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 BR 75 .B73 1846 v. 2 
 Bunyan, John, 1628-1688. 
 Works of the Puritan Divine 
 
 s 
 
WORKS 
 
 ENGLISH PURITAN DiymES. 
 
 BUNYAN. 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL 
 
 AND 
 
 THE TJNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF : 
 
 JSo ma^ to I^eaDen but ti^ %Z0U0 €fivi0t: 
 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 JOHN BUNYAN: 
 
 TO WHICH IS PEEMXED, 
 
 AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON HIS GEKIUS AND WRITINGS , 
 
 liV THB 
 
 V" 
 
 REV. ROBERT PHILIP. 
 
 Airmon ow ' t«» uitt and tim»« of bumtak." 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 WILEY & PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY, 
 
 1846. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Pag*- 
 
 1 Preface. 
 
 2. A CliTorLolo|ical Critique on Bdnyan's Genius and 
 
 Writings, 
 
 3. The G-reatness ol the Soul, . . 1 
 
 4. Justification by an Imputed Righteousness, . 117 
 
 5. The Strait Gate, . ... 207 
 
BUNYAN'S GENIUS AND WRITINGS. 
 
« 
 
 CnRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE 
 
 WHITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. 
 
 In the Bunyan-like sketch of Bunyan's Life prefixed to 
 the first vohime of this series, Mr Hamilton has said that my 
 " researches have left few desiderata for any subsequent de- 
 votee." He himself has proved, however, that both new and 
 beautiful lights may be thrown around the old facts by devo- 
 tees. So also has Dr Cheever of America, in his splendid Lec- 
 tures on the Pilgrim's Progress. Besides, there is yet room 
 for much research into the history of Bunyan's mind. 
 The progressive development of his intellectual powers has 
 never been traced by any of his biographei's or critics. 
 It could not be traced by Southe}^, Montgomery, nor 
 Macauley ; because, when they wrote, there was no clue to 
 the chronology of his " Sixt}'- Books." Criticism could only 
 guess at the order in which his works appeared. Thus the 
 matter stood, until Mr Kilpin of Bedford discovered, in 
 1838, Charles Doe's Circular of 1691, which contains a 
 complete list of them, with their dates, taken from Bun- 
 3^an's own lips just before his death. This important 
 document, however, came into my hands when " the Life 
 and Times" of Bunyan were nearly printed off in stereo- 
 type. Then I could only insert it, and that only by taxing 
 a literary friend to digest the bibliography. The following 
 running critique is, therefore, an outline of the opinions and 
 
11 A CHRO^^OLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 impressions of the wTiter, as these were moulded hy reading 
 anew the works of Bimyan in the order, and under the 
 circumstances, they originatec^. 
 
 I thus conciliate attention, because I hope to gratify 
 it somewhat, by glimpses of Bunyan's intellectual his- 
 tory, which could not be given until the friends of 
 his memory in Bedford found out the list of his friend 
 Doe ; — " The Struggler^ as he calls himself, " for pre- 
 serving the works in folio." Gladly, however, would I 
 have hailed a critique, founded upon that list, from any 
 other pen ; but, as none has appeared, although it has been 
 six years before the public, I feel bound to do what I can, 
 in order to create a public demand for something worthy 
 of the subject, now that both " The British" Quarterlies 
 can command the best writers of the age. I begin, there- 
 fore, by answering the question, — " What can the man 
 do that cometh after the king ?" Bunyan is the very 
 king of more arts than Allegory and Anal^^sis ; and 
 if this question be put in reference to all that he has 
 done as a writer, the only answer that can be given to 
 it, by a man who really knows what Bunyan has done, 
 must be, — " It is yet to be shewn hoio, and why^ and 
 when, he did so much, and did it so well." Now, this is 
 not easily shewn. Whoever shall explain it, to any good 
 purpose, must understand Bunyan's own nature, almost as 
 well as he himself understood Human nature. And the 
 understanding must be almost instinctive too ; or, the 
 result of strong sympathies with him ; for the laws of his 
 intellectual being blend so with its spiritual aspirations and 
 responsibilities, that his head can never be analysed apart 
 from his heart, nor his heart comprehended by any head, 
 which is unbaptized "with the Holy Ghost and Fire." 
 Whoever has no absorbing and burning love to immortal 
 souls, and thus to "the Shepherd and Bishop of souls," can 
 neither tell nor see why Bunyan thought or wrote as he 
 
TBE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OP BUNYAN. Ill 
 
 did. He was forever watching for souls, as one that " must 
 give an account ;" and that watching made his intellectual 
 eye ransack " the depths of Satan," as well as " the secrets of 
 the heart ;" and scrutinize the aspects of the world, as well 
 as range the open fields of visible nature. Nothing that he 
 wrote terminated upon himself, or had its chief charm to 
 him, in either its point or pathos. He sought with keen 
 zeal, and enjoyed with keener zest, happy thoughts, and 
 " picked and packed words," as he calls his Saxonisms, but 
 not for their beauty or point as composition, nor as speci- 
 mens of his own vein ; but because they were wanted to 
 arrest attention, and were likely to rivet instruction. 
 " The tongues of angels" would have had no attraction for 
 him, had they been intelligible only to himself, and to 
 minds of his own order. All his soul was set upon win- 
 ning souls ; and therefore it was concentrated upon the 
 powers of his mother-tongue, as the vernacular of the mul- 
 titude, and thus the natural way to the heart. 
 
 If there be any truth in these remarks, they prove that 
 there was more power about Bunyan's intellect, than his 
 spiritual admirers generally suppose ; for it commands, or 
 wins, the admiration of men who have no spiritual dis- 
 cernment, and no taste for devotion. And it did so, when 
 there was less of both in England than there is now. It 
 commanded homage even in the court of Charles II., and 
 made the Cavaliers of the Restoration, as well as the Round- 
 heads of the Protectorate, wonder. And still, both Readers 
 and Writers, who have no sympathies with experimental 
 piety, either as it weeps or rejoices, almost weep and re- 
 joice with Bunyan's Pilgrims. 
 
 Fashion, and his own wide-spread fame, have, no doubt, 
 something to do w'xih. this. It would be infra dig. in any 
 literary circle, not to admire John Bunyan. He is an 
 integral part of the National character, in common with 
 
IV A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 Milton and Shakespeare ; and thus it is Patriotism to 
 praise him. But still, after deducting all this matter-of- 
 course praise, there remains a succession of Master-spirits 
 who have paid homage to his genius, in spite of all their 
 hatred to his sect as a Nonconformist, and to his senti- 
 ments as an Evangelical. Neither Dr Johnson, nor Dr 
 Southey, nor Sir Walter Scott, nor Lord Byron, could re- 
 member, for their life, whilst reading Bunyan, that he was 
 anything but just a great and good man, who had been 
 very ill-used, in bad times. The fact is, he had filled the 
 wide field of their vision wdth creations they could not 
 imitate, nor find a parallel to, nor help admiring ; and thus 
 they gave way to the gush of their own emotions, 
 because no other writer had ever awakened, in their mighty 
 minds, similar emotions, from such sources, or by such 
 scenes. He thus threw the bigotry ^ of Johnson and 
 Southey, and the banter of Scott and Byron, into a mesme- 
 ric sleep, and left them Clairvoyant on " the borders of 
 Emmanuel's Land." 
 
 That Coleridge and JMacauley, Franklin and Macintosh, 
 should have manifested some relish for the sinritualities of 
 " The Pilgrim's Progress," as well as for its pure Saxon 
 and vivid personifications, is only what might be expected 
 from their early intimacy with the Bible, and with men 
 who had much of Bunyan's love to the Bible. Franklin's 
 father was driven to America by the same iron rod of the 
 Stuarts, that drove Bunyan into Bedford jail. Indeed, 
 both his Father and Mother had, nsost likely, heard Bun- 
 yan ; for they were Korthamjitonshire Nonconformists, and 
 their ancestors had been amongst the first Protestants, in that 
 county, who dared the wrath of " bloody INIary." Thus 
 their piety, which was quite of Bunyan's order, was just 
 as likely to give young Franklin a taste for some of the 
 spiritualities of the Pilgrim, and his intimacy with 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. V 
 
 Whitefield to promote it, as his early familiarity with 
 Xenophon's Memorabilia were sure to make him appre- 
 ciate the natural beauties of the Pilgrim. So also Cole- 
 ridge was well prepared by his theological studies, as well 
 as by his dreamy life, to sympathize with Bunyan's spiri- 
 tual moods. And as to Macintosh and Macauley, they had 
 seen, from their " youth up," living specimens of holy pil- 
 grims, and had heard much of Covenanters who, like 
 Faithful at Vanity Fair, had been " faithful unto death." 
 Thus there is no mystery in the moral sensibilities of these 
 men, to some of the high and holy peculiarities of Bunyan, 
 as those appear in his Pilgrim. But not one of these dis- 
 tinguished writers evinced any acquaintance with the varied 
 forms in which all the chief beauties of the Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress appear in Bunyan's other works. I have shewn in 
 another place, that the germs of that work existed in his 
 " Strait Gate," a year before it was written ; and what is 
 more to the point, that the brightest gems in the Pilgrim 
 lie scattered throughout all his books, in which its grand 
 points are touched, although never in the same forms or 
 settings. Sometimes, indeed, they are expanded and 
 polished, beyond their size and lustre in the allegory ; and 
 at other times, the splendid filings of both the enchasing 
 gold and the chaste gems, are sprinkled upon pages where 
 no one would expect to find them. 
 
 It is impossible to doubt, in the face of this fact, the 
 importance of drawing public attention to many of Bun- 
 yan's treatises ; or, of bringing them out in such volumes 
 as the present. His literary critics have given the public 
 no clue or key to his iich mines of thought, feeling, and 
 diction, in such treatises as " The Greatness of the Soul," 
 and " The Beauty of Holiness." They have confined their 
 criticism to his allegories ; whereas he himself, without at 
 all injuring either the Holy War or the Pilgrim, breaks up 
 
VI A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 his vital and vivid personifications into Maxims, Argu- 
 ments, and Appeals, which are as powerful as his Pictures 
 are enchanting. Bunyan is himself, even in his doggerel 
 Rhymes, as well as in his Catechisms and Sermons. He fights 
 Quakerism, Pharisaism, and Antinomianism, in the same 
 style as Christian fought Apollyon ; or Mr Great 
 Heart, Giant Maul. He reasons as well with Pliables 
 of all sorts, as with the one who went as far as the Slough 
 of Despond ; and unmasks more Talkatives than the son of 
 Say-well of Prating-Row. Dr Southey thought that By- 
 Ends was the picture of some particular individual ; hut 
 Bunyan often depicts the whole generation of such gentr}--, 
 with graphic accuracy. " I ohserve," he says, in his Bar- 
 ren Fig-Tree, " that as there are trees wholly noble, so there 
 are also their semblance ; not right, but ignoble. There is 
 the Grape, and the Wild-grape ; the Rose, and the Canker- 
 rose ; the Apple, and the Crab. Now, fruit from these wild 
 trees, however it may please children to play with, yet the 
 prudent and grave count it of little or no value. There are 
 also in the world a generation of Professors, that bring forth 
 nothing but wild olive-berries ; Saints only before men ; 
 Devils and Vipers at home. Saints in world ; but sinners 
 in heart and life. Well, saith God, this profession is but a 
 cloak. I will loose the Reins of this man, and give him up 
 to his own vile affections. ' I will answer him by my- 
 self !' Ezek, xiv. 7. Thou art too hard for the Church. 
 She knows not how to deal with thee. Well, I will deal 
 with that man myself !" So also in his " Righteous Man's 
 Desires," he says, " Some men's Hearts are narrow upwards, 
 and wide downwards ; narrow as for God, but wide as 
 for the world. They gain for the one, but shut themselves 
 up against the other. The heart of a wicked man is widest 
 downward ; but it is not so with the Righteous. His 
 desires, like the temule Ezekiel saw in vision, are still 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OP BUNYAN. vU 
 
 widest upwards, and spread towards heaven. A full Purse, 
 witli a lean soul, is a great curse. Many, while lean in 
 their Estates, had fat souls ; but the fattening of their 
 estates made their souls as lean as a rake, as to all good." 
 In like manner, it is not in By-path JMeadow, where 
 Christian listened to Vain-Confidence ; nor at Beelzebub's 
 Orchard, where little Matthew ate grapes which gave him 
 " the gripes," that Bunyan displayed his deepest ac- 
 quaintance with the " bane and antidote" of Temptation. 
 He says in his " Notes on Genesis," " In time of tempta- 
 tion, it is our wisdom and duty to keep close to the Word, 
 which forbids the sin, and not to reason with Satan as Eve 
 did. So long as we retain the simplicity of the Word, we 
 have Satan at the end of the staff ; for unless we give way 
 to a doubt of it, he gets no ground on us. Eve went to the 
 outside of her liberty, and set herself upon the brink of 
 danger, when she said, ' We may eat of all, but one tree.' 
 When people dally thus with the Devil, they fall by temp- 
 tation." 
 
 It is needless to say, that such Passages are in fine keep- 
 ing with both the beauties and the power of the Dialogues 
 they refer to. They are quoted here, in order to prove that 
 Bunyan was his own Commentator on the Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress, in his other Works, in the case of almost all its finest 
 personifications ; or, in order to shew, that floods of light 
 could be thrown upon all his Allegories by his own lamps. 
 
 It will now be seen, that his literary Critics -were not 
 likely to appreciate or understand him fully ; and that his 
 spiritual Commentators ought not to have confined them- 
 selves to either his own history, or that of his Times, for il- 
 lustrations of his Pilgrim. Even Dr Cheever of New York, 
 who has eclipsed the Avhole host of Bunyan's Commenta- 
 tors, in both point and pathos, and placed himself like the 
 Apocalyptic Angel, full in the very " Sun" of the Vision, as 
 
Vlll A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 well as clothed himself with its Rainbows, has evinced no 
 familiarity with the unvisionary forms of the Great Truths 
 embodied in the Pilgrim's Progress. He has evidently 
 quoted, at second-hand, except from Bunyan's poetry. This 
 is much to be regretted, in reference to England. Such an 
 American as Dr Cheever, was just the man to make Eng- 
 lishmen aware of the peculiarities and beauties of Bunyan's 
 prose. They would have struck him more than they do 
 English readers, and thus have struck sparks from his own 
 spirit, which would have set our curiosity on fire, as well 
 as consumed the dross of our familiarity with our own 
 idioms. For, just as American travellers make us look 
 as with new eyes upon our own scenery and architecture, 
 because they bring both to a standard that we never judged 
 of them by, so they discern more readily than ourselves 
 the force of the mother-tongue, because they have less of it 
 in familiar use, or in its original forms. America has a 
 vernacular of its own, and thus it is as much alive to the 
 peculiarities of our idiom, as we are to those of the New 
 World. But although I should be glad to see American 
 discernment applied to Bunyan's Works at large, I depre- 
 cate the bare idea of England leaving to any nation — even 
 to Scotland — the honour of analyzing and illustrating the 
 works of her own Son, now that all nations who have a 
 literature, class him with Shakespeare or Milton, as a man 
 of genius ; and now that he has won the homage of her 
 own best Critics. England has living sons who can com- 
 mand universal attention, and confer everlasting fame, in 
 various ways, if they would unite to do for Bunyan, what 
 has been so often and well done for all Genius of his order ; 
 and, in doing so, they will identify themselves with the 
 immortality of our old English, by restoring to it idioms 
 which will annihilate both the latinized and frenchificd 
 formalities that have been grafted upon the parent stock, as 
 
TUE WRITINGS AND GENII] S OF BUNYAN. IX 
 
 well as wither the parasitical Germajiisms that have crept 
 around it, and are inflicting an "injury" without "lending 
 a grace" to the language. 
 
 This may seem extravagant to those who have only dipt 
 into Bunyan's works at large, and even to those who may 
 study the Treatises in this volume in order to test the truth 
 of the assertion ; but it is quite capable of ample proof, if 
 my limits were not narrow. Indeed, narrow as they are, 
 I do not despair of proving that Bunyan was himself, when- 
 ever his subject allowed him to be so, or called for his 
 graphic touch. Even in the very first treatise he wrote, 
 " Gospel Truths Opened,''' he is alternately logical and 
 imaginative. Dr Southey said of it — " It is a calm, well- 
 arranged, and well-supported statement of the Scriptural 
 doctrines on momentous points." It is so much so, that it 
 has been compared, as an argument, apart from learning, 
 9 Pr Pye Smith's " Scripture Testimony." This fact ren- 
 ders aixj specimen of its induction unnecessary here, won- 
 derful as that is, in the case of a man who had never before 
 tried his hand at composition. What it is, in point of 
 vivacityj will be seen from the following specimens. On 
 the Angelic Testimony to the truth of the Saviour's resur- 
 rection, Bunyan says — " Here is the Angel of the Lord 
 ready to satisfy the disciples that Jesus was risen from the 
 dead. And lest they should think it was not the right 
 Jesus he spoke of, ' Yes,' saith he, ' it is the same Jesus 
 that you mean. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, do you not V 
 Why, ' He is not here, he is risen.' ' But do you speak 
 seriously ? ' ' Yea, surely. If you will not believe me, 
 behold the place where they laid him !' See how plainly 
 this Scripture doth testify of Christ's resurrection. ' Yea/ 
 saith the angel, ' Lo it is as I have told you. You seek a 
 Saviour, and none will content you but he that was cruci- 
 fied. Well, you shall have him. But he is not here.' ' But 
 
X A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 where shall we find him V ' Why, he goeth before you 
 into Galilee, where he used to be in his life-time before he 
 was crucified.' " Thus Bunyan's vein appears the moment 
 we break ground, ilnd how obvious it is, when he applies 
 to hiinself the ascertained facts of the gospel ! " Here, in- 
 deed, is my life ; namely, the birth of this 3Ian, the right- 
 eousness of this jNIan, the blood of this Man, the death and 
 resurrection of this Man ! — the Son of Mary — the Son of 
 Man — the Son of God — the true God ! I say, here is ray 
 life, if I see this by faith icithout me, through the operation 
 of the Spirit within me. I am safe, I am at peace, I am 
 comforted, I am encouraged ; and I know that my comfort, 
 peace, and encouragement is true, and given me from hea- 
 ven by the Father of mercies." Thus also he applies this 
 test to others. " Thou thinkest that thou art a Christian. 
 Thou wouldest be sorry else. Well, but when did God shew 
 thee that thou wert no Christian 1 When did the Spirit of 
 the Lord shew thee that hadst no faith in thee by na- 
 ture ? Dost thou not say in thine heart, that thou never 
 hadst thy faith to seek, but always believed with as good 
 a faith as any one alive ? If so, know for certain that thou 
 hast no faith of the operation of God. If thy guilt of sin 
 goes off, and convictions go off, in any way but by the 
 blood and righteousness of Christ, thy guilt goes off, not 
 riffht, but wrong, and thy latter end will be a very bitter 
 end." 
 
 These passages are oiithreahs from the continuous stream 
 of Bunyan's main Argument, and thus they are but loose 
 as composition. Besides, he was writing for the first time. 
 But still, in the Argument itself, his power of condensation, 
 as a theologian, was never surpassed by himself afterwards. 
 He ^^ picked words" better in his next treatise ; but he never 
 "packed'"' them better, even when he understood his own 
 power. 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. xi 
 
 It has been said already, that the real secret of Bunyan's 
 eloquence was his intense solicitude to win souls to Christ. 
 Accordingly, his first " Call to the Unconverted" was en- 
 titled, " Sighs from Hell, or The Groans of a Damned Soul." 
 That work shews that the Pilgrim's Progress was germi- 
 nating in his spirit at an early period. Hence it opens 
 thus : — " Friend, because it is a dangerous thing to be 
 walking towards the place of Darkness and Anguish, and 
 because, notwithstanding, the journey that most of the 
 poor souls in the world are taking, I have thought it my 
 duty, for preventing thee, to tell thee w^hat sad success 
 those souls have had, that have persevered therein. Why, 
 friend, it may be — ^nay, twenty to one — thou hast had thy 
 hacJc to Heaven, and i\\y face towards Hell, ever since thou 
 didst come into the world. Why, I beseech thee, put a 
 little stop to thy earnest race, and take a view of what 
 entertainment thou art like to have, if thou do in deed and 
 in truth persist in thy course. ^ Thy w^ays lead down to 
 Death, and thy steps to Hell.' It may be, indeed, the path 
 is pleasant to the flesh ; but the end thereof will be bitter 
 to thy soul. Hark ! dost thou not hear the bitter cries of 
 them that are newly gone before thee, saying, ' Let him dip 
 the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, that is 
 so tormented in this flame.' Dost thou not hear them say, 
 ' Send one from the dead, to prevent my father, my bro- 
 ther, my father's house, from coming to this place of tor- 
 ment ?' Shall not these mournful groans pierce thy flinty 
 heart 1 Wilt thou stop thine ears, and shut thine eyes ? 
 And wilt thou not regard ? Take warning, and stop thy 
 journey before it be too late. Wilt thou be like the silly 
 fly, that is not quiet, unless she be either entangled in the 
 spider's web, or burnt in the candle ? sinner, sinner, 
 there are better things than Hell to be had ! There is Hea- 
 ven, there is God, there is Christ, there is communion with 
 
Xil A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 an innumerable assembly of saints and angels ! Consider ; 
 would it not wound thee to the heart, to come to thy death- 
 bed, having thy sins flying in thy face — thy conscience 
 uttering, of itself, thunder-claps against thee — the thoughts 
 of God terrifying thee — Death, with his merciless paw, 
 seizing upon thee — Devils standing ready to scramble for 
 thy soul, and Hell enlarging itself to swallow thee up ] 
 For, mark. Death doth not come alone to an Unconverted 
 Soul ; but with such company as, wast thou sensible of it, 
 would make thee tremble. Hell cometh with Death to the 
 Ungodly. Here comes Death, and Hell, unto thee ! Death 
 goeth into thy body, and sepai-ates soul and body asunder. 
 Hell stands without, to crush thy soul with its everlasting 
 grinders. Lo, it will come to this ! Blessed are those that 
 through Christ's mercies, by faith, do escape these soul- 
 murdering companions ! " 
 
 In his Treatise on the Parable of Dives and Lazarus, 
 Bunyan represents Dives as objecting thus to Abraham, 
 when he says, " They have Moses and the prophets, let 
 them hear them ;" — " This is the thing (to be short), my 
 brethren are unbelievers, and do not regard the Word of 
 God. I know it, by myself ; for when I was in the world, 
 it was so with me. The Scriptures, thought I then, what 
 are they 1 A dead letter ; a little ink and paper, of three 
 or four shillings price. Alack ! what is Scripture 1 Give 
 me a ballad, a news-book, George on horseback, or Bevis 
 of Southampton. Give me some book that teaches curious 
 Arts, that tells old Fables. And, as it was with me then, so 
 it is with my brethren now ! They are so hardened in 
 their own ways, and so bent on following sin, that, let the 
 Messengers of Christ preach until their hearts ache, till 
 they fall down dead with preaching, they will trample it 
 under foot, and swine-like rend them, rather than close in 
 with those gentle and blessed proffers of the Gospel." 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OP BUNYAN. Xlll 
 
 But Bunyan could woo in his own way, as well as warn. 
 He tries, in this Treatise, to win such men as Dives described ; 
 and, in order to this, he gives them the full benefit of his 
 own experience, as to the sufficiency of Scripture, without 
 Messengers from the invisible world. " I tell thee, friend, 
 there are some Promises I would not leave out of the Bible, 
 for as much gold as could lie between York and London, 
 even if piled up to the stars ; because, through them, Christ 
 is pleased by his Spirit to convey comfort to my soul. I 
 say, when the Law curses, when the Devil tempts, when 
 Hell-fire flames in my conscience, then is Christ revealed so 
 sweetly to my poor soul through the Promises, that all is 
 forced to fly, and leave off to accuse my soul. On this ac- 
 count, how excellent are the Scriptures to thy soul ! They 
 are so large as to say, Christ will in nowise cast out. 
 Crimson sins may be white as snow. 0, how is it with 
 thy soul ! Oh ! I say, regard — regard — ^for Hell is hot. 
 orod's hand is up ! The Judgment-Day is at hand. The 
 Graves are ready to fly open ! The Trumpet is near the 
 sounding ! The sentence will ere long be passed, and then 
 neither you nor I can call Time again !" Thus there was 
 from the first, in Bunyan's spirit, as in Whitefield's, a 
 "secret place of thunder," and "a fountain of tears," that 
 discharged alternate bursts of terror and tenderness — bolts 
 of Sinai, and dew of Hermon. And this twofold power, he 
 retained to the end of life ; but he never displayed it better 
 than in the first outpourings of his baptized spirit, whilst 
 he Knew nothing about the art of writing for the press. 
 
 By the time he wrote his next Treatise, " The Doctrine 
 of Law and Grace Unfolded," or, " The Two Covenants," 
 he had met with scholars, in the jail at Bedford, whose 
 conversation made him aware that writing was an art. 
 His fellow-prisoner, Coxe, the cordwainer, who insisted 
 upon pleading his own cause in both Greek and Hebrew, 
 
XIV A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 and thus "wound up" the law^'ers, as his judge said, had 
 given Bunyan some idea of Aristotle's logic, and of Plato's 
 eloquence. This led him to deprecate criticism, and to in- 
 crease his vocabulary. Hence he says in the Preface to 
 his work on the Covenants, " I never went to school to Aris- 
 totle or Plato, but was brought up in my father's house in 
 a very mean condition, among a company of poor country- 
 men." He had also, if not the Book, his own vivid recol- 
 lections of " Luther on the Galatians," to test and form his 
 style by. Accordingly, whilst he eschews " fantastical ex- 
 pressions, and whimsical scholar-like terms," he employs 
 many compound words, and theological technicalities, 
 which never occur in his first work. Indeed, its general 
 character is not unlike Witsius or Boston on the Covenants. 
 It is not so perspicuous as Dr Russell's work on the sub- 
 ject ; but it is quite as cogent, and far more spirited. It 
 smacks much of Luther ; but it also improves upon him. 
 
 That Luther's work was before Bunyan's eye, or dis- 
 tinctly recollected by him, there can be no doubt, although 
 he never names him. Luther says to Satan, " In telling 
 me that I am a great sinner, thou givest me a sword to cut 
 thine ovm throat ; — for Christ died for sinners." This hint 
 was quite enough to set Bunyan off in his own style. He 
 says to a timid penitent, " Didst thou never learn to out- 
 shoot the Devil with his own bow, and to cut off his head 
 with his own sword 1 Question, ' 0, how should a poor 
 soul do this? This is rare, indeed!' Answer. ' AVhy, 
 truly thus : Doth Satan tell thee, thou prayest but faintly, 
 and with very cold devotion ? Say, I am glad you told 
 me ; for this will make me trust the more to Christ's 
 prayers, and the less to my own. Also, I will endeavour 
 henceforward to make the heavens rattle again with my 
 mighty groans. And whereas thou tellest me that I am so 
 weak in believing, I am glad you mind me of it. It will 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XV 
 
 make me restless till I have strong faith ! Poor soul, if 
 thou didst get this art, to outrun Satan in his own shoes 
 (as I may say), and to make his own darts pierce him, 
 then thou mightest say of his temptations, as of other 
 things, they work together for my good.' P. 160. Objec- 
 tion. ' But I find so many weaknesses in every duty I 
 perform, that it maketh me out of conceit with myself, 
 and to think that my duties are little worth.' Answer. 
 ' Thou by this means art taken off from leaning on any- 
 thing below a naked Jesus for eternal life. It is like, thou 
 wouldst send thy soul to Hell in a bundle of thy own 
 Righteousness, if thou wast not sensible of many by- 
 thoughts and wickednesses in thy best performances.' " P. 
 161. 
 
 No treatise of Bunyan's is better worth an attentive per- 
 usal than this one ; for no man can read it, either as a 
 critic, or as a mere theologian. It impales, as well as em- 
 pannels, the conscience, even if the conscience has been 
 slain by the law, and healed by the Gospel, for years. The 
 spiritual Reader is compelled to go deeper into his own case, 
 than any Doctrinal Book upon Law and Grace evM- led him ; 
 and the general reader cannot but feel himself in the grasp 
 of a gigantic hand, and under the gaze of an eye, that he 
 can neither resist nor evade, but by closing the book* and 
 that, he can hardly do, if the Pilgrim has any charms for 
 him, or Bunyan's own life any interest. For every now 
 and then, Bunyan strikes off some miniature likeness of 
 himself, now as " an old covenant-man," and anon as " a 
 new covenant-man," that whoever loves him must read 
 on. 
 
 It will tempt some to read this Treatise, when I say, that 
 the late Dr Waugh drew some of his " sharp arrows" from 
 it. He made them, indeed, more " polished shafts" before 
 shootinir them from his magnificent bow ; — for he improved 
 
XVI A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 whatever he appropriated ; — but they were taken from 
 Bunyan's quiver ; and so also, not a little of the sweet and 
 healing Balm he sent after them was extracted from such 
 Balsam-trees ; never, however, without due acknowledg- 
 ment. 
 
 Bunyan's next work, of any size, was on Prayer ; and 
 as extempore prayer was then a State crime, no one can 
 wonder, however much he may regret, that the Prayer- 
 Book came in for some of that odium which odious means 
 of enforcing it created. Besides, one extreme begets ano- 
 ther. I am no apologist for Bun3'an's low estimate of 
 forms ; but I deny that it is so low, or so vulgar, or so bit- 
 ter, as was the Laudean estimate of free prayer. That poured 
 far more scorn upon " the Spirit of supplication," than ever 
 Bunyan did upon the form of it. No one knew this fact 
 better than Dr Southey. It w^as not fair, therefore, to con- 
 ceal it, w^hen calling Bunyan's prejudices " unreasonable." 
 AVanton and impious prejudices wer€ then rampant, against 
 all avowed dependence upon the Holy Spirit for help in 
 prayer. So much was this the fact, that good Bishop Hall, 
 although writing for Laud, rebuked them, and gave burning 
 utterance to his own love of " praying in the Holy Ghost." 
 
 It is due to Bunyan's Catholic spirit, to place his work 
 on Pftyer in this light. Apart from its occasional sar- 
 casms upon the Liturgy, it is full of wise and warm appeals 
 on the spirit of prayer, and quite as severe against extem- 
 pore parade as against heartless formality. Its great defect 
 is, that, in analyzing the Lord's Prayer, it refers the peti- 
 tion, " Thy Kingdom come," to the second coming of Christ 
 to judge the world. 
 
 Contemporary with this Treatise, is most of Bunyan's 
 Poetry ; but as no one reads his Rhymes now, I say nothing 
 about them ; except that his efforts to write in numbers, 
 clumsy as they were, increased his power of " picking and 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XVII 
 
 packing words." This is very obvious in his next prose 
 work, on "The Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal 
 Judgment." Indeed, it is somewhat heavy by condensa- 
 tion ; and not, as might be expected, full of vivid visions 
 of the last day. But although calm in its solemnity, and 
 close in its reasonings, and sparing of epithets, there are 
 many sublime and beautiful passages in it ; and, as usual 
 with Bunyan, they are expansions of some scriptural fact 
 or figure. What can be more beautiful than his expansion 
 of the emblem of the Resurrection from a grain of wheat ? 
 " There is a poor, dry and wrinkled kernel cast into the 
 ground j and there it lieth, swelleth, breaketh, and, one 
 would think, perisheth. But, behold, it receiveth life, it 
 chippeth, it putteth forth a blade, and groweth into a stalk. 
 There also appeareth an ear ; it also sweetly blossoms, with 
 a full kernel in the ear. It is the same wheat ; yet behold 
 how the fashion doth differ from what was sown ? And 
 our Iran will be left behind, when we rise again. The body 
 ariseth, as to the nature of it, the self same nature ; but as 
 to the manner of it, how far transcendent ? " The glory of 
 the terrestrial is one, and the glory of the celestial ano- 
 ther !" 
 
 So also, what can be more sublime than his expansion 
 of the oracle, " It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power ?" 
 Realizing this change, when the mortal puts on immortal- 
 ity, he thus appeals to the Saints, " At our first appearance, 
 the world will tremble. Behold the gates of death and 
 the bars of the grave, are now carried away on our shoul- 
 ders, as Sampson carried away the gates of the city. Death 
 quaketh, and Destruction falleth dowTi dead at our feet ! 
 \yhat then can stand before us ? We shall then carry that 
 grace, majesty, terror, and commanding power in our souls, 
 that our countenances shall be as lightning. Then shall 
 " Death be swallowed up of victory !" 
 
XVm A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OX 
 
 But lest any of his Readers should be unable to realize 
 this change, he says in the next breath, " You know that 
 the things candied by the art of the Apothecary, are so 
 swallowed up with the sweetness and virtue of what they 
 are candied in, that they are as if they had no other nature 
 than that in which they are boiled ; while yet, in truth, 
 the)'' retain their own proper nature and essence. So, let 
 us lose our proper nature, and we absolutely lose our being, 
 and are annihilated into a nothing. But no ; we shall be 
 candied hy being swallowed up of Life. AVe shall be as if 
 we were all spirit ; but, in truth, it is this body, a spiri- 
 tual body." 
 
 I might multiply passages of this kind ; but, as I am 
 merely tracing the progress of Bunyan's intellectual power 
 and literary habits, it is unnecessary. What I want to 
 shew is, the Pilgrimage of his Mind and Pen, before he 
 "wrote his Pilgrim's Progress. That work came " suddenly^'' 
 into his mind as an Allegory ; but both as theology and 
 literature, it was the result of much patient thinking and 
 writing, during more than twenty years. It was, no doubt, 
 partly dreamt in prison ; and, most likely, without any 
 help from any books but the Bible and Fox's Martyrology. 
 It was not published, nor even written, however, until after 
 his release in 1672 ; and then his other Avorks amounted to 
 twenty-two, in all. Thus it is unwise to speak of the Pil- 
 grim, as if it were not the work of a practised writer. 
 Buny an wrote it with ease when he caught the full Idea of 
 it ; but that ease arose from long practice. 
 
 In 1665, lie wrote his Treatise on the Millenium ; or, 
 " The Holy City, Kew Jerusalem ;" but whether before or 
 after his work on the Last Bay, is uncertain. If before it, 
 then he intended by it to halance the glories of the Latter 
 Bay, by the solemnities of the Last Bay. If after it, he in- 
 tended to soften these solemnities, by the bright prospects 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XIX 
 
 of the preceding Millenium. And in his circle of Readers, 
 there Avas need then for the two Books in the same year ; 
 for the one is too exclusively confined to the end of the 
 world, and the other to the meridian of the Millenium. 
 Bunyan, however, was no Millenarian, in either the 
 visionary or the vulgar sense of that name. The Fifth 
 Monarchy Men would not have read his Book then, nor 
 could the Personal Reign Men bear it now. I mention 
 this distinctly, because the subject itself is unpopular at 
 present. I am not sorry for this ; but I am very sorry, 
 now that the IMissionary Spirit is popular, that the 
 Treatise on "The Holy City" is not more known to 
 general readers. Indeed, on Bunyan's own account, 
 it ought to be studied by all his admirers. I had no 
 adequate idea of the grasj? of his mind, until I studied 
 this work. Its ingenuity also is of a peculiar kind. In 
 "Solomon's Temple Spiritualized," and in "The House of 
 Lebanon," Bunyan is often whimsical as well as ingenious. 
 He gets a little angry too, when a Type becomes unman- 
 ageable in his hands ; and then, he never writes well, until 
 a new one puts him into good humour again. Not so in 
 his " Holy City." He felt all but inspired, from the 
 beginning to the end of it. Indeed, he regarded it as more 
 a Vision than his Allegories. And no wonder ; for, when 
 their Characters were struck out, they were ready to 
 speak for themselves, each agreeably to his own name. 
 But the gorgeous magnificence of everything in the Apoca- 
 lyptic Jerusalem, was unlike anything Bunyan had ever 
 seen ; and not at all in keeping, at first sight, with his 
 general idea of the simplicity and spirituality of the Chris- 
 tian Church. The man who had only preached in Barns, 
 and Barn-like Chapels, and only to the poor then, seems but 
 ill prepared to identif}«the Church with a city paved with 
 gold, and blazing with jewels, and rich with the honour 
 and glory of both the kings and nations of the earth. And 
 
XX A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 yet, the splendours of that city only increase the spiritua- 
 lity of his simple views of the Church. 
 
 I may as well confess at once, that I think " the Holy 
 City" the most profound and eloquent work that Bunyan 
 ever wrote. He himself, I suspect, thought so too. Not, 
 however, that he would have hrought it into comparison 
 with his Allegories, or preferred it at all to them, so far as 
 general usefulness is concerned. But, as sweeping the 
 whole circle of Church Prophecy, and as harmonizing 
 Jewish types with Christian symbols, and as reducing 
 Apocalyptic figures to Evangelical facts, and dazzling 
 visions to sober realities, he did both think and say, that 
 he had caught " Something of that Jasper Light in 
 which the Holy City will come down." He did reckon 
 his discoveries to be both providential and gracious in a 
 very special sense, and from " no ordinary frame of spirit." 
 And the work justifies his own opinion of it. 
 
 Why, then, it may be said, has it almost fallen out of 
 notice 1 This question is only too easily answered. There 
 was no Missionary Spirit in the Christian Church when 
 Bunyan wrote ; and thus he could give no grand practical 
 bearing to his own grand conceptions. Indeed, he himself 
 did not see their real bearings upon the kingdom of Christ 
 so far as the Means and Manner of its coming are con- 
 cerned. How could he, then ? But he was as surely 
 enabled by God to write " the Holy City" for our Times, as 
 to write the Pilgrim for all Time. Even as an Ecclesiastical 
 Treatise, it is invaluable at this crisis ; for it presents a 
 view of the Christian Church, which no Christian durst 
 quarrel with, and which none but Christians could under- 
 stand. In a word, I never saw the man yet, in any 
 Church, Avho would not be both wiser and better, were he 
 as familiar with Bunyan's " Jasper Light," as he is with 
 the Pilgrim ; nor carvl conceive of a greater service to Pro- 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BDNYAN. XXI 
 
 testant Missions, at this crisis in their history, than giving 
 "the Holy City," a practical bearing upon their spirit. 
 Whoever will do that in Bunyan's spirit, will serve more 
 generations than his own. 
 
 I would not, even if I could, give a digest of this work ; 
 and nothing I could quote would either sustain or illustrate 
 what I have said of it. It must be read as a whole, in 
 order to be appreciated. Let no one expect, however, to 
 find any of Bunyan's wit, fancy, or even quaintness in it. 
 It is all child-like in its piety, and angel-like in its majesty ; 
 for both its grace and grandeur arise entirely from reflect- 
 ing the glories of Scriptural language. Hence it will disap- 
 point any one who has no ear for the music of the Prophetic 
 and Apocalyptic Harps of Inspiration, or who has no eye for 
 the sublime and beautiful of divine truth. It will off'end 
 no one, however, whose taste is not squeamish, and tire 
 no one who, like myself, has no taste for either modem 
 Millenarianism, or fanciful interpretations of prophetic 
 vials, seals, and trumpets. Bunyan's Millenium begins, 
 indeed, where others end. 
 
 His next work was his own Life, or " Grace Abounding 
 to the Chief Sinners" — a book too well known to be 
 characterised here. It would be wrong, however, not to 
 mention, that he had to lay a restraint upon himself as to 
 its style, from his having polished his preceding work so 
 much. He elaborated his Holy City, he says, " first with 
 doing, and then with undoing, and after that with doing 
 again." He had thus acquired a loftier diction. But he 
 had also been amidst the final glories and solemnities of 
 Time, and these had placed all his past history in their own 
 vivid lights, and thus thrown him into his natural position 
 again. But still he did not forget his new command over 
 language. Hence he said of his auto-biography — " I could 
 have stepped into a style much higher, and could have 
 
XXll A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 adorned all things more ; but I dare not. God did not 'play 
 with me in trying me, nor did I play when I sunk as into 
 a bottomless pit, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me ; 
 wherefore I may not play in relating them, but be plain 
 and simple, and lay down the thing as it was. He that 
 liketh it, let him receive it : and he that doth not, let him 
 produce a better. Farewell !" 
 
 No one can regret this resolution, however much he feel, 
 with Dr Southey, that had Bunyan " dreamt of being ' for 
 ever known,' and taking his place among those who may 
 be called the Immortals of the earth, he would probably 
 have introduced more details" of his life ; " but glorious 
 dreamer as he Avas, this never entered into his imagination." 
 Dr Cheever also says with great truth and beauty — " As 
 you read the ' Grace Abounding,' you are ready to say at 
 every step, Here is the future Author of Pilgrim's Progress. 
 It is as if you stood beside some great Sculptor, and watched 
 every movement of his chisel, having had his design ex- 
 plained to you before, so that at every blow some new trait 
 of beauty in the future statue comes clearly into view." 
 Dr Cheever would have applied this praise to Bunyan's 
 miniatures also, had he been familiar Avith tliem. 
 
 The last work of importance that Bunyan wrote in prison 
 Avas on " Justification," or " No Way to Heaven but by 
 Jesus Christ." It is Lutheran throughout, but Avithout 
 either violence or paradox. It is acute Avithout sarcasm, 
 and clear Avithout being superficial. It is not, hoAA^ever, 
 profound nor original, as compared Avith his treatise on the 
 Covenants. Still there are some vivid pictures in it, and 
 some keen detections of Avhat he calls " the fine-spun thread 
 of unbelief." One Picture I must extract. " Joshua the 
 High Priest stood before the Angel, clothed, not Avith Right- 
 eousness, but Avith filthy rags. Sin upon him, and Satan 
 by him. And this before the Angel ! What must he do 1 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XXIU 
 
 Go away ? No, there he must stand ! Can he speak for 
 himself 1 Not a word ; Guilt had made him dumb ! Had he 
 nothing clean 1 No ! But his lot was to stand before Jesu-s 
 Christ, that maketh intercession for transgressors ; and the 
 Lord said, The Lord rebuke thee, Satan ! But is Joshua 
 now quit ? No ; he standeth yet, nor can he clear him- 
 self. How then 1 Why, the Lord clothes him with change 
 of raiment. The iniquity was his own ; the Raiment was 
 the Lord's." 
 
 This vivacity, although it do not prove that his health 
 was unimpaired by his long imprisonment, proves that his 
 spirits were good even to the last ; for his release was un- 
 expected when it came, and thus its prospect did not cheer 
 him. He was also a bold, as well as a thankful man, when 
 he came out of prison. He was, as ever, a peaceful man, 
 and candid even to a proverb ; but he had no concessions 
 to make to his enemies when he was restored to his friends. 
 Then he published the " Confession of his Faith and Prac- 
 tice," and prefaced it thus : — "I say again to mine Ene- 
 mies, let they themselves be judges if any thing in the 
 following doctrines savour of either heresy or rebellion ; 
 or if they find aught in my writing or preaching to render 
 me worthy of almost twelve years' imprisonment, or one 
 that deserveth to be hanged, or banished for ever, accord- 
 ing to their tremendous sentence ! My Principles, indeed, 
 are such as lead me to a denial to communicate with the 
 Ungodly and Profane, in the things of the Kingdom of Christ. 
 Neither can I consent, in or by the Superstitious Inventions 
 of this world, that my soul should be governed in any of 
 my approaches to God, because commanded to the contrary, 
 or commended for so refusing. Wherefore, excepting in this 
 one thing — for which I ought not to be rebuked — I shall, 
 I trust, in despite of slander and falsehood, discover myself 
 at all times a peaceable and obedient subject. But if no- 
 
XXIV A CHKONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 thing will do, unless I make my conscience a continual 
 butchery or Slaughter-Shop, — unless, putting out mine own 
 eyes, I commit myself to the Blind to lead me, as I doubt 
 not is desired by some, — I have determined, the Almighty 
 God being my help and shield, yet to suffer, — if frail life 
 continue so long, — even till the moss shall grow upon mine 
 eyebrows, rather than thus violate my faith and principles. 
 ' Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, that cometh from 
 the Rock of the field ; or shall the cold flowing waters that 
 come from another place be forsaken ? ' " Thus Bunyan 
 came out of Prison, as Daniel did out of the lions' den, and 
 Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego out of the fiery furnace, 
 avowing all he was cast in for, and evincing a spirit that 
 neither bonds nor death could crush or bend. 
 
 But whilst this dauntless confessor thus flung defiance 
 at his Enemies, he meekly said to his Friends, " I marvel 
 not that both yourself and others do think my long im- 
 prisonment strange ; or rather, strangely of me, for the sake 
 of that ; for, verily, I should have done it myself had not 
 the Holy Ghost long since forbidden me. 1 Pet. iv. 12." 
 He then tells them how that confinement tested his princi- 
 ples. " I was never so sordid as to stand to a Doctrine, 
 right or wrong ; much less, when so weighty an argument 
 as above eleven years' imprisonment is continually dogging 
 of me, to pause and weigh, and pace again, the grounds and 
 foundations of those Principles for which I thus suff^ered. 
 But having asserted them, not only at my Trial, but also 
 since ; and all this tedious tract of time examined them in 
 cool blood a thousand times by the Word of God, and found 
 them good, I cannot, I dare not now revolt, or deny the 
 same, on pain of eternal damnation !" This, solemn as it 
 is, refers to his Open Communion Principles, as well as to 
 his Creed at large. His Creed is, of course, thoroughly Cal- 
 vinistic ; but not hyper at all. He was not inclined to 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XXV 
 
 that ; and, had he been so, John Dennes' lash and logic, 
 which never spared Bunyan, would have driven him from 
 it ; for they were as acute as they were unmerciful. For 
 this reason, amongst others more historical and cogent, I 
 threw doubts upon tlie authorship of a Treatise on Reproha- 
 ti'on, which is found in Hogg's edition of Bunyan's works. 
 That is seven years ago, and I have seen nothing since to 
 change my opinion of its spuriousness. 
 
 Bunyan's release from prison did not relieve him from 
 either work or warfare. His Free Communion Principles, 
 as a Baptist, had offended the whole body of the general 
 Baptists, prior to his imprisonment ; and his Confession of 
 Faith, when he came out, provoked their best and worst 
 pens. He was thus compelled to defend himself. But he 
 did so, like himself, briefly and blandly ; and then set all 
 his heart upon his original object, — winning souls. He 
 seems to have been shocked by the increase of ignorance 
 and ungodliness that had over-run Bedfordshire and the 
 whole circle of his old Itineracy, during his long imprison- 
 ment. The sight made him forget, for a time, not only all 
 his acquired power of writing with effect, but also his 
 cherished design of the Pilgrim's Progress. He even threw 
 it aside, in order to write his " Light to them that sit in 
 Darkness." He could think of nothing but that darkness, 
 from the moment he saw it with his own eyes. It haunted 
 him, until he brought his book, as well as his preaching, 
 to bear upon it. 
 
 Such being its origin, I need not say that the book is 
 elementary. It is also written in what Luther would have 
 called a criLcified style. It thus leaves no room for criti- 
 cism. This is equally true of its contemporary, on " Chris- 
 tian Behaviour." That too, the general state of Family- 
 Morals around him^ loudly called for. In a literary point 
 of view, however, it is interesting as the germ of the 
 
XXVI A CHROrN^OLOGlCAL CIMTIQUE ON 
 
 Treatise on "The Beauty of Holiness," which he wrote 
 ten years afterwards. This Bibliographic fact requires, 
 therefore, some notice of it here. Besides, it ran through 
 four Editions, before that Treatise came out. 
 
 It seems very gratuitous, but it is necessary, to remind 
 the Reader of either Work, that the Restoration had a most 
 ruinous influence upon both public and private morals. 
 The well known Thomas Brooks, of London, foresaw this, 
 and tried to rouse the Public, to resist the incoming tide of 
 profligacy and impiety, whilst yet "The Beau ties of Holiness" 
 were compared, by the Nation, to " the dew of the morn- 
 ing." Hence he brought out in 1662 his elaborate (but 
 not, as might be expected from Brooks, his brilliant) work, 
 entitled, " The Cro^^^l and Glory of Christianity ; or a 
 Holy Life the only way to Happiness." It is written up 
 to the marh of the Commonwealth Tim^s ; but it was thus 
 above the spirit brought in by the Restoration, although it 
 was dedicated to " All the Lords, Knights, Ladies, Gentry, 
 Ministers and Commons of England," that had even " but 
 the least desire, the least mind, or the least will, to escape 
 Hell, and go to Heaven." But, not all the fame of Brooks, 
 either as a scholar, a wit, or a preacher, could obtain a 
 hearing for him in the circles he most wished for one, when 
 Charles II. acquired public influence. Brooks himself, in 
 writing it, could not shake off' the fear of failing in his ob- 
 ject ; and thus he failed to write with his usual point and 
 vivacity, for his Book, although not dull, is heavy, not- 
 withstanding all its historic illustrations. Bunyan, I have 
 no douljt, felt this, as well as saw the necessity of a Treatise 
 on Holiness " for rteiv Converts," now that many old Con- 
 verts were less strict than he had known them. Besides, 
 the Book was dear as well as " long and tedious ;" and his 
 opinion was that a "niultitudeof AVordsdroAvn the memory," 
 and that " the Reader may find inside a Sheet, what some 
 aie forced to hunt a whole Quire for." He did not say this 
 
THE WRITINGS a:;d gemus of BUNYAX. XXVll 
 
 of Brooks by name ; but there can be no doubt of the re- 
 ference ; for the work was the Book of the day^ on the sub- 
 ject, amongst the old Puritans of the Commonwealth. 
 
 These remarks cannot offend any one who is familiar 
 with Brook's " Beauty of Holiness," and they ought not to 
 deter an^^body from reading it. It is an immense mine of 
 intellectual wealth, often massive in its veins, and gorgeous 
 in its fractures. " It hath dust of gold." All the salient 
 points and personages of all History obey the Author's 
 ])idding, and minister to his purpose. His pedantry is 
 more splendid than Jeremy Taylor's, although not so chaste 
 as Thomas Watson's ; and his fearless fidelity is not sur- 
 passed by either Latimer or Baxter. Still, the work is 
 heavy. As Bunyan says, "it drovrns the memory." I 
 read it often ; but it always reminds me of the galleries of 
 the Louvre or Versailles, where the profusion of pictures 
 creates confusion of mind. 
 
 Banyan's high sense of the beauty of a holy life is, per- 
 haps, more obvious in his tract on " Christian Behaviour," 
 than in the treatise on the " Beauty of Holiness." In the 
 latter it is seen chiefly in his loathing of sin, and in his lofty 
 conceptions of what Believers owe to Christ. But in the 
 former it is seen chiefly in his relish for moral harmonics, in 
 the family and the Church. I can make room for only one 
 specimen of this. " The doctrine of the Gospel is like the 
 dew and the small rain that distilleth upon the tender 
 grass, wherewith it dolh flourish and is kept green. Chris- 
 tians are like the several flowers in a garden, that have 
 each of them the dew of Heaven, ^vhich, being shaken with 
 the wind, they let fall at each other's roots ; whereby they 
 are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other." 
 It will be readily conceived how Bunyan teaches husbands 
 and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, to 
 verify this both at home and in the Church, His counsels 
 are, indeed, homely ; but they are stirring also. 
 
XXVlll A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 Ilis next little work, " InsLructioii for the Ignorant," 
 although only a Catechism, is such a Catechism as only 
 Bunyan could produce. He knew by bitter experience 
 what Ignorance is, and by long experience what forms of 
 Knowledge find the readiest entrance into vacant minds. 
 Hence, he makes the Ignorant put his Questions as their 
 own, instead of asking them questions. Nor is this all. He 
 makes them identify themselves with every point in some 
 way ; either by kindling youthful curiosity, or by drawing 
 out the natural conscience dexterously. I will not venture 
 to institute either a contrast or a comparison between Bun- 
 yan's Catechism, and those most in use now in Families and 
 Sunday Schools ; but I do most respectfully submit to the 
 Heads of both the propriety of stud^dng his Catechism for 
 themselves, to see whether his plan might not facilitate 
 their own work. It deserves consideration also, whether 
 Dr Watts' Catechisms might not be well followed by that of 
 Bunyan ? Catechetical associations, with the name of the 
 author of the Pilgrim's Progress, seem to me invaluable, 
 now that Bunyan is a universal favourite with children. 
 Indeed, I can conceive of nothing so fascinating to the 
 young, as setting them to ask John Bunyan questions. 
 Nothing, however, is farther from my design, in throwing 
 out this hint, than to insinuate any dissatisfaction with our 
 current Evangelical Catechisms, or to disturb the order of 
 Schools. Usuage and order, when not unfavourable to the 
 development of the young mind, ought not to be disturbed 
 by anything less practical than themselves. Still they 
 ought not to be pleaded against anything more fascinating, 
 if it be equally practical. I will only add, that Bunyan 
 kept his long-cherished design of the Pilgrim's Progress in 
 abeyance, in order to w/*e his Catechism. 
 
THE WRITINGS AND UENIUS OF BUNYAN. XXIX 
 
 So he did also, in order to follow up his " Grace Abound- 
 ing," by a Treatise on " Salvation by Grace." This was a 
 wise step. His wonderful Narrative had then been ten 
 years before the public ; but as it was not a fair specimen 
 of the ordinary " Reign of Grace," he felt imperatively 
 called upon to do as much justice to Grace as it " reigns 
 through Christ Jesus," as a Dispensation or Economy, as 
 he had done to it as it reigned in his own case. This he 
 did, as far as his Calvinism would allow him ; and it 
 allowed him to go as far as Calvin went, when he said in 
 Geneva, " Because many entangle themselves in doubtful 
 and thorny imaginations, while they seek for their salva- 
 tion in the hidden Counsel of God, let us learn to seek no 
 other certainty, save that which is revealed to us in the 
 Gospel. I say, — let this seal suffice us, that ' whosoever 
 believeth in the Son of God hath Eternal Life." Calvvii's 
 Acts, p. 372. London 1585. Bunyan says, indeed, not a 
 little about Election in his work on Grace ; but the Reader 
 who should suspect him of meaning but " a Remnant," in 
 the vulgar sense of that word, would do him great injus- 
 tice. He says much, too, of the Sovereign Will of God ; but 
 chiefly because he thought it " Ooodwill,''' and the only 
 Will that could be calculated upon for salvation. Besides, 
 he was too shrewd to dream that any thing could be gained 
 b}^ putting the will of Man in the room of the Divine Will. 
 And as to Grace, he loved best to contemplate it in Him 
 who is " full of grace and truth." Hence, after glancing 
 at it, theologically, in Christ, he breaks out thus — " But, 
 methinks, we should not have done yet Avith this grace of 
 the Son. Thou Son of the Blessed, what grace was mani- 
 fested in thy condescension ! Grace brought thee down from 
 heaven, Grace stripped thee of thy glory. Grace made 
 thee bear such burdens of sin, such burdens of sorrow, 
 such burdens of curse, as are unspeakable ! Son of God, 
 
XXX A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 grace was in all thy tears, Grace came bubbling out from 
 thy bleeding side ! Here is Grace indeed. Unsearchable 
 Riches of Grace. Grace to make Angels wonder — to make 
 Sinners happy — to make Devils astonished ! " 
 
 We come now, 1676, to the real era of the Pilgrim's 
 Progress — an event hardly less influential upon the mind 
 of England than its contemporary, the marriage of the 
 Prince of Orange into the Stuart family, was upon the 
 liberties of England. Too much has been said by Critics 
 and Commentators about the prison-origin of the Pilgrim. 
 This censure falls most heavily upon myself. Indeed, I 
 was unwilling to be awakened from the popular dream, 
 that the Pilgrim was u-ritten, as well as conceived, in Bed- 
 ford Jail ; for I never heard or suspected any thing else, 
 until Doe's dates, taken from Bunyan's " own reckoning," 
 came into my hands ; and then 500 pages of my Life of 
 him were stereotyped. But neither I, nor others, can be 
 fairly blamed for this mistake. "We had no clue to the 
 precise Book, of which Bunyan says — 
 
 " which, when almost done, 
 
 Before I was aware, I this begun." 
 
 He adds — 
 
 " And thus it was. I writing of the xcay 
 And race of Saints, in this our Gospel-day, 
 Fell suddenly into an Allegory 
 About their journey and their way to Glory." 
 
 But this is equally descriptive of his " Heavenly Footman," 
 and his " Strait Gate ;" and no original edition of either 
 was to be found ; and thus no date could be assigned to 
 them with any certainty. Dr Southey felt and deplored 
 this, because it left even him unable to trace " satisfactorily 
 the progress of Bunyan's mind ;" but he had no doubt as 
 to the birth-place of the Pilgrim. And in one sense, and 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUN Y AN. XXxi 
 
 tliat the best, there is no reason to doubt its prison-origin, 
 so far as its spirit, and not its allegoric form, is concerned ; 
 for Doe's chronology proves only that the '*' Heavenly Foot- 
 man" was written nearl}'^ twenty years after, and the " Strait 
 Gate" the year before, the Pilgrim's Progress, Thus both 
 conjecture and imagination are left quite at liberty to fancy 
 when, and how much, the D^mgn was formed in prison ; 
 and, what is better, it is now certain that the Book itself 
 was written in Bunyan's own Cottage at Elstow ; which 
 will, from henceforth, be a more sacred spot than ever. 
 
 And now, if I might venture upon a guess, as to the 
 time and occasion when Bunyan began to meditate the 
 design of making his own experience tell, in some way, as 
 a Pilgrimage, I would fix upon the Jasper-Light Vision of 
 ^■' The Holy City," which brought all his powers into full 
 play, and revealed to him what could be made of allegoric 
 symbols. My chief reason for this opinion is, that the 
 catholic spirit of the tw^o is the same. No one could teli 
 from either, what visible church the v/riter belonged to. The 
 only thing obvious is, that he hated Babylon " with a per- 
 fect hatred," and as perfectly- loved " all who love our Lord 
 Jesus Christ in sincerity." 
 
 It has been already stated, on Doe's authority, that 
 Bunyan was writing " The Strait Gate" when his Allegory 
 struck him; and he himself says that he was " almost done" 
 when it did so. Of coui-se, therefore, the point at wdiich 
 the vision of his Pilgrim broke upon him " suddenly and 
 unaw^ares,'^ is somewhere near the end of the book. But 
 who will venture to fix that point at Avhich he laid down 
 his pen, and shut his eyes, upon every thing around him, 
 in order to see the new creations within him ? I will not, 
 certainly. It is the feet, however, that he begins towards 
 the close of the Book, to classify and designate Professors 
 of religion ; and soon drops Classes, in order to deal with 
 
 »' 
 
XXXll A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 individuals. He groups " the Wordy, the Covetous, the 
 Wanton Professors," and then brings up separately, " the 
 Opi7U07iist, the Formalist, the Legalist, the Libertine, the 
 Latitudinarian, and the Free- Wilier'' Can this be the point 
 where his Pilgrims grouped and individualized themselves 
 upon the canvass of his spirit 1 Did the " Glorious Dream- 
 er" fall asleep here, to awake in his own spiritual world ? 
 I doubt it. These Personifications seem hasty and rude 
 drafts of Characters, which he had seen during his trance, 
 and sketched just as he awoke. Hence, although graphic, 
 they are not complete. Any one can perceive that Bunyan 
 was holding himself in, when he hits off the Formalist 
 thus — " He is a man that hath lost all but the shell of re- 
 ligion. He is hot, indeed, for his form ; and no wonder, 
 for that is his all to contend for." So in the case of the 
 Legalist ; — " He hath no life but what he makes out of 
 duties. This man hath chosen to stand or fall by Moses, 
 the condemner of the world." So also the Libertine ; — 
 " He pretendeth to be against forms and duties, as things 
 that gender bondage. This man pretends to pray always, 
 but under that pretence prays not at all. He pretends to 
 keep every day a Sabbath, but he casts off all set times for 
 the worship of God." Who, that knows Bunyan's vein, 
 does see that he never would have stopt with the^.e master- 
 strokes, had he not had, at the moment, secret reasons ? To 
 me, he was evidently dashing off bold outlines in haste, in 
 order to finish his Essay, and begin his Allegoiy ; for 
 everything in the " Strait Gate," afterwards, is equally 
 brief and abrupt. I leave this explanation with the Reader, 
 as Bunyan did his theory of the disproportion of the gold 
 and silver Chargers in the Temple, saying, " He that can 
 find a fitter ante-type than is here proposed, let him do it, 
 and I will be thankful to him. He that will scoff, let him 
 scoff. The Chargers are a type of something^ 
 
THE AVKITIKGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XXX)U 
 
 Tlie only thing I liave any room or inclination to say 
 concerning the Pilgrim's Progress is, tliat it went through 
 several large Editions in little more than a year. This is 
 the best National symptom of that year ; History itself 
 being the judge. Is it not, therefore, time, now that the 
 editions are innumerable, and modern ones illustrated by 
 the best Artists in the kingdom, to have done with all Criti- 
 cism on the merits of that immortal Book 1 Too much, 
 indeed, cannot be written by Genius, Learning, or Piety, 
 in order to commend and enforce the great Truths it incul- 
 cates ; and it is good taste, as well as good policy, to con- 
 nect such Lectures as Dr Cheever's with the Book ; but 
 no writing about itself can make it either plainer or more 
 beautiful. The subject may be expounded, and expanded, 
 and even endeared ; but the Book speaks more and better 
 for itself than all the Talent of the world could. It is, 
 indeed, because Bunyan has spoken to the heart of all his 
 readers, that any of the Critics on his Pilgrim are listened 
 to ; and the ready ear that even his best Critics get, is lent, 
 either in order to ascertain whether they love his Pilgrim, 
 or to compare the impressions made by it upon extraordi- 
 nary minds, with those it makes upon any mind that has 
 a heart or a conscience. The time was, when vven, John- 
 son, Southey, Macauley, and Montgomery were useful, in 
 succession, even to the Pilgrim's Progress ; but that time 
 is past, and can never return unless " Chaos come again." 
 Let such writers do as much for " The Holy War," if they 
 would serve Bunyan now. 
 
 It has been mentioned that the Pilgrim was successful 
 at once. It createJ, indeed, a great sensation, and no man 
 more enjoyed its popularity than Bunyan himself. " A good 
 report maketh the bones fat," Solomon says ; and Bunyan 
 verified the proverb. He came out of prison, as might be 
 expected, lank and pale ; but he became plump and rosy 
 
 c 
 
XXXIV A CIir.0"OLO«ICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 Avlien Ins Pilgrim grew popular. This may be seen by 
 comparing the succession of his p rtraits. Fresh air and 
 free exercise had, of course, much to do with this ; but his 
 spirits recovered their tone also from tlie public estimation 
 won l)y his Works. ^ 
 
 But now, what does the reader think was the next Work 
 Bunyan undertook, Vvhen his Pilgrim brought him into 
 general notice ? It was not the Second Part of the Allegory. 
 That was not published until 1684. It was his Treatise on 
 " The Fear of God" — a vrork as calm and cogent as the 
 Pilgrim is fascinating. 
 
 This step is quite in keeping with Bunyan's supreme and 
 absorbing object, as a Watcher to win souls. I have often 
 repeated this, as the grand secret of all his mental efforts, 
 and as the end to which he held all things in subordination. 
 And now that he had the public ear more than ever, 
 he more than ever exerted himself to give a right tone to 
 the public mind. Now in nothing was that mind more 
 wanting or weak at the time th.an in Godly Fear. There 
 was none of that Fear in the Court ; and what there was of 
 it in the country, had to endure " cruel mockings," as well 
 as frequent persecution. Besides, the Pilgrim's Progress 
 was lively, and thus it laid hold upon minds of all orders, 
 and was read with avidity by men of all characters. This 
 frightened some of Bunyan's solemn ancj austere friends, 
 and led them to question the prudence of a Book that pleased 
 even the Ungodly. Xow although he himself was not at 
 all startled by this kind of popularity, but even regarded 
 it as " a token for good," still it made him feel deeply that 
 lie ought to do his best, and that at once, in order to turn 
 the stream into right channels, and thus to saving account. 
 
 But before characterizing this Book, I v>ill just mention, 
 that Bunyan seems to ha\e caught, whilst writing it, the 
 idea of his " Iloly War," almost as unexpectedly as the 
 
THE WKITIKGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XXXV 
 
 Allegoric Form of his Pilgrim whilst finishing his " Strait 
 Gate." I judge this, from illustrations in it like the fol- 
 lowing : — '' The Fear of God is seated in the hearty and the 
 heart is, as I may call it, the Main Fortress, the mys- 
 tical world, Man, It is not placed in the head, as know- 
 ledge is ; nor in the moutli, as utterance is ; but in the 
 heart the seat of all. And so it is in the Will special. The 
 way the will goes, all goes. 
 
 " If a soul should be possessed of all things possible, yet 
 if this Fear of God be wanting, all other things will give 
 place in time of Rebellion, and the soul be found under 
 the conduct of Hell, when it should stand up for God 
 and his Truth in the world. A man cannot watch if he be 
 destitute of this Fear. Let him be confident, and he sleeps, 
 and unadvisedly lets into the Garrison those that should 
 not come there." 
 
 Here, I apprehend, is the origin, as to j^rm, of Bunyan's 
 Pneumatological Allegory ; but its spirit, as in the case of 
 the Experimental one, was born whilst the Jasper-Light 
 shone upon the Battle of Armageddon. 
 
 As the Treatise on " The Fear of God" is well kno\vii, 
 and a wiser cannot be easily imagined, its great defect, 
 perhaps, should be first noticed here. Now there is only 
 one Scriptural motive to the Fear of God left out ; but that 
 one is, " Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of 
 Righteousness arise with healing in his wings." Now the 
 Saviour did shine with healing, first, upon those who feared 
 God ; and still, He shines to heal those only whom Godly 
 Fear had wounded. There is, indeed, nothing to heal where 
 there is no fear of God. 
 
 There is nothing inconsistent with these facts in Bunyan's 
 Treatise, but much in perfect harmony with them. It was, 
 indeed, his utter hopelessness of any believing the Gospel, 
 either apart from, or before, the Fear of God, that led him 
 
XXXV^ A CliKUAOLuGlCAL CKITIQUE ON 
 
 to place its necessity in so many lights, and to ply the 
 understanding, heart, and conscience with all kinds of 
 arguments. But still, the great fact is not there in its own 
 form. This is the more remarkahle, because his own 
 Christian, in the Pilgrim's Progress, is a living illustra- 
 tion of it. Besides, no man in the world knew better than 
 he did, the connection between Godly Fear, and a welcome 
 to appropriate all the Promises of both grace and glory. 
 " thou Man that fearest the Lord," he exclaims, " take 
 this Blessed Word, and hang it like a chain of gold about 
 thy neck, — ' As Heaven is high above the earth, so great is 
 his Mercy to them that fear him,' Here is Mercy nigh 
 thee, — mercy enough, — everlasting mercy upon thee. This is 
 long-lived mercy. It will live longer than thy sin, longer 
 than thy temptation, longer than thy sorrow, and longer 
 than thy persecutors. It is Mercy " from everlasting" to 
 contrive thy salvation, and Mercy "to everlasting" to weather 
 out all thy adversaries, Now, what can Death or Hell do 
 to him that hath this mercy of God upon him V 
 
 The most remarkable parts of the Book, however, are up- 
 on Ungodly Fear ; and that he deals with in Luther's style, 
 as well as in his ow^n, " This Ungodl}^ Fear puts men up- 
 on adding to the will of God their own inventions and 
 performances, as a means of pacifying God. How it has 
 racked and tortured the Papists for hundreds of years \ 
 What else is the cause of their penances, such as creeping 
 to the Cross, going barefoot on pilgrimages, whipping 
 themselves, wearing of sackcloth, giving money for pardons, 
 &c. &e,, but this ungodly fear of God ! For could they be 
 brought to believe that Christ died for our sins, and was 
 raised again for our justification, this fear would vanish, 
 and so consequently all these things with it," 
 
 But whilst any Protestant can Lutheranize in this way 
 now, not many would venture to Bunyanize in the follow- 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OrBUNYAN. XXXVU 
 
 ing manner : — " Well, poor Christian, how much, dost thou 
 think, is there of God — of his Spirit — of his Word, in thy 
 Fears (lest thou shouldest be in a delusion), from Fancy or 
 the Devil 1 Just no7ie at all ; for it cannot be that (such 
 fears) are the natural and true workings of the Spirit of 
 God ; no, not even as a Spirit of bondage. These are not 
 His doings. Dost thou not see the very paw of the Devil 
 in them ] For they tend to the hardening of thy heart." 
 Thus Bunyan treated the Racks, upon which so many 
 Godly Protestants torticre their own faith and hope, as delu- 
 sion or hypocrisy. 
 
 His next Book was the well known " Come and Wel- 
 come to Jesus Christ ;" a work, not very easily character- 
 ized in a few words, although as highly characteristic of 
 himself, perhaps, as anything he ever wrote. He cries both 
 " Come," — and " Welcome," with equal energy and impar- 
 tiality, to all who have any wish to come. Even to the 
 Backslider, he says, " The Text makes no exception against 
 thee. It doth not sa}^, any ' htm,' but a Backslider ; but 
 indefinitely openeth wide its golden arms to every coming 
 soul, without the least exception. Therefore thoic mayest 
 come." 
 
 I have shewn, in another place, how fond Bunyan was 
 of golden emblems. Here is another specimen of this. 
 " God hath prepared a Golden Altar for thee to offer thy 
 prayers and tears upon. It is called golden to shew its 
 worth. It is Christ. This Altar then makes thy Groans, 
 golden groans ; thy Tears, golden tears ; thy Prayers, gol- 
 den prayers, in the eye of that God thou comest too." But 
 he was quite as fond of natural images. " God hath 
 strewed all the way from the gate of Hell, to the gate of 
 Heaven, with flowers out of His own garden. Behold how 
 the Promises, Invitations, Calls, lie around thee like lilies. 
 Take heed that thou do not tread them under foot, sin- 
 ner !" 
 
XXXVIU A CHEOXOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 In this work also, he turns to good account his long 
 familiarity with Fox's Book of Martyrs ; making them 
 '■ Cry, Come," by telling what they themsslves had found 
 \)\ coming to Christ. 
 
 But, to what Book or Event, should his " Holy War" be 
 traced % A satisfactory antiquarian answer can, I think, 
 be given to this question, although not in this Essay. His 
 recollection of what he had seen at Jie siege of Leicester, 
 whilst he was in Cromwell's army, and the traditions still 
 current of that of Bristol, furnished him with both cha- 
 racters and manoeuvres which his fertile imagination could 
 well turn to spiritual account. This I intend to shew in a 
 Criticism on the Holy War, should no professed Antiqua- 
 rian edit and annotate that Work. In the meantime, I 
 must content myself to say here, that it was written at the 
 same time as his treatise on " The Greatness of the Soul," 
 in this volume. This coincidence itself throws much light 
 upon both the Allegory and the Pinner's Hall Sermon. 
 They are worthy of each other, as well as explanatory of 
 each other. Indeed, had not Bunyan been pondering deep- 
 ly the greatness, and thus the worth, of the soul, he could 
 not have found in it the Population of Mansoul, nor even 
 its Magistracy. On the other hand, had not the Powers 
 and Affections of the soul taken allegoric forms and military 
 action, which derive life from well known men and events, 
 even he could not have condensed the massive thoughts, 
 nor struck out the brilliant lights, that abound in the ser- 
 mon. This hint renders all Criticism utterly needless, in 
 the case of the treatise on the Soul. It is the mine out of 
 which he dug all the ore of his Allegory. 
 
 It will not surprise any one, who can appreciate the tone 
 of thought and feeling in these two works, to be told that 
 Bunyan's " Ban-en Fig Tree" was composed at the same 
 time. Indeed, it is just one of those turns which such 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. XXxix 
 
 thinking -was likely to take, whilst his mind was alter- 
 nately thronged, and his heart thrilling, with vital facts 
 and m^^stic visions. It was a relief also from the strain of 
 dark and dazzling imaginings, and the terseness of logical 
 reasoning. Hence The Barren Fig Tree, although often 
 awful, and always searching, is rather descriptive than dis- 
 criminating. It deals also much with the body as well as 
 w-ith the soul ; and in this style ; — " Death is now at work, 
 cutting down the harren Professor ; hewing both bark and 
 heart asunder. The man groans, but Death hears him not. 
 He looks ghastly, care-ful, dejectedly. He sighs, he sweats, 
 lie trembles. Death matters not ! And now, could the 
 soul be annihilated, how happy it would count itself ? But 
 it sees that this must not be. Stay in the body, it may 
 not. Go out of the body, it dares not. Life is going, — the 
 blood settles in the flesh, the lungs being no more able 
 to breathe through the nostrils. At last, out goes the trem- 
 bling soul, and is seized by the devils that lay lurking for 
 it in the chamber ! Friends take care of the body ; wrap 
 it up in the sheet or coffin ; but the soul is out of their 
 reach !" 
 
 As a specimen of Paraphrasing a Parable without dilu- 
 ting or torturing it, " The Barren Fig Tree" is, perhaps, 
 the very best that could be studied as a model. There is 
 nothing extraneous in it, and hardly anything extravagant. 
 In a word, it gives just such definite and condensed views 
 of every point, as might be expected from a mind, then 
 giving distinct impersonation, and relative power or place, 
 to abstractions, as well as new weight to familiar maxims. 
 Hence he apprised the readers of his Holy War, that his 
 " next Riddle may ring their passing Bell." 
 
 Bunyan's mind was now at its meridian, in all senses. 
 
 He felt this, and immediately set himself to write the 
 
 Second Part of the Pilgrim's Progress. They much mis- 
 fit 
 
xl A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 take, Avho imagine that he was a " Glorious Dreamer," by 
 accident, or witliout effort. His ideas and designs had 
 many a form, before they haunted his " night visions." He 
 did dream, asleep and awake ; and wait for happy moods ; 
 but he prepared himself for these helps. Accordingly, not 
 all the popularity of the first part of his Pilgrim could 
 tempt him for years to write a second part. Even the 
 provocation given him by dishonest imitators, could not 
 prevent him from "biding his time." He knew that he 
 was not ready to come up to his own mark, nor to sustain 
 Christiana and her children, as the family of Christian 
 required, and the Avorld expected. He, therefore, broke 
 new ground for himself, by studying the soul profoundly, 
 and the sieges well ; and not until then, did he venture to 
 go over the old Pilgrimage anew. Nor was this all he did, 
 in order to make sure that the second Part s)iould not in- 
 jure the first. He wrote it at intervals, whilst engaged up- 
 on his Life of Badman, and his " Holy Life the Beauty of 
 Christianity." Thus there was "method" in Bunyan's in- 
 spiration. It was an afflatus when it came ; but it did not 
 come unsought, nor abide untested. Mercy is the imper- 
 sonation of the beauty of that Holiness he was then study- 
 ing, as well as partly the image of Badman's lovely wife. 
 Dr Southey, although he had not this clue to the Life of 
 Badman, saw clearly that the " ability" displayed in it was 
 not " inferior" to that in the Pilgrims, The reason is now 
 obvious. Bunyan was measuring, at this time, bis new 
 "Works by his old standard, and trying to excel himself. 
 This fact will account also for much of both the acuteness 
 and comprehensiveness that distinguish his " Pharisee and 
 Publican." That work is from the same mint and metal 
 as the Works just named. Bunyan came out of Mansoul, 
 and up from his second Pilgrimage, and direct from tlie 
 erave of Badman, to write and preach it. This hint, pev 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. xU 
 
 haps, will tempt some who read it in the first Volume of 
 the Puritan Library, to go over it again, that they may see 
 for themselves how much his other studies, at the time, 
 gave a character to it. He himself knew how its point 
 came ; and said, in the original Preface, " 1 say, art thou a 
 Pharisee ? Here is a Pharisee for thee ! Art thou a Pub- 
 lican ? Here is a Publican for thee ! God give thee the 
 Publican's heart, if thou art in the Publican's sins, that 
 thou mayest partake mercy with the Publican ! So wish- 
 eth thy friend, John Bunyan, 1685.'* 
 
 The Reader has already formed his own opinion of " The 
 Jerusalem Sinner Saved ;" the first treatise in the former 
 volume. In Charles Doe's Circular it stands No. 38, in the 
 order of Publication, and is dated 1668, the year in which 
 Bunyan died. This is, however, anything but the date of 
 its composition. As a Sermon, it was his favourite, and 
 had been preached, in substance, in many places, both be- 
 fore and after his imprisonment. In the original Preface 
 he says of it, " I have found, through God's grace, good 
 success in preaching on this subject, and perhaps so I may 
 by my writing upon it too. I have been vile myself ; but 
 have obtained mercy ; and I would have my companions 
 in sin partake of mercy too : and therefore I have wrote 
 this little Book." 
 
 The fact is, he wrote and published so much during what 
 Doe calls "the time of King James 11. 's Liberty of 
 Conscience," that he was seized with "a sweating distem- 
 per" in the spring of 1688. It was this illness that was 
 brought back by his journey to Reading. "We thus get at 
 the secret of his hard work. He had no confidence in 
 James, and therefore he made the most of Liberty while it 
 lasted, and took care that sermons which he might never 
 preach again should not be lost to the world, if he should 
 be aaain silenced. 
 
XiU A CnRON(. LOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 There remain still, tweiitv of Banyan's Books to be no- 
 ticed upon which Doe's Circular throws no light by dates, 
 and thus gives no clue to their origin. I can, therefore, 
 only characterise such of them as throw any new light 
 upon Bunyan himself ; for it would he hazardous to locate 
 them from internal evidence. No one, I think, would ven- 
 ture to decide from comparison, which of his two Series of 
 beautiful views of the River of Life was first given ; whether 
 that which bears this name, or that which occurs in " The 
 Saint's Privilege and^ Profit." It is not worth while to 
 illustrate this. But, at whatever time these Treatises were 
 written, they were deliberate efforts, and made in happy 
 moods. The boldest thing, perhaps, in descriptions of the 
 River of Life, springs out of his own recollections of his 
 " insatiable thirst" for mercy and grace, when his soul was 
 as in a thii*sty land. No man but himself would have dared 
 to compare this spiritual thirst to the cravings of Job's 
 Behemoth I " Nothing but Rivers will satisfy such a soul. 
 A pond, a pool, a cistern, will hold much ; but ponds, 
 pools, cisterns will do nothing for him. He is like him of 
 whom it is said. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hastetli 
 not. He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his 
 mouth. He taketh it with his eyes," Job, xl. 23. Bunyan 
 felt this to be a daring comparison, and therefore did not 
 name Behemoth. He followed it up, however, by another 
 equally bold, and more sublime in its associations. His 
 eye fell upon that prophetic group of " The Poor and 
 Needy," whom Isaiah depicts a? seeking water whei-e there 
 is none, and as failing for thirst. He listens to the Pro- 
 mise, " I the Lord will hear them." Then he asks and 
 answers the question, " But, Lord, how wilt thou quench 
 their boundless thirst ? ' I will make the Wilderyiess a 
 pool of water.' Behold, liere is a pool as big as a wilder- 
 ness ! Enough, one would think, to satisfy any soul. Oh, 
 
THE V»HITI.\aS AND GENIUS OF BUKYAN. xllU 
 
 but that will not do ! Wlierefore, 'He will open Rivers, 
 Fountains, Springs in the Desert' ; "-arid all this to quench 
 their drought. Tho}^ shall be abundantly satisfied." — 
 Saint's Privilege. 
 
 He calls the other Treatise, " Biniyan's Bill of his 
 Master's Water of Life," in allusion -to the cwr^s effected 
 by Grace ; taking care, however, notdo let his Bill be con- 
 founded with the Puffs of Quacks, or the fame of " Bath, 
 Epsom, or Tunbridge waters." Beauty is the chief cha- 
 racteristic of this Work, so far as it is literature. All the 
 Rivers named or described in Scripture lie before him ; the 
 dark, the fiery, the stormy, and the bitter waters ; " but 
 the River of Life is none of them." He says of it, "its 
 streams make glad the City of our God." They are the 
 waters that the Doves like to sit by (Song, v. 12), because 
 in their clearness they can see tliemselves as in a glass. 
 These be the streams in wliich thejc wash their eyes, and 
 by which they solace and content themselves. As in fair 
 waters a man may see the body of the sun, moon, and stars, 
 and the very body of Heaven, so he that stands upon the 
 brink of this River, and washe.th liis^eyes with its water, 
 may see the Son of God, the Stars ,0:^ God, the glory of God, 
 the City of God." This will reijiind'the Reader of the De- 
 lectable Mountains, where the Pilgrims got glimpses of 
 Emmanuel's Land through " the^ perspective glass," when 
 they had washed in the founta,kis of water amongst the 
 Vineyards. 
 
 It will be readily supposed that the crystal-clearness of 
 the River of Life fascinated Bunyan. So it has many ; but 
 only few in this way : — " I hare read of some Seas so pure 
 and clear, that a man may see the bottom, though they be 
 forty feet deep. I know this River is a deep river ; but it 
 is not said that we can see no bottom. The comparison 
 implies that a man with good eyes may see to the bottom. 
 
Xliv A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 So then, we shall look down througli these crystal streams, 
 and see what he at the bottom of all. The bottom of all 
 is, that we might be saved ! ' These things I say,' saith 
 Christ, ' that ye might be saved !' What a good, sound 
 bottom is here !" It will be easily conceived how Bunyan 
 dives down, as well as looks down, into the depths of " the 
 channels of great Avaters," and what " goodly pearls" he 
 brings up. He commends the water also in his own way, 
 as both medicinal and life-giving. " This is Water of Life. 
 Probatum est. It is the Right Holy Water ! It never 
 fails. It will cure the most desperate melancholy. It will 
 dissolve doubts, though they have grown as hard as a stone 
 in the heart. It will make you a White Soid, which is 
 better than a White Skin. It gently purgeth, yet more 
 effectually than any other waters. It provokes appetite, 
 and makes us long for what is wholesome. If any ask 
 why I thus allegorize, I answer, the text doth lead me 
 to it." 
 
 The two or three Latin phrases in this Work would not 
 prove that it was a late composition, for he picked up seve- 
 ral of them whilst in prison. But the question, " why alle- 
 gorize thus ?" seems to throw it back to a time when Alle- 
 goiy was not expected from him ; and thus to place it prior 
 to his Pilgrims. But however this may be, there can be no 
 doubt as to what was his last Work. That was his " Ac- 
 ceptable Sacrifice ; or the Excellency of a Broken Heart." 
 This appears, not from Doe, but a Preface by a well-known 
 London ^Minister, Mr Cokeyn, in 1668. A fornight after 
 Bunyan's funeral, Cokeyn wrote, " I assure the Reader that 
 this whole Book was not only prepared, but also put into 
 the Press, by the Author himself, whom the Lord was 
 pleased to remove before these sheets could be all wrought 
 off." Thus he ended his own Pilgrimage as he began it, 
 by " the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit ;" but how 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OP BUNTAN. xlv 
 
 differently it was presented at last, to what it was at first ! 
 Its first writhings and roarings at the Altar were terrific ; 
 but its last quiverings were all as gentle as they were 
 humble, and its last flames, like those of Manoah's Sacri- 
 fice, fit for an Angel to ascend in to Heaven. 
 
 I am not guessing, in thus taking his last Work as a 
 specimen of his own contrite spirit in the last year of his 
 life. Cokeyn, who knew him well, and loved him dearly, 
 said, whilst his ashes were hardly cold, " What is here 
 written is but a transcript of his own heart. For God, 
 who had much work for him to do always, was always 
 hewing and hammering him by His Word, and sometimes 
 by more than ordinary trials and desertions. The design 
 was, the humbling and keeping of him low in his own 
 eyes. The truth is, as he himself sometimes acknowledged, 
 he alwa^'s needed the "thorn in his flesh," and God in 
 mercy sent it him, lest, under his extraordinary circum- 
 stances, he should be exalted above measure ; which, per- 
 haps, was the evil that did most easily beset him. 
 
 These facts give a peculiar interest to the Treatise under 
 notice. There is a calm and deep solemnity about its 
 appeals to the conscience, that indicates, if not a dying 
 man, yet a subdued man, who is too much absorbed with 
 eternal realities to be either violent or harsh, even when 
 wielding them against the hardened. When Bunyan was 
 in his prime, he neither would nor could have confined 
 himself to a few weighty words, when quoting the four 
 " Beholds !" in Isaiah — " Behold, My servants shall eat, 
 but ye shall be hungry ; Behold, My servants shall drink, 
 but ye shall be thirsty ; Behold, My servants shall rejoice, 
 but ye shall be ashamed ; Behold, My servants shall sing 
 for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and 
 howl for vexation of spirit," Ixv. 13. This, at any former 
 time, would have roused him to " the top of his bent." 
 
Xlvi A CHRONOriOQlCAL CiClTIQUE ON 
 
 But now, he calmly says — " How many Beholds are here ! 
 Every Behold is not only a call to the careless to consider, 
 but also a declaration from Heaven that thus it shall he at 
 last with all impenitent sinners. That is, when others sing 
 in Heaven, they shall sorrow and howl in hell ! AVherefore, 
 let me advise, that 3^ou be not afraid of, but rather covet 
 a broken heart and contrite spirit. I say, covet it now, 
 now the "White Flag is hung out, now the Golden Sceptre 
 of Grace is held forth to you. And take this notice, that 
 this is not the first time that I have given you this advice." 
 He evidently felt, when he wrote thus, that it might be the 
 last time he could advise. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, from this subdued 
 tone in the peal of his Thunderbolts, that " The Acceptable 
 Sacrifice" is at all tame or vague. So far is this from being 
 the case, that a better specimen of his natural clearness and 
 comprehensiveness could hardly be named. His intellect is 
 in full and healthy play all throughout. He is perfectly at 
 /t07ne in every corner and secret chamber of the heart, and 
 for ever, in each, clothed with that " Light," vivid and 
 varying, which Scripture alone furnishes, as " armour of 
 light," Indeed, were it proper, it would be quite possible, 
 to read the Book as a specimen of discernment, equally 
 wonderful and wise ; for when he seems to have multiplied 
 views of Heart, until no more can be added, he begins a 
 new series, as if the former had hardly touched the point 
 at all. And then, these " endless divisions and subdivisions," 
 which, are so tiresome, in general, in this style of writing, 
 are never distinctions without a difference here ; but, as in 
 a powerful Microscope, the heart is placed under a scale of 
 lenses, which always shew something new in it. 
 
 But now, Charles Doe's List is no longer a lamp. He 
 dates nothing, after Bunyan's death ; and thus neither the 
 origin nor the order of his other Works can be ascertained 
 
THE WRITINGS AX1> GENIUS OF BUNYAX. xlvil 
 
 from this source. Old Prefaces, which are but few, and 
 internal evidence, which is but conjectural as to time, form 
 my only guide now. There is reason to regret this ; for 
 some of his undated works are highly characteristic of his 
 best moods. In general, however, they bear marks of both 
 reading and observation, that take them out of his Prison. 
 This is not the case with Bunyan's masterly " Defence 
 of Justification by Faith," written in answer to Bishop 
 Fowler's " Design of Christianity." That was written in 
 Prison, although not whilst his imprisonment was rigid ; 
 for the Church-Book at Bedford shews that in 1671, the 
 date of the work, he was often present at Church Meetings. 
 He wrote it also in order to ascertain and shew his own 
 fitness for the pastorate of that Church, as well as in order 
 to defend the Truth. Fowler was not Bishop at the time ; 
 but he was a rising man. Bunyan risked something, there- 
 fore, by pillorying him, whilst he himself was still a 
 prisoner. He both knew and avowed this ; but it did not 
 prevent him from describing his Book on the title-page, as 
 " Mr Fowler's pretended Design of Christianity proved to 
 be nothing more than to trample under foot the Blood of 
 the Son of God, and the idolizing of Man's own Righteous- 
 ness ; as also how, while he pretends to be a Minister of 
 the Church of England, he overthroweth the wholesome 
 doctrine contained in the 10th, 11th, and 13th of the 
 Thirty-Nine Articles, and falleth in with the Quaker and 
 Romanist against them." The former part of this charge 
 he sustains by quotations from Fowler, which shew, as 
 Bunyan says, that he " striddles over the Atonement like 
 a spider over a wasp, and twists against Faith like an eel 
 upon an angle." It will be easily conceived how such a 
 Book called all his powers into play. He calls his Answer 
 " an unpleasant Scribble ;" but no one else, who loves the 
 Gospel, will think it so, except when it smacks of the vio- 
 
xlviii A CHKOXOLOGICAL ClUTIQUE ON 
 
 lence of its times. He concludes it by identifying Fowler 
 v»ith Camjnan the Jesuit, and Pen the Quaker, by parallel 
 passages ; but he had not a name then to give it notoriety. 
 Even his uncontroversial treatise on Justification had not 
 reached a second edition when he died. 
 
 It would be interesting to know when or where he wrote 
 his " Israel's Hope Encouraged ;" for, although in one sense 
 it may be referred to any period of his literary life, yet it 
 is so clear and tender, that it evidently arose out of some 
 wide and warm smypathy with spiritual despondency, in 
 his own circle. If it was printed as he wrote it, it was 
 intended to meet cases in that crisis, " when Great mercy, 
 or No mercy," was the onh^ alternative. How Bunyan 
 meets a case of this kind, may be judged even from one 
 specimen. " This man stands under Cains gibbet, with 
 the halter of Judas, to his own thinking, fastened around 
 his neck. And now he cries, " Great Mercy, or Ko Mercy ; 
 for little Mercy will do me no good !" To such as these, 
 good wishes, tender fingers, or compassion, without great 
 mercy, can do nothing. But God's Mercy is great and 
 tender. Things may be great in quantity, and of little 
 value. A diamond as little as a pea is preferred to a pebble, 
 though big as a camel. God's Mercies are rich and great. 
 They are manifold, as well as a multitude. There is no 
 single Flower in God's Gospel Garden. They are all double 
 or treble. There is a wheel within a wheel, a blessing 
 within a blessing, in all His mercies." But whilst this 
 Work abounds in such efforts to mend Bruised Reeds, and 
 to pour fresh oil around Smoking Lamps, it is equally full 
 of an instructive theology. How wise it is, must be judged 
 from one specimen ; for I have no room for more. His 
 general object is to distinguish between Hope and Faith ; 
 and his plan is this ; " Faith comes by hearing ; Hope by 
 experience. Faith believeth the truth of the Word ; Hope 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. xlix 
 
 waits for its fulfilment. Faith lays hold of that end of 
 the Promise that is next to us, viz. as it is in the Bible ; 
 Hope lays hold of that end of the Promise that is fastened 
 to the 3Iercy-seat. Thus Faith and Hope get hold of both 
 ends of the Promise, and carry All aua}- ! Faith fights 
 for Doctrine ; Hope for a reward. Faith for what is in the 
 Bible ; Hope for what is in Heaven. Faith purifies the 
 heart from bad Principles ; Hope fi-om bad manners. 
 Faith sets Hope to work ; Hope sets Patience to work." In 
 a word, Bunyan might w^ell close this Discourse by saying 
 to the Reader, " Doth not all this make thy Heart twitter 
 after the Mercy that is in God ]" 
 
 His well-known treatise, '' Paul's Departure and CroA\-n" 
 also, smells more of the lamp than of the prison. I have 
 searched it in vain for any reference to himself, as distin- 
 guished from other sufferers, although its object is to 
 inspire courage under existing persecution and reproach ; 
 which seem to have been rife then. Indeed, he evidently 
 feared at the time, that Martyrdom awaited some of his 
 people, as well as himself. Hence he appealed to them 
 thus, " The blood of the Apostles cried, till it laid Jerusalem 
 in heaps. Thy blood also will have a voice that may do 
 others good. It may convince thy children, neighbours, 
 and enemies, that thou wert for the Truth. Yea, who 
 knows but their thoughts of thy resolution to resist unto 
 blood for Christ, may have so good an effect upon some, as 
 to make them close with His ways ? The three children 
 in the fiery Furnace made Nebuchadnezzar cry out, " There 
 is no God like their God." Here he evidently refers to the 
 effect of Faithful's martp-dom upon Hopeful, in his 
 Pilgrim. " Now, I saw in my dream, that Christian went 
 not forth alone ; for there was one whose name was Hope- 
 ful, — (being so made by the beholding of Christian and 
 
1 A CHRONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE ON 
 
 Faithful in their words and behaviour whilst suffering at 
 the Fair), — who joined himself unto him, and entering 
 into a Brotherly Covenant, told him that he would he his 
 companion. Thus one died to bear Testimony of the 
 Truth, and another rises out of his ashes." 
 
 By this process of reviewing Bunyan's undated Works, 
 they might be classed with some accuracy. But I forbear, 
 in the hope of yet discovering more of the original Prefaces. 
 Besides, enough has been chronologically authenticated, to 
 enable future Critics to trace the chief stages of his own 
 mental Pilgrimage ; and that was all I proposed to myself in 
 this Essay. By that, therefore, it should be judged ; and 
 not by the degree of justice it does to Bunyan's Works 
 at large ; for I have been excluded from the use of many 
 the finest things they contain ; having used them profusely 
 in his "Life and Characteristics." No one, in this re- 
 spect, would have had my disadvantages to write under. 
 Bunyan's " world" would have been " all before" any one 
 else, 
 
 " where to choose ;" 
 
 whereas, its corners only have been open ground to me. 
 This remark I owe to him, in order that no one may judge 
 of his Beauties by the present specimens of them. These 
 are not unfair specimens ; but they are certainly not the 
 best, good as they are. 
 
 It will now be understood, why no notice is taken here 
 of his " Solomon's Temple Spiritualized," his " House of 
 Lebanon," his Antichrist's Ruin," or his " Notes on Gene- 
 sis." I was debarred from re-setting the gems they contain. 
 Besides, could these works be dated, as to the time of their 
 publication, or even of their composition, neither their 
 beauties nor their peculiarities would illustrate iheprogre-^s 
 
THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF BUNYAN. li 
 
 of his mind. His spiritualizing ])elorgs to his history 
 throughout. He began with his intellectual and religious 
 liabits of thinking, in Solomon's Temple ; and whether in 
 or out of Prison, he was for ever visiting it, or John's 
 " New Jerusalem," in search of " hidden wisdom." It is, 
 however, want of room that prevents all notice here of his 
 " Antichrist's Ruin." That is both a pithy and prudent 
 Book, and w-ell worth republication, now that the endow- 
 ment of Popery at home is indorsing Antichrist abroad, 
 and now that England is flirting with Babylon, whilst 
 Germany is bearding " the Beast." 
 
 But, to conclude. It is impossible not to foresee that the 
 bearings of this Chronological Critique upon the birth- 
 place of the Pilgrim's Progress, will create some sensation^ 
 now that Publishers and Artists are vying with each other 
 in paying homage to the genius of John Bunyan. No one, 
 how^ever, can well be more unwilling than I was, to be 
 couA^inced that it was not written in Bedford Jail. Indeed, I 
 could almost wish that my own theory should be upset. 
 It is introduced by no " flourish of trumpets ;" for, much 
 as I love the Cottage at Elstow, I venerate the memory of 
 the old Jail more ; and, somehow, do so still. But " Facts 
 are chiels that winna dyig." It is, however, also the fact, 
 that the Pilgrim w^as both designed and dreamt of in Prison. 
 It became an Allegory at Elstow ; but, as a Vision, Bedford 
 Jail w^as its Patmos. Nothing is more obvious to me, after 
 much and long research, than its perfect independence of 
 any one or more of Bunyan's other Works. There is, in 
 most of those which preceded it, what he would call, " a 
 hankering" after a living form of the Spiritual Pilgrimage ; 
 and this design both took some features from what he had 
 w^ritten in Jail, and gave some features to what he wrote 
 
lii A CURONOLOGICAL CRITIQUE, &C. 
 
 on coming out ; but these Works owe far more to his 
 secret purpose, than the Pilgrim owes to them. In a word, 
 the Pilgrim's Progress is related to them, just as Milton's 
 Paradise Lost is to his prose Works. 
 
 B.OBEBT Philip. 
 
 Maberley Cottage, Dalston, 
 bth November 1845. 
 
THE 
 
 GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, 
 
 UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF : WITH THE CAUSES OP 
 THE LOSING IT. 
 
GREATiN^ESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 UNSPEAKABLElSrESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF ; WITH THE CAUSES OF 
 THE LOSING IT. 
 
 PREACHED AT PINNERS-HALL. 
 
 " Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 9" — Mark, viii. 37. 
 
 I HAVE chosen at this time to handle these words among 
 you, and that for several reasons — 1. Because the soul, and 
 the salvation of it, are such great, such wonderful great 
 things ; nothing is a matter of that concern as is, and should 
 be, the soul of each one of you. House and land, trades and 
 honours, places and preferments, what are they to salva- 
 tion, to the salvation of the soul ? 2. Because I perceive 
 that this so great a thing, and about which persons should 
 he so much concerned, is neglected to amazement, and that 
 by the most of men ; yea, who is there of the many thou- 
 sands that sit daily under the sound of the gospel that are 
 concerned, heartily concerned, about the salvation of their 
 souls ? — that is, concerned, I say, as the nature of the thing 
 requireth. If ever a lamentation was fit to be taken up in 
 this age about, for, or concerning anything, it is about, for, 
 and concerning the horrid neglect that everywhere puts 
 
 A 
 
2 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 forth itself with reference to eternal salvation. Where is 
 one man of a thousand — yea, where is there two of ten 
 thousand that do shew hy their conversation, puhlic and 
 private, that the soul, their own souls, are considered hy 
 them, and that they are taking that care for the salvation 
 of them as becomes them ? — to wit, as the weight of the 
 work and the nature of salvation requireth. 3. I have there- 
 fore pitched upon this text at this time to see if peradven- 
 ture the discourse which God shall help me to make upon 
 it will awaken ^'ou, rouse you off of your beds of ease, se- 
 curity, and pleasure, and fetch you down upon your knees 
 before him, to beg of him grace to be concerned about the 
 salvation of your souls. And then, in the last place, I have 
 taken upon me to do this, that I may deliver, if not you, 
 3'et myself, and that I may be clear of your blood, and 
 stand quit, as to you, before God, when you shall for ne- 
 glect be damned, and wail to consider that you have lost 
 your souls, Ezek. iii. 18, 19. When I say, saith God to the 
 wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou the prophet or 
 preacher givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the^ 
 wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same 
 \yicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I 
 require at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he 
 turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, 
 he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy 
 soul. 
 
 " Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 
 In my handling of these words, I shall first speak to the 
 occasion of them, and then to the words themselves. 
 
 The occasion of the words was, for that the people that 
 now were auditors to the Lord Jesus, and that followed him, 
 did it without that consideration as becomes so great a work 
 — that is, the generality of inem that followed him were 
 not for considering iirst with themselves what it was to 
 profess Christ, and what that profession miglit cost them. 
 
 " And when he had called the })eople unto him," the great 
 multitude that went with him (Luke, xiv. 25), " with his 
 disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after 
 
CNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF, 3 
 
 me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow 
 me," ver. 34. Let him first sit down and count up the cost 
 Rnd the charge he is like to be at, if he follow me ; for fol- 
 lowing of me is not like following of some other masters. 
 The winds sit always on my face, and the foaming rage of 
 the sea of this world, and the proud and lofty waves thereof, 
 do continually heat upon the sides of the bark or ship 
 that myself, my cause, and my followers are in ; he there- 
 fore that will not run hazards, and that is afraid to venture 
 a drowning, let him not set foot into this vessel. " So Avho- 
 soever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, he cannot 
 be my disciple. For which of 3"ou, intending to build a 
 tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether 
 he have suflicient to finish it ?" Luke, xiv. 15, 26-29. 
 
 True, to reason this kind of language tends to cast water 
 upon weak and beginning desires, but to faith it makes the 
 things set before us, and the greatness, and the glory of 
 them, more apparently excellent and desirable. Reason will 
 say, Then who will profess Christ that hath such coarse 
 entertainment at the beginning ? but faith will say. Then 
 surely the things that are at the end of a Christian's race 
 in this world must needs be unspeakably glorious, since 
 whoever hath had but the knowledge and due consideration 
 of them have not stuck to run hazards, hazards of every 
 kind, that they might embrace and enjoy them. Yea, saitli 
 faith, it must needs be so, since the Son himself, that best 
 knew what they were, even " for the joy that was set be- 
 fore him, endured the cross, and despised the shame, and 
 is set do^^1l on the right hand of the throne of God," Heb. 
 xii. 2. 
 
 But, I say, there is not in every man this knowledge of 
 things, and so by consequence not such consideration as can 
 make the cross and self-denial acceptable to them for the 
 sake of Christ, and of the things that are where he now sit- 
 teth at the right hand of God (Col. ii. 2-4) ; therefore oui 
 Lord Jesus doth even at the beginning give to his followers 
 this instruction. And lest any of them should take distaste 
 at his saying, he presenteth them with the consideration of 
 
4 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 three things together — namely, the cross, the loss of life, 
 and the soul ; and then reasoneth with them for the same, 
 saying, Here is the cross, the life, and the soul. 1, The 
 cross ; and that you must take up, if you will follow me. 
 2. The life ; and that you may save for a time, if you cast 
 me off. 3. And the soul ; which will everlastingly perish 
 if you come not to me, and abide not with me, Now con- 
 sider what is best to be done. Will you take up the cross, 
 come after me, and so preserve your souls from perishing ? 
 or will you shun the cross to save your lives, and so run 
 the danger of eternal damnation ? or, as you have it in John, 
 will you love your life till you lose it ? or will you hate 
 your life, and save it ? " He that loveth his life shall lose 
 it, and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it 
 unto life eternal," John, xii. 25. As who should say, He 
 that loveth a temporal life, he that so loveth it as to shun 
 the profession of Christ to save it, shall lose it upon a worse 
 account than if he had lost it for Christ and the gospel ; 
 but he that will set light by it, for the love that he hath to 
 Christ, shall keep it unto life eternal. 
 
 Christ having thus discoursed Avith his followers about 
 their denying of themselves, their taking up their cross and 
 following him, doth in the next place put the question to 
 them, and so leaveth it upon them for ever, saying, " For 
 what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, 
 and lose his own soul ?"' ver. 36. As who should say, I have 
 bid you take heed that you do not lightly, and without due 
 consideration, enter into a profession of me and of my gos- 
 pel (for he that without due consideration shall begin to 
 profess Christ, will also without it forsake him, turn from 
 him, and cast him behind his back) ; and since I have, 
 even at the beginning, laid the considci-ation of the cross 
 before you, it is because you should not be surprised and 
 overtaken by it unawares, and l)ecause you should know 
 that to draw back from me after you have laid your hand 
 to my plough, will make you unfit for the kingdom of hea- 
 ven, Luke, X. 62. Now, since this is so, there is no less lies 
 at stake than salvation, and salvation is v^-orth all the 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 6 
 
 world, yea, worth ten thousand worlds, if there should be 
 so many. And since this is so also, it will be your wisdom 
 to begin to profess the Gospel with expectation of the cross 
 and tribulation, for to that are my gospellers in this world 
 appointed, 2 Thess. iii. 3. And if you begin thus, and hold 
 it, the kingdom and crown shall be yours ; for as God count- 
 eth it a righteous thing to recompense trilHilation to them 
 that troultle you, so to you who are troubled, and endure 
 it, (for we count them happy, says James, that endure, 
 James, v. 11) rest with the saints, when the Lord Jesus shall 
 be revealed from heaven with his migiity augCiS in flaming 
 fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that 
 obey not the gospel, &c., 2 Thess. 1. 7. And if no less lies 
 at stake than salvation, then is a man's soul and his all at 
 the stake ; and if it be so, what will it profit a man if, by 
 forsaking of me, he should get the whole world 1 " For 
 what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, 
 and lose his own soul V 
 
 Having thus laid the soul in one balance, and the world 
 in the other, and affirmed that the soul outbids the whole 
 world, and is incomparably for value and worth beyond it ; 
 in the next place, he descends to a second question (which 
 is that I have chosen at this time for my text), saying, " Or 
 what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 
 In these words, we have first a supposition, and such an 
 one as standeth upon a double bottom. 
 
 The supposition is this — That the soul is capable of being 
 lost ; or thus — It is possible for a man to lose his soul. The 
 double bottom that this supposition is grounded upon is, 
 ]. A man's ignorance of the worth of his soul, and of the 
 danger that il is in ; and the second is, for that men com- 
 monly do set a higher price upon present ease and enjoy- 
 ments than they do upon eternal salvation. The last of 
 these doth naturally follow upon the first ; for if men be 
 ignorant of the value and worth of their souls, as by Christ 
 in the verse before is implied, what should hinder but 
 that men should set a higher esteem upon that with which 
 their carnal desires are taken, than upon that about which 
 
6 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 they are not concerned, and of which they know not the 
 worth ? 
 
 But again, as this by the text is clearly supposed, so there 
 is also something implied — namely, tliat it is impossible to 
 possess some men with the worth of their souls until they 
 are utterly and everlastingly lost. " What shall a man give 
 in exchange for his soul ?" That is, men when their souls 
 are lost, and shut down under the hatches in the pits and 
 hells in endless perdition and destruction, then they will see 
 the worth of their souls, then they will consider what they 
 have lost, and truly not till then. This is plain, not only 
 to sense, but by the natural scope of the words, " What 
 shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" Or what would 
 not those that are now for sin made to see themselves lost, 
 by the light of hell-fire (for some will never be convinced 
 that they are lost till, with rich Dives, they see it in the 
 light of hell-flames) ; I say, what would not such, if they 
 had it (Luke, xvi. 22, 23), give in exchange for their im- 
 mortal souls, or to recover them again from that place and 
 torment ? 
 
 1. The first is, that the loss of the soul is the highest, the 
 greatest loss — a loss that can never be repaired or made up. 
 " What shall a man give in exchange for his soul V — that 
 is, to recover or redeem his lost soul to liberty. 
 
 I shall observe two truths in the words. 
 
 2. The second truth is this, that how unconcerned and 
 careless soever some now be about the loss or salvation of 
 their souls, yet the day is coming (but it will then be too 
 late) when men will be willing, had they never so much, 
 to give it all in exchange for their souls. For so the ques- 
 tion implies — " What shall a man give in exchange for his 
 soul ?" What ^^■ould he not give 1 What would he not 
 ])art with at that day, the day in which he shall see him- 
 self damned, if he had it, in exchange for his soul ? 
 
 The first observation, or truth, drawn from the Avords is 
 cleared by the text, " What shall a man give in exchange 
 for his soul ?" — that is, there is not any thing, nor all the 
 things under heaven, were they all in one man's hand, ana 
 
TJNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 7 
 
 all at his disposal, that would go in exchange for the soul, 
 that vv'ould be of value to fetch back one lost soul, or that 
 Avould certainly recover it from the confines of hell. " The 
 redemption of the soul is precious, it ceaseth for ever," 
 Psalm xlix. 3. And what saith the words before the text 
 but the same — " For what shall it profit a man, if he shall 
 gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?" What shall 
 profit a man that has lost his soul ? Nothing at all, though 
 he hath by that loss gained the whole world ; for all the 
 world is not worth a soul, not worth a soul in the eye of 
 God and judgment of the law. And it is from this consi- 
 deration that good Elihu cautioneth Job to take heed, " Be- 
 cause there is wrath," saith he, " beware, lest he take thee 
 away with his stroke : then a great ransom cannot deliver 
 thee. Will he esteem thy riches ? no, not gold, nor all the 
 forces of strength," Job, xxxvi. 18, 19. Riches and power, 
 what is there more in the world ? for money answereth all 
 things — that is, all but soul-concerns. It can neither be a 
 price for souls while here, nor can that, with all the forces 
 of strength, recover one out of hell-fire. 
 
 DocT. 1. — So, then, the first truth drawn from the words 
 stands firm — namely, that the loss of the soul is the highest, 
 the greatest loss, a loss that can never be repaired or 
 made up. 
 
 In my discourse upon this subject I shall observe this 
 method — 
 
 I. I shall shew you what the soul is. 
 
 II. I shall shew you the greatness of it. 
 
 III. I shall shew you what it is to lose the soul. 
 
 IV. I shall shew you the cause for which men lose their 
 souls ; and by this time the greatness of the loss will be 
 manifest. 
 
 I. I shall shew you what the soul is, both as to the 
 various names it goes under, as also by describing of it by its 
 powers and properties, though in all I sliall be but brief, 
 for I intend no long discourse. 
 
 1. The soul is often called the heart of man, or that in 
 and by which things, to either good or evil, have their rise; 
 
8 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 thus desires are of the heart or soul ; 3^ea, before desires, the 
 first conception of good or evil is in the soul, the heart. The 
 heart understands, wills, affects, reasons, judges, but these 
 are the faculties of the soul ; wherefore heart and soul are 
 often taken for one and the same. '' My son, give me thy 
 heart. Out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts," &c., 
 Prov, xxiii.26 ; Matt. xv. 19 ; 1 Peter, iii. 15 ; Psalm xxvi. 6. 
 
 2. The soul of man is often called the spirit of a man, 
 because it not only giveth being, but life to all things and 
 actions in and done by him. Hence soul and spirit are put 
 together as to the same action — " With my soul have I de- 
 sired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will 
 I seek thee early" (Isaiah, xxvi. 9) ; when he saith, " Yea, 
 with my spirit I will seek thee," he explaineth not only 
 with what kind of desires he desired God, but with what 
 principal matter his desires were brought forth : it was with 
 my soul, saith he ; to wit, with my spirit within me. So, 
 that of Mary, " My soul," saith she, " doth magnify the 
 Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in GoK my Saviour ;" not 
 that soul and spirit are in this place to be taken for two 
 superior powers in man ; but the same great soul is here 
 put under two names or terms, to shew that it was the 
 principal part in Mary — to wit, her soul, that magnified 
 God, even that part that could spirit and put life into her 
 whole self to do it. Indeed, sometimes spirit is not taken 
 so largely, but is confined to some one power or faculty of 
 the soul, as " the spirit of my understanding ; and be re- 
 newed in the spirit of your mind" (Job, xx. 3) ; and some- 
 times by spirit we are to understand other things : but 
 many times by spirit we must understand the soul, and also 
 by soul the spirit. 
 
 3. Therefore, by soul Ave understand the spiritual, the 
 best, and most noble part of man, as distinct from the body, 
 even that by which we understand, imagine, reason, and 
 discourse. And indeed (as I shall further shew you pre- 
 sently), the body is but a poor empty vessel without this 
 great thing called the soul. " The body without the spirit, 
 or soul, is dead" (James, ii. 26), or nothing but a clod of 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 9 
 
 dust (her soul departed from her, for she died.) It is 
 therefore the chief and most noble part of man. 
 
 4. The soul is often called the life of man, not a life of 
 the same stamp and nature of the brute ; for the life of 
 man — that is, of the rational creature — is that, as he is 
 such, wherein consisteth and abideth the understanding and 
 conscience, &c. Wherefore then a man dieth, or the body 
 ceaseth to act, or live in the exercise of the thoughts, which 
 formerly used to be in him, when the soul departeth, as I 
 hinted even now ; her soul departed from her, for she died ; 
 and as another good man saith, " in that very day their 
 thouglits perish," ike, Psalm cxlvi. 4. The first text is 
 more emphatical : " Her soul was in departing" (for she 
 died.) There is soul of a beast, a bird, &c., but the soul of 
 a man is another thing ; it is his understanding, and reason, 
 and conscience. Sec. And this soul, when it departs, he 
 dies. Nor is this life, when gone out of the body, annihi- 
 lated, as in the life of a beast ; no, this in itself is immortal, 
 and has yet a place and being when gone out of the body 
 it dwelt in ; yea, as quick, as lively is it in its senses, if 
 not far more abundant, than when it was in the body ; but 
 I call it the life, because so long as that remains in the 
 body, the body is not dead. And in this sense it is to be 
 taken where he saith, " He that loseth his life for my sake, 
 shall save it unto life eternal ;" and this is the soul that is 
 intended in the text, and not the breath, as in some other 
 places is meant. And this is evident, because the man has 
 a being, a sensible being, after he has lost the soul ; I mean 
 not by the man a man in this world, nor yet in the body, 
 or in the grave ; but by man Ave must understand either 
 the soul in hell, or body and soul there after the judgment 
 is over. And for this the text also is plain, for therein we 
 are presented with a man sensible of the damage that he 
 has sustained by losing of his soul : " What shall a man 
 give in exchange for his soul ?" But, 
 
 5. The whole man goeth under this denomination ; man, 
 consisting of body and soul, is yet called by that part of 
 himself that is most chief and principal. " Let every soul 
 
10 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 (that is, let every man) be subject to the higher powers," 
 Rom. xiii. 1. " Then sent Joseph, and called his father 
 Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen 
 souls," Acts, vii. 14. By both these, and several other 
 places, the whole man is meant, and is also so to be taken 
 in the text ; for whereas here he saith, " What shall it pro- 
 lit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 
 own soul ?" it is said elsewhere, " For what is a man ad- 
 vantaged if he shall gain the whole world and lose him- 
 self ?" and so consequently, or, " What shall a man give in 
 exchange (for himself) for his soul ?" (Luke, ix. 25) his 
 soul when he dies, and body and soul in and after judgment ? 
 6. The soul is called the good man's darling. " Deliver, 
 Lord," said David, " my soul from the sword, my darling 
 fi-om the power of the dog," Psalm xxii. 20. So again in 
 another place, he saith, " Lord, how long wilt thou look 
 on ? rescue my soul fi-om destruction, my darling fi-om the 
 power of the lions," Psalm xxxv. 17. ,My darling — this 
 sentence must not be applied universally, but only to those 
 in whose eyes their souls, and the redemption thereof, is 
 precious. My darling — most men do by their actions say 
 of their soul, my drudge, my slave ; nay, thou slave to the 
 devil and sin ; for what sin, what lust, what sensual and 
 beastly lust is there in the world that some do not cause 
 their souls to bow before and yield unto ? But David here, 
 as you see, calls it his darling, or his choice and most ex- 
 cellent thing ; for indeed the soul is a choice thing in 
 itself, and should, were all wise, be every man's darling, or 
 chief treasure. And that^t might be so with us, therefore 
 our Lord Jesus hath thus expressed the worth of the soul, 
 saying, " What shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 But if this is true, one may see already what misery he is 
 like to sustain that has, or shall lose his soul ; he has lost 
 his heart, his spirit, his best part, his life, his'darling, him- 
 self, his whole self, and so in every sense his all ? " And 
 now Avhat shall a man," what would a man, but what can 
 a man that has thus lost his soul, himself, and his all, " give 
 in exchange for his soul ?" Yea, what sliall the man that 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 11 
 
 has sustained this loss do to recover all again, since this 
 man, or the man put under this question, must needs he a 
 man that is gone from hence, a man that is cast in the 
 judgment, and one that is gone down the throat of hell. 
 
 But to pass tliis, and to proceed. I come next to de- 
 scribe the soul unto you by such things as it is set out by in 
 the Holy Scriptures, and they are in general three — 
 
 I. The powers of the soul. 
 
 II. The senses, the spiritual senses of the soul. 
 
 III. The passions of the soul. 
 
 I. We will discourse of the powers, I may call them the 
 members, of the soul ; for as the members of the body, being 
 many, do all go to the making up of the body, so these do 
 go to the completing of the soul. 
 
 1. There is the understanding ; which may be termed the 
 head, because in that is placed the eye of the soul ; and 
 this is that which, or by which the soul, discerning things 
 that are presented to it, and that either by God or Satan — 
 this is, that by which a man conceiveth and apprehendetli 
 things so deep and great that cannot by mouth, or tongue, 
 or pen, be expressed. 
 
 2. There is also belonging to the soul, the conscience, in 
 which I may say is placed the seat of judgment ; for as by 
 the imderstanding things are let into the soul, so by the 
 conscience the evil or good of such things are tried, espe- 
 cially when in thee. 
 
 3. Place the judgment, which is another part of this noble 
 creature, has passed by the light of the understanding, his 
 verdict upon what is let into the soul. 
 
 4. There is, as also the fancy or imagination, another 
 part of this great thing, the soul ; and a most curious thing 
 this fancy is ; it is that which presenteth to the man the 
 idea, form, or figure of that, or any of those things, where- 
 with a man is frighted or taken, pleased or displeased. And, 
 
 5. The mind (another part of the soul) is that unto which 
 this fancy presenteth its things to be considered of, because 
 without the mind nothing is entertained in the soul. 
 
 6. There is the memory too, another part of the soul ; and 
 
12 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 that may be called the register of the soul ; for it is the 
 memory that receiveth and keepeth in remembrance what 
 has passed, or has been done by the man, or attempted to 
 be done unto him ; and in this part of the soul, or from it, 
 will be fed the worm that dieth not when men are cast into 
 hell ; also from this memory will flow that peace at the 
 day of judgment that saints shall have in their service for 
 Christ in the world. 
 
 7. There are the affections too, which are, as I may call 
 them, the hands and arms of the soul ; for they are they 
 that take hold of, receive, and embrace what is liked by 
 the soul ; and it is a hard thing to make tlie soul of a man 
 cast from it what its affections cleave to and have embraced. 
 Hence the affections are called for when the apostle bids 
 men " seek the things above ; set your affections upon 
 them," saith he (Col. iii.) ; or, as you have it in another 
 place, " Lay hold of them ;" for the affections are as hands 
 to the soul, and they by which it fasteneth upon things. 
 
 8. There is the will, which may be called the foot of the 
 soul, because by that soul, yea, the whole man, is carried 
 hither and thither, or else held back and kept from moving. 
 
 These are the golden things of the soul, though in carnal 
 men they are every one of them made use of in the service 
 of sin and Satan. For the unbelieving are throughout im- 
 pure, as is manifest, because their " mind and conscience 
 (two of the masterpieces of the soul) are defiled" (Tit. i. 
 15) ; for if the most potent parts of the soul are engaged in 
 their service, what, think you, do the more inferior do 1 
 But, I say, so it is ; the more is the pity ; nor can any 
 help it. " This work ceaseth for ever," unless the great 
 God, who is over all, and can save souls, shall himself take 
 upon him to sanctify the soul, and to recover it, and per- 
 suade it to fall in love with another master. 
 
 But, I say, what is man without this soul, or wherein 
 lieth his pre-eminence over a beast 1 (Eccles. iii. 19-21) ; 
 nowhere that I know of ; for both (as to man's body) go to 
 one place, only the spirit or soul of a man goes upward — 
 to wit, to God that gave it, to be by him disposed of with 
 
UNSPEAKABLEIVESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. lli 
 
 respect to things to come, as they have been and have done 
 in this life. But, 
 
 II. I come, in the next place, to describe the soul by its 
 senses, its spiritual senses, for so I call them ; for as the 
 body hath senses pertaining to it, and as it can see, hear, 
 smell, feel, and taste, so can the soul ; I call, therefore, 
 these the senses of the soul, in opposition to the senses of 
 the body, and because the soul is the seat of all spiritual 
 sense, where supernatural things are knowTi and enjoyed ; 
 not that the soul of a natural man is spiritual in the apostle's 
 sense, for so none are but those that are born from above 
 (1 Cor. iii. 1-3), nor they so always neither. But to go 
 forward. 
 
 1. Can the body see ? hath it eyes 1 so hath the soul. 
 " The eyes of the understanding being enlightened," Ephes. 
 i. 18. As, then, the body can see beasts, trees, men, and all 
 visible things, so the soul can see God, Christ, angels, 
 heaven, devils, hell, and other things that are invisible ; 
 nor is this property only peculiar to the souls that are illumi- 
 nated by the Holy Ghost, for the most carnal soul in the 
 world shall have a time to see these things, but not to its 
 comfort, but not to its joy, but to its endless woe and misery, 
 it dying in that condition. Wherefore, sinner, say not thou, 
 " I shall not see him ; for judgment is before him, and he 
 will make thee see him," Job, xxxv. 14. 
 
 2. Can the body hear ? hath it ears ? so hath the soul ; 
 see Job, iv. 12, 13. It is the soul, not the body, that 
 hears the language of things invisible. It is the soul that 
 hears God when he speaks in and by his word and 
 Spirit ; and it is the soul that hears the devil when he 
 speaks by his illusions and temptations. True, there is 
 such an union between the soul and the body that ofttimes, 
 if not always, that which is heard by the ears of the body 
 doth influence the soul, and that which is heard by the 
 soul doth also influence the body ; but yet as to the organ 
 of hearing, the body hath one of his own distinct from that 
 of the soul, and the soul can hear and regard even then 
 when the body doth not nor cannot ; as in time of sleep 
 
14 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 deep sleep and trances, when the body lieth by as a thing 
 that is useless. " For God speaks once, yea twice, yet man 
 (as to his body) perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a A-ision 
 of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men in slum- 
 Ijerings upon the bed ; then openeth he the ears of men, 
 and sealeth their instruction," &c., Job, xxxiii. 3 4-lG. 
 This must be meant of the ears of the soul, not of the body ; 
 for that at this time is said to be in deep sleep ; moreover, 
 this hearing, it is a hearing of dreams, and the visions of 
 the night. Jeremiah also tells us that he " had the rare 
 and blessed visions of God in his sleep" (Jer. xxxi. 26), 
 and so doth Daniel too, by the which they were greatly 
 comfoi-ted and refreshed ; but that could not be, w^as not 
 the soul also capable of hearing. " I heard the voice of his 
 words," said Daniel, " and when I heard the voice of his 
 words, I was in a deep sleep on my face, and my face to- 
 wards the ground," Dan. x. 8, 9. 
 
 3. As the soul can see and hear, so it can taste and relish, 
 even as really as doth the palate belonging to the body. 
 But then the thing so tasted must be that which is suited 
 to the temper and palate of the soul. The soul's taste lieth 
 not in, nor is exercised about meats, the meats that are for 
 the body. Yet the soul of a saint can taste and relish God's 
 word, and doth ofttimes find it sweeter than honey, nour- 
 ishing as milk, and strengthening like to strong meat, Heb. 
 vi. 5 ; Psalm xix. 10 ; 1 Peter, ii. 1-3 ; Heb. v. 12-14. 
 The soul also of sinners, and of those that are unsanctified, 
 can taste and relish, though not the things now mentioned, 
 yet things that agree with their fleshly minds, and with 
 their polluted, and defiled, and vile affections. They can 
 i-elish and taste that which delighteth them ; yea, they can 
 find soul-delight in an alehouse, a whorehouse, a playhouse. 
 Ay, they find pleasure in the vilest things, in the things 
 most offensive to God, and that are most destructive to 
 themselves. This is evident to sense, and is proved by the 
 daily practice of sinners. Nor is the word barren as to 
 this : " They feed on ashes," Isaiah, xliv. 20, " They spend 
 tlieir money for that which is not bread," Isaiah, Iv. 2. 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESB OF THE LOSS THEHEOP. 15 
 
 " Yea, they eat, and suck sweetness out of sin. They eat 
 M\) the sin of my people as they eat bread," Hosea, iv. 8. 
 
 4, As the soul can see, hear, and taste, so it can smell, 
 and bring refreshment to itself that way. Hence the 
 church saith, " Her lingers dropped with sweet-smelling 
 myrrh" (Cant. v. 5, 13); and again, she saith of her be- 
 loved, that " his lips dropped sweet-smelling myrrh." But 
 how came the church to understand this, but because her 
 soul did smell that in it that was to be smelled in it, even 
 in his word and gracious visits, The poor world indeed 
 cannot smell, or savour anything of the good and fragrant 
 scent and sweet that is in Christ ; but to them that be- 
 lieve " his name is as an ointment poured forth, and there- 
 fore the virgins love him," Cant. i. 3. 
 
 5. As the soul can see, taste, hear, and smell, so it hath 
 the sense of feeling, as quick and as sensible as the body. 
 He knows nothing that knows not this ; he whose soul is 
 past feeling, has his conscience seared with a hot iron, 
 Eph. iv. 18, 19 ; 1 Tim. iv, 2. Nothing so sensible as the 
 soul, nor feeleth so quickly the love and mercy, or the anger 
 and wrath of God. Ask the awakened man, or the man 
 that is under the convictions of the law, if he doth not feel, 
 and he will quickly tell you that he faints and dies away 
 by reason of God's hand, and his wrath that lieth upon 
 him. Read the first eight verses of the 38th Psalm (if thou 
 knowest nothing of what I have told thee by experience), 
 and there thou shalt hear the complaints of one whose soul 
 lay at present under the burden of guilt, and that cried out 
 that without help from heaven he could by no means bear 
 the same. They also that know what the peace of God 
 means, and what an eternal weight there is in glory, know 
 well that the soul has the sense of feeling, as well as the 
 sense of seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling. But thus 
 much for the senses of the soul. 
 
 III. I come, in the next place, to describe the soul by tJie 
 passions of the soul. The passions of the soul, I reckon, 
 are these, and such like — to wit, love, hatred, joy, fear, grief, 
 anger, &c. And these passions of the soul are not therefore 
 
16 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 good, nor therefore evil, because they are the passions of the 
 soul, but are made so by two things—to wit, principle and 
 object. The prmciple I count that from whence they flow, 
 and the object that upon which they are pitched. To ex- 
 plain myself. 
 
 1. For that of love. This is a strong passion ; the Holy 
 Ghost saith " it is strong as death, and cruel a3 the grave," 
 Cant. viii. 6, 7. And it is then good, when it flows from 
 faith, and pitches itself upon God in Christ as the object, 
 and when it extendeth itself to all that is good, whether it 
 be the good word, the good work of grace, or the good men 
 that have it, and also to their good lives. But all soul love 
 floweth not from this principle, neither hath these for its 
 object. How many are there that make the object of their 
 love the most vile of men, the most base of things, because 
 it flows from vile aff^ections, and from the lusts of the flesh ] 
 God and Christ, good laws and good men, and their holy 
 lives, they cannot abide, because their love wanteth a prin- 
 ciple that should sanctify it in its firSt motion, and that 
 should steer it to a goodly object. But that is the first. 
 
 2. There is hatred, which I count another passion of the 
 soul ; and this, as the other, is good or evil as the principle 
 from whence it flows and the object of it are. " Ye that 
 love the Lord, hate evil" (Psalm xcvii. 10 ); then therefore 
 is this passion good, when it singleth out from the many of 
 things that are in the world that one filthy thing called 
 sin ; and when it setteth itself, the soul, and the whole 
 man, against it, and engageth all the powers of the soul to 
 seek and invent its ruin. But, alas, where shall this hatred 
 be found 1 What man is there whose soul is filled with 
 his passion, thus sanctified by the love of God, and that 
 makes sin, which is God's enemy, the only object of its in- 
 dignation 1 How many be there, I say, whose hatred is 
 turned another way, because of the malignity of their 
 minds 1 
 
 They hate knowledge, Deut. vii. 10; 2 Chron. xix. 2; 
 Psalm, xxxiv. 21 ; Job, xxi. 14 ; Mai. iii. 14 ; Prov. i. 22; 
 viii. 12 ; xxix, 10. 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 17 
 
 They hate God. 
 
 They hate the righteous. 
 
 They hate God's ways. 
 
 And all is, because the grace of final fear is not the root 
 and principle from whence their hatred flows, " For the 
 fear of the Lord is to hate evil ;" wherefore, where this 
 grace is wanting for a root in the soul, there it must of 
 necessity swerve in the letting out of this passion ; because 
 the soul, where grace is wanting, is not at liberty to act 
 simply, but is biassed by the power of sin, that, while grace 
 is absent, is present in the soul. 
 
 And hence it is that this passion (which when acted well 
 is a virtue) is so abused, and made to exercise its force 
 against that for which God never ordained it, nor gave it 
 licence to act. 
 
 3. Another passion of the soul is joy ; and when the soul 
 rejoiceth not in iniquity, " but rejoiceth in the truth" (1 
 Cor. xiii. 6), this joy is a very strong passion, and will carry 
 a man through a world of difficulties ; it is a passion that 
 beareth up, that supporteth and strengtheneth a man, let 
 the o})ject of his joy be what it will. It is this that maketh 
 the soul fat in goodness, if it have its object accordingly ; 
 and that which makes the soul bold in wickedness, if it 
 indeed doth rejoice in iniquity. 
 
 4. Another passion of the soul is fear, natural fear ; for 
 so you must understand me of all the passions of the soul, 
 as they are considered simply and in their own nature. 
 And as it is with the other passions, so it is with this ; it is 
 made good or evil in its acts as its principle and objects 
 are ; when this passion of the soul is good, then it springs 
 from a sens? of the greatness, and goodness, and majesty of 
 God ; also God himself is the object of this fear — Matt, x. 
 28 ; Luke xii, 5, " I will forewarn you," says Christ, 
 " whom ye shall fear. Fear him that can destroy both body 
 and soul in hell ; yea, I say unto you, fear him," But in 
 all men this passion is not regulated and governed by these 
 principles and objects, but is abused and turned, through 
 the policy of Satan, quite into another channel. It is 
 
18 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 (Num. xiv. 9 ; 2 Kings, xvii. 7, 38) made to fear men, to 
 fear idols, to fear devils and Avitches, yea, it is made to fear 
 all tlie foolish, ridiculous, and apish fables that every old 
 woman or atheistical fortune-teller has tlie face to drop be- 
 fore the soul. But godly fear is another passion of the soul. 
 
 5. Another passion of the soul is grief, and it, as those 
 aforenamed, acteth even according as it is governed. When 
 holiness is lovely and beautiful to the soul, and when the 
 name of Christ is more precious than life, then will the soul 
 sit down and be afflicted, because men keep not God's law. 
 " I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved ; because they 
 kept not thy word," Psalm cxix. 158. So Christ, he looked 
 round about with anger, " being grieved for the hardness of 
 their hearts," Mark, iii. 5. But it is rarely seen that this 
 passion of the soul is thus exercised. Almost everybody 
 has other things for the spending of the heat of this passion 
 upon. Men are grieved that they thrive no more in the 
 world ; grieved that they have no more^ carnal, sensual, and 
 worldly honour ; grieved that they are suffered no more to 
 range in the lusts and vanities of this life ; but all this is 
 because the soul is unacquainted with God, sees no beauty 
 in holiness, but is sensual, and wrapped up in clouds and 
 thick darkness. 
 
 6. And lastly, There is anger, which is another passion 
 of the soul ; and that, as the rest, is extended by the soul, 
 according to the nature of the principle by which it is 
 acted, and from whence it flows. And, in a word, to speak 
 nothing of the fierceness and power of this passion, it is 
 then cursed when it breaketh out beyond the bounds that 
 God hath set it, the which to be sure it doth when it shall 
 by its fierceness or irregular motion run the soul into sin. 
 " Be angry, and sin not," (Ephes. iv. 26, 27), it is the limi- 
 tation wherewith God hath bounded this passion ; and what- 
 ever is more than this, is a giving place to the devil. 
 
 And one reason among others why the Lord doth so 
 strictly set this bound, and these limits to anger, is, for 
 that it is so furious a passion, and for that it will so quickly 
 swell up the soul with sin. as they say a toad swells with 
 
UXSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 19 
 
 its poison. Yea, it will in a moment so transport the spirit 
 of a man, that he shall quickly forget himself, his God, his 
 friend, and all good rule. But my business is not now to 
 make a comment upon the passions of the soul, only to 
 shew you that there are such, and also which they are. 
 
 And now from this description of the soul, what follows 
 but to put you in mind what a noble, powerful, lively, sen- 
 sible thing the soul is that by the text is supposed may be 
 lost, through the heedlessness, or carelessness, or slavish 
 fear of him whose soul it is ; and also to stir you up to 
 that care of, and labour after, the salvation of your soul, as 
 becomes the weight of the matter. If the soul were a tri- 
 vial thing, or if a man, though he lost it, might yet him- 
 self be happy, it were another matter ; but the loss of the 
 soul is no small loss, nor can that man that has lost his 
 soul, had he all the world, yea, the whole kingdom of hea- 
 ven, in his own power, be but in a most fearful and miser- 
 able condition. But of these things more in their place. 
 
 II. Having thus given you a description of the soul, what 
 it is, I shall, in the next place, shew you the greatness of it. 
 And the first thing that I shall take occasion to make this 
 manifest by will be by shewing you the disproportion that 
 is betwixt that and the hody ; and I shall do it in these fol- 
 lowing particulars — 
 
 1. The body is called the house of the soul, a house for 
 the soul to dwell in. Now everybody knows that the house 
 is much inferior to him that by God's ordinance is ap- 
 pointed to dwell therein ; that it is called the house of the 
 soul, you find in Paul to the Corinthians : " For we know," 
 saith he, '' if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- 
 solved, we have a building of God, a house not made with 
 hands, eternal in the heavens," 2 Cor. v. 1. We have, then, 
 a house for our soul in this Avorld, and this house is the 
 body, for the apostle can mean nothing else ; therefore he 
 calls it an earthly house. If our earthly house — our house. 
 But who doth he personate if he says, This is a house for 
 the soul ? for the body is part of him that says, our house. 
 
 In this manner of language he personates his soul with 
 
20 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 the souls of the rest that are saved ; and thus to do is com- 
 mon Avith the apostles, as will be easily discerned by them 
 that give attendance to reading. Our earthly houses ; or, 
 as Job saith, " houses of clay," for our bodies are bodies of 
 clay : " Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies 
 are bodies of clay," Job, iv. 19 ; xiii. 12. Indeed, he after 
 maketh mention of a house in heaven, but that is not it 
 about which he now speaks ; now he speaks of this earthly 
 house which we have (we, our souls) to dwell in, while on 
 this side glory, where the other house stands as ready pre- 
 pared for us when Ave shall flit from this to that, or in case 
 this should sooner or later be dissolved. But that is the 
 first ; the body is compared to the house, but the soul to 
 him that inhabiteth the house ; therefore, as the man is 
 more noble than the house he dwells in, so is the soul more 
 noble than the body. And A^et, alas ! Avith grief be it 
 spoken, hoAV common is it for men to spend all their care, 
 all their time, all their strength, all their, Avit and parts for 
 the body, and its honour and preferment, even as if the soul 
 were some poor, pitiful, sorry, inconsiderable, and under- 
 thing, not Avorth the thinking of, or not Avorth the caring 
 for. But, 
 
 2, The body is called the clothing, and the soul that 
 which is clothed thereAvith. Noav everybody knoAvs that 
 the body is more than raiment, CA^en carnal sense Avill teach 
 us this. But read that pregnant place : " for Ave that are 
 in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened (tliat is, Avith 
 mortal flesh), not for that Ave Avould be unclothed, but 
 clothed upon, that mortality might be SAvalloAved up of 
 life." Thus the greatness of the soul appears in the j^re- 
 ference that it hath to the body — the body is its raiment. 
 We see that, above all creatures, man, because he is the 
 most noble among all visible ones, has for the adorning of 
 his body that more abundant comeliness. It is the body 
 of man, not of beast, that is clothed Avith the richest orna- 
 ments. But noAv Avhat a thing is the soul, that the body 
 itself must be its clothing ! No suit of apparel is by God 
 thought good enough for the soul but that which is made 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 21 
 
 by God himself, and that is that curious thing the body. 
 But oh ! how little is this considered — namely the great- 
 ness of the soul. It is the body, the clothes, the suit of 
 apparel, that our foolish fancies are taken with, not at all 
 considering the richness and excellency of that great and 
 more noble part, the soul, for which the body is made a 
 mantle to wrap it up in, a garment to clothe it withal. If 
 a man gets a rent in his clothes, it is little in comparison 
 of a rent in his flesh ; yea, he comforts himself when he 
 looks on that rent, saying. Thanks be to God, it is not a 
 rent in my flesh. But ah ! on the contrary, how many are 
 there in the world that are more troubled for that they have 
 a rent, a wound, or a disease in the body, than for that 
 they have souls that will be lost and cast away. A little 
 rent in the body dejecteth and casteth such down, but they 
 _^are not at all concerned, though their soul is now, and will 
 yet further be, torn in pieces. " Now therefore consider 
 this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and 
 there is none to deliver," Psalm 1. 22. But this is the 
 second thing whereby, or by which, the greatness of the soul 
 appears — to wit, in that the body, that excellent piece of 
 God's workmanship, is but a garment, or clothing, for the 
 soul. But, 
 
 3. The body is called a vessel, or a case, for the soul to 
 be put and kept in. " That every one of you should know 
 how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour," 1 
 Thess. iv. 4. The apostle here doth exhort the people to 
 abstain from fornication, wliich in another place he saith, 
 '* is a sin against the body." And here again he saith, 
 '' This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you 
 should abstain from fornication, that the body be not de- 
 filed, that every one of you should know how to possess his 
 vessel in sanctification and honour." His vessel, his earthen 
 vessel, as he calls it in another place — " For we have this 
 treasure in earthen vessels." Thus, then, the body is called 
 a vessel ; yea, every man's body is his vessel. But what 
 has God prepared this vessel for, and what has he put into 
 it ? Why, many things this body is to be a vessel for, 
 
22 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 Lut at present God has put into it that curious thing, 
 the soul. Cabinets, that are very rich and costly things of 
 themselves, are not made nor designed to he vessels to be 
 stuffed or filled with trumpery and things of no value ; no, 
 these are prepared for rings and jewels, for pearls, for rubies, 
 and things that are choice. And if so, what sliall we then 
 think of the soul for which it is prepared, and that of God, 
 the most rich and excellent vessel in the world ? Surely it 
 must be a thing of worth, yea, of more worth than is the 
 whole world besides. But, alas ! who believes this talk ? 
 Do not even the most of men so set their minds upon and 
 so admire the glory of this case or vessel, that they forget 
 once with seriousness to think, and therefore must of 
 necessity be a great way off, of those suitable esteems that 
 becomes them to have of their souls 1 But oh, since this 
 vessel, this cabinet, this body, is so curiously made, and 
 that to receive and contain, what thing is that for Avhich 
 God has made his vessel, and what is that soul that he 
 hath piit into it ? Wherefore thus, in the third place, is 
 the greatness of the soul made manifest, even by the ex- 
 cellency of the vessel, the body, that God has made to put 
 it in. 
 
 4. The body is called a tabernacle for the soul. " Know- 
 ing shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, that is, my 
 body, by death," 2 Pet. i. 14 ; John, xxi. 18, 19 ; 2 Cor. v. 1. 
 So again, " For we know that if our earthly house of this 
 tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God," ^'c. 
 In both these places, by " tabernacle" can be meant nothing 
 hut the body ; wherefore both the apostles in these sentences 
 do personate their souls, and speak as if the eoul was the 
 all of a man ; yea, they plainly tell us that the body is but 
 the house, clothes, vessel, and tabemacle for the souls. But 
 Avhat a famous thing therefore is the soul ! 
 
 The tabemacle of old was a place erected for worship, 
 but the worshi])pers were far more excellent than the place ; 
 so our body is a tabemacle for the soul to worship God in, 
 but must needs be accounted much inferior to the soul, for- 
 asmuch as the worshippers are always of more honour than 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEKEOF. 23 
 
 the place they worship in ; as he that dwelleth in the ta- 
 bernacle hath more honour than the taheniacle " I serve," 
 says Paul, " God and Christ Jesus with my spirit (or soul) 
 in the Gospel" (Rom. i. 9), but not with his spirit out of, 
 but in, this tabernacle. The tabernacle had insti-uments of 
 worship for the worshippers ; so has the body for the soul, 
 and we are bid to " yield our members as instruments of 
 righteousness unto God," Rom. vi. 13. The hands, feet, 
 ears, eyes, and tongue (which last is our glory, when used 
 right), are all of them instruments of this tabernacle, and 
 to be made use of by the soul, the inhabiter of this taber- 
 nacle, for the soul's performance of the service of God. 
 
 I thus discoui-se to shew you the greatness of the soul. 
 
 And in mine opinion there is something, if not very much, 
 in what I say. For all men admire the body, both for its 
 manner of building and the curious way of its being com- 
 pacted together. Yea, the further men, wise men, do pry 
 into the wonderful work of God that is put forth in framing 
 the body, the more still they are made to admire ; and yet, 
 as I said, this body is but a house, a mantle, a vessel, a 
 tabernacle for the soul. What, then, is the soul itself? 
 But thus much for the first particular. 
 
 Secondly, We will now come to other things that shew 
 us the greatness of the soul. And, 
 
 1, It is called God's breath of life. " And the Lord God 
 formed man," that is, the body, " of the dust of the ground, 
 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he 
 became a living soul," Gen. ii. 7. Do but compare these two 
 together, the body and the soul ; the body is made of dust, 
 the soul is the breath of God. Now if God hath made this 
 body so famous, as indeed he has, and yet it is made but of 
 the dust of the ground, and we all do know what inferioi* 
 matter that is, what is the soul, since the body is not only 
 its house and garment, but since itself is made of the breath 
 of God ] But further, it is not only said that the soul is of 
 the breath of the Lord, but that the Lord breathed into him 
 the breath of life — to wit, a living spirit, for so the next 
 words infer — " And man became a living souL" Man, 
 
24 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 that is, the more excellent part of him, which for that it is 
 principal it is called man, that bearing the denomination of 
 the whole ; or man, the spirit and natural power, by which, 
 as a reasonable creature, the whole of him is acted, '%ecame 
 a living soul." But I stand not here upon definition, but 
 upon demonstration. The body, that noble part of man, 
 had its original from the dust ; for so says the word, " Dust 
 thou art (as to thy body), and to dust shalt thou return," 
 Gen. iii. 19. But as to thy more noble part, thou art from 
 the breath of God, God putting forth in that a mighty 
 work of creating power, " and man was made a living soul," 
 1 Cor. XV. 45. Mark my reason. There is as great a dis- 
 parity betwixt the body and the soul as is between the dust 
 of the ground, and that here called the breath of life of the 
 Lord. And note fui-ther, that as the dust of the ground did 
 not lose, but gained glory by being formed into the body 
 of a man, so this breath of the Lord lost nothing neither by 
 being made a living soul. man ! dost, thou know what 
 thou art ? 
 
 2. As the soul is said to be of the breath of God, so it is 
 said to be made after God's own image, even after the simi- 
 litude of God. " And God said. Let us make man in our 
 image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own 
 image, in the image of God created he him," Gen. i. 26, 27. 
 Mark, in his o^^^l image — in the image of God created he 
 him ; or, as James hath it, " It is made after the similitude 
 of God" (James, iii. 9), like him, having in it that which 
 beareth semblance with him. I do not read of anything 
 in heaven, or earth, or under the earth, that is said to be 
 made after this manner, or that is at all so termed, save 
 only the Son of God himself. The angels are noble crea- 
 tures, and for present employ are made a little higlier than 
 man himself; but that any of them are said to be made 
 " after God's own image" (Heb. ii.), after his own image, 
 oven after the similitude of God, that I find not. This 
 character the Holy Ghost, in the Scrijitures of ti-uth, giveth 
 only of man — of the soul of man ; for it must not be 
 thought that the body is here intended, in whole or in part. 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS TnEREOP. 25 
 
 For thoiigli it be said that " Clirist was made after the 
 similitude of sinful flesh" (Phil, ii.), yet it is not said that 
 sinful flesh is made after the similitude of God. But I will 
 not dispute ; I only bring these things to shew how great 
 a thin^-, how noble a thing, the soul is, in that at its crea- 
 tion, God thought it worthy to be made, not like the earth, 
 or the heavens^ or the angels, cherubims, seraphim s, or arch- 
 angels, but like himself, his own self, saying, " Let us make 
 man in our own likeness. So he made man in his own 
 image." This, I say, is a character above all angels ; for, 
 as the apostle said, " To which of the angels said he at any 
 time, Thou art my son '?" So, of which of them hath he at 
 any time said. This is, or shall be, made in or after mine 
 image, mine own image ? what a thing is the soul of 
 man, that, above all the creatures in heaven or earth, being 
 made in the image and similitude of God ! 
 
 3. Another thing by which the greatness of the soul is 
 made manifest is tliis — it is that (and that only, and to say 
 this is more than to say, it is that above all his creatures) 
 that the great God desires communion with. " He hath set 
 apart him that is godly for himself,"-^that is, for com- 
 munion with his soul ; therefore the spouse saith concern- 
 ing him, " His desire is towards me" (Cant. vii. 10) ; and 
 therefore he saith again, " I will dwell in them, and walk 
 in them," 2 Cor. vi. 16. To " dwell in," and " walk with," 
 are terms that intimate communion and fellowship ; as 
 John saith, " Our fellowship, truly our fellowship is with 
 the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John, i. 
 1, 2) ; that is, our soul-fellowship ; for it must not be 
 understood of the body, though I believe that the body is 
 much influenced when the soul has communion with God ; 
 but it is the soul, and that only, that at present is capable 
 of having and mainta ining of this blessed communion. But, 
 I say, what a thing is this that God, the great God, should 
 choose to have fellowship and communion with the soul 
 above all ! We read indeed of the greatness of the angels, 
 and how near also they are unto God ; but yet there are 
 not such terms that bespeak such familiar acts between 
 
26 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 God and angels as to demonstrate that they have such com- 
 munion with God as the souls of his people may have. 
 Where has he called them his love, his dove, his fair one ? 
 and where, when he speaketh of them, doth he express a 
 communion that they have with him by the similitude of 
 conjugal love ? I speak of what is revealed ; the secret 
 things belong to the Lord our God. Kow, by all this is 
 manifest the greatness of the soul. Men of greatness and 
 honour, if they have respect to their own glory, will not 
 choose for their familiars the base and rascally crew of this 
 world, but will single out for their fellows, fellowship, and 
 communion, those that are most like themselves. True, 
 the king has not an equal, yet he is for being familiar only 
 with the nobles of the land ; so God, with him none can 
 compare ; yet since the soul is by him singled out for his 
 walking mate and companion, it is a sign it is the highest 
 born, and that upon which the blessed Majesty looks, as 
 upon that which is most meet to be singled out for com- 
 munion with himself. 
 
 Should we see a man familiar with the king, we would, 
 even of ourselves, conclude he is one of the nobles of the 
 land ; but this is not the lot of every soul (some have fel- 
 lowship with devils, yet not because they have a more base 
 original than those that lie in God's Idosoui, but they, 
 through sin, are degenerate, and have chosen to be great 
 with his enemy) ; but all these things shew the greatness 
 of the soul. 
 
 4. The souls of men are such as God counts worthy to 
 be the vessels to hold his grace — the graces of the Spirit in. 
 The graces of the Spirit — what like them, or where here 
 are they to be found, save in the souls of men only ? " Of 
 his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace," Psalm 
 xlv, 13. Received, into what ? into the hidden parts, as 
 Davdd calls it. Hence the king's daughter is said to be 
 " all glorious within," because adorned and beautified 
 with the graces of the Spirit. For that which David calls 
 the hidden part, is the inmost part of the soul ; and it 
 is therefore called the hidden part, because the soul is 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 27 
 
 invisible, nor can any one living infallibly know what is in 
 the soul but God himself. But I say, the soul is the vessel 
 into which this golden oil is poured, and that which holds, 
 and is accounted woi-thy to exercise and improve the same. 
 Therefore the soul is it which is said to love God — " Saw 
 ye him whom my soul loveth ?" (Cant. iii. 1-4 ; Isa. xxvi, 
 9) ; and therefore the soul is that which exerciseth the 
 spirit of pi-ayer — " with my soul have I desired thee in the 
 night, and with my spirit within me will I seek thee 
 early." With the soul also men are said to believe, and 
 into the soul God is said to put his fear. This is the vessel 
 into which the wise virgins got oil, and out qf which their 
 lamps were supplied by the same. But what a thing, what 
 a great thing therefore is the soul, that that, above all things 
 that God hath created, should be the chosen vessel to put 
 his grace in ! The body is the vessel for the soul, and the 
 soul is the vessel for the grace of God. But, 
 
 5. The greatness of the soul is manifest by the greatness 
 of the price that Christ paid for it to make it an heir of 
 glory ; and that was his precious blood ; 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; 
 1 Peter i. 18, 19. "We do use to esteem of things according 
 to the price that is given for them, especially when we are 
 convinced that the purchase has not been made by the esti- 
 mation of a fool. Now the soul is purchased by a price 
 that the Son, the wisdom of God, thought fit to pay for the 
 redemption thereof — what a thing then is the soul ? Judge 
 of the soul by the price that is paid for it, and you must 
 needs confess (unless you count the blood tliat hath bought 
 it an unholy thing) that it cannot but be of great worth and 
 value. Suppose a prince, or some great man, should on a 
 sudden descend from his throne, or chair of state, to take up, 
 that he might put in his bosom, something that he had espied 
 lying trampled mider the feet of those that stand by ; Avould 
 3'ou think that he would do this for an old horse-shoe, or 
 for so trivial a thing as a pin or a point ] Nay, would you 
 not even of yourselves conclude tliat that thing for which 
 the prince, so great a man, should make such a stoop, must 
 needs be a thing of very great worth ? Why, this is the 
 
28 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 case of Christ and the soul. Christ is the prince, his throne 
 is ill heaven, and as he sat there he espied the souls of sig- 
 ners trampled under the foot of the law and death for sin. 
 Now what doth he, but comes down fi-om his throne, stoops 
 dovm. to the earth, and there, since he could not have the 
 trod den-down souls without price, he lays down his life 
 and hlood for them, 1 Cor. viii. 9. But would he have 
 done this for inconsiderable things ? No, nor for the souls 
 of sinners neither, had he not valued them higher than he 
 valued heaven and earth besides. This, therefore, is another 
 thing by which the greatness of the soul is known. 
 
 6. The soul is immortal ; it will have a sensible being 
 for ever, none can kill the soul, Luke, xii. 4 ; Matt. x. 28. 
 If all the angels in heaven, and all the men on earth, should 
 lay all their strength together, they cannot kill or annihi- 
 late one soul. No ; I will speak without fear, if it may be 
 said, God cannot do what he will not do ; then he cannot 
 annihilate the soul ; but notwithstanding all his wrath, and 
 the vengeance that he will inflict on sinful souls, they yet 
 shall abide with sensible beings, yet to endure, yet to bear 
 punishment. If anything could kill the soul, it would be 
 death ; but death cannot do it, neither first nor second. 
 The first cannot ; for when Dives (Luke, xvi. 22, 23) was 
 slain as to his body by death, his soul was found alive in 
 hell — " He lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment," 
 Mark, ix. The second death cannot do it, because it is said 
 their worm never dies, but is always torturing them with 
 his knawing. But that could not be, if time, or lying in 
 hell-fire for ever, could annihilate the soul. Now this also 
 shews the greatness of the soul, that it is that which has 
 an endless life, and that will therefore haA^e a being end- 
 lessly. what a thing is the soul ! 
 
 The soul then is immortal, though not eternal. That is 
 eternal that has neither beginning nor end, and therefore 
 eternal is properly applicable to none but God ; hence he 
 is called the " eternal God," Deut. xxxiii. 27. Immortal 
 IS that which, though it hath a beginning, yet hath no 
 end : it cannot die, nor cease to be. And this is the state 
 
UWSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 29 
 
 of the soul. It cannot cease to have a being when it is 
 once created ; I mean a living, sensible being. For I mean 
 by living, only such a being as distinguishes it from anni- 
 hilation, or incapableness of sense and feeling. Hence, as 
 the rich man is after death said to " lift up his eyes in hell" 
 (Luke, xvi. 22, 23.), so the beggar is said, when he died, " to 
 be carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." And 
 both these sayings must have respect to the souls of these 
 men ; for as for their bodies, we know at present it is other- 
 wise with them. The grave is their house, and so must 
 be till the trumpet shall sound, and the heavens pass away 
 like a scroll. 
 
 Now, I say, the immortality of the soul shews the great- 
 ness of it, as the eternity of God shews the greatness of God. 
 It cannot be said of any angel but that he is immortal, and 
 so it is and ought to be said of the soul. This therefore 
 shews the greatness of the soul, in that it is as to abiding 
 so like unto him. 
 
 7. But a word or two more, and so to conclude this head. 
 The soul ! — why, it is the soul that actuateth the body in all 
 these things (good or bad) that seem good and reasonable, 
 or amazingly wicked. True, the acts and motions of the 
 soul are only seen and heard in and by the members and 
 motions of the body, but the body is but a poor instru- 
 ment, the soul is the great agitator and actor. " The body 
 without the spirit is dead," James il^ 26. All those famous 
 arts, and works, and inventions of works, that are done by 
 men under heaven, they are all the inventions of the soul ; 
 and the body, as acting and labouring therein, doth it but as 
 a tool that the soul maketh use of to bring his invention 
 unto maturity, Eccles. vii. 9. How many things have men 
 foimd out to the amazing of one another, to the Vv'onderment 
 of one another, to the begetting of endless commendations 
 of one another in the world ; while in the meantime the 
 soul, which indeed is the true inventor of ail, is overlooked, 
 not regarded, but dragged up and down by every lust, and 
 prostrated and made a slave to every silly and beastly thing. 
 the amazing darkness that hath covered the face of the 
 
30 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 hearts of the children of men, that they cannot deliver their 
 soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand 1 though 
 they are so cunning in all other matters, Isa. xliv. 20. 
 Take man in matters that are abroad, and far from home, 
 and he is the mirror of all the world ; hut take him at 
 home, and put him upon things that are near him, I mean, 
 that have respect to the things that concern his soul, and 
 then you will find him the greatest fool that ever God 
 made. But this must not be applied to the soul simply as 
 it is God's creature, but to the soul sinful, as it has wil- 
 lingly apostatized from God, and so suffered itself to be dar- 
 kened, and that with such thick and stupifying darkness, 
 that it is bound up and cannot, it hath a napkin of sin 
 bound so close before its eyes, that it is not able of itself 
 to look to and after those things which should be its chiefest 
 concern, and without which it will be most miserable for 
 ever. 
 
 8. Further, as the soul is thus curious about arts and 
 sciences, and about every excellent thing of this life, so it 
 is capable of having to do with invisililes, with angels, 
 good or bad, yea, with the highest and supreme Being, even 
 with the holy God of heaven. I told you before that God 
 sought the soul of man to have it for his companion ; and 
 now I tell you that the soul is capable of communion with 
 him, when the darkness that sin hath spread over its face 
 is removed. The soul is an intelligent power, it can be 
 made to know and understand depths, and heights, and 
 lengths, and breadths, in those high, sublime, and spiritual 
 mysteries that only God can reveal and teach ; yea, it is 
 capable of diving unutterably into them. And herein is 
 God, the God of glory, much delighted and pleased — to wit, 
 that he hath made himself a creature that is capable of 
 hearing, of knowing, and of understanding of his mind 
 when opened and revealed to it. I think I may say, with- 
 out offence to God or man, that one reason why God made 
 the world was, that he might manifest himself, not only 
 by, but to the works which he made ; but (I speak with 
 reverence) how could that be, if he did not also make some 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 31 
 
 of his creatures capable of apprehending of him in those 
 most high mysteries and methods in which he purposed to 
 reveal himself ? But then, what are those creatures which 
 he hath made (unto whom when these things are shewn) 
 that are able to take them in and understand them, and so 
 to improve theyi to God's glory, as he hath ordained and 
 purposed they should, but souls 1 for none else in the visible 
 world are capable of doing this but they. And hence 
 it is that to them, and them only, he beginncth to reveal 
 himself in this world. And hence it is that they, and they 
 , only, are gathered up to him where he is (for they are 
 they that are called the spirits of just men made perfect, 
 Heb. xii. 23) ; the spirit of a beast goeth do\^^lward to the 
 earth, it is the spirit of a man that goes upwards to God 
 that gave it (Eccles. iii. 21 ; xii. 7) ; for that, and that 
 only, is capable of beholding and understanding the glori- 
 ous visions of heaven ; as Christ said, " Father, I will that 
 tliose whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, 
 that they may behold my glory w^hich thou hast given me ; 
 for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world," 
 John, xvii. 24. And thus the greatness of the soul is 
 manifest. True, the body is also gathered up into glory, but 
 not simply for its own sake, or because that is capable of 
 itself to know and understand the glories of its Maker ; but 
 that has been a companion with the soul in this world, has 
 also been its house, its mantle, its cabinet and tabernacle 
 here ; it has also been it by which the soul hath acted, in 
 which it hath wrought, and by which its excellent appear- 
 ances have been manifested ; and it shall also there be its 
 co-partner, and sharer in its glory. Wlierefore, as the body 
 here did partake of the soul's excellencies, and w^as also con- 
 formed to its spiritual and regenerate principles, so it shall 
 be hereafter a partaker of that glory with which the soul 
 shall be filled, and also be made suitable by that glory to 
 become a partaker and co-partner with it of the eternal ex- 
 cellences which heaven will put upon it. In this world it 
 is a gracious soul (I speak now of the regenerate), and in 
 that world it shall be a glorious one ; in this world the 
 
32 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 body was conformable to the soul as it was gracious, and 
 in that world it shall be conformable to it as it is glorious ; 
 conformable, I say, by pai-taking of that glory that then 
 the soul shall partake of ; yea, it shall also have an addi- 
 tional glory to adorn, and make it yet the more capable of 
 being serviceable to it and with it in its great acts before 
 God in eternal glory. 
 
 what great things are the souls of the sons of 
 men ! 
 
 9. But again, as the soul is thus capable of enjoying 
 God in glory, and of prying into these mysteries that are 
 in him, so it is capable with great profundity to dive into 
 the mysterious depths of hell. Hell is a place and state 
 utterly unkno\Mi to any in this visible world, excepting 
 the souls of men ; nor shall any for ever be capable of 
 understanding the miseries thereof, save souls and fallen 
 angels. Now I think, as the joys of heaven stand not only 
 in speculation, or in beholding of glory, but in a sensible 
 enjoyment and unspeakable pleasure which these glories 
 will yield to the soul (Psalm xv. 11), so the tonnents of 
 hell will not stand in the present lashes and strokes which 
 by the flames of eternal fire God will scourge the ungodly 
 with ; but the torments of hell stand much, if not in the 
 greatest part of them, in those deep thoughts and appre- 
 hensions which souls in the next world will have of the 
 nature and occasions of sin, of God, and of separation from 
 him ; of the eternity of those miseries, and of the utter im- 
 possibility of their help, ease, or deliverance for ever. 0, 
 damned souls will have thoughts that will clash with glory, 
 clash with justice, clash with law, clash with itself, clash 
 with hell, and with the everlastingness of misery ; but the 
 point, the edge, and the poison of all these thoughts will 
 still be galling, and dropping, and spewing out their stings 
 into the sore, grieved, wounded, and fretted place, which is 
 the conscience, though not the conscience only ; for I may 
 say of the souls in hell, that they all over are but one v/ound, 
 one sore. Miseries as well as mercies sharpen and make 
 quick the apprehensions of the soul. Behold Spira in his 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 33 
 
 book, Cain in his guilt, and Saul with the witch of Endor, 
 and you shall see men ripened, men enlarged and greatened 
 in their fancies, imaginations, and apprehensions, though 
 not about God, and heaven, and glory, yet about their loss, 
 their misery, and their woe, and their hells, Isa. xxxiii. 
 14 ; Psalm 1. 3 ; Rev. xiv. 10 ; Mark, iii. 44, 46. 
 
 10. Nor doth their ability to bear (if it be proper to say 
 they bear those dolours which there for ever they shall en- 
 dure), a little demonstrate their greatness. Everlasting 
 burning, devouring fire, perpetual pains, gnawing w^orms, 
 utter darkness, and the ireful words, face, and strokes of 
 divine and infinite justice will not, cannot make this soul 
 extinct, as I said before. I think it is not so proper to say 
 the soul that is damned for sin doth bear these things, as 
 to say it doth ever sink under them ; and therefore their 
 place of torment is called the bottomless pit, because they 
 are ever sinking, and shall never come there where they 
 will find any stay Yet they live under wrath, but yet 
 only so as to be sensible of it, as to smart and be in perpe- 
 tual anguish by reason of the intolerableness of their bur- 
 den. But doth not their thus living, abiding, and retain- 
 ing a being (or what you will call it), demonstrate the 
 greatness and might of the soul 1 Alas ! heaven and earth 
 are short of this greatness, for these, though under less 
 judgment by far, do fade and wax old like a moth-eaten 
 garment, and in their time will vanish away to nothing, 
 Heb. i. 
 
 Also we see how quickly the body, when the soul is 
 under a fear of the rebukes of justice, how soon, I say, it 
 wastes, moulders away, and crumbleth into the grave ; but 
 the soul is yet strong, and abides sensible to be dealt withal 
 for sin by everlasting burnings. 
 
 11. The soul by God's ordinance (Heb. ix. 27), while 
 this w^orld lasts, has a time appointed it to forsake and 
 leave the body to be turned again to the dust as it was, and 
 this separation is made by death ; therefore the body must 
 cease for a time to have sense, or life, or motion ; and a 
 little thing brings it now into this state ; but in the next 
 
 VOL. II. C 
 
34 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 world the wicked shall partake of none of this ; for the 
 hody and the soul being at the resurrection rejoined, this 
 death that once did rend them asunder- is for ever over- 
 come and extinct ; so that these two which lived in sin 
 must for ever be yoked together in hell. Now there the 
 soul being joined to the body, and death, which before did 
 separate them, being utterly taken away, the soul retains 
 not only its own being, but also continueth the body to be, 
 and to suffer sensibly the pains of hell without those de- 
 cays that it uses to sustain. 
 
 And the reason why this death shall then be taken away 
 is, because justice in its bestowing its rewards for trans- 
 gressions may not be interrupted (Matt. x. 28), but that 
 body and soul, as they lived and acted in sin together, might 
 be destroyed for sin in hell together (Luke, xii. 5) ; de- 
 stroyed, I say, but with such a destruction which, though 
 it is everlasting, will not put a period to their sensible suf- 
 fering the vengeance of eternal lire, 2 Thess, i. 8, 9. 
 
 This death, therefore, though that also be the wages of 
 sin, would now, were it suffered to continue, be a hindrance 
 to the making known of the wrath of God, and also of the 
 created power and might of the soul. 1. It would hinder 
 the making known of the wrath of God, for it would take 
 the body out of the way, and make it incapable of sensible 
 suffering for sin, and so removing one of the objects of ven- 
 geance, the power of God's wrath would be so far undis- 
 covered. 2. It would also hinder the manifestation of the 
 power and might of the soul, which are discovered much 
 by its abiding to retain its own being while the wrath of 
 God is grappling with it, and more by its continuing to 
 the body a sensible being with itself. 
 
 Death, therefore, must now be removed, that the soul 
 may be made the object of wrath without molestation or 
 interruption. That the soul, did I say 1 yea, that soul and 
 body both might be se. Death would now be a favour, 
 though once the fruit of sin, and also the wages thereof, 
 might it now be suffered to continue, because it would ease 
 the soul of some of its bui-den ; for a tormented body can- 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF, 35 
 
 not but he a biirden to a spirit, and so the wise man insi- 
 nuates Avhen he says, " The spirit of a man will sustain 
 his infirmity ;" that is, bear up under it, but yet so as that 
 it feels it a burden. We see that, because of the sympathy 
 that is between body and soul, how one is burdened if the 
 other be grieved. A sick body is a burden to the soul, 
 and a wounded spirit is a burden to the body ; " a wounded 
 spirit who can bear 1" but death must not remove this 
 burden, but the soul must have the body for a burden, and 
 the bod}^ must have the soul for a burden, and both must 
 have the wrath of God for a burden. Oh, therefore, here 
 will be burden upon burden, and all upon the soul, for the 
 soul will be the chief seat of this burden. But thus much 
 to shew you the greatness of the soul. 
 
 III. I shall now come to the third thing which was pro- 
 pounded to be spoken to, and that is to shew you what Ave 
 are to understand by losing of the soul, or what the loss of 
 the soul is — " What shall a man give in exchange for his 
 soul ?" 
 
 First, The loss of the soul is a loss, in the nature of it, 
 peculiar to itself. There is no such loss as to the nature of 
 loss as is the loss of the soul, for that he that hath lost 
 his soul has lost himself. In all other losses it is possible 
 for a man to save himself, but he that loseth his soul 
 losetli himself — " For what is a man advantaged, if he gain 
 the whole world, and lose himself V Luke, ix. 25. Where- 
 fore, the loss of the soul is a loss that cannot be paralleled. 
 He that loseth himself loseth his all, his lasting all, for 
 himself is his all, his all in the most comprehensive sense. 
 What mattereth it what a man gets, if by the getting 
 thereof he loseth himself 1 Suppose a man goeth to the 
 Indies for gold, and he loadeth his ship therewith, but at 
 his return, that sea that carried him thither swallows him 
 iij) — now what has he got ? But this is but a lean simili- 
 tude with reference to the matter in hand — to wit, to set 
 forth the loss of the soul. Suppose a man that has been at 
 the Indies for gold should at his return himself be taken 
 by them of Algiers, and there made a slave of, and there 
 
36 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 be hunger-bit, and beaten till his bones are broken, what 
 has he got ? what is he advantaged bj his rich adventure ? 
 Perhaps you will say, he has got gold enough to obtain his 
 ransom. Indeed this may be, and therefore no similitude 
 can be found that can fully exemplify the matter, "' for what 
 shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" It is a loss 
 that standeth by itself, there is not another like it, or unto 
 which it may be compared ; it is only like itself, it is sin- 
 gular, it is the chief of all losses, the highest, the greatest 
 loss. " For what shall a man give in exchange for his 
 soul ]" A man may lose his wife, his children, his estate, 
 his liberty, and his life, and have all made up again, and 
 have all restored mth advantage, and may therefore, not- 
 withstanding all these losses, be far enough off from losing 
 of himself (Luke, xiv, 25 ; Mark, viii. 35), for he may lose 
 his life, and save it ; yea, sometimes the only way to save 
 that is to lose it ; but when a man has lost himself, his 
 soul, then all is gone to all intents and purposes. There is 
 no word says, he that loses his soul shall save it ; but, con- 
 trarywise,the text supposeth that a man lias lost his soul, 
 and then demands if any can answer it — " What shall a 
 man give in exchange for his soul 1" All, then, that he 
 gains that loseth his soul is only this, he has gained a loss, 
 he has purchased the loss of losses, he has nothing left him 
 now but his loss, but the loss of himself, of his whole self. 
 He that loseth his life for Christ shall save it, but he that 
 loseth himself for sin, and for the world, shall lose himself 
 to perfection of loss ; he has lost himself, and there is the 
 full point. 
 
 There are several things fall under this first head, upon 
 which I would touch a little. 
 
 1. He that has lost his soul has lost himself. Now he 
 that has lost himself is no more at his own disposal. While 
 a man enjoys himself, he is at his own. disposal. A single 
 man, a free man, a rich man, a poor man, any man that 
 enjoys himself, is at his own disposal. I speak after the 
 manner of men. But he that has lost himself is not at his 
 own disposal. He is, as I may say, now out of his own 
 
UA'SPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 37 
 
 hands ; he has lost himself, his soul-self, his owniself, his 
 whole self hy sin, and wrath and hell have found him ; he 
 is therefore now no more at his own disposal,hut at the dis- 
 posal of justice, of wrath, and hell ; he is committed to pri- 
 son, to hell-prison, there to ahide, not at pleasure, not as 
 long and as little time as he will, hut the term appointed 
 hy his judge ; nor may he there choose his own affliction, 
 neither for manner, measure, nor continuance. It is God 
 that will spread the fire and brimstone under him, it is God 
 that will pile up Avrath upon him, and it is God himself 
 that will blow the fire. " And the breath of the Lord, like 
 a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it," Isaiah, xxx. 33. 
 And thus it is manifest that he that has lost himself, his 
 soul is no more at his own disposal, but at the disposal of 
 them that find him. 
 
 2. Again, as he that has lost himself is not at his own 
 disposal, so neitlier is he at liberty to dispose of what he has ; 
 for the man that has lost himself has something yet of his 
 own. The text implies that his soul is his when lost, yea, 
 when that and his all, himself, is lost ; but as he cannot dis- 
 pose of himself, so he cannot dispose of what he hath. Let 
 me take leave to make out my meaning. If he that is lost, 
 that has lost himself, has not, notwithstanding, something 
 that in some sense may be called his own, then he that is 
 lost has nothing. The man that is in hell has yet the powers, 
 the senses, and passions of his soul ; for not he nor his soul 
 must be thought to be stripped of these ; for then he would 
 be lower than the brute ; but yet all these since he is there 
 are by God improved against himself; or, if you will, the 
 point of this man's sword is turned against his o\vn heart, 
 and made to pierce his own liver. 
 
 The soul by being in hell loseth nothing of its aptness to 
 think, its quickness to pierce, to pry, and to understand ; 
 nay, hell has ripened it in all these things ; but, I say, the 
 soul with its improvements as to these, or anything else, is 
 not in the hand of him that hath lost himself to manage 
 for his own advantage, but in the hand, and in the power, 
 and to be disposed as is thought meet by him into whose 
 
38 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 revenging hand by sin he has delivered himself — to wit, in 
 the hand of God. So, then, God now has the victory, and 
 disposeth of all the powers, senses, and passions of the soul 
 for the chastising of him that has lost himself. Now the 
 understanding is only employed and improved in and about 
 the apprehending of such things as will be like daggers at 
 the heart — to Avit, about justice, sin, hell, and eternity, to 
 grieve and break the spirit of the damned ; yea, to break, 
 to wound, and to tear the soul in pieces. The depths of 
 sin which the man has loved, the good nature of God whom 
 the man has hated, the blessings of eternity which the soul 
 has despised, shall now be understood by him more than 
 ever, but yet so only as to increase grief and sorrow, by 
 improving of the good and of the evil of the things under- 
 stood, to the greater wounding of the spirit ; wherefore 
 now, every touch that the understanding shall give to the 
 memory will be as a touch of a red-hot iron, or like a 
 di'aught of scalding lead poured down the throat. The 
 memory also letteth these things do^x^l upon the conscience 
 with no less terror and perplexity. And now the fancy 
 or imagination doth start and stare like a man by fears be- 
 reft of wits, and doth exercise itself, or rather is exercised 
 by the hand of revenging justice, so about the breadth and 
 d-epth of present and future punishments, as to lay the soul 
 as on a burning rack. Now also the judgment, as with a 
 mighty maul, driveth down the soul in the sense and pangs 
 of everlasting misery into that pit that has no bottom ; yea, 
 it turneth again, and, as with a hammer, it rivetteth every 
 fearful thought and apprehension of the soul so fast that it 
 can never be loosed again for ever and ever. Alas ! now 
 the conscience can sleep, be dull, be misled, or flatter no 
 longer : no, it must now cry out ; understanding will make 
 it, memory will make it, fancy or imagination will make 
 it. Now, I say, it will cry out of sin, of justice, and of the 
 terribleness of the punisliment that hath swallowed him up 
 that has lost himself. Here will be no forgetfulness ; yet 
 nothing shall be thought on but that which will wound 
 and kill ; here v.ill be no time, cause, or means for diver- 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 39 
 
 » 
 
 sion ; all will stick and gnaw like a viper. Now the me- 
 mory will go out to where sin was heretofore committed, 
 it will also go out to the word that did forhid it. The un- 
 derstanding also, and the judgment too, will now consider 
 of the pretended necessity that the man had to break the 
 commandments of God, and of the seasonableness of the 
 cautions and of the convictions which were given him to 
 forbear, by all which more load will be laid upon him that 
 has lost himself ; for here all the powers, senses, and pas- 
 sions of the soul must be made self-burners, self-tormenters, 
 self-executioners by the just judgment of God ; also all 
 that the will shall do in this place shall be but to wish 
 for ease, but the wish shall only be such as shall only 
 seem to lift up, for the cable-rope of despair shall with 
 violence pull him down again. The will indeed will 
 wish for ease, and so will the mind, &c., but all these 
 wishers will by wishing arrive to no more advantage but 
 to make despair, which is the most twinging stripe of hell, 
 to cut yet deeper into the whole soul of him that has lost 
 himself ; wherefore, after all that can be wished for, they 
 return again to their burning chair, where they sit and be- 
 wail their misery. Thus will all the powers, senses, and 
 passions of the soul of him that has lost himself be out of 
 his own power to dispose of for his advantage, and will be 
 only in the hand and under the management of the reveng- 
 ing justice of God. And herein will that state of the 
 damned be worse than it is now with the fallen angels ; for 
 though the fallen angels are now cast down to hell, in 
 chains, and sure in themselves at last to partake of eternal 
 judgment, yet at present (Job, i. 7 ; ii. 2) they are not so 
 bound up as the damned sinners shall be ; for notwithstand- 
 ing their chains, and their being the prisoners of the horrible 
 hells, yet they have a kind of liberty granted them, and 
 that liberty will last till the time appointed, to tempt, to 
 plot, to contrive, and invent their mischiefs against the 
 Son of God and his. And though Satan knows that this at 
 last will work for his futuve^condemnation, 3'et at present 
 he iinds it some diveraiDU to his trembling mind, and ob- 
 
40 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 tains, through his so busily employing of himself against 
 the gospel and its professors, sometliing to sport and refresh 
 himself withal ; yea, and doth procure to himself some 
 small crumbs of minutes of forgetfulness of his own present 
 misery, and of the judgment that is yet to pass upon him ; 
 but this privilege will then be denied to him that has lost 
 himself ; there will be no cause nor matter for diversion ; 
 there it will, as in the old world, rain day and night fire 
 and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven upon them, 
 (Rev. xiv. 10, 11); misery is fixed; the worm will be 
 always sucking at, and gnawing of, their soul ; also, as I 
 have said afore, all the powers, senses, and passions of the 
 soul will throw their darts inwards, yea, of God will be 
 made to do it, to the utter, unspeakable, and endless tor- 
 ment of him that has lost himself. Again, 
 
 3. All therefore that he that has lost himself can do is, 
 to sit down by the loss. Do I say, he can do this 1 — oh ! 
 if that could be, it would be to such a mercy ; I must 
 therefore here correct myself, — that he cannot do, for to sit 
 down by the loss implies a patient enduring ; but there 
 will be no such grace as patience in hell with him that has 
 lost himself ; here will also want a bottom for patience — 
 to wit, the providence of God ; for a providence of God, 
 though never so dismal, is a bottom for patience to the af- 
 flicted ; but men go not to hell by providence, but by sin. 
 Now sin being the cause, other effects are ^^T0ught ; for 
 they that go to hell, and that there miserably perish, shall 
 never say it was God by his providence that brought them 
 thither, and so shall not have that on which to lean and 
 stay themselves. 
 
 They shall justify God, and lay the fault upon them- 
 selves, concluding that it was sin with which their souls 
 did voluntarily work ; yea, which their souls did suck in 
 as sweet milk, that is the cause of this their torment. Now 
 this will work after another manner, and will produce quite 
 another thing than patience, or a patient enduring of their 
 torment ; for their seeing that they are not only lost, but 
 have lost themselves, and that against the ordinary means 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 41 
 
 that of God was provided to prevent that loss ; yea, when 
 they shall see what a hase thing sin is, how that it is the 
 very worst of things, and that which also makes all things 
 bad, and that for the sake of that they have lost themselves, 
 this will make them fi-et, and gnash, and gnaw with anger 
 themselves ; this will set all the passions of the soul, save 
 love (for that I think will he stark dead), all in a rage, all 
 in a self-tormenting lire. You know there is nothing that 
 will sooner put a man into, and manage his rage against 
 himself than will a full conviction in his conscience that 
 by his own only folly, and that against caution, and counsel, 
 and reason to the contrary, he hath brought himself into 
 extreme distress and misery. But how much more will it 
 make this fire burn when he shall see all this is come upon 
 him for a toy, for a bauble, for a thing that is worse than 
 nothing. 
 
 Why, this is the case with him that has lost himself ; 
 and therefore he cannot sit down by the loss, cannot be at 
 quiet under the sense of his loss. For sharply and wonder- 
 ful piercingly, considering the loss of himself, and the cause 
 thereof, which is sin, he falls to a tearing of himself in 
 pieces with thoughts as hot as the coals of juniper, and to a 
 gnashing upon himself for this ; also the divine w^isdom 
 and justice of God helpeth on this self-tormenter in his 
 self-tormenting work, by holding the justice of the law 
 against which he has offended, and the unreasonableness of 
 such offence, continually before his face. For if to an en- 
 lightened man who is in the door of hope the sight of all 
 past evil practices will work in him vexation of spirit to see 
 what a fool he was (Eccl. i. 14); how can it but be to them 
 that go to hell a vexation only to understand the report, the 
 report that God did give them of sin, of his grace, of hell, 
 and of everlasting damnation (Isa. xxviii. 19), and yet that 
 they should he snch fools to go thither. But to pursue this 
 head no fiu-thcr, I will come now to the next thing. 
 
 Secondly, As the loss of the soul is, in the nature of the 
 loss, a loss peculiar to itself, so the loss of the soul is a 
 double loss ; it is, I say, a loss that is double, a loss both by 
 
42 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 man and God ; man has lost it, and by that loss has lost 
 himself ; God has lost it, and by that loss it is cast away. 
 And to make this a little plainer unto you, I suppose it 
 will be readily granted that men do lose their souls. But 
 now how doth God lose it ? The soul is God's as well as 
 man's (Jer. xxxviii. 16 ; Ezek. xviii. 4); man's, because it 
 is of himself ; God's, because it is his creature ; God has 
 made us this soul, and hence it is that all souls are his. 
 
 Now the loss of the soul doth not only stand in the sin 
 of man, but in the justice of God. Hence he says, " What 
 is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose 
 himself, or be cast away," Luke, ix. 25. Now this last 
 clause, " or be cast away," is not spoken to shew what he that 
 has lost his soul has done (though a man may also be said to 
 cast away himself), but to shew what God will do to those 
 that have lost themselves, what God will add to that loss. 
 God will not cast away a righteous man, but God will cast 
 away the wicked (Job, viii. 20 ; Matt. xiii. 48), such a 
 wicked one as by the text is under our consideration. This, 
 then, is that which God will add, and so make the sad state 
 of them that lose themselves double. The'man for sin has 
 lost himself, and God by justice will cast him away ; ac- 
 cording to that of Abigail to David. " The soul of my 
 Lord," said she, " shall be bound in the bundle of life with 
 the Lord thy God ; and the souls of thine enemies, them 
 shall he sling out, as out of the midst of a sling," 1 Sam. 
 XXV, 29. So that here is God's hand as well as man's ; 
 man's by sin, and God's by justice. " God shall cast them 
 away ;" wherefore in the text above mentioned he doth 
 not say, " or cast away himself," as meaning the act of the 
 man whose soul is lost ; but, " or be cast away," supposing 
 a second person joining with the man himself in the making 
 up of the greatness of the loss of the soul — to wit, God him- 
 self, who will verily cast away that man who has lost him- 
 self. God shall cast them away — that is, exclude them fi-om 
 his favour or protection, and deliver them up to the due re- 
 ward of their deeds ! He shall shut them out of his hea- 
 ven, and deliver them up to their hell ; he shall deny them 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 43 
 
 a share in his glory, and shall leave them to their own 
 shame ; he shall deny them a portion in his peace, and 
 shall deliver them up to the torments of the devil, and of 
 their own guilty consciences ; he shall cast them out of his 
 affection, pity, and compassion, and shall leave them to the 
 flames that they by sin have kindled, and to the worm, or 
 biting cockatrice, that they themselves have hatched, nursed, 
 and nourished in their bosoms. And this will make their 
 loss double, and so a loss that is loss to the uttermost, a loss 
 above every loss. A man may cast away himself, and not 
 be cast away of God ; a man may be cast away by others, 
 and not be cast away of God ; yea, what way soever a man 
 be cast away, if he be not cast away for sin, he is safe, he 
 is yet sound, and in a sure hand. But for a man so to lose 
 himself as by that loss to provoke God to cast him away 
 too, this is fearful. 
 
 The casting away, then, mentioned in Luke is a casting 
 away by the hand of God, by the revenging hand of God ; 
 and it supposeth two things — 
 
 1. God's abhorrence of such a soul. 
 
 2. God's just repaying of it for its wickedness by way of 
 retaliation. 
 
 1. It supposeth God's abhorrence of the soul. That which 
 we abhor, that we cast from us, and put out of our favour 
 and respect with disdain, and a loathing thereof. So when 
 God teacheth Israel to loath and abhor their idols, he bids 
 them " to cast away their very covering as a stinking and 
 menstruous cloth, and to say unto it. Get you hence,'' Isa. 
 XXX. 22. " He shall gather the good into vessels, and cast 
 the Imd away," Matt, xiii. 48 ; xxv. 41. Cast them out of 
 my presence, 'Well, but whither must they go ? The 
 answer is, Into hell, into utter darkness, into the fire that 
 is prepared for the devil and his angels. Wherefore, to be 
 cast away of God, it sheweth unto us God's abhorrence of 
 such souls, and how vile and loathsome such are in his di- 
 vine eyes. And the similitude of Abigail's sling, mentioned 
 before, doth yet further shew us the greatness of this ab- 
 horrence — " The souls of thine enemies," said she, " God 
 
44 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 shall sling out as out of the middle of a sling." When a 
 man casts a stone away with a sling, then he casteth it 
 furthest from him, for with a sling he can cast a stone fui*- 
 ther than hy his hand. " And he," saith the text, " shall 
 cast them away as with a sling." But that is not all, 
 neither ; for it is not only said that he shall sling away 
 their souls, hut that he shall sling them away as " out of 
 the middle of a sling." When a stone is placed to he cast 
 away just in the middle of a sling, then doth the slinger 
 cast it furthest of all. Now God is the slinger, abhorrence 
 is his sling, the lost soul is the stone, and it is placed in the 
 very middle of the sling, and is from thence cast away. 
 And therefore it is said again that " such shall go into utter, 
 outer darkness" — that is, furthest off of all. This, there- 
 fore, shews us how God abhors that man that for sin has 
 lost himself. And well he may ; for such an one has not 
 only polluted and defiled himself with sin (and that is the 
 most offensive thing to God under heaven), but he has 
 abused the handiwork of God. The soul, as I said before, 
 is the workmanship of God, yea, the top-piece that he hath 
 made in all the visible world ; also he made it for to be 
 delighted with it, and to admit it into communion with 
 himself. Now for man thus to abuse God ; for a man to 
 take his soul, which is God's, and prostrate it to sin, to the 
 world, to the devil, and every beastly lust, flat against the 
 command of God, and notwithstanding the soul was also 
 his, this is horrible, and calls aloud upon that God whose 
 soul this is to abhor, and to shew, by all means possible, 
 his abhorrence of such an one. 
 
 2. As this casting of them away supposeth God's abhor- 
 rence of them, so it supposeth God's just repaying of them 
 for their wickedness by way of retaliation. 
 
 God all the time of the exercise of his long-suffering and 
 forbearance towards them did call upon thom, wait upon 
 them, send after them by his messengers, to turn them from 
 their evil ways ; but " they despised at, they mocked, the 
 messengers of the Lord," Hosea, xi. 2. " Also they shut 
 their eyes, and would not see ; they stopped their ears, and 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 45 
 
 would not understand ; and did harden themselves against 
 the beseeching of their God," Rev. x. 21 ; Job, xxi. 14, 15 ; 
 Mai. iii. 14. Yea, all that day long he did stretch out his 
 hand towards them, but they chose to be a rebellious and 
 gainsaying people ; yea, they said mito God, depart from 
 us ; and what is the Almighty that we should pray unto 
 him ? 
 
 And of all these things God takes notice, writes them 
 down, and seals them up for the time to come, and will 
 bring them out, and spread them before them, saying, I 
 have called, and you have refused ; I have stretched out 
 mine hand, and no man regarded ; I have exercised pa- 
 tience, and gentleness, and long-suffering towards you, and 
 in all that time you despised me, and cast me behind your 
 back ; and now the time, and the exercise of my patience, 
 when I waited upon you, and suffered your manners, and 
 did bear your contempts and scorns, is at an end ; where- 
 fore I will now arise, and come forth to the judgment that 
 I have appointed. 
 
 But, Lord, saith the sinner, we turn now. 
 
 But now, saith God, turning is out of season ; the day of 
 my patience is ended. 
 
 But, Lord, says the sinner, behold our cries. 
 
 But you did not, says God, behold nor regard my cries. 
 
 But, Lord, saith the sinner, let our beseeching find place 
 in thy compassions. 
 
 But, saith God, I also beseeched, and I was not heard. 
 
 But, Lord, says the sinner, our sins lie hard upon us. 
 
 But I offered you pardon when time was, says God, and 
 then you did utterly reject it. 
 
 But, Lord, says the sinner, let us therefore have it now. 
 
 But now the door is shut, saith God. 
 
 And what then ? Why, then, by way of retaliation, God 
 will serve them as they have served him ; and so the wind- 
 ing up of the whole will be this — they shall have like for like. 
 Time was when they \A'ould have none of him, and now will 
 God have none of them. Time was when they cast God 
 behind their back and now he will cast away their soul 
 
46 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 Time was when they would not heed his calls, and now 
 he will not heed their cries. Time was " when they ab- 
 horred him, and now his soul also loatheth them," Zech. 
 xi. 8. This is now by way of retaliation — like for like, 
 scom for scorn, repulse for repulse, contempt for contempt ; 
 according to that which is written, " Therefore it came to 
 pass, that as I cried, and they would not hear ; so they cried, 
 and I would not hear, saith the Lord," Zech. vii. 11-13. 
 And thus I have also shewed you that the loss of the soul 
 is double — it is lost by man, lost by God. 
 
 But oh ! who thinks of this ? who, I say, that now makes 
 light of God, of his word, his servants and ways, once dreams 
 of such retaliation, though God to warn them hath even, 
 in the day of his patience, threatened to do it in the day of 
 his wrath, saying, "Because I called, and ye refused ; I have 
 stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ; but' ye have 
 set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my re- 
 proof : I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock 
 when your fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as desola- 
 tion, and your destruction cometh like a whirlwind ; when 
 distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they 
 call upon me, but I will not answer ; they shall seek me 
 early, but they shall not find me." I will do unto them as 
 they have done unto me ; and what unrighteousness is in 
 all this ? But, 
 
 Thirdly, As the loss of the soul is a loss peculiar to it- 
 self, and a loss double, so, in the third place, it is a loss 
 most fearful, because it is a loss attended with the most 
 lieavy curse of God. This is manifest both in the giving of 
 tbe rule of life, and also in, and at the time of execution 
 for, the breach of that rule. It is manifest at the giving of 
 the rule — " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words 
 of this law to do them. And all the people shall say. Amen," 
 Deut. xxvii. 26 ; Gal. iii. 10. It is also manifest that it shall 
 be so at the time of execution — " Depart from me, ye cursed, 
 into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," 
 Matt, xxv. 41. What this curse is, none do know so well as 
 God that giveth it, and as the fallen angels, and the spirits 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF TUE LOSS THEREOF. 47 
 
 of damned men that are now shut up in the prison of hell, 
 and bear it. But certainly it is the chief and highest of all 
 kinds of curses. To be cursed in the basket and in the store, 
 in the womb and in the barn, in my cattle and in my body, 
 are but fleabitings to this, though they are also insupport- 
 able in themselves ; only in general it may be described 
 thus. But to touch upon this curse, it lieth in a depriva- 
 tion of all good, and in a being swallowed up of all the 
 most fearful miseries that a holy, and just, and eternal God 
 can righteously inflict, or lay upon the soul of a sinful man. 
 Now let reason here come in and exercise itself in the most 
 exquisite manner ; yea, let him now count up all, and all 
 manner of curses and torments that a reasonable and an 
 immortal soul is or can be made capable of, and able to 
 suffer under, and when he has done, he shall come infinitely 
 short' of this great anathema, this master-curse which God 
 has reserved amongst his treasuries, and intends to bring 
 out in that day of battle and war, which he purposeth to 
 make upon damned souls in that day. And this God will 
 do, partly as a retaliation, as the former, and partly by way 
 of revenge. 1 . By way of retaliation : " As he loved curs- 
 ing, so let it come unto him ; as he delighted not in bless- 
 ing, so let it be far from him." Again, " As he clothed 
 himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come 
 into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones ; let 
 it be unto him as a garment which covereth him, and for a 
 girdle wherewith he is girded continually," Ps. cix. 17-20. 
 " Let this," saith Christ, " be the reward of mine adversa- 
 ries from the Lord," &c. 2. As this curse comes by way of 
 retaliation, so it cometh by way of revenge. God will rigiit 
 the wrongs that sinners have done him, will repay ven- 
 geance for the despite and reproach wherewith they have 
 affronted him, and will revenge the quarrel of his cove- 
 nant. And the beginning of revenges are terrible ; what, 
 then, will the whole execution be, when he shall come in 
 flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, 
 and that obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ ? And there- 
 fore this curse is executed in wrath, in jealousy, in anger 
 
48 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 in fury ; yea, the heavens and the earth shall be burned up 
 with the fire of that jealousy in which the great God will 
 come, when he cometh to curse the souls of sinners, and 
 when he cometh to defy the ungodly, Deut. xxxiii. 41, 42. 
 
 It is little thought of, but the manner of the coming of 
 God to judge the world declares what the souls of impeni- 
 tent sinners must look for then. It is common among men, 
 when we see the form of a man's countenance changed, when 
 we see fire sparkle out of his eyes, when we read rage and 
 fury in every cast of his face, even before he says aught, 
 or doth aught either, to conclude that some fearful thing 
 is now to be done, Dan. iii. 19, 23. Why, it is said of Christ 
 when he cometh to j\idgment, that the heavens and the earth 
 fly away (as not being able to endure his looks), that his 
 angels are clad in flaming fire, and that the elements melt 
 with fervent heat, and all this is, that the perdition of un- 
 godly men might be completed, from the presence of the 
 Lord, in the heat of his anger, from the glory of his power. 
 Rev. XX. 11, 12 ; 2 Pet. iii. 7; 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Therefore 
 God will now be revenged, and so ease himself of his ene- 
 mies, when he shall cause curses like millstones to fall as 
 thick as hail on the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on 
 still in his trespasses, Psalm Ixviii. 21. But, 
 
 Fourthly, As the loss of the soul is a loss peculiar to it- 
 self, a loss double, and a loss most fearful, so it is a loss 
 everlasting. The soul that is lost is never to be found again, 
 never to be recovered again, never to be redeemed again. 
 Its banishment from God is everlasting : the fire in which 
 it burns, and by which it must be tormented, is a fire that 
 is ever, everlasting fire, everlasting burnings ; the adder, 
 the snake, the stinging-worm, dieth not, nor is the fire 
 quenched ; and this is a fearful thing. A man may endure 
 to touch the fire with a short touch, and away ; but to 
 dwell with everlasting burnings, that is fearful. Oh, then, 
 what is dwelling with them, and in them, for ever and ever ! 
 We used to say, light burdens far carried are heavy ; what 
 then will it be to bear that burden, that guilt, that the law 
 and the justice and wrath of God, will lay upon the lost 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS TnEREOF. 4f) 
 
 soul for ever ? Now tell the stars, now tell the drops of the 
 sea, and now tell the hladcs of grass that are spread upon 
 the face of all the earth, if thou canst ; and yet sooner mayst 
 thou do this than count the thousands of millions of thou- 
 sands of years that a damned soul shall lie in hell. Sup- 
 pose every star that is now in the firmament was to burn 
 (by himself one by one) a thousand years a-piece, would it 
 not be a long while before the last of them was burned out ? 
 and yet sooner might that be done than the damned soul 
 be at the end of punishment. 
 
 There are three things couched under this last head that 
 will fill up the punishment of a sinner. 
 
 The first is, that it is everlasting. 
 
 The second is, that therefore it will be impossible for the 
 souls in hell ever to say, Now we are got half way through 
 our sorrows. 
 
 The third is, and yet every moment they shall endure 
 eternal punishment. 
 
 The first I have touched upon already, and therefore shall 
 not enlarge, only I would ask the wanton or unthinking 
 sinner whether twenty, or thirty, or forty years of the de- 
 ceitful pleasures of sin is so rich a prize as that a man may 
 well venture the ruins that everlasting burnings will make 
 upon his soul for the obtaining of them, and living a few 
 moments in them. Sinner, consider this before I go any 
 further, or before thou readest one line more. If thou hast 
 a soul, it concerns thee ; if there be a hell, it concerns 
 thee ; and if there be a God that can and will punish the 
 soul for sin everlastingly in hell, it concerns thee ; because, 
 
 In the second place, it will be impossible for the damned 
 soul ever to say, I am now got half way through my sor- 
 rows. That which has no end has no middle. Sinner, 
 make a round circle, or ring, upon the ground, of what big- 
 ness thou wilt ; this done, go thy way upon that circle, or 
 ring, until thou comest to the end thereof; but that, sayest 
 thou, I can never do, because it has no end ; I answer, but 
 thou mayst as soon do that as wade half-way through the 
 lake of fire that is prepared for impenitent souls. Sinner, 
 
50 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 what wilt thou take to make a mountain of sand that will 
 reach as high as the sun is at noon 1 I know thou wilt not 
 he engaged in such a work, because it is impossible thou 
 shouldst ever perform it. But I dare say the task is greater 
 when the sinner has let out himself to sin for a servant, 
 because the wages is everlasting burnings, I know thou 
 mayst perform thy service, but the wages, the judgment, 
 the" punishment is so endless, that thou, when thou hast 
 been in it more millions of years than can be numbered, 
 art not, nor ever yet shall be, able to say, I am lialf-way 
 through it. And yet, 
 
 3. That soul shall partake every moment of that punish- 
 ment that is eternal. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and 
 the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves 
 over to fornication, and going after strange ilesh, are set 
 forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal 
 fire, Jude, 7. 
 
 1. They shall endure eternal punishment in the nature 
 of punishment. There is no punishment here wherewith 
 one man can chastise another that can deserve a greater title 
 than that of transient or temporary punishment ; but the 
 punishment there is eternal, even in every stripe that is 
 given, and in every moment that it grappleth with the soul, 
 even every twinge, every gripe, and every stroke that jus- 
 tice inflicteth, leaveth anguish that in the nature of punish- 
 ment is eternal behind it. It is eternal, because it comes 
 fi"om God, and lasts for ever and ever. The justice that in- 
 flicts it has not a beginning, and it is this justice in the 
 operations of it that is always dealing with the soul. 
 
 2. All the workings of the soul under this punishment 
 are such as cause in its sufferings to endure that which is 
 eternal. It can have no thought of the end of punishment, 
 ])ut it is presently recalled by the decreed gulf that bindeth 
 it under perpetual punishment. The great fixed gulf, it 
 knows, will keep it in its present place, and not suffer it to 
 go to heaven (Luke xvi. 26) ; and now there is no other 
 place but heaven or hell to be in, for then the earth, and 
 the works that are therein, will be burned up. Read the 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 51 
 
 text, " But the day of tlie Lord will come as a thief in the 
 night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a 
 great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, 
 and the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
 Inirnt up," 2 Pet. iii. 10. If, then, there will be no third 
 place, it standeth in their minds, as well as in God's decree, 
 that their punishments will be eternal ; so then, sorrows, 
 anguish, tribulation, grief, woe, and pain, will in every mo- 
 ment of its abiding upon the soul, not only flow from 
 thoughts of what has been, and what is, but also from what 
 will be, and that for ever and ever. Thus every thought 
 that is truly grounded in the cause and nature of their state 
 will roll, toss, and tumble them up and down in the cogita- 
 tions and fearful apprehensions of the lastingness of their 
 damnation. For I say, their minds, their memories, their 
 understandings, and consciences wdll all, and always be 
 swallowed up with " for ever ;" yea, they themselves will 
 by the means of these things be their own tormentors for 
 ever. 
 
 3. There will not be spaces, as days, months, years, and 
 the like, as now, though we make bold so to speak (the 
 better to present our thoughts to each other's capacities), 
 for then there shall be time no longer ; also day and night 
 shall then be come to an end. — " He hath compassed the 
 waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an 
 end" (Job, xxvi. 10), until the end of light with dark- 
 ness Now when time, and day and night are come to an 
 end, then there comes in eternity, as there was before the 
 day and night, or time, were created ; and when this is 
 come, punishment nor glory must none of them be mea- 
 sured by days, or months, or years, but by eternity itself. 
 Nor shall those concerned either in misery or glory reckon 
 of their now new state as they used to reckon of things in 
 this world ; but they shall be suited in their capacities, in 
 their understandings and apprehensions, to judge and count 
 of their condition according as will best stand with their 
 state in eternity. 
 
 Could we but come to an understanding of things done 
 
52 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 in heaven and hell as we understand how things are done 
 in this world, we should be strangely amazed to see how 
 the change of places and of conditions has made a change 
 in the understandings of men, and in the manner of their 
 enjoyment of things. But this we must let alone till the 
 next world, and until our launching into it, and then, 
 whether we be of the right or left hand ones, we shall well 
 knoAv the state and condition of both kingdoms. In the 
 meantime, let us addict ourselves to the belief of the Scrip- 
 tures of truth, for therein is revealed the way to that of 
 eternal life, and how to escape the damnation of the soul, 
 Matt. XXV. 33. But thus much for the loss of the soul, 
 unto which let me add, for a conclusion, these verses fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 These cry, alas ! but all in vain ; 
 
 They stick fast in the mire ; 
 They would be rid of present pain. 
 
 Yet set themselves on fire. 
 
 Darkness is their perplexity. 
 
 Yet do they hate the light ; 
 They always see their misery, 
 
 Yet are themselves all night. 
 
 They are all dead, yet live they do, 
 
 Yet neither live nor die ; 
 They die to weal, and live to woe — 
 ^ This is their misery. 
 
 Now will confusion so possess 
 
 These monuments of ire, 
 And so confound them with distress, ^ 
 
 And trouble their desire. 
 
 That what to think, or what to do. 
 
 Or where to lay their head, 
 They know not : 'tis the damned's woe 
 
 To live, and yet be dead. 
 
 These castaways would fain have life. 
 
 But know they never shall ; 
 They would forget their dreadful plight. 
 
 But that sticks fast'st of all. 
 
 God, Christ, and heaven, thoy know are best* 
 
 Yet dare not on thorn think ; 
 They know the saints enjoy their rest. 
 
 While they th( ir tears do drink. 
 
UNSrEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 63 
 
 IV. And now I am come to the fourth thing — that is, to 
 shew you the cause of the loss of the soul. That men have 
 souls, — that souls are great things, — that souls may be lost, 
 this I have shewed you already ; wherefoi-e I now proceed to 
 shew you the cause of this loss. The cause is laid down 
 in the 18th chapter of Ezekiel in these words : — " Behold, 
 all souls," says God, " are mine ; as the soul of the father, 
 so also the soul of the son is mine : the soul that sinneth, 
 it shall die." It is sin, then, or sinning against God, that 
 is the cause of dying — of damning in hell-fire — for that 
 must be meant by dying ; otherwise, to die, according to 
 our ordinary acceptation of the notion, the soul is not cap- 
 able of, it being indeed immortal, as hath been afore asserted. 
 So, then, the soul that sinneth — that is, and persevering in 
 the same — that soul shall die, be cast away, or damned. Yea, 
 to ascertain [assure] us of the undoubted truth of this, the 
 Holy Ghost doth repeat it again, and that in this very chap- 
 ter, saying, " The soul that sinneth, it shall die," verse 20. 
 
 Now, the soul may divers ways be said to sin against 
 God ; as, 
 
 1. In its receiving of sin into its bosom, and in its re- 
 taining and entertaining of it there. Sin must first be re- 
 ceived before it can act in, or be acted by, the soul. Our 
 first parents first received in the suggestion or motion, and 
 then acted it. Now it is not here to be disputed when sin 
 was received by the soul, so much as whether ever the soul 
 received sin ; for if the soul has indeed received sin into 
 itself, then it has sinned, and by doing so has made itself 
 an object of the wrath of God, and a firebrand of hell. I 
 say, I will not here dispute when sin was received by the 
 soul, but it is apparent enough that it received it betimes, 
 because in old time every child that was brought unto the 
 Lord was to be redeemed, and that at a month old (Exod. 
 xiii. 13 ; xxxiv. 20), which to be sure was very early, and 
 implied that then, even then, the soul in God's judgment 
 stood before him as defiled and polluted with sin. But al- 
 though I said I will not dispute at what time the soul may 
 be said to receive sin, yet it is evident that it was precedent 
 
54 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 to the redemption made mention of just before, and so be- 
 fore the person redeemed had attained to the age of a month ; 
 and that God might, in the language of Moses, give us to 
 see cause of the necessity of this redemption, he first dis- 
 tinguisheth, and saitli, " The firstling of a cow, or the first- 
 ling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat," did not need this 
 redemption, for they were clean, or holy. But the first- 
 born of men, who was taken in lieu of the rest of the chil- 
 dren, and the " firstling of unclean beasts, thou shalt surely 
 redeem," saith he. But why was the firstborn of men 
 coupled with unclean beasts but because they were both 
 unclean. But how ? I answer, the beast was unclean by 
 God's ordination, but the other w^as unclean by sin. 'How, 
 then, it will be demanded, how a soul, before it was a month 
 old, could receive sin to the making of itself unclean 1 I 
 answer, there are two ways of receiving, one active, the 
 other passive. This last is the way by which the soul at 
 first receiveth sin, and by so receiving, becometh culpable, 
 because polluted and defiled by it. And this passive way 
 of receiving is often mentioned in scripture, Exodus, xxvii. 
 3 ; 2 Chron. iv. 5 ; Matt. xiii. 20-23. Thus the pans re- 
 ceived the ashes ; thus the molten sea received three thou- 
 sand baths ; thus the ground receiveth the seed ; and this 
 receiving is like that of the wool which receiveth the dye, 
 either black, white, or red ; and as the fire that receiveth 
 the water till it be all quenched therewith ; or as the wa- 
 ter receiveth such stinking and poisonous matter into it, as 
 for the sake of it, it is poured out and spilled upon the 
 ground. " But whence should the soul thus receive sin ?" 
 (Psalm li.) I answer, from the body, ■while it is in the 
 mother's belly ; the body comes fi'om polluted man, and 
 therefore is polluted — " Who can bring a clean thing out 
 of an imclean ?" Job, xiv. 4. The soul comes from God's 
 hand, and therefore as so is pure and clean ; but being put 
 into this body, it is tainted, polluted, and defiled w^ith the 
 taint, stench, and filth of sin ; nor can this stench and filth 
 be l)y man purged out, when once from the body got into 
 the soul ; sooner may the blackamoor change his skin, or 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 65 
 
 the leopard his spots, than the soul, were it willing, might 
 purge itself of this pollution. " Though thou wash thee 
 Avith nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is 
 marked hefore me, saith the Lord God." 
 
 2. But as I said, the soul has not only received sin, but 
 retains it, holds it, and shews no kind of resistance. It is 
 enough that the soul is polluted and defiled, for that is suf- 
 ficient to provoke God to cast it away ; for which of you 
 would take a cloth annoyed with stinking,, ulcerous sores, 
 to wipe your mouth withal, or to thrust it into your 
 bosoms ? and the soul is polluted with far worse pollution 
 than any such can be. But this is not all ; it retains sin 
 as the wool retains the dye, or as the infected water receives 
 the stench or poisonous scent ; I say, it retains it willingly ; 
 for all the power of the soul is not only captivated by a 
 seizure of sin upon the soul, but it willingly, heartily, una- 
 nimously, universally falleth in with the natural filth and 
 pollution that are in sin, to the estranging of itself from 
 God, and an obtaining of an intimacy and compliance with 
 the devil. 
 
 Now this being the state and condition of the soul from 
 the belly, yea, from before it sees the light of this world, 
 w^hat can be concluded but that God is oiFended with it ! 
 For how can it otherwise be, since there is holiness and 
 justice in God ? Hence those that are born of a woman, 
 whose original is by carnal conception with man, are said 
 to be as serpents as soon as born. " The wicked (and all 
 at first are so) go astray as soon as they are born, speaking 
 lies. Their poison is the poison of a serpent ; they are like 
 the deaf adder that stoppeth his ear." They go astray from 
 the belly ; but that they would not do if aught of the 
 powers of their soul were unpolluted. " But their poison 
 is the poison of a serpent." Their poison — what is that ? 
 Their pollution, theu' original pollution, that is as the 
 poison of a serpent — to wit, not only deadly, for so poison 
 is, but also hereditary. It conies from the old one, from 
 the sire and dam ; yea, it is also now become connatural 
 to and with them, and is of the same date witli the chil(J 
 
56 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 as bom into the world. The serpent has not lier poison, in 
 the original of it, either from imitation or from other infec- 
 tive things abroad, though it may by such things be helped 
 forward and increased, but she brings it with her in her 
 bowels, in her nature, and it is to her as suitable to her 
 present condition as is that which is most sweet and whole- 
 some to other of the creatures. So, then, every soul comes 
 into the world as poisoned with sin ; nay, as such which 
 have poison connatural to them ; for it has not only re- 
 ceived sin as the wool has received the dye, but it retaineth 
 it. The infection is got so deep, it has taken the black so 
 effectually, that the fire, the very fire of hell can never 
 purge the soul therefrom. 
 
 And that the soul has received this infection thus early, 
 and that it retains it so surely, is not only signified by 
 children coming into the world besmeared in their mother's 
 blood, and by the firstborn's being redeemed at a month 
 old, but also by the first inclinations and actions of children 
 when they are so come into the world, Ezek. xvi. Who 
 sees not that lying, pride, disobedience to parents, and hypo- 
 crisy, do put forth themselves in children before they know 
 that they do either well or ill in so doing, or before they 
 are capable to learn either of these arts by imitation, or 
 seeing understandingly the same things done first by 
 others ? He that sees not that they do it naturally from a 
 principle, fi'om an inherent principle, is either blinded, and 
 has retained his darkness by the same sin as they, or has 
 suffered himself to be swayed by a delusion from him who 
 at first infused this spawn of sin into man's nature. 
 
 Nor doth the averseness of children to morality a little 
 demonstrate what has been said ; for as it would make a 
 serpent sick should one give it a strong antidote against 
 his poison, so then are children, and never more than then, 
 disturbed in their minds, when a strict hand and a stiff 
 rein by moral discipline is maintained over and upon them. 
 True, sometimes restraining grace corrects them, but that 
 is not of themselves ; but more oft hypocrisy is the great 
 and first moving wheel to all their seeming compliances 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS TllEllEOF. 5» 
 
 with admonitions, wliich indulgent parents are apt to over- 
 look, yea, and sometimes, through unadvised ness, to com- 
 mit for the principles of grace. I speak now of that which 
 comes before conversion. 
 
 But as I said before, I would not now dispute, only 
 I have thought good thus to urge these things to make my 
 assertion manifest, and to shew what is the cause of the 
 damnation of the soul. 
 
 3. Again ; as the soul receives sin, and retains it, so it 
 also doth entertain it — that is, countenance, smile upon, 
 and like its complexion and nature well. A man may de- 
 tain — that is, hold fast — a thing which yet he doth not 
 regard ; but when he entertains, then he countenances, likes, 
 and delights in the company. Sin, then, is first received 
 by the soul, as has been afore explained, and by that re- 
 ception is polluted and defiled. This makes it hateful in 
 the eyes of justice ; it is now polluted. Then, secondly, 
 this sin is not only received, but retained — that is, it sticks 
 so fast, abides so fixedly in the soul, that it cannot be gotten 
 out ; this is the cause of the continuation of abhorrence ; 
 for if God abhors because there is a being of sin there, it 
 must needs be that he should continue to abhor, since sin 
 continues to have a being there. But then, in the third 
 place, sin is not only received, detained, but entertained by the 
 now defiled and polluted soul ; wherefore this must needs be 
 a cause of the continuance of anger, and that with aggrava- 
 tion. When I say, entertained, I do not mean as men 
 entertain their enemies, with small and great shot, but as 
 they entertain those whom they like, and those that are 
 got into their affections. 
 
 And therefore the wrath of God must cei-tainly be let out 
 upon the soul, to the everlasting damnation of it. 
 
 Now that the soul doth thus entertain sin is manifest by 
 these several particulars — 
 
 1 . It hath admitted it with complacence and delight into 
 every chamber of the soul ; I mean, it has been delightfully 
 admitted to an entertainment by all the powers or faculties 
 of the soul. The soul hath chosen it rather than God ; it 
 
58 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 also, at God's command, refuseth to let it go ; yea, it 
 clioosd;h that doctrine, and loveth it best (since it must 
 have a doctrine), that has most of sin and baseness in it, 
 Isa. Ixv. 12 ; Ixvi. 3. " They say to the seers. See not ; 
 to the prophets. Prophesy not unto us right things, speak 
 unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits," Isa. xxx. 10, 
 
 These are signs that the soul with liking hath entertained 
 sin ; and if there be at any time, as indeed there is, a war- 
 rant issued out from the mouth of God to apprehend, to 
 condemn, and mortify sin, why then, 
 
 2. These shifts the souls of sinners do presently make for 
 the saving of sin from those things that by the world men 
 are commanded to do unto it — 
 
 1. They will, if possible, hide it, and not suffer it to be 
 discovered, Prov, xxviii. 13 ; Job, xx, 12, 13. " He that 
 hideth his sins shall not prosper." And again, they hide 
 it, and refuse to let it go. This is an evident sign that the 
 soul has a favour for sin, and that with liking it, entertains 
 it. 
 
 2. As it will hide it, so it will excuse it, and plead that 
 this and that piece of wickedness is no such evil thing ; 
 men need not be so nice, and make such a pother about it, 
 calling those that cry out so hotly against it, men more 
 nice than wise. Hence the prophets of old used to be called 
 madmen, and the world would reply against their doctrine, 
 " Wherein have w^e been so wearisome to God, and what 
 have we spoken so much against him ?" Mai. i. 6, 7. 
 
 3. As the soul will do this, so to save sin it will cover it 
 with names of virtue, either moral or civil ; and of this 
 God greatly complains, yea, breaks out into anger for this, 
 saying, " Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil ; 
 that put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; and 
 put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter," Isa. v. 20. 
 
 4. If convictions and discovery of sin be so strong and so 
 plain that the soul cannot deny but that it is sin, and that 
 God is offended therewith, then it will give flattering pro- 
 mises to God that it will indeed put it away, but j^et it will 
 prefix a time that shall be long first, if it also then at all 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 69 
 
 performs it, saying, Yet a little sleep, yet a little slumber, 
 yet a little folding of sin in mine arms, till I am older, till 
 I am richer, till I have had more of the sweetness and the 
 delights of sin. Thus, " their soul delighteth in their 
 abominations," Isa. Ixvi. 3. 
 
 5. If God yet pursues, and will see whether this promise 
 of putting sin out of doors shall be fulfilled by the soul, 
 why then it will be partial in God's law ; it will put away 
 some, and keep some ; put away the grossest, and keej) the 
 finest ; put away those that can best be spared, and keep 
 the most profitable for a help at a pinch, Mai. ii. 9. 
 
 6. Yea, if all sin must be abandoned, or the soul shall 
 have no rest, why then the soul and sin will part (with 
 such a parting as it is), even as Phaltiel parted with David's 
 wife, with an ill-will and a sorrowful mind ; or as Orpha 
 left her mother, with a kiss, 2 Sam. iii. 16 ; Ruth, i. 14. 
 
 7. And if at any time they can, or shall, meet with each 
 other again, and nobody never the wiser, oh, Avhat courting 
 will be betwixt sin and the soul. And this is called doing 
 of things in the dark, Ezek. viii. 12. 
 
 By all these, and many more things that might be 
 instanced, it is manifest that sin has a friendly entertain- 
 ment by the soul, and that therefore the soul is guilty of 
 damnation ; for what do all these things argue but that 
 God, his word, his ways and graces, are out of favour with 
 the soul, and that sin and Satan are its only pleasant com- 
 panions. But, 
 
 Secondly, That I may yet shew you what a great thing sin 
 is with the soul that is to be damned, I will shew how sin 
 by the help of the soul is managed from the motion of sin, 
 even till it comes to the very act ; for sin cannot come to 
 an act w^ithout the help of the soul. The body doth little 
 here, as I shall further shew j^ou anon. 
 
 Ther^is then a motion of sin presented to the soul (and 
 whether presented by sin itself, or the devil, we will not at 
 this time dispute ;) motions of sin, and motions to sin there 
 are, and always the end of the motions of sin are to prevail 
 with the soul to help that motion into an act. But, I say, 
 
60 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 there is a motion to sin moved to the soul, or, as James 
 calls it, a conception. Now behold how the soul deals with 
 this motion in order to the finishing of sin, that death might 
 follow, Rom. vii. 5. 
 
 1. This motion is taken notice of by the soul, but is not 
 resisted nor striven against, only the soul lifts up its eyes 
 upon it, and sees that there is present a motion to sin, a 
 motion of sin presented to the soul, that the soul might 
 midwife it fi-om the conception into the world. 
 
 2. Well, notice being taken that a motion to sin is pre- 
 sent, what follows but that the fancy or imagination of the 
 soul taketh it home to it, and doth not only look upon it 
 and behold it more narrowly, but begins to trick and trim 
 up the sin to the pleasing of itself and of all the powers of 
 the soul. That this is true is evident, because God findeth 
 fault with the imagination as with that which lendeth to 
 sin the first hand, and that giveth to it the first lift towards 
 its being helped forward to act. " And God saAv that the 
 wickedness of man was great in the earth" (Gen. vi. 5, 12, 13) ; 
 that is, many abominable actions were done ; for all flesh 
 had corrupted God's way upon the earth. But how came 
 this to be so ? Why, every imagination of the thoughts, or 
 of the motions that were in the heart to sin, was evil, only 
 evil, and that continually. The imagination of the thoughts 
 was evil — that is, such as tended not to deaden or stifle, 
 but such as tended to animate and forward the motions or 
 thoughts of sin into action. Every imagination of the 
 thoughts — that which is here called a thought is by Paul 
 to the Romans called a motion. Now the imagination should 
 and would, had it been on God's side, so have conceived of 
 this motion of and to sins as to have presented it in all its 
 features so ugly, so ill-favoured, and so unreasonable a thing 
 to the soul, that the soul should forthwith have let down 
 the sluice, and pulled up the draw-bridge, put a stop with 
 greatest defiance to the motion now under consideration ; 
 but the imagination being defiled, it presently at tlie very 
 first view or noise of the motion of sin, so acted as to for- 
 ward the bringing the said motion or thought into act. So, 
 
UNSPEAKABLEINESS OF THE LOSS THEUEOP, 61 
 
 then, the thought of sin, or motion thereto, is first of ail 
 entertained by the imagination and fancy of the soul, and 
 thence conveyed to the rest of the poAvers of the soul to be 
 condemned, if the imagination be good ; but to be helped 
 forward to the act, if the imagination be evil. And thus the 
 evil imagination helpeth the motion of and to sin towards 
 the act, even by dressing of it up in that guise and habit 
 that may best delude the understanding, judgment, and 
 conscience ; and that is done after this manner : suppose a 
 motion of sin to commit fornication, to swear, to steal, to 
 act covetously, or the like, be propounded to the fancy and 
 imagination ; the imagination, if evil, presently dresseth up 
 this motion in that garb that best suiteth with the nature 
 of the sin. As if it be the lust of uncleanness, then is the 
 motion to sin drest up in all the imaginable pleasurableness 
 of that sin ; if to covetousness, then is the sin drest up in 
 the profits and honours that attend that sin ; and so of 
 theft and the like ; but if the motion be to swear, hector, 
 or the like, then is that motion drest up with valour and 
 manliness ; and so you may count of the rest of sinful 
 motions ; and thus being trimmed up like a Bartholomew- 
 baby, it is presented to all the rest of the powers of the soul, 
 where with joint consent it is admired and embraced, to the 
 firing and inflaming all the powers of the soul. 
 
 And hence it is that men are said to inflame themselves 
 with their idols under every green tree, " and to be as fed 
 horses, neighing after their neighbour's wife (Isa. Ivii. 5 ; 
 Jer. v. 8) ; for the imagination is such a forcible power, 
 that if it putteth forth itself to dress up and present a thing 
 to the soul, whether that thing be evil or good, the rest of 
 the faculties cannot w^ithstand it. Therefore when David 
 prayed for the children of Israel, he said, " I have seen 
 with joy thy people, which are present here to ofi^er wil- 
 lingly unto thee ;" that is, for preparations to build the 
 temple. " Lord God," saith he, " keep this for ever in 
 the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people 
 for ever, and prepare their hearts unto thee," 1 Chron. xxix. 
 17, 18. He knew that as the imagination was prepared, so 
 
62 TUE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 would the soul be moved, whether by evil or good ; there- 
 fore as to this, he prays that their imagination might be 
 engaged always with apprehensions of the beauteousness of 
 tlie temple, that they might always, as now, offer willingly 
 for its building. 
 
 But, as I said, when the imagination hath thus set forth 
 sin to the rest of the faculties of the soul, they are presently 
 entangled, and fall into a flame of love thereto ; this being 
 done, it follows that a purpose to pursue this motion, till 
 it be brought into act, is the next thing that is resolved on. 
 Thus Esau, after he had conceived of that profit that would 
 accrue to him by murdering of his brother, fell the next 
 way into a resolve to spill Jacob's blood. And Rebecca 
 sent for Jacob, and said unto him, " Behold, thy brother 
 Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to 
 kill thee," Gen. xxvii. 42 ; Jer. xlix. 30. Nor is this pur- 
 pose to do an evil without its fruit, for he comforted him- 
 self in his evil purpose : " Esau, as touching thee, doth 
 comfort himself, pm-posing to kill thee." 
 
 The purpose, therefore, being concluded, in the next place, 
 the invention is diligently set to work to find out what 
 means, methods, and ways will be thought best to bring 
 this purpose into practice, and this motion to sin into 
 action. Esau invented the death of his brother when his 
 fiither was to be carried to his grave, Gen. xxvii. 42 ; 2 Sam. 
 xi. 13. David purposed to make Uriah father his bastard 
 child by making of him drunk, Amnon pui-posed to ravish 
 Tamer, and the means that he invented to do it was by 
 feigning himself sick. Absalom purposed to kill Amnon, 
 and invented to do it at a feast. Judas purposed to sell 
 Christ, and invented to betray him in the absence of the 
 people, Luke, xxii. 3-6. The Jews purposed to kill Paul, 
 and invented to entreat the judge of a blandation [endea- 
 voured to persuade him] to send for him, that they might 
 murder him as he went. Acts, xxiii. 12-15. 
 
 Thus you see how sin is, in the motion of it, handed 
 through the soul — first, it comes into the fancy or imagina- 
 tion, by which it is so presented to the soul as to inflame it 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS 01-' THE LOSiS TnEllEOF. G3 
 
 with desire to hring it into act ; so from this desire the soul 
 proceedeth to a purpose of enjoying, and from a purpose of 
 enjoying to inventing how, or by what means, it had best 
 to attempt the accomplishing of it. 
 
 But, further, when the soul has thus far, by its wicked- 
 ness, pursued the motion of sin to bring it into action, then 
 to the last thing — to wit, to endeavour to take the oppor- 
 tunity which by the invention is judged most convenient, 
 so to endeavours it goes till it has finished sin, and finished, 
 in finishing of that, its own fearful damnation. " Then lust, 
 when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin : and sin, wlien 
 it is finished, bringeth forth death," James, i. 15. 
 
 And who knows but God and the soul how many lets, 
 hindrances, convictions, fears, frights, misgivings, and 
 thoughts of the judgment of God, all this while are passing 
 and repassing, turning and returning, over the face of the 
 soul 1 how many times the soul is made to start, look back, 
 and tremble, while it is pursuing the pleasure, profit, 
 applause, or preferment that sin, when finished, promiseth 
 to yield unto the soul 1 for God is such a lover of the soul, 
 that he seldom lets it go on in sin, but he cries to it by his 
 word and providences — " Oh! do not this abominable thing 
 that I hate!" especially at first, until it shall have hardened 
 itself, and so provoked him to give it up in sin-revenging 
 judgment to its own ways and doings, which is the terriblest 
 judgment under heaven ; and this brings me to the third 
 thing, the which I now will speak to. 
 
 3. As the soul receives, detains, entertains, and wilily 
 worketh to bring sin from the motion into act, so it abhor - 
 reth to be controlled and taken off this work — " My soul 
 loathed them," says God ; " and their soul also abhorred 
 me," Zech. xi. 8. My soul loathed them, because they were 
 so bad ; and their souls abhorred me, because I am so good. 
 Sin, then, is the cause of the loss of the soul ; because it 
 hath set the soul, or rather, because the soul of love to sin 
 hath set itself, against God. "Woe unto their souls, for 
 they have rewarded evil unto themselves," Isa. iii. 9. 
 
 That you may the better perceive that the soul, through 
 
64 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 sin, has set itself against God, I will propose, and speak 
 briefly to, these two things — 
 
 I. The law. 
 
 II. The gospel. 
 
 I. For the laAv. God has given it for a rule of life, either 
 as ^^Titten in their natures, or as inserted in the holy Scrip- 
 tures ; I say, for a rule of life to all the children of men. 
 But what have men done, or how have they carried it to 
 this law of their Creator, let us see, and that from the 
 mouth of God himself. 
 
 Firsty They have not hearkened unto my law, Jer. vi. 
 19 ; ix. 13 ; xvi. 11 ; xliv. 
 
 Secondly, They have forsaken my law. 
 
 Thirdly, They have forsaken me, and not kept my law. 
 
 Fourthly, They have not walked in my law, nor in my 
 statutes. 
 
 Fifthly, Her priests have violated my law, Ezek. xxii. 
 26 ; Hos. viii. 12. 
 
 Sixthly, And, saith God, I have written to him the great 
 things of my law, hut they were counted as a strange thing. 
 
 Now whence should all this disobedience arise? Not 
 from the unreasonableness of the commandment, but fi*om 
 the opposition that is lodged in the soul against God, and 
 the enmity that it entertains against goodness. Hence the 
 apostle speaks of the enmity, and says, that men are enemies 
 in their minds, their souls, as is manifest by wicked works, 
 Col. i. 21. 
 
 This, if men went no further, must needs be highly pro- 
 voking to a just and holy God ; yea, so highly offensive is 
 it, that, to shew the heat of his anger, he saith, " Indigna- 
 tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul 
 of man that doth evil (and this is evil with a witness), 
 of the Jew first, and also of the Gentiles, that doth evil" 
 (Rom. ii. 8, 9), that breaketh the law ; for that evil he is 
 ciying out against now. But, 
 
 II. To speak of the gospel, and of the carriage of sinful 
 souls towards God under that dispensation. 
 
 The gospel is a revelation of a sovereign remedy, provided 
 
UiS'SPEAKABLENSS OF THE LOSS THEREOF, 65 
 
 hy God tlirougli Christ, for the health and salvation of 
 those that have made themselves objects of wrath by the 
 lireach of the law of works ; this is manifest by all the 
 Scripture. But how doth the soul carr}^ it towards God 
 when he offereth to deal with it under and by this dispen- 
 sation of grace? Why, just as it carried it under the law 
 of works — they oppose, they contradict, they blaspheme, 
 and forbid that this gospel be mentioned. What higher 
 affront or contempt can be offered to God, and what greater 
 disdain can be shewn against the gospel 1 Acts, xiii. 45 ; 
 xviii. 6 ; 2 Tim. ii. 25 ; 1 Thess. ii. 13-15. Yet all this the 
 poor soul, to its own ^^Tong, offereth against the way of its 
 OAVTi salvation, as it is said in the w^ord of truth, " He that 
 sinneth against me wrongs his own soul : all that hate me 
 love death," Prov. viii. 36. 
 
 But further, the soul despiseth not the gospel in that 
 revelation of it only, but the great and chief Bringer thereof, 
 with the manner also of his bringing of it. 
 
 The Bringer, the great Bringer of the gospel, is the good 
 Lord Jesus Christ himself ; he came and preached peace to 
 them that the law proclaimed war against (Eph, ii. 17) ; he 
 came and preached peace to them that were far off, and to them 
 that were nigh. And it is w^orth your observation to take 
 notice how he came : and that was and still is (as he is set 
 forth in the word of the gospel), to wit, first, as making 
 peace himself to God for us in and by the blood of his cross ; 
 and then as bearing (as set out by the gospel) the very 
 characters of his sufferings before our faces in every tender 
 of the gospel of his grace unto us. And to touch a little 
 ujjon the dress in which, by the gospel, Christ presentetli 
 hhuself unto us while he offereth unto sinful souls his peace 
 by the tenders thereof. 
 
 1. He is set forth as bom for us, to save our souls, Isaiah, 
 ix. 6 ; Luke, ii. 9-12 ; 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; Gal. iii. 13 ; Rom. x. 
 4 ; Dan. ix. 24. 
 
 2. He is set forth before us as bearing of our sins, for us, 
 and suffering God's wrath for us. 
 
 3. He is set forth before us as fulfilling the law for us, 
 
66 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 and as bringing of everlasting righteousness to us for our 
 covering. 
 
 Again, as to the manner of his working out the salva- 
 tion of sinners for them, that they might have peace and 
 joy, and heaven and glory, for ever — 
 
 1. He is set forth as sweating of blood while he was in 
 his agony, wrestling with the thoughts of death, which he 
 was to suffer for our sins, that he might save the soul, 
 Luke, xxii, 24. 
 
 2. He is set forth as crying, weeping, and mourning under 
 the lashes of justice that he put himself under, and was 
 willing to bear for our sins, Heb. iii. 7. 
 
 3. He is set forth as betrayed, apprehended, coixlemned, 
 spit on, scourged, buffeted, mocked, crowned with thorns, 
 crucified, pierced with nails and a spear, to save the soul 
 from being betrayed by the devil and sin ; to save it fi-om 
 being apprehended by justice, and condemned by the law ; 
 to save it from being spit on in a way of contempt by holi- 
 ness ; to save it from being scourged with guilt of sins as 
 with scorpions ; to save it fi-om being continually bufleted 
 by its own conscience ; to save it from being mocked at by 
 God ; to save it from being crowned with ignominy and 
 shame for ever ; to save it fe*om dying the second death ; 
 to save it from wounds and grief for ever. 
 
 Dost thou understand me, sinful soul ? He wrestled 
 with justice, that thou mightst have rest ; he wept and 
 mourned, that thou mightst laugh and rejoice ; he was 
 betrayed, that thou mightst go fi*ee ; was apprehended, 
 that thou mightst escape ; he was condemned, that thou 
 mightst be justified ; and was killed, that thou mightst 
 live ; he wore a crown of thorns, that thou mightst wear a 
 crown of glory ; and was nailed to the cross, with his arms 
 wide open, to shew with what freeness all his merits shall 
 be bestowed on the coming soul, and how heartily he will 
 receive it into his bosom. 
 
 Further, all this he did of mere good- will, and ofFereth 
 the benefit thereof unto thee fi-eely ; yea, he cometh unto 
 thee in the word of the gospel, with the blood running 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF, 67 
 
 down from his head upon his face, with his tears abiding 
 upon his cheeks, with the holes as fresh in his hands and 
 his feet, and as with the blood still bubbling out of his 
 side, to pray thee to accept of the benefit, and to be recon- 
 ciled to God thereby, 2 Cor. v. But Avhat saith the sinful 
 soul to this ? I do not ask Avhat he saith with his lips, for 
 he will assuredly flatter God with his mouth ; but what 
 doth his actions and carriages declare as to his acceptance 
 of this incomparable benefit 'I " For a wicked man speak- 
 eth with his feet, and teacheth with his fingers," Prov. vi. 
 12, 13. With his feet — that is, by the way he goeth ; and 
 with his fingers — that is, by his acts and doings. So, then, 
 what saith he by his goings, by his acts and doings, unto 
 this incomparable benefit, thus brought unto him from the 
 Father by his only Son Jesus Christ ? What saith he ? 
 Why, he saith that he doth not at all regard this Christ, 
 nor value the grace thus tendered unto him in the gospel. 
 
 First, He saith, that he regardeth not this Christ, that 
 he seeth nothing in him why he should admit him to be 
 entertained in his affections. Therefore the prophet, speak- 
 ing in the person of sinners, says, " He (Christ) hath no 
 form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is 
 no beauty that we should desire him" (Isaiah, liii. 2, 3); 
 and then adds, to shew what he meaneth by his thus 
 speaking, saying, " He is despised and rejected of men." 
 All this is spoken with reference to his person, and it was 
 eminently fulfilled upon him in the days of his flesh, when 
 lie was hated, maligned, and persecuted to death by sinners ; 
 and is still fulfilled in the souls of sinners, in that they 
 cannot abide to think of him with thoughts that have a 
 tendency in them to separate them and their lusts asunder, 
 and to the making of them to embrace him for their darling, 
 and the taking up of their cross to follow him. All this 
 sinners speak out with loud voices, in that they stop their 
 ears and shut their eyes as to liim, but open them wide and 
 hearken diligently to anything that pleaseth the flesh, and 
 that is a nursery to sin. But, 
 
 fiecondly, Aa they despise, and reject, and do not regard 
 
6S t;;e greatxess of the soul, and 
 
 liis person, so they do not value the grace that he tendereth 
 unto tliem by the gospel ; this is plain by that indifFerency 
 of spirit that always attends them when at any time they 
 hear thereof, or when it is presented unto them. 
 
 I may safely say, that the most of men who are con- 
 cerned in a trade will be more vigilant in dealing with a 
 twelvepenny customer than they will be with Christ when 
 he comes to make unto them by the gospel a tender of the 
 incomparable grace of God. Hence they are called fools, 
 ''■because a price is put into their hands to get wisdom, and 
 they have no heart unto it," Prov. xvii. 16. And hence 
 again it is that that bitter complaint is made, " But my 
 people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would 
 none of me," Psalm Ixxxi. 11. 
 
 Now these things being found, as practised by the souls 
 of sinners, must needs after a wonderful manner provoke ; 
 wherefore no marvel that the heavens are bid to be 
 astonished at this, and that damnation shall seize upon the 
 soul for this. 
 
 And indeed, the soul that doth thus by practice, though 
 with his mouth (as who doth not ?) he shall shew much 
 love, he doth interpretatively say these things, Jer. ii. — 
 
 1. That he loveth sin better than grace, and darkness 
 better than light, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath 
 shewed — " And this is the condemnation, that light is come 
 into the world, and men love darkness more than light (as 
 is manifest), because their deeds are evil." 
 
 2. They do also, by their thus rejecting of Christ and 
 grace, say, that for what the law can do to them, they value 
 it not ; they regard not its thundering, tlireateniugs, nor 
 will they shrink when they come to endure the execu- 
 tion thereof ; wherefore God to deter them from such bold 
 and desperate ways, that do interpretatively fully declare 
 tbat tboy make such desperate conclusions, insinuates that 
 the burden of the curse thereof is intolerable, saying, "Can 
 thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the day 
 that I shall deal with thee ; I the Lord have spoken it, I 
 will do it " Ezek. xxii. 14. 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 69 
 
 3. Yea, by tlicir thus doing, they do as good as say that 
 they will run the hazai'd of a sentence of death at the day 
 of judgment, and that they will in the meantime join issue, 
 and stand a trial at that day with the great and terrible 
 God, What else means their not hearkening to him, their 
 despising of his Son, and the rejecting of his grace ; yea, I 
 say again, what else means their slighting of the curse of 
 the law, and their choosing to abide in their sins till the 
 day of death and judgment. And thus I have shewed you 
 the causes of the loss of the soul ; and assuredly these 
 things are no fables. 
 
 Object. But some may object, and say. But you de- 
 nounce all against the soul, as if the body were in no fault 
 at all, or as if there were no punishment assigned for the 
 body. 
 
 Answ. 1. The soul must be the part punished, because 
 the soul is that which sins. " Every sin that a man doth 
 is without the body," fornication or adultery excepted. Is 
 without the body — that is, as to the wilily inventing, con- 
 triving, and finding out ways to bring the motions of sin 
 into action. For alas ! what can the body do as to these ? 
 It is in a manner wholly passive ; yea, altogether as to the 
 lusting and purposing to do the wickedness, excepting thf sin 
 before excepted ; ay, and not excepting that, as to the rise 
 of that sin ; for even that, with all the rest, ariseth and 
 proceedeth out of the heart, the soul : " For from within, 
 out of the heart of man, proceed fornication, adultery, mur- 
 der, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an 
 evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness : all these evil things 
 come from within, and defile the man," ] Cor. vi. 18. That 
 is the outward man. But a difference must ahvays be put 
 betwixt defiling and being defiled, that which defileth being 
 the worst ; not but that the body shall have its share of 
 judgment, for body and soul must be destroyed in hell ; the 
 body as the instrument, the soul as the actor ; but oh ! the 
 soul, the soul, the soul is the sinner, and therefore the soul, 
 as the principal, must be punished, Mark, vii. 21-23. 
 
 And that God's indignation burneth most against the 
 
70 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 soul appears in that death lias seized upon every soul 
 already ; for the Scripture saith that every natural or un- 
 converted man is dead, Luke, xii. 4 ; INIatt. x. 28. Dead ! 
 How ] Is his hody dead 1 No, verily ; his hody liveth, 
 hut his soul is dead. Dead ! But with what death 1 Dead 
 to God, and to all things gospelly good, hy reason of that 
 benumbing, stupefying, and senselessness, that by God's just 
 judgment for and by sin hath swallowed up the soul, Eph. 
 ii. 1-3. Yea, if you observe, you shall see that the soul 
 goeth first, or before, in punishment, not only by what has 
 been said already, in that the soul is first made a partaker 
 of death, but in that God first deals with the soul by con- 
 victions, yea, and terrors perliaps, while the body is well ; 
 or in that he giveth up the soul to judicial hardness, and 
 fui-ther blindness, while he leaveth the body to do his office 
 in the world ; yea, and also when the day of death and dis- 
 solution is come, the body is spared, while the soul is tor- 
 mented in unutterable torment in liell. And so, I say, it 
 shall be spared, and the clods of the valley shall be sweet 
 unto it, while tlie soul moumeth in hell for sin. It is true, 
 at the day of judgment, because that is the last and final 
 judgment of God on men, then the body and soul shall be 
 re-united, or joined together again, and shall then together 
 partake of that recompense for their wickedness which is 
 meet. When I say, the body is spared, and the soul tor- 
 mented, I mean not that the body is not then at death made 
 to partake of the wages of sin, " for the wages of sin is 
 death" (Rom. vi.) ; but I mean, the body partakes then 
 but of temporal death, which, as to sense and feeling, is 
 suiuetlmes over presently, and then resteth in the grave, 
 while the soul is tomienting in hell. Yea, and why is 
 death suffered to slay the body 1 I dare say, not chiefly 
 for that the indignation of God most Tiurneth against the 
 body ; but the l^od}^ being tbe house for the soul in this 
 world, God even pulls down this body, that the soul may be 
 strijjped naked, and being strip})ed, may be carried to prison, 
 to the place where damned souls are, there to suffer in the 
 beginning of suffering that jnniishment that will be endless. 
 
TJXSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 71 
 
 2. Therefore the soul must be the part most sorely 
 punished, because justice must be distributed with equity. 
 God is a God of knowledge and judgment ; by him actions 
 are weighed ; actions in order to judgment, 1 Sam. ii. Now 
 by weighing of actions, since he finds the soul to have the 
 deepest hand in sin, and he says that he hath so, of equity 
 the soul is to bear the burden of pimishment. Shall not 
 the Judge of all the earth do right in his famous distribu- 
 ting of judgment 1 Gen. xix. 25. He will not lay upon 
 man more than right, that he should enter into judgment 
 with God, Job. xxxiv. 23. The soul, since deepest in sin, 
 shall also be deepest in punishment. " Shall one man sin," 
 said Moses, " and wilt thou be wroth with all the congrega- 
 tion ?" Numb. xvi. 22. He pleads here for equity in God's 
 distributing of judgment ; yea, and so exact is God in the 
 distribution thereof, that he will not punish heathens so as 
 he will punish Jews ; wherefore he saith, " Of the Jew 
 first, or chiefly, and also of the Gentile" (Rom. ii. 9) ; yea, 
 in hell he has prepared several degrees of punishment for 
 the several sorts or degrees of offenders — " And some shall 
 receive greater damnation," Luke, xx. 47. And will it not 
 be unmeet for us to think, since God is so exact in all his 
 doings, that he will, as I may say, carelessly, without his 
 weiglits and measures give not to soul and body, severally, 
 tlieir punishments according to the desert and merit of 
 each ? 
 
 3. The punishment of the soul in hell must needs, to be 
 sure, as to degree, differ fi-om the punishment of the body 
 there. AVhen I say, differ, I mean, must needs be greater, 
 whether the body be punished with the same fire with the 
 soul, or fire of another nature. If it be punished with the 
 same fire, yet not in the same way ; for the fire of guilt 
 with the apprehensions of indignation and wrath are most 
 properly felt and apprehended l)y tlie soul, and by the body 
 by virtue of its union with the soul ; and so felt by the 
 body, if not only, yet I think mostly, by way of sympathy 
 with the soul (and the cause, we say, is worse than the dis- 
 ease) ; and if the wrath of God, and the apprehensions of 
 
72 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 it, as discharging itself for sin and the breach of the law, 
 he that with which the soul is punished, as sure it is, then 
 the hody is punished by the effects, or by those influences 
 that the soul in its torments has upon the body, by virtue 
 of that great oneness and union that is between them. 
 
 But if there be a punishment prepared for the body dis- 
 tinct in kind from that which is prepared for the soul, yet 
 it must be a punishment inferior to that which is prepared 
 for the soul (not that the soul and body shall be severed, 
 but being made of things distinct, their punishments will be 
 by that which is most suitable to each), I say, it must be 
 inferior, because nothing can be so hot, so tormenting, so 
 intolerably insupportable, as the quickest apprehensions of, 
 and the immediate sinking under, that guilt and indigna- 
 tion that is proportionable to the offence. Should all the 
 wood, and brimstone, and combustible matter on earth be 
 gathered together for the tormenting of one body, yet that 
 cannot yield that torment to that which the sense of guilt 
 and burning-hot application of the mighty indignation of 
 God will do to the soul ; yea, suppose the fire wherewith 
 the body is tormented in hell should be seven times hotter 
 than any of our fires ; yea, suppose it again to be seven times 
 hotter than that which is seven times hotter than ours, yet 
 it must, suppose it be but created fire, be infinitely short (as 
 to tormenting operations) of the unspeakable wrath of God, 
 when in the heat thereof he applieth it to, and doth punish, 
 the soul for sin in hell therewith. 
 
 So, then, whether the body be tormented with the same 
 fire wherewith the soul is tormented, or whether the fire be 
 of another kind, yet it is not possible that it should bear 
 tlie same punishment as to degree, because, or for the causes 
 that I have shewed. Nor indeed is it meet it should, be- 
 cause the body has not sinned so, so grievously as the soul 
 has done ; and God proportioneth the punishment suitable 
 to the offence. 
 
 4. With the soul by itself arc the most quick and suitable 
 apprehensions of God and his wrath ; wherefore that must 
 needs be made partaker of the sorest punishment in hell ; it 
 
UNSFEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 73 
 
 is the soul that now is most subtle at discerning, and it is 
 the soul that will be so ; then conscience, memory, under- 
 standing, and mind, these will be the seat of torment, since 
 the understanding will let wrath immediately upon these, 
 from what it apprehends of that wrath ; conscience will 
 let in the wrath of God immediately upon these, from 
 what it fearfully feels of that wrath ; the memory will then 
 as a vessel receive and retain up to the brim of this wrath 
 even as it receiveth by the understanding and conscience, 
 the cause of this wrath, and considers of the durableness of 
 it ; so then the soul is the seat and receiver of wrath, even 
 as it was the receiver and seat of sin ; here then is sin and 
 ^vl'atll upon the soul, the soul in the body, and so soul and 
 body tormented in hell-fire. 
 
 5. The soul will be most tormented, because strongest ; 
 the biggest burden must lie upon the strongest part, espe- 
 cially since also it is made capable of it by its sin. The 
 soul must bear its own punishment, and a great part of the 
 body's too, forasmuch as so far as apprehension goes, the 
 soul will be quicker at that work than the body. The body 
 will have its punishment to lie mostly in feeling, but the 
 soul in feeling and apprehending both. True, the body by 
 the help of the soul will see too, but the soul will see yet 
 abundantly further. And good reason that the soul should 
 bear part of the punishment of the body, because it was 
 through its allurements that the body yielded to help the 
 soul to sin. The devil presented sin, the soul took it by the 
 body, and noAv devil, and soul, and body, and all must be 
 lost, cast away — that is, damned in hell for sin ; but the 
 soul must be the burden-bearer. 
 
 Object. But you ma* say, Doth not this give encourage- 
 ment to sinners to give way to the body to be in all its 
 members loose, and vain, and wicked, as instruments to sin ? 
 
 Aiisw. No ; forasmuch as the body shall also have his 
 share in punishment. For though I have said the soul 
 shall have more punishment than the body, yet I have not 
 said that the body shall at all be eased by that ; no, the 
 body will have its due. And for the better making out of 
 
74 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 my answer further, consider of these following particu- 
 lars — 
 
 1. The hody will l)e the vessel to hold a tormented soul 
 in ; this will be something ; therefore man, damned man, 
 is called a vessel of wrath (Rom, ix. 22), a vessel, and that 
 in both body and soul. The soul receiveth wrath into it- 
 self, and the body holdeth that soul that has thus received, 
 and is tormented wuth, this wrath of God. Now the body 
 being a vessel to hold this soul that is thus possessed with 
 the \vrath of God, must needs itself be afflicted and tor- 
 mented with that torment, because of its union with the 
 body ; therefore the Holy Ghost saith, " His flesh upon 
 him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn" 
 (Job, xiv. 22) ; both shall have their torment and misery, 
 for that both joined hand in hand in sin, the soul to bring 
 it to the birth, and the body to midwife it into the Avorld ; 
 therefore it saith again, with reference to the body, " Let 
 the curse come into his bowels like water, and like oil into 
 his bones," Ps. cix. 17-19. Let it be to him as a garment 
 which covereth him, and as a girdle, &:c. The body, then, 
 will be tormented as well as the soul, by being a vessel to 
 hold that soul in that is now possessed and distressed Avith 
 the unspeakable wrath and indignation of the Almighty 
 God, and this will be a great deal, if you consider, 
 
 2. That the body as a body will by reason of its union 
 with the soul be as sensible, and so as capable in its kind, 
 to receive correction and torment as ever, nay, I think 
 more ; for if the quickness of the soul giveth quickness of 
 sense to the body, as in some case, at least, I am apt to 
 think it doth, then forasmuch as the soul will now be most 
 quick, most sharp in apprehension, so the liody by reason 
 of union and sympathy with the soul will be most quick 
 and most sharp as to sense. Indeed, if the body should not 
 receive and retain sense, yea, all its senses, by reason of its 
 being a vessel to hold the soul, the torment of the soul could 
 not, as torment, be ministered to the body, no more than 
 the fire tormented the king of Babylon's furnace (Dan. iii.), 
 or than the king of ]\Ioab's lime-kiln was afflicted because 
 
CNSPEAKABLENESS OF TOE LOSS THEREOF. 75 
 
 the king of Elom's bones were burnt to lime therein, Amos, 
 ii. 1. But now the body has received again its senses, now 
 therefore it must, yea, it cannot choose but must feel that 
 wrath of God that is let out, yea, poured out like floods of 
 water into the soul. 
 
 Remember also, that besides what the body receiveth 
 from the soul by reason of its union and sympathy there- 
 with, there is a punishment, and instruments of punish- 
 ment, though I will not pretend to tell you exactly what it 
 is, prepared for the body for its joining with the soul in sin, 
 therewith to be punished ; a punishment, I say, that shall 
 fall immediately upon the body, and that such an one as 
 will most fitly suit with the nature of the body, as wrath 
 and guilt do most fitly suit the nature of the soul. 
 
 3. Add to these, the durable condition tliat the body in 
 this state is now in with the souL Time was when the 
 soul died, and the body lived, and that the soul was tor- 
 mented while the body slept and rested in the dust ; but 
 now these things are past ; for at the day of judgment, as I 
 said, these two shall be re-united, and that which once did 
 separate them be destroyed ; then of necessity they must 
 abide together, and as together abide the punishment pre- 
 pared for them ; and this will greaten the torment of the 
 body. 
 
 Death was once the wages of sm, and a grievous curse ; 
 but might the damned meet with it in hell, they would 
 count it a mercy, because it would separate soul and body, 
 and not only so, but take away all sense from the body, 
 and make it incapable of suffering torment ; yea, I will 
 add, and by that means give the soul some ease ; for with- 
 out doubt, as the torments of the soul extend themselves to 
 the body, so the torments of the body extend themselves to 
 the soul ; nor can it be otherwise, because of union and 
 emypathy. But death, natural death, shall be destroyed, 
 and there shall be no more natural death, no, not in hell. 
 And now it shall happen to men, as it hath done in less 
 and inferior judgments, 1 Cor. xv. 26. " They shall seek 
 death, and desire to die, and death shall not be found by 
 
76 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, A^iD 
 
 them," Jer. ix. 21, Thus tlierefoie they must abide together; 
 death that used to separate them asunder is now slain — 1. 
 Because it was an enemy in keeping Christ's body in the 
 grave ; and 2, because a friend to carnal men in that, though 
 it was a punishment in itself, yet Avhile it lasted and had 
 dominion over the body of the wicked, it hindered them of 
 that great and just judgment which for sin was due unto 
 them ; and this is the third discovery of the manner and 
 way of punishing of the body. But, 
 
 4. There will then be such things to be seen and heard, 
 which the eye and the ear (to say no more than has been 
 said of the sense of feeling) will see and hear, that will 
 greatly aggravate the punishment of the body in hell ; for 
 though the eye is the window, and the ear a door for the 
 soul to look out at, and also to receive in by, yet whatever 
 goeth in at the ear or the eye leaves influence upon the 
 body, whether it be that which the soul delighteth in, or 
 that which the soul abhorreth ; for as the eye affecteth the 
 heart, or soul, so the eye and ear, by hearing and beholding, 
 both ofttimes afflict the body, Lam. iii. 51. " When I 
 heard, my belly trembled, rottenness entered into my bones," 
 Hab. iii. 16. 
 
 Now, I say, as the body after its resurrection (Dan. xii, 
 2 ; John, v. 29) to damnation, to everlasting shame and 
 contempt, will receive all its senses again, so it will have 
 matter to exercise them upon, not only to the letting into 
 the soul those aggravations which they by hearing, feeling, 
 and seeing, are capable to let in thither, but, I say, they 
 will have matter and things to exercise themselves upon 
 for the helping forward of the torment of the body. Under 
 temporal judgments of old, the body as well as the soul 
 had no ease, day nor night, and that not only by reason of 
 what was felt, but by reason of what was heard and seen. 
 " In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even ! 
 and at even thou shalt say. Would God it were morning !" 
 
 1. " For the fear of thine heart, wherewith thou shalt fear ;" 
 
 2, " and for the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt see," 
 Deut. xxviii. 67 ; v. 34. Nay, he tells them a little before that 
 
U^■SPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 77 
 
 they should be mad for the sight of their eyes which they 
 should see. 
 
 See ! why, what shall they see ? Why, themselves in 
 hell, with others like them ; and this will be a torment to 
 their body. There is bodily torment, as I said, ministered 
 to the body by the senses of the body. What think you ? 
 If a man saw himself in prison, in irons, upon the ladder, 
 with the rope about his neck, would not this be distress to 
 the body as well as to the mind ? To the body, doubtless. 
 Witness the heavy looks, the shaking legs, trembling knees, 
 pale face, and beating and aching heart ; how much more, 
 then, when men shall see themselves in the most dreadful 
 place (Luke, xvi. 28) ; it is a fearful place, doubtless, to all 
 to behold themselves in that shall come thither. 
 
 Again ; they shall see others there, and shall by them 
 see themselves. There is an art by which a man may make 
 his neighbour look so ghastly, that he shall fright himself 
 by looking on him, especially when he thinks of himself, 
 that he is of the same show also. It is said concerning 
 men at the downfall of Babylon, that they shall be amazed 
 one at another, " for their faces shall be as flames," Isa. 
 xiii. 8. And what if one should say, that even as it is with 
 a house set on fire within, where the flame ascends out at 
 the chimneys, out at the windows, and the smoke out at 
 every chink and crevice that it can find, so it will be with 
 the damned in hell. That soul will breathe hell-fire and 
 smoke, and coals will seem to hang upon its burning lips ; 
 yea, the face, eyes, and ears will seem all to be chimneys 
 and vents for the flame and smoke of the burning which 
 God by his breath hath kindled therein, and upon them, 
 which will be beheld one in another, to the great torment 
 and distress of each other. 
 
 What shall I say 1 Here will be seen devils, and here 
 will be heard bowlings and mournings ; here will the soul 
 see itself at an infinite distance from God ; yea, the body 
 will see it too. In a word, who knows the power of God^s 
 wrath, the weight of sin, the torments' of hell, and the 
 length of eternity ? If none, then none can tell, when they 
 
78 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 liave said what they can, the intolerahleness of the torments 
 tliat Avill swallow up the soul, the lost soul, when it is cast 
 away by God, and from him, into outer darkness for sin. 
 But thus much for the cause of the loss of the soul. 
 
 I now come to the second doctrine that I gathered from 
 the words — namely, that how unconcerned and careless 
 soever some now be about the loss or salvation of their 
 souls, the day is coming (but it will then be too late) when 
 men will be willing, had they never so much, to eive it all 
 in exchange for their souls. 
 
 There are four things in the words that do prove this 
 doctrine — 
 
 1. There is an intimation of life and sense in the man 
 that has lost, and that after he has lost, his soul in hell — 
 "■ Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 These words are by no means applicable to the man that 
 has no life or sense ; for he that is dead according to our 
 common acceptation of death, that is deprived of life and 
 sense, would not give twopence to change his state ; there- 
 fore the words do intimate that the man is yet alive and 
 sensible. Now were a man alive and sensible, though he 
 was in none other place than the grave, there to be con- 
 fined, while others are at liberty, what would he give in 
 exchange for his place, and to be rid of that for a better ! 
 but how much more to be delivered from hell, the present 
 place and state of his soul ! 
 
 2. There is in the text an intimation of a sense of tor- 
 ment — " Or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
 soul 1 I am tormented in this flame." Torment, then, the 
 soul is sensible of, and that there is a place of ease and 
 peace. And from the sense and feeling of torment, he 
 would give, yea, what would he not give, in exchange for 
 his soul ? 
 
 3. There is in the text an intimation of the intolerahle- 
 ness of the torment, because that it supposeth that the man 
 whose soul is swallowed up therewith would give all, were 
 his all never so great, in exchange for his soul. 
 
 4. There is yet in the text an intimation that the soul is 
 
UxNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS TUEREOF. 79 
 
 sensible of the lastingness of the punishment, or else the 
 question rather argues a man unwary than considerate in 
 his offering-, as is supposed by Christ, so largely his all in 
 exchange for his soul. 
 
 But we will in this manner proceed no further, but take 
 it for ;^anted that the doctrine is good ; wherefore I shall 
 next inquire after what is contained in this truth. And, 
 first, that Grod has undertaken, and will accomplish, the 
 breaking of the spirits of all the world, either by his grace 
 and mercy to salvation, or by his justice and severity to 
 damnation. 
 
 The damned soul under consideration is certainly sup- 
 posed, as by the doctrine, so by the text, to be utterly care- 
 less, and without regard of salvation, so long as the accept- 
 able time did last, and as the white flag that signifies terms 
 of peace did hang out ; and therefore it is said to be lost ; 
 but, behold, now it is careful, but now it is solicitous, but 
 now, " what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 He of whom you read in the gospel, that could mind to do 
 nothing in the days of the gospel but to find out how to be 
 clothed in purple and fine linen, and to fare sumptuously 
 every day, was by God brought so down, and laid so low 
 at last, that he could crouch, and cringe, and beg for one 
 small drop of water to cool his tongue (Luke, xvi. 19, 24) ; 
 a thing that but a little before he would have thought scorn 
 to have done, when he also thought scorn to stoop to the 
 grace and mercy of the gospeL But God was resolved to 
 break his spirit, and the pride of his heart, and to humble 
 his lofty looks, if not by his mercy, yet by his justice ; if 
 not by his grace, yet by hell-fire. 
 
 This he also threatens to bring upon the fool in the Pro- 
 verbs — " They shall call, they shall seek, they shall cry," 
 Prov. I 22-32 ; Zecli. vii. 11-13. Who shall do so 1 The 
 answer is. They that sometimes scorned either to seek, or 
 call, or cry ; they that stopped their ears, that pulled away 
 their shoulders, and that refused to seek, or call, or cry to 
 Ood for mercy. 
 
 Sinner, careless sinner, didst thou take notice of this first 
 
80 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 inference that I have drawn from my second doctrine ? If 
 thou didst, yet read it again ; it is this, " God has under- 
 taken, and will accomplish, the breaking of the spirits of 
 all the world, either by his grace and mercy unto salvation, 
 or by his justice and severity to damnation." 
 
 The reason for this is this : God is resolved to have the 
 mastery, he is resolved to have the victory. " Who will set 
 the briers and thorns against me in battle, I will go through 
 them and burn them together," Isa. xxvii. 4. I will march 
 against them. God is merciful, and is come forth into the 
 world by his Son, tendering of grace unto sinners b}^ the 
 gospel, and would willingly make a conquest over them for 
 their good by his mercy. Now he being come out, sinners 
 like briers and thorns do set themselves against him, and 
 will have none of his mercy. Well, but what says God ? 
 Saith he, " Then I will march on." I will go through them, 
 and burn them together. I am resolved to have the mas- 
 tery one way or another ; if they will not bend to me, and 
 accept of my mercy in the gospel, I will bend them and 
 break them by my justice in hell-fire. They say they will 
 not bend ; I say they shall ; now they shall know " whose 
 word shall stand, mine or theirs," Jer. xliv. 25-28. Where- 
 fore the apostle, ^^ hen he saw that some of the Corinthians 
 began to be unruly, and to do those things that did begin 
 to hazard them, saith, "Do ye provoke the Lord to jealousy ? 
 are ye stronger than he ?" (1 Cor. x. 20-22) ; as who should 
 say. My brethren, are you aware what you do 1 do you not 
 understand that God is resolved to have the mastery one way 
 or another ? and are you stronger than he ? If not, tremble 
 before him, or he will certainly have you under his feet — 
 " I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my 
 fury," Isa. Ixiii. 3. Thus he speaks of them that set them- 
 selves against him ; therefore beware. Now the reason of 
 this resolution of God, it flows from a determination in him 
 to make all his sayings good, and to verify them on the 
 consciences of sinners. And since the incredulous world will 
 not believe now, and fly from wrath, they shall shortly 
 believe and cry imder it ; since they will not now credit the 
 
AND UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 81 
 
 word before they see unto salvation, they shall be made to 
 credit it by sense and feeling unto damnation. 
 
 The second inference that I draw from my second doc- 
 trine is this : " That it is, and will be the lot of some to bow 
 and break before God too late, or when it is too late." 
 
 God is resolved, as I said, to have the mastery, and that 
 not only in a way of dominion and lordship in general (for 
 that he has now), but he is resolved to master — that is, to 
 break the spirit of the world, to make all men cringe and 
 crouch unto him, even those that now say " There is no 
 God ;" or, if there be, yet " What is the Almighty, that we 
 should serve him 1" Ps. xiv. 1 ; Job, xxi. 15; Mai. iii. 14. 
 
 This is little thought of by those that now harden their 
 hearts in wickedness, and that turn their spirit against God ; 
 but this they shall think of, this they must think of, this 
 God will make them think of, in that day (2 Pet. iii. 1-4), 
 at which day they also now do mock and deride, that the 
 scripture might be fulfilled upon them. And, I say, they 
 shall think then of those things, and break at heart, and 
 melt under the hand, and power, and majesty of the Al- 
 mighty ; for " As I live," saitli God, " every knee shall bow 
 to me ; every tongue shall confess to God," Isa. xlv. 23 ; 
 Rom. xiv. 10-12. And again, " The nations shall see, and 
 be confounded at all their might ; they shall lay their hand 
 upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf ; they shall lick 
 the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes 
 like worms, or creeping things of the earth ; they shall be 
 afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee," 
 Micah, vii. 16, 17. 
 
 For then they, will they, nill they, shall have to do with 
 God, though not with him as merciful, or as one that may 
 be entreated ; yet with him as just, and as devouring fire ; 
 yea, they shall see that face, and hear that voice, from 
 whom and from which the heavens and the earth shall fly 
 away, and find no place of stay, Heb. xii. last verse. And 
 by this appearance, and by such Avords of his mouth as he 
 then will speak to them, they shall begin to tremble, and 
 call for the rocks to fall upon them and cover them ; for 
 
 VOL. II. F 
 
82 THE GREATNESS OF TUE SOUL, AND 
 
 if these things will happen at the execution of inferior 
 judgments, what will be done, what effects will the last, 
 most dreadful, and eternal judgment have upon men's souls? 
 
 Hence you find that at the very first appearance of Jesus 
 Christ, the whole world begins to mourn and lament — " Every 
 eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him : and all 
 kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him," Rev. i. 7. 
 And therefore you also find them to stand at the door and 
 knock, saying, " Lord, Lord, open unto us," Luke, xiii. 25, 
 26 ; Matt. xxv. Moreover, you find them also desiring, yea, 
 also so humble in their desires as to be content with the 
 least degree of mercy — one drop, one drop upon the tip of 
 one's finger. What stooping, what condescension, what 
 humility is here ! All and every one of those passages 
 declare that the hand of God is upon them, and that the 
 Almighty has got the mastery of them, has conquered them, 
 broken the pride of their power, and laid them low, and 
 made them cringe and crouch unto him, bending the knee, 
 and craving of kindness. 
 
 Thus, then, will God bow, and bend, and break them ; 
 yea, make them bow, and bend, and break before him. 
 And hence also it is that they will weep, and mourn, and 
 gnash their teeth, and cry, and repent that ever they have 
 been so foolish, so wicked, so traitorous to their souls, and 
 such enemies of their own eternal happiness, as to stand 
 out in the day of their visitation in a way of rebellion 
 against the Lord. 
 
 But here is their hard hap, their dismal lot and portion, 
 that all these things must be when it is too late. It is, 
 and will be, the lot and hap of these to bow, bend, and 
 break too late, JVIatt. xxv. 
 
 You read, they come weeping and mourning, and with 
 tears ; they knock and cry for mercy ; but what did tears 
 avail ? Why, nothing ; for the door was shut. He answered 
 and said, " I know you not whence you are," Luke xiii. 
 26-28. But they repeat and renew their suit, saying, " We 
 have eat and drank in thy presence, and thou hast taught 
 in our streets." What now ? Why, he returns upon them 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS TllEKEOF. 83 
 
 his first answer the second time, sayine^, " I tell you, I 
 know you not whence you are ; depart from me, all ye 
 workers of iniquity;" then he concludes, " There shall be 
 weeping and gnashing- of teeth, when you shall see Abra- 
 ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the 
 kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out." They come 
 weeping, and go weeping away. They come to him weep- 
 ing, for they saw that he had conquered them ; but they 
 departed weeping, for they saw that he would damn them ; 
 yet, as we read in another place, they were very loath to 
 go from him, by their reasoning and expostulating with 
 him — " Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or thirsty, 
 or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not 
 minister unto thee ?" But all would not do ; here is no 
 place for change of mind, — " These shall go away into ever- 
 lasting punishment ; but the righteous into life eternal." 
 And now what would a man give in exchange for his soul ? 
 So that, as I said before, all is too late ; they mourn too late, 
 they repent too late, they pray too Ut3, and seek to make 
 an exchange for their soul too late. 
 
 " Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul V 
 Two or three things there may yet be gathered from these 
 words ; I mean, as to the desires of them that have lost 
 their souls, to make for them an exchange : " What shall 
 a man give in exchange ?" — w4iat shall, what would, yea, 
 wdiat would not a man, if he had it, give in exchange for 
 his soul ? 
 
 1. What would not a man — I mean, a man in the con- 
 dition that is by the text supposed some men are and will 
 be in — give in exchange to have another man's virtues in- 
 stead of his own vices ? " Let me die the death of the 
 righteous ;" let my soul be in the state of the soul of the 
 righteous — that is, with reference to his virtues, when I 
 die, " and let my last end be like his," Num. xxiii, 10. It 
 is a sport now to some to taunt, and squib, and deride at 
 other men's virtues ; but the day is coming when their 
 minds will be changed, and when they shall be made to 
 count those that have done those righteous actions and 
 
84 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 duties which they have scoffed at, the only ])lessed men ; 
 yea, they shall wish their soul in the blessed possession of 
 those graces and virtues that those whom they hated were 
 accompanied with, and would, if they had it, give a whole 
 world for this change ; hut it will not now do, it is now 
 too late. What then shall a man give in exchange for his 
 soul ? And this is more than intimated in that tAventy- 
 fifth of jMatthew named before ; for you find by that text 
 how loath they were, or will be, to be counted for unright- 
 eous people — " Lord," say they, " when did we see thee an 
 hungered, or athirst, naked, or sick, and did not minister 
 unto thee '?" Now they are not willing to be of the number 
 of the wicked, though heretofore the ways of the righteous 
 were an abomination to them. But, alas! they are before 
 a just God, a just judge, a judge that will give every one 
 according to his ways ; therefore, " Woe to the soul of the 
 wicked now," Isa. iii. 11. It shall go ill with him, for 
 the reward of his hands shall be given him. Thus, there- 
 fore, he is locked up as to this ; he cannot now change his 
 vices for virtues, nor put himself nor his soul in the stead 
 of the soul of the saved ; so that it still and will for ever 
 abide a question unresolved, " Or what shall a man give in 
 exchange for his soul V I do not doubt but that a man's 
 state may be such in this world, that if he had it he would 
 give thousands of gold to be as innocent and guiltless in 
 the judgment of the law of the land as is the state of such 
 or such, heartily wishing that himself was not that he is ; 
 how much more then will men wish thus when they stand 
 ready to receive the last, their eternal judgment. " But 
 what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 
 2. As they would for the salvation of their souls be glad 
 to change away their vices for the virtues, their sins for the 
 good deeds, of others, so what would they not give to change 
 places now, or to remove from where now they are, into 
 paradise, into Abraham's bosom ? 
 
 But neither shall this be admitted ; the righteous must 
 have their inheritance to themselves — " Neither," said Abra- 
 ham, " can they pass to us, that would come from thence" 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 86 
 
 (Luke, xvi. 26); neither can they dwell in heaven that 
 would come from hell. 
 
 They then that have lost, or shall lose, their souls, are 
 bound^to their place, as well as to their sins. When Judas 
 went to hell, he went to his home, to his own place (Acts, 
 i. 25); and when the righteous go hence, they also go home 
 to their house, to their own place ; for the kingdom of 
 heaven is prepared for them. Matt. xxv. 34. Between 
 heaven and hell, "there is a great gulf fixed" (Luke xii. 
 32); that is, a strong passage ; there is a great gulf fixed. 
 
 What this gulf is, and how impassable, they that shall 
 lose their souls will know to their woe ; because it is fixed 
 there where it is on purpose to keep them in their torment- 
 ing place, so that they that would pass from hell to heaven 
 cannot. But I say, '•' Would they not change places 1 
 would they not have a more comfortable house and home 
 for their souls 1" Yes, verily, the text supposes it, and the 
 16th of Luke affirms it ; yea, and could they purchase for 
 their soul a habitation among the righteous, would they 
 not 1 Yes, they would give all the world for such a change. 
 What shall, what shall not a man, if he had it, if it would 
 answer his design, give in exchange for his soul 1 
 
 3. As the damned would change their own vices for 
 virtues, and the place where they are for that into which 
 they shall not come, so what would they give for a change 
 of condition 1 Yea, if an absolute change may not be ob- 
 tained, yet what would they give for the least degree of 
 mitigation of that torment which now they know will 
 without any intermission be, and that for ever and ever ] 
 " Tribulation and anguish, indignation and wrath" (Rom. 
 ii. 8, 9 ; 2 Thess. i. 7-10); the gnawing worm, and ever- 
 lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from 
 the glory of his power, cannot be borne but with great 
 horror and grief ; no marvel then if these poor creatures 
 would for ease for their souls be glad to change their con- 
 ditions. Change !— with whom1 with an angel, with a 
 saint ; ay, with a dog or a toad ; for they mourn not, they 
 weep not, nor do they bear indignation of wrath ; they are 
 
86 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 as if they had not been ; only the sinful soul abides in its 
 sins, in the place designed for lost souls, and in the condition 
 that wrath and indignation for sin and transgression hath 
 decreed them to abide for ever. And this brings me to the 
 conclusion, which is, " that seeing the ungodly do seek 
 good things too late," therefore, notwithstanding their seek- 
 ing, they must -still abide in their place, their sins, and their 
 tonnent — " For what can a man give in exchange for his 
 soul 1" Therefore God saith, that they there must still 
 abide and dwell, no exchange can be made, Isaiah 1, 11. 
 Ezek. xxxii. 25, 27, " This shall they have of mine hand, 
 they shall lie down in sorrow;" they shall lie down in it, 
 they shall make their bed there, there they shall lie. And 
 this is the bitter pill that they must swallow down at last ; 
 for after all their tears, their sorrows, their mournings, 
 their repentings, their wishings and wouldings, and all their 
 inventings and desires to change their state for a better, 
 they must lie doAvn in sorrow. The poor condemned man 
 that is upon the ladder or scaffold has, if one knew them, 
 many a long wish and long desire that he might come 
 down again alive, or that his condition was as one of the 
 spectators that are not condemned and brought thither to be 
 executed as he. How carefully also doth he look with his 
 failing eyes, to see if some comes not fi"om the king with a 
 pardon for him, all the while endeavouring to fumble away 
 as well as he can, and to prolong the minute of his execu- 
 tion. But at last, when he has looked, when he has 
 wished, when he has desired, and done whatever he can, 
 the blow with the axe, or turn with the ladder, is his lot, 
 so he goes off the scaffold, so he goes from among men ; 
 and thus it will be with those that we have under conside- 
 ration ; when all comes to all, and they have said, and 
 wished, and done what they can, the judgment must not 
 be reversed — they must lie down in sorrow. 
 
 They must, or shall lie do^^^l. Of old, when a man was 
 to be chastised for his fault, he was to lie do^^m to receive 
 his stripes ; so here, saith the Lord, they shall lie down — 
 " And it sliall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 87 
 
 the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten be- 
 fore his face," Deut. xxv. 2. And this lying down was to 
 1)? his lot after he had pleaded for himself what he could — 
 and the judge shall cause him to be beaten before his face, 
 while he is present to behold the execution of judgment ; 
 and thus it shall be at the end of the world ; the wicked 
 shall lie down and shall be beaten with many stripes in the 
 presence of Christ, and in the presence of the holy angels, 
 2 Thess i ; Rev. xiv. 10. .For there will be his presence, 
 not only at the trial as judge, but to see execution done, 
 nay, to do it himself by the pouring out, like a river, his 
 wrath as burning brimstone upon the soul of the lost and 
 cast-away sinner. 
 
 He shall lie down. These words imply that at last the 
 damned soul shall submit ; for to lie down is an act that 
 signifies submission, especially to lie down to be beaten. The 
 wicked shall be silent in darkness. When the malefactor 
 has said and wished all that he can, yet at last he submits, 
 is silent, and, as it were, helps to put his head into the halter, 
 or doth lay down his neck upon the block, 1 Sam. ii. 9. So 
 here it is said of the damned — " They shall lie down in 
 sorrow." There is also a place that saith, " These shall go 
 away into everlasting punishment," Matt. xxv. 46. To go, to 
 go to punishment is also an act of submission. Nov/ sub- 
 mission to punishment doth, or should, flow from full con- 
 viction of the merit of punishment ; and I think it is so to 
 be understood here — " For every mouth shall be stopped, 
 and all the world (of soul-losers) become guilty before 
 God," Romans, iii. 4, 19 ; Luke, xiii. 25-28 ; INIatthew, 
 xxv. 44. Every mouth shall be stopped, not at the be- 
 ginning of the judgment, for then they plead, and pray, 
 and also object against the judge ; but at the end, after 
 that by a judicial proceeding he shall have justified against 
 them his sayings, and have overcome these his judges, then 
 they shall submit, and also lie down in sorrow ; yea, they 
 shall go away to their punishment as those who know they 
 deserve it ; yea, they shall go away with silence. Now, 
 
 How they shall behave themselves in hell, I will not 
 
88 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 here dispute ; whether in a way of rage and hlaspheiny, 
 and in rending and tearing of the name and just actions of 
 God towards them, or Avhether hy Avay of submission there ; 
 I say, though this is none of this task, yet a word or two, 
 if you please. 
 
 Doubtless they will not be mute there ; they will cry, 
 and wail, and gnash their teeth, and perhaps too sometimes 
 at God ; but I do not think but that the justice they have 
 deserved, and the equal administration of it upon them, 
 will for the most part prevail with them to rend and tear 
 themselves, to acquit and justify God, and to add fuel to 
 their fire by concluding themselves in all the fault, and 
 that they have sufficiently merited this just damnation ; 
 for it would seem strange to me that just judgment among 
 men shall terminate in this issue, if God should not justify 
 himself in the conscience of all the damned. But as here 
 on earth, so he will let them know that go to hell that he 
 liath not done without a cause, a sufficient cause, all that 
 he hath done in damning of them, Ezek. xiv. 23. 
 
 I come now to make some use and application of the 
 whole. And, 
 
 1. If the soul be so excellent a thing as we have made it 
 appear to be, and if the loss thereof be so great a loss, then 
 here you may see who they are that are those extravagant 
 ones ; I mean, those that are such in the highest degree. 
 Solomon tells us of a great waster, and saith also, that he 
 that is slothful in his business " is brother to such an one," 
 Prov. xviii. 9. Who Solomon had his eye upon, or who it 
 was that he counted so great a waster, I cannot tell ; but 
 I will challenge all the world to shew me one for wasting 
 and destroying may be compared to him that for the lusts 
 and pleasures of this life will hazard the loss of his soul. 
 JMany men will be so profuse, and will spend at that pro- 
 digal rate, that they will bring a thousand pounds a year 
 to five hundred, and five hundred to fifty, and some also 
 will bring that fifty to less than ninepence ; but what is 
 this to him that shall never leave losing until he has lost 
 his soul ? I have heard of some who would throw away a 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 89 
 
 farm, a good estate, upon the trundling of one single bowl ; 
 but what is this to the casting a\vay the soul 1 I say, 
 what is this to the loss of the soul, and that for less than 
 the trundling of a bowl 1 Nothing can for badness be 
 compared to sin ; it is the vile thing, it cannot have a worse 
 name than its own ; it is worse than the vilest man, than 
 the vilest of beasts ; yea, sin is worse than the devil him- 
 self, for it is sin, and sin only, that hath made the devils 
 devils ; and yet for this, for this vile, this abominable 
 thing, some men, yea, most men, will venture the loss of 
 their soul ; yea, they will mortgage, pawn, and set their 
 souls to sale for it, Jer. xliv. 4. Is not this a great waster ? 
 doth not this man deserve to be ranked among the extra- 
 vagant ones 1 What think you of him wdio when he 
 tempted the wench to uncleanness said to her, " If thou 
 wilt venture thy body, I will venture my soul V Was 
 not here like to be a fine bargain, think you ? or was not 
 this man like to be a gainer by so doing 1 This is he that 
 prizes sin at a higher rate than he doth his immortal soul ; 
 yea, tliis is he that esteems a quarter of an hour's pleasure 
 more than he fears everlasting damnation. What shall I 
 say ? This man is minded to give more to be damned, than 
 God requires he should give to be saved ; is not this an ex- 
 travagant one ? " Be astonished, ye heavens ! at this, 
 and be ye horribly afraid !" Jer. ii. 9 — 12. Yea, let all the 
 angels stand amazed at the unaccountable prodigality of 
 such an one. 
 
 Object. 1. But some may say, I cannot believe that 
 God will be so severe as to cast away into hell-fire an im- 
 mortal soul for a little sin. 
 
 Ansio. — I know thou canst not believe it, for if thou 
 couldst, thou wouldst sooner eat fire than run this hazard ; 
 and hence all they that go down to the lake of fire are 
 called the unbelievers ; and the Lord shall cut thee (that 
 makest this objection) asunder, and shall appoint thee thy 
 portion w^ith such, except thou believe the gospel, and re- 
 pent, Luke, xii, 46. 
 
 Object. 2. But surely, though God should be so angry 
 
90 THE CmEATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 at the beginning, it cannot in time but grieve him to see 
 and liear souls roaring in hell, and that for a little sin. 
 
 Answ. — Whatsoever God doth, it abideth for ever, 
 (Eccles. iii. 14) ; he doth nothing in a passion, or in an 
 angry fit ; he proceedeth with sinners by the most perfect 
 rules of justice ; wherefore it would be injustice to deliver 
 them whom the law condemneth, 3'ea, he would falsify his 
 word, if after a time he should deliver them ft-om hell, con- 
 cerning whom he hath solemnly testified that they shall 
 be there for ever. 
 
 Object. 3. but, as he is just, so he is merciful ; and 
 mercy is pitiful, and very compassionate to the afiiicted. 
 
 Answ. — but mercy abused becomes most fearful in 
 tormenting. Did you never read that the Lamb turned 
 lion, and that the world will tremble at the wrath of the 
 Lamb, and be afiiicted more at the thoughts of that than 
 at the thoughts of anything that shall happen to them in 
 the day when God shall call them to an account for their 
 sins. Rev. vi. 16, 17. 
 
 The time of mercy will be then past, for now is that -ac- 
 ceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation ; the 
 gate of mercy will then ])e shut, and must not be opened 
 again ; for now is that gate open, now it is open for a door 
 of hope, 2 Cor. vi. 2 ; Matt, xxv, 10 ; Luke, xiii. 25. 
 
 The time of shewing pity and compassion will then be 
 at an end ; for that as to acting towards sinners will last 
 but till the glass of the world is run, and when that day 
 is past, mark what God saith shall follow, " I will laugh 
 at your calamity, I will mock when your fear coineth ; 
 when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction 
 cometh like a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish com- 
 eth upon you," Prov. i. 26, 27. 
 
 Mark you how many pinching expressions the Lord 
 Jesus Chi-ist doth threaten the refusing sir.ner with who 
 refuseth him now — I will laugh at him, I will mock at 
 liira. But when, Lord, wilt thou laugh at, and mock at, 
 the impenitent 1 The answer is, " I will laugh at their 
 calamities, and mock when their fear cometh ; when their 
 
TJNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS TIIEllEOF. 91 
 
 fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction like a 
 whirlwind ; when distress and anguish cometh upon 
 them." 
 
 Object. 4. But if God Almighty be at this point, and 
 there be no moving of him to mercy at that day, yet we 
 can but lie in hell till we are burnt out, as the log doth at 
 the back of the fire. 
 
 Poor besotted sinner, is this thy last shift 1 wilt tliou 
 comfort thyself with this ? are thy sins so dear, so sweet, 
 so desirable, so profitable to thee, that thou wilt venture a 
 burning in hell-fire for them till thou art burnt out ? Is 
 there nothing else to be done but to make a covenant w^ith 
 death, and to maintain thy agreement with hell 1 Isa. 
 xxviii. 15. Is it not better to say now unto God, Do not 
 condemn me ? and to say now, Lord, be merciful to me, a 
 sinner 1 Would not tears, and prayers, and cries, in this 
 acceptable time to God for mercy yield thee more benefit 
 in the next world than to lie and bum out in hell will do % 
 
 But to come more close to thee. Have not I told thee 
 already that there is no such thing as a ceasing to be ? 
 that the damned shall never be burned out in hell 1 there 
 shall be no more such death, or cause of dissolution, for 
 ever. This one thing, well considered, breaks not only the 
 neck of that wild conceit on which thy foolish objection is 
 built, but will break thy stubborn heart in pieces. For 
 then it follows, that unless thou canst conquer God, or with 
 ease endure to conflict with his sin-revenging wrath, thou 
 wilt be made to mourn while under his everlasting wrath 
 and indignation ; and to know that there is not such a 
 thing as a burning-out in hell-fire. 
 
 Object. 5. But if this must be my case, I shall have 
 more fellows ; I shall not go to hell, nor yet burn there, 
 alone. 
 
 Answ. — What, again ; is there no breaking of the league 
 that is betwixt sin and thy soul ? What, resolved to be a 
 self-murderer, a soul-murderer ? what, resolved to murder 
 thine own soul 1 But is there any comfort in being hanged 
 with company ? in sinking into the bottom of the sea with 
 
92 THE GREATKESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 company ? or in going to liell, in burning in hell, and in 
 enduring the everlasting pains of hell, with company ? 0, 
 besotted wretch ! But I tell thee, the more compan}-, the 
 more sorrow ; the more fuel, the more fire. Hence the 
 damned man that we read of in Luke desired that his 
 brethren might be so warned and prevailed with as to be 
 kept out of that place of torment, Luke, xvi, 27, 28. 
 
 But to hasten ; I come now to the second use. 
 
 Use 2. Is it so ? Is the soul such an excellent thing, 
 and the loss thereof so unspeakably great ? Then here you 
 may see who are the greatest fools in the world — to wit, 
 those who to get the world and its preferments will neglect 
 God till they lose their souls. The rich man in the gospel 
 was one of these great fools, for that he was more con- 
 cerned about what he should do with his goods than how 
 his soul should be saved, Luke, xii. 16-21. Some are for 
 venturing their souls for pleasures, and some are for ven- 
 turing their souls for profits ; they that venture their souls 
 for pleasures have but little excuse for their doings ; but 
 they that venture their souls for profit seem to have imich. 
 " And they all with one consent began to make excuse ;" — 
 excuse, for what 1 why, for the neglect of the salvation of 
 their souls. But what was the cause of their making this 
 excuse 1 Why, their profits came tumbling in. I have 
 bought a piece of ground ; I have bought five yoke of 
 oxen ; and I have married a (rich) Avife, and therefore I 
 cannot come. 
 
 Thus also it was with the fool first mentioned ; his 
 ground did bring forth plentifully, wherefore he must of 
 necessity forget his soul, and, as he thought, all the reason 
 of the Avorld he should. Wherefore he falls to crying out, 
 What shall I do ? Now, had one said, Mind the good of 
 thy soul, man ; the answer would have been ready, But 
 where shall I bestow my goods 1 If it had been replied, 
 Stay till harvest ; he returns again. But I have no room 
 where to bestow my goods. Now tell him of praying, and 
 he answers, he must go to building. Tell him he should 
 frequent sermons, and he replies, he must mind his work- 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF, 93 
 
 men, Tsa. xliv. 20. He cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is 
 there not a lie in my right hand ? 
 
 And see if in the end he did not hecome a fool ; for 
 though he accomplished the building of his barns, and put 
 in there all his fruits and his goods, yet even till now his 
 soul was empty, and void of all that was good ; nor did he, 
 in singing of that requiem which he sung to his soul at 
 last, saying, " Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be 
 merry," shew himself ever the wiser ; for in all his labours 
 he had rejected to get that food that indeed is meat and 
 drink for the soul. Nay, in singing this song he did but 
 provoke God to hasten to send to fetch his soul to hell ; for 
 so begins the conclusion of the parable — " Thou fool, this 
 night shall thy soul be required of thee ; then v/hose shall 
 those things be which thou hast provided ?" So that, I 
 say, it is the greatest folly in the world for a man, upon 
 any pretence whatever, to neglect to make good the salva- 
 tion of his soul. 
 
 There are six signs of a fool, and they do all meet in 
 that same man that concerns not himself, and that to good 
 purpose, for the salvation of his soul. 
 
 1. " A fool has not an heart, when the price is in his 
 hand, to get wisdom," Prov. xvii. 16. 
 
 2. " It is a sport to a fool to do mischief, and to set light 
 by the commission of sin," Proverbs, x. 23. 
 
 3. •' Fools despise wisdom ; fools hate knowledge," Prov. 
 xiv. 9, 
 
 4. " A fool after restraint retui-ns to his folly," Prov. i. 
 7,22. 
 
 5. " The way of a fool is right in his ovm eyes," Prov. 
 xii. 15. 
 
 6. " The fool goes merrily to the correction of the stocks," 
 Prov. vii. 22, 23. 
 
 I might add many more, but these six shall suffice at 
 this time, by which it appears that the fool has no heart 
 for the heavenly prize, yet he has to sport liimself in sin ; 
 and when he despises wisdom, the way is yet right before 
 him ; yea, if he be for some time restrained from vice, he 
 
94 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 greedily turneth again thereto, and will, Avhen he has 
 finished his course of folly and sin in this world, go as 
 heedlessly, as carelessly, as unconcernedly, and quietly, 
 down the steps to hell, as the ox goeth to the slaughter- 
 house. 
 
 This is a soul-fool, a fool of the higgest size (Luke xii, 
 21); and so is every one also that layeth up treasvire for 
 himself on earth, and is not rich towards God. 
 
 Object. 1. But would you not have us mind our worldly 
 concerns ? 
 
 Answ. — Mind them, but mind them in their place ; mind 
 thy soul first and most ; the soul is more than the body, 
 and eternal life better than temporal ; first seek the king- 
 dom of God, and prosper in thy health and thy estate as thy 
 soul prospers. Matt. vi. 33 ; 3 John, 2. But as it is rare to 
 see this command obeyed, for the kingdom of God shall be 
 thought of last, so if John's wish was to light upon, or 
 happen to some people, they would neither have health nor 
 wealth in this world. To prosper and be in health, as their 
 soul prospers — what, to thrive and mend in outwards, no 
 faster ] then we should have them have consumptive bodies 
 and low estates, for are not the souls of most as unthrifty, 
 for grace and spiritual health, as is the tree without fruit 
 that is pulled up by the roots ? 
 
 Object. 2. But would you have us sit still and do no- 
 thing ? 
 
 Answ. — And must you needs be upon the extremes ; 
 must you mind this world to the damning of your souls ; 
 or will you not mind your callings at all ? Is there not a 
 middle way 1 may you not, must you not, get your bread 
 in a way of honest industry, that is caring most for the 
 next world, and so using of this as not abusing the same ? 
 2 Cor. iv. 18. And then a man doth so, and never but 
 then, when he sets this world and the next in their proper 
 places, in his thoughts, in his esteem, and judgment, and 
 dealeth with both accordingly, 1 Cor. vii. 29-31. And is 
 there not all the reason in the world for this 1 are not the 
 things that are eternal best ? Deut. viii, 3 ; Matt. iv. 4 ; 
 
U.NSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 95 
 
 Heb, X. 39. Will temporal things make thy soul to live ? 
 or art thou none of those that should look after the salva- 
 tion of their soul ? 
 
 Object. 3. But the most of men do that which you for- 
 bid, and why may not we ? 
 
 Answ. — God says, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to 
 do evil," Exod. xxiii. 2 ; Matt. vi. 33. It is not what 
 men do, but what God commands ; it is not what doth 
 present itself unto us, but what is best, that we should 
 choose, Luke, x. 41, 42 ; Prov. xvi. 32 ; xix. 16. Now, 
 " he that refuseth instruction, despiseth his own soul ; and 
 he that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul." 
 Make not therefore these foolish objections. But what 
 saith the word, how readest thou 1 That tells thee, that 
 the pleasures of sin are but for a season ; that the things 
 that are seen are but temporal ; that he is a fool that is 
 rich in this world, and is not so towards God ; " and what 
 shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and 
 lose his own soul. 
 
 Object. 4. But may one not be equally engaged for both 1 
 
 A')isw. — A divided heart is a naughty one ; you cannot 
 serve God and mammon, Hos. x. 2 ; Matt. vi. 24 ; Luke, 
 xvi. 13 ; xxi. 34 ; 1 John, ii. 15 ; Prov. xi. 4. " If any 
 man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him ;" 
 and yet this objection bespeaks that thy heart is divided, 
 that thou art a mammonist, or that thou lovest the world. 
 But will riches profit in the day of wrath 1 yea, are they 
 not hui-tful in the day of grace % do they not tend to surfeit 
 the heart, and to alienate a man and his mind from 
 things that are better ? why then wilt thou set thy heart 
 upon that which is not ? yea, then what will become of 
 them that are so far off of minding of their souls, that they 
 for whole days, whole weeks, whole months, and years to- 
 gether, scarce consider whether they have souls to save 1 
 
 Use 3. But, thirdly. Is it so ? Is the soul such an ex- 
 cellent thing, and is the loss thereof so unspeakably great ? 
 Then this should teach people to be very careful to whom 
 they commit the teaching and guidance of their souls. 
 
96 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 This is a business of the greatest concern ; men will be 
 careful to whom they commit their children, who they 
 make the executors of their will, in whose hand they trust 
 the writing and evidences of their lands ; but how much 
 more careful should we be — and yet the most are the least 
 of all careful — unto whom we commit the teaching and 
 guidance of our souls. 
 
 There are several sorts of soul-shepherds in the world — 
 
 1. There are idol shepherds, Zech. xi. 7. 
 
 2. There are foolish shepherds, Zech. xi. 15. 
 
 3. There are shepherds that feed themselves, and not 
 their flock, Ezek. xxxiv. 2. 
 
 4. There are hard-hearted and pitiless shepherds, Zech. 
 xi. 3. 
 
 5. There are shepherds that instead of healing, smite, 
 push, and wound the diseased, Ezek. xxxiv. 4, 21. 
 
 6. There are shepherds that cause their flocks to go astray, 
 Jer. i. 6. 
 
 7. And there are shepherds that feed their flocks ; these 
 are the shepherds to whom thou shouldst commit thy soul 
 for teaching and for guidance. 
 
 Quest, You may ask. How should I know those shep- 
 herds ? 
 
 Atisw, — First, surrender up thy soul unto G-od by Christ, 
 and choose Christ to be the chief shepherd of thy soul, 
 and he will direct thee to his shepherds, and he will of 
 his mercy set such shepherds over thee " as shall feed 
 thee with knowledge and understanding," 1 Peter, ii. 25 ; 
 iv. 19 ; John, x. 4, 5 ; Cant. i. 7, 8 ; Jer. iii. 15 ; xxiii. 
 4. Before thou hast surrendered up thy soul to Christ, 
 that he may be thy chief shepherd, thou canst not find out, 
 nor choose to put thy soul under the teaching and guidance 
 of his under-shepherds, for thou canst not love them ; be- 
 sides, they are so set forth by false shepherds, in so many 
 ugly guises, and under so many false and scandalous dresses, 
 that should I direct thee to them while thou art a stranger 
 to Christ, thou wilt count them deceivers, devourers, and 
 wolves in sheep's clothing, rather than the shepherds that 
 
UN8PEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 97 
 
 belong to the great and chief Sheplierd, who is also the 
 Bishop of the soul. 
 
 Yet this I will say unto thee, take heed of that shepherd 
 that careth not for his own soul, that walketh in ways, 
 and doth such things, as have a direct tendency to damn 
 his own soul ; I say, take heed of such an one, come not 
 near him, let him have nothing to do with thy soul ; for if 
 he be not faithful to that which is his own soul, be sure he 
 will not be faithful to that which is anotlier man's. He 
 that feeds his own soul with ashes (Ezek. xiii. 18-23), will 
 scarce feed thine with the bread of life ; wherefore, take 
 heed of such an one ; and many such there are in the world. 
 " By their fi-uits you shall know them ;" they are for flat- 
 tering of the worst, and frownii^ upon the best ; they are 
 for promising of life to the profane, and for slaying the 
 souls that God would have live ; they are also men that 
 hunt souls that fear God, but for sewing pillows under those 
 armholes which God would have to lean upon that which 
 would afflict them : " These be them that with lies do make 
 the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, 
 saith God ; and that have strengthened the hands of the 
 wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by 
 promising of him life." 
 
 And as thou shouldst, for thy soul's sake, choose for thy- 
 self good soul-shepherds, so also, for the same reason, you 
 should choose for 3'ourself a good wife, a good husband, a 
 good master, a good servant ; for in all these things " the 
 soul is concerned," Gen. xxiv. 3 ; Psalm ci. 7. Abraham 
 would not suffer Isaac to take a wife of the daughters of 
 Canaan, nor would David suffer a wicked servant to come 
 into his house, or to tarry in his sight. Bad company is 
 also very destructive to the soul, and so is evil communica- 
 tion ; wherefore be diligent to shun all these things, that 
 thou mayst persevere in that way, the end of which will 
 be the saving of thy soul, Prov. xiii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xv. 33. 
 
 And since under this head I am fallen upon cautions, let 
 me add these to those which I have presented to the© 
 already — 
 
 a 
 
98 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 1. Take heed, take heed of learning to do evil of an) diat 
 are good. It is possil:)le for a good man to do things that 
 are had, ; hut let not his had action emholden thee to run 
 upon sin. Seest thou a good man that stumhleth at a stone, 
 or that slippeth into the dirt, let that warn thee to take 
 heed ; let his stumhle make thee wary, let his fall make 
 thee look well to thy goings ; " ever follow that which is 
 good," 1 Thess. v. 15. Thy soul is at stake. 
 
 2. Take heed of the good things of bad men, for in them 
 there lies a snare also, their good words and fair speeches 
 tend to deceive (Rom. xvi. 17, 18) ; learn to he good by the 
 word of God, and by the holy lives of them that be good, 
 (Prov. iii. 31 ; xxiv. i.) ; envy not the wicked, nor desire 
 to be with him ; choose none of his ways : thy soul lies at 
 stake. 
 
 3. Take heed of playing the hj^pocrite in religion. What 
 of God and his word thou knowest, profess it honestly, con- 
 form to it heartily, serve him faithfully ; for what is the 
 hypocrite bettered by all his profession " when God shall 
 take away his soul ?" Job, xxvii. 8. 
 
 4. Take heed of delays to turn to God, and of choosing 
 his ways for the delight of thy heart, " for the Lord's eye 
 is upon them that fear him, to deliver their souls," Psalm 
 xxxiii. 18, 19. 
 
 5. Boast not thyself of thy flocks and thy herds, of thy 
 gold and thy silver, of thy sons and of thy daughters. What 
 is a house full of treasures, and all the delights of this world, 
 if thou be empty of grace, " if thy soul be not filled with 
 good V Eccles. vi. 3. But, 
 
 Use 4. Is it so 1 is the soul such an excellent thing, and 
 IS the loss thereof so unspeakabl}'- great ? Then I pray thee 
 let me inquire a little of thee, what provision hast thou 
 made for thy soul ? There be many that through their 
 eagerness after the things of this life do bereave their soul 
 of good, even of that good the which if they had it would 
 be a good to them for ever, Eccles. iv. 8. But I ask not 
 concerning this ; it is not wjmt provision thou hast made 
 for this life, but what for the life and the world to come. 
 
DXSPEAKABLENESS OV THE LOSS THEREOF. 99 
 
 " Lord, gather not my soul with sinners," said David (Ps. 
 xxvi. 9) ; not with men of this world ; Lord, not with them 
 that have tlieir portion in this life, whose helly thou fillest 
 with thy hid treasures. Thus you see how Solomon laments 
 some, and how his father prays to be delivered from their 
 lot who have their portion in this life, and that have not 
 made provision for their soul. Well, then_, let me inquire 
 of thee about this matter. What provision hast thou made 
 for thy soul ? And, 
 
 1 . What hast thou thought of thy soul 1 What ponderous 
 thoughts hast thou had of the greatness and of the immor- 
 tality of thy soul ? This must be the first inquiry ; for he 
 that hath not had his thoughts truly exercised, ponderously 
 exercised, about the greatness and the immortality of his 
 soul, will not be careful after an effectual manner to make 
 provision for his soul for the life and world to come. The 
 soul is a man's all, whether he knows it or no, as I have 
 already shewed you. Now a man will be concerned about 
 what he thinks is his all. We read of the poor servant that 
 " sets his heart upon his wages" (Deut. xxiv. 14, 15) ; but 
 it is because it is his all, his treasure, and that wherein his 
 worldly worth lieth. Why, thy soul is thy all ; it is strange 
 if thou dost not think so ; and more strange if thou dost 
 think so, and yet hast light, seldom, and trivial thoughts 
 about it. These tv.'o seem to be inconsistent, therefore let 
 thy conscience speak ; either thou hast very great and 
 weighty thouglits about the excellent greatness of thy soul, 
 or else thou dost not count that thy soul is so great a thing 
 as it is, else thou dost not count it thy all. 
 
 2. Wliat judgment hast thou made of the present state of 
 thy soul ? I speak now to the unconverted. Thy soul is 
 under sin, under the curse, and an object of wrath ; this is 
 that sentence that by the word is passed upon it — " Woe to 
 their souls, saith God ; for they have rewarded evil to them- 
 selves" (Isa. iii. 9) ; this is the sentence of God. Well, 
 but what judgment hast thou passed upon it while thou 
 livest in thy debaucheries ? Is it not that which thy 
 fellows have passed on theirs before thee, saying, " I shall 
 
100 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, 
 to add drunkenness to thirst," Deut. xxix. 19-21. If so, 
 know thy judgment is gross, thy soul is miserable, and 
 turn, or in little time thine eyes will behold all this. 
 
 3. What care hast thou had of securing of thy soul, and 
 that it might be delivered from the danger that by sin it is 
 brought into ? If a man have a horse, a cow, or a swine 
 that is sick, or in danger by reason of this or that casualty, 
 he will take care for his beast, that it may not perish, he 
 will pull it out of the ditch on the Sabbath day. But, oh \ 
 that is the day on which many men do piit their soul into 
 the ditch of sin ; that is the day that they set apart to pursue 
 wickedness in. But I say, what care hast thou taken to 
 get thy soul out of this ditch ? — a ditch out of which thou 
 canst never get it without the aid of an omnipotent arm. 
 In things pertaining to this life, when a man feels his own 
 strength fail, he will implore the help and aid of another ; 
 and no man can by any means deliver by his own ann his 
 soul from the power of hell (which thou also wilt confess, 
 if thou beest not a very brute) ; but what hast thou done 
 with God for help ? hast thou cried ? hast thou cried out ? 
 yea, dost thou still cry out, and that day and night before 
 him — " Deliver my soul, save my soul, preserve my soul, 
 heal my soul, and I pour out my soul unto thee ?" (Ps. xvii. 
 13 ; XXV. 20 ; xli. 4 ; Ixii. 5 ; Ixiii. 1-8) ; yea, canst thou say. 
 My soul, my soul waiteth upon God, my soul thirsteth for 
 him, my soul folio weth hard after him 1 I say, dost thou 
 this, or dost thou hunt thine own soul to destroy it 1 The 
 soul with some is the game, their lusts are the dogs, and 
 they themselves are the huntsmen, and never do they more 
 halloo, and lure, and laugh, and sing, than when they have 
 delivered up their soul, their darling, to these dogs ; a thing 
 that David trembled to think of, when he cried, " Dogs have 
 compassed me about ; save my darling, my soul, from the 
 power of the dog," Ps. xxii. 16, 20. Thus, I say, he cried, 
 and y«t these dogs were but wicked men. But, oh ! how 
 much is a sin, a lust, worse than a man to do us hurt ; yea, 
 worse than is a dog, a lion, to hurt a lamb ' 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 101 
 
 4. What are the signs and tokens that thou hearest about 
 thee concerning how it will go with thy soul at last ? There 
 are signs and tokens of a good, and signs and tokens of a 
 bad; and that the souls of sinners will have (Phil, i, 27, 
 28 ; Heb. vi. 9 ; Job, xxi. 29, 30 ; Isa. iii. 9) ; there are signs 
 of the salvation of the soul, evident tokens of salvation ; 
 and there are signs of the damnation of the soul, evident 
 signs of damnation. Now which of these hast thou ? I can- 
 not stand here to shew thee which are which ; but thy 
 soul and its salvation lieth before thee, and thou hast the 
 book of signs about these matters by thee ; thou hast also 
 men of God to go to, and their assemblies to frequent. 
 Look, to thyself; heaven and hell are hard by, and one of 
 them will swallow thee up ; heaven, into unspeakable and 
 endless glory ; or hell, into unspeakable and endless tor- 
 ment. Yet, 
 
 5. What are the pleasures and delights of thy soul now 1 
 Are they things divine, or things natural 1 Are they things 
 heavenly, or things earthly ? Are they things holy, or 
 things unholy ? For look what things thou delightest in 
 now, to those things the great God doth count thee a ser- 
 vant, and for and of those thou shalt receive thy wages at 
 the day of judgment — " His servants you are to whom you 
 obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto right- 
 eousness," Rom vi. 16. 
 
 Wicked men talk of heaven, and say they hope and desire 
 to go to heaven, even while they continue wicked men ; 
 but I say, what would they do there I If all that desire 
 to go to heaven should come thither, verily they would 
 make a hell of heaven ; for I say, what would they do 
 there ? why, just as they do here ; scatter their filthiness 
 quite over the face of heaven, and make it as vile as the pit 
 that the devils dwell in. Take holiness away out of heaven, 
 and what is heaven 1 I had rather be in hell were there 
 none but holy ones there, than be in heaven itself with the ' 
 children of iniquity. If heaven should be filled with wicked 
 men, God would quickly drive them out, or forsake the 
 place for their sakes. It is true, they have been sinners, 
 
102 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 and none but sinners, that go to heaven ; but they s,re 
 washed, — " Such were some of you, but ye are washed 
 (1 Cor. ix. 10, 11), but you are justified, but you are sanc- 
 tified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the 
 Spirit of our God." When the maidens were gathered 
 together for the great king Ahasuerus, before they were 
 brought to him into his royal presence, they were to be 
 had to the house of the women, there to be purified with 
 things for purification, and that for twelve months together 
 — to wit, six montlis Avith oil of myrrh, and six months 
 with sweet odours, and other things (Esther, ii. 3, 9, 12, 13), 
 and so came every maiden to the king. God also hath 
 appointed that those that come into his royal presence 
 should first go to the house of the women, the church, 
 and there receive of the eunuchs things for purification, 
 things to " make us meet to be partakers of the inheritance 
 of the saints in light," Col. i. 12. None can go from a state 
 of nature to glory but by a state of grace (1 Cor. v. 5 ; 
 Rom. ix. 23) ; the Lord gives grace and glory ; hence he 
 that goeth to heaven is said to be wrought for it, fitted, 
 prepared for it. 
 
 Use 5, Again, fifthly. Is it so ? is the soul such an excel- 
 lent thing, and is the loss thereof so unspeakably great ? 
 Then this doctrine commends those for the wise ones that 
 above all business concern themselves with the salvation 
 of their souls ; those that make all other matters but things 
 by the bye, and the salvation of their souls the one thing 
 needful. But but few comparatively will be concerned 
 with this use ; for where is he that doth this 1 Solomon 
 speaks of one man of a thousand (Eccles. vii. 28). How- 
 ever, some there be, .and blessed be God for some ; but they 
 are they that are wise, yea, wise in the wisdom of God, 
 
 1. Because they reject what God hath rejected, and that 
 is sin. 
 
 2. Because they esteem but little of that which by the 
 word is counted but of little esteem, and that is the world. 
 
 3. Because they choose for a portion that which God 
 commendeth unto us for that which is the most excellent 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 103 
 
 thing — viz. himself, his Christ, his heaven, his word, his 
 grace, and holiness, these are the great and most excellent 
 things, and the things that they have chosen that are truly 
 wise for their soul (and all other wise men are fools in 
 God's account, and in the judgment of his word), and if it 
 be so, glory and bliss must needs be their portion, though 
 others shall miss thereof—" The wise shall inherit glory, 
 but shame shall be the promotion of fools," Pro v. iii. 35. 
 
 Let me then encourage those that are of this mind to be 
 strong, and hold on their way. Soul, thou hast pitched 
 riyht ; I will say of thy choice as David said of Goliath's 
 sword, " There is none like tliat ; give it nie." " Hold last 
 that thou hast, that no man take thy crown," Rev. iii. 11. 
 Oh ! I admire this wisdom ; this is by the direction ot tne 
 Lawgiver ; this is by the teaching of the blessed Spirit of 
 God ; not the wisdom which this world teacheth, nor the 
 wisdom which the world doth choose, which comes to 
 nought. Surely thou hast seen something of the world to 
 come, and of the glory of it, through faith (1 Cor. ii. 6) ; 
 surely God has made thee see emptiness in that wherein 
 others find a fulness, and vanity in that which by others 
 is counted for a darling. Blessed are thine eyes, for they 
 see, and thine ears, for they hear. 
 
 But who told thee that thy soul was such an excellent 
 thing as by thy practice thou declarest thou believest it to 
 be ? What ! set more by thy soul than by all the world 1 
 What ! cast a world behind thy back for the welfare of a 
 soul ? Is not this to play the fool in the account of sinners, 
 while angels wonder at and rejoice for thy wisdom ? 
 
 "What a thing is this, that thy soul and its welfare should 
 be more in thy esteem than all those glories wherewith the 
 eyes of the world are dazzled ! Surely thou hast looked 
 upon the sun, and that makes gold look like a clod of clay 
 in thine eyesight. 
 
 But who put the thoughts of the excellences of the things 
 that are eternal — I say, who put the thoughts of the excel- 
 lency of those things into thy mind in this wanton age 1 in 
 an age wherein the thoughts of eternal life and the salva- 
 
104 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 tion of the soul are with and to many like the Morocco 
 ambassador and his men, of strange faces, in strange habits, 
 with strange gestures and behaviours, monsters to behold. 
 
 But where hadst thou that heart that gives entertainment 
 to these thoughts, these heavenly thoughts ? These thoughts 
 are like the French protestants, banished thence where they 
 willingly would have harbour. How came they to thy house, 
 to thy heart, and to find entertainment in thy soul ] The Lord 
 keep them in every imagination of the thoughts of thy heart 
 for ever, and incline thine heart to seek him more and more. 
 
 And since the whole world have slighted and despised, 
 and counted foolish the thoughts and cogitations wherewith 
 thy soul is exercised, what strong and mighty supporter is 
 it upon and with which thou bearest up thy spirit, and 
 takest encouragement in this thy forlorn, unoccupied, and 
 singular way "? for so I dare say it is with the most ; but 
 certainly it is something above thyself, and that is more 
 mighty to uphold thee than are the power, rage, and malice 
 of all the world to cast thee down, or else thou couldst not 
 bear up, now the stream and the force thereof are against 
 thee. 
 
 Object 1 . I know my soul is an excellent thing, and that 
 the world to come and its glories, even in the smallest 
 glimpse thereof, do swallow up all the world that is here ; 
 my heart also doth greatly desire to be exercised about the 
 thoughts of eternity, and I count myself never better than 
 when my poor heart is filled with them ; as for the rage 
 and fury of this world, it swayeth very little Avith me, for 
 my heart is come to a point ; but yet, for all that, I meet 
 with many discouragements, and such thing-s that indeed 
 do weaken my strength in the way. 
 
 But, brave soul, pray tell me what the things are that 
 discourage thee, and that weaken thy strength in the way ? 
 
 Why, the amazing greatness of this my enterprise, that 
 is one thing. I am now pursuing things of the highest, the 
 greatest, the most enriching nature, even eternal things ; 
 and the thoughts of the greatness of them drowned me ; for 
 when the heat of my spirit in the pursuit after them is a 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 106 
 
 little returned and abated, methinks I hear myself talking 
 thus to myself : Fond fool ! canst thou imagine that such 
 a gnat, a ilea, a pismire as thou art, can take and possess 
 the heavens, and mantle thyself up in the eternal glories ? 
 If thou makest first a trial of the successfulness of thy en- 
 deavours upon things far lower, more base, but much more 
 easy to obtain, as crowns, kingdoms, earldoms, dukedoms, 
 gold, silver, or the like, how vain are these attempts of 
 thine ; and yet thou thinkest to possess thy soul of heaven ! 
 Away, away ! by the height thereof thou mayst well con- 
 clude it is far above out of thy reach ; and by the breadth 
 thereof it is too large for thee to grasp ; and by the nature 
 of the excellent glory thereof, too good for thee to possess. 
 These are the thoughts that sometimes discourage me, and 
 that weaken my strength in the way, 
 
 Atiszo. — The greatness of thy undertakings does but shew 
 the nobleness of thy soul, in that it cannot, will not, be 
 content with such low and dry things as the baseborn spirits 
 that are of the world can and do content themselves withal. 
 And as to the greatness of the things thou aimest at, though 
 they be, as they are indeed, things that have not their like, 
 yet they are not too big for God to give, and he has promised 
 to give them to the soul that seeketh him (Luke, xii. 32 ; 
 Matt. XXV. 14 ; Col. i. 4) ; yea, he hath prepared the king- 
 dom, given the kingdom, and laid up in the kingdom of 
 heaven the things that thy soul longeth for, presseth after, 
 and canndt be content without. As for thy making a trial 
 of the successfulness of thy endeavours upon things more 
 inferior and base, that is but a trick of the old deceiver. 
 God has refused to give his children the great, the brave, 
 and glorious things of this world (a few only excepted), 
 because he has prepared some better thing for them (1 Cor. 
 i. 27 ; Heb. x. 39 ; xi. 36-40 ; Col. vi. 9 ; 1 Pet. i. 8, 9) ; 
 wherefore faint not, but let thy hand be strong, for thy 
 work shall be rewarded ; and since thy soul is at work for 
 soul-things, for divine and eternal things, God will give 
 them to thee ; thou art not of the number of them that 
 draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the 
 
106 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 saving of the soul ; thou shalt receive the end of thy faith, 
 the salvation of thy soul. 
 
 Object. 2. But all my discouragements do not lie in this. 
 I see so much of the sinful vileness of my nature, and feel 
 how ready it is to thrust itself forth at all occasions to the 
 defiling of my whole man, and more. Now this added to 
 the former, adds to my discouragement greatly. 
 
 Atisw. — This should be cause of humiliation and of self- 
 abasement, but not of discouragement ; for the best of saints 
 have their weaknesses, these their weaknesses. The ladies 
 as well as she that grinds at the mill know what doth 
 attend that sex ; and the giants in grace as well as the 
 weak and shrubs are sensible of the same things, which 
 thou layest in against thy exercising of hope, or as matter 
 of thy discouragement. Psalm Ixxvii. 2, poor David says, 
 his soul refused to be comforted upon this very account, 
 and Paul cries out under sense of this, " wretched man 
 that I am !" and comes as it were to the borders of a doubt, 
 saying, " Who shall deliver me" (Rom. vii, 24) ; only he 
 was quick at remembering that Christ was his righteous- 
 ness and price of redemption, and there he relieved himself. 
 
 Again ; this should drive us to faith in Christ ; for there- 
 fore are corruptions by divine permission still left in us, 
 not to drive us to unbelief, but to faith — that is, to look to 
 the perfect righteousness of Christ for life. 
 
 And for further help, consider, that therefore Christ liveth 
 in heaven, making intercession (Rom. v. 6-9), that thou 
 mightest be saved by his life, not by thine, and by his 
 intercessions, not by thy perfections, Col. i. 20 ; 1 Peter, i. 
 13 ; v. 5 ; 2 Cor. vii. 11 ; Mark, xiii. 37 ; 2 Peter, i. 10. 
 Let not therefore thy weaknesses be thy discouragements ; 
 only let them put thee upon the duties required of thee by 
 the gospel — to wit, faith, hope, repentance, humility, watch- 
 fulness, diligence, &c. 
 
 Object. 3. But I find, together with these things, weak- 
 ness and faintness as to my graces^ ; my faith, my hope, 
 my love, and desires to these and all other Christian duties 
 are weak ; I am like the man in the di-eam, that would 
 
UXSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. 107 
 
 have run, but could not ; that would have fought, but 
 could not ; and that would have fled, but could not. 
 
 A?isw. 1. Weak graces are graces, weak graces may grow 
 stronger ; but if the iron be blunt, put to the more strength, 
 Eccles. X. 10. 2. Christ seems to be nwst tender of the 
 weak, '' He shall gather his lambs with his arm, shall carry 
 them in his bosom, and shall gently lead them that are 
 with young," Isa. xl. 11. And again, " I will seek that 
 which was lost, and bring again that which was driven 
 away, and I will bind up that which was broken, and will 
 strengthen that which was sick," Ezek. xxxiv. 16, Only 
 here will thy wisdom be manifested — to wit, that thou grow 
 in grace, and that thou use lawfully and diligently the means 
 to do it, 2 Pet. iii. 18 ; Phil. iii. 10, 11 ; 1 Thess. iii. 11-13. 
 
 I come, in the next place, to a use of terror, and so I 
 shall conclude. Is it so? is the soul such an excellent 
 thing, and is the loss thereof so unspeakably great 1 Then 
 this sheweth the sad state of those that lose tlieir souls. 
 We use to count those in a deplorable condition that by 
 one only stroke are stript of their whole estate ; the fire 
 swept away all that he had ; or all that he had was in such 
 a ship, and that ship sunk into the bottom of the sea ; this 
 is sad news, this is heavy tidings, this is bewailed of all, 
 especially if such were great in the world, and were brought 
 by their loss from a high to a low, to a very low condi- 
 tion ; but alas ! what is this to the loss about which we 
 have been speaking all this while ? The loss of an estate 
 may be repaired, or if not, a man may find friends in his 
 present deplorable condition to his support, though not 
 recovery ; but far will this be fi-om him that shall lose his 
 soul. Ah ! he has lost his soul, and can never be relieved 
 again, unless hell-fire can comfort him ; unless he can 
 solace himself in the fiery indignation of God ; terrors will 
 be upon him, anguish and sorrow will swallow him up, 
 because of present misery ; slighted and set at nought by 
 God and his angels, he will also be in this his miserable 
 state, and this will add to sorrow, sorrow, and to his vexa- 
 tion of spirit, howling. 
 
108 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 To present you with emblems of tormented spirits, or to 
 draw before your eyes the picture of hell, are things too light 
 for so ponderous a subject as this ; nor can any man frame or 
 invent words, be they never so deep and profound, sufficient 
 to the life to set out the torments of hell. All those ex- 
 pressions of fire, brimstone, the lake of fire, a hery furnace, 
 the bottomless pit, and a hundred more to boot, are ail too 
 short to set forth the miseries of those that shall be damned 
 souls. " Who knows the power of God's anger ?" (Psalm 
 xc. 11) none at all ; and unless the power of that can be 
 known, it must abide as unspeakable as the love of Christ, 
 which passeth knowledge. 
 
 We hear it thunder, we see it lighten ; yea, eclipses, comets, 
 and blazing stars are all subject to smite us with terror ; 
 the thought of a ghost, of the appearing of a dead wife, a 
 dead husband, or the like, how terrible are these things! 
 But alas, what are these ? mere fleabitings, nay, not so bad, 
 when compared with the torments of hell. Guilt and de- 
 spair, what are they, who understands them unto perfec- 
 tion ? The ireful looks of an infinite ]\Iajesty, what mortal 
 in the land of the living can tell us to the full 'how 
 dismal and breaking to the soul of a man it is when it 
 comes as from the power of anger, and arises from the 
 utmost indignation 1 Besides, who knows of all the ways 
 by which the Almighty will inflict his just revenges upon 
 the souls of damned sinners? When Paul was caught 
 up to the third heaven, he heard words that were un- 
 speakable ; and he that goes do^vn to hell shall hear 
 groans that are unutterable. Hear, did I say '? they shall 
 feel them, they shall feel them burst from their wounded 
 spirits as thunderclaps do from the clouds. Once I dreamed 
 that I saw two (whom I knew) in hell, and methought I 
 saw a continual dropping from heaven, as of great drops of 
 fire lighting upon them to their sore distress. Oh ! words 
 are wanting, thoughts are Avanting, imagination and fancy 
 are poor things here ; hell is another kind of place and state 
 than any alive can think ; and since I am upon this sub- 
 ject, I will here treat a little of hell as the scriptures will 
 
INSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEUEOF. 109 
 
 give me leave, and the rather because I am upon a use 
 of terror, and because hell is the place of tonnent, Luke, xvi. 
 
 1. Hell is said to be beneath, as heaven is said to be 
 above ; because as above signifieth the utmost joy, triumph, 
 and felicity (Prov. xv. 24) ; so beneath is a term most fit 
 to describe the place of hell by, because of the utmost op- 
 position that is between these two ; hell being the place of 
 the utmost sorrow, despair, and misery ; there are the un- 
 derlings ever trampled under the feet of God ; they are 
 beneath, below, under. 
 
 2. Hell is said to be darkness, and heaven is said to be 
 light (Matt. xxii. 12), — light, to shew the pleasurableness 
 and the desirableness of heaven ; and darkness, to shew the 
 dolesome and wearisomeness of hell ; and how weary, oh ! 
 how weary and wearisomely, as I may say, will damned 
 souls turn themselves from side to side, from place to place, 
 in hell, while swallowed up in the thickest darkness, and 
 griped with the burning thoughts of the endlessness of that 
 most unutterable misery ! 
 
 3. Men are said to go up to heaven, but they are said to 
 go dow^n to hell (Ezek. xxxii. 17-19), — up, because of 
 exaltation, and because they must abound in beauty and 
 glory that go to heaven ; down, because of those sad dejec- 
 tions, that great deformity and vile contempt that sin hath 
 brought them to that go to hell. 
 
 4. Heaven is called a hill or mount, hell is called a pit, 
 or hole (Heb. xii. ; Rev. ix. 2 ; xiv.), — ^heaven, a mount, 
 the mount Zion, to shew how God has and will exalt them 
 that loved him in the world ; hell, a pit or hole, to shew 
 how all the ungodly shall be buried in the yawning paunch 
 and belly of hell, as in a hollow cave. 
 
 5. Heaven ! It is said of heaven, the height of heaven — 
 and of hell, the bottomless pit (Job, xxii. 1 2 ; Rev. ix. 2 ; 
 XX. 3) — the height of heaven, to shew that the exaltation of 
 them that do ascend up thither is 1)oth perfect and unsearch- 
 able ; and hell, the bottomless pit, to shew that the downfall 
 of them that descend in thither will never beat an end — do^vn, 
 down, down they go, and nothing but down, down still. 
 
110 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AM) 
 
 6. Heaven ! It is called the paradise of God ; but hell, 
 the burning lake (Rev. ii. 7 ; xxii. 15) — a paradise, to shew 
 how quiet, harmless, sweet, and beautiful heaven shall be 
 to them that possess it, as the garden was at the beginning 
 of the creation ; hell, the burning lake, to allude to Sodom, 
 that since its destruction has turned, into a stinking lake, 
 and to shew that as their distress was unutterable, and to 
 the highest amazement, full of confusion and horror, when 
 that tempestuous storm of fire and brimstone was rained 
 from the Lord out of heaven upon them, so to tlie utmost 
 degree shall it be with the souls that are lost and cast into 
 hell. 
 
 7. It is said that there are dwelling-houses or places in 
 the kingdom of heaven, and also that there are the cells or 
 the chambers of death in hell, John, xiv. 1-3 ; Zech. iii. 7 ; 
 Isa. Ivii. 1,2; Prov. vii. 27 ; Deut. xxxii. 22 ; Ps. Ixviii. 
 13. There are mansions or dwelling-places in heaven, to 
 shew that every one of them that go thither might have his 
 reward, according to his work ; and that there is hell, and 
 the lowest hell, and the chambers of death in hell, to shew 
 there are places and states in hell too, for sinners to be 
 imprisoned in according to their faults (Luke, xx. 47) ; 
 hence it is said of some, These shall receive greater damna- 
 tion ; and of others. That it shall be more tolerable for 
 Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment than for them, &c. 
 
 The lowest hell, Luke, x. 12, 14. How many hells 
 there are above that, or more tolerable tormenting places 
 than the most exquisite torments there, God and they that 
 are there know best ; but degrees without doubt there are ; 
 and the term "lowest" shews the utmost and most exqui- 
 site distress ; so the chambers of death, the second death 
 in liell, for so I think the words should be understood — 
 " Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers 
 of death," Prov. vii. 27. These are the chambers that the 
 chambers in the temple, or that the dwelling-places in the 
 house in heaven, are opposed to ; and this opposition shews, 
 that as there will be degrees of glory in heaven, so there 
 will of torments in hell ; and there is all reason for it, since 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OP THE LOSS THEREOF. Ill 
 
 the punishment must be inflicted by God, tlie infinitely 
 just. Wh}' should a poor, silly, ignorant man, though 
 damned, be punished with the same degree of torment that 
 he that has lived a thousand times worse shall be punished 
 with ? It cannot be ; justice will not admit it ; guilt, and 
 the quality of the transgression will not admit it ; yea, the 
 tormenting fire of hell itself will not admit it ; for if hell- 
 fire can kindle upon nothing but sin, and the sinner for the 
 sake of it, and if sin be as oil to that fire, as the Holy 
 Ghost seems to intimate, saying, " Let it come into his 
 bowels like water, and like oil into his bones" (Psalm cix. 
 17, 18), then as the quantity of the oil is, so will the fire 
 burn, and so will the flaming flame ascend, and the smoke 
 of their torment, for ever and ever. Suppose a piece of 
 timber a little bedaubed with oil, and another that hath 
 been soaking in it many a year, which of these two, think 
 you, would burn fiercest ? and whence would the flaming 
 flame ascend highest and make the most roaring noise ? 
 Suppose two vessels filled with oil, one containing the 
 quantity of a pint, the other containing the quantity of a 
 Hogshead, and suppose that in one place they were both 
 set on fire, yet so that they might not intermix flames ; 
 nay, though they did, yet all would conclude that the most 
 amazing roaring flame would be upon the biggest vessel, 
 find would be the effect of the greatest quantity of oil ; so 
 it will be with the wicked in hell, the lowest hell is for the 
 biggest sinners, and theirs will be the greater damnation, 
 and the more intolerable torment, though he that has least 
 of this oil of sin in his bones, and of the kindlings of hell- 
 fire upon him, will find he has hell enough, and will be 
 weary enough thereof, for still he must struggle with flames 
 that are everlasting ; for sin is such a thing, that it can 
 never be burned out of the soul and body of a damned 
 sinner. 
 
 But again ; having treated thus of hell, we will now speak 
 a word or two of sin, for that is it upon which hell-fire 
 seizes, and so on the soul by that. Sin \ it is the sting of 
 
112 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL, AND 
 
 hell — the sting of death is sin. By " death" in this place we 
 must not understand that which is natural, but that which 
 is in hell, the second death, even everlasting damnation ; 
 for natural death the saints die, yea, and also many sinners, 
 without the least touch of a sting fi*om that ; but here is a 
 death that has a sting to hurt, to twinge, and wound the 
 sinner with, even then when it has the utmost mastery of 
 him. And this is the death that the saved are delivered 
 from ; not that which is natural, for that is the end of them 
 as of others (1 Cor. xv. 55 ; Eccles. ii. 15, 16) ; but the second 
 death, the death in hell, for that is the portion of the damned, 
 and it is from that that the saints have a promise of deli- 
 verance — " He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the 
 second death," Rev, ii. 11. And again, " Blessed and holy 
 is he that hath part in the first resurrection ; on such the 
 second death hath no power," chap. xx. 6. It is this death, 
 then, that hath the chambers to hold each damned soul in ; 
 and sin is the twining, winding, biting, poisoning sting of 
 this death, or of these chambers of hell for sinners to be 
 stricken, stung, and pierced with. " The sting of death is 
 sin." Sin in the general of it is the sting of hell, for there 
 would be no such thing as torment even there were it not 
 that sin is there with sinners ; for as I have hinted already, 
 the fire of hell, the indignation and wrath of God, can fasten 
 and kindle upon nothing but for or because of sin ; sin then, 
 as sin is the sting and the hell of hells, of the lowest and 
 upmost hells ; sin, I say, in the nature of it, simply as it is 
 concluded both by God and the damned to be a breach of 
 his holy law, so it is the sting of the second death, which 
 is the worm of hell. But then, as sin is such a sting in 
 itself, so it is heightened, sharpened, and made more keen 
 and sharp by those .circumstances that as concomitants 
 attend it in every act ; for there is not a sin at any time 
 committed by man but there is some circumstance or other 
 attends it that makes it, when charged home by God's law, 
 bigger and sharper, and more venom and poisonous to the 
 soul than if it could be committed without it ; and this 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF. 113 
 
 is the sting of the hornet, the great sting. I sinned without 
 a cause to please a base lust, to gratify the devil ; here is 
 the sting. Again ; I preferred sin before holiness, death 
 before life, hell before heaven, the devil before God, and 
 damnation before a Saviour ; here is the sting. Again ; I 
 preferred moments before everlastings, temporals before 
 eternals, to be racked and always slaying before the life 
 that is blessed and endless ; here is the sting. Also, this I 
 did against light, against convictions, against conscience, 
 against persuasion of friends, ministers, and the godly lives 
 which I beheld in others ; here is -the sting. Also, this I 
 did against warnings, forewarnings, yea, though I saw others 
 fall before my face by the mighty hand of God for commit- 
 ting of the same ; here is the sting. 
 
 Sinners, would I could persuade you to hear me out. A 
 man cannot commit a sin but by the commission of it he 
 doth by some circumstance or other sharpen the sting of 
 hell, and that to pierce himself through, and through, and 
 through with many sorroAvs, 1 Tim. vi. 10. Also, the sting of 
 hell to some will be, that the damnation of others stands upon 
 their score, for that by imitating of them, by being deluded 
 by them, persuaded by them, drawn in by them, they perish 
 in hell for ever ; and hence it is that these principaf sinners 
 must die all these deaths in themselves that those damned 
 ones that they have drawn into hell are also to bear in their 
 own souls for ever. And this God threatened to the prince 
 of Tyrus, that capital sinner, because by his pride, power, 
 practice, and policy, he cast down others into the pit ; there- 
 fore saith God to him, " They shall bring thee down to the 
 pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in 
 the midst of the seas." And again ; " Thou shalt die the 
 deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers ; for 
 1 have spoken it, saith the Lord." Ah ! this will be the 
 sting of them, of those that are principal, chief, and, as I 
 may call them, the captain and ringleading sinners. Vipers 
 will come out of other men's fire and flames, and settle 
 upon, seize upon, and for ever abide upon their consciences, 
 
 H 
 
114 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND 
 
 and this will be the sting of hell, the great sting of hell to 
 them. 
 
 I will yet add to this ; how will the fairness of some for 
 heaven, even the thoughts of that, sting them when they 
 come to hell. It will not he so much their fall into the 
 pit, as from whence they fell into it, that will be to them 
 the buzzing noise and sharpened sting of the great and ter- 
 rible hornet. " How art thou fallen from heaven, 
 Lucifer !" there is the sting, Isa. xiv. 12 ; Matt. xi. 23. 
 Thou that art exalted up to heaven shalt be thrust down to 
 hell, though thou hast nfade thy nest among the stars, from 
 thence will I fetch thee down ; there is a sting, Obad, 4. 
 To be pulled, for and through love to some vain lust, from 
 the everlasting gates of glory, and caused to be swallowed 
 up for it in the belly of hell, and made to lodge for ever 
 in the darksome chambers of death, there is the piercing 
 sting. 
 
 But again ; as there is the sting of hell, so there is the 
 strength of that sting ; for a sting, though never so sharp 
 or venom, yet if it wanteth strength to force it to the de- 
 signed execution, it doth but little hurt. But this sting 
 has strength to cause it to pierce into the soul ; the sting of 
 death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, 1 Cor. xv. 
 56 ; Rom. iv. 15 ; vii. 8. Here then is the strength of the 
 sting of hell ; it is the law in the perfect penalty of it ; for 
 without the law, sin is dead. Yea, again he saith, where 
 no law is, there is no transgression ; the law then folio weth, 
 in the executive part of it, the soul into hell, and there 
 strengtheneth sin, that sting in hell, to pierce by its unutter- 
 able charging of it on the conscience, the soul for ever and 
 ever ; nor can the soul justly murmur or repine at God or 
 at his law, for that then the sharply apprehensive soul will 
 well discern the justness, righteousness, reasonableness, and 
 goodness of the law, and that nothing is done by the law 
 \mto it but that which is just and equal. 
 
 This therefore will put great strength and force into sin 
 to sting the soul, and to strike it with the lashes of a scor- 
 
UNSPEAKABLENESS 01' THE LOSS THEREOF. 115 
 
 pion. And yet to these the abiding life of God, the Judge 
 and God of this law, will never die. When princes die, the 
 law may be altered by the which at present transgressors 
 are bomid in chains ; but, oh ! here is also that w^hich will 
 make this sting so sharp and keen, the God that executes it 
 will never die. " It is 
 of the Uving God," Heb. x. 30, 31. 
 
J U S T 1 1 1 C A T I E 
 
 BT 
 
 AN IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS; 
 
 OK, 
 
 NO WAY TO HEAVEN BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 
 
JUSTIFICATION 
 AN IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 NO WAY TO HEAVEN BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Justification is to be diversly taken in the scripture. 
 
 1. Sometimes it is taken for the justification of persons. 
 
 2. Sometimes for the justification of actions. 
 
 3. And sometimes for the justification of tlie person and 
 action too. 
 
 It is taken for the justification of persons, and thatj 
 
 (1.) As to justification with God ; or, 
 
 (2.) As to justification with men. 
 
 As to justification with God — that is, when a man stands 
 clear, quit, free, or, in a saved condition before him, in the 
 approbation of his holy law. 
 
 As to justification with men — that is, when a man stands 
 clear and quit from just ground of reprehension with them. 
 
 Justification also is to be taken with reference to actions ; 
 and that may be when they are considered, 
 
 1. As flowing from true faith ; or, 
 
 2, Because the act done fulfils some transient law. 
 
 (1.) As actions flow fi'om faith, so they are justified, be- 
 cause done before God in, and made complete through, the 
 perfections of Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; Heb. xiii. 15 ; 
 Rev. viii, 1-4. 
 
 (2.) As by the doing of the act some transient law is ful- 
 filled ; as when Jehu executed judgment upon the house of 
 Ahab — " Thou hast done well," said God to him, " in exe- 
 
120 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 cuting that which is righteous in mine eyes, and hast done 
 to the house of Ahab all that was in mine heart," 2 Kings, 
 X. 30. 
 
 As to such acts, God may or may not look at the quali- 
 fication of those that do them ; and it is clear that he had 
 not respect to any good that was in Jehu, in the justifying 
 of this action ; nor could he, for Jehu stuck close yet to 
 the sins of Jeroboam, but " took no heed to walk in the 
 law of the Lord God of Israel," chap. x. 29, 31. 
 
 I might hence also shew you, that a man may be justi- 
 fied even then when his action is condemned ; also that a 
 man may be in a state of condemnation, when his action 
 may be justified. But with these distinctions I will not 
 take up time, my intention being to treat of justification, 
 as it sets a man free or quit from sin, the curse and con- 
 demnation of the law in the sight of God, in order to eternal 
 salvation. 
 
 And that I may with the more clearness handle this point 
 before you, I will lay do-\vn and speak to this proposition — 
 
 That there is no other way for sinners to be justified 
 from the curse of the laAV in the sight of God, than 
 by the imputation of that righteousness long ago 
 performed by, and still residing with, the person of 
 Jesus Christ. • - 
 
 The terms of this proposition are easy ; yet if it will 
 help, I will speak a word or two for explication. 
 
 (1.) By a sinner, I mean one that has transgressed the 
 law ; for " sin is the transgression of the law," 1 John, iii. 4. 
 
 (2.) By' the curse of the law, I mean that sentence, 
 judgment, or condemnation which the law pronoimceth 
 against the transgressor. Gal. iii. 10. 
 
 (3.) By justifying righteousness, I mean that which 
 stands in the doing and suffering of Christ when he was in 
 the world ; Rom. v. 19. 
 
 (4.) By the residing of this righteousness in Christ's per- 
 son, I mean, it still abides with him as to the action, though 
 the benefit is bestowed upon those that are his. 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 121 
 
 (5.) By the imputation of it to us, I mean God's making 
 of it ours by an act of his grace, that we by it might be 
 secured fi-om tlie curse of the law. 
 
 (6.) When I say there is no other way to be justified, I 
 cast away to that end the law, and all the works of the law 
 as done by us. 
 
 Thus I have opened the terms of the proposition. 
 
 Now the two first — to wit. What sin and the curse is, 
 stand clear in all men's sight, unless they be atheists, or 
 desperately heretical. I shall therefore in few words, 
 clear the other four. 
 
 First, Therefore justifying righteousness is the doing 
 and suff^ering of Christ when he was in the w^orld. This 
 is clear, because w^e are said to be " justified by his obe- 
 dience," Rom. V. 19 ; by his obedience to the law. Hence 
 he is said again to be the end of the law for that very thing — 
 '' Christ is the end of the law" for righteousness," &c., 
 Rom. X. 4. The end, what is that ? Why, the requirement 
 or demand of the law. But what is it 1 Why, right- 
 eousness, perfect righteousness, Gal. iii, 10. Perfect right- 
 eousness, what to do ? That the soul concerned might 
 stand spotless in the sight of God, Rev. i. v. Now this 
 lies only in the doings and sufferings of Christ ; for " by 
 his obedience many are made righteous ;" wherefore as 
 to this Christ is the end of the law, that being found in 
 that obedience, that becomes to us sufficient for our justifi- 
 cation. Hence, we are said to be made righteous by his obe- 
 dience ; yea, and to be w^ashed, purged, and justified by his 
 blood, Heb ix. 14 ; Romans, v. 18, 19. 
 
 Secondly^ That this righteousness still resides in and with 
 the person of Christ, even then when we stand just before 
 God thereby, is clear, for that we are said when justified 
 to be justified " in him." — " In the Lord shall ail the seed 
 of Israel be justified." And again ; " Surely, shall one sa,y, 
 in the Lord have I righteousness," &c. And again ; " For 
 him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us of God 
 righteousness^" Isa. xlv. 24, 25 ; 1 Cor. i. 30. 
 
 Mai-k, the righteousness is still "in liim," not "in us ;" even 
 
12'2 NO WAT TO HEAVEN 
 
 then when we are made partakers of the benefit of it, even 
 as the wing and feathers still abide in the hen when the 
 chickens are covered, kept, and warmed thereby. 
 
 For as my doings, though my children are fed and clothed 
 thereby, are still my doings, not theirs, so the rigiiteous- 
 ness wherewith we stand just before God from the curse 
 still resides in Christ, not in us. Our sins when laid upon 
 Christ were yet personally ours, not his ; so his righteous- 
 ness when put upon us is yet personally his, not ours. 
 What is it, then? Why, " he was made to be sin for us, 
 Avho knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness 
 of God in him," 2 Cor. v. 21. 
 
 Thirdly, It is therefore of a justifying virtue only by 
 imputation, or as God reckoneth it to us ; even as our sins 
 made the Lord Jesus a sinner — nay, sin, by God's reckoning 
 of them to him. 
 
 It is absolutely necessary that this be kno^vn of us ; for 
 if the understanding be muddy as to this, it is impossible 
 that such should be sound in the faith ; also in tempta- 
 tion, that man will be at a loss that looketh for a right- 
 eousness for justification in himself, when it is to be found 
 nowhere but in Jesus Christ. 
 
 The apostle, who was his craftsmaster as to this, was 
 always " looking to Jesus," that he " might be found in 
 him" (Phil. iii. 6-8), knowing that nowhere else could 
 peace or safety be had. 
 
 And indeed this is one of the greatest mysteries in the 
 world — namely, that a righteousness that resides with a 
 person in heaven should justify me, a sinner, on earth. 
 
 Fourthly/, Therefore the law and the works thereof, as to 
 this must by us be cast away ; not only because they here 
 are useless, but also they being retained are a hindrance. 
 That tliey are useless is evident, for that salvation comes 
 by another name. Acts, iv. 12. And that they are a hin- 
 drance, it is clear, for the very adhering to the law, though 
 it be but a little, or in a little part, prevents justification 
 by the righteousness of Christ, Rom. ix. 31, 32. 
 
 What shall I say ? As to thiri, tbe moral law is rejecte<l, 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 123 
 
 the ceremonial law is rejected, and man's righteousness is 
 rejected, for that they are here hoth weak and unprofitable, 
 Rom. viii. 2, 3 ; Gal. iii. 21 ; Heb. x. 1-12. 
 
 Now if all these and their works as to our justification are 
 rejected, where but in Christ is righteousness to be found ? 
 
 Thus much, therefore, for the explication of the proposi- 
 tion — namely, that there is no other way for sinners to be 
 justified fi'om the curse of the law in the sight of God than 
 by the imputation of that righteousness long ago performed 
 by, and still residing with, the person of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Now, from this proposition I draw these two positions — 
 
 First, That men are justified from the curse of the law 
 before God while sinners in themselves. 
 
 Secondly, That this can be done by no other righteous- 
 ness than that long ago performed by, and residing with, 
 the person of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Let us, then, now enter into the consideration of the first 
 of these — namely, That men are justified from the curse of 
 the law before God while sinners in themselves. 
 
 This I shall manifest, 
 
 1. By touching upon the mysterious acts of our redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 2. By giving of you plain texts which discover it ; and, 
 
 3. By reasons drawn from the texts. 
 
 For the first of these ; to wit, the mysterious act of our 
 redemption : and that I shall speak to under these two 
 heads — 
 
 1 . I shall shew you what that is ; and, 
 
 2. Hovj we are concerned therein. 
 
 That which I call, and that rightly, the mysterious act 
 of our redemption, is Christ's sufferings as a common, 
 though a particular person and as a sinner, though always 
 completely righteous. 
 
 That he suffered as a common person is true. By com- 
 mon, I mean a public person, or one that presents the body 
 of mankind in himself. This a multitude of scriptures 
 bear witness to, especially that fifth chapter to the Ro- 
 mans, where by the apostle he is set before us as the head 
 
124 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 of all the elect, even as Adam was once head of all the 
 world. Thus he lived, and thus he died ; and this was a 
 mysterious act. 
 
 And that he should die as a sinner, when yet himself did 
 " no sin, nor had any guile found in his mouth," made 
 this act more mysterious, 1 Pet. i. 19; ii..22; iii. 18. 
 That he died as a sinner is plain — " He hath made him to 
 be sin. And the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us 
 all," Isaiah, liii. That, then, as to his ovm person he 
 was completely sinless is also as truly manifest, and that 
 by a multitude of scriptures. 
 
 Now, I say, that Christ Jesus should be thus considered, 
 and thus die, was the great mystery of God. Hence Paul 
 tells us, that when he preached "Christ crucified," he preach- 
 ed not only the " wisdom of God," but the " wisdom of God 
 in a mystery," even his '' hidden wisdom," for, indeed, this 
 wisdom is hidden, and kept close fi-om the " fowls of the 
 air," 1 Cor. i. 23; ii. 7, 8; Job, xxviii. 20, 21. 
 
 It is also so mysterious, that it goes beyond the reach of 
 all men, except those to whom an understanding is given 
 of God to apprehend it, 1 John, v. 20. 
 
 That one particular man should represent all the elect in 
 himself, and that the most righteous should die as a sinner, 
 yea, as a sinner by the hand of a just and holy God, is a 
 mystery of the greatest depth. 
 
 Secondly, And now I come to shew you how the elect 
 are concerned therein ; that is, in this mysterious act of this 
 most blessed One ; and this will make this act yet more 
 mysterious to you. 
 
 Now, then, we will speak of this first, as to how Christ 
 prepared himself thus mysteriously to act. 
 
 1. He took hold of our nature. I say, he took hold of 
 us, by taking upon him flesh and blood. The Son of God 
 therefore, took not upon him a particular person, though 
 he took to him a human body and soul; but that which he 
 took was, as I may call it, a lump of the common na- 
 ture of man, and by that, hold of the whole elect seed of 
 Abraham ; Heb. ii. IC, " For verily he took not on him 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 125 
 
 the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of 
 Abraham." 
 
 Hence he, in a mystery, became us, and was counted 
 as all the men that were or should be saved. And this is 
 the reason why we are said to do, when only Jesus Christ 
 did do. As for instance — 
 
 First, When Jesus Christ fulfilled the righteousness of* 
 the law, it is said it was fulfilled in us, because indeed ful- 
 filled in our nature : " For what the law could not do, in 
 that it was weak through the flesh; God sending his own 
 Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned 
 sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be 
 fulfilled in us," &c. But because none should appropriate 
 this unto themselves that have not had passed upon them a 
 work of conversion, therefore he adds, " Who walk not 
 after the flesh, but after the Spirit." For there being a 
 union between head and members, though things may be 
 done by the head, and that for the members, the things 
 are counted to the members, as if not done only by the 
 head. The " righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us ;" and 
 that truly, because fulfilled in that common nature which 
 the Son of God took of the Virgin. Wherefore, in this 
 sense we are said to do what only was done by him ; even 
 as the client doth by his lawyer, when his lawyer person- 
 ates him ; the client is said to do, when it is the lawyer 
 only that does ; and to overcome by doing, when it is the 
 lawyer that overcomes ; the reason is, because the lawyer 
 does in the client's name. How much more then may it 
 be said loe do, when only Christ does ; since he does what 
 he does, not in our name only, but in our nature too ; " for 
 the law of the spirit of life in Christ (not in me) has 
 set me free from the law of sin and death," Rom. viii. 
 1-3 ; he doing in his common flesh what could not be done 
 in my particular person, that so I might have the right- 
 eousness of the law fulfilled in me, my flesh assumed by 
 Christ ; though impossible to be done, because of the weak- 
 ness of my person. 
 
 The reason of all this is, because we are said to be in 
 
126 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 him in his doing, in him hy our flesh, and aiso oy tii'^ 
 election of God. So, then, as all men sinned when Adam 
 fell, so all the elect did righteousness when Christ wrought 
 and fulfilled the law ; for " as in Adam all die, even so in 
 Christ shall all be made alive." 
 
 Secondly, As w^e are said to do hy Christ, so we are said 
 to suffer hy him, to suffer with him. " I am crucified with 
 Christ," said Paul. And again ; " Forasmuch, then, as Christ 
 hath suffered far us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise 
 with the same mind ; for he that hath suffered in the flesh 
 hath ceased from sin," 1 Pet. iv. 1, 2. Mark how the 
 apostle seems to change the person. First he says, it is 
 Christ that suffered ; and that is true ; hut then he insinu- 
 ates that it is us that suffered, for the exhortation is to 
 believers, "to walk in newTiess of life;" and the argu- 
 ment is, because they have suffered in the flesh : " For he 
 that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin ; that 
 he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to 
 the lusts of men, but to the will of God," Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 We then suffered when Christ suffered ; we then suffered 
 in his flesh and also our " old man was crucified with him," 
 Rom. vi. 6 ; that is, in his crucifixion ; for when he hanged 
 on the cross, all the elect hanged there in their common 
 flesh which he assumed, and because he suffered there as a 
 public man. 
 
 Thirdly, As we are said to suffer with him, so we are 
 said to die, to be dead with him ; with him, that is, by the 
 dying of his body : " Now, if we be dead with Christ, we 
 believe that we shall also live with him," Rom. vi. 8. 
 
 Wherefore he saith in other places, " Brethren, ye are 
 become dead to the law by the body of Christ ;" for indeed 
 we died then to it by him. To the law — -that is, the law now 
 has nothing to do with us ; for that it has already execu- 
 ted its curse to the full upon us by its slaying of the body 
 of Christ ; for the body of Christ was our flesh, upon it also 
 was laid our sin. The law, too, spent that curse that was 
 due to us upon him when it condemned, killed, and cast 
 him into the grave. Wherefore, it having thus spent its 
 
BUT BY JESTJB CHRIST. 127 
 
 whole curse upon him as standing in our stead, we are ex- 
 empted from its curse for ever; we are become dead to 
 it by that body, Rom. vii. 4 ; it has done with us as to 
 justifying righteousness. Nor need we fear its damning 
 threats any more ; for by the death of this body we are 
 freed fi-om it, and are for ever now coupled to a living 
 Christ. 
 
 Fourthly, As we are said thus to be dead, so we are said 
 also to rise again by him — " Thy dead men" (saith he to 
 the Father) " shall live, together 'with my dead body shall 
 they arise." And again ; " After two days he will revive 
 us, and in the third day we shall live in his sight," Isaiah, 
 xxvi. 19 ; Hos. vi. 2. 
 
 Both these scriptures speak of the resurrection of 
 Christ, of the resurrection of his bod^r on the third day ; 
 but behold, as we were said before to suffer and be dead 
 with him, so now we are said also to rise and live in God's 
 sight by the resurrection of his body ; for, as was said, the 
 flesh was ours ; he took part of our flesh when he came into 
 ihe world ; and in it he " suffered, died, and rose again," 
 Heb, ii. 14. We also were therefore counted by God in 
 that God-man when he did this ; yea, he suff'ered, died, and 
 rose as a common head. 
 
 Hence also the New Testament is full of this, saying, " If 
 ye be dead with Christ." " If ye be risen with Christ." 
 And again ; " He hath quickened us together with him," 
 Col. ii. 20 ; iii. 1 ; and ii. 13. 
 
 " We are quickened together with him." " Quickened," and 
 " quickened together with him." The apostle hath words 
 that cannot easily be shifted or evaded. Christ then was 
 quickened when he was raised from the dead. Nor is it 
 proper to say that he was ever quickened either before or 
 since. This text also concludes that we — ^to wit, the whole 
 body of God's elect, were also quickened then, and made to 
 live with him together. True, we also are quickened per- 
 sonally by grace the day in the which we are bom unto 
 God by the gospel ; yet before that we are quickened in our 
 
128 NO WAT TO HEAVEN 
 
 head ; quickened when he was raised from the dead ; quick- 
 ened together with him. 
 
 Fifthly, Nor are we thus considered — to wit, as dying 
 and rising, and so left. But the apostle pursues his argu- 
 ment, and tells us that we also reap by him, as being con- 
 sidered in him, the benefit which Christ received, both in 
 order to his resurrection, and the blessed effect thereof. 
 , 1. We received, by our thus being counted in him, that 
 benefit which did precede his rising from the dead ; and 
 what was that but the forgiveness of sins % For this stands 
 clear to reason, that if Christ had our sins charged upon 
 him at his death, he then must be discharged of them in 
 order to his resurrection. Now, though it is not proper to 
 say they were forgiven to him, because they were purged 
 from him by merit, yet they may be said to be forgiven us, 
 because we receive this benefit by grace. 
 
 And this, I say, was done precedent to his resurrection 
 from the dead : '* He hath quickened us together w^ith him, 
 having forgiven us all trespasses." He could not be 
 " quickened" till we were "discharged ;" because it was not 
 for himself, but for us, that he died. Hence we are said to 
 be at that time, as to our o^vn personal estate, dead in our 
 sins, even when we are " quickened together with him," 
 Col. ii. 13. 
 
 Therefore both the " quickening" and " forgiveness" too, 
 so far as we are in this text concerned, is to him, as we are 
 considered in him or to him, with respect to us. 
 
 Having forgiven you all trespasses. For necessity so 
 required ; because else how was it possible that the pains of 
 death should be loosed in order to his rising, so long as one 
 sin stood still charged to him, as that for the commission of 
 which God had not received a plenary satisfaction ? As 
 therefore we suffered, died, and rose again by him ; so, in 
 order to his so rising, he, as presenting of us in his person 
 and suffering, received for us remission of all our trespasses. 
 A full discharge therefore was, in and by Christ, received 
 of God of all our sins before he arose from the dead ; as his 
 resurrection truly declared ; for " he was delivered for our 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 129 
 
 offences, and was raised again for our justification," Rom. 
 iv. 25. 
 
 This therefore is one of the privileges we receive by the 
 rising again of our Lord ; for that we were in his flesh con- 
 sidered, yea, and in his death and suffering too. 
 
 2. By this means also we have now escaped death. 
 " Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no 
 more ; death hath no more dominion over him. For in 
 that he died, he died unto (or, for) sin once ; but in that 
 he liveth, he liveth imto God," Rom. vi. 9, 10. 
 
 Now in all this, considering what has been said before, 
 we that are of the elect are privileged, for that we also 
 are raised up by the rising of the body of Christ from the 
 dead. And thus the apostle bids us reckon — " Likewise 
 reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive 
 imto God through Jesus Christ," Rom. vi. 11. 
 
 Hence Christ says, " he is the resurrection and the life," 
 for that all his are safe in him, suffering, dying, and rising. 
 He is the life, our life ; yea, so our life that by him the 
 elect do live before God, even then when as to themselves 
 they yet are dead in their sins. Wherefore, hence it is that 
 in time they partake of quickening grace from this their 
 head, to the making of them also live by faith, in order to 
 their living hereafter with him in glory ; for if Christ 
 lives, they cannot die that were sharers with him in his 
 resurrection. Hence they are said to " live," being " quick- 
 ened together with him." Also, as sure as at his resurrec- 
 tion they lived " hy him," so sure at his coming shall they be 
 gathered " to him ;" nay, from that day to this all that, as 
 aforesaid, were in him at his death and resurrection, are 
 already, in the " fulness of the dispensation of time," daily 
 " gathering to him." For this he hath purposed, wherefore 
 none can disannul it — "In the fulness of the dispen- 
 sation of time, to gather together in one aJl things in 
 Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, 
 even in him," Eph. i. 9, 10. 
 
 3. To secure this the more to our faith that believe, as 
 we are said to be " raised up together with him," so we are 
 
 I 
 
130 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 said " to be made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus ;" Eph. ii. 6. We died by him, we rose by him, and 
 are together, even all the elect set down together in " hea- 
 venly places in Christ Jesus ;" for still even now he is on 
 the right hand of God ; he is to be considered as our pub- 
 lic man, our head, and so one in whom is concluded all 
 the elect of God. We then are by him already in heaven ; 
 in heaven, I say, by him ; yea, set dovm there in our 
 places of glory by him. Hence the apostle, speaking of 
 us again, saith, that as we are predestinate, we are called, 
 justified, and glorified ; called, justified, glorified, all is 
 done, already done, as thus considered in Christ, Rom. 
 viii. 30. For that in his public work there is nothing yet 
 to do as to this. Is not he called ? Is not he justified ? 
 Is not he glorified ? And are we not in him, in him, even 
 as so considered ? 
 
 Nor doth this doctrine hinder or forestal the doctrine of 
 regeneration or conversion ; nay, it lays a foundation for 
 it ; for by this doctrine we gather assurance that Christ 
 will have his own ; for if already they live in their head, 
 what is that but a pledge that they shall live in their per- 
 sons with him ? and, consequently, that to that end they 
 shall, in the times allotted for that end, be called to a state 
 of faith, which God has ordained shall precede and go be- 
 fore their personal enjoyment of glory. 
 
 Nor doth this hinder their partaking of the symbol of 
 regeneration, and of their other privileges to which they 
 are called in the day of grace ; yea, it lays a foundation 
 for all these things ; for if I am dead with Christ, let me 
 be like one dead with him, even to all things to which 
 Christ died when he hanged on the tree ; and then he died 
 to sin, to the law, and to the rudiments of this world, 
 Rom. vi. 10 ; vii. 4 ; Col. ii. 20. 
 
 And if I be risen with Christ, let me live, like one born 
 from the dead, in newness of life, and having my mind 
 and affections on the things where Christ now sitteth on 
 the right hand of God. And indeed he professes in vain 
 that talketh of these things, and careth not to have them 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 131 
 
 also answered in himself. This was the apostle s way — 
 namely, " To covet to know him, and the power of his re- 
 surrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made 
 conformable to his death," Phil. iii. 9-13. 
 
 And when we are thus, that thing is true both in him 
 and us. Then as is the heavenly, such are they that are 
 heavenly ; for he that saith he is in him, and by being in 
 him a partaker of these privileges by him, " ought himself 
 so to walk, even as he walked," 1 Cor. xv. 48 ; 1 John, 
 ii. 6. 8. 
 
 But to pass this digression, and to come to my argu- 
 ment — namely, that men are justified from the ciu-se of the 
 law before God while sinners in themselves. 
 
 This is evident by what hath already been said ; for if 
 the justification of their persons is by, in, and through 
 Christ ; then it is not by, in, and through their own doings. 
 Nor was Christ engaged in this work but of necessity, 
 even because else there had not been salvation for the elect. 
 " Father" (saith he), " if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
 me," Matt. xxvi. 39. If what be possible 1 Why, that 
 my elect may be saved, and I not spill my blood. Wherefore 
 he saith again, Christ ought to suffer. Christ must needs 
 have suftered ; for without shedding of blood is no re- 
 misson of sin, Luke, xxiv. 26 ; Acts, xvii. 3 ; Heb. ix. 22. 
 
 2. We will now come to the present state and condition 
 of those that are justified ; I mean with respect to their 
 own qualifications, and so prove the truth of this our great 
 position. And this I will do, 
 
 1. By giving of you plain texts that discover it, and that 
 consequently prove our point. 
 
 2. And after that, by giving of you reasons drawn from 
 the texts. 
 
 For the first of these. 
 
 1. First, " Speak not in thine heart" (no, not in thine 
 heart) "after that the Lord thy God hath cast oat thine 
 enemies before thee, saying. For my righteousness do I pos- 
 sess the land : — not for thy righteousness, or for the up- 
 rightness of thine heart, dost thou go in to possess the 
 
132 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 land. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth 
 thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, 
 for thou art a stiff-necked people," Deut. ix. 4-6. 
 
 In these words, very pat for our purpose, two things are 
 worthy our consideration. 
 
 1. The people here spoken to were the people of God ; 
 and so by God himself are they here twice acknowledged 
 to be— "The Lord thy God, the Lord thy God." So, then, the 
 righteousness here intended, is not the righteousness that is 
 in the world, but that which the people of God perform. 
 
 2. The righteousness here intended is not some, but all, 
 and every whit of that the church performs to God : " Say 
 not in thine heart, after the Lord hath brought thee in, 
 it was for my righteousness." No, all thy righteousness, 
 from Egypt to Canaan, will not purchase Canaan for 
 thee. 
 
 That this is true is evident, because it is thrice rejected — 
 " Not for thy righteousness, not for thy righteousness, not 
 for thy righteousness, dost thou possess the land." Now if 
 the righteousness of the people of God of old could not 
 merit for them Canaan, which was but a type of heaven, 
 how can the righteousness of the world now obtain heaven 
 itself ? I say again. 
 
 If godly men, as these were, could not by their works 
 purchase the type of heaven, then must the ungodly be 
 justified, if ever they be justified fi"om the curse and sen- 
 tence of the law, while sinners in themselves. The argu- 
 ment is clear ; for if good men by what they do cannot 
 merit the less, bad men by what they do cannot merit 
 more. 
 
 Secondly, " Remember me, my God, for this ; and wipe 
 not out my good deeds that I have done," Neh. xiii. 14. 
 
 These words were spoken by holy Nehemiah, and that at 
 the end of all the good that we read he did in the world. 
 Also, the deeds here spoken of were deeds done for God, for 
 his people, for his house, and for the offices thereof. 
 
 Yet godly Nehemiah durst not stand before God in these, 
 nor yet suffer them to stand to his judgment by the law ; 
 
BFT BY JESUS CHRIST, 1313 
 
 but prays to God to be merciful both to him and them, and 
 to spare him " according to the multitude of his mercy," 
 verse 22. 
 
 God blots out no good but for the sake of sin ; and for- 
 asmuch as this man prays God would not blot out his, it 
 is evident that he was conscious to himself that in his good 
 works were sin. Now, I say, if a good man's works are 
 in danger of being overthrown because tliere is in them 
 a tang [taint] of sin, how can bad men think to stand 
 just before God in their works, which are in all parts, 
 full of sin 1 Yea, if the works of a sanctified man are 
 blameworthy, how shall the works of a bad man set him 
 clear in the eyes of Divine justice ? 
 
 Thirdly, " But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our 
 righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; and we do all fade away 
 as a leaf ; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us 
 away," Isa. Ixiv, 6. 
 
 In these words we have a relation both of persons and 
 things. 
 
 1 . Of persons. And they are a righteous people, a right- 
 eous people put all together — " We, we all are," &c. 
 
 2. The condition of this people, even of all of them, take 
 them at the best, are, and that by their own confession, " as 
 an unclean thing." 
 
 3. Again the things here attending this people are their 
 good things, put dowTi under this large character, " Right- 
 eousnesses, all our righteousnesses." These expressions 
 therefore comprehend all their religious duties, both before 
 and after faith too. But what are all these righteousnesses % 
 Why they are all as " filthy rags" when set before the jus- 
 tice of the law ; yea, it is also confessed, and that by these 
 people, that their iniquities, notwithstanding all their right- 
 eousnesses, like the wind, if grace prevent not, would " carry 
 them away." This being so, how is it possible for one that 
 is in his sins to work himself into a spotless condition by 
 works done before faith, by works done by natural abili- 
 ties ? or to perform a righteousness which is able to look 
 God in the face, his law in the face, and to demand and ob- 
 
'i-^ 
 
 134 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 tain the forgiveness of sins, and the life that is eternal ? 
 It cannot he : "men must therefore be justified from the 
 curse in the sight of God while sinners in themselves, or 
 not at all." 
 
 Fourthly^ " There is not a just man upon the earth, that 
 doth good, and sinneth not," Eccles. vii. 20 ; 1 Kings, viii. 46. 
 
 Although the words before are large, yet these seem far 
 larger ; there is not a man, not a just man, not a just man 
 upon the earth, that doth good, and sinneth not. Now, if 
 no good man, if no good man upon earth doth good, and 
 sinneth not, then no good man upon earth can set himself 
 by his own actions justified in the sight of God, for he has 
 sin mixed with his good. How then shall a bad man, any 
 bad man, the best bad man upon earth, think to set him- 
 self by his best things just in the sight of God 1 And if 
 the tree makes the fruit either good or evil, then a bad 
 tree (and a bad man is a bad tree) can bring forth no good 
 fruit (Matt. vii. 16), how then shall such an one do that 
 that shall cleanse him from his sin, and set him as " spot- 
 less before the face of God ? " 
 
 Fifthly^ " Hearken to me, ye stout-hearted, that are far 
 fi'om righteousness : I bring near my righteousness," &c., 
 Isaiah, xlvi, 12, 13. 
 
 1. This call is general, and so proves, whatever men think 
 of themselves that in the judgment of God there is none 
 at all righteous men, as men are from being so. 
 
 2. This general offer of righteousness, of the righteousness 
 of God, declares that it is in vain for men to think to be 
 set just and righteous before God by any other means. 
 
 3. There is here also insinuated, that for him that thinks 
 himself the worst, God has prepared a righteousness, and 
 therefore would not have him despair of life that sees 
 himself far from righteousness. From all these scriptures, 
 therefore, it is manifest that " men must be justified from 
 the curse of 
 themselves." 
 
 Sixthly, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 136 
 
 Here we have a labouring people, a people labouring for 
 life ; but by all their labour, you see, they cannot ease 
 themselves ; their burden still remains upon them ; they 
 yet are heavy laden. The load here is, doubtless guilt of 
 sin, such as David had when he said by reason thereof 
 "he was not able to look up ;" Psal. xxxviii. 3-5. 
 
 Hence, therefore, 3^ou have an experiment set before you, 
 of those that are trying what they can do for life ; but be- 
 hold, the more they stir, the more they sink under the 
 weight of the burden that lies upon them. 
 
 And the conclusion — to wit, Christ's call to them to come 
 to him for rest — declares that, in his judgment, rest was not 
 to be had elsewhere. And I think one may with as much 
 safety adhere to Christ's judgment as to any man's alive ; 
 wherefore " men must be justified from the curse in the 
 sight of God while sinners in themselves." 
 
 Seventhly, " There is none righteous, no, not one : there 
 is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after 
 God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together 
 become unprofitable ; there is none that doth good, no, not 
 one," Rom. iii. 10-12. 
 
 These words have respect to a righteouwiess which is 
 justified by the law ; and they conclude that none by his 
 owTi performances is righteous with such a righteousness ; 
 and it is concluded from five reasons — 
 
 1. Because they are not good ; for a man must be good 
 before he doth good, an^ perfectly good before he doth 
 good and sinneth not. 
 
 2. Because they understand not. How then should they 
 do good \ for a man must know before he does, else how 
 should he divert himself to do ? 
 
 3. Because they want a heart, they seek not after God 
 according to the way of his o^vn appointment. 
 
 4. They are all gone out of the way ; how then can tliey 
 walk therein ? 
 
 5. They are together become unprofitable ; what worth 
 or value then can there be in any of their doings ? 
 
 These are the reasons by which he proveth that there is 
 
136 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 "none righteous, no, not one." And the reasons are weighty ; 
 for by them he proves the tree is not good ; how then can 
 it yield good fruit ? 
 
 Now, as he concludes from these five reasons that not 
 one indeed is righteous, so he concludes by five more that 
 none can do good to make him so — 
 
 1. For that internally they are as an open sepulchre, as 
 full of dead men's hones ; their minds and consciences are 
 defiled ; how then can SAveet and good proceed from thence ] 
 ver. 13; Matt, xxiii. 27 ; Tit. i. 15 ; Isaiah, xli v. 12 ; Jer 
 xvii. 9. 
 
 2. Their throat is filled with this stink ; all their vocal 
 duties therefore smell thereof. 
 
 3. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness ; how 
 then can there be found one word that should please God 1 
 
 4. Their tongue, \vhich should present their praise to God, 
 has been used to w^ork deceit ; how then, until it is made a 
 new one, should it speak in righteousness ? 
 
 5. The poison of asps is under their lips, therefore Avhat- 
 ever comes fi-om them, niust be polluted. 
 
 Thus, you see, he sets forth their internal part ; which 
 being a true report, as to be sure it is, it is impossible that 
 any good should so much as be framed in such an inward 
 part, or come clean out of such a throat by such a tongue 
 through such lips as these, Rom. iii. 11-14. 
 
 And yet this is not all : he also proves, and that by five 
 reasons more, that it is not possil^ they should do good — 
 
 1. " Their feet are swift to shed blood," verse 15. This 
 implies an inclination, an inward inclination to evil courses ; 
 a quickness of motion to do evil, but a backwardness to do 
 good. 
 
 2. " Destruction and misery are in their ways," verse 16. 
 Take " ways" for their " doings," and in the best of them 
 destruction lurks, and misery yet follows them at the heels. 
 
 3. " The way of peace they have not known," verse 19 ; 
 that is far above out of their sight. Wherefore the h\bour 
 of these foolish ones will w^eary every one of them, because 
 " they know not the way that goes to the city." 
 
BUT BY JESU3 CHRIST. 1,37 
 
 4. " There is no fear of Cod before their eyes," ver. 18. 
 How then can they do anything with that godly reverence 
 of his holy Majesty that is and must be essential to every 
 good work ? for to do things, but not in God's fear, to 
 whart, will it amount ? will it avail 1 
 
 5. All this while they are under a law that calls for 
 works that are perfectly good, that will accept of none but 
 what are perfectly good, and that will certainly condemn 
 them because they neither are nor can be perfectly good : 
 " For whatsoever things the law saith, it saith it to them 
 that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, 
 and all the world become guilty before God," ver. 19. 
 
 Thus you see that Paul here proves by fifteen reasons 
 that none are, nor can be, righteous before God by works 
 that they can do ; therefore " men must be justified from 
 the curse in the sight of God while sinners in themselves." 
 
 Eighthly, '*' But now the righteousness of God without 
 the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the 
 prophets," &c., ver. 21. 
 
 This text utterly excludes the law, — what law ? The 
 law of works, the moral law (ver. 27), — and makes men- 
 tion of another righteousness, even a righteousness of God ; 
 for the righteousness of the law is the righteousness of men, 
 " men's own righteousness," Phil, iii. 9. 
 
 Now, if the law, as to a justifying righteousness, is re- 
 jected, then the very matter upon and by which man should 
 work is rejected ; and if so, then he must be justified by 
 the righteousness of God, or not at all ; for he must be jus- 
 tified by a righteousness that is wdthout the law ; to wit, the 
 righteousness of God. Now this righteousness of God, what- 
 ever it is, to be sure it is not a righteousness that flows fi-om 
 men ; for that, as I said, is rejected, and the righteousness 
 of God opposed unto it, being called a righteousness that 
 is without the law, without our personal obedience to it. 
 
 The righteousness of God, or a righteousness of God's 
 completing, a righteousness of God's bestowing, a right- 
 eousness that God also gives unto, and puts upon, all them 
 that believe (ver. 22), a righteousness that stands in the 
 
138 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 works of Christ, and that is imputed both by the grace 
 and justice of God, Rom. iii. 24-26. 
 
 Where, now, is room for man's righteousness, either in 
 the whole, or as to any part thereof ? I say, where, as to 
 justification with God ? 
 
 Ninthly, " What shall we say, then, that Abraham our 
 father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found 1" 
 
 Now the apostle is at the root of the matter ; for Abra- 
 ham is counted the father of the faithful ; consequently the 
 man whose way of attaining justification must needs be 
 exemplary to all the children of Abraham. 
 
 Now the question is. How Abraham found ? how he 
 found that which some of his children sought and missed ? 
 Rom. ix. 32, — that is, how he found justifying righteous- 
 ness ; for it was that which Israel sought, and attained not 
 unto, chap. xi. 7. 
 
 " Did he find it (saith Paul) by the flesh ?" or, as he was 
 in the flesh 1 or, by acts and works of the flesh ? But what 
 are they 1 Why, the next verse tells you — " they are the 
 w^orks of the law." 
 
 If Abraham was justified by works, that is, as pertain- 
 ing to the flesh ; for the works of the law are none other 
 but the best sort of the works of the flesh. And so Paul 
 calls all they that he had before his conversion to Christ : " If 
 any other man (saith he) thinketh he hath whereof he may 
 trust in the flesh, I more." And then he counteth up seve- 
 ral of his privileges, to which he at last adjoineth the 
 righteousness of the moral law, saying, " Touching the 
 righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless," Phil, 
 iii. 4-6. 
 
 And it is proper to call the righteousness of the law the 
 work of the flesh (2 Cor. iii. 8), because it is the work of a 
 man, of a man in the flesh ; for the Holy Ghost doth not 
 attend the law, or the work thereof, as to this, in man, as 
 man ; that has confined itself to another ministration, 
 whose glorious name it bears. 
 
 I say, it is proper to call the works of the law the works 
 of the flesh (James, iii. 10), because they are done by that 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 130 
 
 selfsame nature in and out of which comes all those things 
 that are more grossly so called, Gal. v. 19, 20, — to Avit, 
 from the corrupt fountain of fallen man's polluted nature. 
 
 This, saith he, was not the righteousness hy which 
 Ahraham found justification with God — " For if Ahraham 
 was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory ; but not 
 before God. For what saith the Scripture 1 " Abraham 
 believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness,*' 
 see Rom, iv. 2-11. This " believing" is also set in flat op- 
 position to " works," and to the " law of works ;" wherefore, 
 upon pain of great contempt to God, it must not be reck- 
 oned as a work to justify withal, but rather as that which 
 receiveth and applieth that righteousness. 
 
 From all this, therefore, it is manifest " that men must 
 be justified from the curse of the law in the sight of God 
 while sinners in themselves." But, ^ 
 
 Tenthly, " Now to him that Avorketh is the reward not 
 reckoned of grace, but of debt," Rom. iv. 4. 
 
 These words do not only back what went before, as to 
 the rejection of the law for righteousness as to justifica- 
 tion with God ; but supposing the law was of force to jus- 
 tify, life must not be admitted to come that way, because 
 of the evil consequences that will unavoidably flow there- 
 from. 
 
 First, By this means, grace, and justification by grace, 
 would be rejected ; and that would be a foul business ; it 
 would not be reckoned of grace. 
 
 Secondly, By this, God would become the debtor, and so 
 the underling ; and so we in this the more honourable. 
 It would not be reckoned of grace, but of debt : and what 
 would follow from hence ? Why, 
 
 1. By this we should frustrate the design of Heaven, 
 which is, to justify us freely by grace, through a re- 
 demption brought in by Christ, Rom. iii. 24-26 ; Eph. ii. 
 8-13. 
 
 2. By this we should make ourselves the saviours, and 
 jostle Christ quite out of doors, Gal. v. 2-4. 
 
 3. We should have heaven at our own disposal, as a 
 
140 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 debt, not by promise, and so not be beholden to God for 
 it, Gal. iii. 18. It must, then, be of grace, not of works, 
 for the preventing of these evils. Again ; it must not be of 
 works, because if it should, then God would be the debtor, 
 and we the creditor. Now much blasphemy would flow 
 from hence ; as, 
 
 First, God himself would not be his o^vn to dispose of ; 
 for the inheritance being God, as well as his kingdom, — 
 for so it is written, " Heirs of God," Rom. viii. 17, — himself, 
 I say, must needs be our purchase. 
 
 Secondly, If so, then we have right to dispose of him, of 
 his kingdom and glory, and all ; ("Be astonished, heavens, 
 at this ! ") for if he be ours by works, then he is ours of 
 debt ; if he be ours of debt, then he is ours by purchase ; 
 and then, again, if so, he is no longer his own, but ours, 
 and at ouj; disposal, &c. 
 
 Therefore, for these reasons, were there sufficiency in our 
 personal works to justify us, it would be even inconsistent 
 with the being of God to suffer it. 
 
 So, then, " men are justified fi'om the curse in the sight 
 of God while sinners in themselves." 
 
 Elezcnthly, " But to him that v/orketh not, but believ- 
 eth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted 
 for righteousness," Rom. iv. 5. 
 
 These words shew how we must stand just in the sight 
 of God fi'om the curse of the law, both as it respecteth jus- 
 tification itself, as also the instrument or means that receiv- 
 eth that righteousness which justifieth. 
 
 First, As for that righteousness that justifieth, it is 
 not personal performances in us ; for the person here jus- 
 tified stands, in that respect, as one that worketh not. as 
 one that is ungodly. 
 
 Secondly, As it respecteth the instrument that receiveth 
 it, that faith, as in the point of justifying righteousness, 
 will not work, but believe, but receive the works and 
 righteousness of another ; for works and faith in this are 
 set in opposition, — " He doth not work, he doth believe," 
 Gal. iii. 12. He worketh not, but belie veth on him who 
 
BUT BY JESUS CURIST, 141 
 
 justifieth us, ungodly. As Paul also saith in another place, 
 " The law is not of faith." And again ; Works saith on this 
 wise ; faith, far different. The law saith, Do this, and live. 
 But the doctrine of faith saith, " If thou shalt confess with 
 thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart 
 that God hath raised him fi'om the dead, thou shalt be 
 saved. For with the heart man believeth mito righteous- 
 ness," &c., Rom. X. 5, 10, 
 
 Object. But faith is counted for righteousness. 
 
 Ans. Tiiie ; but yet consider, that by faith we do oft 
 understand the doctrine of remission of sins, as well as the 
 act of believing. 
 
 But again ; faith when it hath received the Lord Jesus, 
 it hath done that which pleaseth God ; therefore, the very 
 act of believing is the most noble in the world ; believing 
 sets the crown upon the head of grace ; it sets its seal to the 
 truth of the sufficiency of the righteousness of Christ (John, 
 iii. 33), and giveth all the glory to God ; and therefore it 
 is a righteous act : but Christ himself he is the " Right- 
 eousness that justifieth," Rom. iv. 20. 
 
 Besides, faith is a relative act, and hath its relation as 
 such : its relation is the righteousness that justifieth, which 
 is therefore called the righteousness of faith, or that with 
 which faith hath to do, Rom. x. 6. Separa+.e these 
 two, and justification cannot be, because faith now wants 
 his righteousness. And hence it is you have so often such 
 sayings as these — " He that believeth in me, — he tliat 
 believeth on him, — believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and thou shalt be saved," John, vL 35-40, Faith, then, 
 as separate fi'om Christ, doth nothing ; nothing neither 
 with God nor man ; because it wants its relative object, — 
 but let it go to the Lord Jesus ; let it behold him as dying, 
 &c., and it fetches righteousness, and life, and peace out 
 of the virtue of his blood, &c.. Acts, x. 29, 31, 33 ; or 
 rather, sees it there as sufficient for me to stand just 
 thereby in the sight of Eternal Justice : " For him hath 
 God set forth to be a propitiation through faith (belief) 
 
142 NO WAY TO nSAVEN 
 
 in his blood, with intent to justify him that helieveth in 
 Jesus," Rom. iii. 25, 26. 
 
 Twelfthli/y " Even as David also descriheth the blessed- 
 ness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness with- 
 out works," Rom. iv. 6. 
 
 Bid our adversaries understand this one text, they would 
 not so boldly affiiTn, as they do, that the words, " impute, im- 
 puted, imputeth, imputing," &c., are not used in scripture 
 but to express men really and personally to be that which is 
 imputed unto them ; for men are not really and personally 
 faith, yet faith is imputed to men ; nay, they are not really 
 and personally sin, nor really and personally righteousness, 
 yet these are imputed to men : so, then, both good things 
 and bad may sometimes be imputed to men, yet themselves 
 be really and personally neither. 
 
 But to come to the point : vv'hat righteousness hath 
 that man that hath no works ? Doubtless none of his 
 owTi ; yet God imputeth righteousness to him. Yea, what 
 works of that man doth God impute to him that he yet 
 justifies as imgodly ? 
 
 Further, He that hath works as to justification from the 
 curse before God, not one of them is regarded of God ; so, 
 then, it mattereth not whether thou hast righteousness of 
 thine oa\ti or none. 
 
 " Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth right- 
 eousness without works." Man's blessedness, then, the 
 blessedness of justification from the curse in the sight of 
 God, lieth not in good works done by us, either before or 
 after faith received, but in a righteousness which God im- 
 puteth without works ; as we work not, as we are ungodly. 
 " Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and 
 whose sin is covered," ver. 7. To forgive and to cover are 
 acts of mercy, not the cause of our merit. Besides, where 
 sin is real, there can be no perfect righteousness : lint 
 the way of justification must be through perfect right- 
 eousness, therefore by another than our ovm, " Blessed is 
 the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin," ver. 8. 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 143 
 
 The first cause, then, of justification before God dependeth 
 upon the will of God, who will justify because he will ; 
 therefore the meritorious cause must also be of his own 
 providing, else his will cannot herein be absolute ; for if jus- 
 tification depend upon our personal performances, then not 
 upon the will of God. He may not have mercy upon 
 whom he will, but on whom man's righteousness will give 
 him leave, Romans, ix. 15, 18. But his will, not ours, 
 must rule here ; therefore his righteousness, and his only! 
 So, then, " men are justified from the curse in the sight of 
 God while sinners in themselves." 
 
 Having passed over these few scriptures, I shall come to 
 particular instances of persons who have been justified ; 
 and ^ shall briefly touch their qualifications in the act of 
 God's justifying them. 
 First, By the Old-Testament types. 
 Secondly, By the New. 
 First, By the Old. 
 
 " And unto Adam also and to his w^ife did the Lord 
 God make coats of skins, and clothed them," Gen. iii. 21. 
 
 In the beginning of this chapter you find these two per- 
 sons reasoning with the sei-pent, the efiect of which dis- 
 course was, " They take of the forbidden fi-uit, and so break 
 the command of God," ver. 7-15. This done, they hide 
 themselves, and cover their nakedness with aprons. But 
 God finds out their sin, fi'om the highest branch even to 
 the roots thereof. 
 
 What folloAveth? Not one precept by which they 
 should by works obtain the favour of God, but the promise 
 of a Saviour ; of which promise this 21st verse is a mys- 
 tical interpretation : " The Lord God made them coats of 
 skins, and clothed them," ver. 21. 
 Hence observe, 
 
 First, That these coats were made, not before, but after 
 they had made themselves aprons ; a plain proof their 
 aprons were not sufficient to hide their shame from the 
 sight of God. 
 
 Secondly, These coats w^ere made, not of Adam's inherent 
 
144 NO VTAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 righteousness, for that was lost before by shi, but of the 
 skins of the slain lambs, types of the deatli of Christ, and of 
 the righteousness brought in thereby — " By whose stripes 
 we are healed," Isa. liii. 
 
 Thirdly^ This is further manifest ; for the coats, God 
 made them ; and for the persons, God clothed them there- 
 with ; to shew that as the righteousness by which we 
 must stand just before God from the curse is a righteous- 
 ness of Christ's performing, not of theirs ; so he, not they, 
 must put it on them also, for of God we are in Christ, 
 and of God his righteousness is made ours, 1 Cor, i. 30. 
 
 But, I say, if you would see their antecedent qualifica- 
 tions, you find them imder two heads — 
 
 First, Rebellion. 
 
 Second, Hypocrisy. 
 
 Rebellion, in breaking God's command ; hypocrisy, in 
 seeking how to hide their faults from God. Expound this 
 by gospel language, and then it shews "that men are justi- 
 fied from the curse in the sight of God while sinners in 
 themselves." 
 
 Secondly, '' The Lord had respect to Abel and to his offer- 
 ing," Gen. iv. 4. 
 
 By these words we find the person first accepted, " The 
 Lord had respect unto Abel." And indeed, where the per- 
 son is not first accepted, the offering will not be pleasing ; 
 the altar sanctifies the gift, and the temple sanctifieth the 
 gold. Matt, xxiii. 16-21 ; so the person, the condition of 
 the person, is that which makes the offering either pleasing 
 or despising. In the epistle to the Hebrews it is said, " By 
 faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than 
 Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous," 
 Heb. xi. 4. Righteous before he offered his gift, as his sa- 
 crifice testified ; for God accepted of it. 
 
 By faith he offered. Wherefore faith was precedent, or 
 before he offered. Now faith hath to do with God through 
 Christ ; not with liiin through our works of righteousness. 
 Besides, Abel was righteous before he offered, before he did 
 do good, otherwise God would not have testified of his gift. 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 14> 
 
 "By faith he obtained witness that he was righteous," for God 
 approved of his gifts. Now faith, I say, as to our standing 
 quit before the Father, respects the promise of forgiveness 
 of sins through the undertaking of the Lord Jesus. Where- 
 fore Abel's faith as to justifying righteousness before God 
 looked not forward to what should be done by himself, 
 but back to the promise of the seed of the woman, that was 
 to destroy the power of hell, "and to redeem them that Avere 
 under the law," Gen. iii. 15 ; Gal iv. 4, 5. By this faith he 
 shrouds himself under the promise of victory, and the merits 
 of the Lord Jesus. Now being there, God finds him right- 
 eous ; and being righteous, " he offered to God a more excel- 
 lent sacrifice than his brother ;" for Cain's person was not 
 first accepted through the righteousness of faith going 
 before, although he seemed foremost as to personal acts 
 of righteousness, Gen. iv. Abel therefore was righteous 
 before he did good works, but that could not be but alone 
 through that respect God had to him for the sake of the 
 Messias promised before, chap. iii. 15. But the Lord's so 
 respecting Abel presupposeth that at that time he stood in 
 himself by the law a sinner, otherwise he needed not to 
 be respected for and upon the account of another. Yea, 
 Abel also, forasmuch as he acted faith before he offered sa- 
 crifice, must thereby entirely respect the promise, which 
 promise was not grounded upon a condition of works to be 
 found in Abel, but in and for the sake of the seed of the 
 woman, which is Christ, Gal. iv. 4 ; which promise he 
 believed, and so took it for granted that this Christ should 
 break the serpent's head — that is, destroy by himself the 
 works of the devil ; to \vit, sin, death, the curse, and hell. 
 By this faith he stood before God righteous, because he had 
 put on Christ ; and being thus, he offered ; by which act of 
 faith God declared he was pleased with him, because he ac- 
 cepted of his sacrifice. 
 
 Thirdly, " And the Lord said unto her, — The elder shall 
 serve the younger," Gen, xxv. 23. These words, after 
 Paul's exposition, are to be understood of justification in the 
 sight of God, according to the purpose and decree of electing 
 
 K 
 
146 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 love, which had so determined long before that one of these 
 children should be received to eternal grace ; but mark, not 
 by works of righteousness which they should do, but " be- 
 fore they had done either good or evil ;" otherwise '' the pur- 
 pose of God" according to election, not of works, l)ut of him 
 that calleth, "could not stand," but fall in pieces, Rom. ix. 
 10-12. But none are received into eternal mercy but such 
 as are just before the Lord by a righteousness that is 
 complete ; and Jacob having done no good, could by no 
 means have that of his own, and therefore it must be 
 b}^ some other righteousness, " and so himself 1 e justified 
 from the curse in the sight of God while a sinner in him- 
 self." 
 
 Fourthly^ The same may be said concerning Solomon, 
 whom the Lord loved with special love as soon as born into 
 the world (2 Sam. xii. 24, 25),which he also confirmed with 
 signal characters. " He sent (saith the Holy Ghost) by the 
 hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedi- 
 diah, because the Lord loved him." Was this love of God 
 extended to him because of his personal virtues ? No, verily ; 
 for he was yet an infant. He was justified then in the 
 sight of God from the curse by another than his own right- 
 eousness. 
 
 Fifthly^ " And when I passed by thee, and saw thee pol- 
 luted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast 
 in thy blood. Live ; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in 
 thy blood. Live," Ezek. xvi. 6. The state of this people 
 you have in the former verses described, both as to their 
 rise and practice in the world, ver. 1-5. 
 
 (1.) As to their rise. Their original was the same with 
 Canaan, the men of God's curse. Gen. ix. 25. Thy birth 
 and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; the same with 
 (-•ther carnal men, Rom. iii. 9. " Thy father was an Amo- 
 rite, and thy mother an Hittite." 
 
 (2.) Their condition, that is shewed us by this emblem — 
 
 1. They had not been washed in water. 2. They had not 
 been swaddled. 3. They had not been salted. 4. They 
 brought filth with them into the world. 5. They lay poUu- 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. l-a> 
 
 ted in their cradle. 6. They were without strength to help 
 themselves. Thus they appear and come by generation. 
 
 Again, as to their practice — 
 
 1. They polluted themselves in their o%m blood. 2. They 
 so continued till God passed by — " And when I passed by 
 thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood ;" — in thy 
 blood, in thy blood ; it is doubled. Thus we see they were 
 polluted born, they continued in their blood till the day that 
 the Lord looked upon them ; polluted, I say, to the loath- 
 ing of their persons, &c. Now this was the time of love — 
 " And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in 
 thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy 
 blood. Live ; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy 
 blood. Live." 
 
 Quest. But how could a holy God say, live, to such a sin- 
 ful people ? 
 
 Atis. Though they had nought but sin, yet he had love 
 and righteousness. He had, 1. Love to pity them; 2. Right- 
 eousness to cover them : " Now when I passed by thee, and 
 looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love," 
 Ezek. xvi. 8. What follows ? 1, " I spread my skirt over 
 thee ;" and, 2, " Covered thy nakedness ;" yea, 3, " I sware 
 unto thee ;" and, 4, " Entered into covenant with thee ;" and, 
 5, " Thou be<}amest mine." My love pitied thee ; my skirt 
 covered thee. Thus God delivered them from the curse in 
 liis sight. " Then I washed thee with water (after thou 
 wast justified) ; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood 
 from thee, and anointed thee with oil," ver. 9. Sanctifi- 
 cation, then, is consequential, justification goes before — the 
 Holy Ghost by this scripture setteth forth to the life, free 
 grace to the sons of men while they themselves are sinners. 
 I say, while they are unwashed, unswaddled, unsalted, but 
 bloody sinners ; for by these words, " not washed, not salted, 
 not swaddled," he setteth forth their unsanctified state; yea, 
 they were not only unsanctified, but also cast out, without 
 pity, to the loathing of their persons ; yea, " no eye pitied 
 them, to do any of these things for them ;" no eye but his 
 whose gloi-ious grace is unsearchable ; no eye but his who 
 
148 NO VVAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 could look and love ; all others looked a^ia loathed ; but 
 blessed be God that hath passed by us in that day that we 
 wallowed in our own blood ; and blessed be God for the skirt 
 of his glorious righteousness wherewith he covered us when 
 we lay before him naked in blood. It was when we were 
 in our blood that he loved us ; when we were in our blood 
 he said, Live, Therefore, " men are justified from the curse 
 in the sight of God while sinners in themselves." 
 
 Si.rthly, " Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments 
 and stood before the angel," Zech. iii. 3. 
 
 The standing of Joshua here is as men used to stand that 
 Avere arraigned before a judge. " Joshua stood before the 
 angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to 
 resist him," ver. 1. The same posture as Judas stood in 
 when he was to be condemned — " Set thou (saith David) 
 a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right 
 hand," Ps. cix, 6-8. Thus therefore Joshua stood. 
 Now Joshua was clothed (not with righteousness, but) with 
 filthy rags ! Sin upon him, and Satan by him, and this 
 before the angel ! What must he do now ? Go away % No ; 
 there he must stand. Can he speak for himself ] Not a 
 word ; guilt had made him dumb, Isa. liii. 12. Had he 
 no place clean ? No ; he was clothed with filthy garments. 
 But his lot was to stand before Jesus Christ, that maketh 
 intercession for transgressors — " And the Lord said unto 
 Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, Satan ; even the Lord that 
 hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee," Zech. iii. 2. Thus 
 Christ saveth from present condemnation those that be still 
 in their sin and blood. 
 
 But is he now quit ? No ; he standeth yet in filthy gar- 
 ments ; neither can he, by aught that is in him, or done by 
 him, clear himself from him. How then 1 Why, the Lord 
 clothes him with change of raiment : the iniquities were 
 his owTi, the raiment was the Lord's — " This is the heritage 
 of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of 
 me, saith the Lord." We will not here discourse of Joshua's 
 sin, what it was, or when committed ; it is enough to our 
 purpose that he was clothed with filthy gai-ments, and 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 14!) 
 
 that the Lord made a change with him hy causing his 
 iniquity to pass from him, and by clothing him with change 
 of raiment. But what had Joshua antecedent to this glo- 
 rious and heavenly clothing ? The devil at his right hand 
 to resist him, and himself in filthy garments — " Now Jo- 
 shua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before 
 the angel. And he answered and spake to those that stood 
 before him saying. Take away the filthy garments from 
 him. And unto him he said. Behold, I have caused thine 
 iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with 
 change of raiment," ver. 3, 4. 
 
 But to pass the Old-Testament types, and to come to the 
 New. 
 
 First, " And when he was come into the ship, he that 
 had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might 
 go with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith 
 unto him, Go home to thy fi*iends, and tell them how great 
 things God hath done for thee, and hath had compassion 
 on thee," Mark, v. 18, 19. 
 
 The present state of this man is sufficiently declared in 
 these particulars — 
 
 1. He was possessed with a devil ; with devils, with 
 many ; with a whole legion, which some say is six thou- 
 sand, or thereabouts. 
 
 2. These devils had so the mastery of him as to drive 
 him from place to place into the wilderness among the 
 mountains, and so to dwell in the tombs among the dead, 
 Luke, viii. 
 
 3. He was out of his wits ; he would cut his flesh, break 
 his chains, nay, " no man could tame him," Mark, v. 7. 
 
 4. When he saw Jesus, the devil in him, as being lord 
 and governor there, cried out against the Lord Jesus. In 
 all this what qualification shews itself as precedent to jus- 
 tification ? None but such as devils work, or as rank 
 Bedlams have. Yet this poor man was dispossessed, taken 
 into God's compassion, and was bid to shew it to the world 
 — " Go home to thy fiiends, and tell them how great things 
 the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on 
 
150 KG WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 thee ;" whicli last words, because they are added over and 
 above his being dispossessed of the devils, I understand to be 
 the fruit of electing love — " I will have compassion on 
 whom I will have compassion," which blesseth us with 
 the mercy of a justifying righteousness ; and all this, as 
 by this is manifest, without the least precedent qualifica- 
 tion of ours. 
 
 Secondly, " And when they had nothing to pay, he 
 frankly forgave them both," Luke, vii. 42. 
 
 The occasion of these words was, for that the Pharisee 
 murmured against the woman that washed Jesus' feet, 
 l)ecause " she was a sinner," (ver. 37) ; for so said the 
 Pharisee, and so saith the Holy Ghost ; but saith Christ, 
 Simon, I will ask thee a question — " A certain man had two 
 debtors . the one owed him five hundred pence, and the 
 other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly 
 forgave them both," ver. 38. 
 
 Hence I gather these conclusions- 
 
 1. That men that are wedded to their own righteousness 
 understand not the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins. This 
 is maiiifested by the poor Pharisee ; he objected against 
 the woman because she was a sinner. 
 
 2. Let Pharisees murmur still, yet Christ hath pity and 
 mercy for sinners. 
 
 3. Yet Jesus doth not usually manifest mercy until the 
 sinner hath nothing to pay — "And when they had nothing to 
 pay, he frankly (or freely, or heartily) forgave them both." 
 If they had nothing to pay, then they were sinners ; but he 
 forgiveth no man but with respect to a righteousness ; 
 therefore that righteousness must be another's ; for in the 
 very act of mercy they are found sinners. They had no- 
 thing but debt, nothing but sin, nothing to pay : " Then they 
 were justified freely by grace, through that redemption that 
 is in Jesus Christ." So, then, " men are justified from the 
 curse in the sight of God while sinners in themselves." 
 
 Thirdly^ " And when he saw their faith, he said unto 
 the man. Thy sins are forgiven thee," Luke, v. 20. 
 
 This man had not righteousness to stand just before God 
 
EOT BY JESUS CHRIST. 151 
 
 withal, for his sins as yet remained unforgiven ; where- 
 fore, seeing guilt remained until Christ remitted him, he was 
 discharged while ungodly. • 
 
 And observe it, the faith here mentioned is not to be 
 reckoned so much the man's, as the faith of them that 
 brought him ; neither did it reach to the forgiveness of 
 sins, but to the miracle of healing ; yet this man in this 
 condition had his sins forgiven him. 
 
 But again ; set the case the faith was only his (as it was 
 not), and that it reached to the doctrine of forgiveness, 
 yet it did it without respect to righteousness in himself ; 
 for guilt lay still upon him, he had now his sins forgiven 
 him. 
 
 But this act of grace was a sm-prisal ; it was unlooked 
 for : " I am found of them that sought me not," Isa. Ixv. 
 They came for one thing, he gave them another ; they 
 came for a cure upon his body, but, to their amazement, 
 he cured first his soul : " Thy sins are forgiven thee," 
 
 Besides, to have his sins forgiven betokeneth an act of 
 grace ; but grace and works as to this are opposite, Rom. 
 xi. 6 ; therefore " men are justified from the curse in the 
 sight of God while sinnei-s in themselves." 
 
 Fourthly, " Father, I have sinned against heaven, and 
 in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy 
 son," Luke, xv. 21. 
 
 What this man was, is sufficiently declared in ver. 13, 
 &c. As first, a riotous spender of all — of time, talent, body, 
 and soul. 
 
 2. He added to this his rebellion great contempt of his 
 father's house — he joined himself to a stranger, and became 
 an associate with swine, ver. 15, 17 
 
 At last, indeed, he came to himself. But then observe, 
 1, He sought not justification by personal performances of 
 his own ; 2, Neither did he mitigate his wickedness ; 3, Nor 
 excuse himself before his father, but first resolveth to confess 
 his sin ; and coming to his Father, did confess it, and, that 
 with aggravating circumstances : " I have sinned against 
 heaven ; I have sinned against thee ; I am no more worthy 
 
; 1 
 
 >- 
 
 152 NO WAT TO HEAVEN 
 
 to "be called thy son," ver. 18. Now what he said was 
 true or false ;. if true, then he had not righteousness ; if 
 false, he coul^hot stand just in the sight of his father by 
 virtue of his own performances. And, indeed, the sequel 
 of the parable clears it. His father said to his servant, 
 " Bring forth the best robe," the justifying righteousness, 
 " and put it upon him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes 
 on his feet," ver, 22. This best robe, then, being in the father's 
 house, was not in the prodigal's heart ; neither stayed the 
 father for further qualifications, but put it upon him as he 
 was, surrounded with sin and oppressed with guilt. There- 
 fore " men are justified from the curse in the sight of God 
 while sinnei's in themselves." 
 
 Fifthly, " For the Son of man is come to seek and to save 
 that which was lost," Luke, xix. 10. 
 
 The occasion of these words was, for that the Pharisees 
 murmured because " Jesus was gone to be a guest to one that 
 Was a sinner," yea, a sinner of the publicans, and these words 
 are most fitly applied to the case in hand. For though Zac- 
 cheus climbed the tree, yet Jesus Christ found him first, 
 and called him down by his name ; adding withal, " For to- 
 day I must abide at thy house ;" which being opened by 
 ver. 9, is as much as to say, I am come to be thy sal- 
 vation. Now this being believed by Zaccheus, he made 
 haste and came do■^^^l, and "received him joyfully." And 
 not only so, but to declare to all the simplicity of his faith, 
 and that he unfeignedly accepted of this word of salvation, 
 he said unto the Lord, and that before all present, " Behold, 
 Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor ; and if I 
 have taken anything from any man by false accusation (a 
 supposition intimating an affirmative), I restore him four- 
 fold." This being thus, Christ doubleth his comfort, saying 
 to him also, and that before the people, "This day is salvation 
 come to this house." Then, by adding the next words, he ex- 
 pounds the whole of the matter, " For I am come to seek and 
 save that which was lost" — to seek it till I find it, to save it 
 when I find it. He finds them that sought him not, Rom. 
 X. 20 ; and, as in the case of Zaccheus, behold me ! to a 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 153 
 
 people that asked not after him. So, then, seeing Jesus 
 findeth this publican first, preaching salvation to him be- 
 fore he came do^vn from the tree, it is evident he received 
 this as he was a sinner ; from which faith flowed his fol- 
 lowing words and works as a consequence. 
 
 Sixthly, "Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
 This day shalt thou be with me in paradise," Luke, xxiii. 43. 
 
 This was spoken to the thief upon the cross, who had 
 lived in wickedness all his days ; neither had he so much 
 as truly repented — no, not till he came to die ; nay, when 
 he first was hanged he then fell to railing on Christ. For 
 though Luke leaves it out, beginning but at his conversion ; 
 yet by Matthew's relating the whole tragedy, we find him 
 at first as bad as the other. Matt, xxvii. 44. This man, 
 then, had no moral righteousness, for he had lived in the 
 breach of the law of God. Indeed, by faith he believed 
 Christ to be King, and that when dying with him. But 
 what was this to a personal performing the commandments ? 
 or of restoring what he had oft taken away ? Yea, he con- 
 fesseth his death to be just for his sin ; and so leaning upon 
 the mediation of Christ he goeth out of the world. Now 
 he that truly confesseth and acknowledgeth his sin, acknow- 
 ledgeth also the curse to be due thereto from the righteous 
 hand of God. So, then, where the curse of God is due, that 
 man wanteth righteousness. Besides, he that makes to an- 
 other for help, hath by that condemned his own (had he 
 any) of utter insufficiency. But all these did this poor 
 creature ; Avherefore he must stand " just from the law in 
 the sight of God while sinful in himself." 
 
 Seventhly, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" Acts, 
 ix. 6. What wilt thou have me to do 1 Ignorance is here 
 set forth to the full. He hitherto knew not Jesus, neither 
 what he would have him to do ; yet a mighty man for the 
 law of works, and for zeal towards God according to that. 
 Thus you see that he neither knew that Christ was Lord, 
 nor what was his mind and will — " I did it ignorantly, in 
 unbelief," 1 Tim. i. 13-15. I did not know him ; I did not 
 believe he was to save us ; I thought I must be saved by 
 
154 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 living righteously, by keeping the law of God. This thought 
 kept me ignorant of Jesus, and of justification from the 
 curse by him. Poor Saul ! how many fellows hast thou 
 yet alive J — every man zealous of the law of works, yet none 
 of them know the law of grace ; each of them seeking for 
 life by doing the law, when life is to be had by nought but 
 believing in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Eighthly, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved," Acts, xvi. 31. 
 
 A little before, we find Paul and Silas in the stocks for 
 preaching of Jesus Christ ; in the stocks in the inward 
 prison by the hands of a sturdy jailor ; but at midnight, 
 while Paul and his companion sang praises to God, the 
 foundations of the prison shook, and every man's bands were 
 loosed. Now the jailor being awakened by the noise of 
 this shaking, and supposing he had lost his prisoners, drew 
 his sword, with intent to kill himself ; " But Paul cried 
 out. Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called 
 for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell 
 down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and 
 said. Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?" In all this rela- 
 tion here is not aught that can justify the jailor. For, 
 
 1. His whole life was idolatry, cruelty, and enmity to 
 God. Yea, 
 
 2. Even now, while the earthquake shook the prison, he 
 had murder in his heart — yea, and in his intentions too ; 
 murder, I say, and that of a high nature, even to have killed 
 his own body and soul at once. Well, 
 
 3. When he began to shake under the fears of everlasting 
 burnings, yet then his heart was wrapped up in ignorance 
 as to the way of salvation by Jesus Christ : " What must 
 I do to be saved ?" He knew not what — no, not he. His 
 condition, then, was this : he neither had righteousness to 
 save him, nor knew he how to get it. Now, what v/as Paul's 
 answer ? Why, " Believ'C in the Lord Jesus Christ (look for 
 righteousness in Christ), and then thou shalt be saved." 
 This, then, still holdeth true, "men are justified from the 
 curse in the siglit of God whilst sinners in themselves." 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 155 
 
 I should now come to the second conclusion — viz., that 
 this can be done by no other righteousness than that long 
 ago performed by, and remaining with, the person of Christ. 
 But before I speak to that, I will a little further press this, 
 by urging for it several reasons. 
 
 The first reason. 
 
 First, Men must be justified from the curse while sinners 
 in themselves, because by nature all are under sin — " All 
 have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. He hath 
 concluded all in unbelief ; he hath concluded all under sin," 
 Romans, iii. 23 ; xi. 32 ; Gal. iii. 22. Now having sinned, 
 they are in body and soul defiled, and become an unclean 
 thing. Wherefore, whatever they touch with an intent to 
 work out righteousness thereby, they defile that also. And 
 hence, as I have said, all the righteousness they seek to ac- 
 complish is but as a menstruous cloth and filthy rags ; 
 therefore they are sinners still," Tit. i. 15 ; Lev. xv. 11 ; 
 Isa. Ixiv. 6. 
 
 Indeed, to some men's thinking, the Pharisee is holier 
 than the Publican ; but in God's sight, in the eyes of Di- 
 vine justice, they stand alike condemned — " All have sin- 
 ned ;" there is the poison. Therefore, as to God without 
 Christ all throats are an open sepulchre, Matt, xxiii. 27 ; 
 Rom. iii. 13. 
 
 The world in general is divided into two sorts of sin- 
 ners — 
 
 1. The open profane. 
 
 2. The man that seeks life by the works of the law. The 
 profane is judged by all ; but the other by a few. Oh ! but 
 God judgeth him. 
 
 First, For a hypocrite ; because that notwithstanding ho 
 hath sinned, he would be thought to be good and righteous. 
 And hence it is that Christ calls such kind of holy ones, "Pha- 
 risees hypocrites, Pharisees hypocrites," because by their 
 gay outside they deceived those that beheld them. But, saith 
 he, " God sees your hearts ;" you are but like " painted se- 
 pulchres, within you are full of dead men's bones," Pro v. 
 xxx. 12 ; Matt, xxiii. 27-30 ; Luke, xi. 24 ; xvi. 15. Such 
 
156 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 is the root from whence flows all their righteousness. But 
 doth the blind Pharisee think his state is such ? No ; his 
 thoughts of himself are far otherwise — " God, I thank thee 
 (saith he) I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adul- 
 terers, or even like this Publican," chap, xviii. 11, 12. Ay, 
 but still God judgeth him for a hypocrite. 
 
 Secondly, God judgeth him for one that spumeth against 
 Christ, even by every such work he doth. And hence it is, 
 when Paul was converted to Jesus Christ, that he calls the 
 righteousness he had before, madness, blasphemy, injury ; 
 because what he did to save himself by works was in direct 
 opposition to grace by Jesus Christ, Phil. iii. 7, 8 ; Acts, 
 xxii. 3, 4 ; xxvi. 4 ; 1 Tim. i. 14, 15. 
 
 Behold, then, the evil that is in a man's owti righteous- 
 ness ! 
 
 1. It curseth and condemneth the righteousness of Christ. 
 
 2. It blindeth the man from seeing his misery, 
 
 3. It hardeneth his heart against his own salvation. 
 
 Thirdly, But again, God judgeth such for those that con- 
 demn him of foolishness — " The preaching of the cross," 
 that is, Christ crucified, " is to them that perish foolish- 
 ness," 1 Cor. i. 18, 23. What ! saith the merit-monger 
 (mine ears have heard all this), will you look for life by the 
 obedience of another man % Will you trust to the blood 
 that was shed upon the cross, that run down to the ground, 
 and perished in the dust ? Thus deridingly they scoff at, 
 stumble upon, and are taken in the gin that attends the 
 gospel ; not to salvation, but to their condemnation, Isa. 
 viii. 14 ; because they have condemned the Just, that they 
 might justify their own filthy righteousness. 
 
 But, I say, if all have sinned, if all are defiled, if the best 
 of a man's righteousness be but madness, blasphemy, in- 
 jury ; if for their righteousness they are judged hypocrites, 
 condemned as opposers of the gospel, and as such have 
 counted God foolish for sending his Son into the world ; 
 then must the best of " men be justified from the curse in 
 the sight of God while sinners in themselves ;" because they 
 still stand guilty in the sight of God, their hearts are also 
 
BUT BY JESUS OHUIST. 157 
 
 still filthy infected — " Though thou wash thee with nitre, 
 and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked be- 
 fore me, saith the Lord God," Jer. ii. 22. It stands marked 
 still before God. So, then, what esteem soever men have 
 of the righteousness of the world, yet God accounts it hor- 
 rible wickedness, and the greatest enemy that Jesus hath. 
 Wherefore, this vine is the vine of Sodom ; these clusters 
 are the clusters of Gomorrah ; these grapes are grapes of 
 gall ; these clusters are bitter, they are the poison of dra- 
 gons, and the cruel venom of asps, Matt. iii. 7 ; xxiii. No 
 marvel, then, if John in his ministry gives the first rebuke 
 and jostle to such, still calling them serpents and vipers, 
 and concluding it is almost impossible they should escape 
 the damnation of hell ; for of all sin, man's ow^n righteous- 
 ness in special bids defiance to Jesus Christ. 
 
 The second reason. 
 
 Secondly, A second reason why men must stand just in 
 the sight of God from the curse while sinners in themselves 
 is, because of the exactions of the law. For were it granted 
 that men's good works arose from a holy root, and were 
 perfect in their kind, yet the demand of the law — for that 
 is still beyond them — w^ould leave them sinners before the 
 justice of God, 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; Rev. vii. 14-16 ; Heb. xiii. 8. 
 And hence it is that holy men stand just in the sight of 
 God from the curse, yet dare not offer their gifts by the 
 law, but through Jesus Christ, knowing that not only 
 their persons, but their spiritual service also, would else be 
 rejected of the heavenly Majesty. 
 
 For the law is itself so perfectly holy and good as not to 
 admit of the least failure, either in the matter or manner 
 of obedience — " Cursed is every one that continueth not in 
 all things that are AA-ritten in the book of the law to do 
 them. For they that shall keep the whole law, and yet 
 offend in one point, are guilty of all, and convicted of the 
 law as transgressors," Gal. iii. 10; James, ii. 9, 10. "Tri- 
 bulation, therefore, and anguish, upon every soul of man 
 that doth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile," 
 Rom. ii. 9. 
 
158 NO WAY TO nEAVEN 
 
 Ana observe, the law leaveth thee not to thy choice, 
 vjhen, or when not, to begin to keep it, but requireth thy 
 ol^edience so soon as concerned, exactly, both as to the 
 matter and manner, and that before thou hast sinned 
 against it ; for the first sin breaks the law, John, iii. 18. 
 Now, if thou sinnest before thou beginnest to do, thou art 
 found by the law a transgi-essor, and so standest by that 
 convicted of sin ; so, then, all thy after-acts of righteous- 
 ness are but the righteousness of a sinner, of one whom the 
 law hath condemned already. " The law is spiritual, but 
 thou art carnal, sold imder sin," Rom. vii. 14. 
 
 Besides, the law being absolutely perfect, doth not only 
 respect the matter and manner as to outward acts, but also 
 the rise and root, the heart, fi'om whence they flow ; and 
 an impediment there spoils all, were the executive part ne- 
 ver so good — " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with 
 all thy strength," Mark, xii. 30. Mark the repetition, with 
 all, with all, with all, with all ; with all thy heart, with 
 all thy soul, in all things, at all times, else tliou hadst as 
 good do nothing. But " every imagination of the thought 
 of the heart of man is only evil continually," Gen. vi. 5. 
 The margin hath it, the " whole imagination, the purposes, 
 and desires ;" so that a good root is here wanting. " The 
 heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ; 
 who can know it ?" Jer. xvii. 9. What thoughts, words, or 
 actions can be clean, sufficiently to answer a perfect law, 
 that flows from this original ; it is impossible. " Men must 
 therefore be justified fi'om the curse in the sight of God 
 while sinners in themselves." 
 
 But further yet to open the case. There are several 
 things that make it impossible that a man should stand 
 just in the sight of God but while sinful in himself. 
 
 First, Because the law under which he at present 
 stands, holds him under the dominion of sin ; for sin by 
 the law hath dominion over all that are under the law, 
 Bom, vi. 14. Dominion, I say, both as to guilt and filth. 
 Guilt hath dominion over him, because he is under the 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 159 
 
 curse ; and filth, because the law giveth him no power, 
 neither can he by it deliver his soul. And for this cause 
 it is that it is called beggarly, weak, unprofitable ; impos- 
 ing duty, but giving no strength. Gal. iii. 2 ; iv, 9 ; ex- 
 pecting the duty should be complete, yet bendeth not the 
 heart to do the work ; to do it, I say, as is required, Rom. 
 viii. 3. And hence it is again that it is called a void of 
 words, Heb. xii. 14 ; for as words that are barely such are 
 void of spirit and quickening life, so are the impositions of 
 the law of works. Thus far, therefore, the man remailns a 
 sinner. But, 
 
 Secondly, The law is so far from giving life or strength 
 to do it, that it doth quite the contrary. For, 
 
 1. It weakeneth, it discourageth, and dishearteneth the 
 sinner, especially when it shews itself in its glory ; for then 
 it is the ministration of death, and killeth all the world. 
 When Isj'ael saw this, they fled fi'om the face of God ; they 
 could not endure that which was commanded ; yea, so ter- 
 rible was the sight, that Moses said, " I exceedingly fear 
 and quake," Exod. xx. 18, 19 ; Heb. xii. 20, 21. Yea, al- 
 most forty years after, Moses stood amazed to find himselt 
 and Israel yet alive — " Did ever people," said he, " hear the 
 voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou 
 hast done, and live V Dent, iv. 32, 33. 
 
 Alas ! he who boasteth himself in the works of the law, 
 he doth not hear the law ; when that speaks, it shakes 
 Mount Sinai, and writeth death upon all faces, and makes 
 the church itself cry out, A mediator ! else we die, Exod. 
 XX. 19 ; Deut. v. 25-27 ; xviii. 15, 19. 
 
 2. It doth not only thus discourage, but abundantly in- 
 creaseth every sin. 
 
 (1.) Sin takes the advantage of being by the law ; the 
 motions of sin are by the law. Where no law is, there is 
 no transgression, Rom. iv. 15 ; vii. 5. 
 
 (2.) Sin takes an occasion to live by the law : " When 
 the commandment came, sin revived ; for without the law, 
 sin is dead," Rom. vii. 8, 9. 
 
 41 
 
]G0 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 (3.) Sin takes an occasion to multiply by the law : '' The 
 law entered, that the offence might abound," Rom. v. 20. 
 
 (4.) " And the strength of sin is the law," 1 Cor. xv. 56. 
 
 (5.) " Sin by the commandment is become" outrageous, 
 " exceeding sinful," Rom. vii. 7, 8. " What shall we say, 
 then 1 Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known 
 sin, but by the law : for I had not kno\^Ti lust, except the 
 law had said. Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occa- 
 sion by the commandment, \ATOught in me all manner of 
 concupiscence. For without the law, sin is dead." 
 
 These things, then, are not infused or operated by the 
 law from its ovm nature or doctrine, but are occasioned by 
 the meeting of, and having to do with, a thing directly op- 
 posite. " The law is spiritual, I am carnal ;" therefore 
 every imposition is rejected and rebelled against. Strike a 
 steel against a flint, and the fire flies about you ; strike the 
 law against a carnal heart, and sin appears, sin multiplies, 
 sin rageth, sin is strengthened. And hence ariseth all these 
 doubts, murmurings, and sinful complainings that are found 
 in the hearts of the people of God ; they have too much to 
 do with the law ; the law of works is now in the conscience, 
 imposing duty upon thq carnal part. This is the reason of 
 the noise that you hear, and of the sin that you see, and of 
 the horror that you feel in your own souls when tempted. 
 But to pass this digression. 
 
 The law, then, having to do with carnal men, by this 
 they become worse sinners than before ; for their heart now 
 recoileth desperately, opposeth blasphemously ; it giveth 
 way to despair ; and then, to conclude, there is no hope for 
 hereafter ; and so goeth on in a sordid, ungodly course of 
 life, till his time is come to die and be damned, unless a 
 miracle of grace prevent. From all this I conclude, that 
 " a man cannot stand just from the curse in the sight of 
 God but while sinful in himself." But, 
 
 Thirdly, As the law giveth neither strength nor life to 
 keep it, so it neither giveth nor worketh repentance unto 
 life if thou break it — Do this and live, break it and die ; 
 
BUT BY JESUS CURIST. ICl 
 
 this is the voice of the law. All the repentance that such 
 men have, it is but that of themselves, the sorrow of the 
 world (2 Cor. vii. 10) that endeth in death, as Cain's and 
 Judas's did, even such a repentance as must be repented of 
 either here or in hell-fire. 
 
 Fourthly^ As it giveth none, so it accepteth none of thein 
 that are under the law, Gal. v. 9. Sin and die, is for ever 
 its language ; there is no middle way in the law ; they 
 must bear their judgment, whosoever they be, that stand 
 and fall to the law. Therefore Cain was a vagabond still, 
 and Judas hangeth himself ; their repentance could not save 
 them, they fell headlong under the law. Gen. iv. 9-11 ; 
 Matt, xxvii. 3. The law stays no man from the due reward of 
 his deeds ; it hath no ears to hear nor heart to pity its peni- 
 tent ones. 
 
 Fifthly, By the law, God will shew no mercy ; for, " I 
 will be merciful to their unrighteousness," is the tenour of 
 another covenant, Heb. viii. 9, 10, &c. But by the law I 
 regard them not, saith the Lord. For, 
 
 Sixthly, All the promise>s annexed to the law are by the 
 first sin null and void. Though then a man should live 
 a thousand years twice told, and all that while fulfil the 
 law, yet having sinned first, he is not at all the better. Our 
 legalists, then, begin to talk too soon of having life by the 
 law : let them first begin without sin, and so throughout 
 continue to death, and then if God will save them, not by 
 Christ, but works, contrary to the covenant of grace, they 
 may hope to go to heaven. 
 
 But, lastly, to come close to the point. Thou hast sinned ; 
 the law now calls for passive as well as active obedience ; 
 yea, great contentedness in all thou sufFerest for thy trans- 
 gressing against the law. So, then, wilt thou live by the 
 law 1 Fulfil it, then, perfectly till death, and afterwards 
 go to hell and be damned, and abide there till the law and 
 curse for thy sin be satisfied for ; and then, but not till 
 then, thou shalt have life by the law. 
 
 Tell me now, you that desire to be under the law, can 
 you fulfil all the commands of the law, and after answer 
 
 L 
 
162 NO WAT TO HEAYEN 
 
 all its demands ? Can you grapple Avith the judgment of 
 God ? Can you wrestle with the Almighty ? Are you 
 stronger than he that made the heavens, and that holdeth 
 angels in everlasting chains ? " Can thine heart endure, 
 or can thy hands be strong in the day that I shall deal 
 with thee ? I, saith the Lord, have spoken it ; I will do 
 it," Ezek. xxii. 14. Oh, it cannot be ! " These must go 
 away into everlasting punishment," Matt. xxv. 46. So, 
 then, " men must stand just from the curse in the sight of 
 God while sinners in themselves," or not at all. 
 
 Object. But the apostle saith, " That the doers of the 
 law shall be justified," Rom. ii. 13, plainly intimating that, 
 notwithstanding all you say, some by doing the law may 
 stand just before God thereby ; and if so, then Christ fulfilled 
 it for us but as our example. 
 
 Aiisw. The consequences are not true ; for by these 
 words, " The doers of the law shall be justified," there is 
 no more proof of a possibility of saving thyself by the law 
 than there is by these : " For by the works of the law shall 
 no man living be justified in his sight," Gal. ii. 16. The 
 intent, then, of the text objected is not to prove a possi- 
 bility of man's salvation by the law, but to insinuate rather 
 an impossibility, by asserting what perfections the law re- 
 quireth. And were I to argue against the pretended suf- 
 ficiency of man's own righteousness, I would choose to 
 frame mine argument upon such a place as this — " The 
 hearers of the law are not just before God ;" therefore the 
 breakers of the law are not just before God ; not just, I say, 
 by the law ; but all have sinned and broken the law ; there- 
 fore none by the law are just before God. For if all stand 
 guilty of sin by the law, then that law that judgeth them 
 sinners cannot justify them before God. And what if the 
 apostle had said, " Blessed are they that continue in all 
 things," instead of pronouncing a curse for the contrary, 
 the conclusion had been the same ; for where the blessing 
 is pronounced, he is not the better that breaks the condi- 
 tion ; and where the curse is pronounced, he is not the 
 worse that keeps it. But neither doth the blessing nor 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 163 
 
 curse in the law intend a supposition that men may be just 
 by the law, but rather to shew the perfection of the law, 
 and that though a blessing be annexed thereto, no man by 
 it can obtain that blessing ; for not the hearers of the law 
 are justified before God, but the doers, when they do it, 
 shall be justified. None but doers can by it be just bcforo 
 God ; but none do the law, no, not one, Rom. iii. 10, 11 ; 
 therefore none by it can stand just before God. 
 
 And whereas it is said Christ kept the law as our ex- 
 ample, that we by keeping it might get to heaven, as he, it 
 is false, as before was shewn — " He is the end of the law," 
 or, hath perfectly finished it, " for righteousness to every 
 one that believeth," Rom. x. 3, 4. 
 
 But a little to travel with this objection : no man can 
 keep the moral law as Christ, unless he be first without 
 sin, as Christ ; unless he be God and man, as Christ. 
 
 And again ; Christ cannot be our pattern in keeping the 
 law for life, because of the disproportion that is between 
 him and us ; for if we do it as he when yet we are weaker 
 than he, what is this but to outvie, outdo, and go beyond 
 Christ ? Wherefore we, not he, have our lives exemplary : 
 exemplary, I say, to him ; for who doth the greatest work, 
 they that take it in banc in full strength, as Christ ; or he 
 that takes it in hand in weakness, as we 1 Doubtless the 
 last, if he fulfils it as Christ. So, then, by this doctrine, 
 while we call ourselves his scholars, we make ourselves in- 
 deed the masters. Btit I challenge all the angels in hea- 
 ven, let them but first sin as we have done, to fulfil the 
 law, as Christ, if they can. 
 
 But again ; if Christ be our pattern in keeping the law 
 for life from the curse before God, then Christ fulfilled the 
 law for himself ; if so, he was imperfect before he fulfilled 
 it. And how far short this is of blasphemy let sober 
 Christians judge ; for the righteousness he fulfilled was 
 to justify fi-om sin ; but if it was not to justify us from 
 ours, you know what remaineth, Dan. ix. 26 ; Isa. liii. 
 8-10. 
 
 But when must we conclude we have kept the law ? 
 
164 KO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 Not when we begin, because we have sinned first ; nor 
 when we are in the middle, for we may afterwards mis- 
 carry. But what if a man in this his progress hath one 
 sinful thought ? I query, is it possible to come up to the 
 pattern for justification with God 1 If yea, then Christ 
 had such ; if no, then who can fulfil the law as he ? 
 
 But should I grant that which is indeed impossible — 
 namely, that thou art justified by the law ; what then 1 
 Art thou now in the favour- of God ? No, thou art fallen 
 by this thy perfection from the love and mercy of God : 
 " Whosoever of you are justified by the law are fallen from 
 grace," Gal. v. 4, 5. He speaks not this to them that are 
 doing, but to such as think they have done it, and shews 
 that the blessing that these have got thereby is to fall from 
 the favour of God. Being fallen from grace, Christ profits 
 them nothing, and so they still stand debtors to do the 
 whole law. 
 
 So, then, they must not be saved by God's mercy, nor 
 Christ's merits, but alone by the works of the law. But 
 what should such men do in that kingdom that comes by 
 gift, where grace and mercy reigns ? Yea, what should 
 they do among that company that are saved alone by grace, 
 through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ? Let them 
 go to that kingdom that God hath prepared for them that 
 are fallen ft-om grace. " Cast out the bond- woman, with 
 her son ; for he shall not be heir with the son of the pro- 
 mise," Gal. iv. 30. 
 
 But to pass this objection. Before I come to the next 
 reason, I shall yet for the frn-ther clearing of this urge 
 these scriptures more. The first is that in Gal. iii. 1 0, " As 
 many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse." 
 Behold, how boldly Paul asserts it ! And observe it, he 
 saith not here, so many as sin against the law (though that 
 be true), but, " As many as are of the works of the law." 
 But what, then, are the works of the law 1 Not whore- 
 dom, murder, theft, and the like ; but works that are holy 
 and good, the works commanded in the ten commandments, 
 as to love God, abhor idols, reverence the name of God, 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 165 
 
 keeping the sa])'bath, honouring thy parents, abstaining 
 from adultery, murder, theft, false-witness, and not to covet 
 what is thy neighbour's — these are the works of the law. 
 Now he, saith Paul, that is of these is under the curse of 
 God. But what is it then to be of these ? Why, to be found 
 in the practice of them, and there resting ; this is the man 
 that is under the curse : not because the works of the law 
 are wicked in themselves, but because the man that is in 
 the practice of them comes short of answering the exactness 
 of them, and therefore dies for his imperfections, Rom. ii. 17. 
 The second scripture is that of the 11th verse of the same 
 chapter, " But that no man is justified by the law in the 
 sight of God, it is evident : for, the just shall live by faith." 
 These words, " the just shall live by faith," are taken out 
 of the Old Testament, and are thrice used by this apostle in 
 the New, 
 
 1. To shew that nothing of the gospel can be apprehended 
 but by faith : " For therein is the righteousness of God re- 
 vealed from faith to faith." " As it is wi-itten, The just 
 shall live by faith," Rom. i. 17 ; Heb. x. 38. 
 
 2. To shew that the way to have relief and succour un- 
 der temptation is then to live by faith : " Now the just 
 shall live by faith." '~ 
 
 3. But in this of the Galatians it is urged to shew that 
 how holy and just soever men be in themselves, yet as such 
 they are dead, and condemned to death by the law before 
 God. " But that no man is justified by the law in the sight 
 of God is evident : for, the just shall live by faith." 
 
 The word " just," therefore, in this place in special, re- 
 specteth a man that is just, or that so esteems himself by 
 the law, and is here considered in a double capacity. 
 
 First, What he is before men. 
 
 Secondly, What he is before God. 
 
 1. As he stands before men, he is just by the law ; as 
 Paul before his conversion, Phil. iii. 4. 
 
 2. As he stands in the sight of God ; so, without the faith 
 of Christ, he cannot be just, as is evident ; for the just shall 
 live, not by his justice or righteousness by the law. 
 
166 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 This is the true intent of this place, 
 
 1, Because they carry with them a supposition that the 
 just here intended may be excluded life, he falling within 
 the rejection asserted within the first part of the verse. No 
 man is just hy the law in the sight of God ; for " the just 
 shall live hy faith :" his justice cannot make him live, he 
 must live by the faith of Christ. Again, 
 
 2. The words are a reason dissuasive, urged to put a stop 
 to those that are seeking life by the law ; as if the apostle 
 had said. Ye Galatians ! what are you doing 1 Would you 
 be saved by keeping the law 1 Would you stand just be- 
 fore God thereby ? Do you not hear the prophets, how 
 they press faith in Jesus, and life by faith in him 1 Come, 
 I will reason with you, 
 
 1. By way of supposition. Were it granted that you all 
 loved the law, yet that for life will avail you nothing ; for, 
 " the just shall live by faith." 
 
 2. Were it granted that you kept the law, and that no 
 man on earth could accuse you ; were you therefore just 
 before God ? No ; neither can you live by works before 
 him ; for " the just shall live by faith." Why not live be- 
 fore him 1 Because when we have done our best, and are 
 applauded of all the world for just, yet then God sees sin 
 in our hearts : " He putteth no trust in his saints ; yea, the 
 heavens are not clean in his sight," Job, iv. 18. There is 
 then a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, if he 
 want the faith of Christ, Job, xv. 15 ; for that no man is 
 " justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident ; for, 
 the just shall live by faith ;" and the law is not of faith. 
 
 The third scripture is this — " We who are Jews by na- 
 ture, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man 
 is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of 
 Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that 
 we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the 
 works of the law : for by the works of the law shall no 
 flesh be justified," Gal. ii. 15, 16. 
 
 These words are the result of the experienced Christians 
 in the primitive times ; yea, of those among them that had 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 1G7 
 
 given up themselves before to the law, to get life and hea- 
 ven thereby ; the result, I say, of believing Jews — we who 
 are Jews by nature. But how are they distinguished from 
 the Gentiles ? Why, they are such that rest in the law, 
 and make their boast of God ; that know his will, and 
 approve the things that are excellent ; that are guides to 
 the blind, and a light to them that are in darkness ; that 
 are instructors of the foolish, teachers of babes, and which 
 nave the form of -knowledge, and of the truth of the law," 
 Rom. ii. 17-19. 
 
 How far these attained we find by that of the Pharisee 
 — I pray, I fast, I give tithes of all ; and by the young 
 man in the gospel — " All these have I kept from my youth 
 up," Luke, xviii. 11, 12; and by that of Paul — " Touching 
 the righteousness which is in the law, blameless," Phil, 
 iii. This was the Jew by nature, to do and trust in this. 
 Now these attaining afterwards the sound knowledge of sin, 
 the depravedness of nature, and the exactions of the law, 
 Hed from the command of the law to the Lord Jesus for 
 life. We know it ; we that are taught of God, and that 
 have found it by sad experience, we, even we, have believed 
 in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of 
 Christ, and not by the works of the law. 
 
 Surely, if righteousness had come by the law, Paul and 
 the Jews had found it, they being by many privileges far 
 better than the sinners of the Gentiles ; but these, when 
 they received the word of the gospel, even these now fly to 
 Christ from the law, that they might be justified by the 
 faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. 
 
 To conclude this. If righteous men, through the know- 
 ledge of the gospel, are made to leave the law of God, as 
 despairing of life thereby, sui'ely righteousness is not to be 
 found in the law ; I mean that which can justify thee be- 
 fore God from the curse who livest and walkest in the 
 law. 
 
 I shall therefore end this second reason with what I have 
 said before — " Men must be justified from the curse in the 
 sight of God while sinful in themselves." 
 
J68 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 The third reason. 
 
 Thirdly, Another reason why not one under heaven can 
 he justified by the law, or by his own personal perform- 
 ances to it, is, because since sin was in the world God hath 
 rejected the law and the works thereof for life, Rom. 
 vii. 10. 
 
 It is true, before man had sinned, it was ordained to be 
 unto life ; but since, and because of sin, the God of love 
 gave the word of grace. Take the law, then, as God hath 
 established it — to wit, to condemn all flesh, Gal. iii. 21 ; 
 and then there is room for the promise and the law, the 
 one to kill, the other to heal ; and so the law is not against 
 the promises, Rom. iv. 14 ; but make the law a justifier, 
 and faith is made void, and the promise is made of none 
 effect ; and the everlasting gospel, by so doing, thou en- 
 deavourest to root out of the world. 
 
 Methinks, since it hath pleased God to reject the law 
 and the righteousness thereof for life, such dust and ashes 
 as we are should strive to consent to his holy will, espe- 
 cially when in the room of this of works there is esta- 
 blished a better covenant, and that upon better promises. 
 
 The Lord hath rejected the law, for the weakness and 
 unprofitableness thereof ; for finding fault with them of the 
 law, " The days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a 
 new covenant with the house of Israel," &c., Heb. viii. 
 7, 8. Give God leave to find fault with us, and to condemn 
 our personal performances to death, as to our justification 
 before him thereby ; let him do it, I say ; and the rather, 
 because he doth by the gospel present us with a better. 
 And certainly, if ever he be pleased with us, it will be when 
 he findeth us in that righteousness that is of his own ap- 
 pointing. 
 
 To conclude. Notwithstanding all that hath or can be 
 said, there are six things that have great power with the 
 heart to bend it to seek life before God by the law ; of all 
 which I would caution that soul to beware that woiild have 
 happiness in another world. 
 
 First, Take heed thou be not ma.de to seek to the law 
 
BUT BY JESUS CnRTST. 109 
 
 for life, because of that name and majesty of God wliich 
 thou findest upon the doctrine of the law, Exodus, xx. 1, 
 God indeed spake all the ■words of the law, and delivered 
 them in that dread and majesty to men that shook the 
 hearts of all that heard it. Now this is of great authority 
 with some, even to seek for life and bliss by the law : " We 
 know," said some, " that God spake to Moses," John, ix. 
 28, 29. And Saul rejected Christ even of zeal towards 
 God, Acts, xxii. 3. What zeal ? Zeal towards God ac- 
 cording to the law, which afterwards he left and rejected, 
 because he had found out a better way. Gal. ii. 20. The 
 life that he once lived, it was by the law, but afterwards, 
 saith he, the life that I now live it is by faith, by the faith 
 of Jesus Christ. So that, though the law was the appoint- 
 ment of God, and had also his name and majesty upon it, 
 yet now he will not live by the law. Indeed, God is in 
 the law, but yet only as just and holy, not as gracious and 
 merciful ; so he is only in Jesus Christ. " The laAv," the 
 word of justice, " was given by Moses, but grace and 
 truth came by Jesus Christ," John, i. 17. Wherefore, 
 whatever of God thou findest in the law, yet seeing 
 grace and mercy is not there, let neither the name of God 
 nor that majesty that thou findest of him in the law pre- 
 vail with thee to seek life by all the holy commands of the 
 law. 
 
 Secondly, Take heed that the law, by taking hold on thy 
 conscience, doth not make thee seek life by the law, Rom. ii. 
 13-15. The heart of man is the seat of the law ; this being 
 so, the understanding and conscience must needs be in dan- 
 ger of being bound by the law. Man is a law unto him- 
 self, and sheweth that the works of the law are A\Titten in 
 his heart. Now the law being thus nearly related to man, 
 it easily takes hold of the understanding and conscience ; 
 by which hold, if it be not quickly broken off by the pro- 
 mise and grace of the gospel, it is captivated to the works 
 of the law ; for conscience is such a thing, that if it once 
 be possessed with a doctrine, yea, though but with the doc- 
 trine of an idol (1 Cor. viii. 6, 7), it will cleave so fast 
 
170 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 thereto that nothing but a hand from heaven can loosen it ; 
 and if it be not loosed, no gospel can be there embraced. 
 Conscience is Little-ease, if men resist it, whether it be 
 rightly or ^^Tongly informed. How fast, then, will it hold 
 when it knows it cleaves to the law of God ! Upon this 
 account the condition of the unbeliever is most miserable ; 
 for not having faith in the gospel of grace, through which 
 is tendered the forgiveness of sins, they, like men dro^\^l- 
 ing, hold fast that they have found ; which being the law 
 of God, they follow it ; but because righteousness flies from 
 them, they at last are found only accursed and condemned 
 to hell by the law, Rom ix. 31, 32. Take heed, therefore, 
 that thy conscience be not entangled by the law. 
 
 Thirdly, Take heed of fleshly wisdom. Reasoning suit- 
 eth much with the law — " I thought verily that I ought to 
 do many things against the name of Jesus," and so to have 
 sought for life by the law ; my reason told me so. For 
 thus will reason say : Here is a righteous law, the rule of 
 life and death ; besides, what can be better than to love 
 God, and my neighbour as myself ? Again ; God hath thus 
 commanded, and his commands are just and good ; there- 
 fore, doubtless, life must come by the law. Further, to 
 love God and keep the law are better than to sin and break 
 it ; and seeing men lost heaven b}'' sin, how should they 
 get it again but by working righteousness ? Besides, God 
 is righteous, and will therefore bless the righteous. Oh, 
 the holiness of the law ! It mightily swayeth with rea- 
 son when a man addicteth himself to religion ; the light of 
 nature teacheth that sin is not the way to heaven ; and seeing 
 no word doth more condemn sin than the Avords of the ten com- 
 mandments, it must needs be therefore the most perfect rule 
 for holiness ; wherefore, saith reason, the safest way to life 
 and glory is to keep myself close to the law. But a little 
 here to con-ect. Though the law indeed be holy, yet the 
 mistake as to the matter in hand is as wide as the east 
 from the west ; for therefore the law can do thee no good, 
 because it is holy and just ; for what can he that hath 
 sinned expect from a law that is holy and just ? Nought 
 
BUT BY JESU3 CHRIST. 171 
 
 but condemnation. Let them lean to it while they will, 
 *' there is one that aeeuseth you," saith Christ, "even Moses 
 in whom you trust," John, v. 45. 
 
 Fourthly, Man's ignorance of the gospel suiteth well with 
 the doctrine of the law ; they, through their heing igno- 
 rant of God's righteousness, fall in love with that, Rom. x. 
 1-4. Yea, they do not only suit, but, when joined in act, 
 tlie one strengtheneth the other — that is, the law strength- 
 eneth our blindness, and bindeth the veil more fast about 
 the face of our souls. The law suiteth much our blindness 
 of mind, " For mitil this day remains the veil untaken 
 away in the reading of the Old Testament" (2 Cor. iii. 
 15, 16), especially in the reading of that which was written 
 and engraven on stones — to wit, the ten commandments, 
 that peifect rule for holiness, — which veil is done away in 
 Christ. But " even to this day, when Moses is read, the 
 veil is over their hearts ;" they are blinded by the duties 
 enjoined by the law fi-om the sight and hopes of forgiveness 
 of sins by grace — " Nevertheless when it (the heart) shall 
 turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." The law, 
 then, doth veil the heart fr-om Christ, and holds the man so 
 down to doing and working for the kingdom of heaven, 
 that he quite forgets the forgiveness of sins by mercy 
 through Christ. Now this veiling or blinding by the law 
 is occasioned, 
 
 L By reason of the contrariety of doctrine that is in the 
 law to that which was in the gospel. The law requireth 
 obedience to all its demands upon pain of everlasting burn- 
 ing ; the gospel promiseth forgiveness of sins to him that 
 v>»3rketh not, but believeth. Now the heart cannot receive 
 both these doctrines ; it must either let go doing or believ- 
 ing. If it believe, it is dead to doing ; if it be set to doing 
 for life, it is dead to belie\dng. Besides, he that shall think 
 both to do and believe for justification before God from the 
 curse, he seeks for life but as it were by the law, he seeks 
 for life but as it were by Christ ; and he being not direct 
 in either, shall for certain be forsaken of both. Where- 
 
172 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 fore ? " Because he seeks it not by faith, but as it were 
 by the works of the law," Rom. ix. 32, 
 
 2. The law veils and blinds by that guilt and horror for 
 sin that seizeth the soul by the law ; for guilt, when 
 charged close upon the conscience, is attended with such 
 aggravations, and that with such power and evidence, that 
 the conscience cannot hear, nor see, nor feel anything else 
 but that. When David's guilt for murder and blood did 
 roar by the law in his conscience, notwithstanding he knew 
 much of the grace of the gospel, he could hear nothing else 
 but terror, the sound of blood ; the murder of Uriah was 
 the only noise that he heard ; wherefore he crieth to God 
 that he would nnahe him hear the gospel : " Make me to 
 hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast 
 broken may rejoice," Psalm li. 8. And as he could not 
 Aear, so neither could he see ; the law had struck him deaf 
 and blind : " I am (saith he) not able to look up ;" not up 
 to Christ for mercy. As if David had said, Lord, the 
 guilt of sin, which is by the law, makes such a noise and 
 horror in my conscience, that I can neither hear nor see 
 the word of peace, unless it is spoken with a voice from 
 heaven ! The serpents that bit the people in the days of 
 old were types of guilt and sin, K^um. xxi. 6. Now these 
 w^ere fiery serpents, and such as, I think, coiild fly, Isa. 
 xiv, 29 ; wherefore, in my judgment, they stung the people 
 about their faces, and so swelled up their eyes, which made 
 it the more difficult for them to look up to the brazen ser- 
 pent, which was the type of Christ, John, iii. 14. Just so 
 doth sin by the law do now ; it stings the soul, the very 
 face of the soul, which is the cause that looking up to Jesus, 
 or believing in him, is so difficult a task in time of terror 
 of conscience. 
 
 3. This is not only so at present, but so long as guilt is 
 on the conscience, so long remains the blindness ; for guilt 
 standing before the soul, the grace of God is intercepted, 
 even as the sun is hid from the sight of mine eyes by the 
 cloud that Cometh between : " My sin," said David^ " is 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 173 
 
 ever "before me" (Psalm li. 3), and so kept other things out 
 of his sight : sin, I say, when applied hy the law. AVheu 
 the law came to Paul, he remained without sight (Acts, ix.) 
 until the good man came unto him with the word of for- 
 giveness of sins. 
 
 4. Again ; where the law comes with power, there it he- 
 getteth many doubts against the grace of God ; for it is 
 only a revealer of sin, and the ministration of death ; that 
 is, a doctrine that sheweth sin, and condemneth for the 
 same ; hence, therefore, as was hinted before, the law being 
 the revealer of sin, where that is embraced, there sin must 
 needs be discovered and condemned, and the soul for the 
 sake of that ; further, it is not onl}^ a revealer of sin, but 
 that which makes it abound ; so that the closer any man 
 sticks to the law for life, the faster sin doth cleave to him. 
 " That law," saith Paul, " which was ordained to be unto 
 life, I found to be unto death" (Rom. vii. 10-14) ; for by 
 the law I became a notorious sinner ; I thought to have 
 obtained life by obeying the law, " but sin taking occasion 
 by the commandment, d(iceived me, and thereby slew me." 
 A strange way of deceivableness, and it is hid from the 
 most of men ; but, as I have already told you, you see how 
 it comes to pass. 
 
 1. Man by nature is carnal, and the law itself is spiritual : 
 now betwixt these two ariseth great difference ; the law is 
 exceeding good, the heart exceeding bad ; these two oppo- 
 sites therefore (the heart so abiding) can by no means agree. 
 
 2. Therefore, at every approach of the law to the heart 
 with intent to impose duty, or to condemn for the neglect 
 thereof ; at every such approach the heart starteth back, 
 especially when the law comes home indeed, and is heard 
 in his own language. This being thus, the conscience per- 
 ceiving this is a fault, begins to tremble at the sense of 
 judgment ; the law still continueth to command to duty, 
 and to condemn for the neglect thereof. From this strug- 
 gling of these two opposites ariseth, I say, those doubts and 
 fears that drive the heart into unbelief, and that make it 
 blind to the word of the gospel, that it can neither see nor 
 
174 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 understand anj-thing but that it is a sinner, and that the 
 law must be fulfilled by it if ever it be saved. 
 
 But again ; another thing that hath gi-eat influence upon 
 the heart to make it lean to the law for life is, the false 
 names that Satan and his instruments have put upon it ; 
 such as these — to call the law the gospel ; conscience, the 
 spirit of Christ ; works, faith ; and the like : with these, 
 weak consciences have been mightily pestered ; yea, thou- 
 sands deluded and destroyed. This was the way whereby 
 the enemy attempted to overthrow the church of Christ of 
 old ; as, namely, those in Galatia and at Corinth, &c., 2 
 Cor. xi. 3, 4, 13, 14. I say, by the feigned notion that the 
 law was the gospel, the Galatians were removed from the 
 gospel of Christ ; and Satan, by appropriating to himself 
 and his ministers the names and titles of the ministers of 
 the Lord Jesus, prevailed with many at Corinth to forsake 
 Paul and his doctrine. Where the Lord Jesus hath been 
 preached in truth, and something of his doctrine known, it 
 is not there so easy to turn people aside from the sound of 
 the promise of grace, unless it be by the noise and sound of 
 a gospel. Therefore, I say, the false apostles came thus 
 among the churches : " another gospel, another gospel ;" 
 which, in truth, saith Paul, " is not another ; but some 
 would pervert the gospel of Christ" (Gal. i. 6-8), and thrust 
 that out of doors, by gilding the law with that glorious 
 name. So again, for the ministers of Satan, they must be 
 called the apostles of Christ and ministers of righteousness ! 
 Avhich thing, I say, is of great force, especially being ac- 
 companied with so holy and just a doctrine as the word of 
 the law is ; for what better to the eye of reason than to love 
 God above all, and our neighbour as ourselves, Ayhich doc- 
 trine, being the scope of the ten words given on Sinai, no 
 man can contradict ; for, in truth, they are holy and good. 
 But here is the poison ; to set this law in the room of a 
 mediator, as those do that seek to stand just before God 
 thereby ; and then nothing is so dishonourable to Christ, 
 nor of so soul-destroying a nature as the law ; for that thus 
 placed hath not only power when souls are deluded, but 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 175 
 
 power to delude, by its real holiness, the understanding, 
 conscience, and reason of a man ; and by giving the soul 
 a semblance of heaven, to cause it to throw away Christ, 
 grace, and faith. Wherefore it l)ehoveth all men to take 
 heed of names, and of appearances of holiness and goodness. 
 
 Lastly, Satan will yet go further ; he will make use of 
 something that may be at a distance from a moral precept, 
 and therewith bring souls under the law. Thus he did 
 with some of old ; he did not make the Galatians fall fi-om 
 Christ by i-irtue of one of the ten words, but by something 
 that was aloof off, by circumcision, days and months, that 
 were Levitical ceremonies ; for he knows it is no matter, 
 nor in what Testament he found it, if he can therewith 
 hide Christ from the soul — " Behold, I Paul say unto you, 
 that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing ; 
 for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that 
 he is a debtor to the wliole law," Gal. v. 2, 3. Why so, 
 seeing circumcision is not one of the ten words ? Why, 
 because they did it in conscience to God, to stand just be- 
 fore him thereby. Now here we may behold much cun- 
 ning of the devil ; he begins with some at a distance from 
 that law which curseth, and so by little and little bringeth 
 them under it ; even as by circumcision the Galatians were 
 at length brought under the law that condemneth all men 
 to the \sTath and judgment of God. I have often wondered 
 when I have read how God crieth out against the Jews for 
 observing his o\\ti commandment (Isaiah, i.) ; but I perceive 
 by Paul that by these things a man may reject and con- 
 demn the Lord Jesus ; which those do that for life set up 
 aught, whether moral or other institution, besides the faith 
 of Jesus. 
 
 Let men therefore warily distinguish betwixt names and 
 things, betwixt statute and commandment, lest they by 
 doing the one transgress against the other, 2 Cor. i. 19, 20. 
 Study, therefore, the nature and end of the law with the 
 nature and end of the gospel ; and if thou canst keep them 
 distinct in thy understanding and conscience, neither names 
 nor things, neither statutes nor commandments, can di-aw 
 
176 NO WAT TO HEAVEN 
 
 thee from the faith of the gospel. And that thou mayest 
 yet be helped in this matter, I shall now come to speak to 
 the second conclusion. 
 
 The second position. 
 
 That men can be justified from the curse before God 
 while sinners in themselves by no other righteousness than 
 that long ago performed by, and remaining with, the per- 
 son of Christ. 
 
 For the better prosecuting of this position, I shall ob- 
 serve two things — 
 
 1. That the righteousness by which we stand just be- 
 fore God from the curse was performed by the person of 
 Christ. 
 
 2. That this righteousness is inherent only in him. 
 As to the first of these, I shall be but brief. 
 
 Now, that the righteousness that justifieth us was per- 
 formed long ago by the person of Christ, besides what hath 
 already been said, is further manifest thus — 
 
 1. He is said to have purged our sins by himself — 
 " When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on 
 the right hand of God," Heb. i. 2, 3. I have shewed that 
 in Christ, for the accomplishing of righteousness, there was 
 both doing and suffering ; doing, to fulfil all the commands 
 of the law ; suffering, to answer its penalty for sin. This 
 second is that which in this to the Hebrews is in special 
 intended by the apostle, where he saith, he hath "purged 
 our sins," Heb. ix. 14 ; that is, by his precious blood ; for 
 it is that alone can purge our sins, either out of the sight 
 of God or out of the sight of the soul. Now this was done 
 by himself, saith the apostle; that is, in or by his personal 
 doings and sufferings. And hence it is that when God had 
 rejected the offerings of the law, he said, " Lo, I come. A 
 body hast thou prepared me, to do thy will, God," Heb. 
 X. 5-8. Now by this will of God, saith the Scripture, we 
 are sanctified. By what will 1 Why, by the offering up 
 of the body of Jesus Christ ; for that was God's will, that 
 thereby we might be a habitation for him ; as he saith 
 again — " Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 177 
 
 with his own blood, suflFered ■\^'ithout the gate," Heb. xiii. 
 12. 
 
 2. As it is said, he hath purged our sins by himself, so 
 it was by himself at once — '' For by one offering hatli he 
 perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Now by this 
 w^ord " at once," or by " one offering," is cut off all those 
 imaginary sufferings of Christ which foolish men conceive 
 of; as, that he in all ages hath suffered, or suffereth for 
 sin in us. No ; he did this work but once : " Not that he 
 should offer himself often, as the high priest entered into 
 the holy place every year with the blood of others ; for then 
 must he often have suffered since the foundation of the 
 world : but now oiice in the end of the world," in the time 
 of Pilate, " hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacri- 
 fice of himself," Heb, ix. 25, 26. Mark how to the pur- 
 pose the Holy Ghost expresseth it: he hath suffered but 
 once ; and that once, noio; now once ; noio he is God and 
 man in one person ; noio he hath taken the body that was 
 prepared of God ; now once in the end of the world hath he 
 appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself ; by 
 the offering iip of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 
 
 3. It further appears, in that by his resurrection from 
 the dead, the mercies of God are made sure to the soul, God 
 declaring by that, as was said before, how well pleased he 
 is by the undertaking of his Son for the salvation of the 
 world : " And as concerning that he raised him up from the 
 dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this 
 wise, I will give thee the sure mercies of David," Acts, xiii. 
 34. For Christ being clothed with man's flesh, and un- 
 dertaking for man's sins, did then confirm all sure to us by 
 his resurrection from the dead. So that by the rising of 
 that man again, mercy and grace are made sure to him that 
 hath believed on Jesus. Wherefore, from these things, to- 
 gether with what hath been discovered about his address- 
 ing himself to the work, I conclude " That men can be 
 justified from the curse before God while sinners in them- 
 selves by no other righteousness than that long ago per- 
 formed by the person of Christ." Now the conclusion is 
 
178 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 true, from all show of contradiction ; for the Holy Gho^t 
 saith, he hath done it ; hath done it by himself, and that 
 by the will of God, at once, even then when he took the 
 prepared body upon him — " By the will of God we are 
 sanctified, through the offering up of the body of Jesus 
 Christ once for all." 
 
 This being so, the second position is also manifest — 
 namely, that the righteousness by which we stand just 
 from the curse before God is only inherent in Jesus Christ. 
 For if he hath undertaken to bring in a justifying right- 
 eousness, and that by works and merits of his ovm, then 
 that righteousness must of necessity be inherent in him 
 alone, and ours only by imputation ; and hence it is call- 
 ed, in that fifth to the Romans, the gift, the " gift of right- 
 eousness ;" because neither wrought nor obtained by works 
 of ours, but bestowed upon us, as a garment already pre- 
 pared, by the mercy of God in Christ, Romans, v. 17 ; Isa. 
 Ixi. 10. 
 
 There are four things that confirm this for a truth — 
 First, This righteousness is said to be the righteousness 
 of one, not of many ; I mean of 07ie properly and personally, 
 as his own particular personal righteousness. The gift of 
 grace, which is the gift of righteousness, it is " by one man, 
 Jesus Christ, Much more they that receive abundance of 
 grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by 
 one Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judg- 
 ment came upon all to condemnation ; even so by the right- 
 eousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justifica- 
 tion of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were 
 made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made 
 righteous," Rom. v. 15-19. Mark, the righteousness of 07ie, 
 tlie obedience of one; the righteousness of 07ie man, of one 
 man, Jesus. Wherefore, the righteousness that justifieth a 
 sinner, it is personally and inherently the righteousness of 
 that person only who by works and acts of obedience did 
 complete it, even the obedience of one, of one man, Jesus 
 Christ ; and so ours only by imputation. It is improper 
 to say, Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit was personally 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 17U 
 
 and inherently an act of mine. It was personally his, and 
 imputatively mine ; personally his, because he did it ; im- 
 putatively mine, because I was then in him. Indeed, the 
 effects of his personal eating is found in my person — to wit, 
 defilement and pravity ; the effects also of the imputation 
 of Christ's personal righteousness are truly found in those 
 that are in him by electing love and unfeigned faith, even 
 holy and heavenly dispositions : but a personal act is one 
 thing, and the effects of that another. The act may be done 
 by, and be only inherent in one ; the imputation of the 
 merit of the act, as also the effects of the same, may be in 
 a manner universal, extending itself unto the most, or all. 
 This the case of Adam and Christ doth manifest — the sin 
 of one is imputed to his posterity ; the righteousness of the 
 other is reckoned the righteousness of those that are his. 
 
 Secondly, The righteousness by which we stand j ust be- 
 fore God from the curse is called " The righteousness of the 
 Lord — the righteousness of God — the righteousness of Jesus 
 Christ," &c., Philippians, iii. 6-8 ; and that by way of op- 
 position to the righteousness of God's own holy law — " That 
 I might be found in him, not having on my own righteous- 
 ness, which is of the law, but that which is through the 
 faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." 
 Now by this opposition, as by what was said before, the 
 truth is made exceeding clear ; for by these words, " not 
 having my own righteotlsness," is not only excluded what 
 qualifications we suppose to be in us, but the righteousness 
 through which we stand just in the sight of God by them 
 is limited and confined to a person absolutely distinct. Dis- 
 tinct, I say, as to his person and performances, who here is 
 called God and Jesus Christ ; as he saith also in the prophet 
 Isaiah, " In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justi- 
 fied, and shall glory," Isa. xlv, 25 ; liv. 17. In the Lord, 
 not in the law ; in the Lord, not in themselves. " And 
 their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord :" of me, not of 
 themselves ; of me, not of the law. And again ; " Surely 
 shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." 
 Now, as I have already said, all this is to be understood of 
 
180 NO "WAT TO HEAVEJf 
 
 the righteousness that was fulfilled by acts and works of 
 obedience, which the person of the Son of God accomplished 
 in the days of his flesh in the world ; by that man, I say, 
 " The Lord our righteousness," Jer. xxiii. 6. Christ in- 
 deed is naturally and essentially righteousness ; but as he 
 is simply such, so he justifieth no man ; for then he need 
 not to bear our sins in his flesh, and become obedient in 
 all points of the law for us ; but the righteousness by which 
 we stand just before God is a righteousness consisting of 
 works and deeds, of the doings and suff'erings of such a 
 person who also is essentially righteousness. And hence, 
 as before I have hinted, we are said to be justified by the 
 obedience and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the doings 
 and suff^erings of the Son of God. And hence again it is 
 that he first is called King of righteousness ; that is, a 
 King of righteousness as God-man, which of necessity sup- 
 poseth his personal performances ; and after that, " King 
 of peace," Heb. vii. 1-3 ; for what he is naturally and eter- 
 nally in his Godhead he is not to us, but himself ; but what 
 he is actively and by works, he is not to himself, but to 
 us ; so, then, he is neither King of righteousness nor of 
 peace to us, as he is only the Eternal Son of the Father, 
 without his being considered as our priest and undertaker 
 — " He hath obtained," by works of righteousness, " eter- 
 nal redemption for us," Heb. ix. 12. So, then, the right- 
 eousness by which we stand just before God is a righteous- 
 ness inherent (only) in Christ, because a righteousness per- 
 formed by him alone. 
 
 Now that righteousness by which we stand just before 
 God must be a righteousness consisting of personal per- 
 formances ; the reason is, because persons had sinned, this 
 the nature of justice requireth, that " since by man came 
 death, by man should come also the resurrection from the 
 dead," 1 Cor. xv. 21. The angels, therefore, for this very 
 reason, abide under the chains of e\5erlasting darkness, be- 
 cause he " took not hold on them," Heb. ii. 16, 17 ; that 
 is, by fulfilling righteousness for them in their nature : that 
 is a blessed vrord, to you — " To you is bom this day in the 
 
BUT BY JESUS CnRIST. * ]8l 
 
 city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord," Luke, 
 ii. 11 ; to you^ not to angels ; to you is born a Saviour. 
 
 Thirdly, It is yet further evident that the righteousness 
 by -which we stand just before God from the curse is a right- 
 eousness inherent, not in us, but Christ ; because it is a 
 righteousness inherent, not in us, but Christ ; because it is 
 a righteousness besides, and without the law itself. Now 
 take away the law, and you take away the rule of right- 
 eousness. Again ; take away the rule, and the act as to 
 us must cease : " But now the righteousness of God without 
 the law is manifested, being witnessed by the laAv and the 
 prophets," Rom. iii. 21. So, then, by such a righteousness 
 we are justified as is not within the power of the law to 
 command of us. 
 
 Quest. But what law is that which hath not power 
 to command our obedience in the point of our justification 
 with God ? 
 
 Answ. The moral law, or that called the ten com- 
 mandments. Therefore we are neither commanded to love 
 God, or our neighbour, as the means or part of our justify- 
 ing righteousness ; nay, he that shall attempt to do these 
 things to be delivered from the curse thereby, by the scrip- 
 ture is holden accursed of God : " As many as are of the 
 works," or duties, " of the law, are under the curse," &c., 
 Gal. iii. 10. Because we are justified not by that of the 
 law, but by the righteousness of God without the low ; that 
 is, Avithout its commanding of us, without our obedience to 
 it : " Freely by his grace, through the redemption that is 
 in Jesus Christ ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitia- 
 tion, through faith in his blood," Rom. iii. 24, 25. This is 
 the righteousness of God without the law ; that is, without 
 any of our obedience to the law. Wherefore the righteous- 
 ness by which we stand just in the sight of God cannot be 
 inherent in us, but in Christ the King thereof. 
 
 Fourthly, This is further made apparent by the capacity 
 that God will consider that soul in to whom he imputeth 
 justifying righteousness ; and that is, " as one that worketh 
 not," as one that stands " ungodly in the judgment of the 
 
182 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 law," Rom. iv. 4, 5. But this I have handled before, and 
 therefore shall pass it here. 
 
 Fifthly/, to conclude : If any works of ours could justify 
 us before God, they would be works after faith received ; 
 but it is evident that these do not ; therefore the righteous- 
 ness that justifies us from the curse before God is a right- 
 eousness inherent only in Christ. 
 
 That works after faith do not justify us from the curse 
 in the sight of God is evident — 
 
 1. Because no works of the saints can be justified by the 
 moral law, considering it as the law of works for life, Gal. 
 iii. 10. For this must stand a truth for ever — Whatsoever 
 justifieth us must be justified by the moral law, for that is 
 it that pronounceth the curse ; unless, then, that curse be 
 taken away by the work, the work cannot justify us be- 
 fore God, Rom. iii. 21. But the curse cannot be taken 
 away but by a righteousness that is first approved of by 
 tliat law that so curseth ; for if that shall yet complain for 
 want of a full satisfaction, the penalty remaineth. This is 
 evident to reason, and confirmed by the authority of God's 
 word, as hath been already proved ; because the law, once 
 broken, pronounceth death, expecteth death, and executeth 
 the same on him that will stand to the judgment of the 
 law ; but no work of a believer is capable of answering 
 this demand of the law ; therefore none of his works can 
 justify him before God ; for the law, that notwithstanding 
 complaineth, 
 
 2. No works of faith can justify us from the curse before 
 God, because of the want of perfection that is in the greatest 
 fiiith in us. Now if faith be not perfect, the work cannot 
 be perfect ; I mean, with that perfection as to please Divine 
 justice. Consider the person, one that hath to do with God 
 immediately by himself. Now, that faith is not capable 
 of this kind of perfection it is evident, because when men 
 here know most, they know but in part, 1 Cor. viii. 2 ; 
 xiii. 12. Now he that knows but in part, can do but in 
 part ; and he that doth but in part, hath a part wanting 
 in the judgment of the justice of God, So, then, when thou 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. ] S3 
 
 hast done all thou canst, thou hast done but part of thy 
 duty, and so art short of justification from the curse by 
 what thou hast done. 
 
 3< Besides, it looks too like a monster that the works of 
 faith should justify us before God ; because then faith is 
 turned, as it were, with its neck behind it. Faith, in its 
 o\A'n nature and natural course, respecteth the mercy of 
 God through the Mediator Jesus Christ, and, as such, its 
 virtue and excellency is to expect justification by grace 
 through him ; but by this doctrine faith is turned round 
 about, and now makes a life out of what itself hath done : 
 but methinks faith should be as noble as its fruits, that 
 being the first, and they but the fruits of that. 
 
 Besides, seeing the work is only good because it floweth 
 from faith, for faith purifieth the heart (Acts, xv. 9), there- 
 fore faith is it that justifies all its works. If, then, we be 
 justified by either, it is by faith, and not by his works ; 
 unless we will say there is more virtue in the less than in 
 the greater. Now what is faith but a believing, a trusting, 
 or relying act of the soul ? What, then, must it rely upon 
 or trust in ? Not in itself, that is without scripture ; not 
 in its works, they are inferior to itself ; besides, this is the 
 way to make even the works of faith the mediator between 
 God and the soul, and so by them thrust Christ out of 
 doors ; therefore it must trust in Christ ; and if so, then no 
 man can be justified from the curse before God by the 
 works that flow from faith. 
 
 4. To put ail out of doubt ; the saint, when he hath done 
 what he can to bring forth good works by faith, yet he dares 
 not shew these works before God but as they pass through 
 tlie Mediator Christ, but as they are washed in the blood 
 of the Lamb. And therefore Peter saith, those sacrifices of 
 ours that are truly spiritual are only then accepted of God 
 (1 Pet. ii. 5) when offered up by Jesus Christ. And there- 
 fore it is said again, that the praj^ers of the saints, whicli 
 are the fi-uits of faith, come up before^the throne of God 
 through the angel's hand (Rev. viii. 3, 4), that is, through 
 
184 NO TTAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 the hand of Christ, through his goklen censer, perfumed 
 with his incense, made acceptable by his intercession. 
 
 It is said in the book of the Revelation that it is granted 
 to the bride, the Lamb's wife, that she should be " arraj^ed 
 in fine linen, clean and white ; which white linen is the 
 righteousness of saints." This fine linen, in my judgment, 
 is the works of godly men, their works that sprang fi-om 
 faith. But how came they clean ? How came they white 1 
 'Not simply because they were the works of faith. But 
 mark, " They washed their robes, and made them white in 
 the blood of the Lamb ; and therefore they stand before the 
 throne of God," Rev. vii. 14, 15. Yea, therefore it is that 
 their j^ood works stand there too. 
 
 I conclude, then, " our persons are justified while we 
 are sinners in ourselves." Our works, even the works of 
 faith, are no otherAvise accepted but as they come through 
 Jesus Christ, even through his intercession and blood. So, 
 then, Christ doth justify both our person and works, not 
 by way of approbation, as we stand in ourselves or works 
 before God, but by presenting of us to his Father by him- 
 self, washing what we are and have fi-om guilt in his blood, 
 and clothing us with his own performances. This is the 
 cause of our acceptance with God, and that our works are 
 not cast forth of his presence. 
 
 1. Is justifying righteousness to be found in the person 
 of Christ only 1 Then this should admonish us to take 
 heed of seeking it in ourselves — that is, of working right- 
 eousness, thereby to appease the justice of God, lest by so 
 doing we affront and blaspheme the righteousness of 
 Christ. He that shall go about to establish his own right- 
 eousness, he, as yet, doth defiance to that which is of God, 
 of God's appointing, of God's providing ; and that only 
 wherewith the justice of the law must be well pleased. 
 Wherefore take heed, I say, of doing such a thing, lest it 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 185 
 
 provoke the eyes of the Lord's glory — " When I shall say 
 to the righteous, that he shall surely live ; if he trust to 
 his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his right- 
 eousness shall not be remembered ; but for his iniquity 
 that he hath committed, he shall die for it," Ezek. xxxiii. 
 13. Mark, though he be righteous, yea, though he have a 
 promise of life, yet he shall die. But why ? Because he 
 sinned against the Lord by trusting to his own righteous- 
 ness, therefore he must die for it. 
 
 There are some things that will preserve a man from 
 splitting upon this rock. As, 
 
 1. Get good acquaintance with the covenant of grace, 
 and of the persons concerned in the conditions of that cove- 
 nant. The conditions of that covenant are, that a right- 
 eousness shall be brought into the world that shall please 
 the justice of God and answer (and so remove the curse of) 
 the law. Now he that doth perform this condition is 
 Christ ; therefore the covenant is not immediately with 
 man, but with him that will be the Mediator betwixt God 
 and man : " As for thee, by the blood of thy covenant," 
 Zech. ix. 11, speaking of Christ. So, then, Christ, the 
 Man-Christ, is he who was to bring in these conditions — 
 to \ltit, everlasting righteousness. And hence it is that 
 God hath said, " Christ shall be the covenant of the peo- 
 ple," — that is, he shall be our conditions to Godward, Dan. 
 ix. 23, 24. He therefore is all our righteousness as to the 
 point of our justification before God ; he is the covenant of 
 the people, as well as the light of the Gentiles ; for as no 
 man can see but in the light of his Spirit, so no man can 
 stand but in and by him — he is the covenant of the people, 
 the conditions and qualifications of the people, Isa. Hi. 6. 
 So that to Godward Christ is all in all, and no man any- 
 thing at all. " He hath made with me an everlasting cove- 
 nant ;" with me, as I stand in my head Christ, who, be- 
 cause he hath brought in everlasting righteousness, theie- 
 fore hath removed the curse of the law ; wherefore he adds, 
 this covenant " is ordered in all things, and sure," 2 Sam. 
 xxiii. 5 ; because all points that concern me as to redeoip- 
 
 L 
 
186 NO WAY TO HE A VEX 
 
 tion from the cm-se are taken away by Christ, as before is 
 discoursed. Look, then, upon Christ as tlie man, the me- 
 diator, undertaker, and accomplisher of that righteousness 
 in himself, wherein thou must stand just before God ; and 
 that he is the covenant or conditions of the people to God- 
 ward, always having in himself the righteousness that the 
 law is well pleased with, and always presenting himself be- 
 fore God as our only righteousness. 
 
 2. That this truth may be the more heartily inquired 
 into by thee, consider thine own perfections ; I say, study 
 how polluted thou art, even from the heart throughout. 
 No man hath a high esteem of the Lord Jesus that is a 
 stranger to his O'svn sore. Christ's church is an hospital of 
 sick, wounded, and afflicted people ; even as when he was 
 in the world, the afflicted and distressed set the highest 
 price upon Jesus Christ. Why ? They were sick, and he 
 was the Physician ; but the whole had no need of him. 
 And just thus it is now : Christ is offered to the world to 
 be the righteousness and life of sinners, but no man will 
 regard him save he that seeth his OAvn pollution ; he that 
 seeth he cannot answer the demands of the law, he that 
 sees himself from top to toe polluted, and that therefore his 
 service cannot be clean as to justify him from the tjurse 
 before God, he is the man that must needs die in despair 
 and be damned, or must trust in Jesus Christ for life. 
 
 Further, This rule I would have all receive that come to 
 Jesus Christ for life and salvation. 
 
 1. Not to stick at the acknowledgment of sin, but to 
 make that of it which the law makes of it : " Acknowledge 
 thine iniquity," saith the Lord, Jer. iii. 13. This is a hard 
 pinch (I know what I say) for a man to fall do\^^l under 
 the sense of sins by acknowledging them to be what the 
 Lord saith they are ; to acknowledge them, I say, in 
 their owm defiling and polluting nature ; to acknowledge 
 them in their unreasonable and aggravating circumstances ; 
 to acknowledge them in their God-ofFending and soul-de- 
 stroying nature, especially when the conscience is burdened 
 with the guilt of them. Yet this is duty — " If we confess 
 
BUT BT JESUS CRRIST, 187 
 
 our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive," 1 John, i. 9 ; 
 yea, to this is annexed the promise, " He that confesseth, 
 and forsaketh them, shall find mercy." This made David, 
 as it were, lay claim to the mercy of God — " Wash me 
 thoroughly (said he) from mine iniquity, and cleanse me 
 from my sin ; for I acknowledge my transgression, and my 
 sin is ever before me," Though, then, thou art to blui^h 
 and be ashamed when thou rememberest thy sins and ini- 
 quities, yet do not hide them — " He that hideth his sins 
 shall not prosper." Do not lessen them ; do not speak of 
 them before God after a mincing way — " Acknowledge 
 thine iniquities, that thou hast sinned against the Lord thy 
 God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under 
 every green tree ; and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith 
 the Lord," Jer. iii. 13. 
 
 2. If we would come to Christ aright, we must o?iZy acknow- 
 ledge our sins ; we must only acknowledge them, and there 
 stop ; stop, I say, from attempting to do aught to present 
 us good before God, but only to receive the mercy offered. 
 " Only acknowledge thine iniquities." Men are subject to 
 two extremes, either to confess sins notionally and by the 
 halves, or else, together with the confession of them, to la- 
 bour to do some holy work, thereby to ease their burdened 
 conscience, and beget faith in the mercy of God, Hos. v. 
 14, 15. Now both these are dangerous, and very ungodly, 
 — dangerous, because the wound is healed falsely ; and un- 
 godly, because the command is transgressed : " Only ac- 
 knowledge thy sin," and there stand (as David) " till thy 
 guilt is taken away." Joshua stood before the angel, from 
 top to toe in filthy garments, till the Lord put other clothes 
 upon him, Zech. iii. 3. In the matter of thy justification 
 thou must know nothing, see nothing, hear nothing, but 
 thine own sins and Christ's righteousness — " Only acknow- 
 ledge thine iniquities." Now the Saviour and the soul 
 comes rightly together ; the Saviour to do his work, which 
 is to spread his skirt over the sinner ; and the sinner to re- 
 ceive, by believing this blessed imputed righteousness. And 
 hence the chm*ch, when she came to God, lieth down in 
 
188 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 her shame, and her confusion covereth her ; and so lieth 
 till pardon comes, Jer. iii. 25. 
 
 THE SECOND USE. 
 
 I come now to th« second use — Have faith in Christ. But 
 •what are we to understand by faith ? 
 
 Ans. Faith importeth as much as to say, receive, em- 
 brace, accept of, or trust in, the benefit offered. All which 
 are, by holy men of God, words used on purpose to shew 
 that the mercy of God, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal 
 life, are not to be had by doing or by the law ; but by re- 
 ceiving, embracing, accepting, or trusting to the mercy of 
 God through Christ — " We believe that through the grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they," 
 John, i. 12 ; 2 Cor. iv. 1 ; xi. 4 ; Col. ii. 6 ; Heb. xi. 13 ; 1 
 Tim. i. 15 ; Ephes. i. 12, 13 ; Acts, xv. 11. Thus you see 
 what the gospel is, and what faith doth do in the salvation 
 of the soul. 
 
 Now, that faith might be helped in this work (for great 
 are they that oppose it), therefore the Scriptures, the word 
 of truth, hath presented us with the invitation in most plain 
 and suitable sentences ; as, " That Christ came into the 
 world to save sinners — Christ died for our sins — Christ gave 
 himself for our sins — Christ bare our sins in his body on the 
 tree ; and, That God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." 
 Further, as the invitations are plain and easy, so the threat- 
 enings to the opposers are sore and astonishing — " He that 
 believeth not shall be danmed — Because they received not 
 the love of the truth, that they might be saved, God gave 
 them up to strong delusions, that they all might be danmed," 
 Mark, xvi. 16 ; 2 Thess. ii. 10-12. 
 
 Object. But faith is said to be an act of obedience, 
 
 Ans. I. And well it may ; for it is the most submit- 
 ting act that a man can do ; it throweth out all our riglit- 
 eousness ; it makes the soul poor in itself ; it liveth upon 
 God and Christ, as the almsman doth upon his lord ; it con- 
 senteth to tlie gospel that it is true ; it giveth God and 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHUIST. 189 
 
 Christ the glory of their mercy and merit ; it loveth God 
 for his mercy, and Jesus Glirist for his service ; whatever 
 good it doth, it still crieth, Hereby ain I not justitied, but 
 he that justifieth me is the I^ord. 
 
 Well, but is there in truth such a thing as the obedience 
 of liilth ? Then let Christians labour to understand it, and 
 Jastinguish it aright, and to separate it from the law and 
 all man's righteousness ; and remember that it is a receiving 
 of mercy, an embracing of forgiveness, an accepting of the 
 righteousness of Christ, and a trusting to these for life. Re- 
 member again, that it putteth the soul upon coming to Christ 
 as a siimer, and to receive forgiveness as a sinner, as such. 
 We now treat of justification. 
 
 But a little to insert at large a few more of the excellences 
 of it, and so draw towards a conclusion. 
 
 First, The more thou belie vest for remission of sins, the 
 more of the light of the glorious gospel of Christ thou re- 
 ceivest into thy soul — " For therein is the righteousness of 
 God revealed, from faith to faith," Rom, i. 16, 17 ; that is, 
 according to the decree of faith. Little faith seeth but little, 
 but great faith seeth much ; and therefore he saith again, 
 That by faith we have " access into the grace of God," chap. 
 V. 2. The reason is, 
 
 1. Because faith, having laid hold upon Christ, hath 
 found him " in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom 
 and knowledge," Col. ii. 2, 3. In him therefore it finds and 
 sees those heights and depths of gospel mysteries that are 
 nowhere else to be found ; nay, let a man be destitute of 
 faith, and it is not possible he should once think of some of 
 them. 
 
 2. By this means the Holy Spirit is plentifully received. 
 Gal. iii. 1-3. Now the Spirit of God is a spirit of wisdom 
 and revelation ; but yet so as in the knowledge of Christ, 
 Eph. i. 17 ; otherwise the Spirit will shew to man not any 
 mighty thing, its great delight being to open Christ and to 
 reveal him unto faith. Faith indeed can see him, for that 
 is tile eye of the soul ; and the Spirit alone can reveal him, 
 that being the searcher of the deep things of God ; by these 
 
190 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 therefore tlie mysteries of heaven are revealed and received. 
 And hence it is that the mystery of the gospel is called the 
 " mystery of faith," or the mystery with Avhich faith only 
 hath to do, 1 Tim. iii. 9. Wouldst thou, then, know the 
 greatest things of God 1 Accustom thyself to the obedience 
 of faith ; live upon thy justifying righteousness. 
 
 _A.nd never think that to live always on Christ for justi- 
 :^ition is a low and beggarly thing, and as it were a stay- 
 ing at the foundation ; for let me tell you, depart from a 
 sense of the meritorious means of your justification with 
 God, and you will quickly grow light, and frothy, and vain. 
 Besides, you will always be subject to errors and delusions ; 
 for this is not to hold the liead from or through which 
 nourishment is administered, Col. ii. 19. Further, no man 
 that buildeth forsakes the good foundation ; that is the 
 ground of his encouragement to work, for upon that is laid 
 the stress of all ; and without it nothing that is framed can 
 be supported, but must inevitably fall to the ground. Again ; 
 why not live upon Christ alway 1 and especially as he 
 standeth the mediator between God and the soul, defending- 
 thoe with the merit of his blood, and covering thee with his 
 infinite righteousness from the wrath of God and curse of 
 the law. Can there be any greater comfort ministered to 
 thee than to know thy person stands just before God ] Just 
 and justified from all things that would otherwise swallow 
 thee up ? Is peace with God and assurance of heaven of so 
 little respect with thee that thou slightest the very founcla- 
 tion thereof, even faith in the blood and righteousness of 
 Christ ? and are notions and whimsies of such credit witli 
 thee that thou must leave the foundation to follow them i 
 But again ; what mystery is desirable to be known that is 
 not to be found in Jesus Chnst, as Priest, Propliet, or King 
 of saints ? In him are hid all the treasures of them, and 
 he alone hath the key of David to open them. Col. ii. 1,2; 
 Rev. iii. 7. Paul was so taken with Jesus Christ, and the 
 knowledge of this, that he was crucified for us, that he de- 
 sired, nay, determined not to know any thing else among 
 the Corinthians, that itched after other wisdom, 1 Cor. ii. 2, 
 
BDT BY JESUS CHRIST. 191 
 
 Object. But I see not that in Christ now that I have 
 seen in him in former days. Besides, I find the Spirit lead 
 me forth to study other things. 
 
 Arts. To the first part of this objection I would answer 
 several things — 
 
 1. The cause why thou seest not that in Christ now which 
 thou hast seen in him in former days is not in Christ, but 
 in thy faith ; he is the same, as fresh, and as good, and as 
 full of blessedness, as when thou didst most rejoice in him, 
 Heb. i. 11, 12. 
 
 2. And why not now, as well as formerly % God is never 
 weary of being delighted with Jesus Christ ; his blood is 
 always precious with God ; his merits being those in which 
 justice hath everlasting rest, why shouldst thou wander or 
 go about to change thy way ? Prov. viii. 30 ; Jer. ii. 36. 
 
 3. Sin is the same as ever, and so is the curse of the law. 
 The devil is as busy as ever ; and beware of the law in thy 
 members. Return, therefore, to thy rest, soul ! for he is 
 thy life, and the length of thy days. 
 
 4. Guilt is to be taken off now, as it was years ago ; and, 
 whether thou seest it or no, thou sinnest in all thy works. 
 How, then, canst thou stand clear from guilt in thy soul 
 who neglectest to act faith in the blood of the Lamb ? There 
 thou must wash thy robes, and there thou must make them 
 white. Rev. vii. 14, 15. 
 
 5. I conclude, then, thou art a polluted, surfeited, cor- 
 rupted, hardened creature, whosoever thou art, that thus 
 objectest. 
 
 But I find, sayest thou, as if the Spirit led me forth to 
 study other matters. 
 
 Ans. What other matters ? What matters besides, 
 above, or beyond the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, and 
 of our acceptance with God through him ] What spirit, 
 or doctrine, or wisdom soever it be that centres not in, that 
 cometh not from, and that terminates not within,the bounds 
 of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is not worthy the study of 
 the sons of God ; neither is it food for the faith of Jesus 
 Christ (John, vi, 51) ; for that is the flesh of Christ (and 
 
192 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 that is eternal life.) Whither will you go 1 Beware of 
 the spirit of Antichrist ; for " many false spirits are gone 
 out into the world." I told you before, that the Spirit of 
 God is " the spirit of widom and revelation in the know- 
 ledge of Christ," Ephes. i. 17 ; John, xiv. xv. xvi. ; and that 
 without and besides the Lord Jesus it discovereth nothing ; 
 it is sent to testify of him ; it is sent to bring his words to 
 our remembrance ; it is sent to " take of his things and 
 shew them unto us." Wherefore, never call that the Spirit 
 of Jesus which leads you away from the blood and right- 
 eousness of Christ ; that is but the spirit of delusion and of 
 the devil, whose teachings end in perdition and destruction. 
 Tempt not Christ as they of old did. But how did they 
 tempt him ? Why, in loathing the manna, which was the 
 type of his flesh and blood, which we are to eat of by be- 
 lieving. I say, tempt him not, lest you be destroyed by the 
 serpents, by the gna\\'ing guilt of sin ; for, take away 
 Christ, and sin remains, and there is no more sacrifice for 
 sin : if so, thou wilt be destroyed by the destroyer, Num. 
 xxi. 5-7 ; 1 Cor. x. 10, But again — ■ 
 
 Living by faith begets in the heart a sonlike boldness 
 and confidence to God ward in all our gospel duties, under 
 all our weaknesses, and under all our temptations. It is a 
 blessed thing to be privileged with a holy boldness and 
 confidence Godward, that he is on our side, that he taketh 
 part with us, and that he will plead our cause " with them 
 that rise up against us," 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; iv. 17, 18 ; Gal. ii. 
 27 ; Phil. iii. 2, 3 ; Rom. v. 11. But this boldness faith 
 helpeth us to do, and also manageth in our heart. This is 
 that which made Paul always triumph and rejoice in God 
 and the Lord Jesus ; he lived the life of faith ; for faith 
 sets a man in the favour of God by Christ, and makes a 
 man see that what befals him in this life, it shall, through 
 the wisdom and mercy of God, not only prove for his for- 
 warding to heaven, but to augment his glory when he 
 comes there. This man now stands on high, he lives, he 
 is rid of slavish fears and carking cares, and in all his 
 straits he hath a God to go to. Thus David, when all 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 193 
 
 things looked aAvry upon him, " encouraged himseff in the 
 Lord his God," 1 Sam. xxx. 6, Daniel also helieved in his 
 God, and knew that all his trouhle, losses, and crosses, 
 would be abundantly made up in his God, Dan. vi. 23. 
 And David said, " I had fainted unless I had believed." 
 Believing, therefore, is a great preservative against all such 
 impediments, and makes us confident in our God, and with 
 boldness to come into his presence, claiming privilege in 
 what he is and hath, Ps. xxvii. 13 ; Jon. iii. 4, 5 ; Heb. x. 
 22, 23 ; Eph. i. 4-7. For by faith, I say, he seetli his ac- 
 ceptance through the Beloved, and himself interested in the 
 mercy of God, and riches of Christ, and glory in the world 
 to come. This man can look upon all the dangers in hell 
 and earth without paleness of countenance ; he shall medi- 
 tate terror with comfort, " because he beholds the King in 
 his beauty," Isa. xxxiii. 17, 18. 
 
 Again ; living by faith makes a man exercise patience 
 and quietness under all his afflictions ; for faith shews him 
 that his best part is safe, that his soul is in God's special 
 care and protection, purged from sin in the blood of Christ. 
 Faith also shews him that after a little while he shall be in 
 the full enjoyment of that whicli now he believes is coming : 
 " We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteous- 
 ness by faith," Gal. v. 5. Wherefore, upon this ground it 
 is that James exhorteth the saints to whom he wrote to pa- 
 tience, because they knew the harvest would in due time 
 come, James, v. 7-11. Faith lodgeththe soul with Christ: 
 " I know," saith Paul, " on whom I have believed" (and 
 to whom I have committed my soul), " and am persuaded 
 (I believe it) that he is able to keep that which I have com- 
 mitted unto him against that day ;" therefore it were no 
 shame to him to wear a chain for his name and sake. Oh ! 
 it is a blessed thing to see, I say, by the faith of the Lord 
 Jesus, that we are embarked in the same ship with him ; 
 this will help us greatly " both to hope and quietly wait 
 for the salvation of the Lord," 2 Tim. i. 12-lG ; Psalm xlvi. 
 1-6 ; Lam. iii. 26. 
 
 Further, I might add, that living by faith is the way to 
 
 u 
 
 \ 
 
194 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 receive fresh strength from heaven, thereby to manage 
 thine every day's work with life and vigour ; yea, every 
 look by faith upon Jesus Christ as thine doth this great 
 work. It is said, when Paul saw the brethren that came 
 to meet him, " he thanked God, and took courage," Acts, 
 xxviii. 15. Oh ! how much more, then, shall the Chris- 
 tian be blessed with fi*esh strength and courage evfen at the 
 beholding of Christ ; " whom beholding as in a glass, we 
 are changed," even by beholding of him by faith in the 
 word, " into the same image, fi'om glory to glory, even as 
 by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Cor. iii. 18. But to 
 be brief. 
 
 Make conscience of the duty of believing, and be as afraid 
 of falling short here as in any other command of God, John, 
 vi. 46. " This is his commandment, that you believe," 
 1 John, iii. 23. Believe, therefore, in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus. This is the will of God, that you believe. Be- 
 lieve, therefore, to the saving of the soul. Unbelief is a 
 fine-spun thread, not so easily discerned as grosser sins ; and 
 therefore that is truly " The sin that doth so easily beset 
 us," Heb. xii. 1. The light of nature will shew those sins 
 that are against the law of nature ; but the law of faith is 
 a command beyond what flesh or nature teacheth ; there- 
 fore to live by faith is so much the harder work ; yet it 
 must be done, otherwise thine other duties profit thee no- 
 thing. For if a man give way to unbelief, though he be 
 most frequent in all other duties besides, so often as he 
 worshippeth God in these he yet saith, God is a liar in the 
 other, even because he hath not believed : " He that be- 
 lieveth not God, hath made him a liar ; because he believ- 
 eth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is 
 the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life 
 is in his Son," 1 John, v. 10, 11. So, then, when thou 
 givest way to unbelief ; when thou dost not venture the 
 salvation of thy soul upon the justifying life that is in 
 Christ — that is, in his blood, &c. — at once, thou givest the 
 lie to the whole testament of God ; yea, thou tramplest 
 upon the promise of grace, and countest this precious blood 
 
BUT BY JESUS CUllIST. ] 95 
 
 an unholy and unworthy thing, Heh. x. 29. Now how, 
 thou doing thus, the Lord should accept of thy other duties, 
 of prayer, alms, thanksgiving, self-denial, or any other, 
 will he hard for thee to prove. In the meantime remem- 
 her, that faith pleaseth God ; and that without faith it is 
 impossible to please him. Remember also, that for this 
 cause it was that the offering of Cain was not accepted : 
 " By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice 
 than Cain ;" for by faith Abel first justified the promise of 
 the Messias, by whom a conquest should be obtained over 
 the devil, and all the combination of hell against us : then 
 he honoured Christ by believing that he was able to save 
 him ; and in token that he believed these things indeed, he 
 presented the Lord with the firstlings of his flock (Ileb. 
 xi. 4), as a remembrance before God that he believed in his 
 Christ, And therefore it is said, " By faith he offered ;" 
 by which means the offering was accepted of God ; for no 
 man's offering can be accepted with God but his that stands 
 righteous before him first. But unbelief holdeth men under 
 their guilt, because they have not believed in Christ, and 
 by that means put on his righteousness. Again ; he that 
 believeth not, hath made invalid (what in him lies) the 
 promise of God and merits of Christ, of whom the Father 
 hath spoken so worthily ; therefore what duties or acts of 
 obedience soever he performeth, God by no means can be 
 pleased with him. 
 
 By this, therefore, you see the miserable state of the 
 people that have not faith — " Whatever they do, they sin;" 
 if they break the law, they sin ; if they endeavour to keep 
 it, they sin ; they sin, I say, upon a double account — 
 first, because they do it but imperfectly ; and, secondly,' 
 because tliey yet stay upon that, resisting that which is 
 perfect, even that which God hath appointed. It mattereth 
 not, as to justification from the curse, therefore, men want- 
 ing faith, wliether they be civil or profane, they are sucli 
 as stand accursed of the law, because they have not believed, 
 and because they liave given the lie to the truth, and to 
 the God of trutlu Let all men, therefore, that would please 
 
196 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 God make conscience of believing ; on pain, I say, of dis- 
 pleasing him ; on pain of being with Cain rejected, and on 
 pain of being damned in hell. " He that believeth not shall 
 be damned," Mark, xvi. IG. Faith is the very quintessence 
 of all gospel obedience, it being that which must go before 
 other duties, and that which . also must accompany what- 
 ever I do in the worship of God, if it be accepted of him. 
 Here you may see a re^.son why the force and power of 
 hell is so bent against believing ; Satan hateth all the parts 
 of our Christian obedience, but the best and chiefest most. 
 And hence the apostle saith to the Thessalonians, " That 
 he sent to know their faitli, lest by some means the tempter 
 have tempted them, and so his labour had been in vain," 
 1 Thess. iii. 5. Indeed, where faith is wanting, or hath 
 been destroyed, all the labour is in vain, nothing can profit 
 any man, neither as to peace with God, nor the acceptance 
 of any religious duty ; and this, I say, Satan knows, which 
 makes him so lend his force against us. 
 
 There are three things in the act of believing which 
 makes this grace displeasing to the wicked one — 
 
 1. Faith disco vereth the truth of things to the soul ; the 
 truth of things as they are, whether they be things that 
 are of this world, or of that which is to come ; the things 
 and pleasures above, and also those beneath. Faith dis- 
 covereth to the soul the blessedness, and goodness, and 
 durableness of the one ; the vanity, foolishness, transitori- 
 ness of the other. Faith giveth credit to all things that are 
 written in the law and in the prophets. Acts, xxiv. 14, both 
 as to the being, nature, and attributes of God ; the blessed 
 undertaking of the Lord Jesus Christ ; the glory of heaven 
 and torments of hell ; the sweetness of the promise and 
 terror of the threatenings and curses of the word ; by which 
 means Satan is greatly frustrated in his assaults when he 
 tempteth either to love this world or slight that which is 
 to come, for he can do no great matter in these things to 
 anv^ but those who want the faith — " In vain is the snare 
 laid in the sight of any bird ;" therefore he must first blind, 
 and hold blind the minds of men, " that the light of the 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. IL'7 
 
 glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, f;lioiiId 
 not shine into them," else he can do no harm to the sonl. 
 Now foith is the eye of the godly man, and that sees the 
 truth of things, whatever Satan suggests, either about the 
 glory of this world, the sweetness erf sin, the imcertainty of 
 another world, or the like, 1 John, v. 4, 5 ; Prov. i. 17 ; 
 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; Heb. xi. 27. 
 
 2. Faith wraps the soul up in the bundle of life with God ; 
 it encloseth it in the righteousness of Jesus, and presents it 
 so perfect in that, that whatever he can do, with all his 
 cunning, cannot render the soul spotted or wrinkled before 
 the justice of the law ; yea, though the man, as to his own 
 person and acts, be full of sin from top to toe, Jesus Christ 
 covereth all ; faith sees it, and holds the soul in its godly 
 sense and comfort of it. The man, therefore, standing hero, 
 stands shrouded under that goodly robe that makes him 
 glister in the eye of justice. Yea, all the answer that Satan 
 can get from God against such a soul is, that he " doth not 
 see iniquity in Jacob, nor behold perverseness in Israel : for 
 here Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of 
 the Lord of hosts, though, as to their own persons, their 
 land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel," 
 Numb, xxxiii. 21-23 ; Jer. li, 5 ; Rom. vi. 14 ; Deut. xxxiii. 
 12. Thus, therefore, the soul believing, is hid fi-om all the 
 power of the enemy, and dwells safely under the dominion 
 of grace. 
 
 3. Faith keeps the soul fi-om giving credit to any of his 
 insinuations ; for whatever Satan saith, either about the 
 acceptance of my person or performances, so long as I be- 
 lieve that both are accepted of God for Christ's sake, he 
 suggesteth to the wind ; wherefore, faith doth the same against 
 the devil that unbelief doth against God. Doth unbelief 
 count God a liar 1 Faith counts the devil a liar. Doth unbe- 
 lief hold the soul from the mercy of God ? Faith b.olds the 
 soul fi'om the malice of the devil. Doth unbelief quench 
 thy graces ? Faith kindleth them even unto a flame. Doth 
 unbelief fill the soul full of sorrow ? Faith fills it full of 
 the joy of the Koly Gliost ? In a word, doth mibelief bind 
 
198 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 do-vvn thy sins upon thee ? Why, faith in Jesus Christ re- 
 leaseth thee of them all. 
 
 4. As faith keeps the soul from giving credit to the insi- 
 nuations of Satan, so, when he makes his assaults, it over- 
 masters him, and makes him retreat ; " Resist the devil, and 
 he will flee from you, — Whom resist steadfast in the faith," 
 James, iv. 7 ; 1 Pet. v. 9. Bslieve, as I have already said, 
 that God loveth you, that the hlood of Christ was shed for 
 you, that your person is presented complete hefore him, 
 through the righteousness of Christ, and Satan must give 
 place ; thy crediting of the gospel makes him fly before 
 thee ; but thou must do it steadfast in the faith ; every 
 waver giveth him advantage. And indeed this is the reason 
 that the godly are so foiled with his assaults, they do not 
 resist him steadfast in the faith ; they often stagger through 
 unbelief. Kow, at every stagger he recovereth lost ground 
 again, and giveth battle another time. Besides, by this and 
 the other stagger he taketh heart to attempt by other means, 
 and so doubleth the affliction with manifold temptations. 
 This is, I say, for want of being steadfast — "Above all, taking 
 the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all 
 the fiery darts of the wicked," Ephes. vi. 16. To quench 
 them, though they come from him as kindled with the 
 very fire of hell. None knows, save him that feels it, how 
 burning hot the fiery darts of Satan are ; and how, when 
 darted, they kindle upon our flesh and unbelief ; neither 
 can any know the power and Avorth of faith to quench 
 them but he that hath it, and hath power to act it. 
 
 5. Lastly, if justifying righteousness be alone to be found 
 in the person of Jesus Christ, then this shews us the sad 
 condition of two sorts of men — 
 
 1. Of those that hang in doubt betwixt Christ and the 
 law. 
 
 2. Of those that do professedly make denial of the suffi- 
 ciency of this most blessed righteousness. 
 
 The first sort, though they may seek life, yet, thus con- 
 tinuing, are never like to find it. Wherefore ? Because 
 they seek it not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 199 
 
 the law. Indeed, they will not be merit-mongers ; they 
 will not wholly trust to the law ; they will partly venture 
 on Christ, and partly trust to the law. Well, hut there- 
 fore they shall he damned, because they trust to Christ but 
 in part, and in part, as it were, to the works of the law ; 
 for such sinners make Christ but a Saviour in part — why 
 then should he be their Saviour in whole ? No, because 
 they halt between Christ and the law, therefore they shall 
 fall between Christ and the law ; yea, because they will 
 trust to their works in part, they shall be but almost saved 
 by Christ. Let not that man think that he shall obtain 
 any thing from the Lord. What man ? Why, he that 
 doubteth or wavereth in his mind about the truth of the 
 mercy of God in Christ. Therefore the exhortation is, 
 *' But let him ask in faith ; for he that wavereth (or, that 
 halteth between the law and Christ for life) is like a wave 
 of the sea, driven of the wind and tossed," Jam. i. 6, 7. In 
 conclusion, he resteth nowhere, — " a double-minded man 
 is unstable in all his ways." This man, therefore, must mis- 
 carry ; he must not see the good land that flows with milk 
 and honey ; no, let him not have a thought of life in his 
 heart ; let not that man think that he shall receive any 
 thing of the Lord. 
 
 This was the case of many in the primitive times, for 
 whose sake this caution was written ; for the devout and 
 religious Jew and proselyte, when they fell away from the 
 word of the gospel, they did not fall to those gross and abo- 
 minable pollutions in which the open profane, like sows 
 and swine, do wallow, but they fell from the grace of God 
 to the law ; or, at least, did rest betwixt them both, doubt- 
 ing of the sufficiency of either ; and thus, being fearful, 
 they distrust ; wherefore, being found at length unbelieving, 
 they are reputed of God abominable, as murderers, whore- 
 mongers, sorcerers, idolators, and liars (Rev. xxi. 8) ; and 
 so must have their portion in the lake (with them) that 
 burns with fire and brimstone. The reason is, because 
 where Christ is rejected sin remaineth, and so the wrath of 
 God for sin. Neither will he be a Saviour in part ; he must 
 
200 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 be all thy salvation, or none — " Let not that man think that 
 he shall receive any thing of the Lord," Jam, i. 7. 
 
 Not any thing. There is no promise for him, no pardon 
 for him, no heaven for him, no salvation for him, no escaping 
 of his fire ! What condition is this man in ! Yet he is a 
 religious man, for he prays ; he is a seeking man, a desiring 
 man, for he pra^'s ; hut he halts between two, he leaneth to 
 his righteousness, and committeth iniquity. He is afraid to 
 venture all upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Let not that man 
 think of receiving any thing from the Lord, 
 
 Yet the words suggest that he is apt to think he shall re- 
 ceive something, because God is merciful, because his pro- 
 mise is great ; but this expectation is by this word cut off, 
 and this sinner is cast away. Let not that man think, let 
 him forbear to think, of having anything at the hand of 
 God. The Israelites thought to go up to the land the day 
 after they had despised it. Agag thought the bitterness of 
 death was past even that day in which he was hewn to 
 pieces. Rechab and Baanah his brother thought to have 
 received reward of David that day they Avere hanged over 
 the pool in Hebron. " Let not that man think that he shall 
 receive anything of the Lord," Num. xiv. 40, 41 ; 1 Sam. 
 XV. 32, 33 ; 2 Sam, iv. 12. 
 
 2. As for those that do professedly make denial of the 
 sufficiency of this most blessed righteousness, the whole 
 book is conviction to them, and shall assuredly, if it come 
 to their hands, rise up in judgment against them. They 
 have rejected the wisdom and mercy of God ; they have re- 
 jected the means of their salvation ; they have trampled 
 upon the blood of the Son of God ; wherefore judgment 
 waiteth for them, and fiery indignation, which shall devour 
 the adversaries. 
 
 To conclude. One word also to you that are neglecters of 
 Jesus Christ : " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great 
 salvation ?" Here, then, we may see how we ought to judge 
 of all such persons as neglect the Lord Jesus, under what 
 guise, name, or notion soever they be. We ought, I say, to 
 judge of such, that they are at present in a state of condem- 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 201 
 
 nation ; of condemnation, " because they have not believed 
 in the only begotten Son of God," John, iii._18. 
 
 It is true, there is no man more at ease in his mind (witli 
 such ease as it is) than the man that hath not closed vi^ith 
 the Lord Jesus, but is shut up in unbelief. Oh ! but that 
 is the man that stands convict before God, and that is 
 bound over to the great assize ; that is the man whose sins 
 are still his own, and upon whom the wrath of God abideth, 
 ver. 3G ; for the ease and peace of such, though it keep them 
 far from fear, is but like to that of the secure thief, that is 
 ignorant that the constable standeth at the door ; the first 
 sight of an officer makes his peace to give up the ghost. Ah, 
 how many thousands that can now glory that they never 
 Avere troubled for sin against God ; I say, how many he 
 there that God will trouble worse than he trou])led cursed 
 Achan, because their peace (though false, and of the devil) 
 was rather chosen by them than peace by Jesus Christ, 
 than " peace with God by the blood of his cross," Col. i, 20. 
 
 Aw^ake, careless sinners, awake ! and arise from the dead, 
 and Christ shall give you light. Content not yourselves 
 either with sin or righteousness, if you be destitute of Jesus 
 Christ (Eph. v. 14) ; but cry, cry, oh cry to God for light 
 to see your condition by ; for light in the word of God, for 
 therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Cry, there- 
 fore, for light to see this righteousness by ; it is a right- 
 eousness of Christ's finishing, of God's accepting, and that 
 which alone can save the soul from the stroke of eternal 
 justice, Rom. i. 17. 
 
 There are six things that on man's part are the cause he 
 receiveth not the gospel of Christ, and so life by him. 
 
 1. They see not their state by nature, how polluted they 
 are with original sin, Eph. ii. 2. 
 
 2. They see not the justice of God against sin ; they know 
 not him that hath said, " Vengeance belongeth unto me, I 
 will recompense," Heb. x. 30. 
 
 3. They cannot see the beauty of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 
 iv. 4. 
 
 4. Unbelief being mighty in them, they dare not venture 
 
202 NO WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 their souls "vvith Jesus Christ (Rev. xxi. 8) ; they dare not 
 trust to his righteousness, and to that only. For, 
 
 5. Their carnal ]-eason also sets itself against the word of 
 faith, and cannot stoop to the grace of Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 
 ii. 14. 
 
 6. They love to have honour one of another (John, v. 
 44) ; they love to be commended for their own vain-glorious 
 righteousness ; and the fools think that because they are 
 commended of men, they shall be commended of God also : 
 " How can you believe, who seek honour one of another, 
 and seek not the honour that cometh from God only.'''' This 
 last thing — to wit, desire of vain-glory, is the bane of thou- 
 sands ; it is the legalist's bane, it is the civilian's bane, it is 
 the formalist's bane, yea, which yet is stranger, it is the 
 bane of the vicious and debauched also ; for though there 
 be a generation that, to one's thinking, have not regard to 
 righteousness, yet watch them narrowly, and they have 
 their times of doing something that looks like good, and 
 though possibly it be but seldom, yet this wretch counteth 
 that for the sake of that God accepteth him, and counteth 
 his,- glorious righteousness. 
 
 I might add a seventh cause, which is, want of serious 
 meditation upon eternal judgment, and what shall follow. 
 This consideration, did it take a deep plnce in the heart, 
 would doubtless produce these workings of spirit after Jesus 
 Christ for justification that now is wanting in the most of 
 men. This made Felix, yea, it makes the devils, tremble ; 
 and would, I say, couldst thou deeply meditate, make thee 
 start and tui-n thy wanton thoughts into heavy sighs after 
 God's mercy in Jesus Christ, lest thou also come into their 
 place of torment. 
 
 Before I conclude this use, I would lay do's\Ti a few mo- 
 tives, if so be thou mayest be prevailed with to look after 
 thine own everlasting state. 
 
 1. Consider, God hath put man, above all the creatures 
 in this visible world, into a state of abiding for ever ; they 
 cannot be annihilated, they shall never again be turned 
 into nothing, but must live with God or the devil for ever 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 203 
 
 and ever. And though the scripture saith, " Man hath not 
 pre-eminence over a beast in his death," yet the beast hatli 
 pre-eminence above many men, for he shall not rise again 
 to come into judgment as man must, nor receive tliat dis- 
 mal sentence for sin and transgression as man shall ; this, 
 therefore, is worthy to be considered with seriousness of all 
 that have souls to be saved or damned — " They must one 
 day come to judgment," there to stand before that Judge 
 of all the earth whose eyes are like a flame of fire, from the 
 sight of which thou canst not hide one of thy words, or 
 thoughts, or actions, because thou wantest the righteous- 
 ness of God. The fire of his justice shall burn up all thy 
 rags of righteousness wherewith by the law thou hast 
 clothed thyself, and will leave thee nothing but a soul 
 full of sin to bemoan, and eternal burnings to grapple with. 
 Oh, the burnings that \\ill then beset sinners on every side, 
 and that will eat their fiesh and torment their spirit with 
 far more terror than if they were stricken with scorpions ! 
 And observe it, the torment will there be higher than other 
 where there is the guilt of neglecting Jesus Christ, he being 
 indeed the Saviour, and him that was sent on purpose to 
 deliver men from the wrath to come. 
 
 2. Consider, once past grace, and ever past grace. When 
 the door is shut against thee, it will open no more (Luke, 
 xiii.), and then repentings, desires, wishings, and Avouldings, 
 come all too late. Good may be done to others, but to thee, 
 none ; and this shall be " because, even because thou hast 
 withstood the time of thy visitation," and not received 
 grace when offered : " My God shall cast them away, be- 
 cause they did not hearken unto him," Luke, xix. 41-43 ; 
 Hos. ix. 17. Cain was driven out ft'om the presence of 
 God, for aught I know, some hundreds of years before his 
 death ; Ishmael was cast away after seventeen years of age ; 
 Esau lived thirty or forty years after he had sold his birth- 
 right. Oh, many, very many are in this condition ! for 
 though God be gracious, yea, very gracious, yet he will not 
 be slighted nor abused always ; there are plenty of sinners 
 in the world — if one will not, another will, Luke, viii. 37 , 
 
204 no WAY TO HEAVEN 
 
 40. Christ was soon repulsed by and sent away from the 
 country of the Gadarenes ; but on the other side of the sea 
 there were many ready with joy to receive him, Acts, xiii. 
 46-48. So when the Jews contradicted and blasphemed, 
 "the Gentiles gladly received the word." Look to it, 
 sinner, here is life and death set before thee ; life, if it be 
 not too late to receive it ; but if it be, it is not too late for 
 death to swallow thes up. And tell me, v.-ill it not be 
 dreadful to be carried from under the gospel to the damned, 
 there to lie in endless torment, because thou wouldst not be 
 delivered therefrom ? Will it be comfort to thee to see the 
 Saviour turn Judge ? to see him that wept and died for the 
 sin of the world now ease his mind on Christ-abhorring 
 sinners by rendering to them the just judgment of God ? 
 For all their abominable filthiness, had they closed with 
 Christ, they had been shrouded from the justice of the law, 
 and should not have come into condemnation, " but had 
 been passed from death to life ;" but they would not take 
 shelter there ; they would venture to meet the justice of 
 God in its fury, wherefore now it shall swallow them up 
 for ever and ever. And let me ask further, is not he a 
 madman who, being loaded with combustible matter, will 
 run headlong into a hre upon a bravado ? or, that being 
 guilty of felony or murder, will despeiately run himself 
 into the hand of the officer, as if the law, the judge, the 
 sentence, execution, were but a jest, or a thing to be played 
 withal ? And yet thus mad are poor, wretched, miserable 
 sinners, who flying from Christ as if he were a viper, they 
 are overcome, and cast off for ever by the just judgment of 
 the law. But ah ! how poorly will these be able to plead 
 the virtues of the law to wiiich they have cleaved, when 
 God shall answer them, " Whom dost thou pass in beauty ? 
 go down, and be thou laid Avith the uncircumcised," Ezek. 
 xxxii. 19. Go down to hell, and there be laid v/ith those 
 that refused the grace of God. 
 
 Sinners, take my advice, with which I shall conclude 
 this use — Call often to remembrance that thou hast a pre- 
 cious soul within thee ; that thou art in the way to thine 
 
BUT BY JESUS CHRIST. 205 
 
 end, at. "which thy precious soul will be in special concerned, 
 it being then time to delay no longer, the time of reward 
 being come. I say again, bring thy end home ; put thyself 
 in thy thoughts into the last day thou must live in this 
 world, seriously arguing thus — How if this day were my 
 last ■? How if I never see the sun rise more ? How if the 
 tirst voice that rings to-morrow morning in my heavy ears 
 be, " Arise, ye dead, and come to judgments" Or, how if 
 the next sight I see with mine eyes be the Lord in the 
 clouds, with all his angels, raining floods of hre and brim- 
 stone upon the world 1 Am I in a case to be thus near 
 mine end ? to hear this trump of God 1 or to see this great 
 appearance of this great God, and the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 AVill my profession, or the faith I think I have, carry me 
 through all the trials of God's tribunal ? Cannot his eyes, 
 which are as a flame of fire, see in my words, thoughts, 
 and actions enough to make me culpable of the wrath of 
 God ? Oh ! how serious should sinners be in this work of 
 remembering things to come, of laying to their heart the 
 greatness and terror of that notable day of God Almighty, 
 and in examining themselves, how it is like to go with 
 their souls when they shall stand before the Judge indeed 1 
 To this end, God make this word effectual. Amen. 
 
THE STRAIT GATE; 
 
 OR, 
 
 GREAT DIFFICULTY OF GOING TO HtAVEN 
 
 Plainly proving, by the Scriptures, that not only the Rude and Profane, 
 but many great Professors, will come short of that Kingdom. 
 
 Enter ye in at the strait gate ; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that 
 leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is 
 the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that 
 find it."-Ma.tth. vii. 13, U. 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 CouiiTEous Reader, 
 
 God (I hope) hath put it into my heart to write unto 
 thee another time, and that about matters of the greatest 
 moment (for now we discourse not about things contro- 
 verted among tlie godly, but directly about the saving or 
 damning of the soul ; yea, moreover, this discourse is about 
 the fewness of them that shall be saved, and it proves, that 
 many an high professor will come short of eternal life) ; 
 wherefore the matter must needs be sharp, and so disliked 
 by some, but let it not be rejected by thee. The text calls 
 for sharpness, so do the times, yea, the faithful discharge 
 of my duty towards thee hath put me upon it. 
 
 I do not now pipe, but mourn ; and it will be well for 
 thee if thou canst graciously lament, INIatth. xi. 17. Some 
 (say they) make the gate of heaven too wide, and some 
 make it too narrow ; for my part, I have here presented 
 thee with as true a measure of it, as by the word of God I 
 can. Read me, therefore, yea, read me, and compare me 
 with the Bible ; and if thou findest my doctrine and that 
 book of God concur, embrace it, as thou wilt answer the 
 contrary in the day of judgment. This awakening work 
 (if God will make it so) was prepared for thee : if there be 
 need, and it wounds, get healing by blood : if it disquiets, 
 get peace by blood : if it takes away all thou hast, because 
 it was naught (for this book is not prepared to take away 
 true grace fi'om any), then buy of Christ gold tried in the 
 fire, that thou mayst be rich, and white raiment, that thou 
 mayst be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness 
 doth not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that 
 thou mayst see, Rev. iii. 18. Self-flatteries, self-deceivings, 
 are easy and pleasant, but damnable. The Lord give thee 
 an heart to judge right of thyself, right of this book, and 
 so prepare for eternity, that thou mayst not only expect 
 entrance, but be received into the kingdom of Christ and 
 of God. Amen. 
 
 So prays thy Friend, 
 
 JOHN BUNYAN. 
 
THE STRAIT GATE; 
 
 OR, 
 
 GREAT DIFFICULTY OF GOING TO HEAVEN. 
 
 " Strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many, I say unto you, will seek i 
 in, and shall not be a6?e."— Luke, xiii. 24. 
 
 These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are, 
 therefore, in especial manner to he heeded ; besides, the 
 subject matter of the words is the most weighty, to wit, 
 how we should attain salvation, and therefore also to be 
 heeded. 
 
 The occasion of the words was a question which one that 
 was at this time in the company of the disciples, put to 
 Jesus Christ ; the question was this, " Lord, are there few 
 that be saved 1" ver. 23. A serious question, not such as 
 tended to the subversion of the hearers, as too many now 
 a- days do ; but such as in its o%vn nature tended to the 
 awakening of the company to good, and that called for 
 such an answer that might profit the people also. This 
 question also well pleased Jesus Christ, and he prepareth 
 and giveth such an answer as was without the least retort, 
 or shew of distaste ; such an answer, I say, as carried in 
 it the most full resolve to the question itself, and help to 
 the persons questioning : " And he said unto them, Strive 
 to enter in," &c. The words are an answer, and an instruc- 
 tion also. 
 
 1. An answer, and that in the affirmative ;. the gate is 
 strait, — many that seek will not be able, therefore but few 
 shall be saved. 
 
 2. Xhe answer is an instruction also ; " strive to enter 
 in," &c. good coimsel and instruction ; pray God help me. 
 
212 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 end my reader, and all that love tlieir own salvation, to 
 take it. 
 
 I\Iy manner of handling the words will be, first, by way 
 of explication, and then by way of observation. 
 
 I. By way of explication. 
 
 The words are to be considered, first, with reference to 
 their general scope ; and then with reference to their several 
 j)h rases. 
 
 First, the general scope of the text is to be considered, 
 and tliat is that great thing salvation ; for these words do 
 immediately look at, point to, and give directions about 
 salvation : " Are there few that be saved ? strive to enter 
 in at the strait gate." 
 
 The words, I sa^", are to direct us, not only to talk of, 
 or to wish for, but to understand how we shall, and to seek 
 that we may be efi^ectually saved, and therefore of the 
 greatest importance. To be saved ! what is like being saved ? 
 To be saved from sin, from hell, from the wrath of God, 
 from eternal damnation, what is like it ? To be made an 
 heir of God, of his grace, of his kingdom and eternal glory, 
 what is like it ? and yet all this is included in this word 
 saved, and in the answer to that question, are there few 
 that be saved ? • Indeed this word saved is but of little use 
 in the world, save to them that are heartily afraid of 
 damning. This word lies in the Bible, as excellent salves 
 lie in some men's houses, thrust into a hole, and not thought 
 on for many months, ],>ecause the household-people have no 
 wounds nor sores. In time of sickness, what so set by 
 as the doctor's glasses and gaily -pots full of his excellent 
 things ? but when the person is grown well, the rest is 
 thrown to the dunghill. Oh ! when men are sick of sin, 
 and afraid of danming, what a text is that, wdiere this word 
 saved is found 1 Yea, what a word., of worth, and goodness, 
 and blessedness, is it to him that lies continually upon the 
 wrath of a guilty conscience 1 " But the whole need not 
 the physician ;" he therefore, and he only, knows what 
 saved means, that knows what liell, and death, and dam- 
 nation means. " What shall I do to be saved ? " is tho 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 213 
 
 language of the trembling sinner. " Lord save me," is the 
 language of the sinking sinner ; and none admire the glory 
 that is in tliat word saved, hut such as see, without being 
 saved, all things in heaven and earth are emptiness to them. 
 They also that believe themselves privileged in all the 
 blessedness that is wrapped up in that word, bless and 
 admire God that hath saved them. Wherefore, since the 
 thing intended, both in the question and the answer, is no 
 less than the salvation of the soul, I beseech you to give 
 the more earnest heed, Heb. xxi. 
 
 But to come to the particular phrases in the words, and 
 to handle them orderly, in the words I find four things. 
 
 1. An intimation of the kingdom of heaven ; 2. A de- 
 scription of the entrance into it ; 3, An exhortation to enter 
 into it ; and, 4. A motive to enforce that exhortation. 
 
 ]. An intimation of the kingdom of heaven ; for when 
 he saith, " Strive to enter in :" and in such phrases there 
 is supposed a place or state, or both, to be enjoyed. " Enter 
 in ;" enter into w^hat, or whither, but into a state or place, 
 or both ? and therefore when you read this word, " enter 
 in," you must say there is certainly included in the text 
 that good thing that yet is not expressed. " Enter in ;" into 
 heaven, that is the meaning, where the saved are, and shall 
 be ; into heaven, that place, that glorious place, where God, 
 and Christ, and angels are, and the souls or spirits of just 
 men made perfect. " Enter in ;" that thing included, though 
 not expressed in the words, is called in another place, the 
 Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly 
 and church of the first-born which are written in heaven, 
 Heb. xii. And therefore the words signify unto us, that 
 there is a state most glorious, and that when this world 
 is ended ; and that this place and state is likewise to be 
 enjoyed, and inherited by a generation of men for ever. 
 Besides, this w^ord, enter in, signifieth that salvation to 
 the full is to be enjoyed only there, and that there only 
 is eternal safety ; all other places and conditions are 
 hazardous, dangerous, full of snares, imperfections, temp- 
 tations, and afflictions, but there all is well ; there is no 
 
214 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 devil to tempt, no desperately wicked heart to deliver us 
 up, no deceitful lust to entangle, nor any enchanting world 
 to bewitch us : there all shall be well to all eternity. 
 Further, all the parts of, and circumstances that attend 
 salvation, are only there to be enjoyed : there only is 
 immortality and eternal life ; there is the glory and ful- 
 ness of joy, and the everlasting pleasures ; there is God and 
 Christ to be enjoyed by open vision, and more ; there are 
 the angels, and the saints ; further, there is no death, nor 
 sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, for ever : there is no pain, 
 nor persecutor, nor darkness, to eclipse our glory. this 
 Mount Sion ! this heavenly Jerusalem ! 2 Cor. v. 1 — 
 5 ; Psal. xvi. 11 ; Luke, xx. 35, 36 ; Heb. xii, 12—14. 
 
 Behold, therefore, what a great thing the Lord Jesus 
 hath included by this little word " in." In this word is 
 wrapt up an whole heaven and eternal life ; even as there 
 is also by other little words in the holy Scriptures of truth ; 
 as where he saith, " Knock, and it shall be opened unto 
 you," and the elect have obtained it. This should teach 
 us, not only to read, but to attend in reading ; not only to 
 read, but to lift up our hearts to God in reading ; for if we 
 be not heedful, if he gives us not light and understanding, 
 we may easily pass over, without any great regard, such a 
 word as may have a glorious kingdom and eternal salva- 
 tion in the bowels of it : yea sometimes, as here, a whole 
 heaven is intimated, where it is not at all expressed. The 
 apostles of old did use to fetch great things out of the Scrip- 
 tures, even out of the very order and timing of the several 
 things contained therein. See Rom. iv. 9 — 11 ; Gal. iii. 16, 
 17 ; Heb. viii. 13. But, 
 
 2. As we have here an intimation of the kingdom of 
 heaven, so we have a description of the entrance into it, 
 and that by a double similitude : 1. It is called a gate ; 2. 
 A strait gate : " Strive to enter in at the strait gate." 
 
 1st, It is set forth by the similitude of a gate. A gate, 
 you know, is of a double use ; it is to open and shut, and so, 
 consequently, to let in or to keep out ; and to do both these 
 at the season ; as he said, " Let not the gates of Jerusalem 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 215 
 
 be opened till the sun be hot ;" and again, " I commanded 
 that tlie gate should he shut, and charged that they should 
 not he opened till after the Sabbath," Neh. vii, 3 ; xiii. 19, 
 20, And so you find of this gate of heaven, when the five 
 wise virgins came, the gate was opened, but afterwards 
 came the other virgins, and tlie door was shut, Matth, xi. 
 So then the entrance into heaven is called a gate, to shew 
 there is a time when tliere may be entrance, and there will 
 come a time when there shall be none ; and indeed this is 
 a chief truth contained in the text : " Strive to enter in at 
 the strait gate ; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter 
 in, and shall not be able." I "read in the scriptures of t-wo 
 gates or doors, through which the}' that go to heaven must 
 enter. 
 
 (1.) There is the door of faith, the door which the grace 
 of God hath opened to the Gentiles ; this door is Jesus 
 Cbrist, as also himself doth testify, saying, " I am the door," 
 &c. Acts, xiv. 27 ; John, x. 9. By this door men enter into 
 God's favour and mercy, and find forgiveness through faith 
 in his blood, and live in hope of eternal life ; and therefore 
 liimself also said, " I am the door, by me if any man enter 
 in, he sliall be saved," that is, received to mercy, and in- 
 herit eternal life. But, 
 
 (2.) There is another door or gate (for that which is 
 called in the text a gate, is twice in the next verse called a 
 door) ; there is, I say, another gate, and that is the passage 
 into the very heaven itself ; the entrance into the celestial 
 mansion-house, and that is the gate mentioned in the text, 
 and the door mentioned twice in the verse that follows. 
 And thus Jacob called it, when he said. Bethel was the 
 house of God, and this is the gate of heaven, that is, tlie 
 entrance, for he saw the entrance into heaven. One end of 
 Jacob's ladder stands in Bethel, God's house, and the other 
 end reacheth up to the ^te of heaven, Gen. xxviii. 10 — 18. 
 Jacob's ladder was the figure of Christ, which ladder was 
 not the gate of heaven, but the way from the Church to 
 that gate which he saw above at the top of the ladder, Gen. 
 xxviii. 12 ; and John, i, 51, But again, that the gate in 
 the text is the gate or entrance into heaven, consider. 
 
216 TEE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 (1.) It is that gate that lettethnien into, or shutteth men 
 out of that place or kingdom where Abraham, and Isaac, 
 and Jacob is, which place is that paradise where Christ 
 promised the thief, that he should be that day, that he 
 asked to be with him in his kingdom ; it is that place into 
 which Paul said, he was caught, when he heard words un- 
 lawful or impossible for a man to utter, Luke, xiii. 20 ; 
 xxiii. 24 ; 2 Cor. xii. 1 — 6, 
 
 Quest. But is not Christ the gate or entrance into this 
 heavenly place ? 
 
 Ans. He is he without whom no man can get thither, 
 because by his merits men obtain that world, and also be- 
 cause he (as the Father) is the donor and disposer of that 
 kingdom to whom he will. Farther, this place is called 
 liis house, and himself the master of it (when once the 
 master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, 
 ver. 25.) But we use to say, that the master of the house 
 is not the door. Men enter into heaven, then, by him, not 
 as he is the gate, or door, or entrance, into the celestial 
 mansion-house, but as he is the giver and disposer of that 
 kingdom to them whom he shall count worthy, because he 
 hath obtained it for them. 
 
 (2.) That this gate is the very passage into heaven, con- 
 sider the text hath special reference to the day of judgment, 
 when Christ will have laid aside his mediatory office, which 
 before he exercised for the bringing to the faith his own 
 elect ; and will then act, not as one that justifieth the un- 
 godly, but as one that judgeth sinners. He will now be 
 risen up from the throne of grace, and shut up the door 
 against ail the impenitent, and will be set upon the throne 
 of judgment, from thence to proceed with ungodly sinners. 
 
 Ohj. But Christ bids strive, " Strive now to enter in at 
 the strait gate ;" but if that gate be as you say, the gate 
 or entrance into heaven, then it should seem that we should 
 not strive till the day of judgment, for we shall not come 
 at that gate till then. 
 
 Ans. Christ, by this exhortation. Strive, &c. doth not at 
 all admit of, or countenance delays, or that a man should 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 217 
 
 neglect his own salvation ; but piitteth poor creatures upon 
 preparing for the judgment, and counselleth them now to 
 get those things that will then give them entrance into 
 glory. This exhortation is much like these, " Be ye there- 
 fore ready also, for at such an hour as you think not, the 
 Son of Man cometh : and they that were ready went in 
 with him to the marriage, and the door was shut," Matth, 
 xxiv. 44 ; xxv. 10. 
 
 So that when he saith, " Strive to enter in," it is as much 
 as if he should say, Blessed are they that shall be admitted 
 another day to enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but they 
 that shall be accounted worthy of so unspeakable a favour, 
 must be well prepared and fitted for it before hand. Now, 
 the time to be fitted is not the day of judgment, but the day 
 of grace ; not then, but now. Therefore, strive now for 
 those things that will then give you entrance into the 
 heavenly kingdom. But, 
 
 Idly. As it is called a gate, so it is called a strait gate : 
 " Strive to enter in at the strait gate." 
 
 The straitness of this gate is not to be understood car- 
 nally, but mystically. You are not to understand it, as if 
 the entrance into heaven was some little pinching wicket ; 
 no, the straitness of this gate is quite another thing. This 
 gate is wide enough for all them that are the truly gracious 
 and sincere lovers of Jesus Christ, but so strait, as that not 
 one of the other can by any means enter in : " Open to me 
 the gates of righteousness, I will go into them, and I will 
 praise the Lord, this gate of the Lord into which the right- 
 eous shall enter," Psal. cxviii. 19, 20. By this word, 
 therefore, Christ Jesus hath shewed unto us, that without 
 due qualifications there is no possibility of entering into 
 heaven ; the strait gate will keep all others out. When 
 Christ spake this parable, he had doubtless his eye upon 
 some passage or passages of the Old Testament, with which 
 the Jews were well acquainted. I will mention two, and 
 so go on. 
 
 (1.) The pkce by which God turned Adam and his wife 
 out of Paradise. Possibly our Lord might have his eye 
 
218 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 upon that ; for though that was wide enough for them to 
 come out at, yet it was too strait for tliem to go in at. 
 But what should be the reason of that "? Why, they had 
 sinned ; and therefore " jrod set at the east of that garden 
 cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every Avay, to 
 keep the way of the tree of life" (Gren. iii. 24.) The cheru- 
 bims, and this flaming sword, they made the entrance too 
 strait for them to enter in. Souls, there are cherubims 
 and a flaming sword at the gates of heaven to keep the 
 way of the tree of life ; therefore none but them that are 
 duly fitted for heaven can enter in at this strait gate ; the 
 flaming sword will keep all others out. " Know you not 
 that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; 
 be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adul- 
 terers, nor eff"eminate, nor abusers of themselves with man- 
 kind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, 
 nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God" 
 (1 Cor. vi. 9.) 
 
 (2.) Perhaps our Lord might have his eye upon the 
 gates of the temple when he spoke this word unto the 
 people ; for though the gates of the temple were six cubits 
 wide, yet they were so strait, that none that were unclean 
 in anything might enter in thereat (Ezek. xl. 48), because 
 there were placed at them gates, porters, whose office was 
 to look that none but those that had right to enter, might 
 go in thither : And so it is written, " Jehoidah set porters 
 at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none that were 
 unclean in any thing might enter in" (2 Chron. xxiii. 19). 
 Souls, God hath porters at the gates of the temple, at the 
 gate of heaven ; porters, I say, placed there by God, to 
 look that none that are unclean in any thing may come in 
 thither. In at the gate of the church, none may enter 
 now that are open, profane, and scandalous to religion ; 
 no, though they plead they are beloved of God : " AVhat 
 hath my beloved to do in mine house (saith the Lord), 
 seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many?" (Jer. 
 xi. 15.) 
 
 I say, I am very apt to believe that our Lord Jesus 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 219 
 
 Christ had his thoughts upon these two texts, when he 
 said, The gate is strait : and that which confirms me the 
 more in the thing is this, a little below the text, he saith, 
 " There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you 
 shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the pro- 
 phets, in the kingdom of heaven, and you yourselves thrust 
 out" (verse 28.) Thrust out, which signifieth a violent 
 act, resisting with striving those that would (though un- 
 qualified) enter : The porters of the temple were, for this 
 very thing, to wear arms, if need were, and to be men of 
 courage and strength, lest the unsanctified or unprepared 
 should by some means enter in. We read, in the book of 
 Revelations, of the holy city, and that it had twelve gates, 
 and at the gates twelve angels ; but what did they do 
 there ? Why, amongst the rest of their service, this was 
 one thing, that there might in nowise enter in any thing 
 til at defiieth, or worketh abomination, and that maketh a 
 lie, Rev. xxi. 12, 21. 
 
 But more particularly, to shew what it is that maketh 
 this gate so strait : There are three things that maketh 
 it strait. 1. There is sin. 2. There is the word of the law. 
 3. There are the angels of God. 
 
 1st, There is sm ; the sin of the profane, and the sin of 
 the professor. 
 
 (1.) The sin of the profane. But this needs not be en- 
 larged upon, because it is concluded upon at all hands, where 
 there is the common belief of the being of God, and the 
 judgment to come, that " the wicked shall be turned into 
 hell, and all the nations that forget God," Ps. ix. 17. 
 
 (2.) But there is the sin of professors ; or take it rather 
 thus, there is a profession that will stand with an unsanc- 
 tified heart and life. The sin of such will overpoise the 
 salvation of their souls, the sin-end being the heaviest end 
 of the scale ; I say, that being the heaviest end which hath 
 sin in it, they tilt over, and so are, notwithstanding their 
 glorious profession, drowned in perdition and destruction ; 
 " for none such hath any inheritance in the kingdom of 
 Christ and of God ; therefore let no man deceive you with 
 
220 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 vain words, for because of these things comes the wa-ath of 
 God upon the chikiren of disobedience ;" neither will a pro- 
 fession be able to excuse them, Eph. v. 3-6. The gate will 
 be too strait for such as these to enter in thereat. A man 
 may partake of salvation in part, but not of salvation in 
 whole. God saved the children of Israel out of Egypt, but 
 overthrew them in the wilderness : — " I will therefore put 
 you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that 
 the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, 
 afterwards destroyed them that believed not." So we see 
 that (notwithstanding their beginning) " they could not 
 enter in, because of unbelief," Jude, 5 ; Heb. iii. 19. 
 
 2dli/, There is the word of the law, and that will make 
 the gate strait also, None must go in thereat but those 
 that can go in by the leave of the law ; for though no man 
 be, or can be, justified by the works of the law, yet unless 
 the righteousness and holiness by whicli they attempt to 
 enter into this kingdom be justified by the law, it is in 
 vain once to think of entering in at this stait gate. Now 
 the law justifieth not, but upon the account of Christ's 
 righteousness ; if therefore thou be not indeed found in that 
 righteousness, thou wilt find the law lie just in the passage 
 into heaven to keep thee out. Every man's work must be 
 tried by fire, that it may be manifest of wliat sort it is. 
 There are two errors in the world about the law ; one is, 
 when men think to enter in at the strait gate by the right- 
 eousness of the law ; the other is, when men think they 
 may enter into heaven without the leave of the law. Both 
 these, I say, are errors ; for as by the works of the law no 
 flesh shall be justified ; so without the consent of the law, 
 no flesh shall be saved, " Heaven and earth shall pass 
 away, before one jot or tittle of the law shall fail, till all 
 be fulfilled." He therefore must be damned that cannot 
 be saved by the consent of the law. And, indeed, this law 
 is the flaming sword that turneth every way ; yea, that 
 lieth to this day in the way to heaven, for a bar to all 
 unbelievers and unsanctified professors ; for it is taken out 
 of the way for the truly gracious only. It will be found 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 221 
 
 as a roaring lion to devour all others. Because of the law, 
 therefore, the gate will he found too strait for the unsanc- 
 titied to enter in. When the apostle had told the Corinthians 
 that the unrighteous should not inherit the kingdom of 
 God, and that such were some of them, he adds, " But ye 
 are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," 
 1 Cor. vi. 9-11 ; closely concluding, that had they not been 
 washed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus, the law, for their transgressions, would have 
 kept them out ; it would have made the gate too strait for 
 them to enter in. 
 
 Sc/Zy, There are also the angels of God, and by reason of 
 them the gate is strait. The Lord Jesus calleth the end of 
 the world his harvest ; and saith, moreover, that the angels 
 are his reapers. These angels are therefore to gather his 
 wheat into his barn, but to gather the ungodly into bundles 
 to burn them. Matt. xiii. 39, 41, 49. Unless, therefore, 
 the man that is unsanctified can master the law, and con- 
 quer angels ; unless he can, as I may say, pull them out 
 of the gate-way of heaven, himself is not to come thither 
 for ever. No man goeth to heaven but by the help of the 
 angels — I mean at the day of judgment : " For the Son of 
 man shall sen-d forth his angels with a great sound of a 
 trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the 
 four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." If those 
 that shall enter in at the strait gate shall only enter in 
 thither by the conduct of the holy angels, pray when do 
 you think those men will enter in thither, concerning 
 whom the angels are commanded to gather them, to bind 
 them in bundles, to burn them ? This, therefore, is a third 
 difficulty : The angels will make this entrance strait ; yea, 
 too strait for the unjustified and unsanctified to enter in 
 thither. 
 
 3. I come now to the exhortation, which is, to strive to 
 enter in : " Strive to enter in at the strait gate." These 
 words are fitly added ; for since the gate is strait, it follows 
 that they who will enter in must strive. 
 
222 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 "Strive." This word strive siipposeth, 1. That great idle- 
 ness is natural to professors ; they think to get to heaven by 
 lying, as it were, on their elbows. 2. It also suggesteth, 
 that many will be the difficulties that professors will meet 
 with before they get to heaven. 3. It also concludeth, that 
 only the labouring Christian, man or woman, will get in 
 thither. " Strive,'' &c. 
 
 Three questions I will propound upon the word, an an- 
 swer to which may give us light into the meaning of it : 
 
 1. What doth the word strive import 1 2. How should we 
 strive '? 3. Why should we strive 1 
 
 1st, What doth this word strive import 1 
 
 Ans. When he saith, Strive, it is as much as to say, bend 
 yourselves to the work with all your might : " Whatso- 
 ever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might ; for 
 there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom 
 in the grave, whither thou goest," Eccl. ix. 10. Thus 
 Samson did when he set himself to destroy the Philistines, 
 he bowed himself with all his might, Judges, xvi. 30. 
 Thus David did also, when he made provision for the build- 
 ing and beautifying of the temple of God, 1 Chron. xxix. 
 
 2. And thus must thou do, if ever thou enterest into 
 heaven. 
 
 'idly, When he saith. Strive, he calleth for the mind and 
 will, that they should be on his side, and on the side of the 
 things of his kingdom ; for none strive indeed, but such as 
 have given the son of God their heart, of which their mind 
 and will are a principal part ; for saving conversion lieth 
 more in the turning of the mind and will to Christ, and to 
 the love of his heavenly things, than in all knowledge and 
 judgment. And this the apostle confirmeth, when he saith, 
 " Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving," &c. 
 Phil. i. 27. 
 
 (3.) And, more particularly, this word strive is expressed 
 by several other terms ; as, 1. it is expressed by that word, 
 " So run that you may obtain," 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25. 2. It is 
 expressed by that word, " Fight the good fight of faith, 
 lay hold of eternal life," 1 Tim. vi. 12. 3. It is expressed 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 223 
 
 by that word, " Labour not for the meat that perisheth, 
 but for that meat that endureth to everlasting life," John, 
 vi. 27. 4. It is expressed hy that word, " We wrestle with 
 principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness 
 of this world," Eph. vi, 12. Therefore, when he saith, 
 strive, it is as much as to say, Run for heaven, fight for 
 heaven, labour for heaven, wrestle for heaven, or you are 
 like to go without it. 
 
 The second question is, How should we strive ? 
 
 A71S, The answer in general is, Thou must strive law- 
 fully : " And if a man also strive for the mastery, yet is he 
 not crowned, except he strive lawfully," 2 Tim. vi. 
 
 But you will say, AVhat is it to strive lawfully 1 
 
 Ans. (1.) To strive against the things which are abhorred 
 by the Lord Jesus ; yea, to resist to the spilling of your 
 blood, striving against sin, Heb. xiu 4. To have all those 
 things that are condemned by the word ; yea, though they 
 be thine own right hand, right eye, or right foot, in abo- 
 mination ; and to seek by all godly means the utter sup- 
 pressing of them, Mark, ix. 43, 45, 47. 
 
 (2.) To strive lawfully, is to strive for those things that 
 are commanded in the word. But thou, man of God, 
 fly the world, and follow after ; that is, strive for righteous- 
 ness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, fight the 
 good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, &c., 1 Tim. vi. 
 11, 12. 
 
 (3.) He that striveth lawfully, must be therefore very 
 temperate in all the good and lawful things of this life. 
 And every one that striveth for the mastery, is temperate 
 in all things ; now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown ; 
 but we an incorruptible, 1 Cor, ix. 25. Most professors 
 give leave to the world, and vanity of their hearts, to close 
 with them, and to hang about their necks, and make their 
 striving to stand rather in an outcry of words, than a 
 hearty labour against the lusts and love of the world, and 
 their own coiTuptions ; but this kind of striving is but a 
 beating of the air, and will come to just nothing at last, 
 1 Cor. ix. 26. 
 
224 
 
 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 (4.) He that striveth lawfully, must take God and Christ 
 along with him to the work, otherwise he will certainly 
 be undone : " AVhereunto (said Paul) I also labour, striv- 
 ing according to his working, which worketh in me might- 
 ily," Col. i. 29. And for the right performing of this, he 
 must observe these following particulars : — 
 
 (1.) He must take heed that he doth not strive about 
 things, or words, to no profit ; for God will not then be with 
 him. " Of these things (saith the apostle) put them in re- 
 membrance ; charging them before the Lord, that they 
 strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of 
 the heai^ers," 1 Tim. ii. 14. But, alas! how many profes- 
 sors in our days are guilty of this transgression, whose 
 religion stands chiefly, if not only, in a few unprofitable 
 questions, and vain wranglings, about words and things to 
 no profit, but to the destruction of the hearers ! 
 
 (2.) He must take heed that whilst he strives against 
 one sin, he does not harbour and shelter another ; or that 
 whilst he cries out against other men's sins, he does not 
 countenance his own. 
 
 (3.) In the striving, strive to believe, strive for the faith 
 of the gospel ; for the more we believe the gospel, and the 
 reality of the things of the world to come, with the more 
 stomach and courage shall we labour to possess the blessed- 
 ness, Phil. i. 27 ; Heb. iv. Let us labour therefore to enter 
 into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of 
 unbelief. 
 
 (4.) As we should strive for, and by faith, so we should 
 strive by prayer (Rom. xv, 30), by fervent and effectual 
 prayers. the swarms of our prayerless professors ! What 
 do they think of themselves ? Surely the gate of heaven 
 was heretofore as wide as in these our days ; but what 
 striving by prayer w^as there then among Christians for 
 the thing that gives admittance into this kingdom, over 
 there is in these latter days ! 
 
 (5.) We should also strive by mortifying our members 
 that are upon the earth : " I therefore so run (said Paul), 
 80 fight I, not as one that beats the air ; but I keep under 
 
TlIF STRAIT GATE. 225 
 
 my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any 
 means, when I have preached the gospel to others, 1 my- 
 self should be a cast-a^Yay," 1 Cor. ix. 27. But all this is 
 spoken principally to professors ; so I would be under- 
 stood. 
 
 I come now to the third question, namely. But why 
 should we strive ? 
 
 A71S. (1.) Because the thing for which you are here ex- 
 horted to strive, it is worth the striving for; it is for no less 
 than for a whole heaven, and an eternity of felicity there. 
 How will m'en that have before them a little honour, a little 
 profit, a little pleasure, strive ? I say again, how will they 
 strive for this ? Now, they do it for a corruptible crown, 
 but we an incorruptible. Methinks this word heaven, and 
 this eternal life, what is there again either in heaven or 
 earth like them to provoke a man to strive 1 
 
 (2.) Strive, because otherwise the devil and hell will 
 assuredly have thee : " He goes about like a roaring lion, 
 seeking whom he may devour," 1 Pet. v. 8. These fallen 
 angels, they are always watchful, diligent, unwearied ; they 
 are also mighty, subtile, and malicious, seeking nothing 
 more than the damnation of thy soul. Oh, thou that art 
 like the heartless dove, strive ! 
 
 (3.) Strive, because every lust strives and wars against 
 thy soul. The flesh lusteth against the spirit : " Dearly 
 beloved, I beseech you (said Peter), as strangers and pil- 
 grims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the 
 soul," Gal. V. 17. It is a rare thing to see or find out a 
 Christian that indeed can bridle his lusts ; but no strange 
 thing to see such professors that are not only bridled, but 
 saddled too, yea, and ridden from lust to sin, from one 
 vanity to another, by the very devil himself, and the cor- 
 ruptions of their hearts, 
 
 (4.) Strive, because thou hast a whole world against thee. 
 The world hateth thee if thou be a Christian ; the men 
 of the world hate thee ; the things of the world are snares 
 for thee, even thy bed and table, thy wife and husband, 
 yea, thy most lawful enjoyments, have that in them that 
 
226 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 will certainly sink thy soul to hell, if thou dost not strive 
 against the snares that are in them, Rom. xi. 9. 
 
 The world will seek to keep thee out of heaven with 
 mocks, flouts, taunts, threatenings, gaols, gibbets, halters, 
 burnings, and a thousand deaths ; therefore strive. Again, 
 if it cannot overcome thee with these, it will flatter, pro- 
 mise, allure, entice, entreat, and use a thousand tricks on 
 this hand to destroy thee ; and observe, many that have 
 been stout against the threats of the world, have yet been 
 overcome with the bewitching flatteries of the same. There 
 ever was enmity between the devil and the church, and 
 betwixt his seed and her seed too ; Michael and his angels, 
 and the dragon and his angels, these make war continually. 
 Gen, iii. ; Rev. xii. There hath been great desires and en- 
 deavours among men to reconcile these two in one, to wit, 
 the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman ; but it 
 could never yet be accomplished. The world says, they will 
 never come over to us ; and we again say, by God's grace, 
 w^e will never come over to them. But the business hath 
 not ended in words ; both they and we have also added our 
 endeavours to make each other submit ; but endeavours 
 have proved ineffectual too. The}", for their part, have 
 devised all manner of cruel torments to make us submit ; 
 as, slaying with the sword, stoning, sawing asunder, flames, 
 wild beasts, banishments, hunger, and a thousand mise- 
 ries. We again, on the other side, have laboured by prayers 
 and tears, by patience and long-suffering, by gentleness and 
 love, by sound doctrine, and faithful witness-bearing against 
 their enormities, to bring them over to us ; but yet the 
 enmity remains : so that they nmst conquer us, or we must 
 conquer them. One side must be overcome ; but the wea- 
 pons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through 
 God. 
 
 (5.) Strive, because there is nothing of Christianity got 
 by idleness : " Idleness clothes a man with rags, and the 
 vineyard of the slothful is grown over with nettles," Prov. 
 xxiii. 21 ; xxiv. 30-32. Profession that is not attended 
 with spiritual labour cannot bring the soul to heaven. The 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 227 
 
 fathers before us were not slothful in business, but fervent 
 in spirit, serving the Lord : " Therefore be not slothful, 
 but followers of them who through fiiith and patience in- 
 herit the promises," Rom. xii. 11 ; Heb. vi. 12. 
 
 " Strive to enter in." Methinks the words, at the first 
 reading, do intimate to us, that the Christian, in all that 
 ever he does in this world, should carefully heed and re- 
 gard his soul, — I say, in all that ever he does. Many are for 
 their souls by fits and starts ; but a Christian indeed, in all 
 his doing and designs which he contriveth and manageth 
 in this world, should have a special eye to his own future 
 and everlasting good ; in all his labours he should strive to 
 enter in : " Wisdom (Christ) is the principal thing ; there- 
 fore get wisdom, and in all thy gettings get understanding," 
 Prov. iv. 7. Get nothing, if thou canst not get Christ and 
 grace, and further hopes of heaven in that getting ; get 
 nothing witli a bad conscience, with the hazard of thy peace 
 with God, and that in getting it thou weakenest thy graces 
 which God hath given thee ; for this is not to strive to 
 enter in. Add grace to grace, both by religious and worldly 
 duties ; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you 
 abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. i. 8-12. Religious duties are 
 not the only striving times ; he that thinks so is out. Thou 
 mayest help thy faith and thy hope, in the godly manage- 
 ment of thy calling, and mayest get farther footing in 
 eternal life, by studying the glory of God in all thy worldly 
 employment. I am speaking now to Christians that are 
 justified freely by grace ; and am encouraging, or rather 
 counselling them to strive t£) enter in ; for there is an enter- 
 ing in by faith and good conscience now, as well as our 
 entering in body and soul hereafter ; and I must add, that 
 the more common it is to thy soul to enter in now by faith, 
 the more steadfast hope shalt thou have of entering in here- 
 after in body and soul. 
 
 " Strive to enter in." By these words also the Lord Jesus 
 giveth sharp rebuke to those professors that have not eternal 
 glory, but other temporal things in their eve, by all the 
 
228 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 bustle that they make in the world about religion. Some 
 there be, what a stir they make, what a noise and clamour, 
 with their notions and forms, and yet perhaps all is for the 
 loaves ; because they have eaten of the loaves, and are tilled, 
 John, vi. 26. They strive indeed to enter, but it is not into 
 heaven : they find religion hath a good trade at the end of 
 it ; or they find that it is the way to credit, repute, prefer- 
 ment, and the like ; and therefore they strive to enter into 
 these. But these have not the strait gate in their eye, nor 
 yet in themselves have they love to their poor and perish- 
 ing souls ; wherefore this exhortation nippeth such, by 
 predicting of their damnation. 
 
 " Strive to enter in." These words also sharply rebuke 
 them who content themselves as the angel of the church of 
 Sardis did, to wit, " To have a name to live, and be dead," 
 Rev. iii. 1, or as they of the Laodiceans, who took their 
 religion upon trust, and was content with a poor, wretched, 
 lukewarm profession : for such as these do altogether un- 
 like to the exhortation in the text, that says, Strive ; and 
 they sit and sleep ; that says. Strive to enter in, and they 
 content themselves with a profession that is never like to 
 bring them thither. 
 
 " Strive to enter in." Further, these words put us upon 
 proving the truth of our graces now^ ; I say, they put us 
 upon the proof of the truth of them now ; for if the strait 
 gate be the gate of heaven, and yet we are to strive to enter 
 into it now, even while we live, and before we come thither, 
 then, doubtless, Christ means by this exhortation, that we 
 should use all lawful means to prove our graces in this 
 world, whether they will stand in the judgment or no. 
 Strive to enter in ; get those graces now that will prove 
 true graces then ; and therefore try them you have ; and if, 
 upon trial, they prove not right, cast them away, and cry 
 for better, lest they cast thee away, when better are not to 
 be had. " Buy of me gold tried in the fire :" mark that, 
 Rev. iii. 18. Buy of me faith and grace that will stand in 
 the judgment ; strive for that faith; buy of me that grace, 
 and also white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, that 
 
THE STRAIT GATR. 229 
 
 the shame of thy wickedness doth not appear, and anoint 
 thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou niayest see. Mind you 
 this advice ; this is right striving to enter in. 
 
 But you will say. How should we try our graces ? Would 
 you have us run into temptation to try if they he sound or 
 rotten 1 
 
 Ans. You need not run into trials ; God hath ordained 
 that enough of them shall overtake thee to prove thy 
 graces either rotten or sound before the day of thy death : 
 sufficient to the day is the evil thereof, if thou hast but a 
 sufficiency of grace to withstand. I say, thou shalt have 
 trials enough overtake thee, to prove thy graces sound or 
 rotten. Thou mayest, therefore, if God shall help thee, see 
 how it is like to go with thee before thou goest out of this 
 world ; to wit, whether thy graces be such as will carry 
 thee in at the gates of heaven or no. 
 
 But how should we try our graces now 1 
 
 Ans. How dost thou find them in outward trials 1 See 
 Heb. xi. 15, 16. How dost thou find thyself in the inward 
 workings of sin 1 Rom. vii. 24. How dost thou find thy- 
 self under the most high enjoyment of grace in this world 1 
 Phil. iii. 14. 
 
 But what do you mean by these three questions 1 
 
 Atis. I mean graces shew themselves at these their sea- 
 sons, whether they be rotten or sound. 
 
 How do they shew themselves to be true under the first 
 of these ? 
 
 Ans. By mistrusting our own sufficiency, by crying to 
 God for help, by desiring rather to die than to bring any 
 dishonour to the name of God, and by counting, that if God 
 be honoured in the trial, thou hast gained more than all 
 the world could give thee, 2 Chron. xx. 12 ; xiv. 11 ; Acts, 
 iv. ; XX. 22 ; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18 ; Heb. xi. 24, 25. 
 
 How do they shew themselves to be true under the 
 second ? 
 
 A'ns. By mourning, and confessing, and striving, and 
 praying, against them ; ])y not being content, sliouldst thou 
 have heaven, if they live, and defile thee ; and by counting 
 
230 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 of holiness the greatest heauty in the world ; and hy flying 
 to Jesus Christ for life, Zech. xii. 10 ; John, xix, ; Heb. xii. 
 4 ; Psal. xix. 12. 
 
 How do they shew themselves to be true under the third 1 
 
 Ans. By prizing the true graces above all the world, — by 
 praying heartily that God will give thee more, — by not being 
 content with all the grace thou canst be capable of enjoy- 
 ing on this side heaven and glory, Psal. Ixxxiv. 10 ; Luke, 
 xvii. 5 ; Philip, iii. 
 
 " Strive to enter in." The reason why Christ addeth 
 these words, to enter in, is obvious, to wit, because there is 
 no true and lasting happiness on this side heaven ; I say, 
 none that is both true and lasting, I mean as to our sense 
 and feeling, as there shall ; for here have we no continuing 
 city, but we seek one to come, Heb. xiii. 14. The heaven is 
 within ; strive therefore to enter in : the glory is within ; 
 strive therefore to enter in : the JMount Sion is within ; 
 strive therefore to enter in : the heavenly Jerusalem is 
 within ; strive therefore to enter in : angels and saints are 
 within ; strive therefore to enter in : and to make up all, 
 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that 
 glorious Redeemer, is within ; strive therefore to enter in. 
 
 " Strive to enter in." For without are dogs, sorcerers, 
 and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and who - 
 soever loveth and maketh a lie. Without are also the 
 devils, and hell, and death, and all damned souls ; without 
 is howling, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth ; yea, 
 without are all the miseries, sorrows, and plagues that an 
 infinite God can in justice and power inflict upon an evil 
 and wicked generation : " Strive therefore to enter in at the 
 strait gate," Rev. xxii. 15 ; Matth. xxv. 41 ; Rev. xii. 9 ; 
 Isa. Ixv. 13, 14 ; Matth. xxii. 13 ; Deut. xxix. 18-20. 
 
 " Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for many, I say 
 unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
 
 4. We are now come to the motive which our Lord urges 
 to inforce his exhortation. 
 
 He told us before, that the gate was strait ; he also 
 exhorted us to strive to enter in thereat, or to get those 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 231 
 
 things now that will further our entrance then, and to set 
 ourselves against those things that will hinder our entering 
 in. 
 
 In this motive there are five things to he minded. 
 
 (1.) That there will be a disappointment to some at the 
 day of judgment, — they will seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able. 
 
 (2.) That not a few, but many, will meet with this dis- 
 appointment ; " for many will seek to enter in, and shall 
 not be able." 
 
 (3.) This doctrine of the miscan-iage of many then, it 
 standeth upon the validity of the word of Christ : " For 
 many, I say, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.'' 
 
 (4.) Professors shall make a great heap among the many 
 that shall fall short of heaven. " For many, I say imto 
 you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
 
 (5.) Where grace and striving are wanting now, seeking 
 and contending to enter in will be unprofitable then : " For 
 many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able." 
 
 But I will proceed in my former method ; to wit, to open 
 the words unto you, 
 
 " For many," &c. If he had said. For some will fall 
 short ; it had been a sentence to be minded ; if he had said, 
 For some that seek will fall short, it had been very 
 awakening : but when he saith. Many, many will fall 
 short, yea, many among professors will fall short ; this is 
 not only awakening, but dreadful. 
 
 " For many," &c. I find this word many variously 
 applied in Scripture. 
 
 (1.) Sometimes it intendeth the open profime, the wicked 
 and ungodly world, as where Christ saith, " Wide is the 
 gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and 
 many there be that go in thereat," Matth. vii. 13. I say, 
 by the many here, he intends those chiefly that go on in 
 the broad way of sin and profaneness, bearing the tokens 
 of their damnation in their foreheads, — those whose daily 
 practice proclaims, " that their feet go down to death, and 
 
232 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 their steps take hold of hell," Job, xxi. 29, 30 ; Isa. iii. 9 ; 
 Prov. iv. 
 
 (2.) Sometimes this word many intendeth those that 
 cleave to the peojile of God deceitfully, and in hypocrisy, 
 or, as Daniel hath it, " INIany shall cleave unto the church 
 with flatteries," Dan. xi. 34. The word many in this text 
 inchideth all those who feign themselves better than they 
 are in religion ; it includeth, I say, those that have religion 
 only, for an holy-day saint to set them out at certain times, 
 and when they come among suitable company. 
 
 (3.) Sometimes this word many intendeth them that 
 apostatize from Christ ; such as for awhile believe, and in 
 time of temptation fall away, as John saith of some of 
 Christ's disciples : " From that time many of his disciples 
 went back, and walked no more with him," John, vi. 65. 
 
 (4.) Sometimes this word many intendeth them that 
 make a great noise, and do many great things in the church, 
 and yet want saving grace : " INIany (saith Christ) will say 
 unto me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 
 in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy 
 name done many wonderful works V Mark, there will be 
 many of these. 
 
 (5.) Sometimes this word many intendeth those poor 
 ignorant deluded souls that are led away with every wind 
 of doctrine ; those who are caught with the cunning and 
 crafty deceiver, who lieth in wait to beguile unstable souls : 
 " And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason 
 of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of," 2 Pet. 
 ii. 2. 
 
 (6.) Sometimes this word many includeth all the world, 
 good and bad : " And many of them that sleep in the dust 
 of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some 
 to everlasting shame and contempt," Dan. xii. 2 ; compare 
 with John. v. 28, 29. 
 
 (7.) Lastli/, Sometimes this word many intendeth the good 
 only : " Even them that shall be saved," Luke, i. 10 ; ii. 34. 
 
 Since then that the word is so variously applied, let us 
 inquire how it must be taken in the text. And, 
 
THE STRAIT GATE, 233 
 
 (1.) It must not be applied to the sincerely godly, for 
 they shall never perish, John, x. 27, 28. (2.) It cannot he 
 applied to all the world, for then no flesh should he saved. 
 (3.) Neither is it to be applied to the open profane only, 
 for then the hypocrite is by it excluded. (4.) But by the 
 many in the text our Lord intendeth in special the pro- 
 fesssor ; the professor, I say, how high soever he seems to 
 be now, that shall be found without saving grace in the 
 day of judgment. 
 
 Now that the professor is in special intended in this text, 
 consider, so soon as the Lord had said, " Many will seek 
 to enter in, and shall not be able," he pointeth, as with his 
 finger, at the many that then he in special intendeth ; to 
 wit, them among whom he had taught ; them that had 
 eat and drunken in his presence ; them that had prophesied, 
 and cast out devils in his name, and in his name had done 
 many wonderful works, Luke, xxiii. 26 ; Matth, vii. 27. 
 These are the many intended by the Lord in this text, 
 though others also are included under the sentence of dam- 
 nation by his word in other places. " For many," &c. 
 jNIatthew saith concerning this strait gate, That there are 
 but few that find it. But it seems the cast-aways in ray 
 text did find it ; for you read, that they knocked at it, and 
 cried, " Lord, open unto us." So then, the meaning may 
 seem to be this, — many of the few that find it will seek to 
 enter in, and shall not be able. I find, at the day of judg- 
 ment, some will be crying to the rocks to cover them, and 
 some at the gates of heaven for entrance. Suppose that those 
 that cry to the rocks to cover them, are they whose con- 
 science will not suffer them once to look God in the face, 
 because they are fallen under present guilt, and the dread- 
 ful fears of the wrath of the Lamb, Rev. vi. 16 ; and that 
 those that stand crying at the gate of heaven, are those 
 whose confidence holds out to the last, — even those whose 
 boldness will enable them to contend even with Jesus Christ 
 for entrance ; them, I say, that will have profession, cast- 
 ing out of devils, and many wonderful works, to plead ; 
 of this sort are the many in my text : " For many, I say 
 
234 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
 " For many," &c. Could we compare the professors of the 
 times with the everlasting word of God, this doctrine would 
 more easily appear to the children of men. How few among 
 the many, yea, among the swarms of professors, have heart 
 to make conscience of walking before God in this world, 
 and to study his glory among the children of men ! How 
 few, I say, have his name lie nearer their hearts than their 
 own carnal concerns ! Kay, do not many make his Avord, 
 and his name, and his ways, a stalking-horse to their own 
 worldly advantages ? God calls for faith, good conscience, 
 moderation, self-denial, humility, heavenly -mindedness, 
 love to saints, to enemies, and for conformity in heart, in 
 word, and life, to his will : but where is it ? Mark, xi. 22 ; 
 1 Pet. iii. 16 ; Heb. xiii. 5 ; Phil. iv. 5 ; Matth. x. 37-39 ; 
 Col. iii. 1-4 ; Micah, vi. 8 ; Rev. ii. 10 ; John, xv. 17 ; 1 
 John, iv. 21 ; Matth. v. 44 ; Prov. xxiii. 26 ; Col. iv. 6. 
 
 " For many, I say unto you." These latter words carry 
 in them a double argument to prove the truth asserted be- 
 fore : First, in that he directly pointeth at his followers : 
 " I say unto you :" Many, I say unto you, even to you that 
 are my disciples, to you that have eat and drank in my 
 presence. I know that sometimes Christ hath directed his 
 speech to his disciples, not so much upon their accounts, as 
 upon the accounts of others : but here it is not so ; the I 
 say unto you, in this place, it immediately concerned some 
 of themselves : " I say unto you, ye shall begin to stand 
 without, and to knock, saying. Lord, Lord, open to us, and 
 he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence 
 you are ; then shall ye begin to say, "We have eat and drank 
 in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets : But 
 he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence you are ; 
 depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity ;" it is you, you, 
 you, that I mean. " I say unto you." It is common with 
 a professing people, when they hear a smart and a thun- 
 dering sermon, to say. Now has the preacher paid off the 
 drunkard, the swearer, the liar, the covetous, and adul- 
 terer ; forgetting that these sins may be committed in a 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 235 
 
 spiritual and mystical way. There is spiritual drunken- 
 ness, spiritual adultery, and a man may be a liar that calls 
 God his Father when he is not, or that calls himself a 
 Christian, and is not. Wherefore, perhaps all these thun- 
 ders and lightnings in this terrible sermon may more con- 
 cern thee than thou art aware of : "I say unto you ;" unto 
 yon, ])vofessors, may be the application of all this thunder, 
 Rev. ii. 9 ; iii. 9. " I say unto you." 
 
 Had not the Lord Jesus designed by these words to shew 
 what an overthrow will one day be made among professors, 
 he needed not liave you'd it at this rate, as in the text, and 
 afterwards he has done ; the sentence had run intelligible 
 enough without it ; I say, without his saying, " I say unto 
 you." But the truth is, the professor is in danger ; the 
 preacher and tlie hearer, the workers of miracles, and 
 worlcers of wonders, may be all in danger of damning, 
 notwithstanding all their attainments. And to awaken us 
 all about this truth, therefore, the text must run thus : 
 " For many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and 
 shall not be able." 
 
 See you not yet that the professor is in danger, and that 
 those words, " I say unto you," are a prophesy of the ever- 
 lasting perdition of some that are famous in the congrega- 
 tion of saints ? I say, if you do not see it, pray God your 
 eyes may be opened, and beware that thy portion be not 
 as the portion of one of those that are wrapped up in the 
 28th verse of the chapter : " There shall be weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, 
 and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of hea- 
 ven, and you yourselves thrust out." 
 
 " For many, I say unto you." Thsse words, I told you, 
 carry in them a double argument for confirmation of the 
 truth asserted before : First, That professors are here par- 
 ticularly pointed at ; and, secondly, It is the saying of the 
 truth himself: For these words I say, are words full of 
 authority ; I say it, I say unto you, says Christ, as he saith 
 in another place. It is I that speak ; behold, it is I. The 
 person whose words we have now under consideration was 
 
236 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 no blundering raw-headed preacher, but the very Wisdom 
 of God, his Son, and him that hath lain in his bosom from 
 everlasting, and consequently had the most perfect know- 
 ledge of his Father's will, and how it would fare with 
 ju-ofessors at the end of this world. And now hearken what 
 himself doth say of the words which he hath spoken : 
 " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall 
 not pass away," Matt. xxiv. 35. " I say unto you." 
 
 The prophet used not to speak after this manner, nor yet 
 the holy apostles ; for thus to speak, is to press things to be 
 received upon their own authority. They used to say. Thus 
 saith the Lord, or Paul, or Peter, an apostle, or a servant 
 of God. But now we are dealing with the words of the 
 Son of God ; it is he that hath said it ; wherefore we find 
 the truth of the perishing of many professors asserted, and 
 confirmed by Christ's own mouth. This consideration car- 
 rieth great awakening in it ; but into such a fast sleep are 
 many now-a-days fallen, that nothing will awaken them 
 but that shrill and terrible cry, " Behold, the Bridegroom 
 comes ; go ye out to meet him." '' I say unto you." 
 
 There are two things upon which this assertion may be 
 grounded. 1. There is in the world a thing like grace, that 
 is not. 2. There is a sin called the sin against the Holy 
 Ghost, from which there is no redemption. And both these 
 things befal professors. 
 
 1st, There is in the world a thing like grace, that is not. 
 This is evident, because we read that there are some that 
 not only make a fair shew in the flesh, that glory in ap- 
 pearance, that appear beautiful outwardly, that do as God's 
 people, but have not the grace of God's people. Gal. vi. 12 ; 
 2 Cor. V. 12 ; Matt, xxiii. 27 ; Isa. Ivii. 2, 3. It is evident 
 also from those frequent cautions that are everywhere in 
 the Scriptures given us about this thing : "Be not deceived : 
 Let a man examine himself : Examine yourselves whether 
 you be in the faith," Gal. vi. 7 ; 1 Cor. xi. 28 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 3. 
 All these expressions intimate to us, that there may be a 
 shew of, or a thing like grace, where there is no grace in- 
 deed. 3. This is evident from the conclusion made by the 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 237 
 
 Holy Ghost upon this very thing : " For if a man thinketh 
 himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth 
 himself," Gal. vi. 3. The Holy Ghost here concludeth, that 
 a man may think himself to be something, may think he 
 hath grace, when he hath none, may think himself some ' 
 thing for heaven and another world, when indeed he is just 
 nothing at all with reference thereto. The Holy Ghost also 
 determines upon this point, to wit, that they that do so 
 deceive themselves : " For if a man thinketh himself to be 
 something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself ;" he 
 deceiveth his own soul, he deceiveth himself of heaven and 
 salvation. So again : " Let no man beguile you of your 
 reward," Col, ii. 18. 4. It is manifest from the text, " For 
 many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able." Alas ! Great light, great parts, great works, and 
 great confidence of heaven, may be where there is no faith 
 of God's elect, no love of the Spirit, no repentance unto 
 salvation, no sanctification of the Spirit, and so conse- 
 quently, no saving grace. But, 
 
 '^dly^ As there is a thing like grace, which is not, so there 
 is a sin, called the sin against the Holy Ghost, from w^hich 
 there is no redemption ; and this sin doth more than ordi- 
 narily befal professors. 
 
 There is a sin called the sin against the Holy Ghost, from 
 which there is no redemption. This is evident both from 
 Matthew and Mark : " But whosoever speaketh against the 
 Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this 
 world, nor in the world to come. But he that shall blas- 
 pheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness, but 
 is in danger of eternal damnation," Matth. xii. 32 ; Mark, 
 iii. 29. Wherefore, when we know tliat a man hath sinned 
 this sin, we are not to pray for him, or to have compassion 
 on him, 1 John, xv. 16 ; Judg. xxii. 
 
 This sin doth most ordinarily befal professors ; for there 
 are few, if any, that are not professors, that are at present 
 capable of sinning this sin. " They which were once en- 
 lightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, that were 
 made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the 
 
238 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 good word of God, and the power of the world to come," 
 Heb. vi. 4, 5, of this sort are they that commit this sin. 
 Peter also describes them to be such, that sin the unpardon- 
 able sin : " For if after thay have escaped the pollution of 
 the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and over- 
 come, the latter end is worse with them than the begin- 
 ning," 2 Pet. ii. 2. The other passage in the 10th of the 
 Hebrews holdeth forth the same thing : " For if we sin 
 wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, 
 there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain 
 fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, that 
 shall devour the adversaries," Heb. x. 26, 27. These, there- 
 fore, are the persons that are the prey for this sin : this sin 
 feedeth upon professors, and they that are such, do very 
 often fall into the mouth of this eater. Some fall into the 
 mouth of this sin, by delusions and doctrines of devils ; 
 and some fall into the mouth of it, by returning with the 
 dog to his own vomit again, and with the sow that was 
 washed to her wallowing in the mire, 1 Pet. ii. 22. I shall 
 not here give you a particular description of this sin — that 
 I have done elsewhere ; but such a sin there is, and they 
 that commit it shall never have forgiveness. And I say 
 again, there be professors that commit this unpardonalile 
 sin, yea, more than most are aware of. Let all therefore 
 look about them. The Lord awaken them that they may 
 so do ; for what with a profession without grace, and by 
 the venom of the sin against the Holy Ghost, many will 
 seek to enter in, and shall not be a])le. Will seek to 
 enter in. 
 
 This kingdom, at the gate of which the reprobate Avill be 
 stopped, will be at the last judgment the desire of all the 
 world ; and they, especially they in my text, will seek to 
 enter in ; for then they will see that the blessedness is to 
 those that shall get into this kingdom, according to that 
 which is written, " Blessed are they that do his command- 
 ments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and 
 may enter in through the gates into the city, Rev. xxi. 14. 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 239 
 
 To prove that they will seek, although I have done it al- 
 ready, yet read these texts at your leisure, Matt. xxv. 11 ; 
 vii. 22 ; Luke xiii. 28. And, in a word, to give you the 
 reason why they will seek to enter in. 
 
 (1.) Now they will see what a kingdom it is, what glory 
 there is in it, and now they shall also see the blessedness 
 which they shall have that shall then be counted worthy 
 to enter in. The reason why this kingdom is so little 
 regarded, it is because it is not seen ; the glory of it is hid 
 from the eyes of the world : " Their eye hath not seen, nor 
 their ear heard," &c. Ay, but then they shall hear and 
 see too ; and when this comes to pass, then, even then, he 
 that now most seldom thinks thereof will seek to enter in. 
 
 (2.) They will now see what hell is, and what damna- 
 tion in hell is, more clear than ever. They will also see 
 how the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, 
 doth kindle it. the sight of the burning fiery furnace, 
 which is prepared for the devil and his angels ! This, this 
 will make work in the souls of cast-aways at that day of 
 God Almighty, and then they will seek to enter in. 
 
 (3.) Now they will see what the meaning of such words 
 as these are, Hell-fire, Everlasting fire. Devouring fire, P'ire 
 that never shall be quenched. Now they will see what 
 Forever means, what Eternity means ; now they will see 
 what this word means, the Bottomless Pit ; now they will 
 hear roaring of sinners in this place, howling in that, some 
 crying to the mountains to fall upon them, and others to 
 the rocks to cover them ; now they will see blessedness is 
 nowhere but wdthin. 
 
 (4.) Now they will see what glory the godly are pos- 
 sessed with ; how they rest in Abraham's bosom, how they 
 enjoy eternal glory, how they walk in their white robes, 
 and are equal to the angels. the favour, and blessedness, 
 and unspeakable happiness that now God's people shall 
 have ! and this shall be seen by them that are shut out, 
 by them that God hath rejected for ever ; and this will 
 make them seek to enter in, Luke xvi. 22, 23 ; xiii. 28. 
 Will seek to enter in. 
 
240 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 Quest. But some may say, How will they seek to enter in ? 
 
 Ans. (1.) They will put on all the confidence they can, 
 they will trick and trim up their profession, and adorn it 
 with what bravery they can. Thus the foolish virgins 
 sought to enter in ; they did trim up their lamps, made 
 themselves as fine as they could. They made shift to make 
 their lamps to shine awhile ; but the Son of God discovering 
 liimself, their confidence failed, their lamps went out, the 
 door was shut upon them, and they were kept out. 
 
 (2.) They will seek to enter in by crowding themselves 
 in among the godly. Thus the man without the wedding 
 garment sought to enter in : He goes to the wedding, gets 
 into the wedding-chamber, sits close among the guests, and 
 then, without doubt, concluded he should escape damna- 
 tion. But you know, one black sheep is soon seen, though 
 it be among an hundred white ones. Why, even thus it 
 fared with this poor man : And when the King came in to 
 see the guests, he saw there a man that had not on a wed- 
 ding-garment. He spied him presently, and before one 
 word was spoken to any of the others, he had this dreadful 
 salutation, " Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having 
 on a wedding garment ?" And he was speechless ; though 
 he could swagger it out amongst the guests, yet the master 
 of the feast, at first coming in, strikes him dumb ; and 
 having nothing to say for himself, the King had something 
 to say against him : " Then said the King to the servants 
 (the angels), bind him hand and foot, and take him away, 
 and cast him into utter darkness, there shall be weeping 
 and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 (3.) They will seek to enter in, by pleading their pro- 
 fession and admittance to the Lord's ordinances when they 
 were in the world : " Lord, we have eat and drank in thy 
 presence, and thou hast taught in our streets :" we sat at 
 thy table, and used to frequent sermons and Christian 
 assemblies ; we were well thought of by thy saints, and 
 were admitted into thy churches ; we professed the same 
 faith as they did ; Lord, Lord, open unto us. 
 
 (4.) They will seek to enter in, by pleading their vir- 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 241 
 
 tues ; how they subjected to his ministry, how they wrought 
 for him, Avhat good they did in the world, and the like, 
 Matt, vii, 22 ; but neither will this help them ; the same 
 answer that the two former had, the same have these, — 
 " Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity." 
 
 (5.) They will seek to enter in, by pleading excuses, 
 when they cannot evade conviction. The slothful servant 
 went this way to work, when he was called to account for 
 not improving his Lord's money : " Lord (says he) I knew 
 thou wast an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sowed, 
 and gathering where thou hast not strawed, and I was 
 afraid," ike. (either that I should not please in laying out 
 thy money, or that I should put it into hands out of which 
 I should not get it again at thy need), " and I went and 
 hid thy talent in the earth ; lo, there thou hast that is 
 thine ;" as if he had said. True, Lord, I have not improved, 
 I have not got ; but consider also I have not embezzled, I 
 have not spent nor lost thy money ; lo, there thou hast 
 what is thine. Matt. xxv. 24^28. There are but few will 
 be able to say these last words at the day of judgment. 
 The most of professors are for embezzling, mispending, and 
 slothing away their time, their talents, their opportunities 
 to do good in. But I say, if he that can make so good an 
 excuse as to say, Lo, there thou hast that is thine ; I say, 
 if such an one shall be called a wicked and slothful servant, 
 if such an one shall be put to shame at the day of judg- 
 ment, yea, if such an one shall, notwithstanding this care 
 to save his Lord's money, be cast as unprofitable into utter 
 darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, 
 what will they do that have neither taken care to lay out, 
 nor care to keep what was committed to their, trust ? 
 
 (6.) They will seek to enter in, by pleading that igno- 
 rance was the ground of their miscarrying in the things 
 wherein they offended. Wherefore when Christ charges 
 them with want of love to him, and with want of those 
 fruits that should prove their love to be true — as, that they 
 did not feed him, did not give him drink, did not take him 
 in, did not clothe him, visit him, come unto him, and the 
 
242 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 like — they readily reply, " Lord, when saw we thee an 
 hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
 prison, and did not minister unto thee V Matt, xxv. 41-45. 
 As who should say. Lord, we are not conscious to ourselves 
 that this charge is worthily laid at our door : God forbid 
 that we should have been such sinners. But, Lord, give 
 an instance ; when was it, or where 1 True, there was a 
 company of poor sorry people in the woild, very incon- 
 siderable, set by with nobody ; but for thyself, we pro- 
 fessed thee, we loved thee, and hadst thou been with us in 
 the world, wouldst thou have worn gold, wouldst thou 
 have eaten the sweetest of the world, we would have pro- 
 vided it for thee ; and therefore. Lord, Lord, open to us. 
 But will this plea do 1 No. Then shall he answer them, 
 " Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these my 
 brethren, ye did it not to me." This plea, then, though 
 grounded upon ignorance, which is one of the strangest 
 pleas for neglect of duty, would not give them admittance 
 into the kingdom : " These shall go away into everlasting 
 punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 
 
 I might add other things by which it will appear how 
 they will seek to enter in. As, 
 
 (1.) They will make a stop at this gate, this beautiful 
 gate of heaven ; they will begin to stand without at the 
 gate, as being loath to go any further. Never did male- 
 factor so unwillingly turn off the ladder when the rope was 
 about his neck, as these will turn away in that day fi-om 
 the gates of heaven to hell. 
 
 (2.) They will not only make a stop at the gate ; but 
 there they will knock and call. This also argueth them 
 willing to enter. They will begin to stand without, and 
 to knock at the gate, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. This 
 A\ord Lord being doubled, shews the vehemency of their 
 desires : Lord, Lord, open to us. The devils are coming ; 
 Lord, Lord, the pit opens her mouth upon us ; Lord, Lord, 
 there is nothing but hell and damnation left us, if. Lord, 
 Lord, thou hast not mercy upon us ; Lord, Lord, open 
 to us. 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 243 
 
 (3.) Their last argument for entrance is their tears, when 
 gTOundless confidence, pleading of virtues, excuses, and 
 ignorance, will not do ; when standing at the gate, knock- 
 ing and calling. Lord, Lord, open to us, will not do, then 
 they betake themselves to their tears. Tears are some- 
 times the most powerful arguments, hut they are nothing 
 worth here. Esau also sought it carefully with tears, but 
 it helped him nothing at all, Heb. xii. 15, 16. There shall 
 be weeping and gnashing of teeth ; for the gate is shut for 
 ever,'mercy is gone for ever, Christ hath rejected them for 
 ever. All their pleas, excuses, and tears, will not make 
 them able to enter into this kingdom. 
 
 " For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and 
 shall not be able." 
 
 I come now to the latter part of the words, which closely 
 shew us the reason of the rejection of these many that 
 must be damned, — " They will seek to enter in, and shall 
 not be able." 
 
 An h^'pocrite, a false professor, may go a great way ; 
 they may pass through the first and second watch, to wit, 
 may be approved of Christians and churches ; but what 
 yyiU they do when they come at this iron gate that leadeth 
 into the city 1 There the Avorkers of iniquity will fall, be 
 cast down, and shall not be able to rise. 
 
 " And shall not be able." The time, as I have already 
 hinted, which my text respecteth, it is the day of judg- 
 ment, a day when all masks and vizards shall be taken off 
 from all faces. It is a day wherein God " will bring to 
 light the hidden things of darkness, and will make mani- 
 fest the counsels of the heart," 1 Cor. iv. 5. It is also the 
 day of his wrath, the day in which he will pay vengeance, 
 even a recompense to his adversaries. 
 
 At this day, those things that now these many count 
 sound and good, will then shake like a quagmire, even all 
 their naked knowledge, their feigned faith, pretended love, 
 glorious shows of gravity in the face, their holiday-words, 
 and specious carriages, will stand them in little stead. I 
 call them holiday ones, for I perceive that some professors 
 
244 THE STRAIT GATE, 
 
 do with religion just as people tlo with their best apparel — 
 hang it against the wall all the week, and put them on on 
 Sundays. For as some scarce ever put on a suit but when 
 they go to a fair or a market, so little house religion will 
 do with some ; they save religion till they go to a meeting, 
 or till they meet with a godly chapman. poor religion ! 
 O poor professor ! What wilt thou do at this day, and the 
 day of thy trial and judgment ? Cover thyself thou canst 
 not ; go for a Christian thou canst not ; stand against the 
 Judge thou canst not. What wilt thou do ? " The un- 
 godly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the con- 
 gregation of the righteous." 
 
 " And shall not be able." The ability here intended is 
 not that which standeth in carnal power of fleshly subtlety, 
 but in the truth and simplicity of those things for the sake 
 of which God giveth the kingdom of heaven to his people. 
 
 There are five things, for the want of which this people 
 will not be able to enter. 
 
 (1 .) This kingdom belongs to the elect, to those for whom 
 it was prepared from the foundation of the world. Matt. 
 XXV. Hence Christ saith, when he comes, he will send 
 forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
 shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from 
 one end of heaven to another. Matt. xxiv. And hence he 
 saith again, " I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and 
 out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains, and mine elect 
 shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there." " They 
 shall deceive, if it were possible, the very elect." " But the 
 elect hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded," Rom. 
 xi. 7. 
 
 (2.) They will not be able to enter, because they will 
 want the birthright. The kingdom of heaven is for the 
 heirs, — and if children, then heirs ; if born again, then 
 heirs : wherefore it is said expressly, '' Except a man be 
 born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." By this 
 one word, down goes all carnal privilege of being born of 
 flesh and blood, and of the will of man. Canst thou pro- 
 duce the birthright 1 But art thou sure thou canst 1 For it 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 245 
 
 ^vill little profit thee to think of the blessed kingdom of 
 heaven, if thou wantest a birthright to give thee inheri- 
 tance there. Esau did despise his birthright, saying, What 
 good will this birthright do me ? And there are many in 
 the world of his mind to this day. Tush, say they, they 
 talk of being born again ; what good shall a man get by 
 that ? They say, no going to heaven without being born 
 again. But God is merciful ; Christ died for sinners ; and 
 w^e will turn when we can tend it, and doubt not but all 
 will be well at last. But I will answer thee, thou child 
 of Esau, that the birthright and blessing go together ; miss 
 of one, and thou shalt never have the other. Esau found 
 this true ; for having first despised the birthright, when he 
 would afterwards have inherited the blessing, he was re- 
 jected ; for he found no place of repentance, though he 
 sought it carefully with tears, Gen. xxv. ; Heb. xii. 14-16. 
 
 (3.) They shall not be able to enter in who have not 
 believed with the faith of God's operation ; the faith that 
 is most holy, even the faith of God's elect : " lie that be- 
 lieveth on the Son of God hath everlasting life ; he that 
 believeth not the Son sliall not see life, but the wrath of 
 God abideth on him," John, iii. But now, this faith is 
 the effect of electing love, and of a new birth, John, xi. 12. 
 Therefore, all the professors that have not faith wdiich 
 floweth from being born of God, will seek to enter in, and 
 shall not be able. 
 
 (4.) They shall not be able to enter in that have not gos- 
 pel-holiness. Holiness that is the efi'ect of faith is that 
 which admits into the presence of God, and into his king- 
 dom too : " Blessed and holy are they that have part in 
 the first resurrection, on such the second death (which 
 is hell and eternal damnation, Rev. xx. 14) have no power," 
 Rev. XX. 6. Blessed and holy, with the holiness that flows 
 from faith which is in Christ ; for to these the inheritance 
 belongs : " That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and 
 inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith (saith 
 Christ) which is in me," Acts, xxvi. 18. This holiness, 
 which is the natural effect of faith in the Son of God, 
 
246 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 Clirist Jesus the Lord will, at this day of judgment, dis- 
 tinguish from all other shows of holiness and sanctity, be 
 the}' what they will, and will admit the soul that hath 
 this holiness into his kingdom, when the rest will seek to 
 enter in, and shall not he able. 
 
 (5.) They shall not be able to enter in that do not per- 
 severe in this blessed faith and holiness ; not that they that 
 have them indeed can finally fall away, and everlastingly 
 perish ; but it hath pleased Jesus Christ to bid them that 
 have the. right to hold fast that they have ; to endure to 
 the end ; and then tells them they shall be saved — though 
 it is as true that none is of power to keep himself; but 
 God worketh together with his children, and they are kept 
 by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, which 
 is also laid up in hfeaven for them, 1 Pet. i. 3-5. 
 
 " The foolish shall not stand in thy sight ; thou hatest the 
 workers of iniquity." The foolish are the unholy ones, 
 that neither have faith, nor holiness, nor perseverance in 
 godliness, and yet lay claim to the kingdom of heaven ; 
 but '• better is a little with righteousness, than great reve- 
 nues without right," Psalm Iv. ; Prov. xvi. 8. What is 
 it for me to claim a house, or a farm, without right ? or 
 to say, all this is mine, but have nothing to shew for it ? 
 his estate lieth in his conceit ; he hath nothing by birth- 
 right and law, and therefore shall not be able to inherit 
 the possession : " For many, I say unto you, will seek to 
 enter in, and shall not be able." 
 
 Thus you see, that the non-elect shall not be able to enter, 
 that he that is not born again shall not be able to enter, 
 that he that hath not saving faith, with holiness and per- 
 severance flowing therefrom, shall not be able to enter : 
 wherefore consider of what I have said. 
 
 II. I come now to give you some observations from the 
 words, and they may be three. 
 
 1. When men have put in all the claim they can for 
 heaven, but few will have it for their inheritance : " For 
 many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able." 2. Great, therefore, will be the disappointment 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 247 
 
 that many will meet with at the day of judgment : " For 
 many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 3. Going 
 to heaven, therefore, will be no trivial business ; salvation 
 is not got by a dream ; they that would then have that 
 kingdom, must now strive lawfully to enter : " For many, 
 I sav unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be 
 able?' 
 
 I shall speak chiefly, and yet but briefly, to the first of 
 these observations, to wit. 
 
 That when men have put in all the claim they can to the 
 kingdom of heaven, but few Avill have it for their inherit- 
 ance. The observation standeth of two parts. 
 
 1. That the time is coming, Avhen every man will put in 
 whatever claim they can to the kingdom of heaven. 2. 
 There will be but few of them that put in claim thereto 
 that shall enjoy it for their inheritance. 
 
 I shall speak but a word or two to the first part of the 
 observation, because I have prevented my enlargement 
 thereon by my explication upon the words ; but you find 
 in the 25th of Matthew, that all they on the left hand of 
 the Judge did put in all the claim they could for this blessed 
 kingdom of heaven. If you shall take them on the left hand, 
 as most do, for all the sinners that shall be damned, then 
 that completely proveth the first part of the observation ; 
 for it is expressly said, " Then shall they (all of them 
 jointly, and every one apart) also answer him, saying, 
 Lord, when saw we thee thus and thus, and did not minister 
 unto thee ?" Matth. xxv. 44. I could here bring you in the 
 plea of the slothful servant, the cry of the foolish virgins : 
 I could also here enlarge upon that passage, " Lord, Lord, 
 have we not eat and drank in thy presence, and thou hast 
 taught in our streets ?" But these things are handled al- 
 ready, in the handling of which this first part of the 
 observation is proved ; wherefore, without more words, I 
 will, God assisting by his grace, descend to the second part 
 thereof, to wit. 
 
 There will be but few of them that put in claim thereto 
 that will enjoy it for their inheritance. 
 
248 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 I shall speak distinctly to this part of the ohservation, 
 and shall first confirm it hy a Scripture or two. 
 
 " Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth 
 unto life, and few there be that find it," Matth. vii. 13, 14. 
 " Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to 
 give you the kingdom," Luke, xii. 32. 
 
 By these two texts, and by many more that will be urged 
 anon, you may see the truth of what I have said. 
 
 To enlarge, therefore, upon the truth ; and, First, more 
 generally ; Secondly, more particularly. 
 
 1, More generally, I shall prove that in all ages but few 
 have been saved. 2. More particularly, I shall prove but 
 few of them that profess have been saved. 
 
 First, In the old world, w^hen it was most populous, even 
 in the days of Noah, we read but of eight persons that were 
 saved out of it : well, therefore, might Peter call them but 
 few ; but how few 1 Why, but eight souls ; " wherein few, 
 that is, eight souls, w^ere saved by water," 1 Pet. iii. 20. He 
 touches a second time upon this truth, saying, " He spared 
 not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a 
 preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the 
 world of the ungodly." Mark, all the rest are called the 
 ungodly, and there were also a world of them, 2 Pet. ii. 5. 
 These are also taken notice of in Job, and go there also by 
 the name of wicked men : " Hast thou marked the old way, 
 which wicked men have trodden, which were cut down out 
 of time, whose foundation was overflowTi wdth a flood, 
 which said unto God, Depart from us, and what can the 
 Almighty do for them ?" Job xxii. 15-19. 
 
 There were therefore but eight persons that escaped the 
 wrath of God, in the day that the flood came upon the earth, 
 the rest were ungodly ; there \vas also a w^orld of them, and 
 they are to this day in the prison of hell, Heb. xi. 6 ; 1 Pet. 
 iii.'l9, 20. 
 
 Nay, I must correct my pen, there w^ere but seven of the 
 eight that were good ; for Ham, though he escaped the 
 judgment of the water, yet the curse of God overtook him 
 to his damnation. 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 249 
 
 Secondly, When the workl began again to be replenished, 
 and people began to multiply therein : how few, even in all 
 ages, do we read of that were saved from the damnation of 
 the world ? 
 
 (1.) One Abraham and his wife God called out of the land 
 of the Chaldeans : " I called (said God) Abraham alone," 
 Isa. li. ], 2. 
 
 (2.) One Lot out of Sodom and Gomoi-rah, out of Admah 
 and Zeboim ; oiie Lot out of four cities. Indeed his wife 
 and two daughters went out of Sodom with him ; but they 
 all three proved naught, as you may see in the 19th of 
 Genesis. Wherefore Peter observes, that Lot only was saved : 
 " He turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, 
 condemning them with an overthrow, making them an 
 example unto those that after should live ungodly, and 
 delivered just Lot, that righteous man ;" read 2 Peter, ii. 
 6, 7, 8. 
 
 Jude says, that in this condemnation, God overthrew, 
 not only Sodom and Gomorrah, but the cities about them 
 also ; and yet yon find none but Lot could be found that 
 was righteous, either in Sodom or Gomorrah, or the cities 
 about them ; wherefore they, all of them, suffer the ven- 
 geance of eternal fire, verse 7. 
 
 (3.) Come we no\v to the time of the Judges, how few 
 then were the godly, even then when the inhabitants of 
 the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel ! " the highways 
 (of God) were the unoccupied," Judges, v. 6, 7. 
 
 (4.) There were but few in the days of David : " Help, 
 Lord (sa^^s he), for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful 
 fail from among the children of men," Psal. xii. ]. 
 
 (5.) In Isaiah's time the saved were come to such a few, 
 that he positively says that there were a very small num- 
 ber left : " God had made them like Sodom, and they had 
 been like unto Gomorrah," Isa. i. 8, 9. 
 
 (6.) It was cried unto them in the time of Jeremiah, 
 that they should " run to and fro through the streets of 
 Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in the broad places 
 thereof, if he can find a man, if there be any that executeth 
 
250 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I -will pardon it," 
 Jer. V. 1. 
 
 (7.) God shewed his servant Ezekiel how few there would 
 be saved in his day, by tlie vision of a few hairs saved out 
 of the midst of a few hairs ; for the saved were a few saved 
 out of a few, Ezelv. v. 3, 4, 5. 
 
 (8.) You find in the time of the prophet Micah, how tlie 
 godly complain, that as to number, they then were so few, 
 that he compares them to those that are left behind, when 
 they had gathered the summer-fruit, Micah, vii. 1. 
 
 (9.) When Christ was come, how did he confirm this 
 truth, that but few of them that put in claim for heaven 
 will have it for their inheritance ! But the common people 
 could not hear it, and therefore, upon a time when he did 
 but a little hint at this truth, the people, even all in the 
 synagogue where he preached it, " were filled with wrath, 
 rose up, thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the 
 brow of the hill (whereon their city was built), that they 
 might cast him down headlong," Luke, iv. 24-30. 
 
 (10.) John, who Avas after Christ, saith, " The whole 
 world lies in wickedness ; that all the world wondered after 
 the beast ; and that power was given to the beast over all 
 kindreds, tongues, and nations." Power to do what ? Why, 
 to cause all, both great and small, rich and poor, bond and 
 free, to receive his mark, and to be branded for him, John, 
 V. 10 ; Rev. xiii. 3 ; viii. 16. 
 
 (11.) Should we come to observation and experience, the 
 shew of the countenance of the bulk of men doth witness 
 against them ; " they declare their sin like Sodom, they hide 
 it not," Isa, iii. 9. Where is the man that maketh the 
 Almighty God his delight, and that designeth his glory in 
 the world ? Do not even almost all pursue this world, theHr 
 lusts and pleasures ? and so, consequently, say unto God, 
 " Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy 
 ways ; or, AVhat is the Almighty that we should serve him ? 
 It is in vain to serve God," &c. 
 
 So that without doubt it will appear a truth in the day 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 251 
 
 of God, that but few of them that shall put in their claim 
 to heaven will have it for their inheritance. 
 
 Before I pass this head, I will shew you to what the saved 
 are compared in the Scriptures. 
 
 (1.) They are compared to an handful : " There shall be 
 an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the moun- 
 tains," &c,, Psal. xxvii. 16 ; this corn is nothing else but 
 them that shall be saved, Matth. iii. 12 ; xiii. 30. But 
 mark, " There shall be an handful :" What is an handful, 
 when compared with the whole heap ? or what is an hand- 
 ful out of the rest of the world ? 
 
 (2.) As they are compared to an handful, so they are 
 compared to a lily among the thorns, Song ii. 2, which is 
 rare, and not so commonly seen : " As the lily among 
 thorns (saith Christ), so is my beloved among the daugh- 
 ters." By thorns, we understand the worst and best of 
 men, even all that are destitute of the grace of God, " for 
 the best of them is as a briar, and the most upright of them 
 as a thorn- hedge," Micah vii. 4 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 6. 2. 1 know 
 that she may be called a lily amongst thorns also, because 
 she meets with the pricks of persecution, Ezek. ii. 6 ; xxix. 
 24. 3. She may also be thus termed, to shew the dis- 
 parity that is betwixt hypocrites and the church, Luke 
 viii. 14 ; Heb. viii. But this is not all ; the saved are com- 
 pared to a lily among thorns, to shew you that they are but few 
 in the world ; to shew you that they are but few and rare ; 
 for as Christ compares her to a lily among thorns, so she 
 compares him to an apple- tree among the trees of the wood, 
 which is rare and scarce, not common. 
 
 (3.) They that are saved are called but one of many ; for 
 though tliere be threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, 
 and virgins without number, yet my love, saith Christ, is 
 but one, my undefiled is but one, Song vi. 8, 9 ; according 
 to that of Jeremiah, " I will take you, one of a city," Jer. 
 iii. That saying of Paul is much like this, " Know you 
 not, that they which i-un in a race, run all, but one re- 
 ceiveth the prize," 1 Cor. ix. 24 ; but one, that is, few of 
 many, few of them that run ; for he is not here comparing 
 
252 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 them that run with them that sit still, hut with them that 
 run, some run and lose, some run and win ; they that run 
 and win are few in comparison with them that run and 
 lose : " They that run in a race, run all, but one receives 
 the prize ; let there then be threescore queens, and four- 
 score concubines, and virgins without number, yet the saved 
 are but few." 
 
 (4.) They that are saved, are compared to the gleaning 
 after the vintage is in : " Woe is me (said the church), for 
 I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruit, as the 
 grape-gleanings after the vintage is in," Mich, vii. 1. The 
 gleanings ! What is the gleanings to the whole crop 1 and 
 yet you here see, to the gleanings are the saved compared : 
 It is the devil and sin that carry away the cart-loads, while 
 Christ and his ministers come after a gleaning : But the 
 gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim are better than the vin- 
 tage of Abiezer, Judges, viii. 2. Them that Christ and his 
 ministers glean up and bind up in the bundle of life, are 
 better than the loads that go the other way. You know it 
 is often the cry of the poor in liarvest, Poor gleaning, poor 
 gleaning : And the ministers of the gospel they also cry, 
 " Lord, who hath believed our report 1 And to whom is the 
 arm of the Lord revealed 1" Isa. liii. 1. When the prophet 
 speaks of the saved under this metaphor of gleaning, how 
 doth he amplify the matter 1 " G leaning-grapes shall be 
 left, says he, two or three berries in the top of the upper- 
 most bough, four or five in the utmost fruitful branches 
 thereof, saith the Lord," Isa. xvii, 6. Thus you see what 
 gleaning is left in the vineyard, after the vintage is in ; two 
 or three here, four or five there. Alas ! they that shall be 
 saved when the devil and hell have had their due, they will 
 be but as the gleaning, they will be but few ; they that go 
 to hell, go thither in clusters, but the saved go not so to 
 heaven, Matth. xiii. 30 ; Micah, vii. Wherefore when the 
 prophet speaketh of the saved, he saith, there is no cluster ; 
 but when he speaketh of the damned, he saith, they are 
 gathered by clusters, Rev. xiv. 18, 19. sinners ! but few 
 will be saved ! professors ! but few will be saved ! 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 253 
 
 (5.) They that shall be saved are compared to jewels : 
 " And they shall be mine, saith the Lord, in the day that 
 I make up my jewels," Malachi, iii. 13. Jewels, you know, 
 are rare things, things that are not found in every house. 
 Jewels will lie in little room, being few and small, though 
 lumber takes up much. In almost every house you may 
 find brass, and iron, and lead ; and in every place you may 
 find h^-pocritical professors, but the saved are not these 
 common things ; they are God's peculiar treasure, Psal. 
 XXXV. 4. Wherefore Paul distinguisheth betwixt the lum- 
 ber and the treasure in the house : There is, saith he, in a 
 great house, not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of 
 wood, and of earth, and some to honour, and some to dis- 
 honour, 2 Tim. ii. 20. Here is a word for wooden and 
 earthy professors ; the jewels and treasure are vessels to 
 honour, they of wood and earth are vessels of dishonour, 
 that is, vessels for destruction, Rom. ix. 21. 
 
 (6.) They that shall be saved, are compared to a rem- 
 nant : " Except the Lord had left in us a very small rem- 
 nant, w^e should have been as Sodom, and should have been 
 like unto Gomorrah," Isa. i. 9. A remnant, a small rem- 
 nant, a very small remnant ! ! how doth the Holy 
 Ghost w^ord it ! and all to shew you how few shall be saved. 
 Every one knows what a remnant is, but this is a small 
 remnant, a very small remnant. So again, " Sing with 
 gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the na- 
 tions, publish ye, praise ye, and say, Lord, save thy 
 people, the remnant of Israel," Jer. xxxi. 7. What shall I 
 say 1 the saved are often in scripture called a remnant, 
 Ezek. ix. 8, 14 ; Isa. x. 20-22 ; xi. 11, 16 ; Jer. xxiii. 3 ; 
 Joel, ii. 22. But what is a remnant to the whole piece ? 
 What is a remnant of people to the whole kingdom 1 or 
 what is a remnant of wheat to the whole harvest ? 
 
 (7.) The saved are compared to the tythe or tenth part ; 
 wherefore when God sendeth the prophet to make the hearts 
 of the people fat, their ears dull, and to shut their eyes, the 
 prophet asketh, " How long ]" to which God answereth, 
 " Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the 
 
254 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 houses without man, and the land he utterly desolate, and 
 the Lord have removed man far away, and there he a great 
 forsaking in the midst of the land : But yet (as God saith 
 in another place, " I will not make a full end,") in it shall 
 be a tenth, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof," 
 Isa. vi. 10-13. But what is a tenth 1 What is one in ten 1 
 And yet so speaks the Holy Ghost, when he speaks of the 
 holy seed, of those that were to be reserved from the judg- 
 ment. And observe it, the fattening and blinding of the 
 rest, it was to their everlasting destruction ; and so both 
 Christ and Paul expounds it often in the New Testament, 
 Matth. xiii. 14, 15 ; Mark, iv. 12 ; Luke, viii. 10 ; John, 
 xii. 40 ; Acts, xxviii. 26 ; Rom. xi. 8. So that those that 
 are reserved from them that perish will be very few, one in 
 ten : " A tenth shall return, so the holy seed shall be the 
 substance thereof." 
 
 I shall not add more generals at this time : I pray God 
 that the world be not offended at these. But without doubt, 
 but few of them that shall put in their claim for heaven 
 will have it for their inheritance : which will yet farther 
 appear in the reading of that which follows. 
 
 Therefore I come more particularly to shew you, that 
 but few wall be saved. I say, but few of professors them- 
 selves will be saved ; for that is the truth that the text doth 
 more directly look at and defend. Give me therefore thy 
 hand, good reader, and let us soberly walk through the rest 
 of what shall be said ; and let us compare as we go each 
 particular with the holy Scripture. 
 
 (1.) It is said, " The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage 
 in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a 
 besieged city," Isa. xviii. The vineyard was the church of 
 Israel, Isa. v. 1 ; the cottage in that vineyard was the 
 daughter of Zion, or the truly gracious amongst, or in that 
 church. A cottage ; God had but a cottage there, but a 
 little habitation in the church, a very few that were truly 
 gracious amongst that great multitude that professed ; and 
 liad it not been for these, for this cottage, the rest had been 
 ruined as Sodom : " Except the Lord of Hosts had left in 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 255 
 
 US, in the church, a very few, they had been as Sodom," 
 ver. 9. Wherefore, among the multitude of them that shall 
 be damned, professors will make a considerable party. 
 
 (2.) " For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the 
 sea, a remnant shall return, a remnant shall be saved," 
 Isa. X. 22 ; Rom. ix. 27. For though thy people Israel, 
 whom thou broughtest out of Egypt, to whom thou hast 
 given church-constitution, holy laws, holy ordinances, holy 
 prophets, and holy covenants ; thy people by separation 
 from all people, and thy people by profession ; though this 
 thy people be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be 
 saved ; wherefore, among the multitude of them that shall 
 be damned, professors will make a considerable party. 
 
 (3.) " Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the 
 Lord hath rejected them," Jer. vi. 30. The people here 
 under consideration are called in ver. 27, God's people, his 
 people by profession : " I have set thee for a tower and a 
 fortress among my people, that thou mayest know, and 
 try their way." What follows 1 They are all grievous 
 revolters, walking with slanders, reprobate silver ; the Lord 
 hath rejected them. In chap. vii. ver. 29, they are called 
 also the generation of his wrath : " For the Lord hath re- 
 jected and forsaken th? generation of his wrath." This, 
 therefore, I gather out of these holy Scriptures, — that with 
 reference to profession and church-constitution, a people 
 may be called the people of God ; but, with reference to the 
 event and final conclusion that God will make with some 
 of them, they may be truly the generation of his wrath. 
 
 (4.) In the 5th of Isaiah, you read again of the vineyard 
 of God, and that it was planted on a very fruitful hill, 
 planted with the choicest vines, had a wall, a tower, a wine- 
 press belonging to it, and all things that could put it into 
 right order and good government, as a church ; but this 
 vineyard of the Lord of hosts brought forth wild grapes, 
 fruits unbecoming her constitution and government, where- 
 fore the Lord takes from her his hedge and wall, and lets 
 her be trodden down. Read Christ's exposition upon it in 
 
266 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 Matth. ii, 23, &:c. Look to it, professors, these are the words 
 of the text, " For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter 
 in, and shall not be able." 
 
 (5.) " Son of man," said God to the prophet, " the house 
 of Israel is to me become dross, all they are brass and tin, 
 and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace they are the 
 dross of silver," Ezek. xxii. 18. God had silver there, some 
 silver, but it was but little ; the bulk of that people was 
 but the dross of the church, though they were the members 
 of it. But what doth he mean by the dross ? why he looked 
 upon them as no better, notwithstanding their church- 
 membership, than the rabble of the world, that is, with 
 respect to their latter end ; for to be called dross, it is to be 
 put amongst the rest of the sinners of the world, in tue 
 judgment of God, though at present they abide in his house : 
 " Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross ; 
 therefore I love thy testimonies," Psal. cxix. 119. 
 
 God saith of his saved ones, " He hath chosen them in 
 the furnace of affliction." The refiner, when he putteth 
 the silver into his furnace, he puts lead in also among it ; 
 now this lead being ordered as he knows how, works up 
 the dross from the silver, which dross, still as it riseth, he 
 putteth by, or taketh away with an instrument. And thus 
 deals God with his church ; there is silver in his church, 
 ay, and there is also dross : now the dross are the hypo- 
 crites and graceless ones that are got into the church, and 
 these will God discover, and afterwards put away as dross. 
 So that it will without doubt prove a truth of God, that 
 many of their professors that shall put in claim for heaven, 
 will not have it for their inheritance. 
 
 (6.) It is said of Christ, " His fan is in his hand, and he 
 will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather his wheat 
 into his garner, but will burn up the chaff with unquench- 
 able fire," Matth. iii. 12. 
 
 The floor is the church of God : " my threshing, and 
 the corn of my floor !" said God by the prophet (Isa. xxi. 
 10) to his people. 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 257 
 
 The wheat are those good ones in his clun-ch that shall 
 be undoubtedly saved ; therefore he saith, " Gather my 
 wheat into my garner." 
 
 The chaff groweth upon the same stalk and ear, and so 
 is in the same visible body with the wheat, but there is not 
 substance in it : wherefore in time they must be severed 
 one from the other ; the wheat must be gathered into tlie 
 garner, which is heaven ; and the chaff, or professors that 
 want true grace, must be gathered into hell, that they may 
 be burned up with unquenchable fire. Therefore let pro- 
 fessors look to it. 
 
 (7.) Christ Jesus casts away two of the three grounds 
 that are said to receive the word, Luke, viii. The stony 
 ground received it with joy, and the thorny ground brought 
 forth fruit almost to perfection. Indeed the highway ground 
 was to shew us, that the carnal, whilst such, receive not the 
 word at all ; but here is the pinch, two of the three that 
 received it, fell short of the kingdom of heaven ; for but 
 one of the three received it so as to bring forth fruit to per- 
 fection. Look to it, professors. 
 
 (8.) The parable of the unprofitable servant, the parable 
 of the man without a wedding-garment, and the parable of 
 the unsavoury salt, do each of them justify this for truth, 
 Matth. XXV. 24, 29 ; xxii. 11-13 ; also v. 13. That of the 
 unprofitable servant is to shew us the sloth and idleness of 
 some professors ; that of the man without a wedding-gar- 
 ment, is to shew us how some professors have the shame 
 of their wickedness seen by God, even when they are among 
 the children of the bridegroom ; and that parable of the 
 unsavoury salt is to shew, that as the salt that hath lost 
 its savour is fit for nothing, no, not for the dunghill, but 
 to be trodden under foot of men ; so some professors (yea, 
 and great ones too, for this parable reached one of the 
 apostles) will in God's day be counted fit for nothing but 
 to he trodden down as the mire in the streets. Oh I the 
 slothful, the naked, and unsavoury professors, how will 
 they be rejected of God and his Christ in the judgment ! 
 Look to it, professors. 
 
 R 
 
258 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 (9.) The parable of the tares also giveth countenance to 
 this truth : for though it be said, the field is the world, yet 
 it is said, the tares were sown even in the church : " And 
 while men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among 
 the wheat, and went his way," Matth. xiii. 24, 25. 
 
 Object. But some may object. The tares might be sown in 
 the world among tlie wlieat, though not in the churches. 
 
 Ans. But Christ, by expounding this parable, tells us, 
 the tares were sown in his kingdom ; the tares, that is, the 
 children of the devil, ver. 30, 39. As therefore the tares 
 are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the 
 end of this world : " The Son of man shall send forth his 
 angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things 
 that offend, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them 
 into a furnace of fire ; there shall be wailing and gnashing 
 of teeth," ver. 40-44. Look to it, professors. 
 
 (10.) The parable of the ten virgins also suiteth our pur- 
 pose : these ten are called the kingdom of heaven (Matth. 
 XXV. 1), that is, the church of Christ, the visible rightly- 
 constituted church of Christ ; for they went all out of the 
 world, had all lamps, and all went forth to meet the bride- 
 groom ; yet behold what an overthrow the one-half of them 
 met with at the gate of heaven ; they were shut out, bid to 
 depart, and Christ told them he did not know them, ver. 
 10, 11. Tremble, professors ! Pray, professors ! 
 
 (11.) The parable of the net that was cast into the sea 
 (Matth. xiii. 41, 42), that also countenancetli this truth. 
 The substance of that parable is to shew, that souls may 
 be gathered by the gospel, there compared to a net, may 
 be kept in that net, drawn to a shore, to the world's end, 
 by that net, and yet may then prove bad fishes, and be cast 
 away. The parable runs thus : — " The kingdom of heaven, 
 the gospel, is like unto a net which was cast into the sea, 
 the world, and gathered of every kind, good and bad, which 
 when it w^as full, they drew it to shore, to the end of the 
 world, and sat down, in judgment, and gathered the good 
 into vessels, and cast the bad away." Some bad fishes, nay, 
 I doubt a great many, will be found in the net of the 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 259 
 
 gospel, at the day of judgment. Watch and be sober, pro- 
 fessors. 
 
 (12.) " And many shall come from the east and from the 
 west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and 
 Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven ; and the children of the 
 kingdom shall be cast out," Matth. viii. 12. The children 
 of the kingdom, whose privileges were said to be these, — 
 to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the 
 covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of 
 God, and the promise, Rom. ix. 4. I take liberty to harp 
 the more upon the first church, because that what happened 
 to them, happened as types and examples, intimating, there 
 is ground to think, that things of as dreadful a nature are 
 to happen among the churches of the Gentiles, 1 Cor. x. 1 1, 
 12. Neither, indeed, have the Gentile churches security 
 from God that there shall not as dreadful things happen to 
 them. And concerning this very thing, sufficient caution 
 is given to us also, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 ; Gal. v. 19-21 ; Eph. v. 
 3-7; Phil. iii. 10, 11 ; 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12; 2 Tim. ii, 20. 21 ; 
 Heb. vi. 4-9 ; and x. 26-28 ; 2 Pet. ii. and iii. ; 1 John, v. 
 10 ; Rev. ii. 20-22. 
 
 (13.) The parable of the true vine and its branches con- 
 firms what I have said, John, xv. 1-6. By the vine there 
 I understand Christ, Christ as head ; by the branches, I 
 understand his church. Some of these branches proved 
 fruitless castaways, were in time cast out of the churcli, 
 were gathered by men, and burned. 
 
 (14.) Lastly, I will come to particular instances. 
 
 1. The twelve had a devil among them, John, vi. 70. 
 2. Ananias and Sapphira were in the church of Jerusalem, 
 Acts, V. 3. Simon JNIagus was among them at Samaria, 
 Acts, viii. 4. Among the church of Corinth were them 
 that had not the knowledge of God, 1 Cor. xv. 5. Paul 
 tells the Galatians that false brethren crept in unawares ; 
 and so does the apostle Jude, and yet they Avere as quick- 
 sighted to see as any nowadays, Galatians, ii. ; Jude, 3, 4. 
 6. The church in Sardis had l)ut a few names in her, to 
 whom the kingdom of heaven belonged : " Thou hast a few 
 
260 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 names, even in Sard is, which have not defiled their gar- 
 ments, and thej shall walk with me in white, for they are 
 worthy," 7. As for the church of the Laodiceans, it is 
 called " wretched, and miserahle, and poor, and blind, and 
 naked," Rev, iii. So that put all things together, and I 
 may boldly say, as I also have said already, that among 
 the multitude of them that shall be damned, professors will 
 make a considerable party ; or, to speak in the words of 
 the observation. When men have put in all the claim they 
 can for heaven, but few will have it for their inheritance. 
 
 I will now shew you some reasons of the point, besides 
 those five that I shewed you before. 
 
 But, first, I will shew you why the poor, carnal, igno- 
 rant world miss of heaven, and then why the knowing 
 professors miss of it also, 
 
 1, The poor, carnal, ignorant world miss of heaven, even 
 because they love their sins, and cannot part with them : 
 " JNIen love darkness rather than light, because their deeds 
 be evil," John, iii. The poor ignorant world miss of hea- 
 ven, because they are enemies in their minds to God, his 
 word, and holiness : they must be all damned who take 
 pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thess, ii. 10-12, The poor 
 ignorant world miss of heaven, because they stop their ears 
 against convictions, and refuse to come when God calls : 
 " Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched 
 out my hand, and no man regarded, but have set at nought 
 all my counsels, and would none of my reproofs ; I also 
 will laugh at your calamities, and mock when your fear 
 cometh as desolation, and your destruction like a whirl- 
 wind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you ; then 
 shall you call upon me, but I will not answer ; they shall 
 seek me early, but shall not find me," Prov, i, 24-29, 
 
 2. The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because the 
 god of this world hath blinded their eyes, that they can 
 neither see the evil and damnable state they are in at pre- 
 sent, nor the way to get out of it : neither do they see the 
 beauty of Jesus Christ, nor how willing he is to save poor 
 sinners, 2 Cor, iv, 2, 3. 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 261 
 
 3. The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they 
 put off and defer coming to Christ, until the time of God's 
 patience and grace is over. Some indeed are resolved never 
 to come ; but some again say, We will come hereafter, and 
 so it comes to pass, that because God called, and they did 
 not hear ; so they shall cry, and I will not hear, saith the 
 Lord, Zech. vii. 11-13. 
 
 4. The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they 
 have false apprehensions of God's mercy. They say in their 
 hearts, We shall have peace, though we walk in the ima- 
 gination of our heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. But 
 what saith the word ? " The Lord will not spare him ; but 
 then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, shall smoke 
 against that man, and all the curses that are written in 
 this book shall be upon him, and God shall blot out his 
 name from under heaven," Deut. xxix. 19-21. 
 
 5. The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they 
 make light of the gospel that offereth mercy to them freely, 
 and because they lean upon their own good meanings, and 
 thinkings, and doings, Matth. xxii. 1-6 ; Rom. ix. 30, 31. 
 
 6. The poor carnal world miss of heaven, because by 
 unbelief, which reigns in them, they are kept for ever from 
 being clothed with Christ's righteousness, and from wash- 
 ing in his blood, without which there is neither remission 
 of sin, nor justification. But to pass these till anon. 
 
 I come, in the next place. To shew you some reasons why 
 the professor falls short of heaven. 
 
 First, In the general, they rest in things below special 
 grace ; as in awakenings that are not special, in repentance 
 that is not special, &c. ; and a little to run a parallel be- 
 twixt the one and the other, that, if God will, you may see 
 and escape. 
 
 1. Have they that shall be saved, awakenings about their 
 state by nature 1 So have they that shall be damned. They 
 that never go to heaven, may see much of sin, and of the 
 wrath of God due thereto. This had Cain and Judas, and 
 yet they came short of the kingdom. Gen. iv. ; Matth. xxvii. 
 4. The saved have convictions, in order to their eternal 
 
262 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 life ; but the others' convictions are not so. The convictions 
 of the one doth drive them sincerely to Christ ; the convic- 
 tions of the other doth drive them to the law, and the law 
 to desperation at last. 
 
 2. There is a repentance that will not save, a repentance 
 to be repented of ; and a repentance to salvation, not to be 
 repented of, 2 Cor. vii. 10. Yet so great a similitude and 
 likeness there is betwixt the one and the other, that most 
 times the wrong is taken for the right, and through this 
 mistake professors perish. 
 
 As (1.) In saving repentance there will be an acknow- 
 ledgment of sin ; and one that hath the other repentance 
 may acknowledge his sins also, Matth. xxvii. 4. (2.) In 
 saving repentance there is a crying out under sin ; but one 
 that hath the other repentance may cry out under sin also, 
 Gen. iv. 13. (3.) In saving repentance there will be humi- 
 liation for sin ; and one that hath the other repentance may 
 humble himself also, 1 Kings, xxi. 29. (4.) Saving repent- 
 ance is attended with self-loathing ; but he that hath tlie 
 other repentance may have loathing of sin too, 2 Pet. ii. 
 22, — a loathing of sin, because it is sin, that he cannot have ; 
 but a loathing of sin, because it is offensive to him, that he 
 may have. The dog doth not loath that which troubleth 
 his stomach, because it is there, but because it troubleth 
 him ; when it has done troubling of him, he can turn to it 
 again, and lick it up as before it troubled him. (5.) Saving 
 repentance is attended with prayers and tears ; but he that 
 hath none but the other repentance, may have prayers and 
 tears also. Gen. xxvii. 34, 35 ; Heb. xii. 14-16. (6.) In 
 saving repent^ance, there is fear and reverence of the word 
 and ministers that bring it ; but this may be also wiiere 
 there is none but the repentance that is not saving ; for 
 Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man, and 
 holy, and observed him ; when he heard him, he did many 
 things, and heard him gladly, Mark, vi. 20. (7.) Saving 
 repentance makes a man's heart very tender of doing any 
 thing against the word of God. But Balaam could say, 
 " If Balak would give me his house full of silver and 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 263 
 
 gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord," Numb, 
 xxiv. 13. 
 
 Behold, then, how far a man may go in repentance, and 
 yet be short of that which is called, " Repentance unto sal- 
 vation, not to be repented of." 1. He may be awakened ; 
 2. He may acknowledge his sin ; 3. He may cry out under 
 the burden of sin ; 4. He may have humility for it ; 5. He 
 may loath it ; 6. May have prayers and tears against it ; 
 7. May delight to do many things of God ; 8. May be 
 afraid of sinning against him ; and after all this may perish, 
 for want of saving repentance. 
 
 Secondly, Have they that shall be saved, faith ? Why, 
 they that shall not be saved may have faith also ; yea, a faith 
 in many things so like the faith that saveth, that they can 
 hardly be distinguished (though they differ both in root 
 and branch.) To come to particulars. 
 
 1. Saving faith hath Christ for its object, and so may 
 the faith have that is not saving. Those very Jews of whom 
 it is said they believed on Christ, Christ tells them, and 
 that after their believing, " Ye are of your father the devil, 
 and the lusts of your father ye will do," John, viii. 30-44. 
 2. Saving faith is wrought by the word of God, and so may 
 the faith be that is not saving, Luke, viii. 13. 3. Saving 
 faith looks for justification without works, and so may a 
 faith do that is not saving, James, ii. 18. 4. Saving faith 
 will sanctify and purify the heart, and the faith that is 
 not saving may work a man off from the pollutions of the 
 world, as it did Judas, Demas, and others — See 2 Pet. ii. 
 5. Saving faith will give a man tastes of the world to come, 
 and also joy by them tastes, and so will the faith do that 
 is not saving, Heb. vi. 4, 5 ; Luke, viii. 13. 6. Saving 
 faith will help a man, if called thereto, to give his body 
 to be burned for his religion, and so will the faith do that is 
 not saving, 1 Cor. xiii. 1-5. 7. Saving faith will help a 
 man to look for an inheritance in the world to come," and 
 that may the faith do that is not saving : " All those vir- 
 gins took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bride- 
 groom," Matt. XXV. 1. 8. Saving faith will not only make 
 
264 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 a man look for, but prepare to meet the bridegroom, and 
 so may the faith do that is not saving : " Then all these 
 virgins arose and trimmed their lamps," Matt. xxv. 7. 
 9. Saving faith will make a man look for an interest in 
 the kingdom of heaven with confidence, and the faith that 
 is not saving will even demand entrance of the Lord : 
 "Lord, Lord, open unto us," Matt. xxv. 11. 10. Saving 
 faith will have good works follow it into heaven, and the 
 faith that is not saving may have great works follow it, 
 as far as to heaven-gates : " Lord, have we not prophesied 
 in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy 
 name done wondrous works," Matt. vii. 22. 
 
 Now, then, if the faith that is not saving may have 
 Christ for its object, be wrought by the word, look for 
 justification without works, work men off from the pollu- 
 tions of the world, and give men tastes of, and joy in the 
 things of another world : I say again, if it will help a man 
 to burn for his judgment, and to look for an inheritance 
 in another world ; yet if it will help a man to prepare for 
 it, claim interest in it ; and if it can carry great works — 
 many great and glorious works, as far as heaven-gates, 
 then no marvel if abundance of people take this faith for 
 the saving faith, and so fall short of heaven thereby. Alas, 
 friends ! There are but few that can produce such for 
 repentance ; and such faith as yet you see, I have proved 
 even reprobates have had in several ages of the church. 
 But, 
 
 Thirdly^ They that go to heaven are a praying people ; 
 but a man may pray that shall not be saved. Pray ! He 
 may pray, pray daily ; yea, he may ask of God the ordi- 
 nances of justice, and may take delight in approaching to 
 God ; nay, further, such souls may, as it were, cover the 
 altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying out, 
 Isa. xxviii. 2 ; Mai. xii. 13. 
 
 Fourthly^ Do God's people keep holy fasts ? They that 
 are not his people may keep fasts also — may keep fasts 
 often — even twice a- week : " The Pharisee stood, and 
 prayed thus with himself : God, I thank thee that I am 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 265 
 
 not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or 
 even as this Publican : I fast twice a-week, I give tithes 
 of all that I possess," Luke, xvi. 11, 12. I might enlarge 
 upon things, but I intend but a little book. I do not 
 question but many Balaamites will appear before the judg- 
 ment-seat to condemnation : men that have had visions of 
 God, and that knew the knowledge of the Most High ; men 
 that have liad the Spirit of God come upon them, and that 
 have by that been made other men ; yet these shall go to 
 the generations of their fathers, they shall never see light, 
 Num. xxiv. 2, 4, 16 ; ] Sam. x. 6, 10 ; Psalm xlix. 19. 
 
 I read of some men whose excellency in religion mounts 
 up to the heavens, and their heads reach unto the clouds, 
 who yet shall perish for ever like their own dung ; and he 
 that in this world hath seen them, shall say at the judg- 
 ment, Where are they ? Job, xx, 5-7. There will be many 
 a one that were gallant professors in this world be want- 
 ing among the saved in the day of Christ's coming ; yea, 
 many whose damnation was never dreamed of. Which of 
 the twelve ever thought that Judas would have proved a 
 devil ? Nay, when Christ suggested that one among th^i 
 was naught, they each were more afraid of themselves than 
 of him. Matt, xxvi. 21-23. Who questioned the salvation 
 of the foolish virgins 1 The wise ones did not ; they gave 
 them the privilege of communion with themselves. Matt. 
 XXV. The discerning of the heart, and the infallible proof 
 of the truth of saving grace, is reserved to the judgment of 
 Jesus Christ at his coming. The church and best of saints 
 sometimes hit, and sometimes miss, in their judgments 
 about this matter ; and the cause of our missing in our 
 judgment is, 1. Partly because we cannot infallibly, at all 
 times, distinguish grace that saveth from that which doth but 
 appear to do so. 2. Partly also because some men have the 
 art to give right names to wrong things. 3. And partly 
 because we being commanded to receive him that is weak, 
 are afraid to exclude the least Christian, by which means 
 hypocrites creep into the churches. But what saith the 
 scripture ? " I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins." 
 
266 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 And again, " All the churches shall know that I am he 
 that searches the reins and hearts, and I will give to every 
 one of you according to your works," Jer. xi. 20; xvii. 10; 
 Rev. ii. 23. To this searcher of hearts is the time of in- 
 fallible discerning reserved, and then you shall see how far 
 grace that is not saving hath gone ; and also how few will 
 be saved indeed. The Lord awaken poor sinners by these 
 w^arnings and cautions. 
 
 I come now to make some brief use and application of 
 the whole ; and my first word shall be to the open profane. 
 Poor sinner, thou readest here that but a few will be saved, 
 that many that expect heaven will go without heaven. 
 What sayest thou to this, poor sinner ? Let me say it over 
 again. There are but few to be saved, but very few. Let me 
 add, but few professors — but few eminent professors. What 
 sayest thou now, sinner ? If judgment begins at the house 
 of God, what will the end of them be that obey not the 
 gospel of God I This is Peter's question. Canst thou answer 
 it, sinner ? Yea, I say again, if judgment must begin at 
 them, will it not make thee think. What shall become of 
 i^e ? And I add, when thou shalt see the stars of heaven 
 to tumble dowTi to hell, canst thou think that such a muck- 
 heap of sin as thou art shall be lifted up to heaven 1 Peter 
 asks thee another question, to wit, " If the righteous scarcely 
 be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinners appear ?" 
 1 Pet. iv. 18. Canst thou answer this question, sinner ? 
 Stand among the righteous thou mayest not : " The un- 
 godly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the 
 congregation of the righteous," Psalm i. 5, Stand among 
 the wicked thou then wilt not dare to do. Where wilt 
 thou appear, sinner 1 To stand among the hypocrites will 
 avail thee nothing : " The hypocrite shall not come before 
 him," that is, with acceptance, " but shall perish," Job, 
 xiii. 16. Because it concerns thee much, let me over with 
 it again. When thou shalt see less sinners than thou art, 
 bound up by angels in bundles, to burn them, where wilt 
 thou appear, sinner ? Thou mayst wish thyself another 
 man, but that will not help thee, sinner. Thou mayst 
 
THE STRAIT 'JATE. 267 
 
 wish, Would I liad been converted in time ; but that will 
 not help thee neither. And if, like the wife of Jereboam, 
 thou should feign thyself to be another woman, the Prophet, 
 the Lord Jesus, would soon find thee out ! What wilt 
 thou do, poor sinner ? Heavy tidinj^s, heavy tidings, will 
 attend thee, except thou repent, poor sinner ! 1 Kings xiv. 
 2, 5, 6 ; Luke, xiii. 3, 5. the dreadful state of a poor sin- 
 ner, of an open profane sinner ! Every body that hath but 
 common sense, knows that this man is in the broad way to 
 death, yet he laughs at his own danmation. 
 Shall I come to particulars with thee ? 
 
 1. Poor unclean sinner, the harlot's house is the way to 
 hell, going down to the chambers of death, Pro v. ii. 18 ; 
 V. 5 : vii. 27. 
 
 2. Poor swearing and thievish sinner, God hath prepared 
 the curse, that every one that stealeth shall be cut off, as on 
 this side, according to it ; and every one that sweareth, 
 shall be cut off on that side, according to it, Zech. v. 3. 
 
 3. Poor drunken sinner, what shall I say to thee 1 " Woe 
 to the drunkards of Ephraim, woe to them that are mighty 
 to drink wine, and men of strong drink ; they shall not in- 
 herit the kingdom of heaven," Isa. xxviii. v. 11, 12 ; 1 Cor. 
 vi, 9, 10. 
 
 4. Poor covetous worldly man, God's word says, " That 
 the covetous the Lord abhorreth ; that the covetous man is 
 an idolater : and that the covetous shall not inherit the 
 kingdom of God," Psal. x. 3 ; Eph. v. 5 ; John, ii. 15 ; 1 Cor. 
 vi. 9, 10. 
 
 5. And thou liar, what wilt thou do ? " All liars shall 
 have their part in the lake that bumeth with fire and brim- 
 stone," Rev. xxi. 8, 27. 
 
 I shall not enlarge, poor sinner, let no man deceive thee ; 
 for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon 
 the children of disobedience, Eph. v. 6. I will therefore 
 give thee a short call, and so leave thee. 
 
 Sinner, awake ; yea, I say unto thee, awake : Sin lieth 
 at thy door, and God's axe lieth at thy root, and hell-fire is 
 
268 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 right underneath thee : I say again, awake : " Every tree 
 therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, 
 and cast into the fire," Gen. iv. 7 ; Matth. iii. 10. 
 
 Poor sinner, awake ; eternity is coming, and his Son, 
 they are both coining to judge the world ; awake, art yet 
 asleep, poor sinner ? let nie set the trumpet to thine ear 
 once again. The heavens will be shortly on a burning 
 flame ; the earth, and the works thereof, shall be burned 
 up, and then wicked men shall go into perdition ; dost thou 
 hear this, sinner ? 2 Pet. iii. Hark again, the sweet morsels 
 of sins will then be fled and gone, and the bitter burning 
 fruits of them only left. What sayest thou now sinner ? 
 Canst thou drink hell-fire 1 Will the wrath of God be a 
 pleasant dish to thy taste ? This must be thine every day's 
 meat and drink in hell, sinner. 
 
 I will yet propound to thee God's ponderous question, 
 and then for this time leave thee : " Can thine heart en- 
 dure, or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall 
 deal with thee, saith the Lord ?" Ezek. xxii. 14. What 
 sayest thou 1 Wilt thou answer this question now ? or wilt 
 thou take time to do it ; or wilt thou be desperate, and 
 venture all ? And let me put this text in thine ear to keep 
 it open ; and so the Lord have mercy upon thee : " Upon 
 the wicked shall the Lord rain snares, fire and brimstone, 
 and an horrible tempest ; this shall be the portion of their 
 cup," Psal. xi. 6. Repent, sinners. 
 
 Secondly, My second word is to them that are upon the 
 potter's Avheel ; concerning whom, w^e know not, as yet, 
 whether their convictions and awakenings will end in con- 
 version or no. Several things I shall say to you, both to 
 further your convictions, and to caution you from staying 
 any where below, or short of saving grace. 
 
 1, Remember that but few shall be saved ; and if God 
 should count thee worthy to be one of that few, what a 
 mercy would that be 1 2. Be thankful, therefore, for con- 
 victions ; conversion begins at conviction, though all con- 
 viction doth not end in conversion. It is a great mercy to 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 269 
 
 be convinced that we are sinners, and that we need a 
 Saviour ; count it therefore a mercy, and that thy convic- 
 tions may end in conversion : Do thou, 
 
 1. Take heed of stifling of them : It is the way of poor 
 sinners to look upon convictions as things that are hurtful ; 
 and therefore they use to shun the awakening ministry, and 
 to check a convincing conscience. Such poor sinners are 
 much like to the wanton boy that stands at the maid's 
 elbow, to blow out her candle as fast as she lights it at the 
 fire. Convinced sinner, God lighteth thy candle, and thou 
 puttest it out ; God lights it again, and thou putteth it out 
 (" yea, how oft is the candle of the wicked put out 1" Job 
 xxi. 17.) At last God resolveth he will light thy candle 
 no more ; and then, like the Egyptians, you dwell all your 
 days in darkness, and never see light more, but by the light 
 of hell-fire ; wherefore give glory to God, and if he awakens 
 thy conscience, quench not thy convictions : " Bo it (saith 
 the prophet) before he cause darkness, and before your feet 
 stumble upon the dark mountains, and he turn your con- 
 victions into the shadow of death, and make them gross 
 darkness," Jer. xiii. 16. 
 
 1. Be willing to see the worst of thy condition ; it is bet- 
 ter to see it here than in hell ; for thou must see thy misery 
 here or there. 2. Beware of little sins, they will make way 
 for great ones, and they again will make way for bigger, 
 upon which God's wrath will follow ; and then may thy 
 latter end be worse than thy beginning, 2 Pet. ii. 20. 
 3. Take heed of bad company, and evil communication, for 
 that will corrupt good manners. God saith, evil company 
 will turn thee away from following him, and will tempt 
 thee to serve other gods, devils : " So the anger of the Lord 
 will be kindled against thee, and destroy thee suddenly," 
 Deut. vii. 4. 4. Beware of such a thought as bids thee 
 delay repentance, for that is damnable, Prov. i. 24 ; Zech, 
 vii. 12, 13. 5. Beware of taking example by some poor 
 carnal professor, whose religion lies in the tip of his tongue. 
 Beware, I say of the man whose head swims with notions, 
 but his life is among the unclean, Job, xxxvi. 14. " He 
 
270 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 that walketh with wise men shall be wise ; but a companion 
 of fools shall be destroyed," Prov. xiii. 20. G. Give thyself 
 much to the word, and prayer, and good conference. 7. La- 
 bour to see the sin that cleaveth to the best of thy perform- 
 ances, and know that all is nothing if thou beest not found 
 in Jesus Christ. 8. Keep in remembrance that God's eye 
 is upon thy heart, and upon all thy ways : " Can any hide 
 himself in secret places, that I should not see him, saith the 
 Lord ? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord V Jer. 
 xxiii. 24, 9. Be often meditating upon death and judg- 
 ment, Eccles. xi. 9 ; xii. 14. 10. Be often thinking what a 
 dreadful end sinners that have neglected Christ will make 
 at that day of death and judgment, Heb. x. 31. 11, Put 
 thyself often, in thy thoughts, before Christ's judgment- 
 seat, in thy sins, and consider with thyself. Were I now 
 before my judge, how should I look, how should I shake 
 and tremble ? 1 2. Be often thinking of them that are now in 
 hell past all mercy : I say, be often thinking of them, 
 thus : 
 
 1. They were once in the world, as I now am. 2. They 
 once took delight in sin, as I have done. 3. They once 
 neglected repentance, as Satan would have me do. 4. But 
 now they are gone, now they are in hell, now the pit hath 
 shut her mouth upon them. 
 
 Thou mayest also double thy thoughts of the damned, 
 thus : 
 
 1. If these poor creatures were in the world again, would 
 they sin as they did before ? would they neglect salvation 
 as they did before ? 2. If they had sermons, as I have ; 
 if they had the Bible, as I have ; if they had good company, 
 as I have ; yea, if they had a day of grace, as I have ; 
 would they neglect it as they did before ? Sinner, couldst 
 thou soberly think of these things, they might help (God 
 blessing them) to awaken thee, and to keep thee awake to 
 repentance, to the repentance that is to salvation, never to 
 be repented of. 
 
 Object. But you have said few shall be saved ; and somt 
 that go a great way, yet are not saved. At this, therefore 
 
THE HTRAIT GATE, 271 
 
 I am even discouraged, and awakened ; I think I had as good 
 go no further. I am indeed under conviction, but I may 
 perish, and if I go on in my sins, I can but perish ; and it 
 is ten, twenty, an hundred to one if I be saved, should I 
 be never so earnest for heaven. 
 
 Ans. That few will be saved must needs be a truth, for 
 Christ hath said it ; that many go far, and come short of 
 heaven, is as true, being testified by the same hand. But 
 what then ? Why, then had I as good never seek ? Who 
 told thee so ? Must nobody seek because few are saved ? 
 This is just contrary to the text, that bids us therefore 
 strive ; strive to enter in, because the gate is strait, and 
 because many will seek to enter in and shall not be able. 
 But why go back again, seeing that is the next way to hell ] 
 Never go over hedge and ditch to hell. If I must needs 
 go thither, I will go the farthest way about. But who can 
 tell, though there should not be saved so many as there 
 shall, but thou mayest be one of that few. They that miss 
 of life perish, because they will not let go their sins, or be- 
 cause they take up in profession short of the saving faith 
 of the gospel. They perish, I say, because they are con- 
 tent with^ such things, as will not prove graces of a saving 
 nature when they come to be tried in the fire, otherwise 
 the promise is free, and full, and everlasting : " Him that 
 cometh to me (says Christ) I will in nowise cast thee out ; 
 for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, 
 but have everlasting life," John, vi. 37. Wherefore let not 
 this thought, Few shall be saved, weaken thy heart, but let 
 it cause thee to mend thy pace, to mend thy cries, to look 
 well to thy grounds for heaven ; let it make thee fly faster 
 from sin to Christ ; let it keep thee awake, and out of carnal 
 security, and thou mayest be saved. 
 
 Thirdly, My third word is to professors. Sirs, give me 
 leave to set my trumpet to your ears again a little ; when 
 every man hath put in all the claim they can for heaven, 
 but few will have it for their inheritance ; I mean but few 
 professors, for so the text intendeth, and so I have also 
 
272 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 proved : " For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, 
 and shall not be able." 
 
 Let me therefore a little expostulate the matter with you, 
 ye thousands of professors ! 
 
 1. I begin with you whose religion lieth only in your 
 tongues ; I mean you who are little or nothing known from 
 the rest of the rabble of the world, only you can talk better 
 than they. Hear me a word or two. " If I speak with 
 the tongue of men and angels, and have not charity (that 
 is, love to God, and Christ, and saints, and holiness), I am 
 nothing," — no child of God, and so have nothing to do with 
 heaven, 1 Cor. xiii. A prating tongue will not unlock the 
 gates of heaven, nor blind the eyes of thy judge. Look to 
 it : " The wise in heart will receive commandments ; but 
 a prating fool shall fall," Prov. x. 8. 
 
 2. Covetous professors, thou that makest a gain of reli- 
 gion, that usest thy profession to bring gi-ist to thy mill, 
 look to it also. Gain is not godliness. Judas's religion 
 lay much in the bag, but his soul is now burning in hell. 
 All covetousness is idolatry ; but what is that, or what 
 will you call it, when men are religious for filthy lucre's 
 sake, Ezek. xxxiii. 31. , 
 
 3. Wanton professors, I have a word for you ; I mean 
 you that can tell how to misplead scripture, to maintain 
 your pride, your banqueting, and abominable idolatry. 
 Read what Peter says. You are the snare and damnation 
 of others : " You allure through the lust of the flesh, 
 through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped 
 from them who live in error," 2 Pet. ii. 18. Besides, the 
 Holy Ghost hath a great deal against you, for your feast- 
 ings, and eating without fear, not for health, but gluttony, 
 Jude, 12. Farther, Peter says, " That you that count it 
 pleasure to riot in the day-time are spots and blemishes, 
 sporting yourselves with your own deceivings," 2 Pet. ii. 
 14. And let me ask, did God give his word to justify your 
 wickedness ? or doth grace teach you to plead for the flesh, 
 or the making provision for the lusts thereof ? Of these 
 also are they that feed their bodies to strengthen their lusts, 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 273 
 
 unaer pretence of strengthening frail nature. But pray, 
 remember the text, " Many, I say unto you, will seek to 
 enter in, and shall not be able." 
 
 4. I come next to the Opinionist ; I mean, to him whose 
 religion lieth in some circumstantials of religion. With this 
 sort this kingdom swarms at this day. These think all 
 out of the way that are not of their mode, when themselves 
 may be out of the way in the midst of their zeal for their 
 opinions. Pray, do you also observe the text : " Many, I 
 say unto you, seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
 
 5. Neither is the Formalist exempted from this number. 
 He is a man that hath lost all but the shell of religion. 
 He is hot indeed for his form ; and no marvel, for that is 
 his all to contend for. But his form being without the 
 power and spirit of godliness, it will leave him in his sins ; 
 nay, he standeth now in them in the sight of God (2 Tim. 
 iii. 5), and is one of the many that " will seek to enter in, 
 and shall not be able." 
 
 6. The Legalist comes next, even him that hath no life 
 but what he makes out of his duties. This man hath 
 chosen to stand and fall by Moses, who is the condemner 
 of the world : " There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, 
 in whom ye trust," John, v. 45. 
 
 7. There is, in the next place, the Libertine — he that 
 pretendeth to be against forms and duties, as things that 
 gender to bondage, neglecting the order of God. This man 
 pretends to pray always, but under that pretence, prays not 
 at all ; he pretends to keep every day a Sabbath, but this 
 pretence serves him only to cast off all set times for the 
 worship of God. This is also one of the many that " will 
 seek to enter in, and shall not be able," Tit. i. 16. 
 
 8. There is the temporising Latitudinarian. He is a 
 man that hath no God but his belly, nor any religion but 
 that by which his belly is worshipped. His religion is 
 always, like the times, turning this way and that way, 
 like the cock on the steeple ; neitlier hath he any con- 
 science but a benumbed and seared one, and is next door 
 
274 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 to a downright Atheist ; and also is one of the many that 
 " will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
 
 9. There is also the wilfully ignorant professor, or him 
 that is afraid to know more, for fear of the cross. He is 
 for picking and choosing of truth, and loveth not to hazard 
 his all for that worthy name b}- which he would be called. 
 When he is at any time overset by arguments, or awaken- 
 ings of conscience, he uses to heal all by — I was not brought 
 up in this faith ; as if it were unlawful for Christians to 
 know more than hath been taught them at first conversion. 
 There are many scriptures that lie against this man, as the 
 mouths of great guns, and he is one of the many that " will 
 seek to enter in, and shall not be able," 
 
 10. We will add to all these, the professor that would 
 prove himself a Christian, by comparing himself with 
 others, instead of comparing himself with the word of God. 
 This man comforts himself, because he is as holy as such 
 and such ; he also knows as much as that old professor, and 
 then concludes he shall go to heaven : as if he certainly 
 knew, that those with whom he compareth himself would 
 be undoubtedly saved ; but how if he should be mistaken, 
 nay, may they not both fall short 1 but to be sure he is in 
 the wrong that hath made the comparison, 2 Cor. x. 12, 
 and a wrong foundation will not stand in the day of judg- 
 ment. This man, therefore, is one of the many that " will 
 seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
 
 1 1 . There is yet another professor ; and he is for God and 
 for Baal too ; he can be any thing for any company ; he can 
 throw stones with both hands ; his religion alters as fast 
 as his company ; he is a frog of Egypt, and can live in the 
 water and out of the water ; he can live in religious com- 
 pany, and again as well out. Nothing that is disorderly 
 comes amiss to him ; he will hold with the hare, and run 
 with the hound ; he carries fire in the one hand, and water 
 in the other ; he is a very any thing but what he should 
 be. This is also one of the many that " will seek to enter 
 in, and shall not be able." 
 
 1 2. There is also that free-wilier, who denies to the Holy 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 275 
 
 Ghost the sole work in conversion ; and that Socinian, who 
 denieth to Christ that he hath made to God satisfaction for 
 sin ; and that Quaker, who takes from Christ the two 
 natures in his person ; and I might add as many more, 
 touching whose damnation (they dying as they are) the 
 Scripture is plain : these " will seek to enter in, and shall 
 not be able." 
 
 But, fourthly^ If it be so, what a strange disappointment 
 will many professors meet with at the day of judgment ! 
 
 1 speak not now to the open profane ; every body, as I have 
 said, that hath but common understanding between good 
 and evil, knows that they are in the broad way to hell and 
 damnation, and they must needs come thither ; nothing can 
 hinder it but repentance unto salvation, except God should 
 prove a liar to save them, and it is hard venturing of that. 
 
 Neither is it amiss, if we take notice of the examples 
 that are briefly mentioned in the Scriptures, concerning 
 professors that have miscarried. 
 
 1. Judas perished from among the apostles. Acts, i. 2. 
 Demas, as I think, perished from among the evangelists, 
 
 2 Tim. iv. 9. 3. Diotrephes from among the ministers, or 
 them in office in the church, John, x. 4. And as for Chris- 
 tian professors, they have fallen by heaps, and almost by 
 whole churches, 2 Tim. i. 15 ; Rev. iii. 4, 15-17. 5. Let 
 us add to these, that the things mentioned in the Scriptures 
 about these matters, are but brief hints and items of what 
 is afterwards to happen ; as the apostle said, " Some men's 
 sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment ; and 
 some men they follow after," 1 Tim. v. 24. So that, fellow- 
 professors, let us fear, lest a promise being left us of enter- 
 ing into this rest, any of us should seem to come short of 
 it, ! to come short ! nothing kills it, nothing will burn 
 like it. I intend not discouragements, but awakenings ; 
 the churches have need of awakening, and so have all pro- 
 fessors. Do not despise me, therefore, but hear me over 
 again. What a strange disappointment will many profes- 
 sors meet with at the day of God Almighty ! — a disappoint- 
 ment, I say, and that as to several things. 
 
276 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 1. They will look to escape hell, and yet fall just into 
 the mouth of hell : what a disappointment will here be ! 
 
 2. They will look for heaven, but the gate of heaven will 
 be shut against them : what a disappointment is here ! 
 
 3. They will expect that Christ should have compassion 
 for them, but will find that he hath shut up all bowels of 
 compassion from them : what a disappointment is here ! 
 
 kf^oXn, fifthly, As this disappointment will be fearful, so 
 certainly it will be very full of amazement. 
 
 1. Will it not amaze them to be unexpectedly excluded 
 from life and salvation ? 2. Will it not be amazing to them 
 to see their own madness and folly, while they consider how 
 they have dallied with their own souls, and took lightly 
 for granted, that they had that grace that would save them, 
 but hath left them in a damnable state ? 3. Will they not 
 also be amazed one at another, while they remember how 
 in their lifetime they counted themselves fellow-heirs of 
 life 1 To allude to that of the prophet, " They shall be 
 amazed one of another, their faces shall be as flames," Isa. 
 xiii. 8. 4. Will it not be amazing to some of the damned 
 themselves, to see some come to hell that then they shall 
 see come thither 1 to see preachers of the word, professors 
 of the word, practisers in the word, to come thither. What 
 wondering was there among them at the fall of the king of 
 Babylon, since he thought to have swallowed up all, be- 
 cause he was run down by the ]\Iedes and Persians ! " How 
 art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning ! 
 How art thou cut down to the ground that didst weaken 
 the nations !" H such a thing as this will with amazement 
 surprise the damned, Avhat an amazement will it be to them 
 to see such a one as he, whose head reached to the clouds, 
 to see him come down to the pit, and perish for ever like 
 his own dung 1 " Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to 
 meet thee at thy coming ; it stirreth up the dead for thee, 
 even all the chief ones of the earth," Isa. xiv. They that 
 see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, 
 saying. Is this the man ? Is this he that professed, and 
 disputed, and forsook us ; but now he is come to us again % 
 
THE STRAIT GATE. 277 
 
 Is this he that separated from us, but now is he fallen with 
 us into the same eternal damnation with us 1 
 
 Sixthly, Yet again, one word more, if I may awaken pro- 
 fessors. ]. Consider, though the poor carnal world shall 
 certainly perish, yet they will want these things to aggra- 
 vate their sorrow, which thou wilt meet with in every 
 thought that thou wilt have of the condition thou wast in 
 when thou wast in the world. 
 
 1. They will not have a profession, to bite them when 
 they come thither. 2. They will not have a taste of a lost 
 heaven, to bite them when they come thither. 3. They will 
 not have the thoughts of, I was almost at heaven, to bite 
 them when they come thither. 4. They will not have the 
 thoughts of, how they cheated saints, ministers, churches, 
 to bite them when they come thither. 5. They will not 
 have the dying thoughts of false faith, false hope, false 
 repentance, and false holiness, to bite them when they come 
 thither. I was at the gates of heaven, I looked into heaven, 
 I thought I should have entered into heaven ; how will 
 these things sting ! They will, if I may call them so, be 
 the sting of the sting of death in hell fire. 
 
 Seventhly, Give me leave now in a word to give you a 
 little advice. 
 
 1. Dost thou love thine own soul 1 then pray to Jesus 
 Christ for an awakened heart, for an heart so awakened 
 with all the things of another world, that thou mayst be 
 allured to Jesus Christ. 2. When thou comest there, beg 
 again for more awakenings about sin, hell, grace, and about 
 the righteousness of Christ. 3. Cry also for a spirit of dis- 
 cerning, that thou mayst know that which is saving grace 
 indeed. 4. Above all studies, apply thyself to the study of 
 those things that shew thee the evil of sin, the shortness of 
 man's life, and which is the way to be saved. 5. Keep 
 company with the most godly among professors. 6. Whea 
 thou hearest what the nature of true grace is, defer not to 
 ask thine own heart, if this grace be there. And here take 
 heed, 
 
 1. That the preacher himself be sound, and of good life. 
 
278 THE STRAIT GATE. 
 
 2. That thou takest not seeming graces for real ones, nor 
 seeming fruits for real fruits. 3. Take heed that a sin in 
 thy life goes not unrepented of ; for that will make a flaw 
 in thine evidence, a wound in thy conscience, and a hreach 
 in thy peace ; and a hundred to one, if at last it doth not 
 drive all the grace in thee into so dark a corner of thy 
 heart, that thou shalt not he ahle, for a time, hy all the 
 torches that are burning in the gospel, to find it out to 
 thine own comfort and consolation. 
 
iSlonument to .^o^n ISunrau 
 
 TREASURERS. 
 
 Thomas Thompson, Esq., Poundsford Park. 
 W. B. GuRNEY, Esq. London. 
 
 H N R A a Y SECRETARIES. 
 Rev. R. Philip. Rev. Howard Hinton. 
 
 ROVniONAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 Rev. John Morrison, D.D. and LL.D., London. 
 
 Rev. James Hamilton, London. 
 
 Rev. Hugh Campbell, London. 
 
 W. Alkrs Han key, Esq., Banker, London. 
 
 Joshua Wilson, Esq , London. 
 
 George Ovenden, Esq., Architect, London. 
 
 Ml- Thomas Nelson, Publisher, London. 
 
 London, Nov. 26th, 1845. 
 
 The Publisher of the Works of the English Puritan Divines having sanc- 
 tioned an appeal to the Subscribers to that Series for a Mo.nument to John 
 BuNYAN, the following statement is submitted for their consideration. 
 
 Two years ago, while preparations were in progress for a Monument to 
 Dr Watts, various subscriptions were obtained for the object now in view ; 
 but the scheme having been deferred till the Monument to Dr Watts was 
 completed, and that having been installed this day at Abney Park Cemetery, 
 it is now tliought a fitting opportunity to resume the efforts for a Memorial 
 to tlie Author of the Pilgrim's Progress. 
 
 The MoTiument of Bunyan in Bunhill Fields is even more decayed tlian 
 that of AVattd was, so that strangers who make a pilgrimage to it have 
 difficulty in discovering the hallowed spot. 
 
 Protestantism owes a noble Monument to John Bunyan, to mark her sense 
 of his contributions to Christian literature; and surely among the multitude 
 of his admirers, the effort will not be wanting thus to testify the deep debt 
 of gratitude tliej' owe him. 
 
 Should only a moiety of the Subscribers to this edition of the Puritan 
 Divines give even a shilling each, the object will be secured; and it seems 
 no unmeet memorial of this series, to render it thus the medium of such an 
 
efFi.rt ; as it is intended, should this appeal be responded to, to publish in 
 tlie fourth or fifth volume of the series, a list of all subscribers to the 
 amount of five shillings and upwards. 
 
 The humblest of the admirers of John Bunyan (and who is not of the 
 number?) will surely spare at least one shilling towards a Monument to 
 the Author of the Pilgrim's Progress. He needs indeed " No storied urn or 
 animated bust," while every year witnesses the appreciation of his labours 
 in large and successive editions of his writings. But he deserves no less 
 the worthiest that can be given, who " though dead yet speaketh ;" whose 
 Pilgrim has been the instructor of multitudes, and their guide to " the glo- 
 rious liberty of the children of God ;" and who freely sacrificed his liberty, 
 and, if needs had been, his life, for the great cause of truth and liberty of 
 conscience. Surely this is not the time when such works should be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 Children and Sunday Schools should be made parties in this tribute to 
 the memory of one to whom they owe so mucli, in emulation of the example 
 of their parents and teachers, that all may testify their acknowledgment 
 of his worth. 
 
 All subscriptions and letters must be addresse 1, postpaid, to Mr Joseph 
 Philip, at the Congregational Library, Blomfield Street, London. 
 
 Subscriptions, from one shilling to five shillings, can be forwarded in 
 postage stamps — above that sum by post-office order. 
 
 FORM OF SUBSCRIPTION 
 Sir, 
 
 I herewith send you the sum of , which 
 
 I desire you wiU place as a subscription to the Bunyan Monument, from, 
 Yours truly. 
 
 Name, 
 
 Address, 
 Date, 
 
 To Mr Joseph Philip, Congregational Library, 
 Blomfield Street, Finsbury Pqmrc, London. 
 
Theological Seminary-Speer Librar) 
 
 1 1012 01147 5284