom he did earnestly desire to have cursed, and did greedily follow after the wayges of unrighteousness, but that the Lord held a strict hand upon his Conucience that he durst not sin in it being over-awd; but it was no thanks to Balaam: And so it is here, no thanks to Conscience which is corrupt and will by degrees grow insencible, and encourage a man desperately in a way of sinning, even to despite of the spirit of God's grace.  
Now, How shall this defilement be purged, all these dead works how shall they be cleansed? It is by the blood of Christ.  
First, From the Holiness of his nature as he is our Head; For by the blood of Christ, is meant all his active and passive obedience, and in his active obedience, the holiness of his nature must be taken in, as he was man he received the spirit; He had a union and an unction from the free grace of the Father, calling him to this great work, and by a glorious sovereignty appointed Christ to be the head of his Church, and the second Adam, to stand in their stead to perform all for them, and to receive all for them; etc. So he did receive the spirit as an unction from the Father, Isa. 42.1. I will put my spirit upon him, he shall be clothed with the Holy Ghost, and put it on as a garment, and this spirit he doth receive as a head, that he may disperse it; for the infinite holiness of the Divine nature could no more be communicated, than the infinite righteousness of the Divine nature could be imputed, and therefore he must perform perfect obedience in his humane nature for our justification, that it may be imputed to us, and he must receive perfect holiness in his humane nature for our sanctification, that it may be imparted to us, John. 17.19. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that is received a spirit of sanctification, that it might be unto them a principle of holiness, and the fountain of their sanctification also, which I conceive to be meant by the Law of the spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death; 
Rom. 8.2.  What is the Law of sin and death? It is the power of sin to condemnation, defiling, and destroying, and what is the Law of the spirit of Life? it is put for the powerful and commanding work of the living, and the quickening spirit of Christ; and this Law, not as it is in us, but as it is in Christ, it is this that frees us both in respect of justification and of sanctification also, from the law of sin to defile, and rule, and also to condemn and to destroy, and thus from the holiness of the nature of Christ it comes to pass, that the same spirit that was in him is conveyed unto us, his union did abundantly sanctify him in himself, it being persoval, and therefore there was an inpeccability, the actus est suppositi, but his unction was for us, he had a fullness of the spirit, as he was our surety, he paid our debt, and as our head, so he received a spirit for us, and dispensed it to us, etc. thus you see the sanctification of the humane nature of Christ doth purge a man's Conscience from dead works, even the Law of the spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus, makes us free from the Law of sin.  
Secondly, There is in the blood of Christ a causa meritoria, and it doth meritoriously purge the Couscience; for though there was the fullness of all grace in the humane nature of Christ, yet it could never have been conveyed unto us without a satisfaction had gone before, God must be satisfied that men might be sanctified; for there is in the sufferings of Christ two things. First, The payment of a debt. Secondly, There is a redundancy of merit, some thing must be procured for man, non solum instauratus est, 
Aust.  sed & melioratus; à peccatis ablutus, instauratus est, in caeteris melioratus. Aust. Tom. 4.9. 123. p. 613.  
First, It doth purchase the persons of the elect: 
Acts 20.28.  therefore they are called a purchased people, 1 Pet. 2.9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ephes. 1.14. they are the seed that do arise from the travel of his soul; for he died as a grain, that he might not abide alone, John 12.32. when the Son of man is lifted up he will draw all men unto him, and the selecting of the Saints out of this world, is a fruit of his death, and a part of the purchase thereof, Gal. 1.4.  
Secondly, All the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Ghost are part of his purchase, though in him they were free, he did not merit his unction no more than his union, the humane nature could not merit it, yet as they are bestowed upon us, so they are the fruit of his merit; for they could never have conveyed this unto us, if he had not satisfied God, and laid down a price answerable unto all, and therefore, Ephes. 4.9, 10. he that ascended is the same that descended into the lower parts of the Earth, and he ascended that he might fill all things, all the fruit of his ascension comes from his humiliation, had he never descended he had never ascended: therefore all the fullness of the graces and the gifts that the elect have it, is grounded upon this; the fruit of all his offices is grounded upon his Priesthood, he does as a Prophet teach, but that he had never done, if he had not satisfied, he doth as a King dispense gifts, but these gifts he gives to his people by his priesthood, as an honour that the Lord has given him because of his abasement, and his humiliation, and thus our sanctification and the purging of the Conscience flows from the death of Christ, which is the meritorious cause thereof.  
Thirdly, The active obedience of Christ is the pattern and the causa exemplaris of all that holiness and purification that is required of us, our holiness consisting in a conformity into Christ, he having received the Image of God in himself, and by beholding of his Image we are changed into the same, 2 Cor 7. last verse, Christ's life is a living Scripture, a visible commentary upon the Law of God, whose actions we must follow, be you followers of me as I am of Christ; looking to Jesus, and setting him before us, 
1 Pet. 2.21  as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Copy for us to write after, and whose virtues we must show forth, our happiness being to be like him in glory, 1 John 3.3. we must resemble him here as a child doth his father; for as we have born the Image of the earthly, so we must bear the Image of the heavenly, as we have born the one here in sin and guilt, so we must bear the other here in grace, and hereafter in glory.  
Fourthly, Christ's blood doth cleanse us by the precepts and the promises of the Gospel, he doth sanctify us by his truth. 
John 17.  First, by the precepts of it; for he saith, be you holy as I am holy, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, as obedient children: fashion not yourselves according to the lusts of your former ignorance, put off the old man and put ye on the new man, be not conformable to the World, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and all these precepts have a purging virtue, because through the blood of Christ all the commands of the Gospel carry grace with them, and a spirit that inables men to fulfil the command, jubet & juvat.  
Indeed you may well question, can a thing that is intrinsically unclean purge itself, can a Black-moor change his skin? etc. It is true he cannot, but there is a creating word verbum factivum, such as Christ said unto the Leper, I will, be thou clean and by his commanding it, the soul is cleansed, as when God by a way of command did cause the creatures to to stand up act of nothing, for the commands of the Gospel they are as seed by which a man is begotten, and they are as a mould into which a man is transformed, Rom. 6.17. A man is cast into it, as into a frame, that doth change him, and fides impetrat qu odd lex 
* Aust.  imperat.  
Secondly, In the promises of the Gospel, and they are all grounded in the blood of Christ, for all the promises are in him, yea, and in him Amen; he is the centre, and they are all as so many lines drawn from him, he is the great promise that gives being unto all the rest of the promises and efficacy; it's the death of the testator that doth confirm the Testament, it were else a blank; and therefore the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is called the New Testament in his blood. Matth. 26.28. That is the whole New Testament and the promises thereof are offered and sealed unto you in his blood, and if it were not a Testament in his blood, it were invalid and of none effect, and the promises of the Gospel do purge the Conscience.  
First, As they are objects of Faith, Christ having promised in them a purification, Isa. 4.4. Zac. 13.1. There is a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness; 
Isa. 52.15.  it is aspersi● doctrinae & justitiae. Mal. 3.1. He shall sit as a refiner and shall sanctify the sons of Levi with refiners fire; etc. 
Exek. 36.25.37.  I will sprinkle clean water upon them, etc. They shall not defile themselves any more with their Idols, and with their detestable things. Now the soul looking upon the faithfulness of God, and his goodness engaged in these, sayeth, having these promises let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, and these promises Faith turns into prayer, and obtains the mercy promised, because all these promises are confirmed by the blood of Christ.  
Secondly, The promises do purge the Conscience as they are grounds of hope, for they are only promises that are the grounds of hope to the saints, 
Psal. 119.49.  establish thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope, and a hope that is grounded upon a promise, is a hope that will never make a man ashamed, and hope is a great ground of purging, Tit. 2.12.13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, etc. who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people. etc. The grace of God bringing salvation, teacheth us that denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts, etc. Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of God, as many as have this hope do purify themselves even as he is pure, etc. Truly in all things the more lively a man's hopes are, the more springing his endeavours are: And he doth take care to cast away that which will cloud his hope, or defer it; 
Ph●l. 3.12.  I have a hope of the prize of the high calling, and it is some ground that I have got already, something that I have attained, but yet it is but a little; but upon a hope that I shall have him that indeed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my eye, therefore I strive with all my might, and press hard to the mark etc. And thus the blood of Christ gives an efficacy unto all the precepts and the promises of the Gospel, and they are all of them by this means of a cleansing nature, they do purge the Conscience, they have all a cleansing property.  
Fifthly, The blood of Christ doth purge the Conscience, by sprinkling all means that it shall tend unto a man's purification; that as by sin all things do become means to defile the Conscience, so by the blood of Christ all things shall become means to purge the Conscience; Tit. 1.15. Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure, but even their mind and Conscience is defiled: For under the law the sprinkling of the blood was not only upon the person, but upon the book, and the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, Heb. 9.19 Implying that none of these would have been instruments of purging of the Conscience, if they had not themselves been first purged by the blood of Christ: But what are the means that thus purge the Conscience.  
First, The word of God, Ephes. 5.26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water, by the word; and John 15.3. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. etc. men's Consciences are purged by it, but yet in itself it will increase the defilement, as unto all unregenerate men it does; Heb. 6.7. The ground that drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which bears thorns, and briers, is rejected and is nigh to cursing. And yet if Christ sprinkle it with his blood, it will surely purge the Conscience, and all the purging virtue that the word has, is because his blood was sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice.  
Secondly, All other ordinances also; 
2 Cor. 3 3.  First, that of the ministry, ye are our epistle, and though ye have Ten thousand instructers, yet not many Fathers, but I have begotten you through the Gospel: Now even this ordinance that was appointed for their cleansing will but increase their pollution of themselves, if their uncircumcised heart should rise against the message they bring them, to believe in the blood of Christ, and then God in judgement says to his ministers go make the heart of this people fat, let their hearts be hardened and their spirits rise against it, that hearing they may hear, and not understand, lest they be converted and I should heal them; the Lusts of men are thereby the more exasperated and drawn forth, as it did in the Pharisees under Christ's ministry, their enmity did rise to the sin against the Holy Ghost, besides Blasphemy against the son of man, but that the ministry is effectual to any souls, it is only the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon all the ordinances thereof, and it will purge if Christ in it sit as a refiner of silver in his shop, and do concur in the ordinances to their refinement.  
Thirdly, The example of the Saints are a means of purging the Conscience; Phil. 3.17. Be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample, etc. When a man doth observe unto what a pitch of holiness and purification the Saints of God have attained, as the example of Christ so of the saints also, such pressing forward to more spirituality, such growth in grace and in knowledge, such love to all Saints, this is a great means to raise the hearts of them that fear God, to give all diligence to be as they were, holy in all manner of conversation: But yet they will be a means of pollution of themselves, even these glorious examples of Christ and his followers, if not sprinkled with the blood of Christ; and as the Pharisees looking upon the holiness of the Saints, they were the more enraged; so the more lively men do see holiness, in the practice of it they hate it so much the more.  
Fourthly, 
Hos. 2.6. Jer. 31.18. Isa. 18.  Afflictions, When the Lord sends it upon any of his children, this is all their fruit to take away their sin, but yet afflictions will of themselves purge no man's Conscience but rather defile it, as we see how the rage of men's spirits are drawn out by it, as King Ahaz sinned yet more, the more he was afflicted, and Revel. 16.9.10. They did gnaw their tongues with pain, and did blaspheme the God of Heaven, but repent not of their evil deeds; bray a Fool in a Mortar and yet his folly will not departed from him, but yet if Christ's blood do sprinkle our crosses, they shall be as corrosives to eat out the proud flesh, and they shall tend to heal him whom they had wounded.  
Fifthly, Sometimes the Lord will do it by sins, in giving him up to some public open and scandulous fall, as he did with David, lets him fall into that great evil of murder and adultery, and that made him to wash himself throughout, and it was a means to keep him low, and to preserve him from sin all his life time after, and we have the like instance in Peter, in denying the Lord, and cursing and swearing that he never knew him; when thou art converted says Christ to him, strengthen thy brothers, for he would be the stronger afterwards; as a bone broke etc. and the less apt to fall into sin: Surely sins of themselves being filthiness itself, cannot purge but will defile, but yet sprinkled with the blood of Christ they shall be an occasion of purging.  
Sixthly, Sometimes the Lord will do it by leaving a man to the winnowings of Satan, in some furious and violent temptation, Satan's aim is thereby to sift out all grace, and to leave nothing but chaff in the soul, for we fight not against flesh and blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, things that concern Heaven and Eternity, and commonly men are foiled by them, and are the more filthy by a touch of the wicked one; 1 John. 5.19. But when the Lord doth sprinkle a temptation with the blood of Christ, it shall be a means to purge the soul, and the poison of it shall be tempered into a wholesome medicine as it was unto Paul 
* A Messenger of Satan, etc.  2 Cor. 12.7.8. It is sometime purging, and sometimes preventing Physic, to keep the soul from being lifted up, etc. The same may be said of mercies, and of all the dispensations of providence, for all shall work together for good (that is) for a man's spiritual and eternal good, because they are all yours; Creatures and providences are as truly subordinate unto your good, as they are unto God's glory 〈◊〉 and the end of all is to take away the sin, and to purge the Conscience that is defiled by sin, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God.  
Sixthly, The blood of Christ doth purge their Consciences, as it is now sprinkled in Heaven before the mercy Seat, by the interception of Christ; for there were under the Law two things that did perfect the sacrifice, the offering of it, the kill of it, and the carrying the blood into the most holy place, and sprinkling it upon the mercy Seat, and the sacrifice was not perfect until both were done, and the blood was to remain before the mercy Seat; so the Lord Jesus has offered himself a sacrifice, but his blood is sprinkled still upon us, and remains, and it is a speaking blood, it speaks better things than the blood of Abel; now it doth speak to us continually, for the end of his blood, and what is it but that we may be cleansed, he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us to himself, 
Tit. 2.14.  etc. and the cry of this blood still in Heaven, is, sanctify them by thy truth, keep them from the evil of the world, father keep through thy own name them that thou hast given me, etc. But how shall I know my Conscience is purged by the blood of Christ, etc.  
First, The more a man's Conscience is afflicted with the spiritual rising of lust, and he loathes himself for it, as Paul for the Law of his members, warring against the Law of his mind; and Job I have seen thee; and therefore I abhor myself.  
Secondly, The more ready a man is to deny himself for God in any service, and his Conscience puts him forth to the uttermost in it, as Paul, I am willing to spend myself, or to die for the name of the Lord Jesus, and Abraham risen up early to obey the command of God, even to sacrifice his only son; for the more the glory of God and his commands do sway with a man, the more cause he has to be assured that the blood of sprinkling has passed upon him, etc.  
Thirdly, The more a man's Conscience keeps down his lust in the presence of the object of it, as Boaz, the woman lay at his feet, and yet his lust did not rise; and as Job to make a Covenant with his eyes, and not look upon a Maid, not have eyes full of adultery; a godly man may be tempted to sin, it may be in the absence of the object; but if it be present, and lust have all the advantages that can be, and yet it cannot prevail, it's an argument of a pure Conscience: and try all these with reference unto your darling lust; for answerable as the Conscience is purged with respect unto that; so it is unto all other sins whatsoever.  
It will serve for exhortation unto all men to keep their Consciences pure, Use 2 being once cleansed in the blood of the Lamb, and this was the Apostle Paul's labour and his daily exercise, 
Acts 24.16  in this I exercise myself to to keep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience void of offence before God and all men. Now we have formerly heard, that as there be two things in sin, so there is a double defilement of the Conscience, there is a guilt and a pollution, and a man's Conscience can never be a good Conscience, a pure Conscience, without a stumbling block, unless it be kept pure in both these, and here I would speak of a pure Conscience according to the Apostles distinction; First, before God; Secondly, before men: And first in reference unto the guilt of sin, and a Conscience polluted therewith, and this is a heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience, Heb. 10.22. that is, an accusing and a condemning Conscience, 1 John 3.21. if our hearts condemn us not, that is, if they have the guilt of no sin lie upon them, for which they draw us before the judgement Seat of Christ, and pass upon us the sentence of condemnation; and so Paul, 2 Cor. 1.12. this is our rejoicing the testimony of our Conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, we have had our Conversation in the world, and more especially towards you, and 1 Cor. 4.4. I know nothing by myself, it was a small thing to him to be judged of by man, or in man's day; for men have their day of judgement also, as God has his, and the reason why he doth despise the judgement of all men is this; that he was conscious to himself of nothing wherein he had misbehaved himself in his Apostleship towards them, many weaknesses there were which he owned in himself, but yet the guilt of none of them did stick upon his Conscience, and yet he refers himself unto the judgement of God, who knows more than a man's Conscience can know by a man's self, etc. and this was the great care of Job that his heart might not reproach him all his days, Job 27.6.  
In respect of God, there is a twofold good Conscience, in regard of guilt; one in truth, and the other in show and appearance only.  
First, There is a natural Conscience that may have a great show of goodness in it, not having the guilt of sin rising in it; but may with a great deal of boldness appear before God, and may lift up a man's face before him, and yet this not be a Conscience truly good, as we see in the Heathen, Rom. 2.16. their thoughts do excuse as well as accuse, and that in the day when God shall judge the secrets of all men, etc. therefore there is the guilt of some sins that Conscience will acquit a man from, and will speak for him in the presence of the Lord, and so some do apply that speech of Paul, as Act. 23.1. I have lived in all good Conscience before God, even unto this day, it is conceived by some (as Cajetan, etc.) that it is spoken in reference unto all his days, even those also before his Conversion, in which he did never sin against his Conscience and therefore he saith bona Conscientia, non bono opere; for he thought that he did God good service in all that he did, as Luther did say of himself; Nec ita eram glacies & frigus, sicut Eccius & alii qui propter ventrem Papam defendere videbantur, sed ego rem seriam agebam, ut qui diem extremum horribiliter timui, & salvus fieri ex intimis medullis cupiebam.  
And the goodness of a man's Conscience in not witnessing guilt, is but a seeming goodness; it is sometimes from a man's uprightness and good intention in a particular act wherein though he doth ill, yet he doth mean well and think also that he doth well, as it is the manner of many a misled and deluded soul, as Gen. 20.5.6. Abimelech answered God, in the integrity of my heart, and the innocency of my hands have I done this, and God bears witness to him, that in the integrity of his heart he did it, not knowing her to be another man's wife, not with an intention to wrong her husband by taking her; there is, and may be, a moral integrity in a particular action, and a man may mean truly in that he doth, and do that which is evil, and yet not with an evil intention: Now will Conscience excuse the man in the presence of God, and say, I intended no evil in that which I have done, Joh. 16.2. they shall think that they do God good service; nay in the worst and the most wicked actions, even persecuting the Saints; a man may conceive therein that he has done God service, and he may bless himself in his own heart, and Conscience may not only acquit a man, but applaud him in that which he has done; and so there is many a man out of a blind zeal and a spirit of error and delusion, that looks upon those things as great services to God, and intends them so, which will be discovered to be the great sins of their lives, at the last day, as it was in the Jews persecuting of Christ, and the Desciples setting up the Law against the Gospel, going about to establish their own righteousness, and not submiting unto the righteousness of Christ therein, so Acts 13.50. there are devout and honourable women are stirred up against the Apostles doctrine, they made use of that natural devotion that was in them, to persecute the Gospel, and as Beza doth observe they did raise the persecution persuasis sc. maritis, engaged their husbands in the quarrel, which is the condition of many a poor well meaning man, that is not acquainted with the depths of Satan, and the the delusions of the times at this day.  
Secondly, Sometimes it is from a man's ignorance and want of light, and so his Conscience he thinks is good and speaks peace to him, because he doth not see the evil that is in him, Rom. 7. I was alive without the Law once, he speaks it in reference to his state of unregeneracy, and he saith, sin was dead in respect of the guilt, and the accusing and condemning power of it, and Paul was alive, full of presumptuous selfconfidence, and self-excusations, and acquitting himself, and his Conscience did speak peace unto him, and there is no guilt at all; but yet afterwards the commandment came in the spiritual and convincing power of it, and then the guilt of sin revived in me, and I saw myself a dead man; for without the Law sin is dead: and therefore many a man that is quiet; because the Law of God is not opened to him, he has the Law in the Letter, but not in the spiritual sense of it; it is with ignorant souls in this respect, as with colours in the dark, there they are, but not seen till the light be brought in, so many a man is in the guilt of all abominations; but they are not discovered till the light be brought in, and then a man wonders how it was possible his Conscience could be quiet, and hath such a load lie upon it.  
Thirdly, From a spirit of slumber that God pours out upon a man in judgement; his Conscience being quiet through common works, and outward duties, a man having escaped the common pollutions of the world, and lives in no gross way of sinning and is exceedingly censorious, and severely exclaims against others, and condemns and reproves those sins in others; he doth shine as a light, and is honoured by the Saints, as one that doth truly fear God, and is eminent in the profession of Religion, as the foolish Virgins, and the thorny ground; have a lamp of profession bring forth some fruit, has a name to live, and with this Conscience is quieted, and its peace is not disturbed; and so it is with many a temporary believer, that had never more than a natural Conscience, and some of them their Conscience in respect of the guilt of them is never awakened, but they go out of the world even in a fools paradise with great hopes, and say, Lord, Lord, 
Mat. 7.22.  have we not prophesied in thy name, &c (as they are brought in saying at the day of judgement, etc. at death every man's eternal state is cast; for immediately after death comes judgement, Heb. 9.27. and in this day it is; for men shall have a particular sentence passed upon them, and receive their doom for their eternal state before the last day, but at death men shall say, Lord, Lord, open to me, etc. and from thence some of our divines say, that an hypocrite may live and die with a quiet Conscience in self-delusions, and yet miss of Heaven in the height of his hopes, and therefore it's said Rom. 2.17. of the hypocritical Jews, that they rest in the Law, etc. and so they may do along time in the profession and outward Privileges of the Law, and an outward obedience thereunto, that when God shall awaken their Consciences (as he doth many of them) some to conviction only, and some to conversion, they are surprised with the greatest horror and amazement of any other men in the world, and though there may be a great deal of quiet, and seeming goodness in Conscience that is natural, yet it is not truly a good Conscience; it has but a show of goodness, and there is the guilt of sin laid up in it that will surely show forth itself at the last and great day, sin lies at the door, and it will awaken and revive and condemn him: But there is away to keep the Conscience pure from the guilt of sin in the sight of God, that a man shall have no more Conscience of sin, and there are three ways or steps to a pure Conscience before God in this respect.  
First, In a man's Conversion, when the Lord Christ as a surety and as a sacrifice is offered unto him, and he consents to the terms upon which Christ is offered, that he may have an interest in the satisfaction that he has given, and that his sins may be done away, and he stand righteous and aquited before God, and so at a man's Conversion, all his sins in his unregenerate state is pardoned, and the guilt of them is covered, so that they are unto his Conscience as if they had never been; his sins are by virtue of union, imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness imputed to him, and he is made the Lord our righteousness, 
2 Cor 5.21 1 Pet. 3.21.  and we are the righteousness of God in him, which is by the answer of a good Conscience, which I conceive to be an allusion to the ancient manner of baptising, wherein the people confessed their sins, and did answer unto certain questions that were then asked, therein engaging themselves by a public profession unto Christ to consent to his Covenant, so when it was done sincerely, than it is said to be the answer of a good Conscience; but if not, it was the answer of the lips only, as it was in Simon Magus, etc. and hence came those forms in the primitive Churches of questions propounded unto the baptised persons, to renounce the world, the flesh and the Devil, their giving up of themselves to Christ, with their solemn answer or stipulation thereunto; a man having thus accepted of Christ as his surety, and sacrifice, being offered unto him in the Gospel, and given up himself unto him, all his sins in the guilt of them, that were committed by him in the days of his unregeneracy, are all done away, his sins are all of them put upon the head of the sacrifice, and are taken off the man in respect of the guilt of them before God, as if they had never been; so that they shall never be imputed to the man any more, for the Lord hath found a ransom.  
If we look upon sin as a burden, it is taken off the sinner, 
Psal. 32.1.  and lies upon him no more: Hos. 14.2. Take away our iniquity; It is to take the weight and the burden off the Conscience, and lay it upon another that is able to bear it; if we look upon sin as filthiness, and so it is in pardon covered, there is a garment of Christ's righteousness drawn over the man; 
Zac. 4.  take away the filthy garments, look upon sin as an enemy, and as the guilt of it did domineer over us and enslave us, and so Mich. 7.19. He will subdue our iniquities; and cast them into the depth of the Sea. He will cast them behind his back, as a thing that he will never look upon to punish or condemn the man for; they shall never be imputed unto him, 
Isa. 38.17. N●m. 23.21.  and so will see no iniquity in Jacob; which is not meant, as if God did not behold the sins of his people, and is angry with them, for he is so, as we see it in Moses, and David, and the Church, Mich. 7.19. ●ut he will not see them in a judicial way, so as to proceed against them, and condemn them for it: But be their sins never so great, red as scarlet, he will drown them in the depth of the Sea, as far as the East is from the West; Psal. 113.12. 
Isa. 1.18.  and Jer. 15 20. In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, etc. Shall be sought for by a judicial inquiry, as the Lord will make for blood, and all manner of iniquity, they shall not be found (that is in judgement) that shall not be found unto the men's condemnation, for they are all satisfied for, and done away in Christ: So that a man's sins shall never be imputed any more. For the righteousness that is imputed unto the soul is everlasting righteousness; and they shall therefore be as if they had never been: So that what ever a man's sins were before his conversion, when he hath laid hold on the righteousness of Christ, and accepted of his Covenant, tendering him pardon in him, the guilt of his sin is totally and perfectly taken away, and is as it had never been: Psal. 51.7. Wash me, and I shall be whither then Snow, etc. Therefore the first way to have the Conscience purged from the guilt 〈◊〉 sin, is by the answer of a good Conscience. etc.  
Secondly, Whereas a believer and a justified person doth sin against God, and contract new guilt every day, there must therefore be a daily repentance, and a daily application of the righteousness of Christ unto the soul, and a daily and a continu●● imputation on God's part of th●● righteousness; and here we m●●● take notice.  
First, That a justified person is not freed from sin, but that he doth fall into sin every day; we see it in Paul, and in David, and in the Saints.  
Secondly, Their daily sins do bring upon their persons a guilt, Psal. 51.10 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, every new sin, doth bring a new guilt, there is a double guilt of sin; reatus personae & peccati, the one cannot be separated from the sin, but the other may, when the righteousness of Christ is applied to the soul.  
Thirdly, Lying under this guilt of a particular sin, God is really angry with him, not only in his own apprehension, but God hides the light of his Countenance from him: Psal. 32.3.4. While I kept silence, my bones consumed away; for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, and my moisture is turned into the draught of Summer, Selah. He is filius sub irae, though not ire, the Lord puts him upon a Rack and writes bitter things against him as if he were an enemy, and there is a suspension, and an interdiction of all the effects of God's justification, till he do repent.  
Fourthly, Under this guilt and wrath every man shall lie so long as he continues in this sin impenitently, when he doth believe and repent for that sin, than it shall be pardoned and the guilt taken off the Conscience, and the man restored unto his former state to plead the privileges of his justification, which he could not before; but was as it were under a state of sequestration, as the Leper under the Law, though he had right unto all the ordinances, yet he had not the actual use and benefit, and enjoyment of any of them; and therefore we read, that though repentance be not a cause of pardon, nor Faith a cause of pardon, yet it is the hand that receives it, and the qualification of the subject upon whom the Lord will bestow it: And therefore we read of a daily sacrifice amongst the Jews, even a continual  offering, so believers are to have recourse unto Christ for their daily failings, 
Job. 13.10.  and he that is washed need not save to wash his feet, for there is a fi●th contracted by a man's daily walking, that a man must apply the righteousness of Christ for, that it may be done away, and therefore David till he repent his sin, was not pardoned (as we read of) but when he did confess his sin, than Nathan said unto him, the Lord hath put away thy sin; and Act. 3.19. Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, etc. and Ezech. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin: And according to the Scripture, I know no ground that any man should believe that his sins are pardoned till he hath repent.  
Fifthly, There is a daily application of the righteousness of Christ unto us by Faith, and there is a continual and a daily imputation of it unto us by God, and therefore we are taught by Christ to pray daily, Forgive us our trespasses; which unto a justified man, what can be the meaning, nothing but this, I know that my sins are already pardoned, even all that ever I have, shall or can commit, let me only have the pardon of them witnessed unto my soul; but I do conceive much rather, the meaning to be, as I sin every day, and thereby do daily contract a new guilt, so grant that I may have the righteousness of Christ imputed unto me every day, and a penitent heart given me that thereby I may have the qualifications that God requires unto pardon, and my iniquities be blotted out: For though I conceive it a truth, that justification as far as it respects a man's state is done at once, and is perfect in instanti, that a man is but once justified, that is put unto a state of pardon and righteousness, and acceptation, as soon as made one with Christ, yet I conceive the pardon of sin to be a continued act, that as a man doth sin daily, so he has an actual pardon daily, by the imputation of Christ's righteousness unto him anew: The sacrifice indeed was offered but once, and never to be repeated, but the imputation of it is continued to the end of the World and the application of it is the act of every day, and therefore some say that God does give us the same things over and over again daily, as we sin daily, and stand in daily need of it; as he doth the Sun, it had as much light in it the first day it was made as it hath now, and God has not given us a new Sun, but the same daily shines; so it is with the imputation of Christ's obedience, who is the Son of Righteousness: So that though a man be for his state once for all put into a state of justification, yet remission of sins is an act that is continued daily, and shall never be perfected till sin shall be done away, and till the soul shall cease to say, Lord forgive us our trespasses, and then God shall cease forgiving; but while the Saints do sin, so long there is a daily remission upon a daily repentance, and a renewed application: So if a man sins daily and would have the guilt of his sins taken off his Conscience, it must be by a daily confession, a daily repentance and humiliation, a daily application of the righteousness of Christ, and therein by prayer seeking unto God for pardon daily, for I know no other means to take the guilt of sin off the Conscience. These things I speak partly to awaken the people of God, that are justified freely by grace, that they might not dare to pass a day in a way of sinning, and that they may not dare to lie down with any sin unrepented of also, and partly that those abominable and dangerous doctrines that are now abroad in the world, to turn the grace of God, and the promises of the Gospel into wantonness, may be avoided, when men say all our sins are pardoned already, and therefore though we may have sin in our conversation, yet we have none in our Conscience, God sees no iniquity in his people, and he loves them in Christ, and therefore loves them never the worse for all their sins, etc. And therefore they need not pray for pardon, for they have it already; but only they must believe that they are pardoned, and must believe that they need not repent, for all is done away in Christ, and it is only for persons that are unregenerate to repent for sin, and to ask pardon; but for them that are in Christ their sins are pardoned, &c: But let me tell you, and the Lord will make you know, that as you sin every day, and contract a new guilt, so there is no way to get this guilt taken off thy Conscience, but by a daily repentance for it, and a daily application of the righteousness of Christ, that thy sins may be blotted out from the presence of the Lord, for though thou be washed, yet thou hast daily need to wash thy feet; There is nothing that the heart of man is more willing and ready to shift off, than the duty of repentance, though as Tertullian saith he was, nulle rei nisi penitentiae natus; and yet it is with men, as Luther says of himself, there was no word that he did hate and abhor so much as that word, Repent; it is that, the heart of man goes against, and you have most need to be exhorted to it.  
Thirdly, There is another way to keep the Conscience pure from the guilt of sin, and that is for a man to get assurance of God's favour, the light of his countenance, and to walk in it all day long, 
Psal. 89.15.  Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound: They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. When a man hath the witnesses either of blood and water, which are more remote, and the spirit of God speaks in them, and in all ordinances of the Gospel, or else when a man has a more immediate testimony from the spirit of God, the Lord saying to his soul, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee; the Lord sends his spirit that speaks to the soul, as the prophet Nathan to David, God hath taken away thy sin; and this is God's speaking to the soul pardon and peace, which is the portion of many of the Saints, when a man's soul draws near to the grave, and his life to the destroyers, and the Lord comes in and says deliver his soul from death, for I have found a ransom; and truly there are souls that do walk in the light of God's countenance all the day long, and their souls are as the upper Region, quiet, and are always Calm, though sin they do, yet they speedily repent, and humble their souls for it, and their peace is never interrupted, nor the light of God's Countenance taken from them, but they receive of his pardoning mercy daily, and daily bear witness to it that their sins are done away, and so their Consciences are never clogged with them.  
But as soon as God withdraws the light of his countenance from any poor soul, by and by the guilt of sin ariseth, and Conscience is terrified, and there is a thick cloud over spreads the whole soul, and a man's heart is like unto a troubled Sea, that cannot rest, see what restless toss David was in while his sin lay upon his Conscience, and God hide his face day and night, they are so heavy upon me that all the night long I make my bed to swim with my tears, oh take me not out of thy presence, will the Lord cast off for ever, and his mercy is it clean gone, will he be gracious no more? Thus a man that would have a clear Conscience in respect of guilt, must make it his business to walk in the light of God's Countenance all the day.  
Having thus far seen how a man may keep a Conscience pure from the guilt of sin. Let us now come to the second, how a man's Conscience may be preserved pure, from the defilement and the pollution of sin: And here we are to consider, that there are two things in Conscience, and answerable unto them there is a defilement that may befall a man's Conscience.  
First, there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Conscience is the seat of practical principles, as there is a judgement in Conscience, that it can make of what is true, and what is false, what is good, and what is evil.  
Secondly, There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I knowing and a judging of man's person, and his ways by these principles, and the acts of Conscience that follow thereupon, and the corruptions of either of these will pollute the Conscience.  
First, There is a Synteresis which are the principles by which men are acted in their ways, which are the rules by which a man walks, and by which he doth judge of himself and of all his ways, and by which he doth direct and steer his whole course, if these be true, the Conscience is so far kept pure, that though a man may sin against his knowledge, and be carried away by the violence of temptation, yet it is contrary unto the rule and the principle that is within him; there is something in him that is contrary to it, and condemns it, and taketh part with God and with duty; and the more a man's judgement and Conscience is leavened with corrupt principles, the more is his Conscience defiled; a man must hold the mystery of faith in a pure Conscience; 
1 Tim. 3.9. 1 Tim. 1.19.  holding Faith and a good Conscience, which some having put away concerning the Faith, have made shipwreck; for the mystery of faith must be kept in a pure Conscience; for if your judgements be leavened with corrupt principles, 1 Tim. 3.9. you will soon make shipwreck of the faith, which signifies a dangerous and an irrecoverable loss of it: And here I will speak to these three things. First, That there is a great deal of danger that men's Consciences may be defiled in their principles, and they corrupted in judgement. Secondly, The greatness of this danger, what an evil it is for a man to have his judgement defiled, and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that Conscience corrupted. Thirdly, The means and rules how a man may be preserved from a polluted Conscience in this, how a man's judgement may be kept undefiled, and you had need to take heed; for there is a great deal of danger that your judgement may be corrupted.  
First, Because there is a great deal of darkness in all Gospel-administrations, in comparison of what we do expect the Lord shall give unto his people in the latter days, when Ezekiel's Temple shall be built, the Lord will show his people all the forms and the patterns of his house, and the go in and the come out thereof, and in the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, which refers unto the same time; Rev. 11. last, for then the mystery of God shall be finished, the Temple shall be opened, and we shall see into the Ark of the Testimony, it had a vail before it that it might not be seen; but the most hidden and secret things shall then be made manifest, and clearly discovered, and by the Ark some understand it of Christ, of whom the Ark was a type: there should be a further and a more glorious manifestation of him in all Church ordinances and administrations than ever there had been in times past; But mean while there is a Sea of Glass, but it is mixed with fire, there is a great deal of affliction, and bitter contention, and the Temple is filled with smoke, a great darkness upon all ordinances, in so much that during all the time of the pouring out of the Vials, no man (that is) no considerable and great company of men, should be brought into the Church, here and there a few converted, but none in comparison of the fullness of Jews and Gentiles that shall be converted to God afterwards, when the smoke of the Temple shall be dispelled and done away; and if there be so much darkness, it is no wonder if men be in danger to be deceived, and to be led away from the truth, it is no wonder if men in the dark may heir, and miss their way, and therefore I would not have men as not too censorious of others, so not too confifident of their own way, in any thing that they have not a clear warrant for in the Word, for surely this is the time of the Vials, and it is spoken of the reformed Churches, they that while the Vials were powering upon Antichrist, did stand with the Lamb upon mount Zion, that had gotten victory over the Beast and his Image, and did sing the Song of Moses, and of the Lamb, etc. and yet amongst them; the Temple was full of smoke, and therefore there is danger that you may be deceived and deluded, etc.  
Secondly, There be a great many false teachers gone abroad in the World; 1 John 4.1. Beloved believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false Prophets are gone out etc. It hath been the way that Satan has taken in all resormations, as soon as ever the Gospel began to dawn in the World, in the Apostles times, there arose men of themselves. that did speak perverse things; Act. 20.30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is, such things, as turn all upside down, that subvert and overthrow all the principles and foundations of the doctrine of Christ, that have been laid by himself and his Apostles. 
Rev. 12.  And when their was a reformation in the time of Constantine, than another flood of heresy was cast out after the woman. So in the reformation in Luther's time; if the Lord do but sow good seed, the enemy will come and sow tares, and we see how much confidence Satan puts in this way of prevailing; for it is his last remedy that he shall use to uphold the kingdom of Antichrist: as we see Rev. 16.13. The Vial being poured out upon the seat of the Beast, and Rome falling as a Millstone into the Sea, without hope of recovery; and now there is a new Church ariseing, coming out of the Wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved, and Euphrates dried up to make way for the Kings of the East: Now he doth send out of the mouth of the ●east, and the Dragon, and self Prophet three unclean spirits like Frogs, and they are the spirits of Devils working miracles, and going forth into the Kings of the earth, etc. They are said to be spirits for their activity, and impetiousness (so some) but I rather think they are called spirits, that is false teachers, because they pretend to speak by the spirit, as 1 John. 4.1. Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God; and they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is not the ordinary word that is used for the Devil, but a word doth express knowledge and learning, etc. They shall send forth there most learned men of the greatest parts, and the best wits, and they that shall teach spirits as Frogs, they that shall teach unclean and corrupt and filthy doctrines, and by this means, and by Satan's assisting them in their doctrine, and backing it with miracles and great works, they shall gather together the Kings of the earth against the Church of God to their own destruction, and final overthrow; surely, therefore there is a great deal of danger, that a man may be deceived, and his judgement may be corrupted because it is the last refuge of Satan that he has to uphold his kingdom by sending forth unclean spirits.  
Thirdly, Most men unto whom these spirits come, 
Heb. 5.13.  they find them children; for he that is unskilful in the word of righteousness, he is a babe, and therefore being children in understanding, 
Ephes. 4.14.  and not men grounded in the principles of the doctrine of Christ, therefore they are tossed to and fro, with every wind of doctrine, tossed as a wave, and carried about as a cloud, and from these two, the Metaphors are taken, if the wind be this way, the wave is born and the cloud carried about, and if the wind do turn, it is blown the contrary way; they lead captive silly woman, omnes haereses ex gynecaeis, is a proverb in the ancient Church, and the more ingnorant any people are the easier are they turned away from the truth, and the sooner do they give ear to fancies, and fables, and he that shall consider the ignorance of our people in the principles of Religion, and that in a great many of those that profess Religion, and think themselves to be knowing Christians, and yet have but only a general and a smattering confused knowledge, and a man would be far from wondering that so many were corrupted, but rather he would wonder that all were not taken captive by Satan.  
Fourthly, False teachers use a great deal of artifice to that end, that they may deceive, and they do it under the fairest shows, and the most specious pretences, Antichrist (Rev. 17.3.) gives the wine of her formention in a Golden Cup, that is, that by which it is offered unto the world, it is a very alluring and taking way, and as a Harlot whose lips do drop as the hony-comb, and all is under a show of love unto Christ, and a colour of love to you, a pity to see you so deceived, there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 16.18. all under great pretences of holiness, there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, there is a great deceit, as in the most deceitful Play, and they are cunning Gamesters, and there is a subtlety, and deep craftiness of men that go by method, and bring in one thing after another, 
Eph. 4.24  and there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Pet. 2.3. feigned words, some made words, and a kind of coined language that sounds finely, but put it together and it signifies nothing; but the meaning is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they do make merchandise of you, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.18. they give out something that shall be as a bait, some pretences of liberty, some shows of a greater Communion with God, and a nearer approach unto Christ, and with this bait you shall be taken, when in the mean while the book is not seen, and sometimes brought to you under great shows of holiness in the men, they come to you in sheep's clothing, as if they were Sheep though they be Wolves, and the Ministers of Satan transform themselves into the Ministers of Righteousness, 2 Cor. 11.13, 14. for such are false Apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light, etc. 
Rev. 13.  and we know that Antichrist when he risen had two horns like a Lamb, and Austin saith of Pelagius, Nomen Pellagii non sine lande posui, quia vita cita ejus à multis praedicabatur.  
Yea Satan doth creep into Peter himself, and he may be corrupted, and Barnabas also with that dissimulation; for they shall deceive if it were possble even the very elect, though totally and finally it is not possible, but yet they may far deceive them; for indeed there be many that hold the foundation, and whose souls may be saved in the day of the Lord, yet may build Hay and Stubble upon the foundation: and therefore we should leave room for charity towards some, who have not had that touch of Satan upon their spirits that others have, and endeavour to pluck them as firebrands out of the fire, that they may not wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction, but pray that the Lord would deliver them from the temptations and seducements of Satan, etc. discover his Wiles to them, that they may say, was there not an error in my right hand, and men are so much the rather to be pitied; because being ignorant and unlearned they more easily become the prey of false teachers, who are very industrious and laborious, and lay out themselves to the utmost, 
Math.  they will compass Sea and Land to make a Proselyte, they compel you to be Circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh, that is, multitudine sequacium, in the multitude of their Desciples and followers, some men think it is an excellent thing to be the founder of a new sect, as they said of Paul, 
Acts 24.5.  he was a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes; I know that many say this by way of reproach to the people of God, that would walk out of conformity to the world, that they are but sectaries, and brand them daily with new names, and new light, etc. because they would not have their old darkness be discovered, but this is but one of the fig leaves of Antichrists covering, which shall fall off from him, and he shall fly away naked, and men shall see his shame notwithstanding.  
Lastly, There is a mighty power of Satan and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that goes along with them, 2 Thes. 2.9. as soon as Antichrist did but appear in the world, by and by all the world wandered after the Beast, and received his Image, and his mark in their right hand, and in their foreheads, men will he quickly engaged to proffer themselves in such a way, and having received the mark in the forehead, they will receive it in their right hand, to defend it, and stand for it, so that a man would wonder to see men so soon turned after another Gospel; and their words fret as a Gangrene or a Cancer, that doth quickly infect all that comes near it, and we may see what strong poison this liquor of Antichrist is, and what a deceit it is by the power of it, not only upon the ignorant, but upon the learned, and not only upon them that were a lump fit to receive any leaven, but even those that were counted (and we may hope) to be Godly men, of eminent parts, and great abilities, and men that have done great services, and shine as great lights, and are great preachers that have converted Souls to God, and yet the Dragon's Tail sweeps away the third part of the Stars of Heaven, and casts them unto the Earth, etc. Now all these eonsiderations should prevail with us, that he that thinks he stands, may take heed lest he fall; because there is a great danger of deceiving the best and the holiest and the wisest men, and turn them aside from the simplicity of the Gospel, I should have been more particular in the discovery of Antichrist, in all his colours, especially that great Character and stamp which is on all his followers to be persecutors of the Saints of the most high, who refuse to worship his Image, or to receive his mark; but that I have reserved to treat on more largely; because I look upon the time of the kill of the witnesses to draw near; for which the spirits of men are exceedingly qualified: and therefore the Saints had need to stand upon their watch Tower; for the Beast and the false Prophet, etc. conspire against them.  
2ly. Considert is a very dangerous thing for a man to be deceived; for first a man's judgement being corrupted it will make way for a very corrupt conversation, no man is better than his judgement, but men generally, I may say, all men are worse; now they are the greatest corruptions that are the fruits of corrupt doctrine, and their doctrines do back them, and are not the fruits of their lusts only, as we see it in the Pharisees, all their fins were justified by their doctrines, and they had so fitted it, as it served to maintain their wicked ways; there is a spirit of uncleaness goes with the false prophet wheresoever he goes; Rome is spiritually Egypt, 
Zach. 13.  and Sodons and Judas compares the false teachers in his times with the worst of sinners, and surely their latter end is worse than their beginning, 2 Pet. 2.22. it's happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his vomit again, etc.  
 opinions must needs bring forth unclean conversations.  
Secondly, It is a hard matter for a man to repent being once engaged, 
Gal. 3.1.  and taken with it; for it's said men are bewitched that they do believe that lie of Popery, especially that they cannot say, is there not a lie in my right hand, and false doctrine is compared to leaven, and if it be mixed with dough, it is very hard if not impossible ever to separate them, and therefore we read of very few men that ever appeared much against any truth of God that ever have returned, but they in their pride did persist, and God did give them up though they were convinced themselves, and spoke lies in hypocrisy; and knew them to be so, yet for all this they could not repent of them; for God in judgement gave them up unto a Conscience seared with a hot Iron: and truly it is a fearful judgement to be given up of God to believe a lie, and it is to a man a very dangerous sign that he is not of the sheep of Christ, 
Joh. 10.5.  a stranger they will not follow, they know not the voice of a stranger, and thereby the rottenness of men's hearts may be manifested, there must be heresies says the Apostle for that end; and that they that are approved may be made manifest also.  
Thirdly, They are called damnable heresies; 2 Pet. 2.1. In a double respect. First, They are a dangerous sign and token of damnation unto them that are ensnared by them, Rev. 13.8. They that do partake in the doctrine of Popery, they are those whose names are not written in the Lamb's book, and they are such as in themselves deserve damnation; indeed all sin is in its own nature damnable, and so must this be in a special manner, in a way of eminency so called, such as Judas is called, the Son of perdition, because he was appointed unto a more than ordinary destruction; and the Pope the man sin, because eminent in sinning; so here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because they come under a more remarkable destruction than other sins do, and the Lord says their damnation sleeps not, they were of old ordained thereunto, Judas 4. But I would not be mistaken in all this and grieve the hearts of any tender Conscience, whom the Lord would not have grieved that hold some lesser errors, which may be because we see with different Lights. Nay, I deny not but a godly man may be deceived in some errors, that happily do strike at the foundation also for a time, but he doth not continue in them; but I say to hold them, and continue in them, as it makes way for a more eminent destruction, so it is a most dangerous sign of reprobation.  
Lastly, It is a very dangerous forerunner of judgement unto a nation, and of Gods removing the Candlestick, and giving a Church a Bill of Divorce, you may see it in the Church of Rome; and if men will be Idolaters, and Blasphemers, and deny the Resurrection, and the Scriptures, if men countenance the woman Jezebel, and the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans, it will follow that Christ will quickly come against them, and fight against them with the sword of his mouth: The last times of the Jewish Church were infected with heresy, which bred divisions, and such distraction amongst them till it destroyed the whole face and frame of Church and common wealth; and in the last times there shall be the most dangerous Doctrines broached, till the Lord shall avenge his truth by a judgement upon the Beast, and the false Prophet; God's truth is dear to him, he has exalted his word above all his name; and the opening of his bosom, and publishing of truth in the World, has cost the blood of the Son of God: He could never have been a Prophet, if he had not been a Priest, all his offices, and the performance of them depend upon his Priesthood, and no man shall have a benefit by Christ as he is a Prophet, or as he is a Priest, or as he is a King, that has him not first as his Priest, and closed with him therein; and his word is the great expansum that God has stretched forth over Kingdoms, and Nations. Rom. 10.17. By this he judges them, and hews them, and slayeth them, he will not suffer the dishonour of it, nor his people cannot bear it, but Rivers of tears run down, because men keep not the Law of God, and so many have shed their blood for it, and endured cruel tortures, and mockings, and wandered about the World, to carry the Gospel, where the sound of it was not heard; and if they cannot bear it, surely Christ himself will bear it much less: And therefore let me tell you, if a kingdom were as dear unto God as the signal upon his right hand, he would pluck it thence and if any people shall go about it, to set up themselves, and vent their own Lusts, and do think to accomplish their ends by cutting down and destroying the Scriptures, truly God will not bear it, but that Word shall be armed against them that they have despised, and shall certainly overtake them; Zac. 1.6. It may lie upon the ground for a while in the esteem of men, but God will cause it again to arise, and all the strength of flesh shall fall before it, for it is this word that plants kingdoms and plucks them up; and God will certainly call this nation to an account for his Word that has been abused by it, and turned behind our backs, etc.  
Thirdly, How should a man keep his judgement pure, that his principles be not corrupted?  
First, Get a humble and a self denying heart; There are two great causes of a man's turning unto error in the Scripture, one is pride and a design to be some body in matter of knowledge, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Si. Magus, and therefore Col. 2. They be men puffed up by their fleshly Lusts, superbia est mater haereseus, una est intentio omnibus haereticis captare de singularitate scientiae. Bern. And the other is thereby to compass some worldly end, some worldly Lust, Rom. 16.19. They serve not God but their own Bellies; now that man that seeks the truth of God for the truth's sake, and neither to gain honour by it before men, nor to compass any other worldly end, he will not easily be biased and led away by the errors of the times, and if he should be mistaken in any thing, we may hope that the truth will be revealed to him in time, though we may see him turn aside for the present.  
Secondly, Get thy heart filled with the love of the truth, and thou wilt not be easily carried from it, for the word being received in a good and honest heart, 
Luk. 8.15.  it doth abide there and holds out and brings forth fruit with patience; Alexander was a companion with the Apostle in his tribulation and sufferings, and suffered great persecution for the truth of God, and yet proved a Heretic, a bitter enemy unto the Gospel, a blasphemer, and what was the reason? Because he had not an honest heart, nor an inward love unto the Word, that he did teach and profess; he put away a good Conscience, 
1 Tim. 1.20.  and he did cherish himself in some known sin, and therefore he did make shipwreck of the Faith, 
2 Thes.  they were given up to believe that lie, because they received not the truth in the love of it, if we make truth but matter of talk, we shall never be able to stand fast in it or profess it; if perfecution arise for the word sake, or if false Doctrine be spread we shall be taken with it, for it is not Learning, but Love, that makes a man constant unto the Truth; the greatest Scholars have fallen from it, and have denied the truth, and the weakest have stood to it and professed it, in the time when it was persecuted, and it is because the one did know much, but the other did love much, they had claimed it as their inheritance, and therefore no wonder they stood for it, but other men concern themselves for it but as Lawyers do other men's evidences, and therefore they care not greatly which way the Cause goes when it comes to a hearing and debate; for they have their Fee before hand for their labour; so it is easy to lose that out of a man's head, that he never had in his heart, nor never cared to have. etc.  
Thirdly, Get your hearts well grounded in the principles of Religiligion, the doctrine that is according to godliness, and stick to that, there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 12. ● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 6.17. a pattern of wholesome words, 2 Tim. 1.13. and let the foundation be throughly laid, lay some truths for granted, do not question all things; for if so, it's no wonder if a man deny all things, or if he ever believe and receive any thing, Acts 20.30. there shall arise of your own selves, men speaking perverse things, to draw away Desciples after them, etc. But I commend you to God and the word of his grace, 2 Pet. 2.1, 2. they shall bring in damnable heresies, and many shall follow their pernicious ways, but be mindful of the words of the Prophets and Apostles, give heed to them as to a light shining in a dark place, and keep close to the Ministry thereof, Ephes. 4.11. he hath given some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangilists, and some Pastures and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, etc. that henceforth we should not be as children; 
Cant. 1.7.  if we would not turn aside to the flocks of the companions, go forth and feed thy Kids beside the shepherd's tents, etc. which I fear is no small ground of the design of Satan in decrying the Scriptures and Ministry at this day.  
Fourthly, Take heed of affecting curiosities in Religion, and to dote upon questions that minister strife and not edifying; for by these many men are seduced and subverted, indeed there is no truth of God but is precious, and things revealed belong to us and our children, and whatever things are written are written for our learning, and we should desire to be filled with all the knowledge of his Will, 
Col. 1.9.  but yet there is a desire of knowledge that is dangerous even in the things of God; First, when neglecting the great things and they that are necessary, all our inquiries run out into niceties and lesser things, 1 Pet. 2.1, 2. as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, and John 16.12. I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now, they will do you harm, they will do you more harm then good; because you are not capable to receive them; 
Rom 14.1  we read that a man weak in the faith, is not to be admitted into doubtful disputations, and therefore he should not thrust himself into doubtful disputations; Secondly, when men desire knowledge in the general that is only for knowledge sake, and not that he may be perfect throughly furnished to every good work, etc. it is the doctrine that is according to godliness that we should desire, and if the end of any thing in Religion be in knowledge only, and it rests there, thou wilt easily be corrupted; for knowledge is the bait with which thou wilt be taken, 
Col. ●.  if it be but a show of wisdom only, which does not lead to practise, it will come to nothing; for the end of the truths of God being revealed to us, is not for our talking but doing, not for the showing forth of men's parts, but their graces and virtues.  
Fifthly, Receive nothing of Religion upon credit and the authority of man, be he never so learned and never so holy, 
Math.  call no man father upon Earth, no man Rabbi upon Earth, search the Scriptures, 
Act. 17.11 John 4.1.  try the spirits, take nothing upon trust, it's no disparagement unto the best Ministry to subject their doctrine to the Scriptures, Christ himself ordered us to subject his doctrine to the trial, search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life, they testify of me, and by this he did confirm his doctrine; if once you take things from the authority of man, you set the man in the place of Christ, and God in judgement may give him up to error that you may be misled by him, who was so willing to follow his Commandment: 1 Cor. 12.2. You were carried away with dumb Idols, as you were led; the blind lead the blind, it is an honour due to God, only to be believed, ex authoritate dicentis. And therefore away with the names of men, I am of Paul, and I of Apollo, etc. For Paul and Apollo, etc. Is nothing but instruments by whom you believe; and there cannot be a greater injury to your Teachers, then to set them in the place of Christ, etc.  
Sixthly, Avoid as much as possible, Society with those by whom thou mayest be drawn to be seduced, cease to hear that instruction that causeth thee to err from the way of knowledge; Prov. 19.27. Perverse dispute of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, 
2 Tim. 6.5.  from such withdraw thyself, 
1 John 1.10.  receive them not into your house, bid them not God speed, have no common familiarity with them, fly from enemies to the truths of God as from a Plague, or else if thou dally with them, thou wilt be in danger of being ensnared by them;  
Lastly, Be much in prayer to be preserved, when so many, even the third part of the Stars of Heaven be swept down, that thou mayest stand with the Lamb, and not receive the mark of the Beast, when the World wonders after him it is a great mercy; and therefore say, 
Can. 1.7.  Lord show me where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions, remember it is not parts, nor learning, nor common grace that will secure a man from believing lies; for we see men of the greatest parts commonly are taken, the wits and the disputers of this World, and it is not a form of godliness, nor a profession of Religion, but it is walking close with God in that profession; we see men in our days that have driven the trade of Religion for many years together, and yet may become but broken professors, and prove bankrupt at last, become the Leaders of some new Sect, and there the height of their Religion ends; and if once thy heart sit lose in prayer, even in this know thou art immediately in danger to be corrupted and seduced, for if once a man cease to pray against sin, thou art in danger to commit it; this is the way for a man to keep his Conscience pure in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of it, that his judgement be not defiled: But there is a double misery, that we do labour under at this time, as there are heresies and false doctrines on the one side, and you must keep your Consciences pure from that leaven, so also there is profaneness and all manner of devilish practices on the other side, and men do commonly think by objecting the one to justify themselves in the other, some are enemies unto Christ in opinion, teaching for doctrines the traditions of men, and there are some are enemies to Christ in conversation, whose god is their belly, who glory in their shame, and give themselves over unto all excess of riot; Christ has enemies, even where his kingdom is set up: 
Psal 110 2  For he must rule in the middle of his enemies, the time will come when he shall rule over them, but now he rules amongst them, and those enemies are of three sorts.  
First, Some are Christians but not in purity, as Heretics and false teachers, and some are Christians, but not in sincerity, as hypocrites and those that are false hearted; and lastly some are called Christians, but have not so much as an external conformity, and such are profane and all professed workers of iniquity, and there is only this difference between them; one speaks against the Truth, and the other lives against the Truth; and so all the benefits that we have by having the name of Christ called upon us, is this, ad hoatantum preceptorum sacrorum scite cognoscimus; ut post interdict a gravius peccemus. It will be necessary therefore that something be spoken to fortify your souls, and to exhort you to keep your Consciences pure, from principles of profaneness in conversation, as well as principles of heresy in opinion, for all men's ways are grounded upon the principles with which their mind is stored, and by these the man walks, and therefore the great work in conversion is to destroy men's former principles, and cast down their strong holds, and bring their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reasonings into subjection; lay but these two principles in a man's heart, that the Church cannot err, and that the Church of Rome is the true Church only, and that man though he know not or consent not unto many of the doctrines of Popery, yet he is a Papist in his principles, and these will necessarily bring in all the rest, and enforce the man to consent unto them all, as they shall be discovered to him; so there are certain principles that if they be laid in a man's heart, though he may not walk in many ways of Profaneness, but for some reasons there is a restraint upon him, yet he is in his heart a profane man, and will be ready to break forth into all the ways of profaneness, as occasion and opportunity shall present itself, and the principles are such as these.  
First, That is the best Religion that men do receive by tradition from their Fathers; so they in Jer. 44.17. Our Fathers did burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and then they had plenty of victuals, but since there has been innovations, and changes in Religion, we have never seen peace nor a good day: Have any of the nations changed their gods? 
Jer 2. 1●,  That Religion which they have received by inheritance, they take themselves deeply engaged to keep close to it, and say, will you be wiser than your forefathers, and will you say that they have all died in error? and will you condemn all these to Hell, as men living in error, who were counted good men in their generation? When as we know that Christ died to redeem us from our vain conversation that we received by tradition from our Fathers; and men merely acquainted with the 
1 Pe●. 1.18.  Scriptures, do know that God has promised unto his people, a greater discovery of truth in the latter days, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, 
Isa. 26.30.  etc. And the Temple of God shall be opened in Heaven, and they shall see into the ark of the Testament, 
Rev. 11.  and the Sea of glass that was first clear, afterwards became as the blood of a dead man, and afterwards a Sea mixed with fire, will be at last a clear River of the waters of Life clear as Crystal again, and that the Lord will never leave refining and purging Religion, 
Rev. 22.  till he has taken of all that filthiness and defilement of Antichrist that he hath east upon it: 
Heb. 12.28.  This shall be the gain that we shall have by all the shaking of the things that are made, a removing of all things in Religion, that have only the stamp and authority of man upon them, which we are to wait and pray for.  
Secondly, So much in Religion as will stand with a man's credit, profit, and honour in the World, that they can admit of, but it is not good to be singular, and too precise therein, this was the principle that was in Jehues' heart, so much reformation as would establish the kingdom unto himself and his posterity, he was zealous for, but no more; but if any thing do cross that, than men rise up against it, with Demetrius they will not hear of it, for by this craft we get our wealth, etc. As the King of Navarre answered Beza when he exhorted him to own the Protestant Cause, and to appear for them, seeing he professed to favour them, his answer was se istoc pelago commisurum, etc. He would so far go and show himself and Launch into this Sea, that he would make sure of a safe harbour; so men will go no further in Religion then may stand with worldly interest, and men's policies do set bounds unto their piety, as we see by woeful experience this day, etc. Whereas the Gospel rule is, that a man must in the things of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Let him utterly deny himself, and he that loves Father and Mother more than me, is not worthy of me, God hates that Religion that shall cost men nothing; the Lord calls for singularity in Religion, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what singular thing do you? and what do you more than others? you talk more, but do you do more and hazard more, etc. As singularity in a way of sin and pride is abominable to God; so singularity in a way of holiness is well pleasing to him; and for such is the Kingdom of Heaven prepared, it's a strait gate and a narrow way, and there be few that find it: the Lords flock is a little flock, they are a singular Company, they do not walk in the drove with the rest of the world, but they follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes, through thick and through thin as we use to say.  
Thirdly, They say there is no necessity of a work of conversion and regeneration as men do talk of; for they that are born in the Church as we all are, we are born in true Religion also, it is the Heathens and Papists that are to be converted; so did the Pharisees think that they needed no repentance, though they could not deny but that they did sin and in many things offend: therefore they must grant a repentance for particular acts of sin; but as for that repentance which we call initial, the change of a man's state, that they did conceive the Heathen had need of, but they had not; for they were the seed of Abraham, born in the Church, to whom the Covenants did belong, etc. and men say there is no such inward power of godliness upon the heart as men speak of, contrary to what Christ says to Nicodemus, unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, and that to Timothy, 2 Tim. 1.5. and 1 John. 3.5. Acts 20.18. and yet they dare to say that all that profess it do but dissemble, and they are hypocrites, and it is ridiculous for the Church to require such an account of the workings of God upon their hearts before they are admitted into the Church fellowship, and Ministers now adays teach their people a canting language, which all are to speak or else they are no Church Members, whereas they say Religion consists in a fair outward just and unblamable carriage before men, they have a form of godliness, as says the Apostle, 
Tim. 2.3.5  but deny the power of it; and so the pharisees they did justify themselves before men, they were such as Sepulchers are that were outwardly fair, made clean the outside only. So these are civil men which are the world's Saints, whereas also there is an inward work wanting upon the heart, there is a being changed in the spirit of their mind, which they never experienced, a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and with out this converting grace all their works are lost, not tantum peccata sed & bona opera mortalia.  
Fourthly, They say it is an easy thing to repent, it is but to cry, Lord have mercy upon us, and I am sorry for my sin, when I am laid upon my death bed and I can no longer commit it, than I hope I shall repent; but Christ says its not so easy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; it's easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, then for a rich man to enter there, and therefore he bids them strive to enter; Judas did repent here, and yet he is gone to Hell that is his place, and truly there is and will be repentance enough in Hell, to eternity, if any repentance would serve the turn, men may easily repent; 
Acts 5.31.  I but God accepts no repentance but true repentance, and its God only that gives repentance unto life, and being it is in his power, Oh that the day of his power may be upon all that hear me this day that you may not think it so easy a matter to do this great work, take heed lest thy heart be hardened with the deceitfulness of sin. 
Rom. 2.5.   
Fifthly, They think God is merciful and count it no hard matter to get the pardon of sin, and think it not so great an evil as it is made out to be; but a godly man that has been convinced of sin and converted from it, he looks upon sin as the greatest evil, and sees all kind of evil in it, and every sin to abound in sinfulness, and that there is more evil in it then in Hell itself; for that is but against a created good, and this against an uncreated good, and the glory of God is dearer than Heaven and Earth to them. Secondly, The price that was paid to purchase our pardon from sin and defilement, was the blood of Christ, we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins. Thirdly, That all a man's comfort comes in by it, 
Isa. 40.1.  says God, speak comfortably to her and tell her that her fins are pardoned, be of good cheer for thy sins are forgiven, and God's people many of them that walk in bitterness all their days, and have sad hearts, and they pray, and their souls draw near to the grave: and all this God permits that he might raise the price of pardon in their hearts, when he bids them be of good cheer their sins are forgiven, and then their flesh comes again as the flesh of a young child. These and many the like principles of profaneness there is in the hearts of men; and these being once granted they do bear a great sway with a man in his whole life.  
Thus we have seen how to keep a pure Conscience in respect of the principles in men's hearts. Now let us come to the second which is how to keep Conscience pure in respect of practice, and therein two things are to be spoken to. First, The notes of a defiled Conscience. Secondly, Rules how to preserve it pure from defilement.  
First, Marks how to judge of the defilement of a man's Conscience, as first, when a man sins much against knowledge, 
Tit. 1.15.  and to sin against knowledge is one of the highest aggravations of sin, and it makes every sin to be presumptuous and qualifies a man; 
Heb. 10.27  for the great transgression if a man's sin will fully after he has received the knowledge of the truth, if you had been blind you had had no sin, the Pharisees and the people committed the same sin, they all persecuted Christ; but the Pharisees sinned against the Holy Ghost in it, and the people did it ignorantly and repent; sins that are ignorantly committed leave a door open to mercy, Paul obtained mercy; for I did it ignorantly in unbelief, yet though he did it ignorantly there was need of mercy, but because he did it ignorantly, therefore there was hope of mercy, there was place for mercy, and the more the light is of education and example, the greater the sin, it is a great advantage to have good education, Pro. 22.6. Train up a Child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not departed from it, and so Pro. 31.1. it was that which his mother taught him; and Timothy knew the Scriptures from a child; and examples do aggravate sins, Isa. 26.10. In a Land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, etc. and Dan. 5. Thou Belshazzar hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knowest all this; to have a light within a man, as well as example without, to have been once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift and then fall away, it's impossible to renew them unto repentance, for a man to turn away from professed light, and cast up his vomit and lick it up again, and as a washed Sow return to the mire again, and after many years enquiring of God, return with Saul the Witches. This is a dreadful state, and such a one had better never to have known the ways of God, etc.  
Secondly, When a man resolves to reserve to himself any way of sinning, Joh 20.12. Some sweet Morsel, and the man hides it; see it in Herod, he did hear John Baptist gladly, and did many things, but there was a Herodias that he did reserve and was resolved he could not part with it; so there is a way of wickedness that men will not turn from, as there are fundamentals in faith, and errors in these are most dangerous to destroy the foundation; so there are some fundamentals in practice, and they will subvert all, and this is one of the main that a man deny himself in every known sin, pluck out the right eye, and cut off the right hand, and there is no man that is more polluted in the sight of God, than he that spares a right eye or a right hand; for there is no sin that this one evil reserved, will not draw him to, Luke 8.13. in the time of temptation he will fall away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Herod, try him in his darling, and he will turn a persecutor of that way that before he professed, and Judas in his covetousness turned Devil and betrayed his Master.  
Thirdly, When men fall often into the same sin, see it in Samson and Peter, that the Lord lets them fall so foully at the Last being ensnared by carnal confidence so often; and Ionas was angry again, and again, and justified it, when a man makes a sin his meat and drink, the comfort of his life comes in by it from day to day, it's a sad sign.  
Fourthly; with the more hardness of heart, and with the less relenting sin is committed, and the longer he can lie in it unrepented of, as we see it in Judas, he was told of the evil and danger of it, it had been good for him if he never had been born, and yet he goes out and saith, What will you give me? and some good men as David and Solomon, yet lay long in a way of sinning; the sooner a man riseth after falls, and a man's heart smites him as david's did, the more pure is that man's Conscience in the sight of God, to be past feeling, and for men to give themselves up to uncleanness, 
Eph. 4.19.  it's a sad sign of a seared Conscience, 
1 Tim. 4.2,  etc.  
Fifthly, When a temptation takes speedily with a man, John 13.27.30. Christ did give Judas a Sop, which was a signal to give Satan a farther possession of him, and he follows the temptation; but after that he went immediately out, there was no more consultation; so the sooner also that motions to duty prevail with a man, the more pure his Conscience is, when the Lord says, seek you my face, the Soul presently answers, thy face Lord will I seek, the spirit says come, and the Bride says come; and the sooner motions to sin take with a man, the more impure and defiled is his Conscience, Pro. 7.23. He no sooner saw a Harlot, but he went after her strait way; their hearts are hot as an Oven, etc.  
Sixthly, The more a man plots iniquity, and dothdeliberate it before hand, makes pro vision for the flesh, the adulterer waits for the twilight, 
Rom. 13.14.  and he doth lie in wait at his neighbour's door, when men dig deep for ways how to accomplish that that is evil, the more men exercise their wits in sin, and the more devilish wisdom is in it to commit iniquity by counsel and advice, is the wisdom of the flesh, ingeniose nequam; as Pharaoh, men will destroy the just by cruelty, and yet deal wisely, and Julian by clemency, yet deal wisely, let them enjoy their liberty by corrupting them by liberty, and in peace destroy them, God abhors plotted wickedness, and surely God will bring it to nought and confound men by it.  
Seventhly, When men watch oppertunities of sinning and be glad ofthem, and be sorry for the loss of them at any time, as Judas sought opportunity to betray Christ, 
Prov. 7.  and the Harlot is glad of the opportunity, The good man is gene fromhome, and has taken a Sum of moneywith him, and will not return till thetime appointed, come let us take ourfill of Love; and Joseph's Mistress when none of the men of the house were within, and Judas when the Ointment was poured out, he was sorry for the waist, that he lost such an opportunity, and Gehazy my Master has let him go with all those fine things, but as the Lord lives I will go and get something of him, and what did he get but a foul disease, etc.  
Eightly, When much means are used to keep men from sin and they avail not, but men do break through all, and will commit sin, when men have been often admonished, Pro. 29.1. and often afflicted, 
Pro. 29.1.  God will hedge up their way with thorns, and yet they will follow after their Lovers, 
Hos. 2.6  God doth take many courses to make sin difficult unto a man, a hedge of thorns, and yet the man follows after it still; 
Pro. 13.19  Balaam a man would have thought Gods forbidding him first, and then the difficulties that lay in his way should have hindered him, and though he would still be trying to displease God, yet still God held a hand upon his Conscience, nevertheless Balaam ran greedily after the ways of unrighteousness, when men cannot endure to be reproved; Asa was a godly man, yet his Conscience was in an evil frame, he could not bear a reproof; nay, when men wait and lay snares for him that reproves in the gate, etc. It is a sign of a seared Conscience; etc.  
Ninthly, When men grow impudent and shameless in evil, for there is a shame that doth keep men from some sins, some kind of awe and respects before men, 
Gen. 15.16.  but there is a fullness of sin, and impudence, and obstinacy makes it up, when men have a Whore's forehead that cannot blush, they are not ashamed of sin, nay, they glory in their shame, and speak of it with rejoicing; pudet non esse impudentem, the unjust know no shame.  
Lastly, When men are not affected with, and not afraid of spiritual judgements, it's the highest and the greatest wrath that can befall a man: vae illis ad quorum peccata connivet Deus. 
Luther.  Ephraim is joined to Idols, Let him alone; why should they be smitten any more? they will revolt more and more, I will not punish your daughters when they commit adultery says the Lord; non parcit propitius; parcit iratus. 
Aust.  O servum illum beatum, 
Tertul.  cui deus dignatur irasci: The last sentence of the Church is Anathama Maranatha, and so it is here also. Now there is nothing the people of God are more affected with then spiritual judgement; to be given up to a hard heart, to a blind mind, and a spirit of slumber, they are troubled at; nothing more wounds upon a man's estate, or his name, lies not so heavy upon his spirit, nay he would choose all outward evils rather, this is a strange and terrible work of God in judgement, pouring out upon a man a spirit of a deep sleep, and for men not to be troubled, that they are not troubled, it is an argument of a very polluted Conscience. 1 Cor. Durum est quod seipsum non exhorret. 
Bern.   
Secondly, Now to give some rules how a man should do to keep a good Conscience in all things.  
First, Set a high price upon a good Conscience, as being the excellency of the man, which will bear up a man against all evils that men or devils can do to him; 
2 Cor. 1.12.  says the Apostle this is our rejoicing, that in godly simplicity, we have had our conversation in the world, and 'tis this that gives a man boldness in the presence of God, if our hearts condemn us not, we have boldness in his sight, a man that has a good Conscience, shall lift up his face without spot even before God; a good Conscience it is a continual feast, it cheers a man in the worst times, and his Conscience can never be freed from guilt, that is not (in desire at least) freed from defilement, for Christ came by water and by blood, and upon our Consciences he sprinkles blood, and sprinkles upon them clean water also.  
Secondly, Come to the Laver, repent daily, judge yourselves daily, and apply the blood of Christ, which can only purge the Conscience, and do it daily, for the longer any sin lies upon the Conscience, the more unclean that Conscience is; it is compaired unto a Fountain that doth daily work out the mud, 
M●t. 12.15.  and doth not let it rest there at all, but immediately works against it, to a renewed Conscience, all sin is as a mote in the eye, and a beam, he can have no quiet till it be out, but sin in a natural Conscience, it is not burdensome though men add iniquity to iniquity, can easily slip into sin without any remorse, whereas we are not to give place to the Devil, no not one hour, Peter after he had sinned, straightway he went out and wept bitterly, Oh! when any sin lies upon the Conscience, be sure that it will defile thee more; therefore make haste, and work it out, this delay of purging the Conscience, is an evil may be found in the best men, it cost David broken bones, and great perplexity, therefore we should be the more careful to come to the Laver of regeneration.  
Thirdly, Do not despise the checks of Conscience, but mind that Light within you, when it reproves for fins, either of omission, or commission, do not turn the deaf ear; David's heart smote him, and he took notice of it, and Christ himself, my reins chasten me to instruct me in the 
Psal. 16.7.  night season, etc. For let me tell you that any motion of a man's Conscience slighted, it is thereby defiled, for it speaks in the name of God, and not any word of God, nor any admonition of Conscience, should we pass by without regard, for Conscience is in the place of God in the man.  
Fourthly, Let it be your constant desire, and your daily exercise, to live honestly in all things according to that of the Apostle; Heb. 13.18. And truly therein the goodness of a man's Conscience is seen, and Acts 24.16. In this I exercise myself to have always a Conscience void of offence, toward God and toward men, Satan doth cast defilement into the Conscience daily, and therefore there is nothing that a man should be employed in more, then to keep a good Conscience daily in all things; and truly it is the great shame of many, that will take upon them the name of Religion, yet are defective in this in a great measure, that it may be said of them, they do not labour in all things to keep a good Conscience.  
Fisthly, Take heed of some special sins, that above others do most defile the Conscience, though indeed all sins defile the Conscience; but some sins are of a more bewitching, and a more defiling nature than others. as,  
First, Secret sins will provoke God to give thee up to the judgement of a defiled Conscience; as he did Judas, because he was a Devil.  
Secondly, Idolatry, Take heed of hankering after that abomination, either to worship an Idol, a false god, or the true God in a false manner, and it is this last that you are most in danger of; therefore let it not be said of any of you, you know not what you worship; but be able to say, we know what we worship, and how we worship God, in spirit and truth, and do not set up man's post by God's post; away with all traditious, and inventions of men, in the worship of God: If you would keep God's presence, observe his order; let all be done according to the pattern, to the Law, and to the Testament, etc. Else God may in just judgement, send us strong delusions to believe lies; which I fear is like to befall many of this nation, who have not received the truth, in this love of it.  
Thirdly, Take heed of drunkenness and Whoredom; Hos. 14.12. Whoredom, and Wine, and new Wine, 
Prov 2.19.  take away thy heart; none that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of Life, etc. Flee fornication and be not drunk with Wine, there is a woe to the drunkards; etc. Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. These sins besot men, etc.  
Lastly, Be much in a secret judging of yourselves, and in a private examination, 
Hag. 1.7.  the Lord saith consider your ways, and set your hearts upon them, and turn in upon your actions and overlook them again, bring them to the Light, prove yourselves, and judge yourselves, and do it often, there is a daily judicatory to be erected, a cultus conscientiae, which a man should be busied about every day, Matt. 25.7. Then all those Virgins arose and trimmed their lamps; the wise as well as the foolish, etc. Ego de terrenis negotiis simpliciter accipio. Calv. Whilst men are in this World, there is a daily defilement that will cleave unto them, a squalor, there will be something out of order, that there must be a daily and a continual triming, the wise as well as the foolish Virgins must be found in it, and truly if a man neglects it but a while, and keeps not a constant course in it, a man shall find a strange averseness in his spirit thereunto all his life after; for the way to sin's defilement, is mainly by insensibleness, a man is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and walks with God at a venture; and truly if Satan brings a man to that once, he hath prevailed very far, and will exceedingly defile the man.  
We have spoken of keeping a good Conscience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards God, let us now come to consider also what it is for a man to keep a good Conscience towards man; for both these must go together, he must keep a good Conscience in all things, as was hinted formerly, and be holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; for a dead fly spoils the whole Box of Ointment, and a good Conscience is like to the eye, it hates motes, and they disquiet it as well as beams: It's an error in the common sort of men to think all Religion lies in their just and upright carriage towards men, as the Pharisees did, and to such I say doth your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the cribes and Pharisees, if not, you shall never enter into the Kingdom of God, etc. Indeed there is a civil honesty, a sweet and an ingenious carriage towards men, that is very lovely, and these are commonly called the world's Saints, and indeed they have nothing amongst them appears so pleasing; 
Mar. 10.21.  Christ loved the young man, and yet peculiar Grace he had none; for he was under the reigning power of covetousness, and therefore there was something in him that was more general, for which Christ loved him, he had restraining grace, and a sweet outward carriage; that even the spirit of God had wrought in him, habent & filii concubinarum sua munera, etc. and yet Christ said to him, for all these accomplishments one thing thou lackest, etc. and if thou walk never so uprightly before men, that thou be esteemed the world's Saint, and thou couldst bring a testimony of thy good behaviour from all the ingenious men of thy age, yet without an inward work of grace and regeneration, and a heart inlivened by a spirit of faith, so that all these works flow from union with Christ, and from a principle of love wrought in thee to God, truly all that thou dost is abominable to God, in non renatis non solum peccata sed & bona opera sunt mortalia, for fides est caput bonorum operum, and if that be wanting, all of it is but nature improved, and new dressed, and so can never please God, semen naturae non consurgit in fructum gratiae; for a man's duties do proceed from the same principles that his sins do, and there must be a renewing in the spirit of his mind before God accepts any service of him.  
And there are some men do turn to the other extreme, and they say that all obedience is mainly towards God, and therefore they are much in prayer and hearing, and run from Ordinance to Ordinance, and they do speak much also of keeping a good Conscience before God; but yet they are negligent and lose in their carriages towards men, they are as censorious and unjust and deceitful busybodies in other men's matters, proud, boasters, false accusers, whisperers, etc. Yet these men would pass for Saints, and think themselves in the highest form of professors: Now this is a sure rule, a pure Conscience though he cannot keep all the commandments of God, yet he has a respect unto them all, as Psal. 119.6. with a care to walk answerable unto them, and there is none that he doth wholly neglect, as the word in the Hebrew signifies that man therefore whose profession for God is never so high, and talks never so much of having a good heart to God's word, and would be accounted in his religious duties even Angelical, he prays much, hears much, fasts much, etc. Yet if he practise it not in his particular place, in his relations, in his shop, in his deal with a man, I shall strongly suspect that man of hallowness and hypocrisy; how ever he may tip his Tongue like a Saint, yet he may boldly be reckoned amongst the sinners, and such are spots in our feasts, etc.  
Now, To stir you up to this Duty of keeping a good Conscience towards men, let me exhort you to observe these particulars.  
First, Take special care of the souls that are committed to your charge; parents have the souls of their children committed to their charge, and Ministers of their people, and Magistrates and Masters in their places also, and of the Talents that God has committed to your trust in this World; next to your own Souls, are the Souls of others, the more any loves his wife, and child, and friend, etc. The more he will labour to bring them in love with grace, and the ways of of God, Prov. 4.3. He was beloved of his Father, he taught me also, etc. 
Prov. 1.1.  Tender and only beloved of my Mother: The words of King Lemuel, the Prophecy that his Mother taught him. and 1 Pet. 1.1.2. That if any obey not the Word, they also may without the Word, be won by the conversation of the wives. etc. The more the Wife loves the Husband, the more she endeavours to win him, etc. It is possible the great cut unto Adam's conscience was, that by sin he not only destroyed himself, but his posterity; 
Bern.  none parents sed peremptores, a sad parting to hear a child say, when he is launching into eternity, a cruel Father hast thou been to me, in neglecting to instruct me for the salvation of my soul; and for a Wife to say, a bloody Husband hast thou been to me, and a bloody Minister hast thou been to me, for thou hast sold souls for gain, Ezech. 13.10. Because they have seduced my people, 
Rev. 18.13.  saying peace and there was no peace, and one built a Wall, and lo others daubed it with untempered mortar. etc. They made souls of men their Merchandise, etc. Indeed there be many men that gain by the loss of souls, as Act. 19.24. When the Devil was cast out, they were highly offended to hear souls should be saved, because the hope of their gain was gone.  
Secondly, If you would keep a good Conscience towards all men, do not bear sin for them, either by not mourning for them, or by not reproving them, when they sin against God. First, By not mourning for them; It was an excellent frame in the Psalmist, my eyes gush out rivers of water, because men keep not thy Law: Secondly, By not reproving them, Leu. 19.17. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. etc. It is sad to bear the sins of other men, remember thou hast enough of thy own, ab alienis meis libera me Domine. 
Aust.   
It may be thou shalt be counted morose and unsociable, but malo famam boni viri perdere quam Conscientiam; and which will be better at the last day, when men shall say euge bone socie, or Christ, bone serve? But men think they shall get ill will for their pains, and there is little good like to come on it, and so men shift off their Duty: ●ut hear what Job says of himself; 
Job. 31.34.  Did I fear a multitude, 〈◊〉 did the contempt of families terifie me that I kept silence? There is a sinful and cursed silence that all good hearts should be afraid of, when the glory of God, and the good of souls is in danger, then is the season specially for all the upright of heart to rebuke for sin, those that God has pu● under their care; and to mourn for what they cannot help: Though we cannot be reprovers of all sinners, yet we may be mourners for all sinners.  
Thirdly, Do not get an estate unjustly, by falsisying of public trust, or else by secret defrauding, or going beyond thy brother, for the issue of it will be, the rust of the silver you so get shall be a witness against you; 
Joh. 5.3.  and the cry of the oppressed enters into the ears of the Lord, etc. Woe to him that builds a town with blood, 
Job. 31.38.  the Stones out of the Wall shall cry out against him, and that hath the labour of the hireling without wages, and makes a prey upon the necessities of men; etc. Naboths Vineyard, stuck in Ahabs' Conscience, and Judas Thirty pieces also, it being the price of blood, it terrified him, so that he chose strangling rather then bear the guilt of it, he had lucrum in crumena, but Gehennam in Conscientia.  
Fourthly, If you have wronged any one restore it; for that unjust gain lies upon thy Conscience, and God will make thee vomit it up, he will pluck it out of thy belly, Conscience will never be at ease till then; for as long as a man retains it he does justify his sin and does every day commit it: 
N●h. 5.11.  therefore make haste and restore whatever thou hast got unjustly and by indirect means, Zacheus restored it , go you and do likewise, Herod could not repent, keep his Herodias, non remittitur peocatum, etc. 
Mic. 6.10.  And God takes it ill that men do not, and what doth the Lord require of thee but to show mercy, etc. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked; I will punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their master's houses with violence and deceit, etc. 
Zeph. 1.3.   
Fifthly, Take heed of the neglect of doing good to others; rich men have an opportunity of doing good to others, and look you do it; for riches do not always last, they are this world's goods. and take to themselves wings and fly from one place to another, make therefore friends of the unrighteous Mammon, etc. And great men have an opportunity to lift up their hand for the fatherless, and to restore the needy to their right, and oh that it were more the aim of great men that are so ambitious of honour, and high places in the world, that they may be restorers of breaches, and a help to the needy and helpless, that justice and righteousness may take place, than there would not so many have contempt poured upon them as now there is, and God will still overturn, overturn, till there be no complaint in the midst of us; and how bitter will the remembrance of them be, that have had a hand to do good, and yet wanted a heart? as it was in Jehu's time, he took no heed to walk in the way of God with all his heart; so many a man may say, time was when I might have reform Religion, had not my Policy given Laws to my Piety, and my desire to set up myself, hindered me from exalting God: Phineas was zealous for God, and a covenant of peace was made with him: Nehemiah did reform profaneness and the Lord remembered him in goodness, etc.  
Now when men will not use their authority for God, but he is dishonoured, and the souls of men are destroyed, and the needy are sold for a pair of Shoes, and their possessors slay them, and think themselves not guilty, and every man does what is good in his own sight, and there is none to put them to shame, the the Lord will remove the Diadem, etc. and cast down the mighty from their seat, and will exalt the humble and lowly.  
Sixthly, Keep a good Conscience towards enemies, 
Job 3.129, 30.  it was a brave temper in Job, If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lift up myself when evil found him, etc. and our Saviour bids us, 
Mat. 5.44.  pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you, etc. forgive them, and be willing to do them good, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good, if they be thy enemies without a cause, or for telling them the truth, they are more their own enemies than thine, therefore pity them.  
The accidental part, or less principal part, of the torments of Hell we have hear, under the Metaphor of the never dying Worm: And now I come unto the principal part, and that which is essential to it, and that is the fire that never can be quenched, and here I must mind you of what Christ says, 
Joh. 3.12.  I have spoken to you Earthly things, and you believe not Spiritual things under Earthly resemblances; for our weak eyes need to have the species condensed by such spectacles as these are, spiritualia capere non possumus nisi adumbrata, etc. How shall you believe if I tell you of Heavenly, especially when the joys of Heaven and the pains of Hell are laid down in any measure before you, this latter I am now to speak to, the fire which cannot be quenched; it's a thing disputed amongst Divines, and the fathers of old have differed in it, and the Schoolmen after them, whether the fire by which the damned in Hell shall be tormented, be not Material and Corporeal fire, but Metaphorical only, some of them say that it is Corporeal, and of the same nature with that fire we have here; because it must torment the bodies of men, and others say that it cannot be Corporeal; for than it cannot work upon Spirits, as the Devils, and the Souls of men are, and hence Durandus and others have found out a way, that by the power of God he can elevate Corporeal agents in their operations; so that they shall work upon Spiritual substances, and as the Soul is affected here by its union with the body, so it shall be hereafter, etc.  
But these things seem not at all to agree with the word of God, nor the manner of the speaking of the Spirit of God therein, who hath wholly expressed Heaven and Hell to us by Metaphors; because in its proper Speech, and if the Lord should speak of things as they are, we could not understand them, it's questioned by some Divines by what names the estate and condition of the damned was expressed in the Old Testament, and it is wholly resolved into certain Metaphors, taken from some exemplary acts of vengeance upon sinners; the first remarkable judgement that came upon the world was the Deluge, now we read in Gen. 6. Of Giants that were in the Earth, men of renown, whose wickedness was so great upon the Earth that the Lord repent that he had made man, and takes up a resolution in judgement to destroy them that he had created from the Earth, and these being the first that did eminently and remarkably perish, therefore Pro. 21.16. 'tis said, The man that wanders out of the way of understarding, shall remain in the Congregation of the dead, the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the place receives its name from those wicked men, who were in the eyes of all men remarkably the first inhabitants, and this is conceived to be the first title that in Scripture is any where given to the place of the damned, the next judgement was the destruction of Sodom, God condemning them with an overthrow, and turning it into a dead Sea, a fiery and Sulphurous Lake where every thing dies, nor can any thing live in it, and a smoke that continually ascends up, and by that also in Scripture Hell is expressed, the Lake that burns with fire and Brimstone for ever, and it is Judas 7. suffering the vengeance of Eternal fire. There is another expression of it that is very famous; there was near Jerusalem a place that was called Tophet as Schal. conceives from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tympano; because of the several Musical Instruments, that were used there when the Jews did sacrifice their children unto Molech and burnt them, caused them to pass through the fire unto the Devil, and to testify that they did it from the heart, though they were never so dear, yet they must rejoice in it, and dance at the sacrifice, it was the Valley of the sons of Himon, this place was thus polluted by sin, and with the blood of men poor innocent ones. And this place of Idolatry Josiah did pollute, and commanded all the dead bodies and all the unclean things of the City to be cast therein, and for the consuming of those a continual fire was kept there, and God did execute special vengeance in this place; because in it the Lord destroyed 185000. of the Assyrian Camp, and there the Jews were slain themselves, when the Babylonish Army took the City, and hence Isa. 30. and last verse; For Tophet is ordained of old, yea for the King it is prepared, he has made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire, and much wood, the breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it; this place that was so famous for judgement and vengeance is used to express the torments of Hell the place of the damned, it is called Tophet, and hence also I conceive the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath its name from Himon; for the greatness of the misery it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grave and destruction, Pro. 15.11. There is nothing done in Hell and in the bottomless pit, but it is open to the Lord, he knows and orders all in it, and therefore is the Devil called Abadon the destroyer for the terror and unquietness thereof, it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Pet. 2.4. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to trouble, vex and disquiet a man, and it's called for the uncomfortableness, and continual fear of it darkness, by which all misery is expressed in the Scripture, and to set forth the perfection of it, it is called utter darkness, Mat. 8.12. but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness, etc. That is extra Ecclesiam & regnum Christi; for the Kingdom of God is an inheritance in light, Col. 1.12. so all the miseries of men without Christ are called darkness, and a darkness that is without, even there where all the wicked of the world shall be, so Cartwright, and some think that it is Comparativum Superlativi loco, and it signifies maximas & profundismas, and so Pareus, etc. And for the eternity of it its called the deep, Luke 8.31. and Rev. 9.1. The Well or the deep. or the bottomless pit; because a man's estate there is eternal, there is no changing, a man sinks into a bottomless pit, where there is no hope that ever a man shall rise again, a great gulf there is, and there is no changing of a man's state so ever; Thus doth the spirit of God in Scripture by Metaphors of all sorts of things that are dreadful unto sense set forth the condition of the damned and the torments that he has reserved for them in the life to come.  
Thus we see that God has done al● in a Metaphorical way, and by borrowed expressions, and so I conceive it is in this place, and therefore it will be necessary that we do inquire what the Lord doth usually express by fire in Scripture, and thereby w● shall find out the meaning of th●● fire in the text, that never shall b● quenched, I find in Scripture many things expressed by fire, but to ou● present purpose especially these two first the wrath and displeasure of the great God, which does break forth upon men as fire upon stubble, and and so it's expressed in Deut. 4.24. 
Heb. 12. last.  The Lord thy God is a consuming fire; and it is said, that the light of Israel shall be for a fire, etc. The same God that is a fire for light unto his people, comforting them, and shinein upon them, the same ignis vorans to his enemies, as briers and thorns in one day, so Deut. 32.22. For a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn to the lowest Hell; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is a grave where the bodies of men are buried, but there is also a lower grave, and a deeper destruction for their souls, therefore is the wrath of God in Scripture commonly expressed by fire.  
Secondly, By the fruits and effects of wrath, all miseries and calamities that come upon men whatsoever, Psal. 66.12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads, we went thorough fire and water, all manner of miseries; thou broughtest us forth into a wealthy place; etc. Through the wrath of the Lord, is the Land darkened: etc. 
Isa. 2.19.  And the people shall be as fuel for the fire, and so Glausius does expound that place, Isa. 24.15. Wherefore glorify the Lord in the fire, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had spoken of great afflictions that God would bring upon the people, even desolation and destruction, but yet the Lord will not make a full end, some shall be left, as the shaking of an Olive-tree, and as the Grape glean after the Vintage; and they shall sing for the Majesty of the Lord, and shall glorify the Lord in the fires, in all those sad things and tokens of his wrath that have come upon other men in their sight, and yet they have been preserved even in the fires.  
By fire, Here I conceive to be meant, all the positive part of the torments of Hell; and because they are not only upon the soul, but also upon the body; as in Heaven there shall be all bodily perfections, so there shall be also in Hell, all bodily miseries, whatsoever may make a man perfectly miserable: Therefore the wrath of God, and all the positive effects of this wrath, is here meant by fire. First, To begin with the wrath of God, and that is the fire that is here meant; and hence the Doctrine is this.  
That it is the wrath of God in Hell, Doct. that shall be the great Tormentor, the immediate Executioner; Here God doth punish men by the creatures, but hereafter, they shall fall immediately into the hands of the living God.  
This we shall prove by these arguments and demonstrations.  
First, After this life God shall be be all in all, as it is said 1 Cor. 15.28. In this life, all God's dispensations are by the creatures, he governs by them, by Magistrates, and Ministers, and Angels, and also he doth permit the Devils to have power and dominion, but he will then put down all rule and authority, and power, not only Magistrates and Ministers, but even Angels and Devils; when the dispensatory kingdom of Christ in this World shall have an end, than all these creature-administrations shall cease, no more comforts by ordinances and Relations, no more miseries by enemies, but God shall be all in all, either in mercy or in wrath, and all the misery of the creatures shall be from hence, Rom. 9.22. It is to show his wrath, and to make his power known, 
2 Thes. 1.9  punished with eternal destruction from the presence of God, and the glory of his power; therefore as in Heaven the comforts of souls shall come in mainly from God immediately, so in Hell shall their terror also; for all the comfort of the creatures shall cease, and it is the wrath of God immediately, that shall be the great torment.  
Secondly, After this Life, God doth intent to dispense all his wrath and to show it forth as the wrath of a God, Psal. 78.38. And if he will do so, he must do it immediately, as it Heaven, if he will show forth the love of a God he must do it immediately, and therefore though God could comfort a man exceedingly by the creatures; yet they are to mean to testify God's Love, Eccles. 9 1. There is no creature that is a vessel, that car receiven all the Love of God, and empty it into the man; so he cannot know hacred, for there is no creature can be 〈◊〉, able to receive all the 〈…〉, and therefore as in Heaven there shall be something beyond all creature comforts, so in Hell shall be something beyond all created miseries; Therefore Rom. 9.22. They be called vessels of wrath, that God made to receive it.  
Thirdly, The wrath of God after this Life, shall he such as passeth knowledge, and passeth fear; Who knows the power of thy wrath? 
Psal. 90.11  Now there is no creature can fill the Soul, all the goodness that is in the creature, cannot satisfy the hope of man, and all the evil in the creature cannot satisfy the fears of man; there will still be something that will go beyond a man's knowledge, and that a man's fears will go beyond; and therefore we commonly say, men are more feared then hurt: But in Heaven as the soul will be satisfied beyond all the good of the creatures, and that beyond a man's hopes, for the Lord will come to be admired in his Saints. Now, 
2 Thes. 1.  Admiration is the overplus of Expectation; so in Hell, the Soul will be filled with torment, beyond what was or can be apprehended in the creatures, and as the good will pass a man's hopes, so will the evil in Hell, pass a man's fears; but this cannot be in the creature, for the good of it cannot pass the one, and all the evil of it cannot go beyond the other; and therefore if a man's comforts were only created, all the comforts in the World, would not make up Heaven or happiness, for they are but created; so if a man's miseries after this Life, were only in the creatures, all created miseries would never make Hell; but still the Soul would live under them all: But it is only under the wrath of the great God, that the soul dies.  
Fourthly, Consider the torments of the Devils, whence is all their Torments now? For Judas tells us they are reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgement of the great day, etc. And they are not wholly freed: Now, Doth God apply any creature to this work? 
Mar. 8.29.  Dost thou come to torment us before the time? There was nothing tormented them, but his presence and power, etc. And this wrung from them this great complaint. Now, they do not torment themselves though they have a Conscience, yet this is not the great tormenter, and we do not read that they are executioners one of another, or that God doth use the ministry of the good Angels in the punishment of the evil, though the good Angels strive with them for the preservation of the Saints, now what Creature has power enough to torment the Devils? such great and mighty Creatures as they are, surely it is nothing else but the wrath and indignation of the great God, which is the fire that is reserved for the Devil and his Angels, to be made objects of, and lie under for ever, this the Lord doth suspend here in this life by the Kingdom of Christ; because now there is a time of patience, and the Lord has service to employ them in, as vessels of dishonour, which if they should lie under the wrath of God perfectly poured out, they would not be able to perform, and therefore the Lord doth forbear them, that at last wrath may come upon them to the uttermost.  
Fifthly, Consider the first fruits and inchoations of Hell in this life, and that either in wicked men or in the Saints, in wicked men, Heb. 10.27. there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some sparkles of Hell, a certain fearful looking for of Judgement, and fiery indignation, etc. As the people of God have here some sparks of Heaven, by the Spirit of adoption, some earnest and glimpses of Heaven, see it in Cain, Gen. 4.13. and Judas, his Soul is filled with horror and amazement, that they would rather choose all the miseries of the Creatures, and to lie under the whole Creation, call to Mountains to cover them to be freed of it, and therefore they cry out, it is too late for me to repent, is't possible for me to be pardoned? I know God will never have mercy upon me, and therefore their soul chooseth strangling, any thing to put them out of this torment, what did Judas aise, who did hurt him? he had money in his purse, there was no evil of the Creature upon him, he gratified the high Priests, and many of that crew, only there was a secret touch of Gods own finger upon him, an immediate drop of wrath let in upon his Conscience, etc. And not only in wicked, but in godly men, as Job and Heman, Job 6.4. The arrows of the Almighty stick in me, and the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me, and surely inward terrors are the most terrible, and there are no medicines in the whole creation, that can heal a wounded spirit, all friends, estates, honours, relations, will be to a man as the white of an Egg, in the day when the terrors of God's wrath do compass a man about, as if God speak peace to the Soul, none can speak terror, no not all the Creatures, and the most exquisite miseries that can be inflicted by them, ●s appears by Martyrs; so if God speak terrors, there is none can speak comfort, nothing in the Creature can help or ease, as appears by men that have had all things the world can afford, and yet their spirits were 〈◊〉 wounded in them, they had ●or he lest relief thereby; so 〈…〉 Heman, Psal. 88.5. We know of no pressure that was upon him by the Creatures, and yet he complains he was free among the dead, as a man in Hell already, while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted, there was something beyond what all the Creatures could inflict; Now there is joys that the Saints receive here from God under Heaven, joy unspeakable, and glorious, and of the same kind, though they differ in degree with those in glory; so the terrors here are of the same kind, only they differ in degree from the torments of Hell, they have a taste of the Cup, which in Hell they shall drink of it a full drought, and therefore as the one is joy unspeakable, and full of glory, so is the other torments unspeakable and full of sorrow; and in this God uses the ministry of no Creature, neither doth the hearts of men discern any thing but the wrath and terrors of the Almighty.  
Sixthly, It doth more fully appear in the suffering of Christ, if we look upon him as in the Garden, he was in an agony, Mat. ●6. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soul was environed and compassed about with sorrow, now all the misery that can come from the Creature can never compass the Soul about, there will be some door open, but here he sees no way our, and therefore Mark 14.33. he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sore amazed, under the apprehension of wrath, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Spirit failed within him, Psal. 40.13. His heart in the middle of his body was melted as wax, and this anguish of spirit so wrought upon his body, that it made him to sweat drops of blood, whence is all this affliction that was upon Christ, we read of no Devils that were let lose upon him to torment him, his very presence was their tormenter here, and his wrath shall be their tormenter hereafter, we read of no Angels that had commission to afflict him; nay, we read of an Angel that appeared from heaven to comfort him, Luke 22.43. which would have been enough to have raised up a man's Spirit under the greatest afflictions of the Creatures, nor was it from any inward unquietness in his own Spirit; for there was no seeds of such fearful distempers in him; for he knew no sin, there was no guile in his mouth, it could not be from any bodily pain; for in the Garden the Jews had not laid hold upon him, there was no evil upon him, and it could not be fear of a bodily death; for it was for this cause that he came into the world, and it was that which he did desire and long for, with desire have I desired to eat the Passeover with you, I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? but the cause was the sense of the wrath of God lying upon his spirit, 
Isa 53.10.  it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief to beat him to pieces, and to grind him to powder, as his Soul was made an offering for sin, there is a sacrifice, and there is a fire that must consume it, Christ was the sacrifice, and the wrath of God was the fire to consume him, and these are the extremities of the sufferings of Christ, now in all this, Christ died as our surety, and paid our debt, 
L●k. 23.3,  and if this fire did burn so fiercely in him, that was the Green Tree that was not so fit Fuel to burn; because there was no sin in him, what will it do in us that are dry Trees? now if the main of Christ's sufferings were from the wrath of God immediately, we may safely conclude that the sufferings due to us, and which the wicked shall undergo in Hell for the substance of them, shall be the same from the wrath of God immediately upon the Soul, though there be no Creature in Heaven or Earth to set it on, this wrath that did seize so fiercely upon the green Tree, will surely consume the dry.  
And it must needs be so. Reasons. that the wrath of God upon wicked men in Hell shall be their great and immediate torment; for none can do it but God alone, and that if we consider the offence to be punished, or else the subject of this punishment: First, if we consider the offence that deserves it, it is sin, which is committed chief against God, and the punishment of it must be a recompense, The Wages of sin is death, 
2 Thes. 1.  'tis a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to every sinner, etc. Now who is able to take an estimate of the evil that is in sin, and the wrong that it has done unto God, there are two things in sin, damnum & injuria, a wrong in point of goods, and in point of honour, sin has destroyed all the Creatures, who is able to value the loss of a whole world, but only he that made it, and the loss of a Soul, but he that purchased it, and who is able to judge of the glory of God, and the infinite wrong that is done him by sin; no Creature in Heaven or in Earth can, and therefore if all the powers of the Creatures were put into one to torment a man but for one sin, they were never able to give unto him the wages and the recompense of one sin proportionable unto the wrong that God has sustained thereby, either in point of goods or honour; for there is more evil in one sin, than there is or can be good in any of the Creatures, therefore God must put his own Power, the power of his wrath unto the work, if he will have the wages of any one sin paid: Judges here, do condemn men themselves, and pass the sentence upon them, but they leave it unto others to execute them, because they can do it as effectually as themselves, but it is not so here, if God will have a sinner pay the utmost farthing, he must exact it of him himself; for sin is out of measure sinful, it passeth the thoughts of Men and Angels to conceive, and therefore the punishment is greater than they can inflict; it is God alone can do it.  
Secondly, If we respect the subject upon which this punishment is to light; That is chief to be punished that has the chief hand in the sin. Now, Sin is mainly the sin of the Soul; Mic 6.7. Rom 6.16. Though the creature might punish the body, yet the m●●● torment is to be laid on the Soul, but the Soul is capable of more to recent, than all the creatures in Heaven and Earth can inflict; God only is the Father of Spirits, and the correction and discipline of Spirits do belong to him alone; we commonly say, that the Devils in Hell, shall be the torments of souls there, as if there work there, were only to torment men for ever, whereas they shall be chief tormented themselves; for there is a Lake of fire and brimstone prepared for the Devil and his Angels, and yet you say he can torment the soul, being a spirit; but alas the torment must be destruction, 
1 Thes. 1.9.  from the presence of the Lord, etc. Now, all the devils in Hell could never inflict any thing that should destroy the soul, or take away all good from the soul, and fill it full of misery; they can never satisfy the capacity of the Soul in good, nor in evil, the Soul is a vessel of wrath, and will hold more than all the creatures can put into it, and will live it, 'tis only under the wrath of God that the Soul dies, and therefore they that can kill the Body, they are not able to kill the Soul, God only can create, 
Mat. 10.28.  therefore God only can annihilate, therefore God only can inflict a punishment worse than annihilation; 
Mat. 26.24.  It had been good for that man he had not been born, that thus comes under the punishment of God, this is a dreadful consideration.  
Secondly, It is an act fit for none but God, for it is, First, An act of justice; 2 Thes. 1.5. In the day of Revelation of the righteous judgement of God, when God will manifest his justice to the utmost. Now, Who is able to show forth the justice of God, in the extent and glory of it but himself? When God will manifest an attribute to the World, he doth it by himself immediately; if he would show his Power; he will make a World; if he would show his Holiness, he gives his Son; and if his Glory, he makes Heaven; and if his Justice, he makes Hell. Now, As nothing can do the former but Gods immediate hand, so nothing can do the latter also, for to manifest an attribute, is an act and glory of God; for as none can show forth his mercy, so none can show forth and declare his Justice, but himself.  
Secondly, It is an act of wrath; Rom. 3.5. 
Rom. 2.5.  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath: Now, no creature is able to show forth the wrath of the great God, here there is a little wrath manifested in them, his wrath is kindled but a little, 
Psal. 2. last.  etc. And he corrects in measure, but when the Lord shall cause his whole wrath to arise, and punish man out of measure, that no creature is capable of doing, no creature can pour out all the grace of God neither; and therefore God made choice of Christ who was God and man, to lay up all his treasures of grace and mercy in, answerable to those infinite thoughts of mercy and grace that were in himself; 1 John 5.11. And this life is in his Son, and so no creature can show forth all God's wrath, he must do it by himself.  
Thirdly, It must be an act of vengeance, which is the royalty of God, that he claims to himself, and he will not give unto any other; Heb. 10.30. For we know him that has said, vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense saith the Lord, and again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living God. He forbids private revenges, and saith to his disciples, if he smite thee on the one cheek, turn the other, etc. As there are none avenge here below, but Magistrates, his Vicegerents, to show that it is the privilege of none but himself hereafter. Now, if he has reserved it unto himself here, surely he will take it to himself hereafter; in the disposing of the eternal estates of the greater part of the World, Angels and Men, to give this honour unto the creature that they should take vengeance, the Lord will never do it, but it is and shall be an act of his own immediate wrath, and here the three persons hath in Scripture, their opera appropriata, if the Father be provoked, the Son is an advocate with the Father, and the Holy Ghost strives with him, but when all the persons shall join together, the Son will plead no more, and the spirit strive no more, but all join in this great work of vengeance, and the spirit of God, as in Heaven, he shall be a spirit of Adoption, and Glory; so in Hell a spirit of bondage and torment for ever. 
Isa. 30. last   
There are two things in it to be observed; First, Here is fire and brimstone, that is unquenchable fire, for brimstone is pertinasissimum ignis fomentum, and there is not a little, but a River of brimstone; and what is this fire and brimstone? It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit of the Lord burning in it, his wrath is the fire and the brimstone also, and his spirit; for as the spirit is not only fire but oil, because his grace is upheld by the daily supplies of its own grace, notwithstanding all men's unthankfulness; so his wrath is not only fire, but brimstone; there is a continual supply of wrath to eternity, that makes this fire of Tophet to be eternal and unquenchable fire.  
Object. But Satan is said to have the power of Death, and is called Abaddon the destroyer, and therefore it seems Satan is the instrument that God will use in tormenting them; that as here they were commanded by him, and subjected unto his temptations, so they should be under him for ever tormenting them.  
Answ. First, Satan is said to be the destroyer in respect unto sin, which is the destruction of the creature, and lays the foundation of a man's eternal destruction, as he is called a murderer, 
John 8.  so he is called a destroyer, because by him man was deceived and seduced; and this is not spoken in reference to his inflicting of Death, but in respect of drawing a man unto sin; and so he is said to be the destroyer, and in respect of many temporal punishments, that the Lord by him doth bring in the destruction of persons, and kingdoms, and he is therefore called the destroyer, because it his whole work to destroy, and he intends nothing else in all that he doth but destruction, and Satan is said to have the power of death, it is not, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which notes authority as well as power, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is strength and power only to do it; so he doth inflict death upon men when God employs him, for Satan is used in such dishonourable services, as to have the power of death, as the executioner hath, that puts men to death, and torments them that the Judge doth give into his hand.  
Secondly, When a wicked man is put to death the devils attend; and they take his soul and hurry it to the place of torment, as the Angels do the souls of the Saints; 
Luke 16.  and therefore it is said, thou Fool this night shall they require thy soul, 
Luk. 12.20.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Devil is present and demands the soul, and takes it and caries it into the place of torment that it is adjudged too, even to its own place, where Judas went; so that the Devil inflicts upon men and carries them to Hell.  
Thirdly, At the last and general judgement, Satan shall accuse them being condemned together with him, he shall take them to Hell with him, for this wrath is prepared for the Devil and his Angels: But this kingdom of ●atan, shall last no longer than the kingdom of the Angels, and all rule, and all authority shall be put down, when Christ shall have given up the kingdom unto the Father, and the Angels shall rule over the elect no more; so the Devil shall rule over the reprobate no more; but now God shall be all in all: In Heaven he shall be all in all in mercy, and in Hell he shall be all in all in wrath, and there shall be no more any dominion of one Creature over another, God will no more use one Creature to reward another, or to punish another, but himself shall be all in all.  
Object. But in Heaven there be many created comforts, therefore in Hell there are many created miseries, and therefore the wrath of God is not the only Executioner there, as you affirm.  
Answ. It's true there are many miseries there from the Creatures, the place is a Dungeon of darkness, it is the bottomless pit, abissus the deep; as there is a great deal of sweetness in the place in Heaven and Glory, so there is much misery here from the place; for there are Chambers of death.  
Secondly, From the Company; the friends of a Soul, and the enemies, and all restraining grace, and the Law of nature shall cease, and sin shall be acted to the life, as part of a man's punishment, and they shall be set one against another for ever; Dives had torment by the coming of his brethren, the man shall be tormented by the coming of his wife, and his children, and his Companions here on earth, etc.  
Thirdly, From the upbraid of Satan; for his malice shall never cease, and therefore he will in this respect be showing a man his folly, and endeavour to torment him more and more, 
Isa. 21.14.  and will deride him, and there is nothing more bitter to a man then to be scorned in misery and derided, and this men may look for in Hell at the hand of Satan, he will mock at them for ever, and never show thee the least pity; for thou art bound up amongst the Tares, in the same bundle with the Devil and all his crew; thus indeed there are some created miseries in Hell, but yet it is the wrath of God that is the great torment, that as in all created blessings here, it is his love that is the root, and the Fountain of them, and they are all nothing unless that go before, they all stand but for a cipher; so unless his wrath go before, all these torments would be but Ciphers, and the Soul would live; there is no Creature that can kill the Soul, they may indeed kill the body, and a small Creature can do so, if it be armed by God, and the greatest can do no more than kill the body, as the life of the Soul comes from God only, so does the death of the Soul also; for he only is the father of spirits, and the Lord loves variety in his dominion over us, he will for a time govern by the Creatures, and comfort by the Creatures, and afflict by them, but hereafter he will then govern by himself immediately, and comfort and afflict by himself immediately, the one in this life, and the other in the life to come.  
First, Use. This informs us that there are certain men that are children of wrath, knowing the terror of the Lord we would persuade you to fly from the wrath to come; for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; Here first I will show you who the persons are that be the children of wrath; Secondly, what we would persuade them to, if the Spirit of God join with us therein.  
First, Who they are, and unto whom this use is directed, that there are some children of wrath is plain, Isa. 10.6. The people of my wrath, that is, appointed to wrath, and Isa. 34.5. a sword is bathed in Heaven; which doth express the decree and purpose of wrath, it is upon the people of his curse, now if this be true of temporal wrath, how much more of eternal wrath, which the Apostle saith is the condition of all men by nature, even of the elect of God, as well as of others, before they are converted; Ephes. 2.3. We by nature were dead in trespasses and sins, as well as others, and children of wrath, now they are said to be the children of it; because they were born to it, and it is their inheritance, all that ever they must look for, men appointed to it, as a child of death is a man deserving death, and appointed thereunto, and as the Saints are called the children of light; so are these also children of wrath; so if you would ask, for whom is this wrath, and who according to the rules of the word are under it? it is every man that is in a state of nature, and a state of unregenerasy; But how should a man know who it is that is in a state of nature, surely a man may know if he will but behold his face in the Glass of the Word, and discern what manner of person he is, James 1.24. There is a judgement that passeth upon the eternal states of men in the Word of God, 1 Cor. 14.25. 
Ezek. 20  The man is judged of all, and the secrets of his heart are made manifest, and he saith that God is in you of a truth; a man looking into the Word, may discern what his estate is: Now first, they are children of wrath that are children of disobedience; 
Col. 3.6.  for these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience, 
John.  He that is born of God sinneth not, non operatur peccatum, he that committeth sin is the servant of sin, and he that commits sin is of the Devil, that is, that lives and lies in any known way of sinning; that he doth reserve unto himself a sweet Morsel, that he cannot cast out, that the comfort of his life comes in by, he eats the bread of wickedness, and drinks the Wine of violence, he feeds upon husks, and upon ashes, 
Isa. 44.20.  over whom sin has dominion; and it reigns in their mortal body; and they obey it in the lust thereof, and take care to make provision for't, thou art yet in my sins; and not only sins of commission but sins of omission, for such also this fire is prepared, Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire, 
Mat. 25  prepared for the Devil an his Angels; for I was hungry and ye gave me no meat; it is not you took away my meat, and naked, and ye rob me of my clothing; I was amongst you and ye put me into prison; but ye did not visit me, and Minister unto me, etc. So that even sins of omission also prove an unregenerate state, and will make a man liable unto this wrath at the coming of the Lord.  
Secondly, The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 
Rom. 1.  who withhold the truthin unrighteousness. When men are convinced that such things are duties, and will acknowledge them, and that such things are sins, and yet for some worldly ends, and base respects will not forbear to practise them, as many of the Pharisees were convinced that Christ was the Messiah, and yet for fear of the Jews durst not confess him, 
Joh. 12.42  that go on in sin against their own light and convictions from day to day, and against many warnings and admonissions, and his own remembrances of the deal of God both with himself and others, that have been engaged in sinful courses; and truly this fire will not burn hotter upon any sort of sinners in the world, than they that sin against light, and in this manner do withhold the truth in unrighteousness.  
Thirdly, They are asted by no other spirit but the spirit of this world; for there is a double spirit that men are acted by in all their actions, the Spirit of God acts some men, and the spirit of the world acts others; they that are regenerate have received the Spirit of Christ, and where the spirit of Christ is, there are all the fruits of the Spirit, and the inward man is in some measure conformed unto Christ, whereas other men are acted by no other rules but the custom of the world, for worldly ends, that look no higher than the things of this life, and the things that are seen, whereas a man that is regenerate has received another spirit that acts him by another rule; for he is led by the Spirit, and unto a higher end, he looks upon the things that are not seen.  
Fourthly, 
2 Cor. 4.  In this are the children of God manifest and the children of the Devil, he that doth not righteousness is not of God, and he that loves not his brother, verse the 14. We know that we are translated from death to life, because we love the brethren, now when a man's heart is embittered against the Saints of the most high, he doth wish evil to them, and if any evil doth befall them he rejoiceth, and at least if he can do no more he will inwardly please himself that they are brought low, it's an argument that thou art one of the Serpent's seed, and thy envy is both thy sin and thy Plague, as it is the Devils, I will put enmity says God between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the Woman, the enmity is put into the Devils Curse, and if thou didst love him that did beget, thou wouldst love them that are begotten of him, and thou that dost hate the Image of God wheresoever it is, and the more thou dost see of the Image of God in the man, the more thou dost hate him, as Christ said of the Pharisees, which of you can accuse me of sin? I have done many good works amongst you, for which of them do you stone me? so the people of God may say, you cannot accuse them but for the good that they have done you; for wheresoever they are, they are as due upon the Grass, thou shalt be a blessing, only men hate the image of God in them, as it's said of Panther, animal hominibus inimicissimum, it doth so hate a man that it will fly at the picture of a man; so it is but a little relemblance of God that is in the best of the Saints here in this life, and yet men hate God so, that they cannot endure his image in any man, 
Tert.  Bonus vir Caius seius, sed ideo malus, quia Christianus. This shows that thou art an unregenerate man, a child of the Devil, and not new born unto God: Now, thou art a child of wrath, and for thee is this eternal fire prepared.  
Secondly, 
Mark 3.7.  I would exhort you all to flee from the wrath to come, it is the greatest evil that can befall a soul; and therefore that which above all things else a man should fly from: Fuga, is conversant only about that which is evil, and that which a man apprehends to be so. Now, the greater the evil is, the more hasty is the flight: Now, There is no evil like to that of the wrath to come; therefore let the whole soul be put out in this, to fly from it, as the most dreadful destruction that can befall a soul. First, Consider there is a possibility to escape it, truly it is in vain to exhort a man to fly from that which he cannot scape, as it is a vain thing for men to think to fly from death or judgement, that they cannot escape, it will overtake them; and so for them to think to fly from any threatening in the word of God, if they do continue in their sins, it will certainly overtake them; Did not my word overtake your Fathers says the Lord? But this wrath a man may so fly from as to escape, for Christ wins souls from the kingdom of Satan every day, he translates them out of the kingdom of Satan, which is the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of his dear Son; and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is a metaphor taken from translating a man from his native soil, translating a man, as you do Colonies, and so many are translated daily, and they pass from death to life; Oh! That the Lord would persuade you knowing the terror of the Lord, to fly from the wrath to come; Christ's is a kingly conquest, and he has not a subject in his kingdom; but he has won him from the kingdom of Satan, and all that number that are called, and chosen, and faithful that are with the Lamb, were all once in Satan's kingdom, and all the Saints that are or shall be in glory, they were all of them children of wrath as well as thou, even Abraham the Father of the faithful, who together with his Father Terah, and Nachor and his brother Lot, 
Josh 24.23.  all served other Gods beyond the River, only God called this righteous man to his foot; Isa. 41.2. And therefore there is as great a possibility for thee to escape this wrath, as there is for any man in the World; therefore fly from it, Satan never wins again any one Soul out of the kingdom of Christ, for the Father that gave them to Christ, is stronger than all, and no man can pluck them out of his hands, and he doth now win ground of the kingdom of Satan, and gains souls from him every day; indeed after this life Heaven and Hell sha' divide the World, and there is a gulf set, there is no changing places; if a man would come from Hell to Heaven he cannot, for a man's eternal state is cast, and there is no change of it unto eternity; and therefore the judgement passed upon a man at the last day is called eternal judgement, 
Heb. 6.2.  because the doom and sentence that shall be passed upon a man there, is for eternity; and therefore make haste, fly from the wrath to come, delay not the time, for that hastens, for if death should overtake thee before thou hast made this escape, thou wilt be a child of wrath, and lie under wrath for ever; but here there is no gulf set, but there may be a translation out of darkness.  
Secondly, Consider, that after this Life you shall have to do with God immediately, you shall fall into the hands of the living God immediately, and Gods workings by the creatures shall have an end. Now, we find what fearful effects of wrath have been brought forth, if God do but arm the creatures against a man; if the Lord do but cause Lice to seize upon Herod, they devour him immediately, and he gives up the ghost; and if the Lord give a man up into the power of Satan, to torment him at his pleasure; and we see how many thousand miseries he would bring upon him, as we see in his dealing with Job, when yet the Lord gives him only a power over the body and estate, not over his soul and his life; and yet, How did he lay a load upon him? That his life was a burden to him, and he choosed to die rather. Now if God can show forth so much wrath by a creature, how much more by his own immediate hand? And if God in the creatures, now, do chastise with Rods, by his own hand, he will then do it with Scorpions; His little finger will be heavier, than the creatures loins; for as a man cannot know Love by all that is before him, because all the creatures cannot convey the Love of God unto the soul as it is; so a man cannot know hatred by all that is before him, for all the creatures together cannot dispense unto a man, the whole displeasure of God, that is Gods own work, therefore fly from it; if we should fly from it in the stream, much more in the fountain.  
Thirdly, It is done by way of revenge, and therefore it must needs be dreadful; for Deut. 32.31.41. He has said vengeance is mine, and I will repay; there shall be a just recompense of reward to every sinner: 
Heb. 2.1.3  Now, if we consider what a wrong sin is, it is such an infinite evil, that all the created comforts, and good things of this life cannot make satisfaction for, they being only created good things; but sin is an act committed against an infinite and an uncreated Good, and between created, and uncreated, finite, and infinite, is no proportion: Rom. 7.13. Sin is out of measure sinful, and therefore the wrath of God is out of measure dreadful, for it must be a just revenge a full recompense: Isa. 27.6.7. He will punish his people in measure, but he will punish his enemies without measure, because it is done in justice, therefore he will suffer his whole displeasure to arise. Now, if it be so fearful a thing when the Lord lets out but a little of his wrath, if his wrath be kindled but a little? How much more when he doth stir up all his wrath? and deals with men by fury poured out.  
Fourthly, The subject upon which this wrath shall light, shall be the Souls of men, but especially a man's Conscience which is the tenderest part, even the eye of the Soul, and the Soul of man is capable of wrath beyond what all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth can inflict, there is not enough in this world to fill the senses of man, 
Eccle. 1.8.  the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing; for there is nothing beneath God will satisfy it, 
Ps. 17. last.  but as in Heaven the Soul shall be satisfied and filled with his love; so in Hell it shall be satisfied and filled with his wrath, and it's this filling the Soul with misery that is properly the death of the Soul, and therefore Christ saith that the Creatures can but kill the body, and there is no more that they can do, they cannot kill the Soul, because they cannot fill it neither with good things nor with evil; as there is nothing but the glory of God can make a man perfectly and fully happy, so there is nothing but the wrath of God that can make a man fully and perfectly miserable.  
Fifthly, 
Rom. 2.5.  It is wrath by long patience treasured up; the patience and goodness of God should lead to repentance, which a man despising, treasures up wrath against the day of wrath, etc. The Lord doth bear long, and because sentence against evil workers is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of men are fully set in them to do evil, and therefore they mock at the coming of the Lord to take vengeance, 
2 Pet. 3 3.  where is the promise of his coming? he is pressed under their abominations as a Cartfull of sheaves, and yet he bears still, and lets men despise his goodness, fill up their measure, and outstand the day of his patience, which has its Period, and then caesa patientia fit furor, if once he doth whet his glittering Sword, and his hand take hold of judgement, a fire is kindled in his anger, that will burn for ever, and the more his patience and goodness has been despised, the greater treasure of wrath is laid up, and the more will be brought forth at the day of payment; for it must be a just recompense of reward  
Sixthly, This wrath doth come upon men very suddenly and unavoidably, 'tis sudden destruction, swift damnation, 
2 Pet. 2.1.  though a man may have gone on and prospered in a way of sinning long, but yet a hand of vengeance will overtake them, as the swelling in a great wall that comes suddenly down, wrath has hung over a man a long time, the decree has traveled with judgement long, but it comes suddenly, as the travel of a woman; God feeds them as sheep in a large Pasture, and then brings them forth to the slaughter, 
Rev. 14.18, 19  there is a fatting time, and there is a kill time, there is a ripening time, and a reaptime, gather the Grapes, and trample the Wine-press; for her Grapes are fully ripe, thrust in the Sickle, etc. and the Angel thrust in his Sickle, and cast it into the great Wine-press of the wrath of God, and that comes upon men suddenly, when they expect it not, and they are ensnared and taken, and it will come unavoidably, there is no way to escape it, when the day of vengeance is come, though men have scaped it before, but now all the power of the Creaturts cannot relieve a man, Neh. 1.10. But though they be solded as thorns, yet they shall be devoured as stubble that cannot resist the fire, as the dust to the Besom, 
Isa. 14.24.  so will the Lord sweep them to destruction in his wrath, Psal. 80.10. They perish at the rebuke of thy Countenance, look when God will cast a man into destruction, that man will become a humble petitioner, to the Mountains to fall upon him, and hid him from the wrath of him that is upon the Throne and from the Lamb.  
Lastly, It shall be pure wrath, judgement without mercy, Joh. 2.13. Rev. 14.10. They shall drink of the Wine of the wrath of God without mixture; for there shall be utter darkness, that is, purae tenehrae, and it shall be inflicted upon them with delight, the Lord saith, I will ease me of my adversaries, and he will laugh at your calamity, (smiling wrath is dreadful) and his spirit shall be quieted thereby, Zach. 6.8. a judge here though he condemn the malefactor, yet he pities the man, but the Lord will laugh at him, they that are children of wrath are a sacrifice of a sweet savour to God.  
But you will say; What should we do to escape it? 
1 Thes. 1.10.  There is no way but Christ, to diliver us from the wrath to come, and there is no way but by being one with him, and that is,  
First, By being cut off from the old root, 
Rom, 11.24. Rom. 7.4.  divorced from the old Husband, by a work of conviction, showing a man that he is under the curse, and Hell is his proper place; and by a work of humiliation, for all the pleasures of sin which are now damped, and a man is now under the apprehension of the displeasure of God, and of self-loathing for it: Rom. 7.9. Sin revived, and I died, saith the Apostle.  
Secondly, Upon this, there is a discovery made of Christ unto the soul, that there is redemption in him to be had, that we perish not; and that he is able to save to the uttermost, those that come unto him: And all this is but the fruits of the ancient agreement between Christ and the Father, God was in Christ reconciling the World, God did love to have is so; and this is seeing the Son: Joh. 6.36. 
Joh. 12. 4●  The drawing of the Father, John 1.44. No man can come to me, except the Father draw him. etc.  
Thirdly, The soul has an instinct after union, has received a touch of the spirit of God, Elijahs mantle has fallen upon him; so that nothing will satisfy him but union with Christ; 
Phil. 3.  he looks at that in all ordinances, in which he is conversant, to win Christ is his only aim, and he will not be bribed with any other thing, as a false spirit will be; if he have gifts and some raisedness in parts, and qualifications, and a name to live among men he is satisfied, and Conscience is very quiet, but a soul that has received this magnetic touch from the spirit, is put off with nothing besides Christ, it moves to him as naturally, as the stone unto its centre.  
Fourthly, He accepts of Christ upon his own terms, gives up itself to him; Receives Christ with all his promises, and all his graces, and gives up itself to him, commits himself to God; 
Psal. 10 14  this is the frame of every child of God, that has escaped the wrath to come, he makes Christ the covering of his eyes, looks upon no other beloved but him, he keeps nothing from Christ, but resigns it to him, either as a snare, or as a sacrifice, and rejoiceth in this, that I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine, and he that believes in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.  
Let me exhort you now that are yet in your unbelief, and dare to question the truth of these things; believe that there is a wrath to come, if the Lord before he brought you into the World, had but showed you Hell, and Heaven, that you might know the terror of the Lord, 
Heb. 4.2.  the misery of the one, and the happiness of the other, than you would think you should have been persuaded of it, because you had seen it; but now you are come into the World, and have ●●o experience of either, and men are naturally sensual, and it is to be received by faith, and many men will not be persuaded of it, till they feel it; 
2 Cor. 5.11.  We knowing the terror of Lord, we perswode men, etc. and Heb. 4.2. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with Faith: etc. There is no part of the Word can do men good, that is not mixed with Faith. Now it is plain that men believe it not, and they see it when it is too late: Alas! How many unbelievers are there in the World that pass for believers? 
Luk. 16.3.  I have five brethren says Dives in Hell, if one went to them from the dead, they will repent, etc. And Abraham said unto him, if they hear not Moses nor the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one risen from the dead again, they will not be persuaded; if the Lord should send one of the damned spirits, and give them so far an intermission that they might preach unto us of wrath to come, which they themselves feel, and which swallows them up with horror, etc. Yet this would not persuade us; if you could lay your ears to Hell, and but hear the cries in that bottomless pit, if the Lord should take any soul and carry it away into that dungeon, and let it have a taste of this wrath in the place of the damned, and then set him upon earth again with possibilities and offers of mercy, yet the man would be as far from believing it, as now he is, so long as the athiesme and unbelief of his spirit doth remain, and this is the misery of all men that have a name only to live in the Church, they die in a sleep, are cast away in a calm, and are never awakened till the last Trumpet, how would it make a man's heart bleed and fall asunder within him as drops of water, to see men hasten so fast to destruction, and never consider that it is for eternity, and that the Lord reserves this wrath for his enemies, and that God will show his wrath and make his power known unto the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction: But men will say what will you make us Atheists? Why do you think so hardly by us? as not to believe there is Heaven, and Hell, and that God will recompense men according to their works; surely we do not doubt this. Yet let me tell you it doth plainly appear that men believe it it not, and my reasons are these.  
First, Because they walk wholly in the way that leads thereunto, even to Hell; 
Prov.  There is a way that seems right to a man, but it leads down to the Chambers of death, they do conceive that the end will be as fair as the way is promising, did men believe that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and that the wrath of God is upon all the children of disobedience, and that the Lord is angry with the wicked every morning, there is not a day that they rise, but a cloud of God's displeasure doth arise upon them, that every sin adds unto the treasure of wrath, and doth qualify a man for Hell; every vain thought, and every idle word, and that by this, men are fitted to destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and every new degree of sinning, 
Rom. 9.22  doth lay in fuel for a further degree of wrath, it were impossible that men should rejoice in iniquity as they do, and count it their happiness to have free liberty of sinning, as the Devil has time and space to sin in, and all restraining grace is taken away, his lusts are let out to the uttermost, and God too lets him alone, and keeps silence, winks at their sins, vae illis ad quorum peccata connivet Deus, would men rejoice in this, if they did believe that the fiery Lake is but a little before? if a company of Gallants were feasting and rioting in an enemy's quarters, and in the midst of all their jollity, one should give them an alarm, you must pay for all that you eat or drink here, with the dearest and last drop of your heart's blood; if they did believe it, would not that which had been to them so sweet in the mouth, become now gravel in the belly? If as it was with Belteshazer, in the middle of all his jollity, such an impression be set on as Mene Tekel; Would it not make his heart and loins to tremble? There was one commending the happiness of a King, to Dyonisius the Tyrant, he told him he shall have a part in that happiness, and caused him to sit down in a chair of state with great attendance, and all the glory that he should desire; but with a sword over his head hanging by a Thread, all his comforts did him but little good because of the sword hanging over his head; and truly this is every unregenerate man's condition, and yet poor souls when they do evil, they rejoice and pride and please themselves in a way of sinning.  
Secondly, They think the people of God to be very miserable men and women, because they are afflicted in this life, and there way is hedged up with thorns, that they cannot find their paths, and they have not that freedom in sinning that they have; cannot run to access of riot, etc. Whereas, if men did believe that there were wrath which God reserves for the workers of iniquity, they would count it the greatest mercy in the World, to be disappointed in a way of sinning, and the greatest plague to be sinners; Prov. 14.15. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: God will give him over that he shall sin enough, indeed in this World God doth in a special manner afflict his own people, when the wicked come into no misfortune; but they have more than heart can wish, waters of a full cup are wrung out unto them: Now they count this their happiness, and the other the misery of the saints of God; whereas 1 Cor. 11.31. When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that me might not be condemned with the World; God doth it to deliver their souls from going down into the pit. Now, That's a happy man whom the Lord will not suffer to perish. And they know that there is a fatting time, and a kill time, and that the Lord will bring other men forth as sheep to the slaughter. And that they are men not appointed unto wrath, and in that they rejoice, whereas there is wrath reserved for them to eternity, who are the men who have had their good things in this Life, and have fared deliciously every day.  
Thirdly, Men fear it not, and it doth not in the consideration of it, embitter either the pleasures or the profits of sin, or the comforts of the creatures unto them, which as soon as ever these serious thoughts do feise upon other men, that have another spirit, it will quickly do; and therefore men do put far from them the evil day, and when the greatest judgements of God are threatened, they say, he prophesieth of things long to come, it is of doomsday that the Prophet speaks, the wrath of a King, Solomon says, is as a messenger of death, but so is not the wrath of the great God, who is a consuming fire: There is a story of a certain Christian King of Hungary, Who was exceeding sad and pensive, and had a Brother a wild-Courtier, who comes in merrily and asked him why he was so melancholy, he answered him, that he had been a great sinner before the Lord, and he knew not how to appear before him when he should come to judgement; but the young Gallant made light of it, and that night his Brother the King, sent an executioner to sound a Trumpet at his door, which was the the manner in those Countries, to do to men that were to be led forth to execution; at this the young man that was so resolute and regardless of the wrath of God, yet he hastened into his brother's presence, with a great deal of fear and amazement of spirit, to know wherein he had offended, that he was summoned by the executioner; to whom his Brother answered, if to me that am your Brother, and one whom your Conscience tells you you have not wronged, How much should I be afflicted that am to come before a God? And one who am in my own soul so many ways accused and condemned: But as in all temporal judgements that are threatened, 
Gen. 19 ●4  men seem to the wicked as they that mock; so it is in eternal also.  
Now, If the Lord will please to come in and persuade your hearts to believe it, take these arguments and consider them seriously.  
First, From the preparations of God, which he makes for all sinners, Isa. 30. last. Tophet is prepared of old, that is, from the foundation of the World; as Heb. 13.8. Jesus Christ yesterday, that is, backward unto the beginning of the World; so it is here, and it is for the King, the greatest person though never so much exempted from the common lot in the World, yet they shall not escape this judgement, and so Deut. 32.24. Is not this laid up by me, and sealed among my treasures? truly the Lord doth not lay up treasures in this manner but their will come a time of expense, etc.  
Secondly, The Lord has told us in his Word, that there are some that are vessels of wrath, 
Jud● 4.  and persons fore-ordained by God thereunto, and the Potter has power over his Clay, to the glory of his grace, and satisfaction of his justice, and men cannot find fault, and he has said vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and to his word he has added his oath as well as his promises, that in the one we might have strong consolation, and in the other strong conviction; Deut. 32.40.41. For I lift up my hand to Heaven, and say I live for ever; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me: 
Amos. 8. ●.  etc. I have sworn by the excellency of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their works, etc. O miseros nos qui nec juranti Deo credimus: 
Tert.  That neither believe the word of God, nor tremble at the oath of God.  
Thirdly, Consider the capacity, and the immortality o● the soul of man, for its capacity, it is capable of more happiness, or misery, than all the creatures in Heaven and Earth can aford, they are not able to satisfy the senses, much less the soul: Now, Why has God made so great a vessel? Not in vain, surely it shall be filled, and nothing but God can fill it, God in glory can fill it with joy, and God in wrath can fill it with sorrow; for animam capacem quicquid est minu● Deo, non implebit. It is true of good things, it is true of evil also: And for the immortality of the soul of man, Why hath God made it of such a duration? shall this be but time to sleep it out, and has the Lord made the soul to live so long in vain? the time of this life is but a span to eternity, in which either men are made vessels of mercy, prepared for glory, or vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and the foundation of a man's eternal happiness or misery is laid in this Life.  
Fourthly, Consider whether or no thou hast never had any of the first fruits of it, God letting in a glimpse of his wrath upon thy Conscience, some grudge of that burning-fever, that thou shalt lie under for ever; there are unregenerate men that have a taste of the powers of the world to come, 
Heb. 6.  by powers are meant powerful and mighty workings upon the spirits of men, by the spirit of God, and how mightily these apprehensions do work upon men, either of the joys of Heaven, or of the torments of Hell, men receiving a pledge and an earnest in themselves before hand; Heb. 10.27. Receiving a sentence of condemnation in their own souls, the wrath of God has a venom in it, and it drinks up their spirits, and the Lord comes upon them as a Lion, and breaks all their bones; that though they Love sin never so dearly, yet they can take no delight in it.  
Fifthly, It will appear in the Lord Christ, Why did he come from Heaven, and take the nature of man upon him? The great end was not legem docere, 
Luth.  & miracula facere; for this others did as well as he, though from him and by his spirit; but it was legem vincere & abolere, Gal. 4.4. He was made under a Covenant of works, and that for two things. First, That he might pay the debt that was due by us to God. Secondly, That he might cancel the bond. Now he was made a curse for us, and therefore the Lord did cause all our sins in the guilt and the punishment of them to meet upon him, 
Psal. 110. last.  he drank off the brook in the way, etc. Then all that are under the Law, still they are under the curse of it, and all their sins in the guilt and the punishment of them, will meet upon them as the sins of the elect did upon the Lord Christ, for Christ is but the surety of the elect, and he did it voluntarily in obedience to the Father, and therefore surely thou being the principal canst not look to scape, for thou standest under the same covenant, and under the same curse; indeed unto them that are regenerate, the Covenant is abolished, he has blotted it out, and nailed it to his Cross, and he only stands under a Covenant of works for them, and by the abolishing this, has made way for a second Covenant; but to all that are unregenerate, the Covenant stands in force and they are under it and under the curse of it for ever.  
Thirdly, If you would indeed scape the wrath to come, bring forth fruits meet for repentance; Mat. 3.8. When they did pretend to desire to fly from the wrath to come, John bid them make it appear to be true, by bringing forth answerable fruits meet for repentance; in this life God in judgement, doth put no difference between men and men; but penitent and impenitent sickness doth not compliment with the great men of the World, but assaults them boldly, as well as the meanest; and death knocks at the door of the Prince, as well as of the poorest man, and therefore surely it will be so in his eternal judgement also; and therefore see you be penitent, etc. For unless you repent you shall all perish: But how shall a man know he is penitent, etc.  
First, When a man's heart is truly turned against that sin that he has repent of; for this is the misery novum hoc monstri genus est eadem poena omnes jugiter faciunt quae se fecisse plangunt, when a man hates every false way, hatred is against all sin universally, but in especial manner against the darling sin, that sin in which a man has most dishonoured God and wounded his own Conscience, and by which Satan as a Proper has most tyranized over him, what have I to do any more with Idols? 
Hos. 14. ●  a man's unrightness of heart is seen in this that he keeps himself from his own iniquity, there was but one way of dalliance that I did delight in, and yet I am willing to give that up also; as the Turkish Emperor that had but one beautiful Concubine in which he much delighted and doted upon, that the Bashaws and the Janissaries took it amiss that he neglected the affairs of the Kingdom for her, he brought her forth before them one day in all her bravery and they all admired the beauty of the woman, and when he commended her highly for all her good qualities, he cut off her head in their presence, and told them he did it to let them see that there was nothing dear to him in respect of the public welfare, it was an act of cruelty in him, but the moral of it may be of good use unto us; that is fruit worthy of repentance when a man's heart is most of all turned against his darling sin.  
Secondly, There will be a holy jealousy of a man's self, and a continual watching over the inward man Pro. 4.23. Keep thy heart above all keeping, he hath a godly fear continually of the falseness of his own heart, he knew that he is bend to backsliding, and therefore is always watchful, he will not trust his eyes without a Covenant nor his tongue without a bridle; will not venture upon occasions of sinning, and will not be dallying with temptation, lest a spark be struck and the fire kindle again, lest he should look back with Lot's Wife, and with Israel, have a mind again to hanker after Egypt; for if the love of the sin doth still remain in his inward man, there may be a restraint for a while and a damp, but it will break out again and the man will return with the dog to the vomit, the unclean spirit will enter again, and the man will be worse than ever in the beginning; it is this only that is fruit worthy of repentance, he is more afraid of sin, then of any loss of outward Comforts in the world, 
Z●c. 12 10 Isa. 8.12, 13,  and mourns more for sin then any thing else; we are exhorted not to fear the world's fear, they fear Creatures, and losses, and crosses, but do you fear sin that displeases God, and brings down his wrath, and choose not sin rather than affliction; for if a man look upon sin as the greatest evil, it must needs be the object of the deepest sorrow and the greatest fear,  
Thirdly, there will be an answerable obedience, there is a double change in repentance, and therefore it has a double name, there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a change of a man's mind, and a man hath other apprehensions of sin and the evil of it then he had in times past: and there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a change of a man's care, 
2 Cor 7.  and the endeavours of his life; godly sorrow works a care to please God in all things; the first question is, what have I done? and afterward, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? make me one of thy hired servants, put me into any work, I will do any thing, be any thing. Not only would the Soul be adopted to a new inheritance, but he would be regenerate and have a new nature, as we see in Zacheus, he had a great change wrought in him, he was before an oppressor, and now a restorer, and Saul a persecutor before of God's people, disturbing them in their way of worshipping God, hailing them to prison, consenting to the death of the Martyr Stephen, I but now Paul is a chosen vessel unto the Lord, now he is a Preacher, and he did not more thirst for the blood of Souls before, then now he doth for their Salvation; so a truly penitent soul, if he has been proud before his Conversion, he is clothed with humility, if he was before unclean he now putson chastity, and his care is that the contrary grace may grow and flourish in him, or else truly here are no fruits meet for repentance, and then what ever a man seems to be in the world, he is no true Saint, he does but seem to fly from the wrath to come, and all his profession will come to nothing, 'tis but a show, a fancy and nomore  
Now I come to the last Branch in the text, and that is the eternity of both these; where the Worm dies not and the fire is not quenched,  
The Torment that the Lord has prepared for his Enemies is eternal. There are in the Eternity of God three things; first, it hath no beginning of its being or working; Secondly, it has no end; Thirdly, it has no succession, his name is I am, 
Exod. 3 14  that I am; for in aeternitate non est erit & fuit, we must indeed distinguish between the act as it is in God, and the product thereof as it is in the Creature; all actions from God are from Eternity, and without succession he understands all at once, but he doth will that the things shall in their being have a succession, and exist one after another in their several seasons and Generations, as Creation in God is but one simple act of his will, and tota simul, it being nothing else but ipsa essentia dei cum relatione ad Creaturas, Aquin. p. 1.9.43. But he doth will that the Creatures in the space of Six days shoul take their beginning, and that after the creation, the flood should come upon the world, and he did will from eternity, that all the creatures should subsist and stand up out of nothing, in their several seasons and order, which though it take place in the creature in several ages, yet it is all one eternal consent, and continued will of God, some actions of God are ex necessitate naturae natae, and they take place from eternity, and have no beginning as the Generation of the Son, and the procession of the Holy-Ghost; but some are voluntary, and they have there beginning in time, as the will of God doth appoint them for to have.  
Now, Of two of those branches of eternity, the creature is not capable, it cannot competere to a created nature.  
First, All creatures must have a beginning, and cannot be eternal because they have their being from another, and are not the fountain of their own being.  
Secondly, All creatures have a succession, either in their being, or their actions, they do one thing after another, and they may be said to be, what they were not before, and to do what they did not before; but it cannot be so of God, and therefore he is only said to inhabit eternity: Isa. 57.15. It is his dwelling place alone, He that is every where present and fills all places without motion, he doth inhabit and fill all time without succession. The Angels themselves, though I do not say that their actions are measured by time as ours are, yet there is a succession in them, and they do one thing after another, and as they do remove from one place to another, so they are measured in their actions, there is a succession and they may be said to have something past, and something to come; so there shall be in the thoughts of men, in Heaven and in Hell also, for they cannot take in eternity at once, they must act in a successive way suitable to the nature of a creature: But in the eternity of the creature there is only the last, it shall be without end, and without intermission; so that there are two things employed in these last words the Worm dies not; it shall be continual, and it shall be eternal, there shall be no intermission, no conclusion: Here in this Life, either a man's choicest pleasures have an end, or are interrupted. Son remember that in thy Life time thou receivedst thy good things, and the consideration thereof doth fill a man's Soul with Gall and Wormwood, in the sweetest enjoyments, and they all deceive a man as a brook that passeth by, and are as grass upon the Housetop, that withers before it come to ripeness, either in the bud or in the blade it is blasted, as all earthly comforts are so, for all flesh is grass, and the glory of it is as the flower of the field; or if they have not an end, they have interruptions, and intermissions; a soul that enjoys the light of God's countenance, and has his heart filled with joy, more than can be had in corn and wine and oil, yet by and by God hides his face, and the man walks in darkness, and hath no lights again; and therefore he cry out with Bern. it is dulce commercium, but breve momentum O si duraret, etc. But after this Life in Heaven as we shall be ever with the Lord, so we shall always behold his face, and be satisfied with his likeness, and drink for ever out of the Rivers of his pleasures, and this shall be without intermission, or interruption for ever. And in this Life a man's greatest affliction has an end also, Lazarus is comforted, when Dives is tormented; in the grave the wicked cease from troubling him, and the weary are at rest, the prisoners rest together, they hear not the voice of the oppressont, or at least there is some intermission, and there are lucid intervals, though heaviness may endure for a night, yet joy will come in the morning; but after this life there will be no more changes; and therefore death is called by way of eminence a man's change; Job 14.14. All the days of my appointed time, will I wait till my change come; etc. Because it is a man's last and great change, though his life be full of changes, yet his death is the great and the last change; and there will be no more changes, a man's misery will then be eternal without conclusion, and continual without intermission. There will be pure darkness, utter and everlasting darkness, there will be no end, no mitigation, the Worm never dies, and never sleeps, and the fire is never extinguished, never abated or mitigated to eternity.  
Of these two I would speak distinctly; First, Of the torments of Hell, that they are eternal and without conclusion. Secondly, that they are continual and without intermission.  
First, The torments of ungodly men after this life shall be eternal, and shall never end. We have heard that there are two parts of this torment, the one principal, the fire; and the other accidental, the Worm, and now we come to prove the eternity of both these  
First, The fire in Hell, that is, the wrath of God poured out upon the Soul shall be for ever, and shall never end, and is therefore called everlasting fire, Mat. 18.8. and 25.41. And everlasting punishment, 25.46. And everlasting destruction, 2 Thes. 1.9. And the Chains by which men are bound in the world to come, are everlasting Chains under darkness, 
Luke 16.9.  Judas 7. Heaven is an everlasting habitation, and so is Hell also, it is for Eternity.  
There are several expressions in Scripture that do argue as much; first, the Scripture doth tell us that there is a day of Grace and a time of patience, when the Lord will offer himself unto men, and wait upon them or their acceptance of his Grace, but this day will have an end, and the time of buying will be past, and therefore it was not admonitio sed exprobratio, non consilium sed opprobrium, etc. It's not counsel but a scoff, to go buy when the time of buying was past; there is now a time of mercy, but there is a time when the door will be past opening, 
Mat. 25.10. Eccl. 9.20.  and all mercy will be shut out for ever; there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest: The day of Grace has an end, but the day of wrath will never end; the days of Grace may be numbered, but the days of wrath shall be numberless; for the Scripture doth say that if the day of Grace be once overpast, it will never return again.  
Secondly, An ungodly man's hope is said in Scripture to die with him, 
Job 11.20.  his hope is as the giving up of the Ghost, He breathes out his last hope and his last breath together; for when a wicked man dies his hope perishes, 
Pro. 11.7.  but the Righteous has hope in his death, his hope is a living hope, and therefore it dies not with his body. Now how comes it to pass a man's hope perishes? this is grounded upon the eternity that is to come; for were there not an eternity, a man's hope would live, but at a man's death, a wicked man's eternal state being cast his hope dies, because there can be no expectation of a change: in all afflictions here there is hope of an end, or some mitigation, 
Zac. 9. 1●.  they are all prisoners of hope, etc. And the Lord shall say to them in that day, Turn you to the strong hold, etc. but in Hell there is no hope of any other state, no not for one moment but the torment continues to eternity. 
Rev. 20.   
Thirdly, Hell is called a bottomless pit, Luke 8.31. And this must needs express the eternity of it, out of a pit in which there is no bottom, there can be no redemption, but a man must sink and sinks for ever, it is eternity to the bottom, there are pits here in which men may be cast, not only into the prison but into the Sea, or into the Dungeon in the prison, and yet out of all these they may be delivered by the blood of the Covenant, and brought out, but this bottomless pit there is no blood of the Covenant to redeem from.  
There is a great Gulf set that is by a divine decree established and fixed, a man's state is set for eternity, and there is no hope of a change, a passage here there is from death to life, but there is none hereafter; for there is a great Gulse that God has set between, that there can be no passage, no change of a man's condition, there can be no translation; for judgement pronounced against a man at the last day is eternal judgement.  
Fifthly, If a man that is under this torment would come forth, there be Chains cast upon him to keep him under that darkness; 
Judas 6.  so that he cannot escape, as Judas says, the Angels that kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, are kept in Chains under darkness, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are kept in Chains, that is, the Judgement of God and the power of God, significat potentiam Dei quâ tanqnam vinculis aeternis & nunquam solvendis, 
Estius  and it is under darkness either in Hell, the darkness there, or under the darkness and the guilty thoughts of their own spirits; now under both these the Devils are already, and this is the wrath, and these are the Chains that are prepared for all the seed of the Serpent which shall torment them.  
Sixthly, This fire can never go out, because there will be for ever a supply of the fuel; now if there be always combustble matter added to fire here, the fire will never go out, but in this there will be always a supply; the fire will still have an addition of fuel, and of blowing, the pile thereof is fire and much wood, 
sa. 30.33  the breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it, etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not barely a stream, but a torrent, a flood, a violent and swift-running stream, from much waters and Brimstone is the most fierce burning for fire to work upon, and it is most hardly quenched, and a River, a Torrent of Brimstone, the wrath of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burning in it, the fuel is the wrath of God as a River of Brimstone burning in it, as in this life the spirit of God in a work of grace is not only fire, but oil, it is maintained and supplied by the same grace, and the same spirit, and is maintained by it, so after this life the spirit of God will not only be fire, but a River of brimstone, and their will be a daily maintanance, a continual supply of the same wrath for ever, therefore that fire can never be quenched.  
Let us now look in the grounds of this eternity, and that the rather because there is a principal in the minds of men ready to tax the Lord of cruelty and injustice, that he should for the sins of a few years, lay upon men punishment and torment to eternity, the acts transient, and but for a moment, that the wrath of God should be permanent and never end; and therefore say they, these things cannot fland with the justice of God, or with his mercy, therefore they conceive that men shall be but punished for a time, and a time for their deliverance will come when this worm shall die, and this fire shall be quenched, and some say the persons shall be destroyed, and others that they be annihelated, as the Socinians and divers desperate Libertines at this day, that will never be persuaded that it can agree with the merciful nature of God, to make creatures eternally to destroy them for a few acts of sin, committed a few years here in this life; and Origen was so merciful in this kind, that he would have the Devil saved after some years, and Hell fire to be wholly put out: and Austin in his time had to do, cum misericordibus quibusdam qui nolunt credere poenam sempiternam futuram, etc. But that men after some certain time should be delivered; the civet. L. 21. c. 17.  
Now, The grounds of this eternity of wrath are these.  
First, God's intention from eternity was to show his wrath, and to make his power known unto the vessels of wrath; Rom. 9.21.22. All men are in his hand, as clay in the hand of the potter; and it is in his power to make them vessels of honour or dishonour. Now if the Lord will show the riches of his glory and of his mercy, unto the vessels of mercy, it must be to eternity, and to everlasting life; so if the Lord will show forth the power of his wrath, it must be to eternity, for the one must answer the other, and if there be eternal mercy to manifest the one, there will require eternal wrath to show forth the other; for there are but two things in which the love of God is seen, and in which his wrath is seen, and they are things spiritual unto the souls of men: No man can do good to the soul, but God, and no man can inflict punishment upon the soul but God, men may hurt the body, and they have no more that they can do; and in eternal good things, or evil things, those that concern the life to come; for truly a man cannot know love or hatred by all that is before him here, the soul must have an eternity to be punished in, all evils in this life which have an end, are too low, and too short to punish the soul with, as all good things in this life, are too narrow to cover the soul with: etc.  
Secondly, The Covenant by which they are bound over unto this wrath is an eternal Covenant, an everlasting Covenant, there are two heads, or two public persons, a first and a second Adam, under whom, as by the sons of Noah the whole Earth is over spread; and with these two Covenants made as with two heads, and there are two sorts of men, the elect, and the unregenerate, children of the bondwoman and of the free, and there are two destinct places, Heaven and Hell answerable unto these, and one Covenant is everlasting, as well as the other, not only the covenant of Grace, but the covenant of Works also; and therefore the curse of the Covenant remains upon men unto eternity, and they are bound over unto eternal wrath, 
Gal. 10. Deut. 29.21.  as the Lord Christ has put an end unto this Covenant, and abolished it unto all that are in him, being himself made under it, and satisfying the precept and the curse of it, and so he did cancel it as a hand-writing against us nailing, it unto his Cross; Col. 2.14. And so they that are in Christ are freed from the Law as a Covenant, but unto all other men it remains a Covenant still, and they remain under the curse of it for ever, and the wrath of God abides upon them; 
Joh. 3.36.  for the Gospel doth not properly bring them under wrath but leaves them under it for ever.  
Thirdly, The guilt and stain of sin upon the soul is eternal also, the act of sin is transient, momentum quod delectat, etc. But the guilt of sin is permanent, the relation between God and the creature is eternal, and 〈◊〉 is an eternal obligation upon the creature, because he is bound unto God by an eternal Law, and the transgression of that Law carries with it an eternal guilt, there is not a sin that a man commits, but it is laid up amongst the Lords Treasures, 
Deut. Jer. 17.1.  and it is also laid up in their own Consciences, sin is a debt, Mat. 6.12. Which will as all other debts are, be ever due till it be paid; if it be a thousand years since it was committed, yet it due still, and the continuance of the time will never wear it out amongst men, much less will it being before the Lord and God keeps his debt-books, Isa. 65.6. Behold it is written before me, I will recompense it, even recompense it into their bosom; etc. And there is an utter inability in us to pay the debt we own to God, or to make him any satisfaction; we have nothing to pay, and not one drop of the blood of Christ shall go to pay any part of thy debt, ●●ing once cast into prison, and thou shalt not come out thence being once cast into Prison, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing, and satisfaction thou canst never make, for the offence is against an infinite God, and thou art but a finite creature, and here is thy misery; that because thou canst never satisfy fully, therefore thou must be for ever satisfying; all that thou canst do will not blot out one sin, there is nothing but the blood of Christ can do it; when all the world was drowned by a flood, it could not wash away the guilt of sin; and when it shall be on fire, it shall not be able to purge one sin; and when a man shall lie in Hell for ever, even the fire of Hell cannot purge the soul of one sin: Ignis infernalis non est purgatorius sed punitorius, etc.  
Fourthly, God after this Life, shall not only reward men according to their actions, but their intentions, and the desires of their hearts: Now, men's desires unto sin are infinite and eternal; if they could live for ever, they would sin for ever, and they are never satisfied with sinning; and therefore it is compared unto drunkenness, 
Deut. 29.  a man adds drunkenness unto thirst, and none do call in for Wine so fast as they that have had too much already; and it is as Hell that cannot be satisfied: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Lust is infinite, and the more a man is glutted with it, the less he is satisfied, and could he live for ever, he would sin for ever, and if he could do more wickedly against God he would; as the Lord says, thou hast spoken, and done evil things against me as thou couldst, doing evil with both hands earnestly; 
Mich. 7.3.  in every sin they have infinite and eternal desires after sinning, even in that short time that they have to live in it; voluissent sine fine peccare. Greg. Breve fuit opere. sed longum esse constat pertinaci voluntate. Bern.  
Fifthly, Because they never repent but are hardened in the same way of sinning, they remain the same men still, and have the same will unto evil unto eternity in Hell, that they had when they were here upon earth; so that if God should take a man out of Hell, and set him upon the earth again, with a possibility of mercy, he would go on in the same way of sinning with as much greediness and more than ever he did in the time of his Life, for this is a rule amongst many of the Schoolmen, voluntas morientis confirmatur, in eo statu in quo moritur. And therefore as the Saints in Heaven dying in a state of grace, are in bono confirmati; so the wicked dying in a state of sin, are in malo obfirmati; that whereas in this life, in wicked men there is an inability to repent, yet there is a possibility of repenting, and of returning from sin, and there is a restraint upon their Lust, and there be here many common graces, and common workings of the spirit of grace, but then all restraint upon men's Lusts shall be taken away, all the Law of nature shall cease, and God shall let out men's Lusts unto the utmost in judgement, and whereas in Heaven all acts of grace habent rationem praemii, so in Hell all acts of sin shall have rationem poenae; and God will say, he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; etc. And therefore Divines do say, that in this Life men are servants unto sin, but it is but servitus inchoata, but in Hell there shall be servitus consummata, for here there is some restraint unto sin, but there shall be none hereafter; but a man shall be given over to it, and the more a man is given over to sin in this Life, the nearer to Hell he comes.  
last; Men shall be companions after this Life, with the Devil and his Angels; for that is the sentence, Matt. 25.41. Depart into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels; they that have been servi in culpa, must be socii in poena, etc. They that have all their days fulfilled the Devils Lusts, they must expect to have his reward, they that have followed the Lamb and have suffered with him, and been persecuted for him, shall reign with him; and they that have followed Satan, and have sinned with him, they shall suffer with him: Now, the Devil has had a long time of sinning from the beginning of the World to the end of it, he is the last enemy that shall be destroyed, when death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake; and therefore surely, as he hath had a long time of sinning, so he must have a long time (yea even an eternity) in suffering, and therefore let no wicked man deceive himself, for the same tor●ent, the same fire, for the na●●re of it, though not for the ●egree of it, is reserved for thee ●nd thou shalt be tormented with ●he Devil and his Angels to all eternity.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  

PAge 25. line 8. a fullpoint after cause.  
p. 37. l. 18. after child a fulpoint.  
p. 61. l. 7. for Ainon read Hinno●●.  
p. 80. l. 1. hostile congressu.  
p. 100 l. 17. for wayges read wages.  
p. 107. l. 22. for act, read out.  
p. 133. for ire, read irae.  
p. 138. for nulle, read nullae. and for panitentia, read paenitenti●.  
p. 151. for book, read book.  
p. 238. l. 12. for my sins, read thy.  
p. 249. for caesa, read laesa.  
p. 260. l. 4. for access, read excess.