■? 
 
 5 
 
 L I B R A^ R Y 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J 
 BV 4832 .B85 1850 
 ^.^ Bunyan, John, 1628-1688. 
 The greatness of the soul 
 
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 I 
 
BUNYAN'S AWAKENING WORKS. 
 
 THE 
 
 GREATNESS OE THE SOUL: 
 
 igjjs from rstU: 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 
 BY JOHN'^BUNYAN, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE PILGRni'S PROGRESS, AND THE HOLY TTAE. 
 < • > • » 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
 
 118 ARCH STREET. 
 18 5 0. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by the 
 
 American' Baptist Publicatigx Socibtt, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
 in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
■>f ' i-.;^ 
 
 
 THsOLOGIOiSLL 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 John Bunyan is preeminently a man of the people. 
 He sprang from, represents, and speaks to, the masses; 
 though destined by his writings to become the teacher of 
 nobles and kings, and nowhere more than in this free land, 
 where every man is at once a citizen and a sovereign. Here, 
 even more than elsewhere, will the poor sympathize with his 
 origin, and the rich with his wrongs, the honest with his 
 upright spirit, and the humane with his long unjust impris- 
 onment, the intelligent with the attractions of his genius, 
 and the pious with the deep struggles of his evangelical ex- 
 perience. No class can doubt his entire sincerity. None 
 can deny his benevolent spirit. All must feel his peculiar 
 and inimitable power. 
 
 In the notices prefixed to his Pilgrim's Progress and the 
 Holy War, volumes previously issued by our Society, perhaps 
 enough has been said on the leading incidents of his Life. 
 The present Introduction will therefore be limited to an 
 outline of his character as a Preacher, and as a "Writer. 
 
 As a Preacher, probably Bunyan has had few superiors. 
 It is needless to speak of the qualities which made him popu- 
 lar. The effects are sufficient. However loudly Church and 
 State officials might " open upon him," scholars marvelled 
 at his wisdom, and ^^ the common people heard him gladly.'' 
 Besides the "hundreds from all parts" that flocked to his 
 preaching, in Bedford and other shires. Dr. Southey tells 
 us his reputation was so great in London, " that if a day's 
 
 & 
 
11 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 notice were given^ tlie mccting-housc in Southwark, at which 
 he generally preached, would not contain half the people/' 
 ''I have seen (says an eye witness) by my computation 
 about twelve hundred persons to hear him at a morning 
 lecture, on a working day, in dark winter time." ^'I also 
 computed about three thousand that came to hear him at a 
 town's-end meeting house ; so that half were fain to go back 
 again for want of room; and then himself was fain at a back 
 door to be jDulled almost over people, to get up stairs to the 
 pulpit. '^ The learned and pious Dr. Owen, that giant of 
 evangelical theology, is reported to have said to Charles II. 
 (who rallied him for ^^ going to hear an illiterate Tinker 
 prate, '^) ^^ Please your Majesty, could I possess that Tinker's 
 abilities for preaching, I would gladly relinquish all my 
 learning.'' Charles Doe, with affectionate admiration, calls 
 him, ^'Our great Gospel Preacher/' — '^ the Champion of 
 our Age." 
 
 Yet, Dr. Southey has said, ^^ Had it not been for the en- 
 couragement Bunyan received from the Baptists, he might 
 have lived and died a Tinker." Be this as it may. Baptists 
 will know how to prize such a concession — not to their su- 
 perior wisdom — but to the wisdom of Christ in the free and 
 scriptural Constitution of their churches. And although as a 
 body, they have little cause for gratitude for the manner in 
 which they are treated by Robert Philip in his ^' Life and 
 Times of Bunyan," they may thank him for a like acknow- 
 ledgment. ''Both the world and the Church (he says) arc 
 indebted to the Baptists for the ministry of John Bunyan." 
 (p. 312.) ''Any orthodox Congregational or Presbyterian 
 Church of that day would have treated him with equal ten- 
 derness. So would pious Episcopalians, had they known 
 him as well as the Baptists did. I much doubt, however, 
 if any other orthodox body would have followed up his wel- 
 come into their fellowship, by calling him out to the minis- 
 try." (p. 180.) If this be so, that single fact is sufficient 
 
iJfTBODUCTION. lii 
 
 to justify our denominational existence. But we quote it 
 here, for another end. Are not Baptists then specially 
 hound to perpetuate and spread his Practical Works — the 
 embalmed spirit of such a Preacher — wherever they exist ? 
 Will they not be responsible, if being dead, Bunyan does not 
 still speak by these admirable productions ? productions 
 whose ^^ power and pathos eclipse all learning, and throw 
 every thing into the shade, but the wisdom which winneth 
 souls.'' 
 
 For as Bunyan spoke, so he wrote. All his books were 
 written, as it were, out of his own heart, and directed to the 
 hearts of his fellow men. And that heart of his, so long 
 and sorely tried, was in alliance with an intellect of wonder- 
 ful power, and an imagination no less wonderful. And '^ the 
 laws of his intellectual being blended so with its spiritual 
 aspirations and responsibilities, that his head can never be 
 analyzed apart from his heart.'' Then too, Bunyan, with 
 all his hearty homeliness, had a healthy, and indeed, ex- 
 quisite taste. He loved the true, the pure, the graceful, the 
 noble, the beautiful and the sublime. Wit and humor (as 
 in Sir Thomas More) at times gleam forth amidst the 
 gravity, the solemn earnestness, the subduing tenderness of 
 his sentiments and style. His roughness is not rudeness. 
 His occasional coarseness is less from ignorance than choice. 
 He knew when he transgressed the laws of taste ; but he 
 acted at such times in obedience to a higher law. His 
 sympathy with the poor and ignorant and erring, was by 
 the grace of Grod experimental and heartfelt; and he spoke 
 to them, and wrote for them, in the style which they could 
 understand and feel, because he devoutly longed to do them 
 good. His words were ^^ picked and packed," as he says; 
 but it was for the use of the popular mind. There are in- 
 numerable passages, however, to prove what he modestly 
 affirms, that he '^ could have stept into a higher style." 
 That he did not, considering whom he addressed, and for 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 what end, is his everlasting praise. No man of sense would 
 wish the diction of Bunyan essentially different from what it 
 is — " a well of pure old English undefilod." 
 
 As a Writer, Bunyan is chiefly known by his Pilgrim's 
 Progress and the Holy War. These Allegories have given 
 their Author a place among the English Classics. Though 
 slowly recognized as such in the world of letters, his position 
 is now sure. To say nothing of others, the unanimous 
 verdict of a critical jury composed of such men as Addison, 
 Swift, Lord Kames, Dr. Johnson, Cowper, Coleridge, Scott, 
 Byron, Southcy, Montgomery, Mackintosh and Macaulay, 
 men differing so widely in other things, can never be set 
 aside. Nor are American critics, from Dr. Franklin to Dr. 
 Cheever, a whit behind their transatlantic brethren in their 
 appreciation of Bunyan. In original creative genius, the 
 unlettered Tinker of Elstow, the humble Baptist Pastor of 
 Bedford, is ranked with Milton and Shakespeare. His 
 name is enrolled among 
 
 " the few, the immortal names 
 
 That were not bom to die." 
 
 In his own walk of literature, he is pronounced without a 
 rival. He has succeeded where all others have failed. He 
 has left all competition hopeless. If Milton is the prince of 
 poets, Bunyan is the prince of dreamers — and his dreams 
 are truly "of the stuff that life is made of" — and bright 
 with the lustre of a better world. 
 
 It is not, however, the design of this Introduction to speak 
 of Bunyan as the Master of Beligious Allegory. It is to 
 call attention rather to his other writings — writings less 
 widely known, but in which the same splendid powers, 
 sanctified by Divine Grace, are employed in a more direct, 
 and, therefore, more eloquent manner, to unfold and enforce 
 the Gospel of Christ. And we have spoken of his inimita- 
 ble Allegories chiefly for the sake of the Practical Works 
 
+ 
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 wliich are herewith presented to the public, in a form (to 
 say the least) more readable than in any previous edition. 
 And what inference is more natural or rational than this — 
 that the man whom Grod so richly endowed to write the 
 Pilgrim's Progress and the Holy War, '^ in allegory so per- 
 fect as to hide itself, like light, while revealing through its 
 colorless and undistorting medium all beside,'^ might be 
 expected to develope the same great principles, and the 
 same superior qualities of mind, in other works to which he 
 applied himself as a faithful minister of Jesus Christ. 
 
 These Practical Works will show that Bunyan is master 
 of more arts than Allegory. He is equally master of 
 Analysis, of Argument, of Illustration, of Appeal. Though 
 too fond of typical interpretation, he is often very happy in 
 Exposition. Though too minute and multifarious in his 
 Divisions, he is generally very judicious in their Arrange- 
 ment. His Observation is keen ; his experimental Insight 
 is profound. His anticipation of objections is natural, and 
 his answers just and forcible. His Descriptions are often 
 perfect pictures. His Apostrophes are frequent and ani- 
 mated. His Dialogues, in which he abounds, are as life-like 
 as if taken from men's lips. His Applications are by turns, 
 terrible and tender, searching and consoling. If below Char- 
 nock in dignity, he is his equal in depth and discernment. 
 If less systematic and learned than Owen, he is his rival in 
 the knowledge of the heart, and of the devices of Satan, 
 as well in the skilful use of the gospel as a divine relief. If 
 at all inferior in fire and vehemence to Baxter, he is more 
 plain, more picturesque, more evangelical, more startlingly 
 or subduingly eloquent. If less tender than Flavel, he has 
 superior originality, variety and strength. In fact, he unites 
 in a remarkable degree the best qualities of all his celebrated 
 contemporaries, and in some qualities probably excels them. 
 His general style, though never polished, and, at times, 
 descending to coarseness, is generally clear and pure; and 
 
 1* 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 remarkable for its vernacular words and idioms, penetrating 
 the popular ear and heart beyond almost any other writer. 
 
 Men who have excelled in the pulpit have often failed 
 with the pen. This was the case with Whitfield. But it 
 was not so with Bunyan. Let any man compare the written 
 discourses of these two distinguished men, and while ad- 
 miring the general harmony of their views and spirit, he 
 must be struck with their difi'ereuce in mere mental power. 
 In originality, discrimination, point, pungency, imagination, 
 beauty and sublimity,' Bunyan is the superior. Only in 
 pathos is he rivalled by Whitfield. 
 
 While necessarily difi'ering from Mr. Ryland in some parts 
 of the above estimate of Bunyan, we fully agree with him in 
 the following opinion, expressed more than sixty years ago, 
 '^ As a popular practical writer, on a great variety of im- 
 portant subjects for the use of the bulk of common Christians, 
 I will dare to afiirm that he has few equals in the Christian 
 world. I am persuaded there never has been a writer in 
 the English language whose works have spread so wide, and 
 have been read by so many millions of people, as Mr. Bun- 
 yan's.^' Since then, in what language known to civilized 
 man, have they not in part been translated ? 
 
 One of the most wonderful things in the history of this 
 wonderful man is, that notwithstanding his want of early 
 education ; his conversion from a course of great profane- 
 ness ; his daily itinerant labors at one period ; his imprison- 
 ment for twelve years together in Bedford jail, where he was 
 obliged to support himself and family by tagging laces; and 
 the constant demands for his preaching both in city and 
 country after he came out; he was yet one of the most fruit- 
 ful authors of his time. Not less than sixty pieces of his 
 composition appear in the Catalogue of his friend Charles 
 Doe, published soon after Bunyan's death. Even this is 
 incomplete, for it does not include his Saint's Privilege, 
 Pastoral Letters and Dying Sayings, which raise the num- 
 
INTRODUCTION. VU 
 
 ber to sixty-six. This is about two on an average for every 
 year of his ministerial life. And although a few of them 
 are but short poems and tracts, most of them are elaborate 
 treatises, on which Eunyan laid out the full strength of his 
 mind and soul. 
 
 Bunyan's Complete "Works, if printed in the same style as 
 those of Andrew Fuller, issued by our Society, would proba- 
 bly fall little, if any, short of three thousand large octavo 
 pages. Only about one-half have ever been re-printed in 
 this country, in the most perfect edition, and the selection 
 of those published is, in some cases, by no means creditable 
 to the knowledge or judgment of the publisher. 
 
 Yet the quality of the whole is quite as remarkable as the 
 quantity. His rich experience, his ready memory, his clear 
 quick conscience, his rare gifts of genius, taste and imagina- 
 tion, impart a novelty, variety, beauty, freshness and force 
 of illustration peculiarly his own. On the most common 
 themes he is seldom common-place. How could he be 
 indeed, and yet be John Bunyan ? '^ It is yet to be shown 
 (says the author of the Chronological Critique) liow^ and 
 wliy, and iclien he did so much, and did it so well." 
 
 The writings of Bunyan (excluding all apocryphal pieces, 
 and including all that fairly belongs to him), we have already 
 said amount to sixty-six. They may be conveniently classed 
 for our present purpose under six heads — Allegorical, 
 Poetical, Typical, Doctrinal (including his Catechetical and 
 Controversial pieces) Biographical and Practical. Thus 
 classed, about one-half of them come under the last of these 
 heads, and of these the present series will be composed. The 
 practical element is indeed largely infused into all the rest. 
 His warmest controversies glow with a divine unction. Even 
 his occasional errors, show his paramount endeavor to keep 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let him have 
 this praise, even with his error on Church Communion. 
 
 It is well known that several pieces which go under the 
 
Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 name of Bunyan, such as the ^'Pilgrim's Progress, Part 
 Third/' '^ The World to Come/' '^ Heart's Ease in Heart 
 Trouble/' &c., are not his. They are not found in any good 
 edition of his Works. But there is one piece, found in 
 almost all editions, which is yet doubtful. As Critics, as 
 Christians, and as Baptists, we should be glad to find clear 
 testimony that it is Bunyan's. It is, indeed, quoted and 
 praised as his by Dr. Southey, by Alexander Philip, and by 
 Robert Philip; though the latter, with singular inconsistency, 
 denies it to be Bunyan's, and in the next chapter quotes it 
 as his, with the highest commendation. If Bunyan really 
 wrote it, however, he must not only have greatly extended 
 his reading, and polished his style, but also essentially 
 changed his views of Open Communion in the latter part of 
 his life. This does not seem at first sight probable, after he 
 had twice written in defence of them ; though he lived four- 
 teen years after his last defence appeared, and may have dis- 
 covered his error.* 
 
 And here seems the proper place to notice the great in- 
 justice done to the Baptists on this subject, by Mr. Robert 
 Philip, throughout his " Life and Times of Bunyan," and 
 his "Chronological Critique." He uniformly speaks of 
 them as actuated by " bigotry," and as " sprinkling" (not 
 to say ^'^ immersing") other Christians "with the bitter 
 waters of Close Communion." All this is in very bad taste, 
 to say nothing of its temper. But the point of most im- 
 portance is this. It leads Mr. Philip to say what is not true 
 in fact, when the facts were before his eyes. Thus he quotes 
 (C. C. p. 24.) Bunyan's noble and touching language pre- 
 
 * Precisely such a change, it is well known, took place in the Tiews of the excellent 
 Isaac Backus, the candid and discriminating author of the Church History of New 
 England. If any one would see this subject of Communion set in the clearest light, 
 let him read " Curtis on Communion," a fundamental and admirablo work, just 
 issued, by the American Baptist Publication Society, alike fitted to satisfy, improTe 
 and delight the inquiring Christian. 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 fixed to his Confession of Faith (1672): ^'I have not 
 hitherto been 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 me to 
 weigh and pause (poise?) and poise again, the grounds and 
 foundations of those principles for which I have thus suf- 
 fered. But having not only at my trial asserted them, but 
 also since, even all this tedious tract of time, in cool blood, 
 a thousand times, by the word of God, examined them, and 
 found them good, I cannot, I dare not now revolt, or deny 
 the same, on pain of eternal damnation." Mr. Philip adds, 
 '^ This, solemn as it is, refers to his Open Communion prin- 
 ciples as well as to his Creed." It is sufficient to say in 
 reply, that Bunyan himself expressly distinguishes between 
 them, styling one class " the principles for which he suf- 
 fered," and calling the other, with great modesty, his ^^ pres- 
 ent judgment." It is not impossible, therefore, however 
 unlikely, that this ^^ judgment" may have afterward been 
 changed ; and that the " Exhortation to Peace and Unity" 
 grew out of the change, and was intended to justify it in the 
 gentlest manner possible. One thing is certain, that the 
 Author of that admirable " Exhortation" was a Strict Com- 
 munion Baptist; and his clear judgment, large views, and 
 lovely temper, are the best rebuke to Mr. Philip's rhetoric 
 on Close Communion. 
 
 It was a just remark of Dr. Southey that the works of 
 Bunyan have been printed without any regard to Arrange- 
 ment. He suggests the Order of Time (if ascertained), as 
 the best ; since it would enable the critical reader to trace 
 the progress of Bunyan' s intellectual developement. Mr. 
 Philip in his Chronological Critique (to which we have re- 
 peatedly referred) has sought to follow out this suggestion, 
 by the aid of Charles Doe's " Catalogue Table." But that 
 Catalogue avowedly gives the order of publication, not of 
 composition, and these two differ widely. Mr. Philip, 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 through forgetfulness of this diflfcrence, falls into some sin- 
 gular errors. The most remarkable one is a denial of the 
 prison origin of the Pilgrim's Progress ; and this solely on 
 the ground that it was not published till 1677, five years 
 after Bunyan was set at liberty. This novel opinion of Mr. 
 Philip, is not only contrary to all the other evidence, but 
 actually contradicts Bunyan himself; as has been fully 
 shown by George Offer, Esq., of London, in his noble Intro- 
 duction to the Hanserd Knollys' Society's edition of the 
 Pilgrim. 
 
 It is, however, but just to Mr. Philip to say, that not- 
 withstanding these unfortunate mistakes, his Chronological 
 Critique contains many beautiful and valuable thoughts, and 
 many just criticisms on Bunyan's successive works, of which 
 we may yet find occasion to avail ourselves for the advantage 
 of the present edition. Most critics have confined their re- 
 marks to the Allegories, or to the Grace Abounding. The 
 more credit, therefore, is due to one, who, for the first time, 
 has attempted to trace the characteristic merits and defects 
 of Bunyan' s other works — ^and this, as far as he could, in 
 the order of their successive production ; thus throwing over 
 them new and engaging lights of association, comparison, 
 circumstances, and progress. 
 
 The Arrangement of the Practical Works in this edition 
 is the first that has been attempted on a systematic plan. As 
 it is designed, however, for general readers, (rather than for 
 critics,) the particular plan pursued has been chosen for their 
 benefit. The main principle of it is to follow the Order of 
 the Author's experience in the work of the Ministry. As 
 this corresponds with the order of Nature and of Scripture, 
 we prefer it to all others for practical purposes. Bunyan 
 himself thus describes its successive stages : 
 
 ^^In my preaching of the word, I took special notice of 
 this one thing, namely, that the Lord did lead me to begin 
 where his word begins with sinners; that is, to condemn all 
 
INTRODUCTION XI 
 
 flesh, and to open and allege, that the curse of God hy the 
 law, doth belong to, and lay hold on, all men as they come 
 into the world because of sin. Now this part of my work 
 I fulfilled with great sense; for the terrors of the law, and 
 guilt for my transgressions, lay heavy on my conscience. I 
 preached what I felt, what I smartingly did feel; even that 
 under which my poor soul did groan and tremble to astonish- 
 ment. Indeed I have been as one sent to them from the dead. 
 I went myself in chains to speak to them in chains; and 
 carried that fire in my own conscience that I persuaded them 
 to beware of. — Thus I went on for the space of two years; 
 crying out against men's sins, and their fearful state because 
 of them. After which, the Lord came in upon my own soul^ 
 with some sure peace and comfort through Christ; for he did 
 give me many sweet discoveries of his blessed grace through 
 him. Wherefore now I altered my preaching, (for still I 
 preached what I saw and felt.) Now, therefore, I did much 
 labor to hold forth Jesus Christ in all his offices, relations, 
 and benefits unto the world ; and did strive, also, to discover, 
 to condemn, and remove those false supports and props on 
 which the world doth lean, and by them fall and perish. On 
 these things, also, I staid as long as the other.'' 
 
 This is the way in which Bunyan was led on, in the exe- 
 cution of his ministerial work, by the Spirit of God. We 
 say, the Spirit of God, with emphasis ; for the saving efi"ects 
 produced by his ministry demonstrate the guiding and co- 
 operating influence of the Holy Spirit of Truth, whose 
 revealed office it is to ^^ convince the world of sin, and Of 
 righteousness, and of judgment.'' Not that God is limited 
 to our methods. He has his own reserved resources of 
 Sovereign Wisdom, as well as Sovereign Grace. He is able 
 to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. He 
 can, at any moment, surprise and encourage us by new and 
 unexpected manifestations of mercy. The combinations of 
 his wisdom, like his understanding, are infinite. But his 
 
XU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ordinary method of bringing souls to Christ, is that of which 
 we speak ; wherein he calls us to be workers together with 
 him, and in which he gives us the promise of his support and 
 blessing to the end of the world. 
 
 Let it be admitted that there was something peculiar in 
 the case of Bunyan, both as a man, and as a Minister. Yet 
 that peculiarity does not belong to the nature, or tendency of 
 the Holy Spirit's influence, but only to its degree and depth, 
 as modified by acting through so rich a combination of facul- 
 ties, with so little aid from without. And this explains the 
 reason of Bunyan's popularity with the great mass of expe- 
 rimental Christians, every where. He opens to them his 
 own deeply exercised heart, and their hearts throb with vital 
 sympathy. He goes beyond them, but still they feel that 
 he is one of them. He holds in his hand a key that opens 
 the most intricate wards of their own religious experience. 
 He at once interprets, confirms, and exalts their pious emo- 
 tions while he describes his own, and shows them the just 
 and solid foundation for those emotions in the Scriptures — 
 in the revealed character and glory of God, in the perfection 
 of his law, in the terrible evil of sin, in the sufi"erings of 
 Christ as a Eedeemcr, in the sanctifying influences of tho 
 Spirit, in the beauty of holiness, in the brevity of life, in 
 the insignificance of worldly good, and the all-absorbing 
 greatness of an advancing eternity, with its judicial awards 
 of human destiny. On all these things his spiritual dis- 
 cernment is wonderful. And hence from his pen, now, as 
 once from his living lips, the Gospel comes, ^^not in word 
 only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much 
 assurance." And hence, also, however often read, his wri- 
 tings are always new. 
 
 In pursuance, therefore, of this process in the Author's minis- 
 terial course, the several volumes issued by our Society will 
 be arranged. In the present volume we shall group together 
 the works most fitted to awaken the conscience of the care- 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 less; in the next volume, those most suited to invite and en- 
 courage awakened sinners to come to Christ for salvation, by 
 unfolding his gracious offices, relations and benefits; and in 
 those volumes which follow, to search the spirits of pro- 
 fessors, and build up sincere believers in the full life, power, 
 and joy of their holy faith. Thus each volume, also, being 
 complete of itself, may be sold separately, and may be em- 
 ployed as a specific means of effecting specific good. 
 
 But something more than arrangement has been attempted 
 in this edition. Treatises have been divided into chapters; 
 paragraphs brought into their natural connexion; sentences 
 fihortened, and made clear by proper punctuation; references 
 rearranged and verified; a few pleonasms retrenched; some 
 obsolete words changed; and ungrammatical forms, as well 
 as errors of the press, corrected. Something has also been 
 done to remove the perplexity of too minute divisions. In 
 short, the work of the Editor has been directed, without al- 
 tering the texture of Bunyan's style, to show to the reader 
 "how forcible are right words" on religious topics when ut- 
 tered in pure old English, from a soul like Bunyan's. 
 
 When we look around us, and see what is done by private 
 publishers, by Publication Societies, by artists and by critics, 
 by trade sales, and by Colporteur operations, to multiply, 
 embellish and circulate the Pilgrim's Progress, &c. the words 
 of his friend Charles Doe, "the Struggler (as he calls him- 
 self) for the preservation of Bunyan's works," seem to 
 have in them more than the mere enthusiasm of friendship, 
 or the forecast of critical sagacity. Written a hundred and 
 sixty years since, they sound now as if endowed with 
 
 " something of prophetic strain." 
 
 " Christians in town and country (he observes) can testify- 
 that their comforts under his ministry have been to an admi- 
 ration, so that their joy showed itself by much weeping. His 
 Pilgrim's Progress wins so smoothly upon the affections, and 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SO insensibly distils the Gospel into them, that a hundred 
 thousand have been printed [within thirteen years] in Eng- 
 land ; besides that, it hath been printed in France, Holland, 
 New England, Welsh; whereby the Author has become 
 famous. And it may be the cause of spreading his other 
 Gosjycl hooJt's over the European and American world, and in 
 process of time, it may be, to the whole universe." 
 
 Of the particular works, of an awakening character, asso- 
 ciated in the present volume, a few words will now be said. 
 
 The first (from which the volume takes its name), " The 
 Greatness of the Soul," is scarcely known among us, 
 though one of the noblest of Bunyan's practical works. It 
 was originally delivered in a series of discourses at Pinner's 
 Hall, London, and was published in 1682, the same year 
 with the " Holy War." It is undoubtedly the basis of that fine 
 Allegory — in the opinion of Dr. Barnes, ^' the greatest book 
 written by uninspired man." "This consideration itself 
 (says Mr. Philip), throws much light upon both the Allego- 
 ry and the Pinner's Hall Sermon. They are worthy of 
 each other. Indeed, had not Bunyan been pondering the 
 Greatness, and thus, the worth of the Soul, he could not 
 have found in it the Population of MansouL nor even its Ma- 
 gistracy. On the other hand, had not the Powers and Affec- 
 tions of the Soul taken allegoric forms and military action, 
 which derive If/e 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 Sermon. This hint 
 renders 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." 
 
 From these remarks, it is evident nothing could be 
 more appropriate, in view of the relation between the two 
 works, than that the Holy War should be immediately fol- 
 lowed by the Greatness of the Soul. The comparison be- 
 tween them must be full of interest, independent of the great 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 merits of the latter in itself, and in its relation to the other 
 works which follow it in this volume. Indeed, there is rea- 
 son to believe (as Mr. Philip observes, Life and Times, 
 p. 453) that this is the sermon, or rather series of sermons on 
 the Greatness of the Soul, which Dr. Owen attended with 
 such admiration, and which prompted his emphatic reply to 
 Charles II. already mentioned ^^ They account (adds Mr. 
 Philip) for the electrifying effects of his Ministry. '' To say 
 nothing of other parts, what has modern eloquence to offer 
 more awfully sublime than the passage, commencing page 
 137 of this volume on the Loss of the Soul? 
 
 The second work, entitled ^' Sighs from Hell, or the 
 GrROANS OF A LosT SouL,^' naturally follows, as it seems 
 to take up the subject where the other leaves it; and 
 illustrates in a thousand lights the condition of a lost soul, 
 especially in the intermediate state between Death and the 
 Resurrection. It is a sort of running comment on the para- 
 ble of the Rich Man and Lazarus in the sixteenth chapter 
 of Luke; but such a comment as no other man could write 
 except John Bunyan. Here, he indeed, appears a Boaner- 
 ges, and many of his thoughts are more terrible than thun- 
 derbolts to the guilty soul. ^'Hell is naked before him, 
 and Destruction hath no covering." It is remarkable that 
 this, the first of Bunyan' s practical works, was written about 
 the same time with Baxter's " Call to the Unconverted," in 
 1657. It is not certain which was published first. Their 
 object is the same; their method only is different, illustra- 
 ting the variety of their Lord' s gifts ; the books had like 
 power, popularity and usefulness. Baxter was thirteen years 
 older than Bunyan, and had better advantages of education. 
 Baxter pleads and persuades, more like a practised pious 
 writer; Bunyan warns and entreats sinners, ^^as one sent to 
 them from the dead." Mr. Philip justly observes, ^' There was, 
 from the first, in Bunyan's spirit, as in Whitfield's, a 'secret 
 place of thunder/ and '■ a fountain of tears/ that discharged 
 
Xvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 « 
 
 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/' 
 
 The third treatise on the " Resurrection of the Dead 
 and Eternal Judgment," was written in Bedford jail, and 
 published in 1665. It shows that he had made great progress 
 as a writer. It will be found also a sort of continuation, and 
 suitable companion of the other two; conducting us with a 
 solemn grandeur through the closing scenes of Time, the 
 Soul's reinvestment with bodily form and powers, and its 
 final trial before the Judgment-seat of Christ. ''Calm in 
 its solemnity, and close in its reasonings, and sparing of epi- 
 thets, there are many sublime and beautiful passages in it," 
 which show that prison walls could not cripple the ener- 
 gies of his Christian faith, nor shut out from the sufi"erer'3 
 heart the consolations of immortal hope. In the contempla- 
 tion of the glories and terrors of the Last Day, we see the 
 grand counterpoise to all the trials which he had been for 
 years enduring, and which through the malice of his ene- 
 mies he was yet for years to endure. From the sublime 
 views of "the recompense of reward" derived from the 
 Scriptures, habitually cherished, and so forcibly presented in 
 this awakening treatise, Bunyan's soul gathered that invin- 
 cible resolution, which bore him through his long imprison- 
 ment, and breathed in these memorable words : " My Prin- 
 ciples, indeed, are such as lead me to a denial to communi- 
 cate with the Ungodly and Profane in the things of the 
 kingdom of Christ. Neither can I consent, in or by the su- 
 perstitious inventions of this world, that my soul should be 
 governed in any of my approaches to God; because com- 
 manded to the contrary, and commended for so refusing. , . . 
 But if nothing will do, unless I make my Conscience a con- 
 tinual butchery or slaughter-shop — unless, putting out mine 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xvii 
 
 own eyes, I commit myself to the blind to lead me, as I 
 doubt not is desired by some, — I have determined, the 
 Almighty Grod being my help and shield, yet to suffer — if 
 frail life continue so long — even till the vioss shall grow upon 
 mine eyebrows^ rather than thus violate my faith and prin- 
 ciples." 
 
 But although the views he gives as in the first part of this 
 Treatise on the Resurrection of the Just, are thus suited 
 powerfully to sustain the believer, and especially to cheer 
 suffering Saints, yet the Author's main object is evidently 
 the awakening and conversion of Sinners. Hence, the far 
 greater portion of it is occupied with the Resurrection of 
 the Unjust, the Opening of the Books to them, and the 
 entire process of their Trial, Conviction, and final Condemna- 
 tion. Nothing more complete, searching, and overwhelming 
 on this subject, perhaps is to be found in our popular reli- 
 gious literature. As such it seems a fit conclusion to this 
 volume of Bunyan^s Awakening Works. 
 
 J. N. B. 
 
 Philadelphia J July 4, 1850. 
 
GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, 
 
 UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF: 
 
 THE CAUSES OF LOSING IT. 
 
 2* (17) 
 
GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 What shall a man gite in exchange for his Soul? — Mark Tiii. 37. 
 
 I HAVE chosen at this time to handle these words, and that 
 for several reasons. First of all, because the Soul, and the 
 Salvation of the Soul, 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 honors, places and preferments, what are they to Salva- 
 tion, to the Salvation of the Soul? — And then I perceive 
 that this so great a thing, and about which persons should be 
 so much concerned, is neglected to amazement, and that by 
 the most of men. Yea, who are there of the many thousands 
 that sit daily under the sound of the gospel that are con- 
 cerned, heartily concerned, about the salvation of their souls ? 
 — that are concerned, I say, as the nature of the thing re- 
 quireth. If ever a lamentation was fit to be taken up in 
 this age about any thing, it is about the horrid neglect that 
 every where puts forth itself with reference to Eternal Salva- 
 tion. Where is one man of a thousand — yea, where are there 
 two of ten thousand that do show by their conversation, pub- 
 lic and private, that the Soul — their own souls — are considered 
 by them, and that they are taking that care for their salva- 
 tion which becomes them ?— that is, which the weight of the 
 
 (19) 
 
20 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL. 
 
 work, and the nature of salvation requiretli. — I have there- 
 fore pitched upon this text at this time, to see if perad- 
 venture the discourse which Grod shall help me to make upon 
 it will awaken you, rouse you oflF of your beds of ease, secu- 
 rity and pleasure, and fetch you down upon your knees be- 
 fore him, to beg of him grace to be concerned about the sal- 
 vation of your souls. And then, in the last place, I have 
 taken upon me to do this, that I may deliver, if not you, yet 
 myself; and that I may be clear of your blood, and stand 
 quit, as to you, before God, when you shall for neglect be 
 damned, and wail to consider that you have lost your souls. 
 When I say, unto the wicked, saith God, thou shalt surely 
 die ; and thou (the prophet, or preacher) givest him not warn- 
 ing, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, 
 to save his life ; the same wicked man shall die in his ini- 
 quity ; 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. Ezek. iii. 18, 19. 
 
 "What shall a man give in exchange for his 
 
 SOUL^ 
 
 In handling these words, I shall first speak of the occa- 
 sion of them, and then of the words themselves. 
 
 The occasion of the words was this ; — the people that now 
 were auditors of the Lord Jesus, and that followed him, did it 
 without that consideration which becomes so great a work — 
 that is, the generality of them that followed him were not 
 for considering first with themselves what it was to profess 
 Christ, and what that profession might cost them. 
 
 " And when he had called the people unto him'' (the great 
 multitude that went with him, Luke xiv. 25), "with his 
 disciples also, he said unto them, AYhosoever will come after 
 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 
 
DEMANDS AND JUSTIFIES SELF-DENIAL. 21 
 
 and tlie charge tie is likely to be at, if he follow me ; for 
 following me is not like following som-e 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 con- 
 tinually beat upon the sides of the bark, that myself, my 
 cause, and my followers are in ; he therefore that will not run 
 hazards, and that is afraid to venture a drowning, let him 
 not set foot into this vessel. " So whosoever doth not bear 
 his cross, and come after ine, he cannot be my disciple. For 
 which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down 
 first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish 
 itr^ Lukexiv. 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 entertain- 
 ment 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 have 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, saith Faith, it must needs 
 be so, since the Son of Grod himself, that best knew what 
 they were, even "for the joy that was set before him, en- 
 dured the cross, and despised the shame, and is now set down 
 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 sitteth at 
 
 * Reason is here put for the false reasonings of Unbelief. Sound Reason is always 
 in harmony with Faith ; leads us to it at first, and holds us to it at last. Our Author 
 himself clearly shows this in what follows. — J. N. B. 
 
22 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 the right hand of God (Col. ii. 2-4) ; therefore our Lord Jesus 
 doth even at the beginning give to his followers this instruc- 
 tion. And lest any of them should take distaste at his saying, 
 he presenteth them with the consideration of three things to- 
 gether — namely, the cross, the loss of life, and the soul ; and 
 then reasoncth 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 consider what is best to be done. 
 Will you take up the cross, come after me, and so preserve 
 your souls from peftshing ? 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 if he 
 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 with his followers about 
 their denying themselves, their taking up their cross and 
 following him, doth in the next place put the question to 
 them, and so leave 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 if he 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 gospel 
 (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 consideration of the cross before you, It 
 
DEMANDS AND JUSTIFIES SELF-DENIAL. 23 
 
 is because you should not be surprised and overtaken by it 
 unawares, and because 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 heaven. Luke x. 62. 
 Now, since this is so, there is no less lies at stake than salva- 
 tion, and salvation is worth all the 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 followers 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 counteth it a righteous thing to 
 recompense tribulation to them that trouble 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 
 mighty angels 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 me, he should get the whole 
 world ? ^' For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the 
 whole world, and lose his own soul ?'' 
 
 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, 
 1. A man's ignorance of the worth of his soul, and of the 
 
24 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 danger that it is in ; and 2. Men commonly set a higher 
 price upon present ease and enjoyments 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 they should set a higher esteem 
 upon that with which their carnal desires are taken, than 
 upon that about which 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 further implied — namely, that it is impos- 
 sible 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 them- 
 selves 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 
 immortal souls, or to recover them again from that place and 
 torment ? 
 
 I shall observe two truths in the words. 
 
 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 ?" — that 
 is, to redeem his lost soul to liberty. 
 
 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 
 
DEMANDS AND JUSTIFIES SELF-DENIAL. 25 
 
 late) when men will be "willing, had they never so much, to 
 give it all in exchange for their souls. For so the question 
 implies — " "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?'* 
 What would he not give ? What would he not part with at 
 that day, the day in which he shall see himself damned, if 
 he had it, in exchange for his soul ? 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHAT THE Soul is. 
 
 The first observation, or truth, drawn from the words 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, and 
 all at his disposal, that would go in exchange for the soul, 
 that would be of value to fetch back one lost soul, or that 
 would certainly recover it from the confines of hell. " For 
 the redemption of the soul is precious, and it ceaseth for 
 ever." Psalm xlix. 8. 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 con- 
 sideration that good Elihu cautioneth Job to take heed. 
 *^ Because there is wrath, 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. 
 
 So, then, the fii'st 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. 
 
 (26) 
 
WHAT THE SOUL IS. 27 
 
 In my discourse upon this subject I shall observe this 
 method — ^^ 
 
 I. I shall show you what the Soul is. 
 
 II. I shall show you the G-reatness of the Soul. 
 
 III. I shall show you what it is to lose the Soul. 
 
 lY. I shall show you the Cause for which men lose their 
 souls ; and by this time the greatness of the loss will be 
 manifest. 
 
 I. I shall show you what the Soul is^ both by the various 
 names it goes under, and also by describing its powers and 
 properties ; though in all I shall be but brief, for I intend no 
 long discourse. 
 
 1. The soul is often called the heart of man, or that in 
 which things, either good or evil, have their rise ; thus de- 
 sires are of the heart or soul ; yea, before desire, 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 proceed 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 S2nrit 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 Grod, but with what 
 principal matter his desires were brought forth : it was with 
 my soul, saith he ; that is with my spirit within me. So^ 
 in that song of Mary, " My soul, doth magnify the Lord, 
 and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Not 
 that soul and spirit are in this place to be taken for two 
 
28 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 superior powers in man; but the same great soul is here 
 put under two names or terms, to show tJiat it was the 
 principal part in Mary — namely, 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;" Job xx. 3; 
 and " be renewed in the spirit of your mind ;" Eph. 4. 23 ; 
 and sometimes 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 the soul we understand the spiritual, the 
 best and most nolle part of man, as distinct from the body; 
 even that by which we understand, imagine, reason, and 
 discourse. And indeed (as I shall fui'ther show you pre- 
 sently) th« 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 
 dust. It is said of Rachel, Gen. xxxv. 18, " Her soul de- 
 parted 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 the 
 conscience. Wherefore, then a man dieth, (i. e., 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 
 thoughts perish." Psalm cxlvi. 4. The first text is even 
 more emphatical : "Her soul was in departing, for she 
 died." There is the soul of a beast, a bird, &c., but the 
 soul of a man is another thing ; it is his understanding, and 
 reason, and conscience, &c. And when this soul departs, he 
 
WHAT THE SOUL IS. 29 
 
 dies. Nor is this life, wlien 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 Christ saith, " He that loseth his life for my sake, 
 shall save it unto eternal life;" 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 we 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 herein 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 indeed chief and principal. " Let every soul 
 (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- 
 fit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
 soul V it is said elsewhere, " For what is a man advantaged 
 if he shall gain the whole world and lose himself?" 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 darliTig. " Deliver," 
 
 3* ■ 
 
80 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL. 
 
 said David, " my soul from the sword, my darling from 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 from destruction, my darling from 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, are 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 be- 
 fore and yield unto ? But David here, as you see, calls it his 
 darling, or his choice and most excellent 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 it 
 might be so with us, therefore our Lord Jesus hath thus ex- 
 pressed 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 to sustain that has lost, or 
 shall lose his soul ; he has lost his heart, his spirit, his best 
 part, his life, his darling, himself, his whole self, and so in 
 every sense his all ? '^ And now what 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 shall the man that has sustained this loss do to recover 
 all again? since this man, or the man put under this ques- 
 tion, must needs be 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 this, and to proceed. I come next to describe 
 the Soul unto you by such things as it is set out by in the 
 Holy Scriptures, and they are in general three — 
 The Powers of the Soul. 
 The Senses of the Soul. 
 The Passions of the Soul. 
 
WHAT THE SOUL IS. 31 
 
 We will first discourse of the Powers of the Soul. 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, discerneth things 
 that are presented to it, and that either by God or Satan — 
 this is that by which a man conceiveth and apprehendeth 
 things so deep and great as 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 understanding things are let into the soul, so by the 
 conscience the evil or good of such things is tried ; especially 
 when 
 
 3. 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, 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 any of those things, wherewith a man is 
 frighted or attracted, pleased or displeased. And, 
 
 5. The Mind, or Attention (another part of the soul), is 
 that unto which this fancy presenteth its things to be con- 
 sidered, because without the mind, or attention, nothing is 
 entertained in the soul. 
 
 6. There is the Memory too, another part of the soul; an'd 
 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 
 
32 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 take hold 
 of, receive, and embrace what is liked by the soul ; and it is 
 a hard thing to make the soul of a man cast from it what its 
 affections cleave to and have embraced. Hence the affec- 
 tions 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" (1 Tim. vi. 12); for the affections are as hands to 
 the soul, by which it fasteneth upon things. 
 
 8. There is the Will, which may be called the foot of the 
 soul, because by that the 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? 
 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 recover it, and persuade 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? (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 re- 
 spect to things to come, as they have been and have done in 
 this life. 
 
 I come, in the next place, to describe the soul by its 
 
WHAT THE SOUL IS. 83 
 
 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 known and enjoyed; 
 not that the soul of a natural man is spiritual in the apos- 
 tle's sense, for none are so but those that were 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? so hath the soul. 
 '^ The eyes of the understanding being enlightened.'' Ephes. 
 i. 19. As, then, the body can see beasts, trees, men, and all 
 visible things, so the soul can see Grod, Christ, angels, hea- 
 ven, devils, hell, and other things that are invisible. Nor is 
 this property only peculiar to the souls that are illuminated 
 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 
 Grod when he speaks in and by his word and Spirit ; and it 
 is the soul that hears the devil when he speaks by his illu- 
 sions and temptations. True, there is such a union be- 
 tween 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 in- 
 fluence the body ; but yet as 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, deep sleep and trances, 
 
34 TUE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 when the body lieth by, as a thing that is useless. *^ For 
 Grod speaks once, yea twice, yet man (as to his body) per- 
 ceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when 
 deep sleep fiilleth upon men in slumberings upon the bed; 
 then openeth he the ears of men, and sealeth their instruc- 
 tion," &c. Job xxxiii. 14-16. 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 comforted and refreshed ; 
 but that could not be, was not the soul also capable of hear- 
 ing. "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 towards 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, nou- 
 rishing 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 vile affections. They can relish 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 sin- 
 ners. Nor is the word barren as to this : " They feed on 
 
SENSES OF THE SOUL. 35 
 
 ashes." Isaiah xliv. 20. ^^ They spend their money for that 
 which is not bread. Isaiah Iv. 2. Yea, they eat, and suck 
 sweetness out of sin. ^^ They eat up 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 fingers 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 savor any thing of the good and fragrant 
 scent, the sweetness that is in Christ ; but to them that be- 
 lieve ^^ his name is as ointment poured forth, and therefore 
 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 Grod. 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 
 
36 THE GREATNESS OP THE SOUL. 
 
 sense of seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling. But tlius 
 much for the senses of the soul. 
 
 I come, in the next place, to describe the soul by the 
 Passions of the Soul. The passions of the soul, I reckon, 
 are these — namely, love, hatred, joy, fear, grief, anger, and 
 such like. And these passions of the Soul are not therefore 
 good, nor therefore evil, because they are the passions of the 
 Soul, but are made so by two things — namely, principle and 
 object. The principle, I count that from whence they flow, 
 and the object, that upon which they are fixed. To ex- 
 plain myself. 
 
 1. For that of Love. This is a strong passion; the Holy 
 Grhost saith " it is strong as death, and cruel as the grave.'' 
 Cant. viii. 6, 7. And it is then good, when it flows from 
 faith, and fixes 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 afi*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 cviF' (Psalm xcvii. 10) ; then therefore 
 is this passion good, when it singleth out from the many of 
 things that arc in the world that one filthy thing called 
 sin; and when it settcth 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 
 
PASSIONS OF THE SOUL. 87 
 
 be found ? What man is there whose soul is filled with 
 this passion, thus sanctified by the love of God, and that 
 makes sin, which is God's enemy, the only object of its 
 indignation ? How many be there, I say, whose hatred 
 is turned another way, because of the malignity of their 
 minds ? 
 
 They hate knowledge. Prov. i. 22, 29. 
 
 They hate God. Deut. vii. 10 ; 2 Chron. xix. 2. 
 
 They hate the righteous. Psalm xxxiv. 21; Prov. xxix. 10. 
 
 They hate God's ways. Job xxi. 14 ; Mai. iii. 14. 
 
 And all this is, because the grace of filial fear is not the 
 root and principle from whence their hatred flows. '' For 
 the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.'' Prov. viii. 13. "Where- 
 fore, 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 is present 
 in the soul. And hence it is that this passion (which when 
 used 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,) it is well. 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 object 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 wicked- 
 ness, 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 
 
 4 
 
38 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 are ; when this passion of the soul is good, then it springs 
 from a sense 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 
 made to fear men, to fear idols (Num. xiv. 9 j 2 Kings xvii. 
 7, 38), to fear devils and witches, yea, it is made to fear 
 all the foolish, ridiculous, and apish fables that every old 
 woman or atheistical fortune-teller has the face to drop be- 
 fore the soul. 
 
 6. 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 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 every body 
 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 honor ; 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 Auger, which is another passion 
 of the soul ; and that, as the rest, is exerted by the soul, 
 according to the nature of the principle by which it is 
 
PASSIONS or THE SOUL. 39 
 
 actuated, 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 Grod hath set it ; the which to be sure it doth when by- 
 its fierceness or irregular motion it runs the soul into sin. 
 ^'Be angry, and sin not" (Ephes. iv. 26, 27), is the limita- 
 tion wherewith Grod hath bounded this passion ; and what- 
 ever is more than this, is 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, that 
 it is so furious a passion, and that it will so quickly swell 
 up the soul with sin, as they say a toad swells with its poison. 
 Yea, it will in a moment so transport the spirit of a man, 
 that he shall quickly forget himself, his Grod, his friend, and 
 all good rule. But my business is not now to make a com- 
 ment upon the passions of the soul, only to show you that 
 there are such, and also what 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 
 Year of him whose soul it is ; and also to stir you up to that 
 care, and labor after the salvation of your soul, that becomes 
 the weight of the matter. If the Soul were a trivial thing, 
 or if a man, though he lost it, might yet himself 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 heaven, in his own power, 
 be but in a most fearful and miserable condition. But of 
 these things more in their place. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DISPROPORTION BETWEEN THE SOUL AND THE BODY. 
 
 Having thus given you a description of tlie Soul, what 
 it is, I shall, in the next place, show the Greatness of it. 
 And the first thing that I shall take occasion to make this 
 manifest by, will be by showing you the disproportion that 
 is betwixt that and the body ; 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 every body knows that the house 
 is much inferior to him that by God's ordinance is appointed 
 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 dissolved, we 
 have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eter- 
 nal in the heavens.'* 2 Cor. v. 1. We have, then, a house 
 for our soul in this world, and this house is the body, fo^ 
 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 the soula 
 of the rest that are saved ; and thus to do is common with 
 the apostles, as will be easily discerned by them that give 
 attendance to reading. ^'Our earthly house." 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, Paul after maketh men- 
 tion of a house in heaven, but that is not it about which he 
 now speaks ; now he speaks of this earthly house which we 
 (40) 
 
CLOTHING OF THE SOUL. 41 
 
 have (we, our souls) to dwell in, while on this side glory, 
 where the other house stands as ready prepared for us when 
 we 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 yet, alas ! with grief be it spoken, how common is it 
 for men to spend all their care, all their time, all their 
 strength, all their wit and parts for the body, and its honor 
 and preferment, even as if the soul were some poor, pitiful, 
 sorry, inconsiderable underling, not worth the thinking of, 
 or not worth the caring for ! But, 
 
 2. The body is called the clothing, and the soul that 
 which is clothed therewith. Now every body knows that 
 the body is more than raiment, even carnal sense will teach 
 us this. But read that pregnant place : ^^ For we that are 
 in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened (that is, with 
 mortal flesh), not for that we would be unclothed, but 
 clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." 
 Thus the greatness of the soul appears in the preference 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 with the richest ornaments. But now what 
 a thing is the soul, that the body itself must be its clothing ! 
 No suit of apparel is by Grod thought good enough for the 
 soul but that which is made by God himself, and that is that 
 curious thing the body. But oh ! how little is this con- 
 sidered — namely, the Grreatness 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 excel- 
 lency 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 
 
 4* 
 
42 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 that 
 they have a rent, a wound, or a disease in the body, than 
 that they have souls that will be lost and cast away ! A 
 little rent in the body dejecteth and caste th such down, but 
 they are not at all concerned, though their soul is now, and 
 will yet further be, torn in pieces. " Now therefore con- 
 sider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and 
 there be none to deliver.'Tsalm 1. 22. But this is the second 
 thing 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 honor." 1 
 Thess. iv. 4. The apostle here doth exhort the people to 
 abstain from fornication, which 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 defiled, that 
 every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in 
 sanctification and honor." 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; but 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 be vessels to be stufi'ed or filled with 
 trumpery and things of no value ; no, these are prepared for 
 rings and jewels, for pearls, for rubies, and things that arc 
 
THE BODY THE TABERNACLE FOR THE SOUL. 43 
 
 choice. And if so, what shall we then think of the Soul for 
 which 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 it becomes them to have of their 
 souls ? But oh, since this vessel, this cabinet, this body, is 
 so curiously made, and that to receive and contain, what 
 thing is that for which Grod has made this vessel, and what 
 is that soul that he hath put into it ? Wherefore thus, in 
 the third place, is the greatness of the soul made manifest, 
 even by the excellency of the vessel, the body, that Grod has 
 made to put it in. 
 
 4. The body is called a tabernacle for the Soul. 
 ^' Knowing 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 Grod,^' &c. In both these places, by " tabernacl-e^' can be 
 meant nothing but the body ; wherefore both the apostles in 
 these sentences do personate their souls, and speak as if the 
 soul was the all of a man ; yea, they plainly tell us that the 
 body is but the house, clothes, vessel, and tabernacle for the 
 soul. But what a famous thing therefore is the Soul ! 
 
 The Tabernacle of old was a place erected for Worship, but 
 the worshippers were far more excellent than the place ; s-o 
 our body is a tabernacle for the soul to worship God in, but 
 must needs be accounted much inferior to the soul, foras- 
 much as the worshippers are always of more honor than the 
 place they worship in ; as he that dwelleth in the tabernacle 
 hath more honor than the tabernacle. " I serve," says Paul, 
 " God and Christ Jesus with my spirit (or soul) in the gos- 
 
44 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 pel" (Rom. i. 9), but not with his spirit out of, but in, this 
 tabernacle. The tabernacle had instruments 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, the feet, ears, eyes, 
 and tongue (which last is our glory, when used aright), are 
 all of them instruments of this tabernacle, and to be made 
 use of by the soul, the inhabiter of this tabernacle, for the 
 soul's performance of the service of God. 
 
 I thus discourse to show you the greatness of the soul. 
 And in my 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. 
 
 We will now come to other things that show us the great- 
 ness of the soul. 
 
 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 inferior 
 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 furtlicr, it is not only said that the soul is of 
 the breatli of the Lord, but that the Lord breathed into him 
 the breath of life — namely, a living spirit, for so the next 
 words infer — " And man became a living soul.'^ Man, that 
 
THE SOUL THE BREATH OF GOD. 45 
 
 is, the more excellent part of him, which because it is prin- 
 cipal 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 exerted, " became 
 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." 
 G-en. iii. 19. But as to thy more noble part, thou art from 
 the breath of Grod, 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 there is between the 
 dust of the ground, and that here called the breath of life 
 of the Lord. And mark further, 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 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 in God's own image, even after the simi- 
 litude of G-od. " And G-od said. Let us make man in our 
 image, after our likeness. So G-od created man in his own 
 image, in the image of God created he him." Gen. i. 26, 27. 
 Mark, in his own image — in the image of God created he 
 him; or, as James hath it, ^' Who is made after the similitude 
 of God" (James iii. 9), that is, like him, having that which 
 beareth semblance to him. I do not read of any thing 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 higher than 
 Man himself (Heb. ii.) ; but that any of them are said to 
 be made '■'■ after God's own image," after his own likeness, 
 even after the similitude of God, that I find not. This 
 
46 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 character tlie Holy Ghost, in the Scriptures of truth, 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. 
 For though it be said that Christ was sent " in the likeness 
 of sinful flesh" (Rom. viii. 3), 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 show how great a 
 thing, how noble a thing, the Soul is, in that at its creation, 
 God thought it worthy to be made, not like the earth, or 
 the heavens, or the angels, cherubim, seraphim, 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 
 imao-e.'^ 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 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 siuiilitude of God ! 
 
 3. Another thing by which the greatness of the soul is 
 made manifest is this — it is that (and to say this is more 
 than to say, it is above all his creatures) with which the 
 GREAT God desires communion. ^^ He hath set apart him 
 that is godly for himself," — that is, for communion with his 
 Boul. Therefore the spouse saith concerning him, '^ His de- 
 sire 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. John saith, '^ Truly 
 our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
 Christ" (1 John i. 1-3) ; 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 maintaining this blessed commu- 
 
THE SOUL THE HIGHEST BORN. 47 
 
 nion. But, I say, what a tiling 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 to God ; but yet there 
 are not such terms to bespeak familiar acts between God and 
 angels as to demonstrate that they have such communion 
 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. Now, by all this is manifest the greatness 
 of the soul. Men of greatness and honor, 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 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 most meet to be singled out for communion 
 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. True, this is not the lot of every soul. Some have 
 fellowship with devils, not because they have a more base 
 original than those that lie in God's bosom, but they, 
 through sin, are degenerate, and have chosen to be great 
 with his enemy. But all these things show 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 
 
t 
 
 48 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." Re- 
 ceived, into what ? into the hidden part, as David calls it. 
 Hence the king's daughter is said to be ^'all glorious 
 within" (Psalm xlv. 13), 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 invisi- 
 ble, 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 worthy to exercise and improve the same. 
 Therefore it is the soul which is said to love Grod, Cant. iii. 
 1-4, " Saw ye him whom my soul loveth ?" And therefore 
 the soul is that which exerciseth the spirit of prayer. ^'"With 
 my soul have I desired thee in the night, and with my spirit 
 within me will I seek thee early." Isa. xxvi. 9. 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 of which their lamps were supplied 
 by the same. But what a thing, what a great thing there- 
 fore is the Soul, that that above all things which 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 great- 
 ness 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 use to esteem 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 that hath bought 
 
+ 
 
 THE SOUL IMMORTAL. 49 
 
 it an unholy tiling) that it cannot but be of great worth and 
 value. Sujopose 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 under the feet of those that stand by ; 
 would you 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 that 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 
 case of Christ and the soul. Christ is the prince, his throne 
 is in heaven, and as he sat there he espied the souls of sin- 
 ners trampled under the foot of the law and death for sin. 
 Now what doth he, but comes down from his throne, stoops 
 down to the earth, and there, since he could not have the 
 trodden-down souls without price, he lays down his life and 
 blood for them. 2 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 hea- 
 ven 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 annihilate 
 one soul. No; I will speak without fear. If it may be said, 
 God cannot do what he will not do ; then he cannot annihi- 
 late 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 pun- 
 ishment. If any thing could kill the soul, it would be 
 death ; but death cannot do it, neither the first nor the se- 
 cond. The first cannot; for when Dives 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." Luke xvi. 22, 23. 
 
 5 
 
60 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 The second death cannot do it, because it is said their worm 
 never dies, but is always torturing them with his gnawing. 
 Mark ix. But that could not be, if time, or lying in hell- 
 fire for ever, could annihilate the soul. Now this also shows 
 the greatness of the soul, that it is that which has an endless 
 life, and that will therefore have a being endlessly. It can- 
 not be said of any angel but that he is immortal, and so it 
 is and ought to be said of the soul. what a thing i-s 
 the soul ! 
 
 The soul then is immortal, though not eternal. That is 
 eternal which has neither beginning nor end, and therefore 
 f ternal 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 of the 
 soul. It cannot cease to have a being when it is once cre- 
 ated; 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," 
 so the beggar is said, when he died, " to be carried by the 
 angels into Abraham's bosom." Luke xvi. 22, 23. 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 shows the great- 
 ness of it, as the eternity of God shows the greatness of God. 
 This therefore shows 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 
 those things that seem good and reasonable, or amazingly 
 wicked. True, the acts and emotions of the soul are only 
 
THE SOUL THE LIFE OF THE BODY. 51 
 
 seen and heard in the members and motions of the body, 
 but the body is but a poor instrument, the soul is the great 
 agitator and actor. '^ The body without the spirit is dead.'' 
 James ii. 26. All those famous arts, and works, and inven- 
 tions of works, that are done by men under heaven, they are 
 all the inventions of the Soul ; and the body as acting and 
 laboring therein, is but as a tool that the soul maketh use 
 of to bring his invention unto maturity. Eccles. vii. 9. How 
 many things have men found out to the amazing of one an- 
 other, to the wonderment of one another, to the begetting 
 of endless commendations of one another in the world; 
 while in the mean time the Soul, which indeed is the true 
 inventor of all, 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 hearts of the children of men, 
 that they cannot deliver their soul, nor say. Is there not a 
 lie in my right hand ? 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 ; but 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 Grod's creature, but to the soul sin- 
 ful ; as it has willingly apostatized from Grod, and so suf- 
 fered itself to be darkened, and that with such thick and 
 stupifying darkness, that it is bound up and cannot see ; it 
 hath a napkin of sin bound so close before its eyes, that it 
 is not able of itself to look at and after those things which 
 should be its chief 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 invisibles, with angels, good 
 
52 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 or bad, yea, with the highest and supreme Being, even with 
 the holy Grod 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 unuttera- 
 bly into them. And herein is God, the God of glory, much 
 delighted and pleased — namely, that he hath made himself 
 a creature that is capable of hearing, of knowing, and of un- 
 derstanding his mind when opened and revealed to it. — I 
 think I may say, without offence to God or man, that one 
 reason why God made the world was, that he might mani- 
 fest himself, not only by, but to the works which he made j 
 but (I speak with reverence) how could that be, if he did 
 not also make some of his creatures capable of apprehending 
 him in those most high mysteries and methods in which he 
 purposed to reveal himself ? But then, what are those crea- 
 tures which he hath made (unto whom when these things 
 are shown) that are able to take them in and understand 
 them, and so to improve them to God's glory, as he hath or- 
 dained and purposed they should, but souls ? 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 beginneth 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 down- 
 ward to the earth ; it is the spirit of a man that goes up- 
 wards to God that gave it. Eccles. iii. 21 j xii. 7. — That, 
 and that only, is capable of beholding and understanding the 
 glorious visions of heaven ; as Christ said, " Father, I will 
 that those whom thou hast given me, be with me where I 
 
CAPABILITY or THE SOUL. 53 
 
 am, that they may behold my glory which 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 mani- 
 fest. 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 
 tha,t it 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 that 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. Wherefore, as the body 
 here did partake of the soul's excellences, and was 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 body 
 was conformable to the soul as it was gracious, and in that 
 world it shall be conformable to it as it is glorious ; con- 
 formable, I say, by partaking of that glory which the soul 
 shall then partake of; yea, it shall also have an additional 
 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 mys- 
 terious depths of hell. Hell is a place and state utterly 
 unknown to any in this visible world, excepting the souls 
 of men ; nor shall any for ever be capable of understanding 
 the miseries thereof, but souls and fallen angels. Now I 
 
 5* 
 
64 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 torments of hell will not stand 
 in the present lashes and strokes with which by the flames 
 of eternal fire God will scourge the ungodly; but the tor- 
 ments of hell stand much, if not in the greatest part of them, 
 in those deep thoughts and apprehensions which souls in the 
 next world will have of the nature and occasions of sin, of 
 G-od, and of separation from him ; of the eternity of those 
 miseries, and of the utter impossibility 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 everlasting- 
 ness of misery ; but the point, the edge, and the poison of 
 all these thoughts will still be galling, and dropping their 
 I stings into the sore, 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 wound, 
 one sore. Miseries as well as mercies sharpen and make 
 quick the apprehensions of the soul. Behold Spira in his 
 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, their woe, and their hells. Isa. xxxiii. 1-4; 
 Psalm 1. 3; Rev. xiv. 10; Mark ix. 44, 46. 
 
 10. Nor doth their ability to bear (if it be proper to say 
 they bear) those griefs which there for ever they shall 
 endure, a little demonstrate their greatness. Everlasting 
 burning, devouring fire, perpetual pains, gnawing worms, 
 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 
 
THE SOUL AND BODY IN HELL. 55 
 
 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 only 
 so as to be sensible of it, as to smart and be in perpetual 
 anguish by reason of the intolerableness of their burden. 
 But doth not their thus living, abiding, and retaining a 
 being (or what you will call it), demonstrate the greatness 
 and might of the soul ? 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. 10-12. 
 
 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 crumbles into the grave; but 
 the soul is yet strong, and abides sensible, to be dealt with 
 for sin by everlasting burnings. 
 
 11. The soul by Grod's ordinance (Heb. ix. 27), while 
 this world 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 
 world the wicked shall partake of none of this; for the 
 body 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 decays that 
 it used to sustain. 
 
 And the reason why this death shall then be taken away 
 is, because justice in its bestowing its rewards for trans- 
 
56 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 as though it is 
 everlasting, will not put a period to their sensibly suflfering 
 the vengeance of eternal fire. 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. 
 
 This death, therefore, though that also be the wages of 
 sin, would now, were it sufi'ered to continue, be a hindrance 
 to the making known fully the wrath of Grod, and also the 
 created power and might of the soul. 1. It would hinder 
 the making known the wrath of Grod ; for it would take the 
 body out of the way, and make it incapable of sensible suf- 
 fering 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? yea, that soul and 
 body both, might be so. Death would now be a favor, 
 though once the fruit of sin, and also the wages thereof, 
 might it now be sufi'ered to continue, because it would ease 
 the soul of some of its burden ; for a tormented body cannot 
 but be a burden to a spirit, and so the wise man insinuates 
 when he says, ''The spirit of a man will sustain his in- 
 firmity;" that is, bear up under it, but yet so as that it feels 
 it a burden. We see daily, 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?" Now death must not remove this burden; 
 but the soul must have the body for a burden, and the 
 
BURDEN UPON THE SOUL. 57 
 
 body 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 show 
 you the greatness of the soul. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 WHAT THE LOSS OF THE SOUL IS. 
 
 I SHALL now come to tlie third thing which was pro- 
 pounded to be spoken of, and that is, to show you what we 
 are to understand by losing the soul, or what the loss of the 
 Boul 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 it, as is the loss of the soul, for 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, loseth himself 
 — "For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole 
 world, and lose himself?'' Luke ix. 25. Wherefore, 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 matter- 
 eth it what a man gets, if by the getting thereof he loseth 
 himself? 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 up — now what has he got ? 
 Yet this is but a lean similitude with reference to the matter 
 in hand — namely, to set forth the loss of the soul. Sup- 
 pose 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, and there be hunger-bit, and beaten till his 
 bones are broken, what has he got ? what is he advantaged 
 by 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 exem- 
 plify the matter, " for what shall a man give in exchange 
 (58) 
 
ITS LOSS LIKE NO OTHER LOSS. 69 
 
 for his soul?'' It is a loss that stands by itself, there is not 
 another like it, or to which it may be compared ; it is only 
 like itself, it is singular, 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 with advantage, and 
 may therefore, notwithstanding all these losses, be far 
 enough off from losing 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 pur- 
 poses. There is no word says, he that loses his soul shall 
 save it; but, contrariwise, the text supposeth that a man 
 has lost his soul, and then demands if any can answer it — 
 '^ What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?'' 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 fii'st 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 ow7i disposal. While "f- 
 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 en- 
 joys himself, is at his own disposal. I speak after the man- 
 ner 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 hands; 
 he has lost himself, his soul-self, his ownself, his whole self, 
 by sin, and wrath and hell have found him; he is therefore 
 now no more at his own disposal, but at the disposal of jus- 
 
60 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 tice, of wrathj and hell; he is committed to prison, to hell- 
 prison, there to abide, not at pleasure, not as long and as 
 little timo as he will, but the term appointed by his judge; 
 nor may he there choose his own affliction, neither for man- 
 ner, measure, nor continuance. It is God that will spread 
 the fire and brimstone under him. It is God that will pile up 
 wrath upon him, and it is God himself that will blow the 
 fire. " And the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brim- 
 stone, 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 hath lost himself is not at his own 
 disposal, so neither is he at liberty to dispose of 2vhat 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 can- 
 not dispose 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, some- 
 thing 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 employed against himself; or, if 
 you will, the point of this man's sword is turned against his 
 own 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 any thing 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 of as is thought meet by him into whose reveng- 
 ing hand by sin he has delivered himself — namely, in the 
 
THE LOST SOUL ITS OWN TORMENTOR. 61 
 
 hand of God. So, then, God now has the victory, and dis- 
 poseth of all the powers, senses, and passions of the soul for 
 the chastising of him that has lost himself. Now the un- 
 derstanding is only employed about the apprehending of 
 such things as will be like daggers at the heart — ^namely, 
 about justice, sin, hell, and eternity, to grieve and break the 
 spirit of the damned; yea, to break, 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 under- 
 stood by him more than ever, but yet so only as to increase 
 grief and sorrow, by employing the good and the evil of the 
 things understood, 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 draught of scalding lead poured down the throat. 
 The memory also letteth these things down upon the con- 
 science with no less terror and perplexity. And now the 
 fancy or imagination doth start and stare like a man by fears 
 bereft of wits, and doth exercise itself, or rather is exercised 
 by the hand of revenging justice, so about the breadth and 
 depth 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 riveteth 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 flattered 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 ter- 
 ribleness of the punishment that hath swallowed him up 
 that hath lost himself. Here will be no forgetfulness ; yet 
 nothing shall be thought on but that which will wound 
 
 
 
62 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 and kill; here will be no time, cause, or means for diver- 
 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 forbid it. The under- 
 standing also, and the judgment too, will now consider of 
 the pretended necessity that the man had to break the com- 
 mandments of Grod, 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 passions of the 
 soul must be made self-burners, self-tormentors, self-execu- 
 tioners, by the just judgment of Grod. Also all that the will 
 shall do in this place shall be but to wish for ease ; but the 
 wish shall 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 bewail 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 dis- 
 pose of for his advantage, and will be only in the hand and 
 under the management of the revenging justice of G-od. 
 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 notwithstanding 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 
 
FIXED MISERY OF THE LOST. 63 
 
 their mischiefs against the Son of Grod and his. And 
 though Satan knows that this at last will work for his future 
 condemnation, yet at present he finds it some diversion to 
 his trembling mind, and obtains, through so busily employ- 
 ing himself against the gospel and its professors, something 
 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, and gnawing their soul; also, as I have 
 said afore, all the powers, senses, and passions of the soul 
 will throw their darts inwards, (yea, of Grod will be made to 
 do it), to the utter, unspeakable, and endless torment of him 
 that has lost himself. Again, 
 
 3. All therefore that he that has lost himself can do is, 
 to sit down hy the loss. Do I say, he can do this ? — 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 — 
 namely, the providence of Grod ; for a providence of Grod, 
 though never so dismal, is a bottom for patience to the 
 afflicted ; but men go not to hell by providence, but by sin. 
 Now sin being the cause, other effects are wrought; for 
 they that go to hell, and that there miserably perish, shall 
 never say it was Grod 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 
 
6-i THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 
 that of God was provided to prevent that loss ; yea, when 
 they shall see what a base thing sin is, how 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 fret, and gnash, and gnaw themselves with 
 anger; this will set all the passions of the soul, save love 
 (for that I think will be stark dead), all in a rage, all in a 
 self-tormenting fire. You know there is nothing that will 
 sooner put a man into, and maintain his rage against 
 himself, than will a full conviction in his conscience that 
 by his own folly only, and that against caution, and counsel, 
 and reason to the contrary, he hath brought himself into ex- 
 treme 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 most 
 piercingly, considering the loss of himself, and the cause 
 thereof, which is sin, he falls to tearing himself in pieces 
 with thoughts as hot as the coals of juniper, and to gnashing 
 upon himself for this. Also the divine wisdom 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 ofiended, and the unreasonableness of such offence, con- 
 tinually before his face. For if to an enlightened 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 
 
THE LOSS OP THE SOUL A DOUBLE LOSS. 65 
 
 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 be 
 such fools to go thither. But to pursue this head no further, 
 I will come now to the next thing. 
 
 Secondljjj 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 
 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 them ? 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 show what he 
 that has lost his soul has done (though a man may also be 
 said to cast away himself), but to show 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 saying 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 middle of a sling." 
 1 Sam. XXV. 29. So that here is God's hand as well as 
 
 6* 
 
66 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 man's ; man's by sin, and G-od'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 — ^namely, G-od 
 himself, who will verily cast away that man who has lost 
 himself. God shall cast them away — that is, exclude them 
 from his favor or protection, and deliver them up to the due 
 reward of their deeds ! He shall shut them out of hia 
 heaven, and deliver them up to their hell; he shall deny 
 them 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 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 favor and respect with disdain, and a loathing thereof. 
 
THE LOST SOUL CAST AWAY FROM GOD. 67 
 
 So when God teacheth Israel to loath and abhor their idols, 
 lie 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 bad away.'' Matt. xiii. 48 ; xxv. 41. *^ Cast them out/' 
 he says, ^^ 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 showeth unto us God's abhorrence 
 of such souls, and how vile and loathsome such are in his 
 divine eyes. And the similitude of Abigail's sling, men- 
 tioned before, doth yet further show us the greatness of this 
 abhorrence — "The souls of thine enemies," said she, "God 
 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 fur- 
 thest from him, for with a sling he can cast a stone further 
 than by 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, 
 but that he shall sling them away as " out of the middle of 
 a sling." When a stone is placed to be 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, therefore, shows 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 de- 
 filed 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 
 
68 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 notwith- 
 standing the soul was also his, this is horrible, and calls 
 aloud upon that God whose soul this is, to abhor, and to 
 show, 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 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 them, wait upon 
 them, send after them by his messengers, to turn them from 
 their evil ways; but ^Hhey despised, they mocked, the 
 messengers of the Lord.^' 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. Also they 
 shut their eyes, and would not see; they stopped their eai's, 
 and would not understand; and did harden themselves 
 against the beseeching of their God. Rom, 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 unto 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 patience, 
 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 scorn, is at an end ; wherefore I will 
 now arise, and come forth to the judgment that I have ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 But, Lord, saith the sinner, we turn now. •* 
 
god's just retaliation. 69 
 
 But now, saith Grod, turning is out of season ; tlie 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 would 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. Time was when they would not heed his calls, and 
 now he will not heed their cries. Time was ^^ when they 
 abhorred him, and now his soul also loatheth them.^' Zech. 
 xi. 8. This is now by way of retaliation — like for like, 
 scorn 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 showed 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- 
 
70 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 proof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when 
 your fear cometh ; wlien your fear cometh as desolation, 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 itself, 
 and a loss double, so, in the third place, it is a loss most 
 FEARFUL, because it is a loss attended with the most heavy 
 curse of God. This is manifest both in the giving of the 
 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 of damned men that are now shut up in the pri- 
 son of hell, and bear it. But certainly it is the cliief 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 insupportable in themselves ; only in general it may be 
 described thus. But to touch upon this curse; it lieth in a 
 deprivation 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 
 Bufi"er under, and when he has done, he shall come infinitely 
 
THE DAY OF VENGEANCE FEARFUL. 71 
 
 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 G-od will do, 
 partly as a retaliation, as the former, and partly by way of 
 revenge. 1. By way of retaliation: "As he loved cursing, 
 so let it come unto him ; as he delighted not in blessing, 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 where- 
 with he is girded continually.^' Psalm cix. 17-20. "Let 
 this,'' saith Christ, " be the reward of mine adversaries from 
 the Lord." 2. As this curse comes by way of retaliation, 
 so it Cometh by way of revenge. God will right the 
 wrongs that sinners have done him, will repay vengeance 
 for the despite and reproach wherewith they have affronted 
 him, and will revenge the quarrel of his covenant. 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 therefore this 
 curse is executed in wrath, in jealousy, in anger, 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 
 
72 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 when he cometh to judgment, that the heavens and the earth 
 flee 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 
 ungodly 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 
 enemies, 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, 
 
 Fourthlij, As the loss of the soul is a loss peculiar to itself, 
 a loss double, and a loss most fearful, so it is a loss ever- 
 lasting. The soul that is lost is never to be found again, 
 never to be recovered again, never to be redeemed again. 
 Its banishment from Grod 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 are used to say, light burdens far carried are heavy; 
 what then will it be to bear that burden, that guilt, which 
 the law and the justice and wrath of God, will lay upon-the 
 lost soul for ever ? Now tell the stars, now tell the drops 
 of the sea, and now tell the blades 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 
 thousands of years that a damned soul shall lie in hell. 
 Suppose every star that is now in the firmament was to burn 
 (by itself, one by one) a thousand years a-piece, would it 
 not be a long while before the last of them was burned out? 
 
THREE THINGS WILL PILL UP PUNISHMENT. 73 
 
 and jet 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 im- 
 possible 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 fii'st 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, 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 
 sorrows. 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, sayst 
 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, 
 what wilt thou take, to make a mountain of sand that will 
 reach as high as the sun is at noon ? I know thou wilt not 
 be 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, 
 
 7 
 
74 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 half-way 
 through it. And yet, 
 
 3. The soul shall partake every moment 'of that punish- 
 ment that is eternal. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and 
 the Qities about them in like manner, giving themselves 
 over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set 
 forth for an example, sufi"ering the^ vengeance of eternal 
 fire." Jude 7. 
 
 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 justice 
 inflicteth, leaveth anguish that in the nature of punishment 
 is eternal, behind it. It is eternal, because it comes from 
 God, and lasts for ever and ever. The justice that inflicts 
 it has not a beginning, and it is this justice in the operations 
 of it, that is always dealing with the soul. 
 
 All the workings of the soul under this punishment, are 
 such as cause it in its sufi"erings to endure that which is 
 eternal. It can have no thought of the end of punishment, 
 but it is presently recalled by the decree that bindeth it 
 under perpetual punishment. The great fixed gulf, it 
 knows, will keep it in its present place, and not sufier 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 that 
 text, '' But the day of the 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 
 
THE RECKONINa OF ETERNITY. 75 
 
 burnt 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, sorrow, 
 ang.uish, tribulation, grief, woe, pain, will in every moment 
 of their 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 cogitations 
 and fearful apprehensions of the lastingness of their damna- 
 tion. For I say, their minds, their memories, their under- 
 standings, and consciences, will all, and always, be swallowed 
 up with ^^for ever/' yea, they themselves will by means of 
 these things be their own tormentors for ever. 
 
 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 darkness. 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 measured 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 accord- 
 ing as will best stand with their state in eternity. 
 
 Could we but come to an understanding of things done 
 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 conditions has made a change in the 
 
76 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 understandings of men, and in the manner of their enjoy-^ 
 ment 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 know the 
 state and condition of both kingdoms. In the mean time, 
 let us addict ourselves to the belief of the Scriptures 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 following : — 
 
 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 woo 
 
 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, 
 
 Qod, Christ, and heaven, they know are best, 
 
 Yet dare not on them think ; 
 They know the saints enjoy their rest, 
 
 While they their tears do drink. 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 
 THE CAUSE OF THE LOSS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 And now I am come to the fourth thing, that is, to show 
 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 showed you already; wherefore I now proceed to 
 show 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 Cod, that is 
 the cause of dying — of damning in hell-fire — for that must 
 be meant by dying ; otherwise, to die, according to our or- 
 dinary acceptation of the notion, the soul is not capable of, 
 it being indeed immortal, as hath been afore asserted. So, 
 then, the soul that sinneth — that is, and perseveres in the 
 same — that soul shall die, be cast away, or damned. Yea, 
 to ascertain or assure us of the undoubted truth of this, the 
 Holy Chost doth repeat it again, and in this very chapter, 
 saying, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die.'' verse 20. 
 
 Now, the soul may divers ways be said to sin against 
 Cod; as, 
 
 1. In its receiving sin into its bosom; and in its retain- 
 ing and entertaining it there. Sin must first be received, 
 before it can act in, or be acted by, the soul. Our first 
 parents first received 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 re- 
 ceived sin ; for if the soul has indeed received sin into itself, 
 then it has sinned, and by doing so has made itself an ob- 
 
 7* (77) 
 
78 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 ject 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 (Exodus xiii. 13 ; 
 xxxiv. 20), which to be sure was very early, and implied 
 that then, even then, the soul in Grod's judgment stood be- 
 fore him as defiled and polluted with sin. But although 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 to the re- 
 demption made mention of just before, and so before the 
 person redeemed had attained to the age of a month. And 
 that Grod might, in the language of Moses, give us to see 
 cause of the necessity of this redemption, he first distin- 
 guisheth, and saith, " The firstling of a cow, or the firstling 
 of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat," did not need this re- 
 demption, for they were clean, or holy. But the first-born 
 of men, who were taken in lieu of the rest of the children, 
 and the " firstling of unclean beasts, thou shalt surely re- 
 deem/' saith he. But why was the first-born of men coupled 
 with unclean beasts, but because they were both unclean. 
 But how ? I answer, the beast was unclean by God's ordi- 
 nation, but the other was unclean by sin. Now, then, it 
 will be demanded, how a soul, before it was a month old, 
 could receive sin to the making of itself unclean ? I an- 
 swer, there are two ways of receiving, one active, the other 
 passive. This last is the way by which the soul at first re- 
 ceiveth sin, and by so receiving, becometh culpable, because 
 polluted and defiled by it. And this passive way of receiv- 
 ing is often mentioned in scripture. Exodus xxvii. 3 ; 2 
 Chron. iv. 5; Matt. xiii. 20-23. Thus the pans received 
 the ashes; thus the molten sea received three thousand 
 baths; thus the ground receiveth the seed. And this receiv- 
 ing is like that of the wool which receiveth the dye, either 
 black, white, or red ; and as the fire that receiveth the water 
 
HOW SIN IS RECEIVED AND RETAINED. 79 
 
 till it be all quenched therewith; or as the water 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 ?'^ I answer, from 
 the body, while it is in the mother's womb (Psalm li. 5) ; 
 the body comes from polluted man, and therefore is polluted 
 — ^^ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean V 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 with the taint, stench, and 
 filth of sin ; nor can this stench and filth be by man purged 
 out, when once from the body got into the soul ; sooner may 
 the blackamoor change his skin, or the leopard his spots, 
 than the soul, were it willing, might purge itself of this pol- 
 lution. " Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee 
 much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the 
 LordGod.'^ 
 
 2. But as I said, the soul has not only received sin, but 
 retains it — holds it, and shows no kind of resistance. It is 
 enough that the soul is polluted and defiled; for that is 
 sufficient to provoke God to cast it away. For which of you 
 would take a cloth annoyed with stinking, ulcerous sores, 
 to wipe your mouth with, 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, 
 unanimously, 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 womb, yea, from before it sees the light of this world. 
 
80 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 what can be concluded but tliat God is offended 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 womb; 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, their original pollution, that is as the 
 poison of a serpent — namely, not 'only deadly, for so poison 
 is, but also hereditary. It comes 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 with the child as 
 born into the world. The serpent has not her 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 who have 
 poison connatural to them ; for it has not only received 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 
 
CHILDREN AVERSE TO MORAL DISCIPLINE. 81 
 
 sees not that lying, pride, disobedience to parents, and 
 hypocrisy, do put forth themselves in children before they 
 know that they do either well or ill in so doing, or before 
 they are capable of learning 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, from 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 with 
 admonitions; which indulgent parents are apt to overlook, 
 yea, and sometimes, through unadvisedness, to commend 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 show 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 
 retain — 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 
 
82 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 the eyes of justice ; it is now polluted. Then, secondly, 
 this sin is not only received, but retained — that is, it sticks 
 60 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, retained, but entertained by 
 the now defiled and polluted soul ; wherefore this must needs 
 be a cause of the continuance of anger, and that with aggra- 
 vation. AVhen 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 afi"ections. 
 
 And therefore the wrath of God must certainly 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 com- 
 placence 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 also, at God's command, refuseth to let 
 it go; yea, it chooseth 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 word men 
 are commanded to do unto it — 
 
SHIFTS OF SINNERS TO SAVE THEIR SINS. 83 
 
 They will, if possible, hide it, and not suffer it to be dis- 
 covered. Prov. xxviii. 13. "He that covereth his sins shall 
 not prosper. And again, they hide it, and refuse to let it 
 go." Job XX. 12, 13. This is an evident sign that the soul 
 has a fav®r for sin, and that with liking it, entertains it. 
 
 As they will hide it, so they 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 we been so wearisome to Grod, and what 
 have we spoken so much against him ?" Mai. i. 6, 7. 
 
 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 Grod 
 greatly complains, yea, breaks out into anger for this, say- 
 ing, "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. 
 
 If convictions and discovery of sin be so strong and so 
 plain that the soul cannot deny but that it is sin, and that 
 Grod is offended therewith, then it will give flattering pro- 
 mises to Grod that it will indeed put it away ; but yet it will 
 prefix a time that shall be long first, if it also then at all 
 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. 
 
 If Grod 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 Grod's law; it will put away some, 
 and keep some; put away the grossest, and keep the finest; 
 put away those that can best be spared, and keep the most 
 profitable for a help at a pinch. Mai. ii. 9. 
 
84 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 Orpah left her 
 mother, with a kiss. 2 Sam. iii. 16; Ruth i. 14. 
 
 And if at any time they can, or shall, meet with each 
 other again, and nobody never the wiser, oh, what courting 
 will be betwixt sin and the soul ! And this is called the 
 doing of things in the dark. Ezek. viii. 12. 
 
 By all these, and many more things that might be in- 
 stanced, it is manifest that sin has a friendly entertainment 
 by the soul, and that therefore the soul is guilty of damna- 
 tion ; for what do all these things argue but that God, his 
 word, his ways, and graces, are out of favor with the soul, and 
 that sin and Satan are its only pleasant companions. But, 
 
 Secondly, That I may yet show you what a great thing 
 sin is with the soul that is to be damned, I will show 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 without the help of the soul. The body doth little 
 here, as I shall further show you anon. 
 
 There 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 is to prevail 
 with the soul to help that motion into an act. But, I say, 
 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 fol- 
 low, llom. 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 mo- 
 tion of sin presented to the soul, that the soul might midwife 
 it from the conception into the world. 
 
THE PROCESS OF SIN IN THE SOUL. 85 
 
 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 saw that the wick- 
 edness 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 sin, as to have presented it in all its 
 features so ugly, so ill-favored, and so unreasonable a 
 thing to the soul, that the soul should forthwith have let 
 down the sluices, and pulled up the draw-bridge, put a stop 
 with greatest defiance to the motion now under considera- 
 tion ; but the imagination being defiled, it presently, at the 
 very first view or noise of the motion of sin, so acted as to 
 forward the bringing the said motion or thought into act. 
 So, then, the thought of sin, or motion thereto, is first of all 
 entertained by the imagination and fancy of the soul, and 
 thence conveyed to the rest of the powers 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 
 
 8 
 
86 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 honors 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 valor and manliness; 
 and so you may count of the rest of sinful motions ; and 
 thus being trimmed up like a Bartholomew baby, it is pre- 
 sented 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 neighbor's wife. Isaiah 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 withstand it. Therefore when David 
 prayed for the children of Israel, he said, "I have seen 
 with joy thy people, which are present here to offer 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, 
 and prepare their hearts unto thee.'^l Chron. xxix. 17, 18. 
 He knew that as the imagination was prepared, so would 
 the soul be moved, whether by evil or good ; therefore as 
 to this, he prays that their imagination might be engaged 
 always with apprehensions of the beauteousness of the tem- 
 
HOW SIN IS BROUGHT FORTH UNTO DEATH. 87 
 
 pie, tliat they might always, as now, offer willingly for its 
 building. But, 
 
 3. 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 3 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 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 comforteth him- 
 self in his evil purpose : '■'■ Esau, as touching thee, doth com- 
 fort himself, purposing to kill thee.^' 
 
 4. 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 intended the death of his brother when his father was 
 to to be carried to his grave. Gren. xxvii. 41. David pur- 
 posed to make Uriah father his bastard child by making 
 him drunk. 2 Sam. xi. 13. Amnon purposed to ravish 
 Tamar, 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 by a blandation 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 
 
88 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 witli desire to bring 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 accomplishment of it. 
 
 5. But, further, when the soul has thus far, by its wicked- 
 ness, pursued the motion of sin to bring it into action, then 
 it comes to the last thing — namely, to endeavor to take the 
 opportunity which by the invention is judged most con- 
 venient. So to endeavors it goes till it has finished sin, and 
 finished, in finishing that, its own fearful damnation. ^^ Then 
 lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin : and sin, 
 when it is finished, bringeth forth death. '^ James i. 15. 
 
 And who knows, but Grod and the Soul, how many lets, 
 hindrances, convictions, fears, frights, misgivings, and 
 thoughts of the judgment of Grod, all this while are passing 
 and repassing, turning and returning, over the face of the 
 soul ? how many times the soul is made to start, look back, 
 and tremble, while it is pursuing the pleasure, profit, ap- 
 plause, or preferment, that sin promiseth, when finished, to 
 yield unto the soul ? 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 V — 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 terri- 
 blest judgment under heaven. And this brings me to the 
 third thing, which I now will speak of. 
 
 Thirdli/, As the soul receives, retains, entertains, and wilily 
 works 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 from love to 
 
THE soul's enmity AGAINST GOD. 89 
 
 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 
 sin, hath set itself against God, I will propose, and speak 
 briefly of these two things — the law and the gospel. 
 
 1. Of the law. God has given it for a rule of life, either 
 as written in their nature, 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. 
 
 First, They have not hearkened unto my law. Jer. vi. 19. 
 
 Secondly, They have forsaken my law. Jer. ix. 13. 
 
 Thirdli/, They have forsaken me, and not kept my law. 
 Jer. xvi. 11. 
 
 Fourthly, They have not walked in my law, nor in my 
 statutes. Jer. xliv. 10. 
 
 FiftMy, Her priests have violated my law. Ezek. xxii. 26. 
 
 Sixthly, And, saith God, I have written to him the great 
 things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. 
 Hos. viii. 12. 
 
 Now whence should all this disobedience arise? Not 
 from the unreasonableness of the commandment, but from 
 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 show the heat of his anger, he saith, " Indigna- 
 tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul 
 of man that doeth evil (and this is evil, with a witness), of 
 the Jew first, and also of the Gentiles.'^ Rom. ii. 8, 9. "That 
 
 8* 
 
90 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 doeth evil/' that is, that breaketh the law ; for that evil he 
 is crying out against now. But, 
 
 2. Of the gospel, and of the carriage of sinful souls to- 
 wards God under that dispensation. 
 
 The gospel is the revelation of a sovereign remedy, pro- 
 vided by God through Christ, for the health and salvation 
 of those that have made themselves objects of wrath by the 
 breach of the law of works; this is manifest by all the 
 Scripture. But how doth the soul carry it towards God 
 when he offereth to deal with it under and by this dispensa- 
 tion 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 shown against the gospel? Acts xiii. 45; 
 xviii. 6; 2 Tim. ii. 25; 1 Thess. ii. 13-15. Yet all this 
 the poor soul, to its own wrong, offereth against the way of 
 its own salvation, as it is said in the word of truth, '^ He 
 that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul : all they that 
 hate me love death." Prov. viii. 36. 
 
 But further, the soul despiseth not the gospel in that 
 reTelation of it only, but the great and chief Bringer thereof, 
 with the manner also of his bringing 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 worth 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), first, as himself making 
 peace to God for us 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. Gal. iii. 1. And to touch a little upon 
 the dress in which, by the gospel, Christ presenteth himself 
 
SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST FOR SOULS. 91 
 
 unto US while lie offereth unto sinful souls his peace by the 
 tenders thereof. 
 
 1. He is set forth as born for us, to save our souls. Isaiah 
 ix. 6; Luke ii. 9-12; Dan. ix. 24. 2. He is set forth be- 
 fore us as bearing our sins for us, and suffering God's wrath 
 for us. 1 Cor. xv. 3. 3. He is set forth before us as fulfill- 
 ing the law for us, and as bringing everlasting righteousness 
 to us for our covering. Gal. iii. 13 ; Rom. x. 4. 
 
 Again, as to the manner of his working out the salvation 
 of sinners for them, that they might have peace and joy, and 
 heaven and glory, for ever — 1. He is set forth as sweating 
 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. V. 7. 3. He is set forth as betrayed, apprehended, 
 condemned, 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 from being apprehended by justice, and condemned by the 
 law; to save it from being spit on in any way of contempt 
 by holiness ; to save it from being scourged with the guilt 
 of sins as with scorpions ; to save it from being continually 
 buffeted 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 from 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 be- 
 trayed, that thou mightst go free; he 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 
 
92 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 crown of glory; and was nailed to the cross, with his arms 
 wide open, to show with what freeness all his merits shall 
 be bestowed on the coming soul, and how heartily he will 
 receive it into his hosom. 
 
 Further, all this he did of mere good-will, and offereth 
 the benefit thereof unto thee freely; yea, he cometh unto 
 thee in the word of the gospel, with the blood running 
 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 what saith the sinful 
 soul to this ? I do not ask what he saith with his lips, for 
 he will assuredly flatter Grod with his mouth; but what do 
 his actions and carriages declare as to his acceptance of 
 this incomparable benefit? "For a wicked man speaketh 
 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 in- 
 comparable 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 rcgardeth not this Christ, that he 
 seeth nothing in him why he should admit him to be enter- 
 tained in his affections. Therefore the prophet, speaking in 
 the person of sinners, says of Christ, " He 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 show what he means by his thus speaking, " He is 
 despised and rejocted of men." All this is spoken with re- 
 ference to his person, and it was eminently fulfilled upon 
 him in the days of his flesh, when he was hated, maligned, 
 and persecuted to death by sinners ; and is still fulfilled in 
 
HOW SOULS REJECT CHRIST. 93 
 
 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 make them embrace 
 him for their darling, and take up 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 him ; but open them 
 wide and hearken diligently to any thing that pleaseth the 
 flesh, and that is a nursery to sin. But, 
 
 Secondly J As they despise, and reject, and do not regard 
 his person, so they do not value the grace that he tendereth 
 unto them by the gospel ; this is plain by that indifference 
 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 concerned 
 in a trade, will be more vigilant in dealing with a twelve- 
 penny customer, than they will be with Christ, when he 
 comes to make them by the gospel a tender of the incom- 
 parable grace of God. Hence they are called fools, ^' be- 
 cause a price is put into their hands to get wisdom, and they 
 have no heart to 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 as- 
 tonished at this, and that damnation shall seize upon the 
 soul for this. 
 
 And indeed, the soul that doeth thus by practice, though 
 with his mouth (as who doth not?) he shall show much 
 love (Jer. ii.), doth by interpretation say these things — 
 
 1. That he loveth sin better than grace, and darkness 
 better than light, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed. 
 " And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the 
 
94 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 world, and men love darkness more than light (as is mani- 
 fest), because their deeds are evil." 
 
 2. They do also, bj their thus rejecting Christ and grace, 
 say, that for what the law can do to them, they value it not; 
 they regard not its thundering, or threatenings, nor will 
 they shrink when they come to endure the execution thereof. 
 "Wherefore, God, to deter them from such bold and des- 
 perate ways, that do by interpretation fully declare that 
 they 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. 
 
 3. Yea, by their thus doing, they do as good as say that 
 they will run the hazard of a sentence of death at the day 
 of judgment, and that they will in the mean time 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 his Son, and their rejecting his grace; yea, I say 
 again, what else means their slighting the curse of the law, 
 and their choosing to abide in their sins till the day of 
 death and judgment ? And thus I have showed 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 doeth 
 is without the body," fornication or adultery excepted. 1 Cor. 
 vi. 18. '' Is without the body" — that is, as to the wilily 
 inventing, contriving, 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, alto- 
 
OBJECTIONS AS TO THE BODY CONSIDERED. 95 
 
 gether as to the lusting and purposing to do the wickedness, 
 excepting the 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 fornica- 
 tion, adultery, murder, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, 
 deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, fool- 
 ishness : all these evil things come from within, and defile 
 the man.^^ Mark vii. 21-23. That is, the outward man. 
 But a difi'erence must always 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, is the 
 sinner, and therefore the soul, as the principal, must be 
 punished. 
 
 And that Grod's indignation burneth most against the 
 soul, appears in that death has seized upon every soul 
 already; for the Scripture saith that every natural or un- 
 converted man is dead. Dead ! How? Is his body dead? 
 No, verily; his body liveth, but his soul is dead. Dead! 
 But with what death ? Dead to Grod, and to all things gos- 
 pelly good, by reason of that benumbing, stupifying, and 
 senselessness, that by Grod's just judgment, for and by sin, 
 hath swallowed up the soul. Eph. ii. 1-3. Yea, if you ob- 
 serve, you shall see that the soul goeth first 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 convictions, yea, and terrors perhaps, while 
 the body is well ; or in that he giveth up the soul to judi- 
 cial hardness, and further blindness, while he leaveth the 
 body to do its office in the world ; yea, and also when the 
 day of death and dissolution is come, the body is spared, 
 while the soul is tormented in unutterable torment in hell. 
 And so I say, it shall be spared, and the clods of the valley 
 
96 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 sliall be sweet unto it, while the soul mourneth in hell for 
 sin. It is true, at the day of judgment, because that is the 
 last and final judgment of Grod 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 wicked- 
 ness which is meet. Lukexii. 4; Matt. x. 28. When I say, 
 the body is spared, and the soul tormented, 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 sometimes over presently, and 
 then resteth in the grave, while the soul is tormented in 
 hell. Yea, and why is death sufiered to slay the body ? I 
 dare say, not chiefly that the indignation of God most burn- 
 eth against the body; but the body being the house for the 
 soul in this world, God even pulls down this body, that the 
 soul may be stripped naked, and being stripped, may be 
 carried to prison, to the place where damned souls are, there 
 to suffer in the beginning of suffering that punishment that 
 will be endless. 
 
 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. 3. 
 Now by weighing 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 punishment. Shall not 
 the Judge of all the earth do right, in his famous distributing 
 of judgment? Gen. xix. 25. lie 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 congregation?" 
 Numb. xvi. 22. lie pleads here for equity in God's distri- 
 buting of judgment. Yea, and so exact is God in the dia- 
 
PROPER PUNISHMENT OP SOUL AND BODY. 97 
 
 tribution thereof, that he will not punish heathens 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 re- 
 ceive 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, without his weights and measures, give 
 to soul and body, as I may say, carelessly, not severally, 
 their 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 from the punishment of the body 
 there. When I say, differ, I mean, must needs be greater, 
 whether the body be punished with the same fire as the 
 Boul, 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 by the 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 
 it, as discharging itself for sin and the breach of the law, 
 be that with which the soul is punished, as sure it is, then 
 the body 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, 
 
 9 
 
98 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 and the immediate sinking under, that guilt and indignation 
 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 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 torment- 
 ing operation) of the unspeakable wrath of God, when in the 
 heat thereof he applieth it, and doth punish the soul for sin 
 therewith in hell. 
 
 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 
 the same punishment as to degree, for the causes that I have 
 showed. Nor indeed is it meet it should, because the body 
 has not sinned so grievously as the soul has done ; and God 
 proportioneth the punishment suitably to the offence. 
 
 4. With the soul by itself are the most quick and suita- 
 ble apprehensions of God and his wrath; wherefore that 
 must needs be made partaker of the sorest punishment in 
 hell. It is the soul that now is most subtle at discerning, 
 and it is the soul that will be so. Then conscience, memory, 
 understanding, 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 the durableness of it ; 
 so then the soul is the seat and receiver of wrath, even as it 
 
PROPER PUNISHMENT OF THE BODY. 99 
 
 was the receiver and seat of sin. Here then is sin and wrath 
 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 now 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 may say. Doth not this give encourage- 
 ment to sinners to give way to the body, to be in all its mem- 
 bers loose, and vain, and wicked, as instruments to sin ? 
 
 Answ. No; forasmuch as the body shall also have its 
 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 my 
 answer further, consider these following particulars. 
 
 1. The body will be the vessel to hold a tormented soul 
 in; this will be something; therefore man, man damned, 
 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 with, this wrath of God. Now the body 
 being a vessel to hold this soul, that is thus possessed with 
 
100 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 the wrath 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 
 Bliall have jDain, and his soul within him shall mourn. Job 
 xiv. 22. Both shall have their torment and misery, for 
 that both joined hand and hand in sin ; the soul to bring it 
 to the birth, and the body to midwife it into the w^orld; 
 therefore it saith again, with reference to the body, " Let 
 the curse come into his bowels like water, and like oil into 
 his bones. Let it be to him as the garment which covereth 
 him, and for a girdle," &c. Psalm cix. 17-19. The body, 
 then, will be tormented as well as the soul, by being a ves- 
 sel to hold that soul in, that is now possessed and distressed 
 with 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 cases, 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 body 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, any more than the 
 fire tormented the king of Babylon's furnace (Dan. iii. 19), 
 or than the king of Moab's limekiln was afflicted because 
 the king of Edom'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 
 
PUNISHMENT OP THE BODY ALSO. 101 
 
 from the soul by reason of its union and sympathy there- 
 with, there is a punishment, though I will not pretend to 
 tell you exactly what it is, prepared for the body, for its 
 joining with the soul in sin, and instruments of punishment 
 therewith to punish; a punishment, I say, that shall fall 
 immediately upon the body, and that such an one as will 
 most fitly suit 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 that the body (in 
 this state) is now in with the soul. Time was when the 
 body died, and the soul 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 the wages of sin, and once a grievous curse j 
 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 without 
 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 
 sympathy. But death — natural death — ^shall be destroyed, 
 and there shall be no more natural death, no, not in hell. 
 1 Cor. XV. 26. And now it shall happen to men, as it hath 
 done in less and inferior judgments. "They shall seek 
 death, and desire to die, and death shall not be found by 
 them.'' Jer ix. 21. Thus therefore they must abide to- 
 gether. Death that used to separate them asunder is now 
 slain — 1. Because it was an enemy in keeping Christ's body 
 
 9* 
 
102 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 in the grave ; and 2, because a friend to carnal men ; in that, 
 though it was a punishment in itself, yet while 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, as 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 (Lam. iii. 51), so the eye and ear, by hearing 
 and beholding, both ofttimes afflict the body. " "When I 
 heard, my belly trembled, rottenness entered into my bones.'* 
 Hab. iii. 16. 
 
 Now, I say, as the body after its resurrection to damna- 
 tion, to everlasting shame and contempt (Dan. xii. 2 ; John 
 V. 29), will receive all its senses again, so it will have mat- 
 ter to exercise them upon; not only letting into the soul 
 those aggravations which they by hearing, feeling, and see- 
 ing, are capable of letting in thither, but, I say, they will 
 have matter and things to exercise themselves upon for 
 helping forward 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 morn- 
 ing thou shalt say, "Would Grod 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 f 2, " and 
 for the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt see.'' Deut. 
 xxviii. 67. Nay, he tells them a little before that " they 
 
FEARFUL SIGHTS IN HELL. 103 
 
 should be mad for the sight of their eyes which they should 
 see.'' Deut. xxviii. 34. 
 
 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 
 that shall come thither, to behold themselves in. 
 
 Again ; they shall see others there, and shall by them 
 see themselves. There is an art by which a man may make 
 his neighbor 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. 
 
 "Whall shall I say ? 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 
 
104 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 
 have said what they can, the intolerableness of the torments 
 that will 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. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MEN WILLING TO BE SAVED WHEN TOO LATE. 
 
 I NOW come to the second doctrine that I gathered from 
 the text — namely, that however unconcerned and 
 
 CARELESS some NOW BE ABOUT THE LOSS OR SALVA- 
 TION 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 GIVE IT ALL IN EXCHANGE FOR 
 THEIR SOULS. 
 
 There are four things in the words of the text 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 V 
 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?" — "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 
 
 (105) 
 
106 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 would give, yea, what would he not give, in exchange for 
 his soul? 
 
 3. There is in the text an intimation of the intolerable- 
 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 
 sensible of the lastingness of the punishment; or else the 
 question rather argues a man unwary than considerate, in 
 his oflfering, 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 granted that the doctrine is good ; wherefore I shall 
 next inquire after what is contained in this truth. And, 
 first, that God has undertaken, and loill accomplish, the 
 hreakiifig of the spirits of all the world ; either hy his grace 
 and mercy to salvation, or hy his justice and severity to dam- 
 nation. 
 
 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 V 
 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 so brought 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 
 
GOD WILL BREAK ALL SPIRITS. 107 
 
 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 fools, in the Pro- 
 verbs — " They shall call, they shall seek, they shall cry.'' 
 Prov. i. 22-32; Zech. vii. 11-13. Who shall do so? The 
 answer is. They that sometime 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 
 God for mercy. 
 
 Sinner, careless sinner, didst thou take notice of this first 
 inference that I have drawn from my second doctrine ? If 
 thou didst, yet read it again ; it is this, '^ Grod 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 : Grod 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. God will 
 march against them. He is merciful, and is come forth 
 into the world by his Son, tendering grace to sinners by 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 ? 
 He saith, " 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, when 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 ? 
 
108 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 are ye stronger than he ?" 1 Cor. x. 20-22. As if he 
 should say, My brethren, are you aware what you do ? 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 
 themselves against him ; therefore beware. — Now the reason 
 of this resolution of God is this : it flows from a determina- 
 tion 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 under it ; since they will not now 
 credit the 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 he the lot of some to how 
 and hi^eak he/ore God too late, or icJien 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 who now say "There is no 
 God •/' or, if there be, yet " What is the Almighty, that we 
 should serve him?" 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 these things, and break at heart, and 
 melt under the hand, and power, and majesty of the Al- 
 mighty; for "As I live," saith God, "every knee shall bow 
 to me; every tongue shall confess to God." Tsa. xlv. 23; 
 
SOME WILL BOW WHEN TOO LATE. 109 
 
 Rom. xlv. 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. 
 Heb. xii. last verse. Yea, they shall see that face, and 
 hear that voice, from which the heavens and the earth shall 
 flee away, and find no place. Rev. xx. 11. And by this ap- 
 pearance, and by such words 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. Rev. vi. 16. For 
 if these things will happen at the execution of inferior 
 judgments, what will be done, what efi"ects will the last, 
 most dreadful, and eternal judgment have upon men's souls? 
 
 Hence you find that at the very 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 de- 
 siring, 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. Luke xvi. 24. What stooping, what 
 condescension, what humility is here ! All and every one 
 of these 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 kindness. 
 
 10 
 
110 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in 
 our streets." What now ? Why, he returns upon them his 
 first answer the second time, saying, ^' 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 Abraham, and Isaac, 
 and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and 
 yourselves thrust out," They come weeping, and go weep- 
 ing away. They came to him weeping, 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 Matt. xxv. 
 44, they were very loath to go from him, by their reason- 
 ing 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 V But all would 
 not do; here is no place for change of mind, — '' These shall 
 go away into everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into 
 life eternal." And now what would a man give in exchange 
 
VAIN LONGINGS OP THE LOST. Ill 
 
 for his soul ? So, that, as I said before, all is too late ! 
 they mourn too late, they repent too late, they pray too late, 
 and seek to make an exchange for their soul too late ! 
 
 "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" 
 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?'' — what shall, what would, yea, 
 what 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 
 instead 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 
 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 
 duties which they have scoffed at, the only blessed men; 
 yea, they shall wish their soul in the blessed possession of 
 those graces and virtues which those whom they hated were 
 accompanied with, and would, if they had it, give a whole 
 world for this change ; but 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 twenty- 
 fifth of Matthew 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 
 
112 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 a just God, a just Judge, a Judge that will give every one 
 according to his ways ; therefore, " ^Yoe to the soul of the 
 wicked now. It shall go ill with him, for the reward of 
 his hands shall be given him.'' Isa. iii. 11. 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, " What shall a man give in 
 exchange for his soul ?'' 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 what 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" 
 (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 home, 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 xvi. 
 32. That is a strong passage ; — there is a great gulf fixed. 
 
 What this gulf is, and how impassable, they that shall 
 
CHANGELESS CONDITION OF THE LOST. 113 
 
 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 ? 
 would they not have a more comfortable house and home 
 for their souls ?" 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 ? Yes, they would give all the world for such a change. 
 AYhat shall, what shall not a man, if he had it, if it would 
 answer his design, give in exchange for his soul ? 
 
 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 /or a change 
 of condition ? Yea, if an absolute change may not be 
 obtained, 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) ; the gnawing worm, and everlasting destruction 
 from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his 
 power (2 Thess. i. 7-10), 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 whom ? with an angel, with a 
 saint ) ay, with a dog or a toad ; for tliey mourn not, they 
 weep not, nor do they bear indignation of wrath; they are 
 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 seeking, 
 they must still abide in their place, their sins, and their tor- 
 ment. ^^For what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" 
 
 10* 
 
114 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 Therefore God saith, that the lost 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 mourning?', 
 their repentings, their wishings and wouldings, and all 
 their inventings and desires to change their state for a 
 better, they must lie down 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 one comes not from the king with 
 a pardon for him, all the while endeavoring to fumble away 
 as well as he can, and to prolong the minute of his exe- 
 cution. 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 thiis it will be with those that we have under con- 
 sideration ; 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 down." Of old, when a man was 
 to be chastised for his fault, he was to lie down to receive 
 his stripes ; so here, saith the Lord, they shall lie down — ■ 
 <' And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, 
 the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten 
 before his face." Deut. xxv. 2. And this lying down was to 
 be 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. 
 
SUBMISSION TO PUNISHMENT. 115 
 
 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 pouring out his wrath, like a river 
 of burning brimstone, upon the soul of the lost and cast- 
 away sinner. 
 
 They 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 male- 
 factor 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. 
 Now submission to punishment doth, or should, flow from 
 full conviction 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 be- 
 fore Grod." Rom. iii. 4, 19. Every mouth shall be stopped, 
 not at the beginning of the judgment, for then they plead, 
 and pray, and also object against the judge; but at the end, 
 after 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. Luke xiii. 
 25-28 ; Matt. xxv. 44. Now, 
 
 How they shall behave themselves in hell, I will not 
 here dispute ; whether in a way of rage and blasphemy, and 
 in rending and tearing the name and just actions of God 
 
116 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 towards them, or whether by way of submission there ; I 
 say, though this is none of the task I have taken in hand, 
 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 
 G-od; but I do think 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 Grod, and to add fuel to their fire by con- 
 cluding themselves in all the fault, and that they have suffi- 
 ciently merited this just damnation. For it would seem 
 strange to me that just judgment among men shall termi- 
 nate in this issue, if Grod should not justify himself in the 
 conscience of all the damned. But as here on earth, so he 
 will let them that go to hell know, that he hath not done 
 without a cause, a sufficient cause, all that he hath done in 
 damning them. Ezek. xiv. 23. 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 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 are the 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.'^ ProY. 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 chal- 
 lenge all the world to show me one, who for wasting and de- 
 stroying may be compared to him, that for the lusts and 
 pleasures of this life will hazard the loss of his Soul. Many 
 men will be so profuse, and will spend at that prodigal rate, 
 that they will bring a thousand pounds a year to five hun- 
 dred, 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 farm, a good estate, 
 upon the trundling of one single bowl; but what is this to 
 the casting away the Soul ? I say, what is this to the loss 
 of the Soul, and that for less than the trundling of a bowl ? 
 Nothing can for badness be compared to sin ; it is the vilest 
 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 himself, 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, 
 
 (117) 
 
118 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 he ranked 
 among the extravagant ones ? What think you of him who 
 when he tempted the wench to uncleanness said to her, "If 
 thou wilt venture thy body, I will venture my soul ?" Was 
 not here likely to be a fine bargain, think you ? or was not 
 this man likely to be a gainer by so doing ? This is he that 
 prizes sin at a higher rate than he doth his immortal soul ; 
 yea, this 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-fii-e an immortal 
 soul for a little sin. 
 
 Ansic. — 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 with such, except thou believe the gospel, and re- 
 pent. Luke xii. 46. 
 
 Object. 2. But surely, though God should be so angry 
 at the beginning, it cannot in time but grieve him to see ^ 
 and hear souls roaring in hell, and that for a little sin. 
 
 Answ. Whatsoever God doeth, it abideth for ever. Eccles. 
 iii. 14. He doeth nothing in a passion, or in an angry fit; 
 he proccedeth with sinners by the most perfect rules of jus- 
 tice ; wherefore it would be injustice to deliver them whom 
 the law condemneth, yea, he would falsify his word, if after 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 119 
 
 a time lie should deliver tliem from hell, concerning whom 
 he hath solemnly testified that they shall be there for ever. 
 
 Object. 3. Oh, but, as he is just, so he is merciful; and 
 mercy is pitiful, and very compassionate to the afflicted. 
 
 Answ. Oh, 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 afflicted more at the thoughts of that, than at 
 the thoughts of any thing 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 be 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 showing 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 cometh ; when your 
 fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh like 
 a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.'' 
 Prov. i. 26, 27. 
 
 Mark you, with how many pinching expressions the 
 Lord Jesus Christ doth threaten the refusing sinner, who 
 refuse th him now — I will laugh at him, I will mock at him. 
 But when. Lord, wilt thou laugh at, and mock at, the im- 
 penitent ? The answer is, ^^ I will laugh at their calamities, 
 and mock when their fear cometh; when their 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 
 
120 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 ? Wilt thou 
 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 with 
 death, and to maintain thy agreement with hell ? 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? Would not tears, and prayers, and cries, to God 
 for mercy in this acceptable time, yield thee more benefit 
 in the next world, than to lie and burn 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 ? 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. 
 
 Ans. — 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 ? But is there any comfort in being hanged 
 with company ? in sinking into the bottom of the sea with 
 company ? or in going to hell, in burning in hell, and in 
 enduring the everlasting pains of hell, with company ? 0, 
 
WHO ARE THE GREATEST FOOLS. 121 
 
 besotted wretch ! But I tell thee, the more company, 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 wlio are the greatest fools in the world — namely, 
 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 he was more concerned 
 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 venturing their 
 souls for profits ; they that venture their souls for pleasures 
 have but little excuse for their doings ; but they that ven- 
 ture their souls for profit seem to have much. ^^ And they 
 all with one consent began to make excuse. ^^ Excuse, for 
 what ? why, for the neglect of the salvation of their souls. 
 But what was the cause of their making this excuse ? Why, 
 their profits came tumbling in. ^^ I have bought a piece of 
 ground ; I have bought five yoke of oxen ; and I have mar- 
 ried a (rich) wife, 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 world 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 ? 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- 
 
 13 
 
122 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 men. '' He cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a 
 lie in my right hand ?" Isa. xliv. 20. 
 
 And see if in the end he did not become 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 that requiem which he sung to his soul at 
 last, saying, ^' Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be 
 merry,^' show himself ever the wiser ; for in all his labors 
 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 and 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 whose shall 
 those things be which thou hast provided V 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 salvation 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 ; xiv. 9. 
 
 3. "Fools despise wisdom; fools hate knowledge." Prov. 
 i. 7-22. 
 
 4. "A fool after restraint returns to his folly." Prov. 
 xxvi. 11. 
 
 5. " The way of a fool is right in his own 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 
 
OBJECTORS ALWAYS IN EXTREMES. 123 
 
 for the heavenly prize^ yet he has to sport himself 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 
 greedily turneth again thereto; and will, when 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 biggest size. And so is 
 every one also that layeth up treasure for himself on earth, 
 and is not rich towards God. Luke xii. 21. 
 
 Object. 1. But would you not have us mind our worldly 
 concerns ? 
 
 Ansio. — 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 G-od, 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 un- 
 thrifty, 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 
 nothing ? 
 
 Answ. — And must you needs be upon the extremes; 
 must you mind this world to the damnation of your souls; 
 or will you not mind your callings at all ? Is there not a 
 middle way? 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 this as not abusing the same? 
 
124 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 1 Cor. yii. 29-31. 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. 2 Cor. iv. 18. And is 
 there not all the reason in the world for this ? Are not the 
 things that are eternal best ? Deut. viii. 3 ; Matt. iv. 4 ; 
 Heb. X. 39. Will temporal things make thy soul to live ? 
 or art thou none of those that should look after the salvation 
 of their soul ? 
 
 Object. 3. But the most of men do that which you forbid, 
 and why may not we ? 
 
 j^nsw. — Grod 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. Now, " he that refuseth instruction, despiseth 
 his own soul; and he that keepeth the commandment, 
 keepeth his own soul." Prov. xv. 32; xix. 16. Make not 
 therefore these foolish objections. But what saith the word ? 
 How readest thou? 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 ? 
 
 Ansio. — A divided heart is a faulty one. Hos. x. 2. You 
 cannot serve God and mammon. Matt. vi. 24 ; Luke xvi. 
 13. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is 
 not in him.'' 1 John ii. 15. 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 ? Prov. xi. 4 ; yea, are they not hurtful 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 ? 
 Luke xxi. 34. Why then wilt thou set thy heart upon that 
 
CHOICE OF SOUL-SHEPHERDS. 125 
 
 which is not ? Yea, then what will become of them that are 
 so far oiF from minding their souls, that they for whole days, 
 whole weeks, whole months, and years together, scarce con- 
 sider whether they have souls to save ? 
 
 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 he very careful to whom they 
 commit the teaching and guidance of their souls. 
 
 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. 17. 
 
 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. 1. 6; Isa. ix. 16. 
 
 7. And there are shepherds that feed their flocks. Jer. 
 xxiii. 4. These last only 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 ? 
 
 Answ. First, surrender up thy soul unto God by Christ, 
 and choose Christ to be the Chief Shepherd of thy soul, (1 
 Pet. ii. 25; iv. 19; John x. 4, 5; Cant. i. 7, 8,) and he will 
 direct thee to his shepherds, and he will of his mercy set 
 
 11* 
 
126 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL 
 
 such shepherds over thee *^ as shall feed thee with knowledge 
 and understanding. Jer. iii. 15; xxiii. 4. Before thou hast 
 surrendered up thy soul to Christy 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-shep- 
 herds, for thou canst not love them. Besides, 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 belong to the great 
 and Chief Shepherd, 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 doeth 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 another man's. He 
 that feeds his own soul with ashes (Isa. xliv. 20) 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 fruits you shall know them;'' they are for flattering 
 the worst, and frowning upon the best; they are for pro- 
 mising life to the profane, and for slaying the souls that God 
 would have live; they are also men that hunt the souls who 
 fear Grod, but sew pillows under those arm-holes which Grod 
 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 him 
 life." Ezek. xiii. 18-23. 
 
 And as thou shouldst, for thy soul's sake, choose for thy- 
 self good soul-shepherds, so also, for the same reason, you 
 
CAUTIONS FOR ITS SALVATION. 127 
 
 should choose for yourself a good wife, a good husband, a 
 good master, a good servant; for in all these things the 
 Soul is concerned. 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. Gen. xxiv. 3; Psalm ci. 7. Bad company is also 
 very destructive to the soul, and so is evil communication. 
 Prov. xiii. 20; 1 Cor. xv. 33. Wherefore be diligent to 
 shun all these things, that thou mayest persevere in that 
 way, the end of which will be the saving of thy soul. 
 
 And since under this head I am fallen upon cautions, let 
 me add these to those which I have presented to thee al- 
 ready — 
 
 1. Take heed, take heed of learning to do evil of any that 
 are good. It is possible for a good man to do things that 
 are bad; but let not his bad action embolden thee to run 
 upon sin. Seest thou a good man that stumbleth at a stone, 
 or that slippeth into the dirt, let that warn thee to take 
 heed; let his stumble 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 be good by 
 the word of God, and by the holy lives of them that be 
 good; envy not the wicked, nor desire to be with him; 
 choose none of his ways. Prov. iii. 31; xxiv. 1. Thy Soul 
 lies at stake. 
 
 3. Take heed of playing the hypocrite 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 choose his 
 ways for the delight of thy heart. " For the Lord's eye is 
 
128 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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?" Eccles. vi. 3. — But, 
 
 Use 4. Is it so ? is the Soul such an excellent thing, and 
 is the loss thereof so unspeakably 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 what provision thou hast made 
 for this life, but what for the life and the world to come. 
 " Lord, gather not my soul with sinners," said David, (Ps. 
 xxvi. 9) ) '* not with men of this world; Lord, not with them 
 that have their portion in this life, whose belly thou fiUest 
 with thy hid treasures." Ps. xvii. 14. Thus you see how 
 Solomon laments some, and how his father prays to be de- 
 livered 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? 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 showed you. Now a man will be concerned about 
 what he thinks is his all. We read of the poor servant that 
 
CAllE FOR ITS SALVATION. 129 
 
 ^^ 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 two seem to be inconsistent. Therefore let 
 thy conscience speak ; either thou hast very great and 
 weighty thoughts 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. What 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 fel- 
 lows have passed on theirs before thee, saying, ^^I shall 
 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 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 ; h-e 
 will pull it out of the ditch on the Sabbath day. But, oh ! 
 that is the day on which many men do put 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 
 
130 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 strength fail^ he will implore the help and aid of another; 
 and no man can by any means deliver by his own arm his 
 soul from the power of hell (which thou also wilt confess, 
 if thou art 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 ; for I pour out my soul unto thee ?" Ps. xvii. 
 13 ; XXV. 20 ; xli. 4. Yea, canst thou say. My soul, my 
 soul waiteth upon God, my soul thirsteth for him, my soul 
 followeth hard after him? Ps. Ixii. 5; Ixiii. 1-8. I say, 
 dost thou this ? Or dost thou hunt thine own soul to destroy 
 it ? The Soul with some is the game, their lusts are the dogs, 
 and they themselves are the huntsmeu, 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 yet 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, or a lion, to hurt a lamb ! 
 
 4. What are the signs and tokens that thou bearest about 
 thee concerning how it will go with thy soul at last ? There 
 are signs and tokens of a good end, and signs and tokens of 
 a bad end, 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 salva- 
 tion ; and there are signs of the damnation of the soul, evi- 
 dent signs of damnation. Now which of these has thou ? I 
 cannot stand here to show 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 
 
SIGNS OF SALVATION OR PERDITION. 131 
 
 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? 
 Are they things divine, or things natural ? 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 whom you 
 obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto 
 righteousness.^' 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 ? 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 ? 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, tliey have been sinners, 
 and none but sinners, that go to heaven ; but they are 
 washed, — " Such were some of you, but ye are washed, but 
 ye are justified, but ye are sanctified in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor. 
 ix. 10, 11, 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 — namely, six months 
 with oil of myrrh, and six mouths with sweet odors, and 
 
132 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 par- 
 takers 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 ; the Lord gives grace and glory ; hence he that 
 goeth to heaven is said to be wrought for it, fitted, prepared 
 for it. 1 Cor. v. 5; Eom. ix. 23. 
 
 Use 5. Again, fifthly, Is it so ? is the Soul such an ex- 
 cellent thing, and is the loss thereof so unspeakably great? 
 Then this doctrine commends those for the wise ones, that 
 above all husiness 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. Yet but few comparatively will be concerned with 
 this use 'j for where is he that doeth this ? Solomon speaks 
 of one man of a thousand. Eccles. vii. 28. However, 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, 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 
 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." Prov. iii. 35. 
 
TRUE WISDOM COMMENDED. 133 
 
 Let me then encourage those that are of this mind to be 
 strong, and hold on their way. Soul, thou hast pitched 
 right. I will say of thy choice, as David said of Goliath's 
 sword, ''There is none like that; give it me.'^ "Hold fast 
 that thou hast, that no man take thy crown/' Rev. iii. 11. 
 Oh ! I admire this wisdom ; this is by the direction of the 
 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. 1 Cor. ii. 6. Surely thou hast seen something 
 of the world to come, and the glory of it, through faith ; 
 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 ? 
 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 eye-sight. 
 
 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 ? in 
 an age wherein the thoughts of eternal life and the salva- 
 tion of the soul, are with many like the Morocco ambassador 
 and his men, of strange faces, in strange habits, with strange 
 gestures and behaviors, monsters to behold. 
 
 But where hadst thou that heart that gives entertainment 
 to these thoughts, these heavenly thoughts ? These thoughts 
 
134 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 are like the French protestants, banished thence where they 
 willingly would have harbor. 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 support is 
 it upon which thou bearest up thy spirit, and takest en- 
 couragement in this thy forlorn, unoccupied, and singular 
 way ? for so I dare say it is with the most. 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 with me, for my 
 heart is come to a point ; but yet, for all that, I meet with 
 many discouragements, and such things that indeed do 
 weaken my strength in the way. 
 
 But, brave soul, pray tell me what the things are that dis- 
 courage 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 drown me. For 
 when the heat of my spirit in the pursuit after them is a 
 little abated, methinks I hear myself talking thus to myself: 
 Fond fool ! canst thou imagine that such a gnat, a flea, a 
 
WEAK BELIE VEllS EXCOURACiED. 135 
 
 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 endeavors 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 mayest well conclude 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. 
 
 Answ. — The greatness of thy undertakings does but show 
 the nobleness of thy soul, in that it cannot, will not, be con- 
 tent with such low things as the baseborn spirits that are of 
 the world can and do content themselves with. 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. Yea, he 
 hath prepared the kingdom, given the kingdom, and laid up 
 in the kingdom of heaven the things that thy soul longeth 
 for, presseth after, and cannot be content without. Matt. 
 XXV. 34; Col. i. 4. As for thy making a trial of the suc- 
 cessfulness of thy endeavors upon things inferior and more 
 base, that is but a trick of the old deceiver. God has refused 
 to give his children (a few only excepted), the great, the brave," 
 and glorious things of this world, because he has prepared 
 some better thing for them. 1 Cor. i. 26, 27; Heb. x. 39; 
 xi. 36-40; 2 Cor. vi. 9, 10; 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 perdi- 
 
136 THE GREATNESS Of THE SOUL. 
 
 tion, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul; 
 thou shalt receive the end of thy faith, even the salvation of 
 thy soul. Heb. x. 39 ; 1 Peter i. 9. 
 
 Object. 2. But all mj 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. 
 
 Answ. — 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, both cedars and shrubs, are sensible of the same 
 things, which thou layest in against thy exercising of hope, 
 or as matter of thy discouragement. In Psalm Ixxvii. 2, 
 poor David says, his soul refused to be comforted upon this 
 very account. And Paul cries out under the sense of this, 
 " wretched man that I am !" and comes as it were to the 
 borders of a doubt, saying, ^^Who shall deliver me V Only 
 he was quick at remembering that Christ was his righteous- 
 ness and redemption, and there he relieved himself. Rom. 
 vii. 24, 25. 
 
 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. Rom. x. 4. 
 
 And for further help, consider, that therefore Christ liveth 
 in heaven, making intercession, that thou mightest be saved 
 by his life, not by thine, and by his intercessions, not by 
 thy perfections. Rom. v. 6-9; Col. i. 19, 20. Let not, 
 therefore, thy weaknesses be thy discouragements; only let 
 them put thee upon the duties required of thee by the gos- 
 pel — namely, faith, hope, repentance, humility, watchful- 
 
THE 3IISERY OF LOST SOULS. 137 
 
 ness, diligence, and the like. 1 Pet. i. 13; v. 5; 2 Cor. vii. 
 11; Mark xiii. 37; 2 Pet. i. 10. 
 
 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 dream, that would have 
 run, but could not; that would have fought, but could not; 
 and -that would have fled, but could not. 
 
 Answ. 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 most 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 
 
 1 will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen 
 that which was sick." Ezek. xxxiv. 16. Only here will thy 
 wisdom be manifested — namely, 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. 
 
 Use 6. 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 ? Then 
 this shoiveth the sad state of those that lose their 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 
 
 12* 
 
138 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 recovery ; but far will this be from 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 
 Grod and his angels, he will also be, in this his miserable 
 state ; and this will add sorrow to sorrow, and to his vexation 
 of spirit, howling. 
 
 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 expressions of fire, brimstone, the lake of fire, a fiery 
 furnace the bottomless pit, and a hundred more to boot, are 
 all 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 ; 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 
 despair, what are they ? who understands them unto perfec- 
 tion ? The ireful look of an infinite Majesty, 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 indig- 
 nation ? 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 
 
SCRIPTURE GLIMPSES OF HELL. 139 
 
 heaven, he heard words that were unspeakable; and he that 
 goes down 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 want- 
 ing; 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 subject, I will here treat a little 
 of Hell as the scriptures will give me leave, and the rather 
 because I am upon a use of terror, and because hell is the 
 place of torment. 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, because of the utmost opposition 
 that is between these two ; hell being the place of the ut- 
 most sorrow, despair, and misery. There are the underlings 
 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 show the pleasurableness 
 and the desirableness of heaven ; and darkness_, to show the 
 dolesomeness 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 down 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- 
 
140 THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 show how God has exalted and will exalt 
 them that loved him in the world ; hell, a pit or hole, to 
 show 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, 12 ; Rev. ix. 2 ; 
 XX. 3) — the height of heaven, to show that the exaltation of 
 them that do ascend up thither is both perfect and unsearch- 
 able ; and hell, the bottomless pit, to show that the downfall 
 of them that descend thither will never be at an end — down, 
 down, down they go, and nothing but down, down still ! 
 
 6. Heaven ! it is called the paradise of God ; but hell, 
 the burning lake (Rev. ii. 7; xxii. 15) — a paradise, to show 
 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, in allusion to Sodom, 
 which since its destruction has turned into a stinking lake ; 
 to show 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 the 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. 7j 
 Isa. Ivii. 1, 2; Prov. vii. 27; Ps. Ixviii. 13. There are 
 mansions or dwelling-places in heaven, to show that every 
 one of them that go thither might have his reward, according 
 to his work ; and there is hell, and the lowest hell, and the 
 chambers of death in hell, to show that there are places and 
 states in hell too, for sinners to be imprisoned in according 
 
DEGREES OF TORMENT IN HELL. 141 
 
 to their faults ; hence it is said of some, These shall receive 
 greater damnation; and of others, That it shall be more 
 tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment than for 
 them. Luke xx. 47; x. 12, 14. 
 
 We read of the lowest hell. Deut. xxxii. 22. How many 
 hells there are above that, or more tolerable tormentinsr 
 places than the most exquisite torments there, God and they 
 that are there, know best ; but degrees, without doubt there 
 are; and the term ^Howest'^ shows the utmost and most 
 exquisite distress. So the chambers of death, the second 
 death in hell (for so I think the words should be under- 
 stood — " Her house is the way to hell, going down to the 
 chambers of death," Prov. vii. 27), these are the chambers 
 that are opposed to the chambers in the temple, or to the 
 dwelling-places in the house in heaven ; and this opposition 
 shows, that as there will be degrees of glory in heaven, so 
 there will be of torments in hell. And there is all reason for it, 
 since the punishment must be inflicted by God, the infinitely 
 just. Why should a poor, silly, ignorant man, though 
 damned, be punished with the same degree of torment as 
 he that has lived a thousand times worse ? 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 quan- 
 tity of the oil is, so will the fire burn, and so will the fiaming 
 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 
 
1-12 riii: GiiEATiNJias ui' tui: jsull. 
 
 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, and would be the efi'ect 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 hell. 
 ^^The sting of death is sin." By '■'- death" in this place we 
 must not understand merely that which is natural, but that 
 which is in hell, the second death, even everlasting damna- 
 tion ) for natural death the saints die, yea, and also many 
 sinners, without the least touch of a sting from 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; (Eccles. ii. 15, IG; 1 Cor. xv. 55); 
 but the second death, the death in hell, for that is the por- 
 tion of the damned, and it is from that that the saints have 
 a promise of deliverance — '' 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 resurrec- 
 tion; on such the second death hath no power." Rev. xx. 6. 
 It is this death, then, that hath the chambers to hold each 
 
SIN THE STING OF HELL. 143 
 
 damned soul in; and sin is the twining, winding, biting, 
 poisoning sting of this death, in these chambers of hell, for 
 sinners to be stricken, stung, and pierced with. " The sting 
 of death is sin." 
 
 Sin in the general 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 Grod, can fasten and kin- 
 dle upon nothing but because of sin. Sin then, as sin, is 
 the sting and the hell of hells, of the lowest and utmost 
 hells ; sin, I say, in the nature of it, simply as it is con- 
 cluded both by Grod 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 quick, 
 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, more full of venom, and poisonous to the soul, than 
 if it could be committed without it ; and this 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 be- 
 fore 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 per- 
 suasion of friends, and 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. 
 
144: THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 
 
 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 sorrows. 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 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 prin- 
 cipal 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; therefore saith Grod 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 I have spoken ii, suith 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 sin- 
 ners. Vipers will come out of other men's fire and flames, 
 and settle upon, seize upon, and for ever abide upon their 
 consciences; 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 be 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, Luci- 
 fer !" there is the sting. Isa. xiv. 12. "Thou that art ex- 
 alted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.'' Matt. xi. 
 23. "Though thou hast made thy nest among the stars, from 
 thence will I fetch thee down;" there is the sting. Obad. iv. 
 
THE LAST AGGRAVATION TO LOST SOULS. 145 
 
 To be pulled, through love to some yain lust, from the ever^ 
 lasting gates of glory, and caused to be swallowed up for it 
 in the belly of hell, and made to lodge for ever in the dark- 
 some 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 full of venom, yet if it wanteth strength to force it to the 
 designed 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. Here then is the strength of the sting of hell; it is 
 the law in the perfect penalty of it; for without the law, siu 
 is dead. Rom. vii. 8. Yea, again he saith, where no law 
 is, there is no transgression. Rom. iv. 15. The law then 
 followeth (in the executive part of it) the soul into hell, and 
 there strengtheneth sin, that sting in hell, by its unuttera- 
 ble charging of it on the conscience, to pierce the soul for 
 ever and ever. Nor can the soul justly mui-mur or repine 
 at Grod, or at his law. For then the sharply apprehensive soul 
 will well discern the justness, righteousness, reasonableness, 
 and goodness of the law, and that nothing is done unto it by 
 the law, 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 scorpion. 
 
 And yet add 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 bound in chains ; but, oh ! here is also that which will 
 make this sting most sharp and keen — the God that executes 
 it will never die. ^'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 
 of the living God.'' Heb. x. 30, 31. 
 
 13 
 
SIGHS FROM HELL ; 
 
 OE, 
 
 THE GEOANS OF A LOST SOUL. 
 
 DISCOVERING FROM LUKE XVI. 
 
 THE LA^ilENTABLE STATE OF THE DAMNED; 
 
 WHICH MAY FITLY SEKVE AS A WARNING WOED TO SINNERS, 
 
 BOTH OLD AND YOUNG, BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 TO AVOID THE SAME PLACE OF TORMENT. 
 
 A DISCOVERY OF THE USEFULNESS OF THE SCRIPTURES, 
 
 AS OUR SAFE-CONDUCT FOR AVOIDING 
 
 THE TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 (147) 
 
THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 
 
 FrienDj because it is a dangerous thing to be walking 
 towards the place of darkness and anguish; and again, 
 because it is, notwithstanding, the journey that most of 
 the poor souls in the world are taking, and that with de- 
 light and gladness, as if there was the only happiness to 
 be found ; I have therefore thought it my duty (being made 
 sensible of the danger that will befall those that fall therein), 
 for the preventing of thee, thou poor man or woman, to 
 tell thee, by opening this parable, what sad success those 
 souls have had, and are likely to have, that have been, or 
 shall be found, persevering therein. 
 
 We use to count him a friend that will forewarn his 
 neighbor of the danger when he knoweth thereof, and doth 
 also see that the way his neighbor is walking in doth lead 
 right thereto, especially when we think that our neighbor 
 may be either ignorant, or careless o'f his way. Why, friend, 
 it may be, nay twenty to one, but thou hast been, ever since 
 thou didst come into the world, with thy back towards hea- 
 ven, and thy face towards hell; and thou, either through 
 ignorance, or carelessness (which is as bad, if not worse), 
 hast been running full hastily that way ever since. Why, 
 I beseech thee, put a little stop to thy earnest race, and take 
 a view of what entertainment thou art likely to have, if thou 
 do in deed and in truth persist in this thy course. Thy 
 way leads down to death, and thy steps take hold on hell. 
 Prov. V. 5. It may be the path indeed is pleasant to the 
 flesh, but the end thereof will be bitter to thy soul. Hark I 
 
 13* (149) 
 
loO THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 
 
 dost thou not hear the bitter cries of them that are but 
 newly gone before, saying, Let him dip the tip of his finger 
 in water, and cool my tongue, that is so tormented in this 
 flame ? Luke xvi. Dost thou not hear them say. Send out from 
 the dead, to prevent my father, my brother, and my father's 
 house, from coming into this place of torment ? Shall not 
 then these mournful groans pierce thy flinty heart? Wilt 
 thou stop thine ears, and shut thy 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 he be either entangled in the spider's web, or burned 
 in the candle ? Wilt thou be like the bird that hasteth to 
 the snare of the fowler? Wilt thou be like that simple one 
 named in the seventh of Proverbs, that will be drawn to the 
 slaughter by the cord of a silly lust? sinner, sinner, 
 there are better things than hell to be had, and at a cheaper 
 rate, by the thousandth part ! 0, there is no comparison ! 
 There is heaven, there is Grod, there is Christ, there is com- 
 munion with an innumerable company of saints and angels. 
 Hear the message then that God doth send, that Christ doth 
 send, that saints do bring, nay, that the dead do send unto 
 thee : "I pray thee therefore, that thou wouldst send him 
 to my father's house, — if one went to them from the dead 
 they would repent." "How long, ye simple ones, will ye 
 love simplicity? and ye scorners delight in scorning? and 
 ye fools hate knowledge ? Turn ye at my reproof; and be- 
 hold,'' saith God, "I will pour out my Spirit upon you; I 
 will make known my words unto you." I say, hear this 
 voice, silly one ! And turn and live, thou sinful soul, lest 
 he make thee hear that other saying, "But, because I have 
 called, and you have refused ; I have stretched out my hand, 
 and no man regarded; I also will laugh at your calamity, 
 and mock when your fear cometh." 
 
 poor soul, if God and Christ did wish thee for thine 
 harm, it would be another matter. Then if thou didst refuse, 
 
THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 151 
 
 thou mightest liave some excuse to make, or fault to find, 
 and ground to make delays. But this is for thy profit, for 
 thy advantage, for the pardoning of thy sin^, the salvation 
 of thy soul — the delivering thee from hell-fire, from the 
 wrath to come, from everlasting burnings, into favor with 
 God, and Christ, and communion with all happiness, that is 
 such indeed. 
 
 But it may be, thou wilt say, all that hath been spoken 
 of in this discourse is but a parable; and parables are no 
 realities. 
 
 I could put thee off with this answer, that though it be a 
 parable, yet it is a truth, and not a lie ; and thou shalt find 
 it so too, to thy cost, if thou shalt be found a slighter of 
 God, Christ, and the salvation of thy own soul. 
 
 But, secondly, know for certain, that the things signified 
 by parables are wonderful realities. what a glorious re- 
 ality was there signified by that parable, ^^The kingdom of 
 heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea," &c., 
 signifying, that sinners of all sorts, of all nations should be 
 brought into God's kingdom by the net of the gospel. And, 
 oh ! how real a thing shall the other part thereof be, when 
 it is fulfilled, which saith, "And when it was full, they 
 drew it to the shore, and put the good into vessels, but 
 threw the bad away'^ (Matt. xiii. 47, 48); signifying the 
 mansions of glory that the saints should have, and also the 
 rejection that God will give to the ungodly, and to sinners. 
 And also that parable — what a glorious reality is there in 
 it ! — which saith, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the 
 ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth 
 forth much fruit" (John xii. 24) ; — to signify, that unless 
 Jesus Christ did indeed spill his blood, and die the cursed 
 death, he should abide alone; that is, have never a soul 
 into glory with him; but if he died, he should bring forth 
 much fruit; that is, save many sinners. And also how real 
 a truth there was in that parable, concerning the Jews put- 
 
152 THE AUTHOR to the header 
 
 ting Christ to death — which the poor dispersed Jews can best 
 experience to their cost ! for they have been almost ever 
 since a banished people, and such as have had God's sore 
 displeasure wonderfully manifested against them, according 
 to the truth of the parable. Matt. xxi. 33-41. therefore, 
 for Jesus Christ's sake, do not slight the truth, because it is 
 discovered in a parable ! For by this argument thou mayest 
 also, nay, thou wilt also slight almost all the things that our 
 Lord Jesus Christ did speak; for he spake them for the 
 most part (if not all) in parables. Why should it be said 
 of thee, as it is said of some, that these things are spoken 
 to them that are without, in parables, "that seeing they 
 might not see, and that hearing they might not under- 
 stand?" Luke viii. 10. I say, take heed of being a quarreller 
 against Christ's parables, lest Christ also object against the 
 salvation of thy soul at the judgment-day. 
 
 Friend, I have no more to say to thee now. If thou dost 
 love me, pray for me, that my Grod would Jiot forsake me, 
 nor take his Holy Spirit from me; and that God would fit 
 me to do his will, and suffer what shall be, from the world 
 or the devil, inflicted upon me. I must tell thee, the world 
 rages, they stamp and shake their heads, and fain they would 
 be doing. The Lord help me to take all they shall do with 
 patience; and when they smite the one cheek, to turn the 
 other to them, that I may do as Christ hath bidden me; for 
 then the Spirit of God, and of glory, shall rest upon me. 
 Farewell. 
 
 I am thine, to serve in the Lord Jesus, 
 
 JOHN BUNYAN. 
 
SIGHS FROM hell: 
 
 THE GROANS OF A LOST SOUL. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and 
 
 FARED SUMPTUOUSLY EVERT DAT. — ^Lulie Xvi. 19-31. 
 
 This scripture was not spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 to show you the state of two single persons only, (as some 
 through ignorance of the drift of Christ in his parables do 
 dream) ; but to show you the state of the godly and un- 
 godly to the world's end ; as is clear to him that is of an 
 understanding heart. For he spake them to the end that 
 after generations should take notice thereof, and fear, lest 
 they also fall into the same condition. 
 
 Now, in my discourse upon these words, I shall not, be 
 tedious ; but as briefly as I may, I shall pass through the 
 several verses, and lay you down some of the several truths 
 contained therein : and the Lord grant that they may be 
 profitable, and of great advantage to those that read them or 
 hear them read. 
 
 The first two or three verses of the parable I shall not 
 spend much time upon, only give you three or four short 
 
 (153) 
 
154 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 hints, and so pass to the next verses; for they are the words 
 I do intend most especially to insist upon. 
 
 The verses run thus: ^^ There was a certain rich man, 
 which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sump- 
 tuously every day : And there was a certain beggar named 
 Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores," &c. 
 
 If these verses had been spoken by Jesus Christ, and no 
 more, all the world would have been apt to have cast a 
 wrong interpretation upon them. I say, if Jesus had said 
 only this much. There was a certain rich man, which fared 
 sumptuously daily, and a certain beggar laid at his gates full 
 of sores, the world would have made this conclusion of them : 
 The rich man was the happy man. For, at first view, it doth 
 represent such a thing. But take all together — that is, read 
 the whole parable, and you shall find, that there is no man 
 in a worse condition than he ; as I shall clearly hold forth 
 afterward. 
 
 Again, if a man would judge of men according to outward 
 ajDpearance, he shall ofttimes take his mark amiss. Here is 
 a man who to outwai-d appearance, appears the only blessed 
 man, better by half than the beggar, inasmuch as he is rich, 
 the beggar poor; he is well clothed, but peradventure the 
 beggar is naked; he hath good food, but the beggar would 
 be glad of dog's meat: ^^And he desired to be fed with the 
 crumbs which fell from the rich man's table." The rich 
 man fares well every day; but the beggar must be glad of 
 a bit when he can get it. ! who would not be in a rich 
 man's estate ? A wealthy man ; sorts of new suits, and 
 dainty dishes every day; enough to make one who minds 
 nothing but his belly, and his back, and his lusts, to say, 
 that I were in that man's condition ! that I had things 
 about me, as that man has! Then I should live a life 
 indeed; then should I have heart' s-ease, good store; then I 
 should live pleasantly, and might say to my soul, Soul, be 
 of good cheer; cat, drink, and be merry (Luke xii. 19); 
 
FALSE JUDGMENT ABOUT RICHES. 155 
 
 thou hast every thing plenty, and art in a most blessed con- 
 dition. 
 
 I say, this might he the conclusion with them that judge 
 according to outward appearance. But if the whole parable 
 be well considered, you will see that which is had in high 
 estimation with men, is an abomination in the sight of God. 
 Luke xvi. 15. And again, that condition that is the saddest 
 condition according to outward appearance, is ofttimes the 
 most excellent. Job xvi. 20-22. For the beggar had ten 
 thousand degrees the best of it, though to outward appear- 
 ance his state was the saddest. From whence we shall ob- 
 serve thus much : 
 
 1. That those who judge according to outward appearance, 
 do for the most part judge amiss. John vii. 24. 
 
 2. That they who look upon their outward enjoyments to 
 be tokens of God's special grace unto them, are also deceived. 
 Kev. iii. 17. For as it is here in the parable, a man of 
 wealth, and a child of the devil, may make but one person; 
 or, a man may have abundance of outward enjoyments, and 
 yet be carried by the devils into eternal burning. Luke xvi. 
 23. But this is the trap in which the devil hath caught 
 many thousands of poor souls, namely, by getting them to 
 judge according to outward appearance, or according to God's 
 outward blessings. 
 
 Do but ask a poor, carnal, covetous wretch, how he should 
 know a man to be in a happy state ; and he will answer, 
 Those that God blesseth, and giveth abundance of this world 
 to; when, for the most part, they are they that are the 
 cursed men. Alas, poor men ! they are so ignorant as to 
 think, that because a man is increased in outward things, 
 and that by a small stock, therefore God doth love that man 
 with a special love, or else he would never do so much for 
 him, never bless him so, and prosper the works of his hands. 
 Ah, poor soul ! it is the rich man that goes to hell. And 
 
156 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 " the rich man died, — and in hell/^ mark; ^^ in hell, he lift 
 up his eyes, being in torment/' 
 
 Methinks to see how the great ones of the world will go 
 strutting up and down the streets sometimes, it makes me 
 wonder. Surely they look upon themselves to be the only 
 happy men; but it is because they judge according to out- 
 ward appearance ; they look upon themselves to be the only 
 blessed men, when the Lord knows the generality of such are 
 left out of that blessed condition. "Not many wise men after 
 the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.' ' 
 1 Cor. i. 26. Ah ! did they that do now so brag, that 
 nobody dare scarce look on them, but believe this, it would 
 make them hang down their heads and cry, give me a 
 Lazarus' portion ! 
 
 I might here enlarge very much, but I shall not; only 
 this much I shall say to you that have much of this world : 
 Have a care that you have not your portion in this world : 
 take heed that it be not said to you hereafter, when you 
 would very willingly have heaven. Remember in your life- 
 time you had your good things; in your lifetime you had 
 your portion. Psalm xvii. 14. 
 
 And, friend, thou that seekest after this world, and de- 
 sirest riches, let me ask this question: Wouldst thou be 
 content that God should put thee oflf with a portion in this 
 life ? Wouldst thou be glad to be kept out of heaven with 
 a back well clothed, and a belly well filled with the dainties 
 of this world? Wouldst thou be glad to have all thy good 
 things in thy lifetime ; to have thy heaven to last no longer 
 than while thou dost live in this world? Wouldst thou be 
 willing to be deprived of eternal happiness and felicity ? If 
 thou say. No, then have a care of the world and thy sins; 
 have a care of desiring to be a rich man, lest thy table be 
 made a snare unto thee (Psalm Ixiv. 22) ; lest the wealth 
 of this world do bar thee out of glory. For, as the apostle 
 saith, "They that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a 
 
HOW THE RICH MAN REPRESENTS THE UNGODLY. 157 
 
 snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown 
 men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. vi. 9. Thus much 
 in general : but now, particularly. 
 
 These two men here spoken of (as I said) do hold forth 
 to us the state of the godly and ungodly : the beggar hold- 
 eth forth the godly, and the rich man the ungodly. 
 
 But why, under the notion of a rich man, are the ungodly 
 held forth? 
 
 1. Because Christ would not have them look too high, as 
 I said before ; but that those who have riches would have a 
 care that they be not all their portion. James i. 10-12 ; 
 1 Tim. iv. 17. 
 
 2. Because rich men are most liable to the devil's tempta- 
 tions; are most ready to be puffed up with pride, stoutness, 
 and cares of this world; in which things they spend most of 
 their time — in lusts, drunkenness, wantonness, idleness, to- 
 gether with other works of the flesh; "For which thing's 
 sake, the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobe- 
 dience." Col. iii. 6. 
 
 3. Because he would comfort the hearts of his own, 
 which are most commonly of the poorer sort : for God hath 
 chosen the poor, despised, and base things of this world. 
 1 Cor. i. 28. Should God have set the rich man in the 
 blessed state, his own children would have concluded, being 
 poor, that they had no share in the life to come. 
 
 4. And again, had not God given such a discovery of the 
 sad condition of those that are for the most part rich men, 
 we should have had men conclude absolutely, that the rich 
 are the blessed men. Nay, though the Lord himself doth 
 so evidently declare, that the rich ones of the world are for 
 the most part in the saddest condition, yet they, through 
 unbelief, or else presumption, do harden themselves, and 
 seek for the glory of this world, as though the Lord Jesus 
 Christ did not mean as he said, or else that he will say more 
 than shall assuredly come to pass; but let them know that 
 
 14 
 
158 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 tlie Lord hath a time to fulfill what he had a time to declare, 
 for the scripture cannot be broken. John x. 35. 
 
 5. But observe, the Lord by his word doth not mean 
 those are ungodly who are rich in the world, and no other; 
 for then must all those that are poor, yet graceless and vain 
 men, be saved, and delivered from eternal vengeance ; which 
 would be contrary to the word of Grod, which saith, that 
 together with the kings of the earth, and the great men, 
 and the chief captains, and the mighty men, there are bond- 
 men or servants, and slaves, that cry out at the appearance 
 of the Almighty God, and his Son Jesus Christ to judg- 
 ment. Rev. vi. 15. 
 
 So that though Christ doth say, "There was a certain 
 rich man ^ yet you must understand, he meaneth all the 
 ungodly, rich or poor. Nay, if you will not understand it 
 so now, you shall be made to understand it to be so meant 
 at the day of Christ's second coming, when all that are un- 
 godly shall stand at the left hand of Christ with pale faces, 
 and guilty consciences, with the vials of the Almighty's 
 wrath ready to be poured out upon them. Thus much in 
 brief touching this verse. I might have observed other 
 things from it, but now I forbear, having other things to 
 speak of at this time. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 And there was a certain BEaaAR named Lazaeus, vrmcH •vtas laid at his gate, full 
 OF SOR ES. — Verse 20. 
 
 This verse doth chiefly hold forth these things: 1. That 
 the saints of God are a poor contemptible people : " There 
 was a certain beggar.'^ If you understand the word, beg- 
 gar, to hold forth outward poverty, or scarcity in outward 
 things; such are saints of the Lord, for they are for the 
 
HOW LAZARUS REPRESENTS GOD's TEOPLE. 159 
 
 most part a poor^ despised, contemptible people. But if 
 you allegorize it, and interpret it thus : They are such as 
 beg earnestly for heavenly food; this is also the spirit of 
 the children of God; and it may be, and is a truth in this 
 sense, though not so naturally gathered from this scripture. 
 2. These words hold forth the distempers of believers, 
 saying, ^'He was full of sores;'' which may signify the 
 many troubles, temptations, persecutions, and afflictions in 
 body and spirit which they meet with while they are in the 
 world ; and also the entertainment they meet with at the 
 hands of those ungodly ones who live upon the earth. 
 Whereas it is said, ^' He was laid at his gate full of sores;" 
 mark, he was laid at his gate, not in his house : that was 
 thought too good for him ; but he was laid at his gate, full 
 of sores. From whence observe, that the ungodly world do 
 not desire to entertain and receive the poor saints of Grod 
 into their houses. If they must needs be somewhere near 
 tmto them, yet they shall not come into their houses. 
 Shut them out of doors : if they will needs be near us, let 
 them be at the gate. "And he was laid at the gate, full of 
 sores.'' Observe, also, that the world are not at all touched 
 with the afflictions of God's children; for all they are full 
 of sores. A despised, afflicted, tempted, persecuted people 
 the world doth not pity ; no, but rather labor to aggravate 
 their trouble by shutting them out of doors. Sink or swim, 
 what cares the world ? they are resolved to disown them ; 
 they will give them no entertainment; if the lying in the 
 streets will do them any good, if hard usage will do them 
 any good, if it to be disowned, rejected, and shut out of 
 doors by the world will do them any good, they shall have 
 enough of that; but otherwise no refreshment, no comfort 
 from the world. "And he was laid at his gate, full of 
 sores." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 And desieing to be fed with the ceumbs which fell from the rich man's table : 
 
 MOREOVER, THE DOGS CA5IE AND LICKED HIS SORES. — Verge 21. 
 
 By all these words our Lord Jesus doth show us the 
 frame of a Christian's heart, and also the heart and carriage 
 of worldly men towards the saints of the Lord. The Chris- 
 tian's heart is held forth by this, that any thing will content 
 him while he is on this side glory. ^'And he desired to be 
 fed with the crumbs;" the dogs' meat, any thing. I say, a 
 Christian will be content with any thing; if he have but 
 enough to keep life and soul together (as we use to say) 
 he is content, he is satisfied. He hath learned (if he hath 
 learned to be a Christian) to be content with any thing : as 
 Paul saith, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, there- 
 with to be content." He learns in all conditions to study 
 to love God, to walk with God, to give up himself to God ; 
 and if the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table will 
 but satisfy nature, and give him bodily strength, that 
 thereby he may be the more able to walk in the way of 
 God, he is contented. ^^And he desired to be fed with the 
 crumbs which fell from the rich man's table." But mark, 
 he had them not; you do not find that he had so much as a 
 crumb, or a scrap, allowed unto him. No; then the dogs 
 will be beguiled; that must be preserved for the dogs. 
 
 From whence observe, that the ungodly world do love 
 their dogs better than the children of God. You will say, 
 That is strange. It is so, indeed ; yet it is true, as will be 
 clearly manifested. As for instance : how many pounds do 
 some men spend on their dogs, when in the mean while the 
 poor saints of God may starve for hunger? They will build 
 houses for their dogs, when the saints must be glad to wan- 
 ■ (160) 
 
DOGS PRSFERRED TO SAINTS, BY SINNERS. 161 
 
 der and lodge in dens and caves of the earth. Heb. xi. 38. 
 And if they be in any of their houses, for the rent thereof 
 they will warn them out or eject them, or pull down the 
 house over their heads, rather than not rid themselves of 
 such tenants. Again, some men cannot go half a mile from 
 home but they must have dogs at their heels ; but they can 
 very willingly go half a score of miles without the society of 
 a Christian. Nay, if when they are busy with their dogs, 
 they should chance to meet a Christian, they would wil- 
 lingly shift him if they could; they will go on the other side 
 the hedge or the way, rather than they will have any society 
 with him. And if at any time a child of Grod should come 
 into a house where there are but two or three ungodly 
 wretches, they do commonly wish either themselves or the 
 saint out of doors. And why so? Because they cannot 
 down with the society of a Christian; though if there come 
 in at the same time a dog, or a drunken, swearing wretch 
 (which is worse than a dog), they will make him welcome ; 
 he shall sit down with them, and partake of their dainties. 
 And now tell me, you that love your sins and your plea- 
 sures, had you not rather keep company with a drunkard, a 
 swearer, a strumpet, a thief, nay, a dog, than with an hon- 
 est-hearted Christian? If you say. No; what means your 
 sour carriage to the people of Grod? Why do you look on 
 them as if you would eat them up ? yet at the very same 
 time, if you can but meet your dog, or a drunken companion, 
 you can fawn upon them, take acquaintance with them, to 
 the tavern or ale-house with them, if it be two or three 
 times in a week; but if the saints of Grod meet together, 
 pray together, and labor to edify one another, you will stay 
 till doomsday before you will look into the house where they 
 are. Ah ! friends, when all comes to all, you will be found 
 to love drunkards, strumpets, dogs, any thing; nay, to serve 
 the devil, rather than to have loving and friendly society 
 with the saints of God. 
 
162 SIGUS FROM HELL. 
 
 " Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores/' Here 
 again you may see, not only the afflicted state of saints of 
 Grod in this world, but also, that even dogs themselves ac- 
 cording to their kind, are more favorable to the saints than 
 the sinful world. Though the ungodly will have no mercy 
 on the saints, yet it is ordered so, that these creatures, dogs, 
 lions, &c., will. Though the rich man would not entertain 
 him in his house, yet his dogs will come, and do him the 
 best good they can, even to lick his running sores. It was 
 thus with Daniel, when the world was mad against him, and 
 would have thrown him to the lions to be devoured, the 
 lions shut their mouths at him (or rather the Lord did shut 
 them up), so that there was not that hurt befell him, that 
 was desired by the adversaries. Dan. vi. And this I am 
 persuaded of, that would the creatures do as some men 
 would have them, the saints of God should not walk so 
 quietly up and down the streets, and other places, as they 
 do. And as I said before, so I say again, I am persuaded, 
 that at the day of judgment many men's conditions and car- 
 riages will be so laid open, that it will evidently appear they 
 have been very merciless, and mad against the children of 
 G-od J insomuch that when the providence of Grod did fall out 
 so as to cross their expectation, they have been very much 
 offended thereat; as is very evidently seen in them who set 
 themselves to study how to bring the saints into bondage, 
 and to thrust them into corners, as in these late years. 
 Psalm xxxi. 13. And because God hath in his goodness 
 ordered things otherwise, they have gnashed their teeth 
 thereat. Hence then, let the saints learn not to commit them- 
 selves to their enemies. ^'Beware of men." Matt. x. 17. 
 They are very merciless men, and will not so much favor 
 you (if they can help it), as you may suppose they may. 
 Nay, unless the over-ruling hand of God, in goodness do 
 order things contrary to their natural inclination, they will 
 not favor you so much as a dog. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 And it came to pass that the BEoaAE died, and was carried by the angels into 
 Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried,— Terse 22. 
 
 The former verses briefly hold fortli the carriage of the 
 ungodly in this life, toward the saints. Now this verse doth 
 hold forth the departure both of the godly and ungodly, out 
 of this life. 
 
 Wherefore it is said, ^^And it came to pass that the beg- 
 gar died, and was carried into Abraham's bosom; and the 
 rich man died also.'^ This beggar died; that represents the 
 godly: and the rich man died; that represents the ungodly. 
 From whence observe, Neither godly nor ungodly must live 
 always without a change, either by death or judgment. The 
 good man died, and the bad man died. That scripture doth 
 also back this truth, that good and bad must die, marvellous 
 well, where it is said, "And it is appointed unto men once 
 to die, but after this the judgment.'^ Heb. ix. 27. 
 
 Mark, this doth not say it is so, that men by chance may 
 die ; which might beget in the hearts of the ungodly espe- 
 cially, some hope to escape the bitterness of it : but it saith, 
 it is a thing most certain ; it is appointed. Mark, " It is 
 appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judg- 
 ment.'' God hath decreed it, that since men have fallen 
 from that happy estate that Grod at the fii'st did set them in, 
 they shall die. Rom. vi. 23. Now, when it is said, the beg- 
 gar died, and the rich man died, part of the meaning is, they 
 ceased to be any more in this world ; I say, partly the mean- 
 ing is, but not altogether. Though it be altogether the 
 meaning, when some of the creatures die ; yet it is but in 
 part the meaning, when it is said that men, women, or 
 children die ; for there is to them something else to be said, 
 
 (163) 
 
164 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 more than a barely going out of the world. For if when 
 unregenerate men and women die, there were an end of 
 them, not only in this world, but also in the world to come, 
 they would be happy over what they will be now; for when 
 ungodly men and women die, there is that to come after death 
 that will be very terrible to them, namely, to be carried by 
 the angels of darkness from their death-beds to hell ; there 
 to be reserved to the judgment of the great day, when both 
 body and soul shall meet and be united together again, and 
 made capable of undergoing the uttermost vengeance of the 
 Almighty to all eternity. This is that, I say, which doth 
 follow a man that is not born again, after death; as is clear 
 from 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, where, before speaking of Christ 
 being raised again by the power of the eternal Spirit, he 
 saith, "By which," that is, by that Spirit, *'he went and 
 preached to the spirits in prison." But what is the mean- 
 ing of this ? Why, thus much, That those souls who were 
 once alive in the world, in the time or days in which Noah 
 lived, being disobedient in their times to the calls of God, 
 by his Spii'it in Xoah (for so I understand it), were, accord- 
 ing to that which was foretold by that preacher, overcome 
 by the flood, deprived of life, and are now in prison. 
 Mark, he preached to the spirits in prison (he doth not say, 
 who were in prison) ', under chains of darkness, reserved, or 
 kept there in that prison, in which now they are ; ready like 
 villains in the jail, to be brought before the judgment-seat 
 of Christ at the great day. But of this I shall speak further 
 by and by. 
 
 Now, if this one truth, that men must die and depart this 
 world, and either enter into joy, or else into prison, to be 
 reserved to the day of judgment, were believed, we should 
 not have so many wantons walk up and down the streets as 
 there do; at least it would put a mighty check to their filthy 
 carriages, so that they would not, could not, walk so basely 
 and sinfully as they do. Belshazzar, notwithstanding he was 
 
FAITH MUST PRODUCE FEAR. 165 
 
 SO far from the fear of God as he was, yet when he did but 
 see God was offended, and threatened him for his wicked- 
 ness, it made him hang down his head, and knock his knees 
 together. Dan. v. 5, 6. If you read the verses before, you 
 will find he was careless, and satisfying his lusts in drinking, 
 and playing the wanton with his concubines ; but so soon as 
 he did perceive the finger of an hand-writing, ^^ then," saith 
 the scripture, ^Hhe king's countenance was changed, and 
 his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins 
 were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." And 
 when Paul told Felix of righteousness, temperance, and 
 judgment to come, it made him tremble. And let me tell 
 thee, soul, whoever thou art, that if thou didst but verily 
 believe that thou must die, and come to judgment, it would 
 make thee turn over a new leaf. 
 
 But this is the misery, the devil doth labor by all means, 
 as to keep out other things that are good, so to keep out of 
 the heart, as much as in him lies, the thoughts of passing 
 from this life into another world; for he knows, if he can 
 but keep them from the serious thoughts of death, he shall 
 the more easily keep them in their sins, and so from closing 
 with Jesus Christ. As Job saith, ^^ Their houses are safe 
 from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them." Which 
 makes them say to God, ^' Depart from us, for we desire not 
 the knowledge of thy ways." Job xxii. 14. Because there 
 is no fear of death and judgment to come, therefore they do 
 put off God and his ways, and spend their days in their sins, 
 and in a moment, that is, before they are aware, go down to 
 the grave. Verse 17. And thus it fared also with the man 
 spoken of in Luke xii. 20. This man, instead of thinking 
 on death, thought how he might make his barns bigger; but 
 in the midst of his business in the world, he lost his soul 
 before he was aware, supposing that death had been many 
 years off. But God said unto him, Thou fool, thou troublest 
 thyself about things of this life; thou puttest off the 
 
166 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 thoughts of departing this world, when this night thy soul 
 shall be taken from thee; or, This night, they, that is, 
 devils will fetch away thy soul from thee. And hence it 
 comes to pass, by men's not being exercised with the thoughts 
 of departing this life, that they are so unexpectedly to them- 
 selves and their neighbors, taken away from the pleasures 
 and profits, yea, and all the enjoyments they busy them- 
 selves with while they live in this world. And hence it is 
 again, that you have some in your towns and cities that are 
 so suddenly taken away ; some from haunting the alehouses, 
 others from haunting the whorehouses, others from playing 
 and gaming, others from cares and covetous desires after 
 this world, unlooked for as by themselves, or their com- 
 panions. Hence it is also, that men do so wonder at such 
 tidings as these, that there is such a one dead, such a one 
 departed; it is because they do so little consider both the 
 transitoriness of themselves and their neighbors. For had 
 they but their thoughts well exercised about the shortness 
 of this life, and the danger that will befall such as do miss 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, it would make them more wary 
 and sober, and spend more time in the service of God, and 
 be more delighted and diligent in inquiring after the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who is the deliverer from the wrath to come. 
 1 Thess. i. 10. For, as I said before, it is evident that they 
 who live after the flesh in the lusts thereof do not really and 
 seriously think on death, and the judgment that doth follow 
 after; neither do they indeed endeavor so to do; for did they, 
 it would make them say with holy Job, '^ All the days of 
 my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.'' Job 
 xiv. 14. 
 
 And, as I said before, not only the wicked, but also the 
 godly, have their time to depart this life; ^'And the beggar 
 died.'' The saints of the Lord, they must be deprived of this 
 life also; they must yield up the ghost into the hands of the 
 Lord their God; they must also be separated from their 
 
DEATH OF TPIE GODLY AND UNGODLY. 167 
 
 wiveS; children^ husbands, friends, goods, and all that they 
 have in the world. For Grod hath decreed it; "It is ap- 
 pointed/' namely, by the Lord, '^for men once to die;'' and 
 we must "appear before the judgment-seat of Christ," as it 
 is, 2 Cor. V. 10. But it may be objected. If the godly die 
 as well as the wicked, and if the saints must appear before 
 the judgment-seat, as well as the sinners; then what ad- 
 vantage have the godly more than the ungodly ? and how 
 can the saints be in a better condition than the wicked? 
 Answ. Read this verse over again, and you will find a mar- 
 vellous difference between them, as much as is between 
 heaven and hell, everlasting joy and everlasting torments : 
 for you find, that when the beggar died, who represents 
 the godly, he was carried by the angels into Abraham's 
 bosom, or into everlasting joy. But the ungodly are not so 
 (Psalm i.), but are driven away in their wickedness (Prov. 
 xiv. 32) ; hurried by the devils into the bottomless pit, for 
 it saith, "And in hell he lift up his eyes." When the 
 ungodly die, their misery beginneth; for then appear the 
 devils, like so many lions, waiting every moment till the 
 soul depart from the body. Sometimes they are visible to 
 the dying party, but sometimes more invisible ; but always 
 this is certain, they never miss of the soul, if it do die out 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ; but do haul it away to the prison, 
 as I said before; there to be tormented and reserved until 
 the great and dreadful day of judgment ; at which day they 
 must, body and soul, receive a final sentence from the 
 righteous judge, and from that time be shut out from the 
 presence of Grod into everlasting woe and distress. But the 
 godly, when the time of their departure is at hand, then also 
 are the angels of the Lord at hand; yea, these are ready, 
 waiting upon the soul to conduct it safe into Abraham's 
 bosom. I do not say but the devils are ofttimes very busy 
 doubtless, and attending the saints in their sickness; ay, 
 and no question but they would willingly deprive the soul 
 
1G8 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 of glory. But here is the comfort ; as the devils come from 
 hell to devour the soul (if it be possible) at its departure; 
 so the angels of the Lord come from heaven, to watch over 
 and conduct the soul (in spite of the devils) safe into Abra- 
 ham's bosom. 
 
 David had the comfort of this, and speaks it forth for the 
 comfort of his brethren (Psalm xxxiv. 7), saying, "The 
 angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear 
 him, and delivereth them.'' Mark, the angel of the Lord 
 encampeth round about his children, to deliver them. From 
 what ? From their enemies ; of which the devil is not the 
 least. This is an excellent comfort at any time, to have the 
 holy angels of Grod to attend a poor man or woman ; but 
 especially it is comfortable in the time of distress, at the 
 time of death, when the devils beset the soul with all the 
 power that hell can afford them. But now it may be, that 
 the glorious angels of Grod do not appear at the first to the 
 view of the soul; nay, rather, hell stands before it, and the 
 devils ready, as if they would carry it thither ; but this is 
 the comfort, the angels do always appear at the last, and 
 will not fail the soul, but will carry it safe into Abraham's 
 bosom. Ah friends ! consider ; here is an ungodly man 
 upon his death-bed, and he hath none to speak for him, 
 none to speak comfort unto him ; but it is not so with the 
 children of God, for they have the Spirit to comfort them. 
 Here are the ungodly, and they have no Christ to pray for 
 their safe conduct to glory ; but the saints have an interces- 
 sor. Job xvii. 9. Here are the world; when they die, they 
 have none of the angels of God to attend upon them ; but 
 the saints have their company. In a word, the uncon- 
 verted person when he dies, sinks into the bottomless pit; 
 but the saints when they die, ascend with, and by the 
 angels, into Abraham's bosom, or into unspeakable glory. 
 Luke xxiii. 43. 
 
 Again, it is said, that the rich man when he died, was 
 
DIFFERENT ESTIMATION OF THE DEAD. 169 
 
 buried, or put into the earth ; but when the beggar died, he 
 was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The one 
 is a very excellent style, where it saith, he was carried by 
 angels into Abraham's bosom; it denotes the excellent con- 
 dition of the saints of God, as I said before; and not only 
 so, but also the preciousness of the death of the saints in 
 the eyes of the Lord. Psalm cxvi. 15. After generations 
 may see how precious in the sight of the Lord the death of 
 his saints is, when he saith, they are carried by the angels 
 into Abraham's bosom. 
 
 Thus many times the Lord adorneth the death and de- 
 parture of his saints, to hold forth to after generations how 
 excellent they are in his eyes. It is said of Enoch, that 
 Grod took him ; of Abraham, that he died in a good old age ; 
 of Moses, that the Lord buried him; of Elijah, that he was 
 taken up into heaven; that the saints die in the Lord; that 
 they sleep in Jesus; that they rest from their labors, and 
 that their works follow them ; that they are under the altar ; 
 that they are with Christ; that they are in light; that they 
 are to come with the Lord Jesus to judge the world. All 
 which sayings signify thus much, that to die as a saint, is a 
 very great honor and dignity. But the ungodly are not so. 
 The rich man dies, and is buried; he is carried from his 
 dwelling to his grave, and there he is hid in the dust; and 
 his body doth not so fast moulder and come to nought 
 there, as his name doth stink as fast in the world. As 
 saith the holy scripture, " The name of the wicked shall 
 rot.'' And indeed, the names of the godly are not in so 
 much honor after their departure, but the wicked and their 
 names do as much rot. What a dishonor to posterity was 
 the death of Balaam, Agag, Ahitophel, Haman, Judas, 
 Herod, with the rest of their companions ! 
 
 Thus the wicked have their names written in the earth, 
 and they do perish and rot; but the names of the saints 
 cast forth a d.ainty savor to following generations. And 
 
 15 
 
170 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 that the Lord Jesus doth signify where he saith, the godly 
 are carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom; and that 
 the wicked are nothing worth, where he saith, the ungodly 
 die and are buried. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 And IN HELL HE UFT UP HIS EYES, BEING IN TORMENTS, AND SEETH ABRAHAM AFAR OFF 
 
 AND Lazarus in his bosom. — Verse 23. 
 
 The former verse speaks only of the departure of the 
 ungodly out of this life, together with the glorious conduct 
 that the godly have into the kingdom of their Father. Now, 
 our Lord doth show in this verse, partly what doth and 
 shall befall the reprobate, after this life is ended, where 
 he saith, "And in hell he lift up his eyes." That is, the 
 ungodly, after they depart this life, do lift up their eyes in 
 hell. From these words may be observed these things. 
 
 1. That there is a Hell for souls to be tormented in, 
 when this life is ended. Mark, after he was dead and 
 buried, "In hell he lift up his eyes '' 
 
 2. That all that are ungodly, and do live and die in their 
 sins, so soon as ever they die, they go into Hell. He died 
 and was buried, "And in hell he lift up his eyes." 
 
 3. That some are fast asleep, and so secure in their sins, 
 that they scarce know well where they are till they come 
 into Hell, and that I gather from these words, "In hell he 
 lift up his eyes." He was asleep before, but hell makes 
 him lift up his eyes. 
 
 As I said before, it is evident there is a hell for souls 
 (yea, and bodies too) to be tormented in after they depart 
 this life, as is clear; first, because the Lord Jesus Christ, that 
 cannot lie, did say, that after the sinner was dead and 
 buried, "In hell he lift up his eyes." 
 
HELL DOES NOT MEAN THE GRAVE. 171 
 
 Now, if it be objected, that by hell is here meant the 
 grave, that I plainly deny : 1. Because there the body is 
 not sensible of torment or ease; but in that hell into which 
 the spirits of the damned depart, they are sensible of tor- 
 ment, and would very willingly be free from it, to enjoy* 
 ease, which they are sensible of the want of; as is clearly 
 discovered in this parable, '^Send Lazarus, that he may dip 
 the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue." 2. It is 
 not meant the grave, but some other place; because the 
 bodies, so long as they lie there, are not capable of lifting 
 up their eyes to see the glorious condition of the children 
 of God, as the souls of the damned do. ^' In hell he lift 
 up his eyes." 3. It cannot be the grave; for then it must 
 follow, that the soul was buried there with the body, which 
 cannot stand with such a dead state as is here mentioned; 
 for he saith, ^^The rich man died;" that is, his soul was 
 separated from his body; ^^and in hell he lift up his eyes." 
 
 If it be again objected. That there is no hell but in this 
 life, that I do also deny ; as I said before, after he was dead 
 and buried, "in hell he lift up his eyes." And let me tell 
 thee, soul, whoever thou art, that if thou close not in 
 savingly with the Lord Jesus Christ, and lay hold on what 
 he hath done, and is doing in his own person for sinners, 
 thou wilt find such a hell after this life is ended, that thou 
 wilt not get out of again for ever and ever. And thou that 
 art wanton, and dost make but a mock at the servants of the 
 Lord, when they tell thee of the torments of hell, thou wilt 
 find, that when thou departest out of this life, that hell, 
 even the hell which is after this life, will meet thee in thy 
 journey thither, and will, with its hellish crew, give thee 
 such a sad salutation, that thou wilt not forget it to all eter- 
 nity; when that scripture comes to be fulfilled on thy soul 
 in Isa. xiv. 9,10, "Hell from beneath it moved for thee, to 
 meet thee at thy coming : it stirreth up the dead for thee, 
 even all the chief ones of the earth : it hath raised up from 
 
172 8IGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they," that 
 is, that are in hell, "shall say. Art thou also become weak 
 as we? Art thou become like unto us?'' Oh! sometimes 
 when I have had but thoughts of going to hell, and consider 
 the everlastingness of their ruin that ftill in thither, it hath 
 stirred me up rather to seek to the Lord Jesus Christ to 
 deliver me from thence, than to slight it, and make a mock 
 at it. 
 
 "And in hell he lift up his eyes.'' The second thing I 
 told you was this, that all the ungodly that live and die in 
 their sins, so soon as ever they depart this life, do descend 
 into hell. This is also verified by the words in this parable, 
 where Christ saith, "He died, and was buried; and in hell 
 he lift up his eyes." As the tree falls, so shall it lie, Eccles. 
 xi. 3, whether it be to heaven or hell. And as Christ said 
 to the thief on the cross, "This day shalt thou be with me 
 in paradise; even so the devil, in the like manner, may say 
 unto the soul. To-morrow shalt thou be with me in hell. 
 See then what a miserable case he that dies in an unregene- 
 rate state is in. He departs from a long sickness to a longer 
 hell; from the gripings of death to the everlasting torments 
 of hell. "And in hell he lift up his eyes." Ah, friends ! 
 if you were but yourselves, you would have a care of your 
 souls; if you did but regard, you would see how mad they 
 are that slight the salvation of their souls. what will it 
 profit thy soul to have pleasure in this life, and torment in 
 hell ! Mark viii. 36. Thou liadst better part with all thy 
 sins, and pleasures, and companions, or whatsoever thou de- 
 lightest in, than to have soul and body cast into hell. Mark 
 ix. 43. then do not neglect our Lord Jesus Christ, lest 
 thou drop down to hell ! Heb. ii. 3. Consider, would it not 
 wound thee to thine heart, to come upon thy death-bed, and 
 instead of having the comfort of a well-spent life, and the 
 merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, together with the comfort 
 of his glorious Spirit, to have, first, the sight of an ill-spent 
 
THE sinner's death-bed. 173 
 
 life, thy sins flying in thy face, thy conscience uttering itself 
 with thunder-claps against thee, the thoughts of God terri- 
 fying thee, death, with his merciless paw, seizing upon thee, 
 the devils standing ready to scramble for thy soul, and hell 
 enlarging herself, and ready to swallow thee up ; and then 
 an eternity of misery and torment attending upon thee, from 
 which there will be no release. For, mark; death doth not 
 come alone to an unconverted soul, but with such company 
 as,' wast thou but sensible of it, would make thee tremble. 
 I pray consider that scripture. Rev. vi. 8, ^^And I looked, 
 and behold a pale horse ; and his name that sat upon him 
 was Death, and hell followed with him.^' Mark, death doth 
 not come alone to the ungodly; no, but hell goeth with him. 
 miserable comforters ! miserable society ! Here come 
 death and hell unto thee. Death goeth into thy body, and 
 separates body and soul asunder; hell stands without (as I 
 may say) to embrace, or rather, to crush thy soul between 
 its everlasting grinders. Then thy mirth, thy joy, thy sin- 
 ful delights, will be ended when it comes to pass. Lo it 
 will come. Blessed are those, that through Jesus Christ's 
 mercies, by faith, do escape these soul-murdering compa- 
 nions. ^^ And in hell he lift up his eyes.'' 
 
 The third thing, you know, that we did observe from these 
 words, was this, that some are so fast asleep, and secure in 
 their sins, that they scarce know where they are, until they 
 come into hell. And that I told you, I gather by these 
 words, ^'In hell he lift up his eyes:" mark, it was in hell 
 that he lift up his eyes. Now, some do understand by these 
 words, that he came to himself, or began to consider with 
 himself, or to think with himself, in what a state he was, 
 and what he was deprived of; which is still a confirmation 
 of the thing laid down by me. There it is that they come 
 to themselves, that is, there they are sensible where they 
 are indeed. Thus it fares with some men, that they scarce 
 know where they are, till they lift up their eyes in hell. It 
 
 15* 
 
174 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 is with these people as with those that fall down in a 
 swoon. You know if a man fall down in a swoon in one 
 room, though you take him up and carry him into another, 
 yet he is not sensible where he is, till he comes to himself, 
 and lifts up his eyes. 
 
 Truly, thus, as it is to be feared, it is with many poor 
 souls, they are so senseless, so hard, so seared in their con- 
 science (1 Tim. iv. 2), that they are very ignorant of their 
 state; and when death comes, it strikes them, as it- were, 
 into a swoon (especially if they die suddenly), and so they 
 are hurried away, and scarce know where they are, till in 
 hell they lift up their eyes. This is he who dieth in his 
 full strength, fully at ease and quiet. Job. xxi. 23. 
 
 Of this sort are they spoken of in Psalm Ixxiii., where 
 it saith, ^' There are no bands in their death; but their 
 strength is firm. They are not troubled as other men ; nei- 
 ther are they plagued like other men." And again, " They 
 spend their days in wealth, and in a moment," mark, " in 
 a moment," before they are aware, '^they go down into 
 the grave." Job xxi. 13. 
 
 Indeed, this is too much known by woful and daily ex- 
 perience. Sometimes when we go to visit them that are 
 sick in the towns and places where we live, how senseless, 
 how seared in their conscience are they ! They are neither 
 sensible of heaven nor of hell; of sin nor of a Saviour; 
 speak to them of their condition and the state of their souls, 
 and you shall find them as ignorant as if they had no souls 
 to regard. Others, though they lie ready to die, yet they 
 are busying themselves about their outward afiairs, as though 
 they should certainly live here, even to live and enjoy the 
 same for ever. Again, come to others, speak to them about 
 the state of their souls; though they have no more experi- 
 ence of the new birth than a beast, yet will they speak as 
 confidently of their eternal state, and the welfare of their 
 Bouls, as if they had the most excellent experience of any 
 
DELUSIONS OF THE SICK AND DYING. 175 
 
 man or woman in the world, saying, "I shall have peace" 
 (Deut. xxix. 19), when, as I said even now, the Lord 
 knows they are as ignorant of the new birth, of the nature 
 and operation of faith, of the witness of the Spirit, as if 
 there were no new birth, no faith, no witness of the Spirit 
 of Christ in any of the saints in the world. Nay, thus 
 many of them are, even an hour or less before their de- 
 parture. Ah, poor souls ! though they may go away here 
 like a lamb, as the world says, yet if you could but follow 
 them a little, to stand and listen ; soon after their departure, 
 it is to be feared, you shall hear them roaj: like a lion, at 
 their first entrance into hell, far worse than ever did Korah, 
 and his company, when they went down quick into the 
 ground. Num. xvi. 31—35. 
 
 Now, by this one thing doth the devil take great advan- 
 tage on the hearts of the ignorant, suggesting to them, that 
 because the party deceased departed so quietly, without all 
 doubt they are gone to rest and joy; when, alas ! it is to be 
 feared, the reason why they went away so quietly, was ra- 
 ther because they were senseless and hardened in their 
 conscience; yea, dead before in sin and trespasses. For 
 had they but some awakenings on their death-beds, as some 
 have had, they would have made all the town ring of their 
 doleful condition; but because they are seared and igno- 
 rant, and so departed quietly, therefore the world takes 
 heart at grass (as we use to say) and makes no great matter 
 of living and dying they cannot tell how: "Therefore pride 
 compasseth them as a chain." Psalm Ixxiii. 5, 6. But let 
 them look to themselves ; for if they have not an interest in 
 the Lord Jesus now, while they live in the world, they will, 
 whether they die raging or still, go unto the same place, 
 and lift up their eyes in hell. 
 
 my friends, did you but know what a miserable condi- 
 tion they are in, that go out of this world without an interest 
 in the Son of God, it would make you smite upon your thigh, 
 
176 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 and in the bitterness of your souls cry out, ^^ Men and bre- 
 thren, what shall we do to be saved ?^' Acts ii. 37. And 
 not only so, sinner, but thou wouldst not be comforted until 
 thou didst find a rest for thy soul in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in tormexts, and seeth Abraham afar off 
 AND Laz.uius in HIS BOSOM. — Terse 23. 
 
 Something in brief I have observed from the first part 
 of this verse, namely, from these words, ''And in hell he 
 lift up his eyes." And indeed I have observed but some 
 things ; for they are very full of matter, and many things 
 might be taken notice of in them. There is one thing more 
 that I might touch upon, as couched in this saying, and 
 that is this. Methinks the Lord Jesus Christ doth hereby 
 signify, that men are naturalli/ unwilling to see or to take 
 notice of their sad state; 1 so)/ hy nature; hut, though now 
 they are willingly ignorant, yet in hell they shall lift up 
 their eyes. That is, in hell they shall see and under- 
 stand their miserable condition ', and therefore to these 
 words, "In hell he lift up his eyes,'' he adds, ''being in 
 torments." As if he had said. Though once they shut their 
 eyes; though once they were willingly ignorant (2 Peter 
 iii. 5); yet when they depart into hell, they shall be so 
 miserably handled and tormented, that they shall be forced 
 to open their eyes. While men live in this world, and are 
 in a natural state, they will have a good conceit of them- 
 selves, and of their condition; they will conclude that they 
 are Christians, that Abraham is their father (Matt. iii. 7, 
 8), and that their state is as good as the best; they will 
 conclude they have faith, the Spirit, good hope, an interest 
 
MENS'S EYES WILL OPEN IN HELL. 177 
 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ : but when they drop into hell, 
 and lift up their eyes there, and behold, first their souls to 
 be in extreme torment; their dwelling to be the bottomless 
 pit; their company thousands of damned souls, also the 
 innumerable company of devils; and the hot scalding ven- 
 geance of Grod, not only to drop, but to fall very violently 
 upon them; then they will be awakened, who all their life- 
 time were in a sleep. I say, when this comes to pass — for 
 lo, it will — then in hell they shall lift up their eyes; in the 
 midst of torment they shall lift up their eyes. 
 
 Again, you may observe in these words, "And in hell he 
 lift up his eyes, heing in torments,'' that ungodly men will 
 smart for their sins, in the torments of hell. Now, here I 
 am put to stand, when I consider the torments of hell into 
 which the damned do fall. unspeakable torments ! 
 endless torments ! Now, that thy soul might be made to 
 flee from those intolerable torments into which the damned 
 do go, I shall show you briefly what are the torments of 
 hell. First, by the names of hell. Secondly, by the sad 
 state thou wilt be in, if thou comest there. 1. The names. 
 It is called a never-dying worm (Mark ix.); it is called an 
 oven-fire, hot (Mai. iv. 1); it is called a furnace, a fiery 
 furnace (Matt, xiii.) ; it is called the bottomless pit, the un- 
 quenchable fire, fire and brimstone, hell-fire, a stream of fire, 
 the lake of fire, devouring fire, everlasting fire, eternal fire. 
 Eev. XX. ; Matt. iii. ; Mark ix. 
 
 1. One part of thy torments will be this : Thou shalt 
 have a full sight of all thy ill spent life from first to last". 
 Though here thou canst sin to-day, and forget it by to- 
 morrow ; yet there thou shalt be made to remember how 
 thou didst sin against God at such a time, and in such a 
 place, for such a thing, and with such a one, which will be 
 a hell unto thee. Psalm 1. 21. God will "set them (thy 
 Bins) in order before thine eyes.'' 
 
 2. Thou shalt have the guilt of them all lie heavy on 
 
178 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 thy soul, not only the guilt of one or two, but the guilt of 
 them all together, and there they shall lie in thy soul, as if 
 thy belly were full of pitch, and set on a light fire. Here 
 men can sometimes think on their sins with delight, but 
 there with unspeakable torment; for that I understand to 
 be the fire that Christ speaketh of, which shall never be 
 quenched. Mark ix. 43-47. While men live here, how 
 doth the guilt of one sin sometimes crush the soul ! It makes 
 a man in such a plight, that he is weary of his life ; so that 
 he can neither rest at home nor abroad, neither up nor in 
 bed; nay, I do not know, but they have been so tormented 
 with the guilt of one sinful thought, that they have been 
 even at their wits' ends, and have hanged themselves. But 
 now when thou comest into hell, and hast not only one, or 
 two, or an hundred sins, with the guilt of them all on thy 
 soul and body ; but all the sins that ever thou didst commit 
 since thou camest into the world, all together clapped on 
 thy conscience at one time, as one should clap a red hot iron 
 to thy breast, and there to continue to all eternity ; this is 
 miserable. 
 
 3. Again, then thou shalt have brought into thy remem- 
 brance, the slighting of the gospel of Christ. Here thou shalt 
 consider how willing Christ was to come 'into the world to 
 save sinners, and for what a trifle thou didst reject him. 
 This is plainly held forth in Isa. xxviii., where, speaking 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, the foundation of salvation (verse 
 16), he saith of them that reject the gospel, that when the 
 overflowing scourge doth pass through the earth (which I 
 understand to be at the end of the world), then saith he. It 
 shall take you : morning by morning, by day and by night, 
 shall it pass over you ; that is, continually without any in- 
 termission ; — and it shall be a vexation only to understand 
 the report. A vexation, that is, a torment, or a great part 
 of hell, only to understand the report, to understand the 
 good tidings that came into the world, by Christ's death, for 
 
TORMENTS IN HELL. 179 
 
 poor sinners. And yon will find this verily, to be the mind 
 of tlie Spirit, if you compare it with Isa. liii. 1, where he 
 speaks of men's turning their backs upon the tenders of 
 Grod's grace in the gospel. He saith, '^ Who hath believed 
 our report ?" or, the gospel declared by us. Now this will 
 be a mighty torment to the ungodly, when they shall under- 
 stand the goodness of God was so great, that he even sent 
 his Son out of his bosom to die for sinners, and yet that 
 they should be so foolish, as to put him off from one time to 
 another ; that they should be so foolish, as to lose heaven 
 and Christ, and eternal life in glory, for the society of a 
 company of drunkards ; that they should lose their souls for 
 a little sport, for this world, for a strumpet, for that which is 
 lighter than vanity and nothing; I say, this will be a very 
 great torment unto thee. 
 
 4. Another part of thy torment will be this : Thou shalt 
 see thy friends, thy acquaintance, thy neighbors; nay, it 
 may be thy father, thy mother, thy wife, thy husband, thy 
 children, thy brother, thy sister, with others, in the kingdom 
 of heaven, and thyself thrust out. Luke xiii. 28. There 
 shall be weeping, &c., when you shall see Abraham (your 
 father), and Isaac, and Jacob (together with your brethren), 
 the prophets, in the kingdom of heaven, and you yourselves 
 thrust out. Nay, saith he, ''They shall come from the 
 east, and from the west;" that is, those that thou didst 
 never see in all thy life before, and they shall sit down with 
 thy friends, and thy neighbors, thy wife, and children, in 
 the kingdom of heaven, and thou, for thy sins and disobe- 
 dience, shalt be shut out, nay, thrust out. wonderful 
 torment ! 
 
 5. Again, thou shalt have none but a company of damned 
 souls, with an innumerable company of devils, to keep com- 
 pany with thee. While thou art in this world, the very 
 thoughts of the devils appearing to thee makes thy flesh to 
 tremble, and thine hair ready to stand upright on thy head. 
 
180 STGnS FROM HELL. 
 
 But ! what wilt tliou do, when not only the supposition 
 of the devil's appearing, but the real society of all the devils 
 of hell will be with thee, howling and yelling, screeching and 
 roaring in such a hideous manner, that thou wilt be even at 
 thy wits' end, and be ready to run stark mad again for 
 anguish and torment ! 
 
 6. Again, that thou mightst be tormented to purpose, the 
 mighty God of heaven will lay as great wrath and vengeance 
 upon thee as ever he can, by the might of his glorious power. 
 As I said before, thou shalt have his wrath, not by drops; 
 but by whole showers shall it come, thunder, thunder, upon 
 thy body and soul, so fast and so thick, that thou shalt be 
 tormented out of measure. And so saith the scripture, 
 speaking of the wicked, "Who shall be punished with ever-t 
 lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from 
 the glory of his power," when the saints shall be admiring 
 his goodness and glory. 2 Thess. i. 9, 10. 
 
 Again, this thou shalt have, as I said before, without any 
 intermission ; thou shalt not have any ease so long as while 
 a man may turn himself round ; thou shalt have it always, 
 every hour, day and night; for their worm never dies, but 
 always gnaws, and their fire is never quenched, as it is 
 written in Mark ix. 
 
 Ao-ain, in this condition thou must be for ever, and that 
 is as sad as all the rest. For if a man were to have all his 
 sins laid to his charge, and communion with the devils, and 
 as much wrath as the great God of heaven can inflict upon 
 him, — I say, if it were but for a time, even ten thousand 
 years, and so end, there would be ground of comfort, and 
 hopes of deliverance : but here is thy misery; this is thy 
 state for ever; here thou must be for ever. When thou 
 lookest about thee, and seest what an innumerable company 
 of howling devils thou art amongst, thou shalt think this 
 again. This is my portion for ever. When thou hast been 
 in hell so many thousand years as there are stars in the 
 
SINNERS FAR FROM HEAVEN. 181 
 
 firmament, or drops in the sea, or sands on the sea-shore, yet 
 thou hast to lie there for ever. this one word, ever, how 
 will it torment thy soul ! 
 
 Friends, I have only given a very short touch of the tor- 
 ments of hell. ! I am set, I am set, and am not able to 
 utter what my mind conceives of the torments of hell ! Yet 
 let me say to thee, accept of Grod's mercy through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, lest thou feel that with thy conscience 
 which I cannot express with my tongue, and say, ^'I am 
 sorely tormented in this flame. ^' 
 
 "And seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bo- 
 som :" 
 
 When the damned are in this pitiful state, surrounded 
 with fears, with terrors, with torment and vengeance, one 
 thing they shall have, which is this, they shall see the happy 
 and blessed state of God's children : " He seeth Abraham 
 afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom ;'^ which, as I said before, 
 is the happy state of the saints when this life is ended. This 
 now shall be so far from being an ease unto them, that it 
 shall most wonderfully aggravate or heighten their torment, 
 as I said before. There shall be weeping, or cause of 
 lamentation, when they shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and 
 Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, and themselves thrust out. 
 "He seeth Abraham a/ar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." 
 Observe, Those that die in their sins are far from going to 
 heaven. And indeed, it is just with Grod to deal with 
 them that die in their sins, according to what they have 
 done, and to make them who are far from righteousness 
 now, to stand far from heaven to all eternity. Hearken to 
 this, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness, and 
 that are resolved to go on in your sins, — when you die you 
 will be far from heaven ; you will see Lazarus, but it will 
 be afar off. 
 
 Again, "He seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his 
 bosom." 
 
 16 
 
182 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 These are some of the things the damned do behold, as 
 soon as they come into torment. Mark, he seeth Lazarus in 
 Abraham's bosom. Lazarus, who was he ? Why, even he 
 that was so slighted, so disregarded, so undervalued, by this 
 ungodly one while he was in the world : he seeth Lazarus in 
 his bosom. 
 
 From whence observe, That those who live and die the 
 enemies of the saints of God, let them be ever so great and 
 stout, let them bear ever so piuch sway while they are in 
 the world, let them brag and boast ever so much while they 
 are here, they shall in spite of their teeth see the saints, yea, 
 the poor saints, even the Lazaruses, or the ragged ones that 
 belong to Jesus, to be in a better condition than themselves. 
 0! who do you think was in the best condition? who do 
 you think saw himself in the best condition ? — he that was 
 in hell, or he that was in heaven ? — he that was in darkness, 
 or he that was in light ? he that was in everlasting joy, or 
 he that was in everlasting torments ? The one with God, 
 Christ, saints, angels ; the other in tormenting flames, under 
 the curse of God's eternal hatred, with the devil and his 
 angels, together with an innumerable company of howling, 
 roaring, cursing, ever-burning reprobates ? Certainly this 
 observation will be easily proved to be true here in this 
 world, by him that looks upon it with an understanding 
 heart, and will clear itself to be true in the world to come, 
 by such as shall go either to heaven or to hell. 
 
 Another observation from these words, " And seeth Abra- 
 ham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,'' is this : they that 
 are the persecutors of the saints of the Lord now in this 
 world, shall see the Lord's persecuted ones to be they that 
 are so highly esteemed by the Lord, as to be in Abraham's 
 bosom (in everlasting glory); though the enemies to the 
 children of God did so lightly esteem them, that they 
 scorned to let them gather up the dog's meat that fell under 
 their table. This is also verified, and held forth plainly by 
 
GREAT CHANGES IN THE NEXT LIFE. 183 
 
 this parable. And therefore be not grieved, you that are 
 tempted, persecuted, aflBlicted, sighing, praying saints of the 
 Lord, though your adversaries look upon you now with a 
 disdainful, surly, rugged, proud, and haughty countenance, 
 yet the time shall come when they shall spy you in Abra- 
 ham's bosom ! 
 
 I might enlarge upon these things, but shall leave them 
 to the Spirit of the Lord, which can better by ten thousand 
 degrees enlarge them on thy heart and conscience, than I 
 can upon a piece of paper. Therefore, leaving these to the 
 blessing of the Lord, I shall come to the next verse, and 
 shall be brief in speaking to that also, and so pass to the 
 rest. 
 
 CHAPTER YIL 
 
 And he cried, axd said, Father Abraham, have merct upon me, and send Lazartts, 
 
 THAT he may dip THE TIP OF HIS FINGER IN WATER, AND COOL MY TONGUE; FOR I AM 
 TORMENTED IN THIS FLA3IE. — Verge 24. 
 
 You know I told you, that there is a discovery of the 
 departure of the godly and the ungodly out of this life, 
 where he saith the beggar died, and the rich man also 
 died. The next verse is a discovery of the proper places, 
 both of the godly and ungodly after death ; one being in 
 Abraham's bosom, or in glory; the other in hell. Now, 
 here is a discovery of part of the too late repentance* 
 of the ungodly, when they are dropped down into hell. 
 *'And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy 
 upon me." 
 
 From the words, ^^And he cried," we may observe, first, 
 What a change the ungodly will have when they come into 
 hell. '^ He cried ." It is likely he was laughing, jesting, 
 jeering, drinking, mocking, swearing, cursing, prating, per- 
 
184 . SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 secuting the godly in his prosperity, among his filthy com- 
 panions But now the case is otherwise ; now he is in an- 
 other frame, now his proud, stout, currish carriage is come 
 down. " And he cried." The laughter of the ungodly will 
 not last always, but will be sure to end in a cry. '* The 
 triumi^hing of the wicked is short.'' Job xx. 5. Consider, 
 you must have a change, either here, or in hell. If you be 
 not new creatures, regenerate persons, new-born babes in 
 this world, before you go hence, your note will be changed, 
 your conditions will be changed ; for if you come into hell, 
 you must cry. 0, did but the singing drunkards, when they 
 are making merry on the alehouse bench, think on this, it 
 would make them change their note, and cry. What shall I 
 do ? Whither shall I go when I die ? But as I said before, 
 the devil, as he labors to get poor souls to follow their sins, 
 so he labors also to keep the thoughts of eternal damnation 
 out of their minds. And indeed these two things are so 
 nearly linked together, that the devil cannot well get the 
 soul to go on in sin with delight, unless he can keep the 
 thoughts of that terrible after-clap out of their minds. 
 
 But let them know, that it shall not always be thus with 
 them ; for if when they depart, they drop down into eternal 
 destruction, they shall have such a sense of their sins, and 
 the punishment due to the same, that it shall make them to 
 cry. ^^And he cried." what an alteration will there be 
 among the ungodly when they go out of this world. It 
 may be, a fortnight, or a month, before their departure, 
 they were light, stout, surly; drinking themselves drunk, 
 slighting God's people, mocking at goodness, and delighting 
 in sin, following the world, seeking after riches, faring de- 
 liciously, keeping company with the bravest; but now they 
 are dropped down into hell, they cry. A little while ago 
 they were painting their faces, feeding their lusts, following 
 their whores, robbing their neighbors, telling lies, following 
 plays and sports to pass away the time; but now they arc 
 
THE CRIES OF LOST SOULS. 185 
 
 in hell, they do cry. It may be last year they hoard some 
 good sermons, were invited to receive heaven, were told 
 their sins should be pardoned if they closed in with Jesns; 
 but refusing his proffers and slighting the grace that was 
 once tendered, they are now in hell, and do cry. 
 
 Before, they had so much time, they thought that they 
 could not tell how to spend it, unless it were in hunting, 
 and whoring, in dancing, and playing, and spending whole 
 hours, yea, days, nay, weeks, in the lusts of the flesh : but 
 when they depart into another place, and begin to lift up 
 their ejes, in hell, and consider their miserable and irre- 
 coverable condition, they will cry. 
 
 what a condition wilt thou fall into, when thou dost 
 depart this world! If thou depart unconverted, and not 
 born again, thou hadst better have been smothered the first 
 hour thou wast born; thou hadst better have been plucked 
 one limb from another; thou hadst better have been made 
 a dog, a toad, a serpent, nay, any other creature in the visi- 
 ble world, than to die unconverted; and this thou wilt find 
 to be true, when in hell thou dost lift thine eyes, and dost 
 cry. 
 
 Here then, before we go any further, you may see that it 
 is not without good ground that these words are spoken by 
 our Lord, that when any of the ungodly do depart into hell, 
 they will cry. Cry : why so ? 
 
 1. They will cry to think that they should be cut off 
 from the land of the living, never more to have any footing 
 therein. 
 
 2. They will cry to think that the gospel of Christ should 
 be so often proffered to them, and yet they are not profited 
 by it. 
 
 B. They will cry to think that now, though they would 
 never so willingly repent and be saved, yet they are past all 
 recovery. 
 
 4. They will cry to think that they should be so foolish 
 16* 
 
186 SIGHS TROM HELL. 
 
 as to follow their pleasures, when others were following 
 Christ. Luke xiii. 28. 
 
 5. They will cry to think that they must be separated 
 from God J Christ, and the kingdom of heaven, and that for 
 ever. 
 
 6. To think that their crying will now do them no good. 
 
 7. To think that at the day of judgment they must stand 
 at the left hand of Christ, among an innumerable company 
 of damned ones. 
 
 8. They will cry to think, that Lazarus, whom once they 
 slighted, must be of them that must sit down with Christ to 
 judge, or together with Christ, to pass a sentence of con- 
 demnation on their souls for ever. 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. 
 
 9. They will cry to think, that when the judgment is 
 over, and others are taken into the everlasting kingdom of 
 glory, then they must depart back again into that dungeon 
 of darkness from whence they came out (to appear before 
 the terrible tribunal), where they shall be tormented so 
 long as eternity lasts, without the least intermission or ease. 
 
 How sayst thou, thou wanton, proud, swearing, lying, 
 ungodly wretch ! whether this be to be slighted and made a 
 mock at ? And again, tell me, now if it be not better to leave 
 sin and to close in with Christ Jesus, notwithstanding that 
 reproach thou shalt meet with for so doing, than to live a 
 little while in this world in pleasures, and feeding thy lusts, 
 in neglecting the welfare of thy soul, and refusing to bo 
 justified by Jesus; and in a moment to drop down to hell, 
 and to cry? consider, I say, consider betimes, and put 
 not off the tenders of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 lest you lift up your eyes in hell, and cry for anguish of 
 spirit. 
 
 "And he cried, and said. Father Abraham, have mercy 
 upon me, and send Lazarus,'' &c. 
 
 These words do not only hold forth the lamentable con- 
 dition of the damned, and their lamentable howling and 
 
TOO LATE REPENTANCE. 187 
 
 crying out under their anguish of spirit, but also they do 
 signify to us (as I said before) their too late repentance; 
 and also that they would very willingly, if they might, be 
 set at liberty from that everlasting misery, that by their sins 
 they have plunged themselves into. I say, these words do 
 hold a desire that the damned have, to be delivered frorm 
 those torments, that they now are in : ^^0 father Abraham,''' 
 saith he, ^^have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus, that he 
 may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, 
 for I am tormented in this flame. '^ . . . However, or whoso- 
 ever Abraham is, yet these truths may be observed from the 
 words : 
 
 1. That the damned, when in an irrecoverable state, will 
 seek for, or desire deliverance from the wrath that they are, 
 and shall be in, for eternity. 
 
 2. That they will pray (if I may so call it) earnestly for 
 deliverance from their miserable state. These two things 
 are clear from the words. For mark, he not only said, 
 ^* Father Abraham have mercy upon me;" but he cried, and 
 said, ^'Father Abraham, have mercy on me." From whence 
 take a third observation, and that is, there is a time coming, 
 wherein though men shall both cry and pray, they are likely 
 to have no mercy at the hand of Grod : for so was this man 
 served, as I shall further show by and by, when I come to it. 
 
 Some people are so deluded by the devil, as to think, that 
 God is so merciful, as to own and regard any thing for 
 prayer. They think any thing will go for current and good 
 satisfaction, while they are here in this world ; through igno- 
 rance of the true nature of the mercy of Grod, and the know- 
 ledge in what way God is satisfied for sinners. Now, I say, 
 through ignorance they think, that if they do but mutter 
 over some form of prayers, though they know not what they 
 say, nor what they request, jei God is satisfied, yea, very 
 well satisfied with their doings ; when alas ! there is nothing 
 less. friends, I beseech you to look about you, and seek 
 
188 SIGUS FROM HELL. 
 
 in good earnest for the Spirit of Christ, so to help you now 
 to strive and pray, and to enable you to lay hold on Christ, 
 that your souls may be saved; lest the time come, that 
 though you cry and pray, and wish also that you had laid 
 hold on the Lord Jesus, yet you must and shall be damned. 
 
 Then again, you may see that though Grod be willing to 
 save sinners at some time, yet this time doth not always last. 
 No; he that can find in his heart to turn his back upon 
 Jesus Christ now, shall have the back turned upon him 
 hereafter, when he may cry and pray for mercy, and yet go 
 without it. God will have a time to meet with them that 
 now do not seek after him : they shall have a time, yea time 
 enough hereafter to repent their folly, and to befool them- 
 selves, for turning their backs upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 ^^I will laugh at their calamities,'' saith he, "and mock 
 when their fear cometh. Prov. i. 26. 
 
 Again, this should admonish us to take time while it is 
 profiered, lest we repent us of our unbelief and rebellion 
 vrhen we are deprived of it. Ah friends ! time is precious, an 
 hour's time to hear a sermon is precious. I have sometimes 
 thought thus with myself: Set the case, that the Lord should 
 send two or three of his servants, the ministers of the gospel, 
 to hell among the damned, with this commission, Gro ye to 
 hell, and preach my grace to those that are there ; let your 
 sermon be an hour long, and hold forth the merits of my 
 Son's birth, righteousness, death, resurrection, ascension and 
 intercession, with all my love in him ; and profi"er it to 
 them, telling them, that now once, do I proffer the means of 
 reconciliation to them. They who are now roaring, being 
 past hope, would then leap at the least proffer of mercy. 
 Oh ! they that could spend whole days, weeks, nay years, in 
 rejecting the Son of God, would now be glad of one tender 
 of that mercy. "Father,'' saith he, "have mercy on me." 
 
 Again, from these words you may observe, that mercy 
 would be welcome, when souls are under judgment. Now 
 
MERCY IMPLORED TOO LATE. 189 
 
 this soul is in the fire, now he is under the wrath of God, 
 now he is in hell, there to be tormented, now he is with the 
 devils and damned spirits, now he feels the vengeance of 
 God, Now! oh now, ^ have mercy upon me!^ Here you may 
 see, that mercy is prized by them that are in hell ! They 
 would be glad if they could have it. '^ Father, have mercy 
 on me; for my poor soul's sake, send me a little mercy/V 
 
 ''And send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger 
 in water, and cool my tongue." 
 
 These words do not only hold forth that the ungodly have 
 a desire of mercy, but what those mercies are; what these 
 poor creatures would be glad of. 
 
 As, 1. To have the company of a Lazarus granted to 
 them : " Father, Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send 
 Lazarus.'^ Now Lazarus was he that was beloved of God, 
 and also he that was hated of them. Therefore, 
 
 2. Observe, That those saints that in their lifetime the 
 sinner could not endure, now they are departed, he would 
 be glad to have society with them : '0 now send Lazarus ! 
 Though the time was when I cared not for him; yet now let 
 me have some society with him.' 
 
 Though the world disregard the society of God's child- 
 ren now, yet there is a time coming, in which they would 
 be glad to have the least company with them. Nay, do but 
 observe, those of the saints that are now most rejected by 
 them, even from them shall they be glad of comfort, if it 
 might be. ' Send Lazarus; he that I slighted more than my 
 dogs, he that I could not endure should come into my house,- 
 but must lie at my gate, send him : now Lazarus shall be 
 welcome to me; now I desire some comfort from him.' But 
 he shall go without it. 
 
 From whence again, observe. That there is a time com- 
 ing, ye surly, dogged persecutors of the saints, that they 
 shall slight you, as much as ever you slighted them. You 
 have given them many a hard word, told many a lie of them, 
 
190 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 given them many a blow : and now in your greatest need 
 and extremity they shall not j^ity you; the righteous shall 
 rather rejoice when he seeth the vengeance of God upon 
 thee. Psalm Iviii. 10. 
 
 "And send Lazarus.'^ From whence observe, That any 
 of the saints shall then be owned by you to be saints. Now 
 you look upon them to be of a sect, with Hymeneus and 
 Philetus; but then you shall see them to be the Lazaruses 
 of God, even God's dear children. Though now the saints 
 of the Lord will not be owned by you, because they are beg- 
 garly, low, poor, contemptible among you; yet the day is 
 coming that you shall own them, desire their company, and 
 wish for the least courtesy from them. 
 
 "Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in 
 water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this 
 flame." 
 
 Thus shall the souls that abide in their sins, cry out in 
 the bitterness of , their spirits, with wonderful anguish and 
 torment of conscience, without intermission — " That he may 
 dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue I" 
 That he, namely, the man who before, I scorned should eat 
 with the dogs of my flock — that before I slighted and had 
 no regard of — that I shut out of door — send him, "that he 
 may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue." 
 
 Now these words, " That he may dip the tip of his finger 
 in water," ... do hold forth the least friendship or favor; 
 as if he should have said, ^Now I would be glad of the least 
 mercy, now I would be glad of the least comfort, though it 
 be but one drop of cold water on the tip of his finger.' One 
 would have thought that this had been a small request, a 
 small courtesy. One drop of water, what is that? Take a 
 pail full of it, if that will do thee any good. But mark, he 
 is not permitted to have so much as one drop, not so much 
 as a man may hold on the tip of his finger. This signifies, 
 that they that fall short of Christ, shall be tormented even 
 
THE LEAST FAVOR DENIED TO THE LOST. 191 
 
 as long as eternity lastetli, and shall not have so much as 
 the least ease; no, not so long as while a man may turn 
 himself round ; not so much as leave to swallow his spittle ; 
 not one drop of cold water ! 
 
 that these things did take place in your hearts ! How 
 would it make you to seek after rest for your souls, before 
 it be too late, before the sun of the gospel be set upon you ! 
 
 Consider, I say, the misery of the ungodly that they shall 
 be in, and avoid their vices, by closing in with the tenders 
 of mercy; lest you partake of the same portion with them, 
 and cry out in the bitterness of your souls, ^One drop of cold 
 water to cool my tongue/ 
 
 ^^ For I am tormented in this flame.'' 
 
 Indeed, the reason why the poor world do not so earnestly 
 desire mercy, is partly because they do not seriously con- 
 sider the torment that they must certainly fall into if they 
 die out of Christ. For, let me tell you, did but poor souls 
 indeed consider that wrath, that doth by right fall to their 
 shares, because of their sins against Grod, they would make 
 more haste to God through Christ for mercy than they do. 
 Then we should have them say, 'It is good closing with Christ 
 to-day, before we fall into such distress.' 
 
 But why is it said, let him '^ dip the tip of his finger in 
 water, and cool my tongue f Because, that as the several 
 members in the body have their share in sin, and commit- 
 ting of that; so the several members of the body shall at 
 last be punished for the same. Therefore, when Christ is 
 is admonishing his disciples, that they should not turn aside 
 from him, and they should rather fear and dread the power 
 of their Grod, than another power, he saith, "Fear him 
 therefore, that can cast both body and soul into hell." Luke 
 xii. 5. And again, "Fear him that can destroy both body 
 and soul in hell." Here is not one member only, but all 
 the body, the whole body, of which the hands, feet, eyes, 
 ears, and tongue, are members. And I am persuaded that 
 
192 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 though this may be judged carnal by some now; yet it will 
 appear to be a truth then, to the greater misery of those who 
 shall be forced to undergo that which Grod in his just judg- 
 ment shall inflict upon them. then they will cry/One dram 
 of ease for my cursing, swearing, lying, jeering tongue! 
 Some ease for my bragging, braving, flattering, threatening, 
 dissembling tongue !' Now men can let their tongues run at 
 random, as we use to say; now they will be apt to cry. Our 
 tongues are our own, who shall control them? Psalm xii. 4. 
 But then they will be in another mind. Then, ^ that I 
 might have a little ease for my deceitful tongue !' Methinks 
 sometimes to consider how some men do let their tongues 
 run at random, it makes me marvel. Surely they do not 
 think they shall be made to give an account for their ofi'end- 
 ing with their tongue. Did they but think they shall be 
 made to give an account to him who is ready " to judge the 
 quick and the dead," surely they would be more wary, and 
 have more regard unto their tongue. 
 
 The tongue, saith James, "is an unruly evil full of deadly 
 poison. It setteth on fire the whole frame of nature ; and 
 is set on fire of hell." James ii. The tongue ; how much 
 mischief will it stir up in a very little time ? How many 
 blows and wounds doth it cause ? How many times doth it 
 (as James saith) curse man ? How oft is the tongue made 
 the conveyer of that hellish poison that is in the heart, both 
 to the dishonor of God, the hurt of its neighbors, and the 
 utter ruin of its own soul ? And do you think the Lord will 
 sit still (as I may say), and let thy tongue run as it lists, 
 and yet never bring you to an account for the same ? No, 
 stay ; the Lord will not always keep silence, but will reprove 
 thee, and set thy sins in order before thine eyes, sinner : 
 yea, and thy tongue, together with the rest of thy members, 
 shall be tormented for sinning. And I say, I am very con- 
 fident, that though this be made light of now, yet the time 
 is coming, when many poor souls will rue the day that ever 
 
TORMENT FROM THE SIXS OF THE TONGUE. 193 
 
 they did speak with a tongue. '0, will one say, that I 
 should so disregard my tongue ! that I, when I said so 
 and so, had before bitten off my tongue ! that I had been 
 born without a tongue ! My tongue ! my tongue ! a little 
 water to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame ! 
 even in that flame which my tongue, together with the rest 
 of my members, by sinning, have brought me into.' Poor 
 souls will now let their tongues say any thing for a little 
 profit, for twopence or threepence gain. But oh ! what a 
 grief will this be at that day, when they, together with their 
 tongue, must smart for that which they by their tongues 
 have done while they were in this world. Then you that 
 love your souls, look to your tongues; lest you bind your- 
 selves down so fast to hell with the sins of your tongues, that 
 you will never be able to get loose again to all eternity. 
 For by thy words thou shalt be condemned, if thou have not 
 a care of thy tongue. " But I say unto you, that for every 
 idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account 
 thereof in the day of judgment." Matt. xii. 36. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 But Abraham s.\id, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst tht a god 
 
 THINGS, AND LIKEWISE LaZARUS EVIL THINGS : BUT NOW HE IS COMFORTED, AND THOU 
 ART TORMENTED. — Verse 25. 
 
 , These words are the answer to the request of the damned. 
 The verse before (as I told you) is a discovery of the de- 
 sires they have after they depart this world. Here is the 
 answer, " Son, remember,'^ ... 
 
 The answer signifies thus much. That instead of having 
 any relief or ease, they are hereby the more tormented, and 
 that by fresh recollections, or by bringing afresh their former 
 
 17 
 
194 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 ill-spent life, while in the world, into their remembrance : 
 Son, remember that thou hadst good things in thy lifetime. 
 As much as if he had said, Thou art now sensible what it is 
 to lose thy soul; thou art now sensible what it is to put off 
 repentance ; thou art now sensible that thou hast befooled 
 thyself, in that thou didst spend that time in seeking after 
 outward, momentary, earthly things, which thou shouldst 
 have spent in seeking to make Jesus Christ sure to thy soul ; 
 and now, through thy anguish of spirit in the pains of hell, 
 thou wouldst enjoy that which in former time thou didst 
 make slight of; but alas ! thou art here beguiled and alto- 
 gether disappointed; thy crying will now avail thee nothing 
 at all. This is not the accepted time. 2 Cor. vi. 2. This 
 is not a time to answer the desires of wretched reprobates. 
 If thou hadst cried out in good earnest while grace was 
 offered, much might have been ; but then thou wast care- 
 less, and didst turn the forbearance and goodness of God 
 into wantonness. Wast thou not told, that those who 
 would not hear the Lord when he did call, should not be 
 heard when they did call ; but contrariwise, he would laugh 
 at their calamity, and mock when their fear did come ? 
 Prov. i. 24-28. 
 
 Now, therefore, instead of expecting the least drop of 
 mercy and favor, call into thy mind how thou didst spend 
 those days which God did permit thee to live; I say, re- 
 member, that in thy lifetime thou didst behave thyself re- 
 belliously against the Lord, in that thou wert careless of his 
 word and ordinances, yea, and of the welfare of thine own 
 soul also. Therefore, now, I say, instead of expecting or 
 hoping for any relief, thou must be forced to call to remem- 
 brance thy filthy ways, and feed upon them, to thine ever- 
 lasting astonishment and confusion. 
 
 From these words, therefore, which say, " Remember that 
 thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things," there are 
 these things to be taken notice of. 
 
BITTER REMEMBRANCES OF THE LOST. 195 
 
 I. They that by putting off repentance, and living in their 
 sins, lose their souls, shall, instead of having the least mea- 
 sure of comfort when they come into hell, have their ill- 
 spent life always very fresh in their remembrance. While 
 they live here, they can sin and forget it ; but when they 
 depart, they shall have it before them ; they shall have a 
 remembrance, or their memory notably enlightened, and a 
 clearer, and a continual sight of all their wicked practices 
 that they wrought and did while they were in the world. 
 "Son, remember," saith he. Then you will be made to 
 remember. As if he had said, 
 
 1. Remember how thou wert born in sin, and brought 
 up in the same. 
 
 2. Remember how thou hadst many a time the gospel 
 preached to thee for taking away of the same, by him whom 
 the gospel doth hold forth. 
 
 3. Remember, that out of love to thy sins and lusts, thou 
 didst turn thy back on the tenders of the same gospel of 
 good tidings and peace. 
 
 4. Remember that the reason why thou didst lose thy 
 soul, was because thou didst not close in with free grace, 
 and the tenders of a loving and free-hearted Jesus Christ. 
 
 5. Remember how near thou wast to turning at such and 
 such a time ; only thou wast willing to give way to thy lusts 
 when they wrought, to drunkards when they called, to 
 pleasures when they proffered themselves, to the cares and 
 encumbrances of the world, which, like so many thorns, did 
 choke that or those convictions that were set on thy heart. . 
 
 6. Remember how willing thou wast to satisfy thyself 
 with an hypocrite's hope, and with a notion of the things of 
 God, without the real power and life of the same. 
 
 7. Remember how thou, when thou wast admonished to 
 turn, didst put off turning and repenting till another time. 
 
 8. Remember how thou didst dissemble at such a time, 
 lie at such a time, cheat thy neighbor at such a time, mock, 
 
196 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 flout, scoff, taunt, hate, persecute the people of God at such 
 a time, in such a place, among such company. 
 
 9. Remember, that while others were met together in the 
 fear of the Lord to seek him, thou wast met with a company 
 of vain companions to sin against him; while the saints 
 were praying, thou wast cursing; while they were speak- 
 ing good of the name of God, thou wast speaking evil of the 
 saints of God. then, thou shalt have a scalding hot re- 
 membrance of all thy sinful thoughts, words, and actions, 
 from the very first to the last of them that ever thou didst 
 commit, in all thy lifetime. Then thou wilt find that scrip- 
 ture to be a truth, Deut. xxviii. 65, 66, 67, ^' The Lord 
 shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, 
 and sorrow of mind : and thy life shall hang in doubt before 
 thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shall have none 
 assurance of thy life : in the morning thou shalt say, Would 
 God it were even ! and at even thou shalt say, Would God 
 it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith 
 thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou 
 shalt see.'' Nay, thou shalt find worse things to thy woe 
 than this scripture doth manifest. For indeed there is no 
 tongue able to express the horror, terror, torrnent, and eter- 
 nal misery, that those poor souls shall undergo, without the 
 least mitigation or ease. A very great part of it shall come 
 from that quick,^ full, and continual remembrance of their 
 sins that they shall have; and therefore there is much 
 weight m these words, " Son, remember that thou in thy 
 lifetime hadst thy good things.'' 
 
 From these words you see this is to be observed, that the 
 ungodly shall remember, or have in remembrance the mis- 
 spendtng of their lives: "Remember that in thy lifetime 
 thou hadst thy good things. You may take these words, 
 "good things," either simply for the things of this world, 
 which in themselves are called and may be called "good 
 things;" or else with these words, namely, the things of 
 
REMEMBRANCE OF LIFE xMISSPENT. 197 
 
 this life; all the pleasures, delights, profits, and vanities, 
 which the ignorant people of the world do count their good 
 things, and do very much cheer themselves therewith. 
 'Soul, eat, drink, and be merry; for thou hast much goods 
 laid up for many years/ Luke xii. 19. Now, I say, Grod, 
 according to his glorious power and wisdom, will make poor 
 creatures have always in their minds a fresh and clear re- 
 membrance of their ill-spent life. He will say unto them, 
 Kemember, remember, that in thy lifetime it was thus and 
 thus with thee, and in thy lifetime thy carriage was so 
 and so. 
 
 If sinners might have their choice, they would not have 
 their sins and transgressions so much in the remembrance, 
 as is evident by their carriages here in this world : for they 
 will not endure to entertain a serious thought of their filthy 
 life; they put far away the evil day (Amos vi. 3; Ezek. 
 xii. 27), and labor by all means to put the thoughts of it 
 out of their mind; but there they shall be made to remem- 
 ber to purpose, and to think continually of their ungodly 
 deeds. And therefore it is said, that when our Lord Jesus 
 Christ comes to judgment, it will be to convince the un- 
 godly world of their wicked and ungodly deeds ; mark, to 
 convince them. Jude 14, 15. They will not willingly take 
 notice of them now; but then they shall, hereafter, in spite 
 of their teeth; for those that die out of Christ, shall be 
 made to see, acknowledge, and confess their guilt, do what 
 they can, when they lift up their eyes in hell, and remem- 
 ber their transgressions. Grod will be a swift witness against 
 them (Mai. iii. 5) ; and will say, Remember what thou didst 
 in thy lifetime; how thou didst live in thy lifetime. Ha, 
 friend ! If thou dost not in these days of light remember the 
 days of darkness, Eccles. xi. 8, (the days of death, hell, and 
 judgment), thou shalt be made in the days of darkness, 
 death, hell, and at the judgment too, to remember the days 
 of the gospel, and how thou didst disregard them toO; to thy 
 
 17 
 
l98 SIGHS FROM HELL- 
 
 own destruction and everlasting misery. This is intimated 
 in the 25th chapter of St. Matthew. 
 
 ^'Remember that in thy lifetime thou receivedst thy good 
 things.'' 
 
 The great God, instead of giving the ungodly any ease, 
 will even aggravate their torments. First, by slighting their 
 perplexities, and by telling them what they must be think- 
 ing of. Remember, saith he, ye lost souls, that you had 
 your joy in your lifetime; your peace in your lifetime; your 
 comforts, delights, ease, health, wealth — your heaven, your 
 happiness, and your portion in your lifetime. 
 
 miserable state ! Thou wilt then be in a sad condition 
 indeed, when thou shalt see that thou hast had thy good 
 things, thy best things, thy pleasant things; for that is 
 clearly signified by these words, "Remember that thou in 
 thy lifetime hadst thy good things," or, all the good things 
 that thou art likely to have. From whence take notice of 
 another truth (though it be a dreadful one), which is this : 
 There are many poor creatures who have all their good, 
 sweet, and comfortable things, in this life, or while they are 
 alive in this world: "Remember," saith he, "that in thy 
 lifetime thou hadst thy good things." . 
 
 The wicked's good things will shortly have, an end; they 
 will last no longer with them than this life, or their lifetime. 
 Psalm xvii. 14. That scripture was not written in vain : 
 " As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter 
 of a fool : this also is vanity. Eccles. vii. 6. It is like the 
 crackling of thorns under a pot — makes a little blaze for a 
 sudden, a little heat for a while ; but come and consider it 
 by and by, and instead of a comfortable heat, you will find 
 nothing but a few dead ashes; and instead of a flaming fire, 
 nothing but a smell of smoke. 
 
 There is a time coming, that the ungodly would be glad 
 of a better portion, when they shall see the vanity of this, 
 that is, when they shall see what a poor thing it is, for a 
 
WRETCHEDNESS OF THE SINNER' S PORTION. 199 
 
 man to have his portion in this world. It is true, while 
 they are here on this side hell, they think there is nothing 
 to be compared with riches, honors, and pleasures in this 
 world ; which makes them cry out, Who will show us any 
 good ? (Psalm iv. 7) that is, any comparable to the pleasures, 
 profits, and glory of this world ? But then they will see there 
 is another thing that is better and of more value than ten 
 thousand worlds. And seriously, friends, will it not grieve 
 you, trouble, perplex, and torment you, when you shall see 
 that you lost heaven for a little pleasure and profit in your 
 lifetime ? Certainly it will grieve you and perplex you ex- 
 ceedingly, to see what a blessed heaven you lost for a dung- 
 hill world. ! that you did but believe this ! that you did 
 but consider this, and say within yourselves. What ! shall I 
 be contented with my portion in this world ! What ! shall 
 I lose heaven for this world ! I say, consider it while you 
 have day-light, and gospel light, while the Son of Grod doth 
 hold out terms of reconciliation to you ; lest you be made to 
 hear such a voice as this is, " Son, remember, that in thy 
 lifetime thou receivedst thy good things;" thy comforts, thy 
 joys, thy ease, thy peace, and all the heaven thou art like 
 to have. poor heaven ! short pleasures ! What a piti- 
 ful thing it is to be left in such a case! Soul, consider: Is 
 it not miserable to lose heaven, for twenty, thirty, or forty 
 years' sinning against God ? When thy life is done, thy 
 heaven is also done. When death comes to separate thy 
 soul and body, in that day also thou must have thy heaven 
 and happiness separated from thee, and thou from that. 
 Consider these things betimes, lest thou have thy portion in 
 thy lifetime. For if in this life only we have our portion, we 
 are of all people the most miserable. 1 Cor. xv. 19. Again, 
 consider, that when other men (the saints) are to receive, 
 their good things, then thou hast had thine ! When others are 
 to enter into joy, then thou art to leave and depart from thy 
 joy! When others are to go to God thou must go the devil! 
 
200 BIGIIS FROM HELL. 
 
 miserable man ! Thou hadst belter never been born, than 
 to be an heir of such a portion ; therefore, I say, have a care 
 it be not thy condition. 
 
 ''Remember that thou receivedst thy good things, and 
 Lazarus evil things." 
 
 These words do not only hold forth the misery of the 
 wicked in this life, but also great consolation to the saints; 
 where he saith, ''And Lazarus evil things," that is, Lazarus 
 had his evil things in his lifetime, or when he was in the 
 world. From whence observe, 
 
 1. That the life of the saints, so long as they are in this 
 world, is attended with many evils or afflictions : which may 
 be discovered to be of divers natures; as saith the scriptures, 
 "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord deli- 
 vereth him out of them all." Ps. xxxiv. 19. 
 
 2. Take notice, that the afflictions or evils that accom- 
 pany the saints, may continue with them their lifetime, so 
 long as they live in this vale of tears ; yea, and they may be 
 diverse, that is, of several sorts; some outward, some inward, 
 and that as long as they shall continue here below, as hath 
 been the experience of all saints in all ages. And this might 
 be proved at large ; but I only hint at these things, though 
 
 1 might enlarge much upon them. 
 
 3. The evils that do accompany the saints will continue 
 no longer with them than their lifetime. And here indeed 
 lies the comfort of believers, the Lazaruses, the saints ; they 
 must have all their bitter cup wrung out to them in their 
 lifetime ; here must be all their trouble ; here must be all 
 their grief. Behold, saith Christ, the world shall rejoice, 
 but ye shall lament ; but your mourning — mark it, shall be 
 turned into joy. John xvi. 20. You shall lament, you 
 shall be sorrowful, you shall weep in your lifetime ; but your 
 sorrow shall be turned into joy; and your joy no man (let 
 him be what he will), no man shall take away from you. 
 
 Now if you think, when I sny the saints have all their evil 
 
THE CONSOLATION OF SAINTS. 201 
 
 things in their lifetime, that I mean, they have nothing else 
 but trouble in this their lifetime, this is your mistake ; for 
 let me tell you, that though the saints have all their evil 
 things in their lifetime, yet even in their lifetime they have 
 also joy unspeakable and full of glory, while they look not 
 at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not 
 seen. The joy that the saints have sometimes in their heart, 
 by a believing consideration of the good things to come when 
 this life is ended, doth fill them fuller of joy, than all the 
 crosses, troubles, temptations, and evils, that accompany 
 them in this life, can fill them with grief. 2 Cor. iv. 
 
 But some saints may say, Oly troubles are such as are 
 ready to overcome me.' Ansio. Yet be of good comfort, 
 they shall last no longer than thy lifetime. 
 
 ^But my trouble is, I am perplexed with an heart full of 
 corruption and sin, so that I am much hindered in walking 
 with God.' Ansiv. It is likely so; but thou shalt have these 
 troubles no longer than thy lifetime. 
 
 'But I have a cross husband, and that is a great grief 
 to me.' 
 
 Well, but thou shalt be troubled with him no longer 
 than thy lifetime; and therefore be not dismayed, be not 
 discomforted; thou shalt have no trouble longer than this 
 lifetime. 
 
 Art thou troubled with cross children, cross relations, 
 cross neighbors ? They shall trouble thee no longer than this 
 lifetime. 
 
 Art thou troubled with a cunning devil? with unbelief?- 
 Yea, let it be what it will (if thou be a believer), thou shalt 
 take thy farewell of them all after thy lifetime is ended. 
 excellent assurance ! Then " God shall wipe away all tears 
 from your eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor 
 crying, nor any more pain; for the former things are passed 
 away." 
 
 But now, on the contrary, if thou be not a right and 
 
202 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 sound believer, then, though thou shouldst live a thousand 
 years in this world, and meet with sore afflictions every day; 
 yet these afflictions, be they ever so great and grievous, are 
 nothing to that torment that will come upon thee, both in 
 soul and body, after this life is ended. 
 
 I say, be what thou wilt, if thou be found in unbelief, or 
 under the first covenant, thou art sure to smart for it at the 
 time when thou dost depart this world. But the thing to be 
 lamented is, for all this is so sad a condition to be fallen 
 into, yet poor souls are for the most part senseless of it; yea, 
 BO senseless (at some times) as though there was no such 
 misery to come hereafter. Because the Lord doth not imme- 
 diately strike with his sword, but doth bear long with his 
 creatures, waiting that he might be gracious : therefore, I 
 Bay, the hearts of the sons of men, are wholly set in there to 
 do evil. Eccles. viil. 11. And that forbearance and goodness 
 of God, that one would think should lead them to repentance, 
 are abused to their ruin ; the devil hardening them, by their 
 continuing in sin, and by blinding their eyes, as to the end 
 of God's forbearance towards them. Thus they are led away 
 with a very hardened and senseless heart, even until they 
 drop into eternal destruction. 
 
 But, poor hearts, they must have a time in which they 
 must be made sensible of their former behaviors, when 
 the just judgments of the Lord shall flame about their ears ; 
 insomuch that they shall be made to cry out again with 
 anguish, ^I am sorely tormented in this flame.' 
 
 *' But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." 
 
 As if he should say, Now hath God recompensed both 
 Lazarus and you, according to what you sought after, while 
 you were in the world. As for your part, you did neglect 
 the precious mercy and goodness of God ; you did turn your 
 back on the Son of God, that came into the world to save 
 sinners; you made a mock of preaching the gospel; you 
 were admonished over and over, to close in with the loving- 
 
men's future portion just. 203 
 
 kindness of the Lord, in his Son Jesus Christ. The Lord 
 let you live twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years; all 
 which time, you, instead of spending it to make your calling 
 and election sure (2 Pet. i. 10) did spend it in making 
 eternal damnation sure to your soul. And also Lazarus, 
 in his lifetime did make it his business to accept of my grace 
 and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. When thou wast 
 in the alehouse, he frequented the word preached; when 
 thou wert jeering at goodness, he was sighing for the sins 
 of the times; while thou wert swearing, he was praying. 
 In a word, while thou wert making sure of eternal ruin, he 
 by faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, was making 
 sure of eternal salvation. Therefore, " now he is comforted, 
 and thou art tormented.'' 
 
 Here then you may see, that as the righteous shall not be 
 always void of comfort and blessedness; so neither shall the 
 ungodly go always without their punishment. As sure as 
 God is in heaven, it will be thus: they must have their 
 several portions. And therefore you that are the saints of 
 the Lord, follow on ; be not dismayed, '^ Forasmuch as you 
 know, that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.'' 1 Cor. 
 XV. 58. Your portion is eternal glory. And you that are 
 so loath now to close in with Jesus Christ, and to leave your 
 sins to follow him, your day is coming (Psalm xxxvii. 13), 
 in which you shall know, that your sweet morsels of sin that 
 you so easily take down (Job xx. 12, 13, 14), and it scarce 
 troubles you, will have a time so to work within you to your 
 eternal ruin, that you will be in a worse condition than if 
 you had ten thousand devils tormenting you. Nay, you had 
 better have been plucked limb from limb a thousand times 
 (if it could be), than to be partakers of this torment, which 
 will assuredly, without mercy, lie upon you. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gclf fixed : so that 
 
 THEY WHICH WOULD PASS FROM HENCE TO TOU, CANNOT ; NEITHER CAN THEY PASS TO 
 US, THAT WOULD COME FROM THENCE. — VcrSe 26. 
 
 These words are still part of the answer that the souls in 
 hell shall have for all the sobbings, sighings, grievous cries, 
 tears, and desires that they have, to be released out of those 
 intolerable pains they feel and are perplexed with. And, 
 oh ! methinks the words at the first view, if rightly consi- 
 dered, are enough to make any hard-hearted sinner in the 
 world, to fall down dead. The verse I last spoke about was, 
 and is, a very terrible one, and aggravates the torments of 
 poor sinners wonderfully, where he saith, "Remember that 
 thou in thy lifetime hadst thy good things, and Lazarus 
 his evil things," &c. I say, the words are very terrible to 
 those poor souls that die out of Christ. But these latter 
 words do much more hold out their sorrow. They were 
 spoken as to the present condition of the sinner. These do 
 not only back the former, but do yet further aggravate their 
 misery, holding forth that which will be more intolerable. 
 The former verse is enough to smite any sinner into a 
 swoon, but this to make them fall down dead, where he 
 saith, " And besides all this," there is something to aggra- 
 vate thy misery yet far more abundantly. I shall briefly 
 speak to the words as they have relation to the terror spoken 
 of in the verses before. As if he had said. Thou thinkest 
 the present state unsupportable ; it makes thee sob and sigh; 
 it makes thee to rue the time that ever thou wert born ; now 
 thou findest the want of mercy; now thou wouldst leap at 
 the least dram of it ; now thou feelest what it is to slight 
 the tenders of the grace of God ; now it makes thee to sob, 
 (204) 
 
"besides all this." — illustration. 205 
 
 sigh, and roar exceedingly, for the anguish that thou art in. 
 " But besides all this," I have other things to tell thee of, 
 that will break thine heart indeed. Thou art now deprived 
 of a being in the world ; thou art deprived of hearing the 
 gospel; the devil hath been too hard for thee, and hath made 
 thee miss of heaven ; thou art now in hell among an innu- 
 merable company of devils and all thy sins beset thee round; 
 thou art all overwrapped in flames, and canst not have one 
 drop of water to give thee any ease ; thou criest in vain, for 
 nothing will be granted ; thou seest the saints in heaven, 
 which is no small trouble to thy lost soul; thou seest 
 that neither Grod nor Christ takes any care to ease thee, or 
 speak any comfort unto thee. " But besides all this," there 
 thou art like to lie. Never think of any ease, never look for 
 any comfort; repentance now will do thee no good; the time 
 is past, and can never be called again. Look ! what thou 
 hast now, thou must have for ever. It is true, I spoke 
 enough before to break thine heart asunder ; " but besides 
 all this," there lie and swim in flames for ever. 
 
 These words of Christ, "besides all this," are terrible 
 words indeed. I will give you the scope of them in a 
 similitude. Set the case, you should take a man and tie 
 him to a stake, and with red hot pincers, pinch ofi" his flesh 
 by little pieces, for two or three years together; and at last, 
 when the poor man cries for ease and help, the' tormentors 
 answer. Nay, " but besides all this," you must be handled 
 much worse. "\Ye will serve you thus these twenty years 
 together, and after that we will fill your mangled body full 
 of scalding lead, or run you through with a red hot spit ; 
 would not this be lamentable ? Yet this is but a flea-biting 
 to the sorrow of those that go to hell ; for if a man were 
 served so, there would, ere it were long, be an end of him. 
 But he that goes to hell shall suff"er ten thousand times 
 worse torments than these, and yet shall never be quite dead 
 under them. There they shall be ever whining, pining, 
 18 
 
206 SIGHS fro:m hell. 
 
 weeping, mourning; ever tormented without ease, and yet 
 never dissolved into nothing. If the biggest devil in hell 
 might pull thee all to pieces, and rend thee as small as dust, 
 and dissolve thee into nothing, thou wouldst count this a 
 mercy. But here thou mayst lie and fry, scorch, and broil, 
 and burn for ever. For ever, that is a long while, and yet it 
 must be so long, ^^ Depart from me/' saith Christ, " into 
 everlasting fire," into the fire that burns for ever, '^prepared 
 for the devil and his angels." Matt. xxv. 41. 
 
 Oh ! thou that wast loath to foul thy foot if it were but 
 dirty, or did but rain ; thou that wast loath to come out of 
 the chimney corner, if the wind did but blow a little cold ; 
 and wast loath to go half a mile, yea, half a furlong, to hear 
 the word of God, if it were but a little dark ; thou that wast 
 loath to leave a few vain companions, to edify thy soul, thou 
 shalt have fire enough, thou shalt have night enough, and 
 evil company far more than enough, if thou miss of Jesus 
 Christ ; " and besides all this," thou shalt have them for 
 ever, and for ever. 
 
 thou that dost spend whole nights in carding and dicing, 
 in rioting and wantonness ; thou that countest it a brave 
 thing to swear as fiist as the bravest, to spend with the 
 greatest spendthrift in the country; thou that lovest to sin 
 in a corner when nobody sees thee ! thou that for by- 
 ends dost carry on the hypocrite's profession, because thou 
 wouldst be counted somebody among the children of Grod, 
 but art an enemy to the things of Christ in thine heart ; 
 thou that dost satisfy thyself, either with sins, or a bare pro- 
 fession of godliness, thy soul will fall into extreme torments 
 and anguish, so soon as ever thou dost depart this world, 
 and there thou shalt be weeping and gnashing thy teeth. 
 Matt. viii. 11, 12. And besides all this, thou art never like 
 to have any ease or remedy. Never look for any deliver- 
 ance. Thou shalt die in thy sins, and be tormented as many 
 
THE GREAT GULF FIXED. 207 
 
 years as there are stars in the firmament, or sands on the 
 sea-shore; and besides all this thou must abide it for ever. 
 
 ^And besides all this, between us and you there is a great 
 gulf fixed : so that they which would pass from hence to 
 you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come 
 from thence/' "There is a great gulf fixed/' You will 
 say. What is that ? It is a nice question ; therefore first 
 seek thou rather to enter in at the strait gate, than curiously 
 to inquire what this gulf is. 
 
 But, if thou wouldst needs know, if thou do fall short of 
 heaven, thou wilt find it this, namely, the everlasting decree 
 of God; that is, there is a decree gone forth from God, that 
 those who fall short of heaven in this world, God is resolved 
 they shall never enjoy it in the world to come. And thou 
 wilt find this gulf so deep, that thou shalt never be able to 
 wade through it as long as eternity lasts. As Christ saith, 
 " Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the 
 way with him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the 
 judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into pri- 
 son: I tell thee thou shalt in no wise come out thence:" 
 (there is the gulf, the decree :) " Thou shalt not depart thence 
 till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing,'' or " very last 
 mite." Luke xii. 58, 59. These words, therefore, "there 
 is a great gulf fixed," I understand to be the everlasting 
 decree of God. God hath decreed, that those who go to 
 heaven, shall never go from thence again into a worse place; 
 and also that those that go to hell, and would come out, 
 shall not come out from thence again. And, friend, this is. 
 such a gulf, so fixed by him that cannot lie, that thou wilt 
 find it so, which way soever thou goest, whether it be to 
 heaven or hell. Here therefore thou seest how secure God 
 will make those who die in the faith : God will keep them 
 in heaven; but those that die in their sins, God will throw 
 them into hell, and keep them there; so that they that 
 would go from heaven to hell cannot, neither can they come 
 
208 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 from hell that would go to heaven. Mark, he doth not say, 
 they would not: for how fain would those who have lost 
 their souls for a lust, for twopence, for a jug of ale, for a 
 strumpet, for this world, come out of that hot scalding fiery 
 furnace of God's eternal vengeance, if they might. But here 
 is their misery. ' They that would come from you to us,' that 
 is, 'from hell to heaven,' cannot; they must not, they shall 
 not. They cannot. God hath decreed it, and is resolved 
 the contrary. Here therefore lies the misery; not so much 
 that they are in hell, but that there they must lie for ever 
 and ever. 
 
 Therefore, if thy heart would at any time tempt thee to 
 sin against God, cry out. No; for then I must go to hell, 
 and lie there for ever. If the drunkards, swearers, liars, 
 and hypocrites, did but take this doctrine soundly down, it 
 would make them tremble when they think of sinning. Ah, 
 poor souls, now they will make a mock of sin (Prov. xiv. 
 9), and play with it as a child doth play with a rattle ; but 
 the time is coming, that these rattles that they now play 
 with, will make such a noise in their ears and consciences, 
 that they shall find that if all the devils in hell were yelling 
 at their heels, the noise would not be comparable to it. 
 Friend, thy sins, as so many bloodhounds, will first hunt 
 thee out, and then take thee and bind thee, and hold thee 
 down for ever. Numb, xxxii. 23; Prov. v. 22. They will 
 gripe thee and gnaw thee as if thou hadst a nest of poison- 
 ous serpents in thy bowels. Job xx. 14. And this will not 
 be for a time ! but, as I have said, for ever, — for ever, — for 
 ever I 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Then he said, i prat thee therefore, father, that thou woxjldst send him to mt 
 father's house.— Verse 27. 
 
 The verse before, I told you, was spoken partly to hold 
 forth a desire that the damned have, to be freed of their 
 endless misery. Now this verse still holds forth the cries 
 of those poor souls as very vehement. They would very fain 
 have something granted to them; but it will not be, as will 
 more clearly appear afterward. 
 
 ^^Then he said, I pray thee therefore^ father,^' &c. As if 
 he should say, Seeing I have brought myself into such a 
 miserable condition, that Grod will not regard me, that my 
 exceeding loud and bitter cries will not be heard for myself : 
 Feeing I must not be admitted to have so much as one drop 
 of cold water, nor the least help from the poorest saints : 
 and seeing, besides all this, here my soul must lie to all 
 eternity, broiling and frying ; seeing I must, whether I will 
 or no, undergo the hand of eternal vengeance, and the re- 
 bukes of devouring fire; seeing my state is such, that I 
 would not wish a dog in my condition; ^^ send him to my 
 father's house." It is worthy to be taken notice of (again) 
 who it is he desired to be sent, namely, Lazarus. friend, 
 see here how the stout hearts and stomachs of poor creatures 
 will be humbled. As I said before, they will be so brought 
 down, that those things that they disdained and made light 
 of in this world, they would be glad of in the life to come. 
 Lazurus by this man was so slighted once, that he thought it 
 a dishonor that he should eat with the dogs of his flock. 
 *What, shall I regard Lazarus, scrubbed, beggarly Lazarus? 
 What, shall I so far dishonor my fair, sumptuous, and gay 
 
 18* (209) 
 
210 SIGUS FROM HELL. 
 
 house, with such a scabbed creep-hedge as he ? No, I scorn 
 he should be entertained under my roof.' Thus in his life- 
 time, while he was in his bravery; but now he is come into 
 another world; now he is parted from his pleasures; now he 
 sees his fine house, his dainty dishes, his rich neighbors and 
 companions and he are parted asunder; now he finds, in- 
 stead of pleasures, torments; instead of joys, heaviness; in- 
 stead of heaven, hell ; instead of the pleasures of sin, the 
 horror and guilt of sin : now, send Lazarus ! 
 
 Lazarus, it may be, might have done him some good, if 
 he might have been entertained in time past, and might 
 have persuaded him at least not to have gone on so griev- 
 ously wicked; but he slights him, will not regard him; he 
 is resolved to disown him, though he lose his own soul for 
 so doing. ^Ay, but now send Lazarus, if not to me, to my 
 father's house, and let him tell them, from me, that if they 
 run on in sin, as I have done, they must, and shall receive 
 the same wages, that I have received.' 
 
 Take notice of this, you that are despisers of the least of 
 the Lazaruses of our Lord Jesus Christ. It may be now you 
 are loath to receive these little ones of his, because they are 
 not gentlemen; because they cannot, with Pontius Pilate, 
 speak Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Nay, they must not 
 speak to them, to admonish them; and all because of this. 
 Though now the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ may be 
 preached to them freely, and for nothing; nay, they are now 
 desired to hear and receive it; though now they will not 
 own, regard, and embrace these Christian profi'ers of the 
 glorious truth of Jesus, because they come out of some of 
 the basest earthen vessels (1 Cor. i. 26) ; yet the time is 
 coming, when they will both sigh and cry, "Send him to 
 my father's house." I say, remember this, ye that despise 
 the day of small things; the time is coming when you 
 would be glad if you might enjoy from God, from Christ, or 
 his saintS; one small drop of cold water, though now you are 
 
WICKED RELATIONS WARNED. 211 
 
 unwilling to receive the glorious distilling drops of the gos- 
 pel of our Lord Jesus. 
 
 Again, see here the lamentable state they are in, that go 
 to hell, from their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, &c. 
 "While they are in this world, men delight to set their child- 
 ren ill examples; and also children love to follow the wicked 
 steps of their ungodly parents. But when they depart this 
 life, and drop down into hell, and find themselves in irre- 
 coverable misery, then they cry, ^Send somebody to my 
 father's house, to my brother's house. Tell them my state 
 is miserable; tell them I am undone for ever; and tell 
 them also, that if they will be walking in these ungodly 
 steps wherein I left them, they will assuredly fall into this 
 place of torments.' 
 
 ^'I pray thee, send him to mj father's house.'' Ah! 
 friends and neighbors, it is likely you little think of this, 
 that some of your friends and relations are crying out in hell, 
 Lord, send somebody to my father's house, to preach the 
 gospel to them, lest they also come into these torments. 
 
 Here men, while they live, can willingly walk together 
 in the way of sin ; and when they are parted by death, they 
 that are living seldom or never consider the sad condition 
 that they that are dead are descended into. But ye ungodly 
 fathers, how are your ungodly children roaring now in hell ! 
 and your ungodly parents that lived and died ungodly, now 
 also in the pains of hell ! And one drunkard is singing on 
 the alehouse bench, and another roaring under the wrath of 
 God, saying, '0 that I was with him! how would I rebuke 
 him, and persuade him by all means to leave oil those evil 
 courses ! that they did but consider what I now suffer for 
 pride, covetousness, drunkenness, lying, swearing, stealing, 
 whoring, and the like ! Oh ! did they but feel the thou- 
 sandth part thereof, it would make them look about them, 
 and not buy sin at so dear a rate as I have done; even with 
 the loss of my precious soul !' 
 
212 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 *^Send him to my father's house." ^Not, to my father, 
 but to my fiither's house. It may be, there are ungodly 
 children, there are ungodly servants, wallowing in their un- 
 godliness; send him therefore to my father's house. It is 
 likely, they are still the same that I left them. I left them 
 wicked, and they are wicked still ; I left them slighters of 
 the gospel, saints, and ways of God, and they do it still. 
 ''Send him to my father's house:" it is likely there is but 
 a little between them and the place where I am. Send 
 him to-day, before to-morrow, "lest they come into the 
 same place of torment." I pray thee thou wouldst send 
 him. I beg it on my bended knee, with crying and tears, 
 in the agony of my soul. It may be they will not consider, 
 if thou do not send him. I left them sottish enough ; hard- 
 ened as well as I. They have the same devil to tempt 
 them, the same lusts and world to overcome them : " I pray 
 thee therefore that thou wouldst send him to my father's 
 house;" make no delay lest they lose their souls; lest they 
 come hither : if they do, they are likely never to return 
 again. Oh ! little do they think, how easily they may lose 
 their souls. They are apt to think their condition to be as 
 good as the best, as I once through ignorance did; but send 
 him, send him — send him without delay, "lest they come 
 into this place of torment." that thou. Lord, wouldst give 
 him commission; do thou send him thyself. The time was, 
 when I, together with them, slighted those that were sent 
 of God ; though we could not deny but that they spake the 
 word of God, and were sent of him, as our conscience told 
 us ; yet we preferred the calls of men before the calls of 
 God : for though they had the one, yet because they had 
 not the other in that antichristian way which we thought 
 meet, we could not, would not, either hear them ourselves, 
 nor yet give our consent that others should. But now a 
 call from God is worth all. Do thou therefore send him to 
 my father's house.' 
 
LANGUAGE OF A LOST SOUL. 213 
 
 ^ The time was when we did not like it, except it might be 
 preached in the synagogue. We thought it a low thing to 
 preach and pray together in houses; we were too high- 
 spirited, too superstitious ; the gospel would not down with 
 us, unless we had it in such a place, by such a man ; no, 
 nor then neither effectually. But now, that I was to live 
 in the world again, and might have that privilege, to have 
 some acquaintance with blessed Lazarus, some familiarity 
 with that holy man ! What attendance would I give unto 
 his wholesome words ! How would I affect his doctrine, and 
 close in with it ! How would I square my life thereby ! 
 Now, therefore, as it is better to hear the gospel under a 
 hedge, than to sit roaring in a tavern, so it is better to welcome 
 Grod's begging Lazaruses, than the wicked companions of 
 this world. It is better to receive a saint in the name of a 
 saint, a disciple in the name of a disciple (Luke x. 16), 
 than to do as I have done. Oh ! it is better to receive a 
 child of Grod, that can by experience deliver the things of 
 God, his free love, his tender grace, his rich forbearance, 
 and also the misery of man if without it, than to be daubed 
 up with untempered mortar. Ezek. xiii. 10. Oh ! I may curse 
 the day that ever I gave way to the flatteries and fawning 
 of a company of carnal men ! But this my repentance is too 
 late ; I should have looked about me sooner, if I would have 
 been saved from this woful place. Therefore send him, not 
 only to the town I lived in, and unto some of my acquaint- 
 ance, but to my father's house. 
 
 * In my lifetime, I did not care to hear that word that cut 
 me most, and showed me my state aright. I was vexed 
 to hear my sins mentioned, and laid to my charge; I loved 
 him best that deceived me most; that said. Peace, peace, 
 when there was no such thing. Jer. vi, 14. But now, 
 that I had been soundly told of it ! that it had pierced 
 both mine ears and heart, and had stuck so fast, that nothing 
 could have cured me, saving the blood of Christ ! It is 
 
214 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 better to be dealt plainly with, than that we should be de- 
 ceived; they had better see their lost condition in the 
 world, than stay while they be damned, as I have done. 
 Therefore send Lazarus; send him to my father's house. 
 Let him go and say, I saw your son, your brother, in hell, 
 weeping, and wailing, and gnashing his teeth. Let him 
 bear them down in it, and tell them plainly, it is so, and 
 that tlrey shall see their everlasting misery, if they have not 
 a special care. Send him to my father's house.' 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 For I HATE FIVE BRETIIREX ; THAT HE MAT TESTIFY UNTO THEM, LEST THEY ALSO COME 
 INTO THIS PLACE OF TORMENT. — VerSC 28. 
 
 These words are (if I may so say) a reason given by 
 those in hell, why they are restless and do cry so loud : it is 
 that their companions might be delivered from those intolera- 
 ble torments, which they must and shall undergo, if they 
 fall short of everlasting life by Jesus Christ. " Send him 
 to my father's house; for I have/ve brethren." Though 
 while they lived among them in the world, they were not 
 so sensible of their ruin; yet now they are passed out of the 
 world, and do partake of that which before they were warned 
 of, they can, I say, there cry out. Now I find that to be 
 true indeed, which was once and again told, and declared to 
 me, that it would certainly come to pass. 
 
 " For I have five brethren." Here you may see that 
 there may be, and are, whole households in a damnable state 
 and condition, as our Lord Jesus doth by this signify. ' Send 
 him to my father's house, for they are all in one state ; I 
 left all my brethren in a pitiful state.' People while they 
 live here, cannot endure to hear that they should be all in a 
 
WHY THE DAMNED DO NOT DESIRE COMPANY. 215 
 
 miserable condition ; but wben they are under the wrath of 
 God, they see it, they know it, and are very sure of it : for 
 they themselves, when they were in the world, lived as 
 the others do, but they fell short of heaven ; and therefore 
 if the others go on, so shall they. Oh ! therefore send 
 quickly to my father's house, for all the house is in an 
 undone condition, and must be damned if they continue so. 
 
 The thing observable is this, namely, That those that are 
 in hell J do not desire that their companions should come 
 thitjier. Nay rather, saith he, ' Send him to my father's 
 house, and let him testify to them that are therein, lest they 
 also come into this place of torment.' 
 
 Quest. But some may say, What is the reason that the 
 damned should desire not to have their companions come 
 into the same condition that they are fallen into, but rather 
 that they might be kept from it, and escape that dreadful 
 state ? 
 
 Answ. I do believe there is scarce so much love in any of 
 the damned in hell, as really to desire the salvation of any. 
 But in that there is any desire in them that are damned, 
 that their friends and relations should not come into that 
 place of torment, it appears to me, to be rather for their own 
 ease, than for their neighbor's good ; for let me tell you, 
 this I do believe, that it will aggravate the grief and horror 
 of them, to see their ungodly neighbors in the like destruc- 
 tion with them. For where the ungodly do live and die, 
 and descend into the pit together, the one is rather a vexa- 
 tion to the other, than any thing else. 
 
 And it must needs be so, because there are no ungodly 
 people that do live ungodly together, but they do learn ill 
 examples one of another, as thus : If there live one in the 
 town that is very expert and cunning for the world, why 
 now, the rest that are of the same mind with him, they will 
 labor to imitate and follow his steps : this is commonly seen. 
 Again, If there be one given to drunkenness, others of the 
 
216 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 town; tlirougli his means, run tlie more into that sin with 
 him, and do accustom themselves the more unto it, because 
 of his enticing them, and also by setting such an ill example 
 before them. And so, if there be any addicted to pride, and 
 must needs be in all the newest fashions, how doth their 
 example provoke others to love and follow the same vanity! 
 spending that upon their lusts, which should relieve their 
 own and others' wants. Also, if there be any given to jest- 
 ing, scoffing, lying, whoring, backbiting, junketing, wanton- 
 ness, or any other sin ; they that are most expert in these 
 things, do ofttimes entangle others, that peradventure would 
 not have been so vile as now they are, had they not had 
 such an example ; and hence they are called corrupters. 
 Isa. i. 4. 
 
 Now these will by their doings exceedingly aggravate the 
 condemnation of one another. He that did set his neighbor 
 an ill example, and thereby caused him to walk in sin, he 
 will be found one cause of his friend's destruction, insomuch 
 that he will have to answer for his own sin, and for a great 
 part of his neighbor's too, which will add to his destruction; 
 as the scripture in Ezekiel showeth, where, speaking of the 
 watchman that should give the people warning, if he do not, 
 though the man did die in his sins, yet his blood shall be 
 required at the watchman's hand. 
 
 So here let me tell thee that if thou shouldst be such an 
 one, as by thy conversation and practices shall be a trap and 
 a stumbling-block, to cause thy neighbor to fall into eternal 
 ruin ; though he be damned for his own sin, yet God may, 
 nay he will, charge thee as being guilty of his blood, in that 
 thou didst not content thyself to keep from heaven thyself, 
 but didst also by thy filthy conversation keep away others, 
 and cause them to fall with thee. therefore, will not this 
 aggravate thy torment ? Yea, if thou shouldst die and go 
 to hell before thy neighbors or companions, besides the guilt 
 of thine own sins, thou wouldst be so loaden with the fear 
 
SINNERS MUTUAL TORMENTORS IN HELL. 217 
 
 of the damnation of others to be laid to thy charge, that 
 thou wouldst cry out, '0 send one from the dead to this 
 companion, and that companion, with whom I had society 
 in my lifetime, for I see my cursed carriage will be one 
 cause of his condemnation, if he fall short of glory ! I left 
 him living in foul and heinous offences ; but I was one of 
 the first instruments to bring him to them. Oh ! I shall be 
 guilty both of my own and his damnation too ! that he 
 might be kept out hence^ lest my torment be aggravated by 
 his coming hither V 
 
 For where ungodly people do dwell together, they being 
 a snare and stumbling-block one to another by their practice, 
 they must be a torment one to another and an aggravation 
 of each other's damnation. ' cursed be thy face, saith 
 one, that ever I set mine eyes on thee ; it was all of thee ; I 
 may thank thee ; it was thee that did entice me, and ensnare 
 me ; it was your filthy conversation that was a stumbling- 
 block to me ; it was your covetousness, it was your pride, 
 your haunting the alehouse, your gaming and whoring ; it 
 was all of you that I fell short of life ! If you had set me 
 a good example as you set me an ill one, it may be I might 
 have done better than now I do; but I learned of you, I 
 followed your steps, I took counsel of you. that I had 
 never seen your face ! that thou hadst never been born 
 to do my soul this wrong, as you have done !' ' Oh ! saith 
 the other, and I may as much blame you ; for do you not 
 remember how at such a time, and at such a time, you drew 
 me out and drew me away, and asked me if I would go with 
 you, when I was going about other business, about my call- 
 ing; but you called me away, you sent for me, you are as 
 much in the fault as I. Though I were covetous, you were 
 proud; and if you learned covetousness of me, I learned 
 pride and drunkenness of you. Though I taught you to 
 cheat, you taught me to whore, to lie, to scoff at goodness. 
 Though I, base wretch, did stumble you in some things, you 
 
 19 
 
218 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 did as much stumble me in others. I can blame you, as you 
 blame me ; and if I have to answer for some of your most 
 filthy actions, you have to answer for some of mine. I would 
 you had not come hither ; the very looks of you do wound 
 my soul, by bringing my sins afresh into my mind, the time 
 when, the manner how, the place where, the persons with 
 whom. It was with you, you ! Grief to my soul ! Since I 
 could not shun your company there, that I had been 
 without your company here !' 
 
 I say therefore, for those that have sinned together, to go 
 to hell together, it will very much perplex and torment 
 them both; therefore, I judge this, one reason why they that 
 are in hell do desire that their companions or friends do not 
 come thither into the same place of torment that they are in. 
 And, therefore, where Christ saith that the damned souls 
 cry out, ^ Send to our companions, that they may be warned 
 and commanded to look to themselves ; send to my five 
 brethren !' it is because they would not have their own tor- 
 ments heightened by their company; and a sense, yea, a 
 continual sense of their sins, which they caused them to 
 commit when they were in the world with them. For I do 
 believe, that the very looks of those that have been beguiled 
 of their fellows, I say, their very looks will be a torment to 
 them ; for thereby will the remembrance of their own sins 
 which they committed with them, be kept (if possible) the 
 fresher on their consciences ; and also, they will wonderfully 
 have the guilt of the other's sins upon them, in that they 
 were partly the cause of his committing them, being instru- 
 ments in the hands of the devil, to draw them in too. And, 
 therefore, ^est this come to pass, "I pray thee, send him to 
 my father's house. '^ For if they might not come hither, 
 peradventure my torment might have some mitigation ; that 
 is, if they might be saved, then their sins will be pardoned, 
 and not so heavily charged on my soul. But if they do fall 
 into the same place where T am, the sins that I have caused 
 
WAKNI-NG TO KIMGLEADERS IN SIN. 219 
 
 them to commit, will lie so heavy, not only on their soul, but 
 also on mine, that they will sink me into eternal misery, 
 deeper and deeper. " 0, therefore, send him to my father's 
 house, to my five brethren ; and let him testify to them, lest 
 they come into this place of torment.'' ' 
 
 These words being thus understood, what a condition doth 
 it show them to be in then, that now much delight in being 
 the very ringleaders of their companions into sins of all 
 sorts whatsoever. 
 
 While men live here, if they can be counted the cunning- 
 est in cheating, the boldest for lying, the archest for whor- 
 ing, the subtlest for coveting and getting the world ; if they 
 can but cunningly defraud, undermine, cross, and anger 
 their neighbors, yea, and hinder them from the means of 
 grace, the gospel of Christ; they glory in it, take a pride in 
 it, and think themselves pretty well at ease, and their minds 
 are somewhat quiet, being beguiled with sin. 
 
 But, friend, when thou hast lost this life, and dost begin 
 to lift up thine eyes in hell, and seest what thy sins have 
 brought thee to; and not only so, but that thou (devil-like) 
 by thy filthy sins didst cause others to fall into the same 
 condemnation with thee; and that one of the reasons of 
 their damnation was this, that thou didst lead them to the 
 commission of those wicked practices of this world, and the 
 lusts thereef ; then, ^0 that somebody would stop them from 
 coming, lest they also come into this place of torment, and 
 be damned as I am ! How will it torment me !' Balaam 
 could not be contented to be damned himself, but also he 
 must by his wickedness cause others to stumble and fall. 
 The Scribes and Pharisees could not be content to keep out 
 of heaven themselves, but they must labor to keep out others 
 too. Therefore theirs is the greater damnation. 
 
 The deceived cannot be content to be deceived himself; 
 but he must labor to deceive others also. The drunkard 
 cannot be content to go to hell for his sins^ but he mu>st 
 
220 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 labor to cause others to fall into the same furnace with him. 
 But look to yourselves, for here will be damnation upon 
 damnation; damned for thine own sins, and damned for thy 
 being partaker with others in their sins, and damned for 
 being guilty of the damnation of others. Oh ! how will the 
 drunkards cry, for leading their neighbors into drunkenness ! 
 How will the covetous person howl for setting his neighbor, 
 his friend, his brother, his children and relations, so wicked 
 an example, by which he hath not only wronged his own 
 Boul, but also the souls of others! The liar, by lying, 
 learned others to lie; the swearer learned others to swear; the 
 whoremonger learned others to whore. Now all these, with 
 others of the like sort, will be guilty, not only of their own 
 damnation, but of others. I tell you, that some men have 
 been so much the authors of the damnation of others, that I 
 am ready to think that the damnation of them, will trouble 
 them as much as their own damnation. 
 
 Some men, it is to be feared, at the day of judgment, will 
 be found to be the authors of destroying whole nations. 
 How many souls, do you think, Balaam with his deceit, 
 will have to answer for? How many, Mahomet ? How many, 
 the Pharisees, that hired the soldiers to say the disciples 
 stole away Jesus? (Matt, xxviii. 11-15), and by that means 
 stumbled their brethren to this day. This was one means of 
 binding them from believing the things of God and Jesus 
 Christ, and so the cause of the damnation of their brethren 
 to this very day. 
 
 How many poor souls hath Bonner to answer for, think 
 you? and other filthy, blind priests? How many souls 
 have they been the means of destroying by their ignorance 
 and corrupt doctrine; preaching what was no better for men's 
 souls, than ratsbane to the body, for filthy lucre's sake? 
 They shall see, many of them, it is to be feared, that they 
 will have whole towns to answer for, whole cities to answer 
 for! 
 
MISERY OF SOUL-DESTROYERS. 221 
 
 Ah, friend, I tell thee, thou that hast taken in hand to 
 preach to the people, it may thou hast taken in hand, thou 
 canst not tell what. "Will it not grieve thee, to see thy 
 whole parish come bellowing after thee to hell, crying out, 
 ' This we may thank thee for; this is all of thee ; thou didst 
 not teach us the truth ; thou didst lead us away with fables ; 
 thou wast afraid to tell us of our sins, lest we should not 
 put meat fast enough into thy mouth. cursed wretch, 
 that ever thou shouldst beguile us thus, deceive us thus, flatter 
 us thus ! We would have gone out to hear the word abroad, 
 but that thou didst reprove us, and also tell us that which 
 we see now is the way of God was heresy, and a deceivable 
 doctrine; and was not contented (blind guide as thou wert) 
 to fall into the ditch thyself, but hast also led us thither 
 with thee. 
 
 I say, look to thyself, lest thou cry out when it is too late. 
 Send Lazarus to my people, my friends, my children, my 
 congregation to whom I preached, and beguiled through my 
 folly. Send him to the town in which I did preach last, 
 lest I be the cause of their damnation. Send him to my 
 friends from whence I came, lest I be made to answer for 
 their souls and mine own too. Ezek. xxxiii. 1-8. send 
 him, therefore, and let him tell them, and testify unto them, 
 lest they also come into this place of torment. 
 
 Consider ye that live thus in the world, while you are in 
 the land of the living, lest you fall into this condition. Set 
 the case, that thou shouldst by thy carriage destroy but a soul, 
 but one poor soul, by one of thy carriages or actions, by thy 
 sinful works; consider it now I say, lest thou be forced to 
 cry, "I pray thee therefore, that thou wouldst send him to 
 my father's house, for I have five brethren; that he may 
 testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of 
 torment.'^ 
 
 If so, then I shall not only say to the blind guides, look 
 you to yourselves; and shut not out others. No, but this 
 
222 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 doth reach not only unto all those that do keep souls from 
 heaven by preaching, and the like, but speaks forth the doom 
 of those that shall any ways be instrumental to hinder 
 others from closing in with Jesus Christ. O what red lines 
 will there be against all those rich, ungodly landlords, that 
 so keep under their poor tenants, that they dare not go out 
 to hear the word, for fear their rent should be raised, or 
 they turned out of their houses ! What sayst thou, land- 
 lord ? Will it not cut thy soul when thou shalt see that 
 thou couldst not be content to miss of heaven thyself, but 
 thou must labor to hinder others also? Will it not give 
 thee an eternal wound in thy heart, both at death and judg- 
 ment, to be accused of the ruin of thy neighbor's soul, thy 
 servant's soul, thy wife's soul, together with the ruin of thy 
 own ? Think on this, you drunken, proud, rich, and scorn- 
 ful landlords; think on this, mad-brained, blasphemous 
 husbands, that are against the godly and chaste conversation 
 of your wives; also you that hold your servants so hard to 
 it, that you will not spare them time to hear the word, un- 
 less it be where, and when your lusts will let you. If you 
 love your own souls, your tenants' souls, your wives' souls, 
 your servants' souls, your children's souls; if you would 
 not cry, if you would not howl, if you would not bear the 
 burden of the ruin of others for ever; then I beseech you 
 consider this doleful story, and labor to avoid the soul-kill- 
 ing torment that this poor wretch groaneth under, when he 
 saith, "I pray thee therefore, that thou wouldst send him to 
 my father's house." 
 
 "For I have five brethren; that he may testify," mark, 
 "that he may testify, unto them, lest they also come into 
 this place of torment." 
 
 These words have still something more in them than I 
 have yet observed from them. There are one or two things 
 more that I shall briefly touch upon; and therefore mark; 
 he saith, "that he may testify unto them," &c. Mark, 1 
 
THE TRUTH MUST BE TESTIFIED. 223 
 
 pray you, and take notice of the word, testify. He doth not 
 say, and let him go unto them, or speak with, or tell them 
 such and such things : No ; but, let him testify, or affirm it 
 constantly, in case any should oppose it. Let him testify 
 unto them. It is the same word the scripture uses to set 
 forth the vehemency of Christ in telling his disciples of him 
 that should betray him, "And he testified, saying. One of 
 you shall betray me.^' And he testified; that is, he spake 
 it so as to dash or overcome any that should have said. It 
 shall not be. It is a word that signifies, that in case any 
 should oppose the thing spoken of, yet that the party speak- 
 ing should still continue constant in his saying. '^ And he 
 commanded us," says Peter, "to preach, and to testify, that 
 it is he that was ordained of God to be the judge of quick 
 and dead." Acts x. 42. To testify; mark, that is, to be 
 constant, irresistible, undaunted, in case it should be op- 
 posed and objected against. So here, let him "testify to 
 them, lest they come into this place of torment." 
 
 From whence observe, that it is not an easy matter to 
 persuade them who are in their sins alive in this world, that 
 they must and shall be damned, if they turn not and be 
 converted to God, "Let him testify to them;" let him 
 speak confidently, though they frown upon him, or dislike 
 his way of speaking. And how is this truth verified and 
 cleared by the carriage of almost all men now in the world 
 toward them that do preach the gospel, and show their own 
 miserable state plainly to them, if they close not with it ! 
 If a man do but indeed labor to convince sinners of thqir 
 sins, and lost condition by nature, though they must be 
 damned if they live and die in that condition, how angry 
 are they at it! ^Look how he judges,' say they. 'Hark how 
 he condemns us. He tells us we must be damned if we live 
 and die in this state. "We are offended at him; we cannot 
 abide to hear him, or any such as he; we will believe none 
 of them all, but go on in the way we are going.' "Forbear, 
 
224 SIGHS FROM hell. 
 
 why shouldst thou be smitten ?" said the ungodly king to 
 the prophet, when he told him of his sins. 2 Chron. xxv. 
 15, 16. 
 
 I say, tell the drunkard he must be damned if he leaves 
 not his drunkenness; the swearer, liar, cheater, thief, covet- 
 ous, railer, or any ungodly persons, they must and shall lie 
 in hell for it, if they die in this condition; they will not 
 believe you, nor credit you. 
 
 Again, tell others that there are many in hell that have 
 lived and died in their conditions, and so are they likely to 
 be, if they convert not to Jesus Christ, and be found in 
 him ; or that there are others that are more civil and sober 
 men, who (although we know that their civility will not 
 save them) if we do but tell them plainly of the emptiness 
 and unprofitableness of that, as to the saving of their souls, 
 and that God will not accept them, nor love them, notwith- 
 standing these things, and that if they intend to be saved, 
 they must be better provided than with such righteousness as 
 this ; they will either fling away, and come to hear no more, 
 or else if they do come, they will bring such prejudice with 
 them in their hearts, that the word preached shall not profit 
 them; it being mixed not with faith, but with prejudice, in 
 them that hear it. Heb. iv. 1, 2. Nay, they will some of 
 them be so full of anger, that they will break out and call 
 even those who speak the truth, heretics; yea, and kill 
 them. Luke iv. 26-29. And why so? Because they tell 
 them, that if they live in their sins, that will damn them ; 
 yet if they turn and live a righteous life, according to the 
 holy, and just, and good law of God, that will not save 
 them. Yea, because we tell them plainly, that unless they 
 leave their sins and unrighteousness too, and close in with a 
 naked Jesus Christ, his blood and merits, and what he hath 
 done, and is now doing for sinners, they cannot be saved; 
 and unless they do eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink 
 his blood, they have no life abiding in them; they gravel 
 
THE preacher's DUTY. 225 
 
 presently, and are offended at it, (as the Jews were with 
 Christ for speaking the same thing to them, John vi. 53, 60) 
 and fling away themselves, their souls and all, by quarrelling 
 against the doctrine of the Son of God ; as indeed they do, 
 though they will not believe they do. And therefore he 
 that is a preacher of the word had need, not only tell them, 
 but testify to them, again and again, that their sins, if they 
 continue in them, will damn them and damn them again; 
 and tell them again, their living honestly according to the 
 law, their paying every one their own, their living quietly 
 with their neighbors, their giving to the poor, their notion 
 of the gospel, and saying, they do believe in Christ, will do 
 them no good at the general day of judgment. Ha, friends! 
 how many of you are there at this very day, that have been 
 told once and again of your lost, undone condition, because 
 you want the right, real, and saving work of Grod upon your 
 souls? I say, hath not this been told you, yea, testified 
 unto you from time to time, that your state is miserable, 
 that yet you are never the better, but do still stand where 
 you did ; some in an open ungodly life, and some drowned 
 in a self-conceited holiness of Christianity? Therefore, for 
 God's sake, if you love your souls, consider; and beg of 
 God for Jesus Christ's sake, that he would work such a work 
 of grace in your hearts, and give you such a faith in his 
 Son Jesus Christ, that you may not only have rest here, as 
 you think; not only think your state safe while you live 
 here, but that you may be safe indeed; not only here, but 
 also when you are gone ; lest you do cry in the anguish and 
 perplexity of your souls, Send one to my companions that 
 have been beguiled by Satan, as I have been, and so by 
 going on, come into this place of torment, as I have done. 
 
 Again, one thing more is to be observed from these 
 words, ^' Let them testify to them, lest they come into this 
 place of torment.*' 
 
 Mark, " lest they come into :" as if he had said, Or else 
 
226 SIGHS I'KOxM HELL. 
 
 they will come into this place of torment, as sure as I am 
 here. From whence observe, that though some souls do, 
 for sin, fall into the bottomless pit before their fellows, 
 because they depart from this world before them, yet the 
 other abiding in the same course, are as sure to go to the 
 same place, as if they were there already. How so ? Be- 
 cause that all are condemned together; they have all fallen 
 under the same law, and have all oflfended the same justice ; 
 and must for certain, if they die in that condition, drink as 
 deep, if not deeper, of the same destruction. 
 
 Mark, I pray you, what the scripture says, " He that be- 
 lieveth not is condemned already. John iii. 18. He is con- 
 demned as well as they; having broken the same law with 
 them. If so, then what hinders but they will partake of the 
 same destruction with them ? Only the one hath not the 
 law yet so executed upon them, because they are here ; the 
 other have had the law executed upon them : they are gone 
 to drink that which they have been brewing, and thou art 
 brewing that in this life, which thou must certainly drink. 
 The same law, I say, is in force against you both ; only ho 
 is executed, and thou art not. Just as if there were a com- 
 pany of prisoners at the bar, and all condemned to die : what, 
 because they are not all executed in one day, therefore shall 
 they not be executed at all ? Yes, the same law that exe- 
 cuted its severity upon the parties now deceased, will, for 
 certain, be executed upon them that are alive, in its ap- 
 pointed time. Even so it is here ; we are all condemned by 
 nature ; if we close not in with the grace of God by Jesus 
 Christ, we must, and shall be destroyed with the same 
 destruction; and, therefore, ^^Send him," saith he, ^'lest," 
 mark, '^ lest they come into this place of torment.'' 
 
 Again, " Send him to my father's house, and let him tes- 
 tify to them, lest they come into this place of torment.'' As 
 if he had said. It may be he may prevail with them ; it may 
 be he may win upon them, and so they may be kept from 
 
NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION. 227 
 
 hence, from coming into this grievous place of torment. 
 Observe again, that there is a possibility of obtaining mercy, 
 if now, I say, now, in this day of grace we turn from our 
 sins to Jesus Christ; yea, it is more than possible. And 
 therefore, for thy encouragement, do thou know for certain, 
 that if thou shalt in this thy day accept of mercy upon God's 
 own terms, and close with him effectually, God hath pro- 
 mised, yea, made many promises, that thy soul shall be con- 
 ducted safe to glory, and shall, for certain, escape all the 
 evils that I have told thee of; ay, and many more than I 
 can imagine. Do but search the scriptures, and see how full 
 of consolation they are to a poor soul that is minded to close 
 in with Jesus Christ, ^^ Him that cometh to me,'' saith 
 Christ," " I will in no wise cast out.'' Though he be an 
 old sinner, I will in no wise cast him out ; mark, ^' in no 
 wise ;" though he be a great sinner, I will in no wise cast 
 him out, if he comes unto me. Though he has slighted me 
 ever so many times, and not regarded the welfare of his own 
 soul, yet, let him now come unto me, and notwithstanding 
 this, I will in no wise cast him out, nor throw away his 
 soul. John vi. 37. Again, saith the apostle, ^' Now," 
 (mark), ^' Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salva- 
 tion." Now here is mercy in good store ; now God's heart 
 is open to sinners ; now he will make you welcome ; now he 
 will receive any body if they do but come to Christ. '^ He 
 that cometh to me," saith Christ, '^I will in no wise cast 
 out." And why? Because "now is the accepted time, 
 now is the day of salvation. 2 Cor. vi. 2. As if the apostle" 
 had said, If you will have mercy, have it now ; receive it 
 now, close in with it now. 
 
 God hath a certain day to hold out his grace to sinners : 
 now is the time, now is the day. It is true, there is a day 
 of damnation, but this is a day of salvation. There is a 
 day coming, wherein sinners must cry to the mountains to 
 fall on them, to the hills to cover them from the wrath of 
 
228 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 Grod; but now, now is the day in which he doth hold out 
 his grace. There is a day coming, in which you will not be 
 admitted to have the privilege of one drop of water to cool 
 your tongue, if now, I say, if now you slight his grace and 
 goodness which he holds out to you. Ah ! friends, consider 
 there are now hopes of mercy, but then there will not be ; 
 now Christ holds forth mercy unto you, but then he will not. 
 Matt. vii. 23. Now there are his servants that beseech you 
 to accept of his grace ; but if thou lose the opportunity that 
 is put into thine hand, thou thyself mayst beseech hereafter, 
 and no mercy be given thee. ^^ And he cried, and said, 
 Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus 
 that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my 
 tongue;" and there was none given. Therefore, let it never 
 be said of thee, as it will be said of some. Why is there a 
 price put into the hand of a fool, seeing he hath no heart to 
 it J seeing he hath no heart to make a good use of it? 
 Prov. xvii. 16. Consider therefore, with thyself, and say, 
 It is better going to heaven than to hell; it is better to be 
 saved than damned ; it is better to be with saints than with 
 damned souls ; and to go to God is better than to go to the 
 devil. 
 
 Therefore, '^ seek the Lord while he may be found, and 
 call upon him while he is near" (Isa. Iv. 6) ; lest in thy 
 trouble he leave thee to thyself, and say unto thee plainly, 
 "Where I am, thither ye cannot come." 
 
 Oh ! if they that are in hell might but now again have 
 one such invitation as this, how would they leap for jo}^ ! 
 I have thought sometimes, should God send but one of his 
 ministers to the damned in hell, and give him commission 
 to preach the free love of God in Christ extended to them, 
 and held out to them, if now, while it is proffered to them, 
 they will accept of his kindness ; how welcome would they 
 make his news, and close in with it on any terms ! 
 
 Certainly they would say, ^ We will accept of grace on 
 
APPLICATION. 229 
 
 any terms in tlie world, and thank you too, though it cost 
 life and limbs to boot; we will spare no cost nor charge, 
 if mercy may be had/ But, poor souls, while they live 
 here, they will not part from sin, from hell-bred, devilish 
 sin : no, they will rather lose their souls than lose their 
 filthy sins. 
 
 But, friend, thou wilt change thy note before it be long, 
 and cry, ^ simple wretch that I am, that I should damn 
 my soul by sin ! It is true, I have had the gospel preached 
 to me, and have been invited in. I have been preached to, 
 and have been warned of this; but ''How have I hated 
 instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not 
 obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to 
 them that instructed me." ^ Prov. v. 12, 13. therefore, I 
 say, poor soul ! is there now hope ? Then lay thy hand upon 
 thy mouth, and kiss the dust, and close in with the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and make much of his glorious mercy; and 
 invite also thy companions to close in with the same Lord 
 Jesus Christ, lest one of you do go to hell beforehand, and 
 expect, with grief of heart, your companions to come after ; 
 and, in the mean time, with anguish of heart, do sigh and 
 say, '0 send him to my companions, and let him testify to 
 them, lest they also come into this place of torment.^ 
 
 Now then, from what hath been said, there might many 
 things be spoken by way of use and application; but I 
 shall be very brief, and but touch some things, and so 
 wind up 
 
 And, jiv8t, I shall begin with the sad condition of those 
 that die out of Christ, and speak something to that. 
 
 You see, therefore, that the whole of this first part of the 
 parable contains a sad declaration of the state of one living 
 and dying out of Christ. 
 
 20 
 
230 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 1. How that they lose heaven for hell, God for the devil, 
 light for darkness, joy for sorrow. 
 
 2. How that they have not so much as the least comfort 
 from God, who, in the time they live here below, neglect 
 coming to him for mercy; not so much as one drop of cold 
 water. 
 
 3. That such fools will repent of their folly, when re- 
 pentance will do them no good, or when they shall be past 
 recovery. 
 
 4. That all the comfort such souls are likely to have, 
 they have now in this world. 
 
 5. That all their groanings and sighs will not move God 
 to mitigate, in the least, his heavy hand of vengeance that 
 is upon them, for the transgressions they have committed 
 against him. 
 
 6. That their sad state is irrecoverable ; for, mark, they 
 must never, never come out of that condition. 
 
 7. Their desires will not be heard for their ungodly 
 neighbors. 
 
 From these things then, I pray you, first consider the 
 state of those who die out of Christ Jesus ; yea, I say, con- 
 sider their miserable state; and think thus with thyself, 
 ' Well, if I neglect coming to Christ, I must go to the devil, 
 and he will not neglect to fetch me away into those in- 
 tolerable torments.' 
 
 1. Think thus with thyself: ^What! shall I lose a long 
 heaven for short pleasure ? Shall I buy the pleasure of 
 this world at so dear a rate, as to lose my soul for the ob- 
 taining of that ? Shall I content myself with a heaven that 
 will last no longer than my lifetime ? What advantage will 
 this be to me, when the Lord shall separate soul and body 
 asunder, and send one to the grave, the other to hell; and 
 at the judgment day, the final sentence of eternal ruin must 
 be passed upon me ? 
 
 2. Consider, that the profits, pleasures, and vanities of 
 
CONSIDERATION URGED. 231 
 
 this world will not last for ever ; but the time is coming, 
 yea, is just at the door, when they will give thee the slip, 
 and leave thee in the suds, and in the brambles of all that 
 thou hast done. And therefore, to prevent this thy dismal 
 state, think thus with thyself: 'It is true, I love my sins, 
 my lusts, and pleasures ; but what good will they do me at 
 the day of death and of judgment ? Will my sins do me 
 good then ? Will they be able to help me when I come to 
 fetch my last breath ? What good will my profits do me ? 
 And what good will my vanities do, when death says he will 
 have no Nay ? What good will all my companions, fellow- 
 jesters, jeerers, liars, drunkards, and all my wantons do me? 
 Will they help to ease the pains of hell ? Will these help 
 to turn the hand of God from inflicting his fierce anger upon 
 me ? Nay, will they not rather cause God to show me no 
 mercy, to give me no comfort, but rather to thrust me down 
 in the hottest place of hell, where I may swim in fire and 
 brimstone ?' 
 
 3. Consider thus with thyself: 'Would I be glad to have 
 all, every one of my sins, to come in against me, to inflame 
 the justice of God against me ? Would I be glad to be 
 bound up in them, as the three children were bound in their 
 clothes, and to be as really thrown into the fiery furnace of 
 the wrath of almighty God, as they were into Nebuchadnez- 
 zar's fiery furnace ?' 
 
 4. Consider thus : 'Would I be glad to have all and every 
 one of the ten commandments to discharge themselves 
 against my soul? The first saying, Damn him, for he hath 
 broken me; the second saying. Damn him, for he hath 
 broken me, and so on to the end. Consider how terrible 
 this will be, yea more terrible than if thou shouldst have 
 ten of the biggest pieces of ordnance in England to be dis- 
 charged against thy body — thunder, thunder, one after 
 another. Nay, this would not be comparable to the reports 
 that the law (for the breach thereof) will give against thy 
 
232 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 soul : for those can but kill the body, but these will kill both 
 body and soul ; and that not for an hour, a day, a month, or 
 a year ; but they will condemn thee for ever. 
 
 Mark, it is for ever, for ever. It is into everlasting 
 damnation, eternal destruction, eternal wrath and displea- 
 sure from God, eternal gnawings of conscience, eternal con- 
 tinuance with devils. consider. It may be, the thought 
 of seeing the devil doth now make thine hair to stand right 
 up on thine head. but this, to be damned, to be among 
 all the devils, and that not only for a time, as I said before, 
 but for ever, to all eternity ! This is to be so wonderfully 
 miserable, ever miserable, that no tongue of man, no, nor of 
 angels, is able to express it. 
 
 5 Consider much with thyself: 'Not only my sins 
 against the law will be laid to my charge, but also the sins 
 I have committed in slighting the gospel, the glorious 
 gospel : these also must come with a voice against me. As 
 thus : Nay, he is worthy to be damned, for he rejected 
 the gospel, he slighted the free grace of God tendered in 
 the gospel. How many times wast thou (lost wretch) in- 
 vited, entreated, beseeched, to come to Christ, to accept of 
 mercy, that thou mightst have heaven, thy sins pardoned, 
 thy soul saved, thy body and soul glorified ; and all this for 
 nothing but the acceptance ; and through faith forsaking 
 those imps of Satan, which by their embracements have 
 drawn thee down toward the gulf of God's eternal dis- 
 pleasure ? ' 
 
 How often didst thou read the promises, yea the free 
 promises of the common salvation ? How oft didst thou 
 read the sweet counsels and admonitions of the gospel, to 
 accept of the grace of God ? But thou wouldst not, thou 
 regardedst it not, thou didst slight all. 
 
 Again, that which will add to all the rest, thou shalt have 
 the very mercy of God, the blood of Christ, the preachers of 
 the word, together with every sermon, all the promises, in- 
 
WITNESSES AGAINST SINNERS. 233 
 
 vitations, exhortations, and all the counsels and threaten- 
 ings of the blessed word of Grod; thou shalt have all thy 
 thoughts, words, and actions, together with all thy food, thy 
 raiment, thy sleep, thy goods, and also all hours, days, 
 weeks, months, and years, together with whatsoever else 
 God hath given thee; I say, thy abuse of all these shall 
 come up in judgment against thy soulj for God will reckon 
 with thee for every thing, whether it be good or bad. Ecclea. 
 xii. 14. 
 
 Nay, further, it is so unreasonable a^ thing for a sinner to 
 refuse the gospel, that the very devils themselves will come 
 in against thee, as well as Sodom, that damned crew. May 
 not they, I say, come in against thee, and say, ^ thou sim- 
 ple man ! vile wretch ! that had not so much care 
 of thy soul, thy precious soul, as the beast hath of its 
 young, or the dog of the very bone that lieth before him ? 
 "Was thy soul worth so much, and didst thou so little regard 
 it? Were the thunder-claps of the law so terrible, and 
 didst thou so slight them? Besides, was the gospel so 
 freely, so frequently, so fully tendered to thee, and yet hast 
 thou rejected all these things ? 
 
 Hast thou valued sin at a higher rate than thy soul, than 
 God, Christ, angels, saints, and communion with them in 
 eternal blessedness and glory? Wast thou not told of hell- 
 fire, those intolerable flames? Didst thou never hear of 
 those intolerable roarings of the damned ones that are 
 therein ? Didst thou never hear or read that doleful say- 
 in o- in the 16th of Luke, how the sinful man cries out 
 among the flames, One drop of water to cool my tongue V 
 Thus, I say, may the very devils, being ready to go with 
 thee into the burning furnace of fire and brimstone, though 
 not for sins of so high a nature as thine, trembling say, ' 
 that Christ had died for devils, as he died for man ! And, 
 that the gospel had been preached to us, as it hath been 
 to thee ! How would we have labored to have closed in with 
 
 20* 
 
234 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 it ! But woe be to us, for we miglit never have it proffered; 
 no, not in the least, though we would have been glad of it. 
 But you, you have had it proffered, preached, and pro- 
 claimed unto you. Prov. viii. 4. Besides, you have been 
 entreated and bcseeched to accept it, but you would not. 
 simple fools ! that might have escaped wrath, vengeance, 
 hell-fire, and that to all eternity, and had no heart to do it !' 
 
 May not the messengers of Jesus Christ also come in with 
 a shrill and terrible note against thy soul, when thou stand- 
 est at the bar of God's justice, saying, ' Nay, thou ungodly 
 one, how often hast thou been forewarned of this day ? Did 
 not we sound an alarm in thine ears, by the trumpet of 
 God's word, day after day? How often didst thou hear us 
 tell thee of these things? Did we not tell thee, sin would 
 damn thy soul ? Did we not tell thee, that without conver- 
 sion there was no salvation? Did we not tell thee, that 
 they who loved their sins, should be damned at this dark 
 and gloomy day, (as thou art like to be) ? Yea, did we not 
 tell thee, that God, out of his love to sinners, sent Christ to 
 die for them, that they might, by coming to him be saved? 
 Did we not tell thee of these things ? Did we not run, ride, 
 labor, and strive abundantly (if it might have been) for thy 
 soul, (though now a damned soul) ? Did we not venture our 
 goods, our names, our lives? Yea, did we not even kill 
 ourselves with our earnest entreaties of thee to consider 
 thy state, and by Christ, to escape this dreadful day?' 
 sad doom I when thou shalt be forced, full sore against thy 
 will, to fall under the truth of this judgment, saying, ''0 
 how have I hated instruction, and how hath my heart de- 
 spised reproof! (for indeed) I have not obeyed the voice of 
 my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed 
 me.'' Prov. v. 12, 13. 
 
 May not thy father, thy mother, thy brother, thy sister, 
 thy friend, &c., appear with gladness against thee at the ter- 
 rible day; saying, '0 thou silly wretch, how rightly hath 
 
MISERY or THE LAST PARTIiNG. 235 
 
 God met with thee ! how righteously doth his sentence 
 pass upon thee ! Remember thou wouldst not be ruled, nor 
 persuaded in thy lifetime. As thou didst not care for us 
 and our admonitions then; so neither do we care for thy 
 ruin, terror, and damnation now. No, but we will stand on 
 Grod's side, in sentencing thee to that portion which the 
 devils must be partakers of.' "The righteous shall rejoice 
 when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his foot in the 
 blood of the wicked.'' Psalm Iviii. 10. sad ! It is enough 
 to make mountains tremble, and rocks rend in pieces, to 
 hear this doleful sound. Consider these things; and if thou 
 wouldst be loath to be in this condition, then have a care of 
 living in sin now. 
 
 How loath wilt thou be to be thrust away from the gates of 
 heaven ! And how loath wilt thou be to be deprived of the 
 mercy of God ! How unwillingly wilt thou set foot forward 
 towards the lake of fire ! Never did malefactor so unwillingly 
 turn off the ladder, when the halter was about his neck, as 
 thou wilt turn from God to the devil, from heaven to hell, 
 when the sentence is passed upon thy soul. how wilt 
 thou sigh and groan ! how willingly wouldst thou hide thy- 
 self, and run away from justice ! But alas ! as it is with 
 them that are on the ladder ready to be executed, so it will 
 be with thee. They would fain run away; but there are many 
 halbert-men to stay them; and so the angels of God will 
 beset thee round, I say, round on every side; so that thou 
 mayst indeed look, but run thou canst not. Thou mayst 
 wish thyself under some rock or mountain (Rev. vi. 15, 16); 
 but how to get under, thou knowest not. 
 
 how unwilling wilt thou be to let thy father go to hea- 
 ven without thee ! to let thy mother, or friends go to hea- 
 ven without thee ! How willingly wouldst thou hang on 
 them, and not let them go ! '0 father ! cannot you help 
 me ? Mother, cannot you do me some good ? how loath 
 am I to burn and fry in hell, while you are singing in hea- 
 
23 C SIGHS FROM HILL. 
 
 ven !' But alas ! tlie father, motlier, or friends, reject 
 them, slight them, and turn their backs npon them, saying, 
 'You would have none of heaven in your lifetime, therefore 
 you shall have none of it now; you slighted our counsels 
 then, and we slight your tears, cries, and condition now.' 
 "What sayest thou, sinner? Will not this persuade thine 
 heart, or make thee bethink thyself? that is, now, before 
 thou fall into that dreadful place, the fiery furnace. But 
 consider how dreadful the place itself, the devils themselves, 
 the fire itself, will be ! And this at the end of all. Here 
 thou must lie for ever ! here thou must fry for ever and for 
 ever ! This will be more to thee than any man with tongue 
 can express, or with pen can write. There is none, I say, 
 that can, by the ten thousandth part, discover the miserable 
 state and condition of such a soul. 
 
 Secondly, As I would have thee to consider the sad and 
 woful state of those that die out of Christ, and are past all 
 recovery, so would I have thee consider the many mercies 
 and privileges thou enjoyest above some (perad venture) of 
 thy companions that are departed to their proper place. 
 
 As, 1. Consider thou hast still the thread of thy life 
 lengthened, which for thy sins might seven years ago, or 
 more, have been cut asunder, and thou have dropt down 
 among the flames. 
 
 2. Consider the terms of reconciliation by faith in Christ 
 are still proffered unto thee, and thou invited, yea entreated 
 to accept of them. 
 
 3. Consider the terms of reconciliation are but — bear 
 with me though I say, hut — only to believe in Jesus Christ, 
 with faith that purifies the heart, and enables thy soul to 
 feed on him efi'ectually, and be saved from this sad state. 
 
 4. Consider the time of thy departure is at hand, and the 
 time is uncertain, and also that for aught thou knowest, the 
 day of grace may be past to thee before thou diest, not last- 
 
MERCIES ABOVE THOSE IN HELL. 237 
 
 ing so long as thy uncertain life in this world. And if so, 
 then know for certain, that thou art as sure to be damned, 
 as if thou wast in hell already, if thou convert not in the 
 meanwhile. 
 
 5. Consider it may be some of thy friends are giving all 
 diligence to make their calling and election sure, being re- 
 solved for heaven, and thou thyself endeavorest as fast to 
 make sure of hell, as if resolved to have it; and together 
 with this, consider how it will grieve thee, that while thou 
 wast making sure of hell, thy friends were making sure of 
 heaven. But more of this by and by. 
 
 6. Consider what a sad reflection this will have on thy 
 soul, to see thy friends in heaven, and thyself in hell ; thy 
 father in heaven, and thou in hell; thy mother in heaven, 
 and thou in hell; thy brother, thy sister, thy children, in 
 heaven, and thou in hell. As Christ said to the Jews of 
 their relations according to the flesh, so may I say to thee 
 concerning thy friends, There shall be weeping and wailing 
 and gnashing of teeth, wh^n you shall see your fathers and 
 mothers, brethren and sisters, husbands and wives, children 
 and kinsfolk, with your friends and neighbors, in the king- 
 dom of heaven, and thou thyself thrust out. Luke xiii. 28-29. 
 
 But again, thirdly, because I would not only tell thee of 
 the damnable state of those that die out of Christ, but also 
 persuade thee to take hold of life, and go to heaven, take 
 notice of these following things. 
 
 1. Consider, that whatever thou canst do, as to thy ac- 
 ceptance with God, is not worth the dirt of thy shoes, but is 
 all as menstruous rags. Isa. Ixiv. 6. 
 
 2. Consider, that all the conditions of the new covenant 
 (as to salvation) are and have been completely fulfilled by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and that for sinners. Heb. viii. 6. 
 
 3. Consider, that the Lord calls to thee to receive what- 
 soever Christ hath done, and that on free cost. Rev. xxii. 17. 
 
238 BIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 4. Consider that thou canst not honor God more, than 
 to close in with his proffers, of grace, mercy, and pardon of 
 sin, Rom. iv. 
 
 I shall conclude this head, then, with a few considerations 
 of encouragement. 
 
 Consider (for I would fain have thee come in, sinner) that 
 there is a wa}^, made by Jesus Christ, for them that are un- 
 der the curse of God, to come to this comfortable and blessed 
 state of Lazarus I was speaking of. Eph. ii. 
 
 Consider what pains Christ Jesus took for the ransoming of 
 thy soul from all the curses, thunder-claps, and tempests of the 
 law ; from all the intolerable flames of hell ; from that soul- 
 sinking appearance of thy person (on the left hand) before 
 the judgment-seat of Christ Jesus; from everlasting fellow- 
 ship with innumerable companies of yelling, and soul-ama- 
 zing devils. 
 
 I say, consider what pains the Lord Jesus Christ took in 
 bringing in redemption for sinners, from these things, in 
 that though he was rich, yet he became poor, that thou, 
 through his poverty, might be made rich. 2 Cor. viii. 9. 
 He laid aside his glory, and became a servant. John xvii. ; 
 Phil. ii. He left the company of angels, and encountered 
 with the devil. Luke iv.; Matt. iv. He left heaven's ease 
 for a time, to lie upon hard mountains. John viii. In a 
 word, he became poorer than those that go with flail and 
 rake ; yea, than the very birds or foxes ; and all to do thee 
 good. 
 
 Besides, consider a little those unspeakable and intolera- 
 ble slightings and rejections, and the manifold abuses that 
 came from men upon him: how he was falsely accused, 
 being a sweet, harmless, and undefiled lamb ; how he was 
 undervalued, so that a murderer was counted less worthy of 
 condemnation than he. Besides, how they mock him, spit 
 on him, beat him over the head with staves, and pluck the 
 hair from his cheeks. "I gave my back to the smiters/' 
 
WHAT CHRIST SUFFERED FOR SINNERS. 239 
 
 saith he, "and my cheeks to them that plucked ofi the 
 hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting/^ Think 
 of his head crowned with thorns, his hands pierced with 
 nails, and his side with a spear! together with how they 
 scourged him, and so miserably misused him, that they had 
 even spent him in a great measure before they did crucify 
 him; insomuch that there was another fain to carry his cross. 
 
 Again, not only this, but lay to heart a little what he 
 received from God his dear Father, though he was his dear 
 and tender Son. First, in that he did deal with him as the 
 greatest sinner and rebel in the world ; for he laid the sins 
 of thousands, and ten thousands, and thousands of thou- 
 sands of sinners to his charge (Isa. liii.), and caused him to 
 drink the terrible cup that was due to them all; and not 
 only so, but did delight in so doing ; for " it pleased the 
 Lord to bruise him.'' God dealt indeed with his Son, as 
 Abraham would have dealt with Isaac ; ay, and more terri- 
 ble by ten thousand parts; for he did not only tear his body 
 like a lion, but made his soul an offering for sin. And this 
 was not done feignedly, but really; for justice called for it, 
 he standing in the room of sinners. Witness that horrible 
 and unspeakable agony that fell on him suddenly in the 
 garden, as if all the vials of God's unspeakable scalding 
 vengeance had been cast upon him all at once, and all the 
 devils in hell had broken loose from thence at once to 
 destroy him, and that for ever ; insomuch that the very 
 pangs of death seized upon him in the same hour. For, 
 saith he. My soul is amazed and exceeding sorrowful, even 
 unto death. Mark xiv. 33, 34. 
 
 Witness also that strange kind of sweat that trickled down 
 his most blessed face, where it is said, he sweat, as it were 
 great drops, or dodders, of blood, trickling down to the 
 ground. Lord Jesus ! what a load didst thou carry ! 
 what a burden didst thou bear of the sins of the world, and 
 the wrath of God ! thou didst not only bleed at nose and 
 
240 sians from hell. 
 
 mouth, with the pressure that lay upon thee, but thou wast 
 so pressed, so loaden, that the pure blood gushed through 
 the flesh and skin, and so ran trickling down to the ground ! 
 ''And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood,'' 
 trickling or "falling down to the ground/' Luke xxii. 44. 
 Canst thou read this, thou wicked sinner, and yet go on 
 in sin ? Canst thou think of this, and defer repentance one 
 hour longer ? heart of flint, yea, harder ! miserable 
 wretch ! what place in hell will be hot enough for thee, to 
 have thy soul put into, if thou shalt persist, or go on still, to 
 add iniquity to iniquity ? 
 
 Besides, his soul went down to hell (Psalm xvi. 10; 
 Acts ii. 31), and his body to the bars of the grave: and had 
 hell, death, or the grave, been strong enough to hold him, 
 then he had suffered the vengeance of eternal fire to all 
 eternity. But, Blessed Jesus ! how didst thou discover 
 thy love to man in thy thus suffering ! And, God the 
 Father ! how didst thou also declare the purity and exact- 
 ness of thy justice, in that, though it was thine only, holy, 
 innocent, harmless, and undefiled Son Jesus, that did take 
 on him our nature, and represent our persons, answering for 
 our sins, instead of ourselves, thou didst so wonderfully pour 
 out thy wrath upon him, to the making of him cry out, 
 ^' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" And, 
 Lord Jesus ! what a glorious conquest hast thou made 
 over the enemies of our souls, even wrath, sin, death, hell, 
 and devils, in that thou didst wring thyself from under the 
 power of them all! and not only so, but hast led them 
 captive which would have led us captive; and also hast 
 received for us that glorious and unspeakable inheritance, 
 that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it 
 entered into the heart of man" to conceive : and also hast 
 given us some discovery thereof through thy Spirit. 
 And now, sinner, together with this, consider, 
 Fourilily, That though Jesus Christ hath done all these 
 
DEVICES OF SATAN TO DESTROY SINNERS. 241 
 
 things for sinners, yet the devils make it their whole work, 
 and continual study, how they may keep thee and others 
 from enjoying these blessed privileges that have been thus 
 obtained for sinners by this sweet Jesus. Satan labors, I 
 say, 1. To keep thee ignorant of thy state by nature. 2. To 
 harden thy heart against the ways of God. 3. To inflame 
 thy heart with love to sin and the ways of darkness. And, 
 4. To get thee to continue therein. For that is the way, he 
 knows, to get thee to be a partaker with him of flaming hell- 
 fire, even the same which he himself is fallen into, together 
 with the rest of the wicked world by reason of sin. Look to 
 it therefore. 
 
 Fiftlili/, But now, in the next place, a word of encourage- 
 ment to you that are the saints of the Lord. 
 
 1. Consider, what a happy state thou art in, that hast 
 gotten the faith of the Lord Jesus unto thy soul. But be 
 sure thou have it, I say, how safe, how sure, how happy 
 art thou ! For when others go to hell, thou must go to 
 heaven ) when others go to the devil, thou must go to Grod ; 
 when others go to prison, thou must be set at liberty, at ease, 
 and at freedom ; when others must roar for sorrow of heart, 
 then thou shalt also sing for the joy of heart. 
 
 2. Consider, thou must have all thy well spent life to 
 follow thee, instead of all thy sins; and the glorious blessings 
 of the gospel, instead of the dreadful curses and condemna- 
 tions of the law; the blessing of the Father, instead of a 
 fiery sentence from the Judge. 
 
 3. Let dissolution come when it will, it can do thee no 
 harm ; for it will be but only a passage out of a prison into 
 a palace ; out of a sea of troubles, into an haven of rest; out 
 of a crowd of enemies, to an innumerable company of true, 
 loving, and faithful friends; out of shame, reproach, and 
 contempt, into exceeding great and eternal glory. For death 
 shall not hurt thee with his sting, nor bite thee with his 
 soul-murdering teeth, but shall be a welcome guest to thee, 
 
 21 
 
242 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 even to thy soul, in that it is sent to free thee from thy 
 troubles which thou art in, whilst here in this world, dwell- 
 ing in the tabernacle of clay. 
 
 4. Consider, however it goes with friends and relations, 
 yet it will go well with thee. Eccles. viii. 12. However it 
 goes with the wicked, yet I know, mark, yet " I know (saith 
 he) that it shall go well with them that fear the Lord, that 
 fear before him.'' 
 
 And therefore, let this, in the first place, cause thee cheer- 
 fully to exercise thy patience under all the calamities, crosses, 
 troubles, and afflictions that may come upon thee ; and by 
 patient continuance in well-doing, to commit both thyself, 
 and thine afi'airs, and actions, into the hands of God, through 
 Jesus Christ, as to a faithful Creator, who is true to his 
 word, and loveth to give unto thee whatsoever he hath 
 promised to thee. 
 
 5. And therefore, to encourage thee, while thou art here, 
 with comfort to hold on, for all thy crosses in this thy 
 journey; be much in considering the place that thou must 
 go into, so soon as dissolution comes. 
 
 It must be into heaven, to God the judge of all, to an in- 
 numerable company of angels, to the spirits of just men made 
 perfect, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, 
 whose names are written in heaven, and to Jesus (to the 
 Redeemer) who is the Mediator of the new covenant, and to 
 the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things for thee 
 than Abel's did for Cain. Heb. xii. 22, 23, 24. 
 
 Consider, that when the time of the dead, that they shall 
 be raised, is come, then shall thy body be raised out of the 
 grave and be glorified, and be made like to Jesus Christ. 
 Phil. iii. 21. excellent condition! 
 
 When Jesus Christ shall sit on the throne of his glory, 
 you shall also sit with him, even when he shall sit on the 
 throne of his glory. will not this be glorious, that 
 when thousands, and thousands of thousands, shall be ar- 
 
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE GODLY. 243 
 
 raigned before the judgment-seat of Christ, then for them 
 to sit with him upon the throne, together with him to pass 
 the sentence upon the ungodly? 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3, Will it 
 not be glorious to enjoy those things that eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man to 
 conceive ? 
 
 Will it not be glorious to have this sentence, " Come ye, 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
 before the foundation of the world ?'' Will it not be glori- 
 ous to enter then, with the angels and saints, into that glori- 
 ous kingdom? Will it not be glorious for thee to be in 
 glory with them, while others are in unutterable torments ? 
 O then ! how will it comfort thee to see thou hast not lost 
 that glory; to think that the devil hath not got thy soul, 
 that thy soul should be saved, and that not from a little, 
 but a great, exceeding danger; not with a little, but a great 
 salvation. O! therefore, let the saints be joyful in glory; 
 let them triumph over all their enemies. Let them begin 
 to sing heaven upon earth, triumph before they come to 
 glory, even when they are in the midst of their enemies : for 
 this honor shall all his saints have. Psalm cxlix. 6-9. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Arractam saith unto him, They have Moses and the peophexs; ijet them heas 
 THEM. — Verse 29. 
 
 In the verses foregoing you see there is a discovery of the 
 lamentable state of the poor soul that dies out of Christ, and 
 the special favor of Grod; and also, how little the glorious 
 God of heaven doth regard, and take notice of their most 
 miserable condition. 
 . Now, in this verse, he doth magnify the words which 
 
244 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 were spoken to the people by the prophets and apostles, 
 *^They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'' 
 As if he should say, Thou askest me that I should send 
 Lazarus back again into the world, to preach to them that 
 live there, that they might escape that doleful place that 
 thou art in ! What needs that ? Have they not Moses and 
 the prophets ? Have they not had my ministers and ser- 
 vants sent unto them, and coming as from me? I sent 
 Enoch and Noah, Moses and Samuel ; I sent David, Isaiah, 
 Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and the rest of the pro- 
 phets, together with Peter, Paul, John, Matthew, James, 
 Jude, with the rest; "let them hear them." What they 
 have spoken by divine inspiration I will own, whether it be 
 for the damnation of those that reject, or the saving of them 
 that receive their doctrine. And, therefore, what need have 
 they that one should be sent unto them in another way ? 
 "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them;" 
 let them receive their word, and close in with the doctrine 
 declared by them. The things that I shall observe, from 
 hence, are these : 
 
 1. That the scriptures, sjpohen hy the holy men of God, are 
 a sufficient rule to instruct to salvation, them that do assur- 
 edly helieve and close in with what they hold forth. " They 
 have Moses and the prophets ; let them hear them." That 
 is, If they would escape that doleful place, and be saved, 
 indeed, from the intolerable pains of hell-fire, as they desire, 
 they have that which is sufficient to counsel them : " They 
 have Moses and the prophets;" let them be instructed by 
 them, "let them hear them." "For all scripture is given 
 by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for re- 
 proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Why ? 
 " That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished 
 to all good works." 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 
 
 Do but mark these words, All scripture is profitable. 
 All ; take it where you will, and what place you will : all is 
 
ALL SCRIPTURE PROFITABLE. 245 
 
 profitable. For what? ^^That the man of God/' or he 
 that is bound for heaven, should instruct others in their 
 progress thither. 
 
 It is profitable to insti*uct him, in case he be ignorant; to 
 reprove him, in case he transgress; to correct him, if he 
 hath need of it ; to confirm him, if he be wavering. It i-s 
 profitable for doctrine ; and all this in a very righteous way, 
 that the poor soul may not only be helped, but thoroughly 
 furnished, not only to some, but to all good works. And 
 when Paul would counsel Timothy to stick close to the 
 things that are sound and sure, presently he puts him upon 
 the scripture, saying, '^Thou hast, from a child, known the 
 holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto sal- 
 vation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.'' The scrip- 
 tures hold forth God's mind and will, his love and mercy 
 towards man, and also the creature's carriage towards him, 
 from first to last ; so, if thou wouldst know the love of God 
 in Christ to sinners, then, " Search the scriptures, for they 
 are they that testify of him." 
 
 AYouldst thou know what thou art, and what is in thine 
 heart ? then search the scriptures, and see what is written 
 in them. Rom. iii. 9-18; i. 29-31; Jer. xvii. 9; Gen. vi. 
 5; viii. 21; Eph. iv. 18, with many others. The scrip- 
 tures, I say, are able to give a man perfect instruction into 
 any of the things of God, necessary to faith and godliness, 
 if he hath but an honest heart, seriously to weigh and pon- 
 der the several things contained in them. As to instance, 
 in things more particular, for the further clearing up of this: 
 And first, if we come to the creation of the world, — Wouldst 
 thou know somewhat concerning that? Then read Gen. i. 
 and ii., and compare them with Psalm xxxiii. 6; also Isa. 
 Ixvi. 2; Prov. viii. towards the end. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether he made them of something 
 or nothing? Read Heb. xi. 3. 
 
 21* 
 
246 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether he put forth any labour in 
 making them, as we do in making things? Read Psalm 
 xxxiii. 6. 
 
 If thou wouldst know whether man was made by God cor- 
 rupt or upright, read Eccles. vii. 29; G-en. i. 10, 18, 25, 31. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whither God did place man after he 
 had made him? Read Gen. ii. 15. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether that man did live there all 
 his time or not? Then read Gen. iii. 23, 24. 
 
 If thou wouldst know whether man be still in that state, 
 by nature, that God did place him in, then read Eccles. vii. 
 29, and compare it with Rom. v. 16; Eph. ii. 1, 2, 3. 
 " God made man upright, but he hath sought out many in- 
 ventions." 
 
 If thou wouldst know whether man was first beguiled, or 
 the woman that God made an helpmate for him, read Gen. 
 iii. 6, and compare it with 1 Tim. ii. 14. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether God looked upon Adam's 
 eating of the forbidden tree, to be sin or no? Read Rom. 
 V. 12-15, and compare it with Gen. iii. 17. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether it was the devil who be- 
 guiled them, or whether it was a natural serpent, such as do 
 haunt the desolate places ? Read Gen. iii. 1, with Rev. xx. 
 12 3 
 
 i, ^, o. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether that sin be imputed to us? 
 Read Rom. v. 12-15, and compare it with Eph. ii. 3. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether the man was cursed for his 
 sin? Read Gal. iii. 10; Rom. v. 15. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether the curse did fall on man, or 
 on the whole creation with him ? Compare Gen. iii. 17, 
 with Rom. viii. 20, 21, 22. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether a man be defiled in every 
 part of him by the sin he hath committed ? Then read 
 Isa. i. 6. 
 
 Wouldst thou know man's inclination so soon as he is 
 
USE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 247 
 
 born? Read Psalm. Iviii. 3, "The wicked are estranged 
 from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born." 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether man, once fallen from Grod 
 by transgression, can recover himself, by all he can do? 
 Then read Rom. iii. 20, 23. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether it be the desire of the heart 
 of man, by nature, to follow God in his own way, or no ? 
 Compare Gen. vi. 5; viii. 21, with Hos. xi. 7. 
 
 Wouldst thou know how God's heart stood affected to- 
 wards man, before the world began ? Compare Eph. i. 4, 
 with 2 Tim. i. 9. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether sin were sufficient to draw 
 God's love from his creatures ? Compare Jer. iii. 7 ; Micah 
 vii. 18, with Rom. v. 6, 7, 8. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether God's love did still abide 
 towards his creatures, for any thing they could do to make 
 him amends? Then read Deut. xi. 5-8. 
 
 Wouldst thou know how God could still love his creatures, 
 and do his justice no wrong? Read Rom. iii. 24-26, 
 " Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption 
 that is in Christ Jesus ; whom God hath set forth to be a 
 propitiation for sin, through faith in his blood ; to declare 
 his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, 
 through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this 
 time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justi- 
 fier of him which believeth in Jesus." That is, God having 
 his justice satisfied in the blood, and righteousness, and 
 death of his own Son Jesus Christ for the sins of poor 
 sinners, he can now save them that come to him, though 
 ever so great sinners, and do his justice no wrong; because 
 it hath had a full and complete satisfaction given it by that 
 blood. 1 John ii. 2. 
 
 Wouldst thou know who he was, and what he was, that 
 did out of his love die for sinners ? Then compare John iii. 
 16, 17; Rom. v. 8; with Isa. ix. 6. 
 
248 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 "Wouldst thou know whether this Saviour had a body of 
 flesh and bones, before the world was, or took it from the 
 Virgin Mary? Then read Gral. iv. 4. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether he did in that, body bear all 
 our sins, and where ? Then read 1 Pet. ii. 24. ''Who bare 
 our sins in his own body on the tree." 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether he did rise again after he 
 was crucified, with the very same body ? Then read Luke 
 xxiv. 38-41. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether he did eat or drink with his 
 disciples after he rose out of the grave ? Then read Luke 
 xxiv. 42, and Acts x. 41. 
 
 If thou wouldst be persuaded of the truth of this, that that 
 very body is now above the clouds and stars, read Acts i. 
 9-11, and Luke xxiv. 50, to the end. 
 
 If thou wouldst know that the Quakers hold an error, that 
 say the body of Christ is within them, consider the same 
 scripture. 
 
 Wouldst thou know what that Christ that died for sinners 
 is doing in that place whither he is gone? Then read 
 Heb. vii. 24. 
 
 Wouldst thou know who shall have life by him ? Read 
 1 Tim. i. 14, 15, and Rom. v. 6-8, which say, Christ died 
 for sinners — for the ungodly. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether they that live and die in 
 their sins, shall go to heaven or not ? Then read 1 Cor. vi. 
 10; Rev. xxi. 8, 27, which saith, they "shall have their 
 part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.'' • 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether men's obedience will obtain 
 that Christ should die for them, or save them ? Then read 
 Mark ii. 17; Rom. v. 7. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether righteousness, justification, 
 and sanctification, do come through the virtue of Christ's 
 blood ? Compare Rom. v. 9, with Heb. xiii. 12. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether a natural man abstains from 
 
USE OP THE SCRIPTURES. 249 
 
 the outward acts of sin against the law, merely by a prin- 
 ciple of nature ? Then compare well Rom. ii. 14, with 
 Philip, iii. 6. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether a man by nature may know 
 something of the invisible things of God ? Compare seriously 
 Kom. i. 20, 21, with Rom. ii. 14, 15. 
 
 Wouldst thou know how far a man may go in a profession 
 of the gospel, and yet fall away ? Then read Heb. vi. 4-6. 
 They may taste the good word of God, and the powers of 
 the world to come ; they may taste the heavenly gift, and 
 be partakers of the Holy Ghost, and yet so fall as never to 
 be recovered, or renewed again unto repentance. See also 
 Luke xiii. 
 
 Wouldst thou know how hard it is to go to heaven ? Read 
 Matt. vii. 13, 14; Luke xiii. 24. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whether a man by nature be a 
 friend to God, or an enemy? Then read Rom. v. 11; 
 Col. i. 21. 
 
 Wouldst thou know what, or who they are that shall go 
 to heaven ? Then read John iii. 3, 5, 7, and 2 Cor. v. 7. 
 Also, wouldst thou know what a sad thing it is for any to 
 turn their backs upon the gospel of Jesus Christ ? Then 
 read Heb. x. 28, 29, and Mark xvi. 16. 
 
 Wouldst thou know what is the wages of sin ? Then read 
 Rom. vi. 23. 
 
 Wouldst thou know whither those do go, that die uncon- 
 verted to the faith of Christ ? Then read Psal. ix 17, and 
 Isa. xiv. 9. 
 
 Reader, here might I spend many sheets of paper, yea, I 
 might upon this subject write a very great book; but I shall 
 now forbear, desiring thee to be very conversant in the 
 scriptures; for they are they that will testify of Jesus Christ. 
 John V. 89. The Bereans were counted noble upon this 
 account : ^^ These were more noble than those in Thessa- 
 
250 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 lonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of 
 mind, and searched the scriptures daily/' Acts xvii. 11. 
 
 But here let me give thee one caution, that is, have a care 
 that thou do not satisfy thyself with a bare search of them, 
 without a real application of him whom they testify of to 
 thy soul; lest instead of faring better for thy doing this 
 work, thou dost fare a great deal worse, and thy condemna- 
 tion be very much heightened ; in that though thou didst 
 read so often the sad state of those that die in sin, and the 
 glorious state of them that close in with Christ, yet thou 
 thyself shouldst be such a fool as to lose Jesus Christ, not- 
 withstanding thy hearing and reading so plentifully of him. 
 " They have Moses and the prophets ; let them hear 
 them." As if he should say. What need have they that one 
 should be sent to them from the dead ? Have they not 
 Moses and the prophets ? Hath not Moses told them the 
 danger of living in sin? Deut. xxvii. 15-26; xxviii. 15-21, 
 &c. in the end of the chapter; also xxix. 18-22. Hath he 
 not there told them, what a sad state those persons are in, 
 that deceive themselves with the deceit of their hearts, say- 
 ing, they shall have peace though they follow their sins, in 
 these words : '^ And when he heareth the words of this curse, 
 and blesseth himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace 
 though I walk, or go on in the imagination of mine heart, 
 to add drunkenness to thirst: 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 lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his 
 name from under heaven.'' 
 
 Again, Did not Moses write of the Saviour that was to 
 come afterwards into the world? Deut. xviii. 18. Nay, 
 have not all the prophets, from Samuel, with all those that 
 follow after, prophesied, and foretold these* things ? There- 
 fore what need have they that God should work a miracle, 
 
GOD HONORS THE SCRIPTURES. 251 
 
 to send one from the dead unto them? "They have Moses 
 and the prophets; let them hear them." 
 
 2. From whence observe again, that God doth honor the 
 writings of Moses and the prophets as much, nay more, than 
 if one should rise from the dead. What ! " seek for the 
 living to the dead? Should not a people seek unto their 
 God ? To the law, and to the testimony, (saith God) : if 
 they speak not according to this word, it is because there 
 is no light in them." Isa. viii. 19, 20. And let me tell 
 you plainly, I do believe that the devil knows this full 
 well, which makes him labor to beget in the hearts of his 
 disciples and followers, light thoughts of the scriptures; 
 and doth persuade them, that even a motion from their own 
 beguiled conscience, or from his own wicked spirit, is to be 
 observed and obeyed before them. "When the very apostle 
 of Jesus Christ, though he heard a voice from the excellent 
 glory, saying, "This is my beloved Son, hear him;" yet in 
 writing to the churches, even he commends the writings of 
 the prophets before it, saying, " We have also a more sure 
 word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed :" 
 2 Pet. i. 17-19. Now if thou doubtest whether in that 
 place he meant the scriptures, the words of the prophets, or 
 no; read but the next verse, where he addeth for a certain 
 confirmation thereof these words: "Knowing this first, that 
 there is no prophecy of the scriptures, of any private inter- 
 pretation : for the prophecy came not in old time by the will 
 of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by 
 the Holy Ghost." 
 
 And therefore what a sad thing is it for those that go 
 about to disown the scriptures ! I tell you, however they 
 may slight them now, yet when they come into hell, they 
 will see their folly. " They have Moses and the prophets ; 
 let them hear them." 
 
 Further, Who are they that are so tossed to and fro, with 
 the several winds of doctrine that have been broached ia 
 
252 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 these days, but such for the most part, as have had a light 
 esteem of the scriptures ? For the ground of error is (as 
 Christ saith) because they know not them. Mark xii. 24. 
 And indeed, it is just with God to give them over (to follow 
 their own dark, blinded consciences ; to be led into errors, 
 that they might be damned in hell) who do not believe that 
 the things contained in the scripture are the truth, that 
 they might be saved and go to heaven. I cannot well tell 
 how to have done speaking for, and on the scriptures' side; 
 only this I consider, — A word is enough to the wise. And 
 therefore I shall commit these things into the hands of them 
 that are of God. And as for the rest, I shall say to them, 
 rather than God will save them from hell with the breach 
 of his holy word, if they had a thousand souls a-piece, God 
 would destroy them all. "For the scripture cannot be 
 broken.'^ John x. 35. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 And he said, Nat, fathzr Abraham : but if oxe wext unto them feom the dead, 
 THET WILL REPENT.— Verse 30. 
 
 The verse before, you know, as I told you, it was part of 
 an answer to such as lose their souls; so it is a vindication 
 of the scriptures of Moses and the prophets: "They have 
 Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." 
 
 Now this verse is an answer to what was said in the for- 
 mer, and such an one as hath in it a rejection of the former 
 answer. "Nay, father Abraham," nay, saith he, do not 
 say so; do not put them off with this; send one from the 
 dead, and then there will be some hopes. It is true, thou 
 speakest of the scripture, of Moses and the prophets, and 
 sayest, "Let them hear them;" but these things are not so 
 
HOW MEN SLIGHT THE SCRIPTURES. 253 
 
 well as I could wish : I had rather thou would send one 
 from the dead. In these words therefore, ^'Nay, father 
 Abraham/' there is a repulse given : Nay, let it not be so. 
 Nay, I do not like that answer. Hear Moses and the pro- 
 phets? nay. The same expression is used by Christ, Luke 
 xiii. 4, 5 : Think you that they upon whom the tower of 
 Siloam fell, were sinners above others? ''I tell you nay: 
 but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.^' So here, 
 ^^Nay, father Abraham." By this word. ^^Nay," therefore, 
 is signified a rejecting the first answer. 
 
 Now observe, I pray you, the reason why he says, Nay, 
 is, because God doth put over all those that would be saved, 
 to observe and receive the truth contained in the scriptures, 
 and believe that, — to have a high esteem of them, and to 
 love and search them; as Christ saith, "Search the scrip- 
 tures, — for they are they which testify of me.'' John v. 39. 
 But the damned say. Nay. As if he had said, 'This is the 
 thing : to be short, my brethren are unbelievers, and do not 
 regard the word of Grod. I know it by myself : for when I 
 was in the world, it was so with me. Many a good sermon 
 did I hear; many a time was I admonished, desired, en- 
 treated, beseeched, threatened, forewarned, of what I now 
 suff"er; but, alas! I was ignorant, self-conceited, surly, ob- 
 stinate, and rebellious. Many a time the preachers told me, 
 hell would be my portion ; the devil would wreak his malice 
 on me; God would pour on me his sore displeasure; but he 
 had as good have preached to the stock, to the post, to the 
 stones I trod on ; his words rang in my ears, but I kept 
 them from my heart. I remember he alleged many a scrip- 
 ture; but those I valued not. The scriptures, thought I, 
 what are they? A dead letter, a little ink and paper, of 
 three or four shillings price. Alas ! What is the scripture ? 
 Give me a ballad, a news-book, George on Horseback, or 
 Bevis of Southampton. Give me some book that teaches 
 curious arts, that tells of old fables; but for the holy scrip- 
 
 22 
 
254 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 tures I care not. And as it was with me then, so it is with 
 my brethren now. "We were all in one spirit; loved all the 
 same sins; slighted all the same counsels, promises, encou- 
 ragements, and thrcatenings of the scriptures. And they 
 are still, as I left them; still in unbelief, still provoking 
 God, and rejecting good counsel; so hardened in their ways, 
 so bent to follow sin, that let the scriptures be showed to 
 them daily, let the messengers of Christ preach till their 
 hearts ache ; — till they fall down dead with preaching — they 
 will rather trample it under foot, and, swine-like, rend them, 
 than close in with those gentle and blessed proffers of the 
 gospel. ^^Nay, father Abraham: but if one should rise 
 from the dead, they would repent." Though they have 
 Moses and the prophets (the scriptures) they will not re- 
 pent and close in with Jesus Christ, although the scriptures 
 do witness against them. If, therefore, there be any good 
 done to them, they must have it another way. I think, 
 saith he, it would work much on them, if one should rise 
 from the dead.' 
 
 And this truth indeed is so evident, that ungo'dly men 
 have a light esteem of the scriptures, that it needs not many 
 strong arguments to prove it; being so evidently manifested 
 by their every day's practice, both in words and actions, 
 almost in all things they say and do. Yet, for the satisfac- 
 tion of the reader, I shall show you, by a scripture or two 
 (though I might show many) that this was, and is, true, 
 with the generality of the world. See the words of Nehe- 
 miah, in his 9th chapter, concerning the children of Israel, 
 who, though the Lord offered them mercy upon mercy, as it 
 is from verse 19 to verse 25; yet verse 26, saith he, "Ne- 
 vertheless, they were disobedient (for all thy goodness to- 
 wards them), and rebelled against thee, (but how?) and 
 cast thy law behind their back, and slew the prophets, 
 which testified against them to turn them to thee; and they 
 wrought great provocations." Observe, 1. They sinned 
 
HOW MEN SLIGHT THE SCRIPTURES. 255 
 
 against mercy. And then, 2. They slighted the law, or 
 word of God. 3. They slew the prophets that declared it 
 unto them. 4. The Lord counts it a great provocation. See 
 Heb. iii. 10-19. And see Zech. vii. 11, 12, ^' But they 
 refused to hearken" (saith he there to the wicked), '^ and 
 pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they 
 should not hear (the law). Yea, they made their hearts 
 hard as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, 
 and the words which the Lord of hosts sent unto them, by 
 his Spirit, in the former prophets. Mark, I pray you, here 
 is also, 1. A refusing to hearken to the words of the pro- 
 phets. 2. That they might so do, they stopped their ears. 
 3. If any thing was to be done, they pulled away their 
 shoulder. 4. To effect this, they labor to make their hearts 
 as an adamant stone. 5. And all this, lest they should hear 
 and close in with Jesus, and live, and be delivered from the 
 wrath to come. All which things do hold out an unwilling- 
 ness to submit to the words of God, and so embrace Jesus 
 Christ, who is testified of by them. Many other scriptures 
 I might bring in for confirmation of the thing; as that in 
 Amos vii. 12, 13; also 1 Sam. ii. 24, 25; 2 Chron. xxv. 15, 
 16; Jer. vii. 23,27; xvi. 12. Read also, seriously, that 
 saying in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, where he saith, '^And the 
 Lord God of their fathers sent to them, by his messengers 
 rising up betimes — because he had compassion on his peo- 
 ple, and on his dwelling-place.'' And did they make them 
 welcome? No; ^'But they mocked the messenger of God, 
 and despised his words." And was that all ? No ; They 
 ^^ misused the prophets.'' How long? ''Until the wrath 
 of the Lord rose against them, till there was no remedy." 
 See also Jer. xxix. 19; xxv. 3-7; Luke xi. 49. 
 
 And besides, the conversation of almost all men doth 
 bear witness to the same, both religious and profane persons, 
 in that they daily neglect, reject, and turn their backs upon 
 the plain testimony of the scriptures. 
 
256 8IGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 As, for example. Take the threatenings laid down in 
 holy writ, and how are they disregarded ? 
 
 1. There are but a few places in the Bible but there are 
 threatenings against one sinner or other; against drunkards, 
 swearers, liars, proud persons, strumpets, whoremongers, 
 covetous, railers, extortioners, thieves, lazy persons; in a 
 word, all manner of sins are reproved; and without faith 
 in the Lord Jesus, there is a sore punishment to be exe- 
 cuted on the committers of them; and all this made men- 
 tion of in the scriptures. 
 
 But for all this, how thick, and by heaps, do these 
 wretches walk up and down our streets ! Do but go into the 
 alehouse, and you shall see almost every room besprinkled 
 with them; so foaming out their own shame, that it is 
 enough to make the heart of a saint to tremble; insomuch 
 that they would not be bound to have society with them any 
 long while, for all the world. For as the ways of the godly 
 are not liked by the wicked, even so the ways of the wicked 
 are "an abomination to the just." Prov. xxix. 27; Psalm 
 cxx. 5, 6. 
 
 2. The scriptures say, "Cursed is the man that trusteth 
 in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart depart- 
 eth from the Lord.'' Jer. xvii. 5. 
 
 And yet, how many poor souls are there in the world, 
 that stand in so much awe and dread of men, and do so 
 highly esteem their favor, that with their favor, they will 
 rather venture their souls in the hands of the devil, than 
 they will fly to Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls ! 
 Nay, though they be convinced, in their souls, that the way 
 is the way of God, yet, how do they labor to stifle convic- 
 tion, and turn their ears away from the truth; and all be- 
 cause they will not lose the favor of an opposing neighbor ? 
 * ! I dare not for my master, my brother, my landlord ; 
 I shall lose his favor, his house of work, and so decay my 
 calling.' '0!' saith another, ^I would willingly go in this 
 
WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAY. 257 
 
 way, but for my father ; he chides, and tells me he will not 
 stand my friend, when I come to want; I shall never enjoy 
 a pennyworth of his goods 3 he will disinherit me/ ^ And I 
 not,' saith another, ' for my husband ; he will be a-railing, 
 and tells me he will turn me out of doors, he will beat me, 
 and cut off my legs/ But I tell you, if any of these, or any 
 other things, be so prevalent with thee now, as to keep thee 
 from seeking after Christ in his ways, they will also be so 
 prevalent with God against thee, as to make him cast off thy 
 soul; because thou didst rather trust man than God, and 
 delight in the embracing of man rather than in the favor of 
 the Lord. 
 
 3. Again, the scripture saith, ^^He that, being often re- 
 proved, hardeneth his neck, shall be suddenly destroyed, and 
 that without remedy. Prov. xxix. 1. Yet many are so far 
 from turning (though they have been convinced of their 
 wretched state an hundred times), that when conviction or 
 trouble for sin comes on their consciences, they go on still in 
 the same manner, resisting and choking the same, though 
 remediless destruction be hard at their heels. 
 
 4. Again, thou hast heard say. Unless a man be born 
 again he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. John iii. 
 3, 5, 7. And yet thou goest on in a natural state, an un- 
 regenerate condition ; nay, thou dost resolve never to turn, 
 nor be changed, though hell be appointed on purpose to 
 swallow up such. Isa. xiv. 9. "The wicked shall be turned 
 into hell, and all the nations that forget God.'' Psalm ix. 17. 
 
 5. Again, the scripture saith plainly, that he that loveth 
 and maketh a lie, shall have his portion in the lake that 
 burns with fire and brimstone. Rev. xxi. 8, 27. And yet 
 thou art so far from dreading it, that it is thy delight to 
 jest and jeer, and lie for a penny, or twopence, or sixpence 
 again. And also if thou make the rest of thy companions 
 merry, by telling things that are false of them that are bet- 
 ter than thyself; thou dost not care a straw. Or if thou 
 
258 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 hearest a lie from, or of another, thou wilt tell it, and swear 
 to the truth of it. miserable ! 
 
 6. Thou hast heard and read, that " He that believeth 
 not, shall be damned" (Mark xvi. 16); and that all men 
 have not faith. 2 Thes. iii. 2. And yet thou dost so much 
 disregard these things, that it is likely thou didst scarce 
 ever so much as examine seriously whether thou wast in the 
 faith or no; but dost content thyself with the hypocrite's 
 hope, which at the last God will cut off, counting it no bet- 
 ter than the spider's web (Job viii. 13, 14), or the house 
 that is built on the sands. Luke vi. 49. Nay, thou perad- 
 venture dost flatter thyself, and thinkest that thy faith is as 
 the best of them all ; when alas ! poor soul, thou mayst 
 have no saving faith at all ; which thou hast not, if thou art 
 not born again and made a new creature. 2 Cor. ii. 17. 
 
 7. Thou hast heard, that he that neglects God's great 
 salvation, shall never escape his great damnation. Heb. ii. 3, 
 compared with Luke xiv. 24 ; and Rev. xiv. 19, 20. And 
 yet when thou art invited, entreated and beseeched to come 
 in (Luke xiv. 17, 18; 2 Cor. v. 19, 20; Rom. xii. 1) thou 
 wilt make any excuse to serve the turn. Nay, thou wilt be 
 so wicked, as to put off Christ time after time, notwithstand- 
 ing he is so freely proffered to thee ; a little ground, a few 
 oxen, a farm, a wife, a twopenny matter, a play; nay, the 
 fear of a mock, a scoff, or a jeer, is of greater weight to 
 draw thee back, than the salvation of thy soul to draw thee 
 forward. 
 
 8. And thou hast heard that whosoever would be a friend 
 of the world, is the enemy of God. James iv. 4. But thou 
 regardest not these things; but contrariwise, rather than 
 thou wilt be out of the friendship and favor of this world, 
 thou wilt sin against thine own conscience, and get thyself 
 into favor by fawning and flattering the world ; yea, rather 
 than thou wilt go without it, thou wilt dissemble, lie, back- 
 
THE THREATENINGS OF SCRIPTURE. 259 
 
 bite tliy neighbor ; and an hundred other tricks thou wilt 
 have. 
 
 9. You have heard, that the day of judgment is near; in 
 which you and I, and all of us must appear before the tri- 
 bunal of Jesus Christ, and there be made to give an account 
 to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead, even 
 of all that ever we did; yea, of all our sins in thought, word, 
 and deed; and shall certainly be damned for them too, if 
 we close not in with our Lord Jesus Christ, and what he 
 hath done and suffered, for eternal life ; and that not na- 
 tionally or traditionally but really and savingly, in the power 
 and by the operation of the Spirit, through faith. Eccles. 
 xi. 9; Heb. ix. 27; Acts x. 42; xvii. 30, 31; 2 Cor. t. 10; 
 Rev. XX. 12. ^^ And I saw the dead, small and great, stand 
 before God: and the books were opened; and another book 
 was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were 
 judged out of those things which were written in the 
 books.'' There is the book of the creatures, the book of 
 conscience, the book of the Lord's remembrance, the book 
 of the law, the book of the gospel. Rom. i. 20; compared 
 with Rom. ii. 12, 15; Rev. xxii. 19; John xii. 48. "Then 
 shall he separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
 divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the 
 sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left; and shall 
 say to them on his right hand. Come ye blessed ; but to the 
 other. Go, or depart ye cursed." Matt. xxv. 30, 31, 32, 34, 
 41. Yet, notwithstanding the scriptures do so plainly and 
 plentifully speak of these things, alas ! who is there that "is 
 weaned from the world, and from his sins and pleasures, to 
 fly the wrath to come ! Matt. iii. 7. They are so certain, too ! 
 Notwithstanding the scripture saith also, that heaven and 
 earth shall pass away, rather than one jot, or one tittle of 
 the word shall fail, till all be fulfilled. Luke xvi. 17. 
 
 But leaving the threatenings, let us come to the promises^ 
 and speak somewhat of them ; and you may see how light 
 
260 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 men make of them, and how little they set by them, not- 
 withstanding the mouth of the Lord hath spoken them. 
 
 As, 1. '' Turn ye fools, ye scorners, ye simjDle ones, at my 
 reproof, and behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you." 
 Prov. i. 23. And yet persons had rather be in their foolish- 
 ness and scorning still, and had rather embrace some filthy 
 lust, than the holy, undefiled, and blessed Spirit of Christ, 
 through the promise, though by it as many as receive it are 
 sealed unto the day of redemption (Eph. iv. 30) ; and 
 although he that lives and dies without it is none of Christ's. 
 Kom. viii. 9. 
 
 2. God hath said, if you do but come to him in Christ, 
 ^' though your sins be as red as scarlet, they shall be as 
 white as snow; and he will by no means cast thee away.'^ 
 Compare Isa. i. 18, with John vi. 26. Yet poor souls will 
 not come to Christ that they might have life (John v. 40); 
 but rather, after their hardness and impenitent heart, trea- 
 sure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, 
 and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Rom. ii, 
 4,5,6. 
 
 3. Christ hath said in the word of truth. That if any man 
 will serve and follow him, *' where he is, there shall also 
 his servant be." John xii. 26. But yet poor souls choose 
 rather to follow sin, Satan, and the world, though their 
 companions be devils and damned souls for ever. Matt. 
 XXV. 41. 
 
 4. He hath also said, '' Seek first the kingdom of God, 
 and all other things shall be added." Matt. xi. 33. But let 
 whoso will seek after the kingdom of heaven first for them ; 
 for they will take the first time, while time serves, to get 
 the things of this life. And if it be so, that they must 
 needs seek after heaven, or else be damned; they must stay 
 till they have more leisure, or till they can better attend to 
 it, or till they have other things handsome about them, or 
 till they are older ; when they have little else to do, or when 
 
PROMISES OF SCRIPTURE. 261 
 
 they come to be sick and die. Then, ' Lord have mercy 
 upon them !^ though it be ten thousand to one but they 
 perish for ever. 
 
 For commonly the Lord hath his way to deal with sinners, 
 who put him oif when he is striving with them, either to 
 laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh 
 (Prov. i. 26, 28) ; or else send them to the gods they have 
 served, which are the devils : " Gro to the gods ye have 
 served," saith he, ^^and let them deliver you." Judg. x. 13, 
 14. Compare this with John viii. 44. 
 
 5. He hath said, " there is no man that forsaketh father, 
 or mother, wife, children, or lands for his sake and the 
 gospel's, but he shall have a hundred fold in this world, with 
 persecutions, and in the world to come life everlasting." 
 Mark x. 29, 30. But men, for the most part, are so far off 
 from believing the certainty of this, they will scarce lose the 
 earning of a penny to hear the word of Grod, the gospel of 
 salvation. Nay, they will neither go themselves, nor suffer 
 others to go (if they can help it), without threatening to do 
 them a mischief, if it lie in their way. Nay, further, many 
 are so far from parting from any worldly gain for Christ's 
 sake and the gospel's, that they are still striving by hook 
 and by crook, as we say; by swearing, lying, cozening, 
 stealing, covetousness, extortion, oppression, forgery, bribery, 
 flattery, or any other way, to get more ; though they get, 
 together with these, death, wrath, damnation, hell, the devil, 
 and all the plagues that Grod can pour upon them. And if. 
 any do not run with them on the same excess of riot, but 
 rather for all their threats, will be so bold and careless (as 
 they call it) as to follow the ways of God ; if they can do 
 no more, yet they will whet their tongues like a sword to 
 wound them, and do them the greatest mischief they can, 
 both in speaking against them to neighbors, to wives, to 
 husbands, to landlords, and raising false reports of them. 
 But let such take heed, lest they be in such a state and 
 
262 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 woful condition as he was in, who said, in vexation and 
 anguish of soul, One drop of cold water to cool my tongue ! 
 Thus might I add many things out of holy writ, both 
 threatenings and promises, besides those heavenly counsels, 
 loving reproofs, free invitations to all sorts of sinners, both 
 old and young, rich and poor, bond and free, wise and un- 
 wise; all which have been, now are, and it is to be feared, 
 as long as this world lasts, will be, trampled under the feet 
 of those swine (I call not men), who will continue in the 
 same. But take a review of some of them. 
 
 1. Counsel. What heavenly counsel is that where Christ 
 Baith, "Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be 
 rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, that 
 the shame of thy nakedness do not appear ! Bev. iii. 17, 18. 
 Also that, '^ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
 waters: yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and 
 without price. ^^ Isa. Iv. 1. "Hear, and your souls shall 
 live." Verse 3. "Lay hold of my strength, that you may 
 make peace with me; and you shall make peace with me." 
 Isa. xxvii. 5. 
 
 2. Instruction. What instruction is here ! 
 
 " Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed 
 is the man that heareth me (saith Christ), watching daily 
 at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso 
 findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord.'' 
 Prov. viii. 32-35. "Take heed that no man deceive you by 
 any means." 2 Thess. ii. 3. "Labor not for the meat that 
 perisheth, but for that which endurcth unto everlasting 
 life." John vi. 27. "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." 
 Luke xiii. 24. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thou shalt be saved." Acts xvi. 31. "Believe not every 
 spirit, but try the spirits." John iv. 1. "Quench not the 
 Spirit." 1 Thess. v. 19. "Lay hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. 
 vi. 12. "Let your light so shine before men, that they 
 may sec your good works, and glorify your Father which ia 
 
COUNSELS AND INSTRUCTIONS. 263 
 
 in heaven." Matt. v. 16. " Take lieed and beware of hy- 
 pocrisy.'^ Luke xii. 1. "Watch and be sober.'' 1 Thess. 
 V. 6. " Come unto me. Learn of me," saith Christ. Matt, 
 xi. 28, 29. 
 
 3. Forewarning. What forewarning is here ! 
 "Because there is wrath beware, lest he take thee away 
 
 with his stroke : then a great ransom cannot deliver thee." 
 Job xxxvi. 18. " Be ye not mockers, lest your bands be 
 made strong : for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts 
 a consumption even determined upon the whole earth." Isa. 
 xxviii. 22. "Beware therefore, lest that come upon you 
 that is written; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and per- 
 ish : for, I work a work in your days, which ye shall in no 
 ways believe, though a man declare it unto you. "Acts xiii. 
 40, 41. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed 
 lest he fall."l Cor. x. 12. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter 
 into temptation." Mark xiv. 38. "Let us therefore, fear, 
 lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of 
 you should seem to come short of it." Heb. iv. 1. " I will 
 therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew 
 this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of 
 Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." Jude 
 5. " Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy 
 crown."Bev. iii. 11. 
 
 4. Comfort. What comfort is here ! 
 
 "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." 
 John vi. 87. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. xi. 28. "Be 
 of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee." Matt. ix. 2. 
 "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Heb. xiii. 5. 
 "I have loved thee with an everlasting love."Jer. xxxi. 
 3. "I lay down my life, for my sheep." "I am come 
 that they may have life, and that they may have it more 
 abundantly." John x. 10, 15. "I have heard thee in a 
 time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored 
 
264 • SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 tliee." 2 Cor. vi. 2. ^'Though your sins be as scarlet, they 
 shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
 tJiey shall be as wool." Isa. i. 18. " I have blotted out, as 
 a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud thy sins: 
 return unto me; for I have redeemed thee." Isa. xliv. 22. 
 
 5. Grief, to those who fall short. Oh sad grief! 
 
 ^'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised 
 reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor 
 inclined mine ear to them that instructed me." Prov. v. 12, 
 13. "They shall curse their king and their God, and look 
 upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold 
 trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall 
 be driven to darkness." Isa. viii. 21, 22. "He hath dis- 
 persed, he hath given to the poor ; his righteousness endur- 
 eth for ever ; his horn shall be exalted with honor. The 
 wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his 
 teeth, and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall per- 
 ish." Psalm cxii. 9, 10. "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 God, and 
 you yourselves thrust out." Luke xiii. 28. All which things 
 are slighted by the world. 
 
 Thus much, in short, touching this, that ungodly men un- 
 dervalue the scriptures, and give no credit to them, when 
 the truth that is contained in them, is held forth in simpli- 
 city unto them, but rather cry out, " Nay, but if one should 
 rise from the dead," then they think something might be 
 done. When, alas ! though signs and wonders are wrought 
 by the hands of those that preach the gospel, those poor 
 creatures would never the sooner convert, though they sup- 
 pose they should; as is evident by the carriages of their 
 forerunners, who although the Lord Jesus himself did con- 
 firm his doctrine by miracles, as opening blind eyes, casting 
 out devils, and raising the dead, they were so far from re- 
 ceiving either him or his doctrine, that they put him to 
 
WHY MEN SLIGHT THE SCRIPTURES. 265 
 
 death for his pains. Though he had done so many miracles 
 among them, yet they believed not in him. John xii. 37. 
 
 But to pass this, I shall lay down some of the grounds 
 of men's rejecting and undervaluing the scriptures, and so 
 pass on. 
 
 1. Because they do not believe that they are the word of 
 God ; but rather suppose them to be inventions of men; 
 written by some politicians, on purpose to make poor igno- 
 rant people submit to some religion and government. 
 Though they do not say this, yet their practices testify the 
 same; as he that when he hears the words of the curse, yet 
 blesseth himself in his heart, and saith, I shall have peace, 
 though God saith he shall have none. Deut. xxix. 18, 19, 
 20. And this must needs be, for did but men believe this, 
 that it is the word of Grod, then they must believe, that he 
 that spake it is true, therefore shall every word and tittle be 
 fulfilled. And if they come once to this, unless they be 
 stark mad, they will have a care how they throw themselves, 
 under the lash of eternal vengeance. For the reason why 
 the Thessalonians received the gospel was, because they be- 
 lieved it was the word of God, and not the word of man, 
 which did effectually work in them by their thus believing. 
 1 Thess. ii. 13. "When ye received the word which ye 
 heard of us,'' saith he, "ye received it not as the word of 
 men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God, which effectu- 
 ally worketh also in yow. that believe." So that did a man 
 but receive it in hearing, or reading, or meditating, as it is 
 the word of God, they would be converted. "But the word 
 preached doth not profit, not being mixed with faith in them 
 that hear it." Heb. iv. 2. 
 
 2. Because they do not indeed see themselves hy nature 
 heirs of that exceeding wrath and vengeance, of which the 
 scriptures testify. For did they but consider what God 
 intends to do with those that live and die in a natural state, 
 it would either sink them into despair, or make them fly for 
 
 23 
 
266 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 refuge to the hope that is set before them. But if there be 
 never such sins committed, and ever so great wrath de- 
 nounced; and the time of execution be ever so near; yet if 
 the party that is guilty be senseless, and altogether ignorant 
 thereof, he will be careless, and regard it nothing at all. 
 And that man by nature is in this condition is evident. For 
 take the same man that is senseless, and ignorant of that 
 misery he is in by nature ; I say, take him at another time 
 when he is a little awakened } and then you will hear him 
 roar, and cry out so long as trouble is upon him, and a sense 
 of the wrath of God hanging over his head. Good sirs, what 
 must I do to be saved ? 
 
 The same man at another time (when his conscience is 
 fallen asleep, and grown hard) will lie like the smith's dog 
 at the foot of the anvil, though the fire-sparks fly in his face. 
 But as I said before when any one is a little awakened, O 
 what work will one verse, one line, nay, one word of the 
 holy scriptures make in his heart ! He cannot eat, sleep, 
 work, keep company with his former companions ; and all 
 because he is afraid the damnation spoken of in scripture, 
 will fall to his share. Like Balaam, who said, '' I cannot 
 go beyond the word of the Lord" (Numb. xxii. 18), so long 
 as he had something of the word of the Lord with authority, 
 severity, and power on his heart ; but at another time he 
 could teach Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the 
 children of Israel. Rev. ii. 14. 
 
 3. Because the carnal priests do tichh the cars of their 
 hearers with vain philosophy and deceit; and thereby harden 
 their hearts against the simplicity of the gospel and word 
 of God. Which things the apostle admonished those that 
 have a mind to close in with Christ to avoid (Col. ii. 8), 
 saying, ^' Beware lest any man (be he what he will) spoil 
 you, through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition 
 of men, after rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." 
 And you who muzzle up your people in ignorance, with 
 
"WHY MEN SLIGHT THE SCRIPTURES. 267 
 
 Aristotle, Plato, and the rest of tlie heathenisli jDhilosophers, 
 and preach little, if any thing, of Christ rightly; I say unto 
 you, that you will find that you have sinned against God, 
 and beguiled your hearers, when God shall in the judgment- 
 day lay the cause of the damnation of many thousands of 
 souls to your charge, and say, he will require their blood at 
 your hands. 
 
 4. Another reason why the carnal unbelieving world do 
 so slight the scriptures, the word of God, is, because the 
 judgment spoken of in the scripture, is not presently exe- 
 cuted on the transgressors. ^' Because sentence against an 
 evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of 
 the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Eccles. 
 viii. 11. Because God doth not presently strike the poor 
 wretch as soon as he sins, but waits, and forbears, and is 
 patient ) therefore the world judging God to be unfaithful, 
 go to it again and again ; and every time grow harder and 
 harder, till at last God is forced either to stretch out his 
 mighty power to turn them, or else send death with the 
 devil and hell to fetch them. ^'Thou thoughtest (saith 
 God) that I was altogether such an one as thyself : but I 
 will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. 
 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in 
 pieces, and there be none to deliver." Psalm 1. 21, 22. 
 
 5. Another reason why the blind world do slight the 
 authority of scripture, is because they give ear to the devil; 
 who through his subtlety caste th false evasions, and corrupt 
 interpretations on them, rendering them not so point-blank 
 the mind of God, and a rule for direction to poor souls; 
 persuading them that they must give ear and way to some- 
 thing else besides, and beyond that : or else he labors to 
 render it vile and contemptible, by persuading them that it 
 is a dead letter ; in which indeed they know not what they 
 say, nor whereof they affirm. For the scripture is not so 
 dead, but that the knowledge of it is able to make any man 
 
208 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 wise unto salvation through faith and love, which is in 
 Christ Jesus (2 Tim. iii. 15); and is profitable for instruc- 
 tion, reproof, and correction in righteousness, that the man 
 of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 works. Verses 16, 17. 
 
 And where it is said " the letter killeth" (2 Cor. iii. 6), 
 Paul meaneth the law, as it is "the ministration of con- 
 demnation," or a covenant of works. And so indeed it doth 
 kill, and must do so, because it is just; forasmuch as the 
 party that is under the same, is not able to yield to it a 
 complete and continual obedience. But yet I will call Peter 
 and Paul to witness, that the scriptures are of a glorious 
 concernment, inasmuch as in them is held forth to us the 
 way of life; and also, in that they do administer good ground 
 of hope to us, " For whatsoever things were written afore- 
 time, were written for our learning; that we through pa- 
 tience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.'' 
 Rom. XV. 4. And again, '^ Now to him that is of power to 
 ostablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of 
 Jesus Christ ; according to the revelation of the mystery, 
 which was kept secret since the world began, but is now 
 made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, accord- 
 ing to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known 
 to all nations for the obedience of faith.'' Rom. xvi. 25, 26. 
 Compare 2 Peter i. 19-21. And therefore whosoever they 
 be that slight the scriptures, they slight that which is no 
 less than the word of God; and they who slight that, slight 
 him that spake it ; and they that do so, let them look to 
 themselves : for God will be revenged on such. Much more 
 might be said to this thing, but I would not be tedious. 
 
 A word or two more, and I have done with this. Con- 
 sider the danger of slighting the words of the prophets or 
 apostles, whether they be correction, reproof, admonition, 
 forewarning, or the blessed invitations and promises con- 
 tained in them. 
 
DANGER OF SLIGHTINf} THE SCRIPTURES. 269 
 
 1. Such souls do i^roToke God to anger, and to execute 
 his vengeance on them. " They refused to hearken, they 
 pulled away their shoulders, they stopped their ears, lest 
 they should hear the law; and they made their hearts as an 
 adamant stone, that they might not hear the law, and the 
 words that were spoken to them by his Spirit in the former 
 prophets : Therefore came a great wrath upon them.'' 
 Zech. vii. 11, 12. 
 
 2. God will not regard such in their calamity. " Because I 
 have called, and ye refused ; I have stretched out my hand, 
 and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my 
 counsel, and would have none of my reproof: I also will 
 laugh at your calamity : I will mock when your fear cometh j 
 when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction 
 cometh as a whirlwind. Then shall they call upon me, but 
 I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, but they shall 
 iiot find me." Prov. i. 24-28. 
 
 3. God doth commonly give up such men to delusions to 
 believe lies. " Because they received not the love of the 
 truth, that they might be saved ;'' therefore " God shall 
 send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; 
 that they all might be damned." 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. 
 
 4. In a word, they that do continue to reject and slight 
 the word of God, they are such, for the most part, as are 
 ordained to be damned. Old Eli's sons, not hearkening to 
 the voice of their father reproving them for their sins, but 
 disobeying his voice, it is said, it was "because the Lord 
 would slay them." 1 Sam. ii. 25. Again, see in 2 Chroii. 
 XXV. 16, 16. Amaziah having sinned against the Lord, he 
 sends to him a prophet to reprove him : but Amaziah says, 
 "Forbear; why shouldst thou be smitten?" (He did not 
 hearken to the word of God) "Then the prophet forebare, 
 and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, 
 because thou hast not hearkened to my counsel." Read 
 therefore; and the Lord give thee understanding: for a 
 
 23* 
 
270 SIGHS FROM HELL. » 
 
 miserable end will those have that go on in sinning against 
 God^ rejecting his word. 
 
 Other things might have been observed from this verse, 
 w^hich at this time I shall pass by; partly, because the sum 
 of them hath been touched already, and may be more clearly 
 hinted at in the following verse ; and therefore I shall speak 
 a few words of the next verse, and so draw towards a con- 
 clusion. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 And he said onto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither wnx 
 
 THEY BE PERSUADED THOUGH ONE ROSE FROM THE DEAD. — VerSC 31. 
 
 ^' And he said/' that is, And God (through Abraham) 
 made answer to the words spoken in the verse before, "And 
 he said unto him. If they hear not Moses," &c. As if he 
 had said, ^ Moses was a man of great renown, a man of 
 worthy note, a man that talked with God face to face, as a 
 man speaketh to his friend. The words that Moses spake, 
 were such as I commanded him to speak. Let who will 
 question them, I will own them, credit them, bless them 
 that close in with them, and curse those that reject them. I 
 myself sent the prophets, they did not run of their own 
 heads; I gave them commission; I thrust them out, and 
 told them what they should say. In a word, they have told 
 the world what my mind is to do, both to sinners and to 
 saints. "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear 
 them." Therefore, he that shall reject and turn his back 
 either upon the threatcnings, counsels, admonitions, invita- 
 tions, promises, or whatsoever else I have commanded them 
 to speak, as to salvation and life, and to directions therein. 
 
MIRACLES INEFFICIENT FOR CONVERSION. 271 
 
 shall be sure to have a share in the many curses that they 
 have spoken^ in the doctrine that is pronounced by them/ 
 
 Again, ^^If they hear not Moses and the prophets/' &c. 
 As if he had said, ^Thou wouldst have me send one from 
 the dead unto them. What needs that? They have my 
 mind already, I have declared unto them what I intend to 
 stand to, both for saving them that believe, and damning 
 them that do not. That, therefore, which I have said, I 
 will make good, whether they hear or forbear. And as for 
 this desire of yours, you had as good desire me to make a 
 new Bible ; and so to revoke my first sayings by the mouth 
 of the prophets. But I am God and not man. And my 
 word is immutable, unchangeable, and shall stand as fast as 
 my decrees can make it. Heaven and earth shall pass 
 away, but one jot or tittle of my word shall not pass. If 
 thou hadst ten thousand brethren, and every one in danger 
 of losing his soul, if they did not close in with what is con- 
 tained and recorded in the scriptures of truth, they must 
 even every one of them perish, and be for ever damned in 
 hell. For the scriptures cannot be broken. I did not send 
 them so unadvisedly as to recall them again by another con- 
 sideration. No; for I speak in righteousness and judg- 
 ment, in wisdom and counsel. Isa. Ixiii. 1-3. It being 
 therefore gone out of my mouth in this manner, it shall not 
 return until it hath accomplished the thing whereto I have 
 sent it. Isa. Iv. 11. 
 
 ^But again, thou supposest that miracles and wonders, 
 will work on them; which makes thee say, "Send one from 
 the dead.'' But herein thou art mistaken; for I have 
 proven them with that once and again, by more than one, or 
 two, or three of my servants. How many miracles did my 
 servant Moses work by commandment from me, in the land 
 of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness ? Yet they 
 of that generation were never the sooner converted for that ; 
 but notwithstanding rebelled and lusted, and in their hearts 
 
212 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 turned back into Egypt. Acts vii. How many miracles did 
 Samuel, David, Elias, Elisha, Daniel, and the prophets work; 
 together with my Son, who raised the dead, cast out devils, 
 made them to see that were born blind, gave and restored 
 limbs? Yet for all this (as I said before) they hated him 
 and crucified him. I raised him again from the dead, and 
 he appeared to his disciples, who were called, and chosen, 
 and faithful, and gave them commandment and commission 
 to go and testify the truth of this to the world; and to con- 
 firm the same, he enabled them to speak with divers tongues, 
 and to work miracles most plentifully ; yet there was great 
 persecution raised against them, insomuch that but a few of 
 them died in their beds. Therefore, though thou thinkest 
 that a miracle will do so much with the world, yet I say, 
 No: for ''if they will not believe Moses and the prophets, 
 neither will they be persuaded though one should rise from 
 the dead." ' 
 
 From these words, therefore, take notice of this truth ; 
 namely. That those icJio reject and believe not Moses and the 
 prophets, are a very hard-hearted people, that icill not he 
 persuaded though one rise from the dead. 
 
 They that regard not the holy scriptures, to turn to God, 
 finding them to testify of his goodness and mercy, there is 
 but little hope of their salvation: "For they will not," 
 mark, " they will not be persuaded though one should rise 
 from the dead." This truth is confirmed by Jesus himself. 
 If you read John v., where the Lord is speaking of himself, 
 that he is the very Christ, he brings in four or five witnesses 
 to back what he said; 1. John the Baptist. 2. The works 
 that his Father gave him to do. 3. His Father speaking 
 from heaven. 4. The testimony of the scriptures. When 
 all this was done, seeing yet they would not believe, he lays 
 the fault upon one of these two things. 1. Their regarding 
 an esteem among men. 2. Their not believing the pro- 
 phets' writings, even Moses and the rest. " For had ye be- 
 
DANGER OF DESPISING THE SCRIPTURES. 273 
 
 lieved Moses/' saith he, ^'ye would have believed me; for 
 he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how can 
 ye believe my words ?" 
 
 Now, I say, he that shall slight the scriptures, and the 
 testimony of the prophets in them concerning Jesus Christ, 
 must needs be in great danger of losing his soul, if he abide 
 in this condition ; because he that slights the testimony, 
 doth also slight the thing testified of, let him say the contrary 
 ever so often. For as Jesus Christ hath here laid down the 
 reason of men's not receiving him, so the apostle John, in 
 another place, lays down the reason again, with a high and 
 mighty aggravation, (1 John v. 10,) saying, ^^He that be- 
 lieveth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself: he 
 that believeth not Grod, hath made him a liar; because he 
 believeth not the record (mark, ^Hhe record) that God gave 
 of his Son." The record? you will say, what is that? 
 Why even the testimony that God gave of him, ^^by the 
 mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began." Acts 
 iii. 21. That is, God sending his Holy Spirit into the hearts 
 of his servants, the prophets and apostles, he, by his Spirit 
 in them, did bear witness, or record, to the truth of salvation 
 by his Son Jesus, both before and after his coming. And 
 thus is that place also to be understood, which saith, " There 
 are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the 
 water, and the blood ;'^ that is, the Spirit in the apostles, 
 which preached him to the world; as is clear, if you read 
 seriously 1 Thess. iv. 8. The apostle speaking of Jesus 
 Christ, and obedience through him, saith thus. Now, he that 
 despiseth, despiseth not us, but God. ^But it is you that 
 speak/ ' True ; but it is by and through the Spirit : " He 
 therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who 
 hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit." This is, there- 
 fore, a mighty confirmation of this truth, that he that slights 
 the record or testimony that God by his Spirit, in his pro- 
 phets and apostles, hath testified unto us, slights the testv- 
 
274 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 mony of the Spirit, who moved them to speak these things; 
 and if so, then I would fain know, how any man can be 
 saved by Jesus Christ, that slights the testimony concerning 
 Christ; yea, the testimony of his own Spirit, concerning his 
 own self? It is true, men may pretend to have the testi- 
 mony of the Spirit, and from that conceit, set a low esteem 
 on the holy scriptures; but that spirit that dwelleth in them, 
 and teacheth them so to do, is no better than the spirit of 
 Satan, though it calls itself by the name of the Spirit of 
 Christ. "To the law therefore, and to the testimony;" try 
 them by that; "if they speak not according to this word, it 
 is because there is no light in them/' 
 
 The apostle Peter, when he speaks of the glorious voice 
 that he had from the excellent Majesty, saying of Christ, 
 " This is my beloved Son, hear him,'^ saith thus to them 
 unto whom he wrote : " We have also a more sure word of 
 prophecy'' (or, " of the prophets," for so you may read it), 
 "whereunto ye do well that ye take heed." That is, 
 though we tell you that we had this excellent testimony 
 from his own mouth, evidently; yet you have the prophets. 
 We tell you this, and ye need not doubt of the truth of it ; 
 but if you should, yet you may not, must not, ought not to 
 question them. Search therefore into them, until the day 
 dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts ; that is, until, 
 by the same Spirit that gave forth the scriptures you find 
 the truth confirmed to your souls, which you have found 
 recorded in the scriptures. That this word of prophecy, 
 or of the prophets, is the scriptures, read on : For (saith 
 he) " Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture 
 is of any private interpretation," &c. 2 Peter i. 18, 19, 20. 
 
 But you will say. What needs all this ado ; and why is 
 all this time and pains spent in speaking of this, that is 
 surely believed already ? This is a thing received by all, 
 that they believe the scriptures to be the word of God, that 
 Bure word of prophecy; and therefore you need not spend 
 
FEW REALLY BELIEVE THE SCRIPTURES. 275 
 
 your time in proving tliese things, and the truth of them, 
 seeing we grant and confess the truth of it before you 
 begin to sjoeak your judgment of them. 
 
 I answer, 1. The truths of God cannot be borne witness 
 unto too often. You may as well say, 'You need not preach 
 Jesus Christ so much, seeing he hath been, and is, received 
 for the true Messiah already.' 
 
 2. Though many may suppose that they do believe the 
 scriptures, yet if they were but well examined, you will find 
 them either by word of mouth, or else by their conduct, to 
 deny, reject, and slight the holy scriptures. It is true, there 
 is a notional, and historical assent in the head, I say, in 
 the heads of many, or most, to the truth contained in scrip- 
 ture. But try them, I say, and you shall find but a little, 
 if any, of the faith of the operation of Grod in the hearts of 
 poor men to believe the scriptures, and things contained in 
 them. Many, yea, most men, believe the scriptures, as 
 they believe a fable, a story, a tale, of which there is no 
 certainty. But alas ! there are but few do indeed and in 
 truth believe the scriptures to be the very word of God. 
 
 Object. But you will say. This seems strange to me. 
 
 Answ. And it seems as true to me : and I doubt not but 
 to make it manifest, that there are but few, yea, very few, 
 that do efi'ectually (for that I aim at) believe the scriptures, 
 and the truths contained in, and spoken of by them. But 
 to make this appear, and that to purpose (if God will), I 
 shall lay you down the several operations that the scriptures 
 have on them who do efi'ectually believe the things contained 
 in them. 
 
 1. He that doth efi'ectually believe the scriptures, hath, 
 in the first place, heen hilled; I say, killed by the authority 
 of the holy scriptures; struck stark dead in a spiritual sense, 
 by the holy scriptures being set home by that Spirit which 
 gave them forth upon the soul. ''The letter killeth;'' the 
 letter strikes men dead. 2 Cor. iii. 6. And this Paul wit- 
 
27G SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 nessed and found (before he could say, I believe all that the 
 prophets have spoken), where he saith, "I was alive without 
 the law once ;" that is, in my natural state, before the law 
 was set on my heart with power. " But when the com- 
 mandment came, sin revived, and I died/' Rom. vii. 9. '^ And 
 that law that was ordained to life, I found to be unto death ; 
 for sin taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, 
 and by it slew me.'' Verses 10, 11. Now that which is 
 called the '' letter," in 2 Cor. iii. is called " the law" in 
 Rom. vii. ; which by its power and operation, as it is wielded 
 by the Spirit of Grod, doth in the first place kill and slay all 
 those that are enabled to believe the scriptures. ^'I kill," 
 saith Grod ; that is. With my law I pierce, I wound, I prick 
 men into the very heart, by showing them their sins against 
 the law. Deut. xxxii. 39; Acts ii. 3G, 37. And he that is 
 ignorant of this, is also ignorant of, and doth not really and 
 eflfectually believe the scriptures. 
 
 Inq. But you will say, How doth the law kill and strike 
 dead the poor creatures ? 
 
 Answ. The letter or law doth kill thus : It is set home 
 upon the soul, and discovers to the soul its transgressions 
 against the law; and shows the soul also, that it cannot 
 completely satisfy the justice of Grod for the breach of his 
 law; therefore it is condemned. John iii. 18. Mark, ^^He 
 that believeth not is condemned already;" namely, by the 
 law ; that is, the law doth condemn him ; yea, it hath con- 
 demned him already for his sins against it ; as it is written, 
 " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which 
 are written in the book of the law to do them." Gal. iii. 10. 
 Now all men, as they come into the world, are in this con- 
 dition, that is, condemned by the law; yet not belie^nng 
 their condemnation by the law really, they do not also 
 believe really and effectually the law that doth condemn 
 them. For as men have but a notion of the one, that is, 
 their condemnation, because of sins against the law; so they 
 
POWER OF THE LAW WHEN BELIEVED. 277 
 
 have but a notion of the condemning, killing, and destroy- 
 ing power of the law : For, as the one is, so in these things 
 always is the other. There is no man that doth really 
 believe the law or gospel, further than they do feel the 
 power and authority of them in their hearts. " Ye err, not 
 knowing the scriptures, nor the power of Grod.^' Now, this 
 letter, or law, is not to be taken in the largest sense, but is 
 strictly to be tied to the ten commandments, whose proper 
 work is only by showing the soul its sin against the law, to 
 kill ; and there leaves him stark dead ; not giving him the 
 least life, or support, or comfort. It leaves the soul in a 
 helpless and hopeless condition, as from itself, or any other 
 mere creature. 
 
 It is true, the law hath laid all men for dead as they 
 come into the world; but all men do not see themselves 
 dead, until they see the law that struck them dead striking 
 in their souls, and having struck them that fatal blow. As 
 a man that is fast asleep in a house, and that on fire about 
 his ears, and he not knowing it, because he is asleep; even 
 so, because poor souls are asleep in sin, though the wrath 
 of God, the curse of his law, and the flames of hell have 
 beset them round about, yet they do not believe it, because 
 they are asleep in sin. Now, as he that is awakened and 
 sees this, sees that through this he is a dead man; even so 
 they that do see their state by nature being such a sad con- 
 dition, do also see themselves by that law to be dead men 
 naturally. 
 
 But now, when didst thou feel the power of this first 
 part of the scripture, the law, so mighty as to strike thee 
 dead ? If not, thou dost not so much as verily believe that 
 part of scripture, that doth contain the law in it, to be the 
 truth of G-od. 
 
 2. Yet if thou shouldst have felt something; I say, some- 
 thing of the killing power of the law of God in thine heart, 
 this is not an argument to prove, that thou believest all the 
 
 24 
 
278 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 things contained in the scripture, for there is gospel as well 
 as law ; and therefore I shall speak of that also ; that is, 
 whether thou hast felt the power of the gospel, as well as 
 something of the power of the law. 
 
 If then thou hast found the power of the gospel and so 
 believed it ; thou hast found it thus with thy soul : 
 
 (1.) Thou hast been showed by the word of truth, of the 
 gospel, in the light of the Spirit of Christ, that hi/ nature 
 thou wert loithout the true faith of the Spirit of Christ; 
 that by nature thou wert without the true faith of the Son 
 of God in thy soul. ^ For when the Spirit is come,' says 
 Christ, ^he shall show men that they believe not in me.' 
 John xvi. 9. Mark, though thou hast, as I said before, felt 
 somewhat of the power of the law, letter, or ten command- 
 ments, yet, as thou hast not been brought to this, to see by 
 the Spirit in the gospel, that thou art without faith by 
 nature, thou hast not yet tasted, much less believed any part 
 of the gospel. For the gospel and the law are two distinct 
 covenants : and they that are under the law may be con- 
 vinced by it, and so believe the law or first covenant, and 
 yet in the mean time be a stranger to the covenant of 
 promise, that is, the gospel, and so have no hope in them. 
 Eph. ii. 12. There is not any promise that can be savingly 
 believed, until the soul be by the gospel converted to Jesus 
 Christ, For though men do think ever so much that they 
 believe the things, or the word, of the gospel of our salva- 
 tion, yet unless they have the work of grace in their souls, 
 they do not, cannot, rightly believe the things contained in 
 the scriptures. 
 
 (2.) Again, as the law killeth those that believe it, even so 
 the promises contained in the gospel, do through faith ad- 
 minister comfort to those that believe it aright. "My words,'' 
 saith Christ, " my words, they are spirit and they are life." 
 John vi. 63. As if he had said, ^The words contained iu 
 the law as a covenant of works, they wound, they kill, they 
 
POWER OP THE GOSPEL WHEN BELIEVED. 279 
 
 Btrike dead those that are under them. But as for me, 
 "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they 
 are life.'' That is, whosoever doth receive them believingly, 
 shall find them full of operation, to comfort, quicken, and 
 revive the soul. For as I did not come into the world to 
 destroy men's lives, so the words that I speak (as I am sent 
 to preach the gospel), they have no such tendency unto 
 those that believe them. The promises that are in the 
 gospel, ! how do they comfort them ! Such a promise, 
 and such a promise, how sweet is it ! How comfortable 
 to those that believe them !' Alas there are many poor souls 
 that think they believe the scriptures to be the word of God, 
 and yet they never enjoyed any thing of the life of the 
 promises. They come in upon the heart to quicken, to revive 
 thee, to raise thee from the sentence of death that is passed 
 on thee by the law. And through the faith that is wrought 
 in thy soul, by the operation of God's Holy Spirit (though 
 once killed by the law or letter), thou art made alive in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who is presented to thy soul in the 
 promises. 
 
 3. Dost thou in deed and in truth believe the scriptures 
 to be the word of God? Then the things contained in 
 them, especially the things of the gospel, are very excellent to 
 thy soul; as the birth of Christ, his death, resurrection, in- 
 tercession, and second coming. how precious and excel- 
 lent are they to thy soul ! Insomuch, that thou regardest 
 nothing in comparison of them! 0, it is Christ's birth,, 
 blood, death, resurrection, &c., according to the scriptures, 
 that thou dost rejoice in exceedingly, and abundantly desire ! 
 " Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now 
 ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice, with joy unspeak- 
 able, and full of glory." 1 Cor. xv. 1-6, compared with 
 Phil. iii. 6, 7, 8 J 1 Peter i. 8. 
 
 4. Dost thou, believe the scriptures to be the word of 
 God ? Then thou standest in aioe of, and dost much reve- 
 
280 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 rence them. Why, they are the word of God, the true say- 
 ings of God ; they are the counsel of God ; they are his 
 promises and his threateniiigs. Poor souls are apt to think, 
 'if I could hear God speak to me from heaven with an audi- 
 ble voice, then sure I should be serious and believe it/ But 
 truly, if God should speak to thee from heaven, except thou 
 wert converted, thou wouldst not regard, nor really believe 
 him. But if thou dost believe the scriptures, thou seest that 
 they are the truth, as really as if God should speak to thee 
 from heaven through the clouds; and therefore never flatter 
 thyself, foolishly thinking, that if it were so and so, then 
 thou couldst believe. I tell thee, saith Christ, "If they 
 believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe 
 though one should rise from the dead.'' But, 
 
 5. Dost thou believe the scriptures to be the word of 
 God? Then through faith in Christ, thou endeavorest to 
 five thy life squared according to the scriptures, both in 
 word and practice. Nay, I say, thou mayst have, though 
 thou do not believe them all. My meaning is, that if thou 
 believe none but the ten commandments, thy life may be 
 according to them, a legal holy life; and if thou do believe 
 the gospel too, then thy life will be by the faith of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; that is, either thou wilt live in the blessed 
 and holy enjoyment of what is testified in the scripture con- 
 cerning the glorious things of the Lord Jesus Christ, or else 
 thou wilt be exceedingly panting after them. For the 
 scriptures carry such a blessed beauty in them to that soul 
 that hath faith in the things contained in them, that they do 
 take the heart and captivate the soul of him that believeth 
 them, into the love and liking of them. "Believing all 
 things that are written in the law and the prophets : and 
 have hope toward God, that there shall be a resurrection of 
 the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I 
 exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of ofl"ence, 
 both toward God and toward man." Acts xxiv. 14, 15, 16. 
 
POWER OF THE SCRIPTURES. 281 
 
 6. * He that believes the scriptures to be the word of God, 
 if he do but suppose that any one place of scripture doth ex- 
 clude him, and shut him out of and from a share in the pro- 
 mises contained in them, it will trouble him, grie-ve him, 
 perplex him ; yea, he will not be satisfied until he be re- 
 solved, and the contrary sealed to his soul. For he knows 
 that the scriptures are the word of God, all truth; and 
 therefore he knows, that if any one sentence doth exclude 
 or bar him out for want of this or the other qualification, he 
 knows also, that not the word alone shuts him out, but he 
 that speaks it, even God himself. And therefore he cannot, 
 will not, dare not, be contented until he finds his soul and 
 scripture together (with the things contained therein), to 
 embrace each other, and a sweet correspondency and agree- 
 ment between them. For you must know, that to him that 
 believes the scriptures aright, the promises, or threateninySy 
 are of more power to comfort or cast down, than all the 
 promises or threatenings of all the men in the world. And 
 this was the cause why the martyrs of Jesus did so slight 
 both the promises of their adversaries, when they would 
 have overcome them with profiering the great things of this 
 world unto them; and also their threatenings, when they 
 told them they would rack them, hang them, burn them. 
 Acts XX. 24. None of these things could prevail upon 
 them, or against them; because they did most really be- 
 lieve the scriptures, and the things contained in them, as is 
 clearly found, and to be seen in Heb. xi. and also in Mr. 
 Fox's records of their brethren, in the Book of Martyrs. 
 
 7. He that belie veth the scriptures to be the word of 
 God, believeth that men must be born again, and also be 
 partakers of that faith which is of the operation of God 
 (according as he hath read and believed), or else he must 
 and shall be damned. And he that believeth this aright, 
 will not he contented until (according as it is writteii) he do 
 partake of, and enjoy the new hirth, and luitil he do find 
 
 24* 
 
282 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 through grace, that faith that is wrought hy the operation of 
 God in his soul. For this is the cause why men do satisfy 
 themselves with so slender a conceited hope that their state 
 is good (when it is nothing so), namely, because they do 
 not credit the scripture; for did they, they would look into 
 their own hearts, and examine seriously whether that faith, 
 that hope, that grace, which they think they have, be of 
 that nature, and wrought by that Spirit and power which 
 the scripture speaketh of. I speak this of an effectual be- 
 lieving, without which all other is nothing unto salvation. 
 
 Now then, because I would not be tedious, I shall at this 
 time lay down no more discoveries of such an one as doth 
 savingly believe the scriptures, and the things contained in 
 them, but shall speak a few words of examination concern- 
 ing the things already mentioned. As, 
 
 Thou sayest thou dost in deed and in truth effectually be- 
 lieve the scriptures: I ask therefore, ivast thou ever killed 
 stark dead by the law of works contained in the scriptures? 
 Killed by the law or letter, and made to see thy sins against 
 it, and left in a helpless condition by the law? For, as I 
 said, the proper work of the law is to slay the soul and to 
 leave it dead in a helpless state. For it doth neither give 
 the soul any comfort itself when it comes, nor doth it show 
 the soul where comfort is to be had; and therefore is called 
 the '' ministration of condemnation," as in 2 Cor. iii. 9 ; 
 "the ministration of death." 2 Cor. iii. 7. For though men 
 have many a notion of the blessed word of God, as the children 
 of Israel had, yet before they be converted, it may truly be 
 said of them, " Ye do err not knowing the scriptures, nor 
 the power of God." 
 
 You say you do believe the scriptures to be the word of 
 God. I say again, examine, tvert thou ever quickened from 
 a dead state by the power of the Spirit of Christ through the 
 other part of the scriptures; that is to say, by the power of 
 God in his Son Jesus Christ, through the covenant of pro- 
 
HELrS TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 283 
 
 iiiise ? I tell thee from the Lord, if thou hast, thou hast felt 
 such a quickening power in the words of Christ (John vi. 
 63), that thou hast been lifted out of that dead condition that 
 thou before wert in; and that when thou wast under the 
 guilt of sin, the curse of the law, and the power of the devil, 
 and the justice of the great God, thou hast been enabled by 
 the power of God in Christ revealed to thee by the Spirit, 
 through and by the scripture, to look sin, death, hell, the 
 devil, and the law, and all things that are at enmity with 
 thee, with boldness and comfort in the face, through the 
 blood, death, righteousness, resurrection, and intercession of 
 Christ, made mention of in the scriptures. 
 
 And, on this account, how excellent are the scriptures 
 to thy soul ! how much virtue dost thou see in such a 
 promise, in such an invitation ! They are so large thou 
 canst say, ' Christ will in no wise cast me out ! My crimson 
 sins shall be as white as snow !' I tell thee, friend, there 
 are some promises that the Lord hath helped me to lay hold 
 of, through, and by Jesus Christ, that I would not have 
 them out of the Bible for as much gold and silver as can lie 
 between York and London, 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; my 
 sins, with the guilt of them, tearing me; then is Christ re- 
 vealed so sweetly to my poor soul through the promises, 
 that all is forced to fly and leave ofi" to accuse my soul. So 
 also, when the world frowns, when the enemies rage and 
 threaten to kill me, then also the precious, the exceeding 
 great and precious promises do weigh down all, and comfort 
 the soul against all. This is the efiiect of believing the 
 scriptures savingly; for they that do so, have through the 
 scriptures good comfort, and also ground of hope (Rom. xv. 
 4), — believing those things to be its own which the scrip- 
 tures hold forth. 
 
284 SIGUS FROM HELL. 
 
 Examine, Dost tliou stand in awe of sinning against 
 God, because he hath in the scriptures commanded thee to 
 abstain from it ? Dost thou give diligence to make thy call- 
 ing and election sure, because God commandeth it in the 
 scriptures? Dost thou examine thyself whether thou be in 
 the faith or no, having a command in scripture so to do? 
 Or dost thou (notwithstanding what thou readest in the 
 scriptures) follow the world, delight in sin, neglect coming 
 to Jesus Christ, speak evil of the saints, slight and make a 
 mock at the ordinances of God, delight in wicked company, 
 and the like ? Then know, that it is because thou dost not 
 in deed and in truth believe the scriptures effectually. For 
 as I said before, if a man do believe them, and that savingly, 
 then he stands in awe; he looks to his steps; he turns his 
 feet from evil; and endeavors to follow that which is good, 
 which God hath commanded in the scriptures of truth. Yet 
 not from a legal or natural princij^le; that is, to seek for 
 life by doing that good thing; but knowing that salvation is 
 already obtained for him by the blood of that man Christ 
 Jesus on the cross, because he believes the scriptures; 
 therefore, (mark, I pray,) therefore I say, he labors to walk 
 with his God in all well-pleasing and godliness, because the 
 sweet power of the love of Christ, which he feels in his soul 
 by the Spirit according to the scriptures, constrains him so 
 to do. 2 Cor. V. 14. 
 
 Examine again. Dost thou labor after those qualifica- 
 tions hy which the scriptures do describe a child of God? 
 that is, faith, yea, the right faith, the most holy faith, the 
 faith of the operation of God ? And also, dost thou ex- 
 amine whether there is a real growth of grace in thy soul, 
 as in love, zeal, self-denial; and a seeking by all means to 
 attain (if possible) to the resurrection of the dead? that is, 
 not to satisfy thyself until thou be dissolved and rid of this 
 body of death, and be transformed into that glory that the 
 saints shall be in after the resurrection day ? And in the mean 
 
HELPS TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 285 
 
 time dost thou labor and take all opportunities to walk as 
 near as may be to the pitch, though thou know thou canst 
 not attain it perfectly? Yet I say, thou dost aim at it, seek 
 after it, press toward it, and hold on in thy race; thou shun-' 
 nest that which may any way hinder thee, and also closest 
 in with what may any way further the same; knowing that 
 that must be, or desiring that it should be, thine eternal 
 frame ; and therefore out of love and liking to it thou dost 
 desire and long after it, as being the thing that doth most 
 please thy soul. 
 
 Or how is it with thy soul? Art thou such an one as 
 regards not these things; but rather busy thy thoughts 
 about the things here below; following those things that 
 have no scent of divine glory upon them ? If so, look to 
 thyself, thou art an unbeliever, and so under the wrath of 
 God, and wilt for certain fall into the same place of torment 
 that thy fellows have fallen into before thee, to the grief of 
 thy own soul, and thy everlasting destruction. 
 
 Consider and regard these things, and lay them to thy 
 heart before it be too late to recover thyself, by repenting 
 of the one, and desiring to close in with the other. Oh ! 
 I say, regard, regard; for hell is hot ! God's hand is up ! The 
 law is resolved to discharge against thy soul ! The judg- 
 ment-day is at hand ! the graves are ready to fly open ! the 
 trumpet is near the sounding ! the sentence will, ere long 
 be past, and then you and I cannot call time again ! 
 
 3. But again. Seeing the scriptures are so certain, so sure^ 
 so irrevocable and firm, and seeing the saving faith of the 
 things contained therein is to reform the soul, and bring it 
 over to the things of God ; really conforming to the things 
 contained therein, both to the point of justification, and also 
 an impartial walking, and giving up thy soul and body to a 
 conformity to all the commands, counsels, instructions, and 
 exhortations contained therein; this then, will teach us how 
 to judge of those who give up themselves to walk in the 
 
286 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 imaginations of their own hearts, who slight and lay aside 
 the scriptures, counting them but empty and uncertain 
 things, and will live every day in open contradiction to what 
 is contained, commanded, and forbidden therein. 
 
 As, First, This will show us that all your drunkards, 
 whorem asters, liars, thieves, swearers, backbiters, slander- 
 ers, scojffers at goodness, &c., are unbelievers; I say, we may 
 see by this, that they that live so, have not the faith of the 
 scriptures in their hearts; seeing they delight to practise 
 those things that are forbidden by and in them. And so 
 they continuing, living and dying in this state, we may 
 conclude, without fear, that these portions of holy scripture 
 belong unto them, and shall for certain be fulfilled upon 
 them; ^'He that believeth not shall be damned.^' Mark xvi. 
 16. ^^The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of 
 God.'' 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. ^' But thff-unbelieving, the abomi- 
 nable, and the whoremongers, and all liars, shall have their 
 part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." Rev. 
 xxi. 8. "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared 
 for the devil and his angels.'' Matt. xxv. 41. ^Depart, 
 depart from me, for I will not save you ! Depart, for my 
 blood shall not at all wash you ! Depart, for you shall not 
 set one foot into the kingdom of heaven ! Depart, ye 
 cursed ! Ye arc cursed of God, cursed of his law, cursed of 
 me, cursed by the saints, and cursed by the angels, cursed 
 all over, nothing but cursed; and therefore depart from me !' 
 ^ And whither V '■ Into everlasting fire ; fire that will scald, 
 scorch, burn, and flame to purpose; "fire that shall never 
 be quenched (Mark ix.); fire that will last to all eternity.' 
 'And must we be all alone?' ^No; you shall have com- 
 pany, store of company with you; namely, all the raging, 
 roaring devils, together with an innumerable company of 
 fellow-damned sinners, men, women, and children.' — And if 
 the scriptures be true (as they will one day wonderfully 
 appear to be), then this must, and shall, be tliy portion, if 
 
DOOM OP UNBELIEVERS. 287 
 
 thou live and die in this state, and of all of them who continue 
 in sinning against the truth contained in the scriptures. 
 
 Dost thou delight to sin against plain commands ? Thou 
 art gone ! 
 
 Dost thou slight and scorn the counsels contained in the 
 scriptures, and continue in so doing ? Then thou art gone ! 
 
 Dost thou continually neglect to come to Christ, and use 
 arguments in thine own heart to satisfy thy soul with so 
 doing? Then thou art gone! Luke xiv. 17, 18, compared 
 with verse 24, and Heb. ii. 3. ^^ How shall we escape if we 
 neglect so great salvation?'^ ^^ How shall we escape ?'' that 
 is. There is no way to escape; 1. Because God hath said we 
 shall not. Heb. xii. 25. ^^See that ye refuse not him that 
 speakethj for if they escaped not who refused him that 
 spake on earth (that was Moses), much more shall not we 
 escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from hea- 
 ven." 2. Because he hath not only said, they shall not, 
 but also hath bound it with an oath, saying, ^^ So I sware 
 in my wrath. They shall not enter into my rest." Heb. iii. 
 11. To whom did he swear that they should not enter into 
 his rest? Answer, ^' To them that believed not." "So we 
 see they could not enter in, because of unbelief." Yer. 18, 19. 
 
 Secondly, This will teach us what to think and conclude 
 of such, as though they do not so openly discover their folly 
 by open and gross sins against the law, yet will give more 
 heed to their own spirits and movings thereof (though they 
 be neither commanded, nor commended for the same in 
 scripture; nay, though the scripture command and commend 
 the contrary, Isa. viii. 20) than they will to the holy and 
 revealed will of God. I say, such men are in as bad a state 
 as the other to the full, being disobedient to God's will 
 revealed in his word as well as they, though in a different 
 manner; the one openly transgressing against the plain and 
 well known truths revealed in it; the other, though more 
 close and hidden, yet secretly rejecting and slighting them, 
 
288 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 giving more heed to their own spirits, and the motions 
 thereof, although not warranted by the scriptures. 
 A few words more, and so I shall conclude. And, 
 
 1. Take heed that you content not yourselves with a bare 
 notion of the scriptures in your heads ; by which you may 
 go far, even so far as to be able to dispute for the truth, to 
 preach the gospel, and labor to vindicate it in opposition to 
 gainsayers, and yet be found at the left hand of Christ at 
 the judgment-day, forasmuch as thou didst content thyself 
 with a notion or traditional knowledge of them. 
 
 2. Have a care that thou own the wliole scripture ; and 
 not own one part and neglect another, or slight it. As 
 thus, to own the law, and slight the gospel, or to think that 
 thou must be saved by thy good doings and works; for 
 that is all one as if thou didst thrust Christ away from 
 thee; or else so to own the gospel, as if by it thou wert 
 exempted from all obedience to the ten commandments, 
 and conformity to the law in life and conversation ; for 
 in so doing, thou wilt for certain make sure of eternal 
 vengeance. 
 
 3. Have a care that thou put not wrong names on the 
 things contained in the scriptures, so as to call the law 
 Christ, and Christ the law. For some having done so 
 (within my knowledge), have so darkened to themselves the 
 glorious truths of the gospel, that in a very little time they 
 have been resolved to thwart and oppose them ; and so have 
 made room in their souls for the devil to inhabit, and ob- 
 tained a place in hell, for their own souls to be tormented 
 for ever and ever. 
 
 Against this danger therefore, in reading and receiving 
 the testimony of scripture, learn to distinguish between the 
 law and the gospel, and to keep them clear asunder, as to 
 the salvation of thy soul. And that thou mayst so do, in 
 the first place, beg of God that he would show thee the 
 nature of the gospel; and set it home effectually with life 
 
CONCLUDING CAUTIONS. 289 
 
 and power upon thy soul by faith ; which is this. That God 
 would show thee, that as thou, being man, hast sinned 
 against God ; so Christ being God-man, hath bought thee 
 again, and with his most precious blood set thee free from 
 the bondage thou hast fallen into by thy sins ; and that not 
 upon condition that thou wilt do thus and thus, and this and 
 the other good work ; but rather, that thou being justified 
 freely by mere grace through the blood of Jesus, shouldst 
 also receive thy strength from him who hath bought thee, 
 to walk before him in all well-pleasing ; being enabled 
 thereto by virtue of his Spirit, which hath revealed to thy 
 soul that thou art delivered already from wrath to come, by 
 the obedience, not of thee, but of another man, viz. Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Then, if the law thou readest of, tell thee in thy con- 
 science, thou must do this and the other good work of the 
 law, if ever thou wilt be saved ; answer plainly. That for 
 thy part thou art resolved now not to work for life, but to 
 believe in the*" virtue of that blood shed upon the cross, upon 
 Mount Calvary, for the remission of sins. And yet be- 
 cause Christ hath justified thee freely by his grace, thou wilt 
 serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of thy 
 life J not in a legal spirit, or in a covenant of works ; but 
 ^ mine obedience (say thou) I will endeavor to have free, 
 and cheerful, out of love to my Lord Jesus.' 
 
 Have a care thou receive not this doctrine in the notion 
 only ; lest thou bring a just damnation upon thy soul by 
 professing thyself to be freed by Christ's blood from the 
 guilt of sin, while thou remainest still a servant to the filth 
 of sin. For I must tell you, that unless you have the true 
 and saving work of the faith and grace of the gospel in your 
 hearts, you will either go on in a legal holiness, according to 
 the tenor of the law ; or else, through a notion of the gospel 
 (the devil bewitching and beguiling thy understanding, will, 
 and affections); thou wilt; ranter-likC; turn the grace of God 
 
 25 
 
290 SIGHS FROM HELL. 
 
 into wantonness, and bring upon tKy soul double, if not 
 triple damnation. Because thou couldst not be contented to 
 be damned for thy sins against the law, but also to make 
 ruin sure to thy soul, thou wouldst dishonor the gospel, and 
 turn the grace of God held forth and discoyered to men by 
 that, into licentiousness. 
 
 But that thou mayst be sure to escape these dangerous 
 rocks on the right hand and on the left, see that thy faith 
 be such as is spoken of in the scriptures ; and that thou be 
 not satisfied without that ; which is a faith wrought by the 
 mighty operation of God, revealing Christ to, and in thee, ' 
 as having wholly freed thee from thy sins by his most 
 precious blood. Which faith, if thou attain unto it, will so 
 work in thy heart, that first thou wilt see the nature of the 
 law, and also the nature of the gospel, and delight in the 
 glory of it ; and also thou wilt find an engaging of thy heart 
 and soul to Jesus Christ, even to the giving up of thy whole 
 being unto him, to be ruled and governed by him to his 
 glory, and thy comfort, by the faith of the Lord Jesus. 
 
THE 
 
 RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, 
 
 AND 
 
 ETERNAL JUDGMENT; 
 
 BOTH OF GOOD AND BAD, AT THE LAST DAY, 
 ASSERTED AND PROVED BY GOD'S WORD : 
 
 THE MANNER AND ORDER OF THEIR COMING FORTH OF THEIR 
 GRAVES ; AS ALSO, WITH WHAT BODIES THEY DO ARISE : 
 
 WITH A DISCOURSE OF THE LAST JUDGMENT, AND THE FINAL 
 CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE WORLD. 
 
 (291) 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 Courteous Reader, 
 
 Though this be a small treatise, yet it doth present thee 
 with things of the greatest and most weighty concernment, 
 even with a discourse of life and death to eternity ; opening 
 and clearing, by the scriptures of God, that the time is at 
 hand, when there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both 
 of the just and unjust; even of the bodies of both, from the 
 graves where they are, or shall be, at the approach of that 
 day. 
 
 Thou hast also in these few lines, the order and manner 
 of the rising of these two sorts of people; wherein is showed 
 thee with what body they shall then rise; as also, their 
 states and condition at that day, with great clearness. 
 
 For here thou shalt see the truth and manner of the terri- 
 ble judgment, the opening of the books, the examining of 
 witnesses, with a final conclusion upon good and bad. Which, 
 I hope, will be profitable to thy soul that shall read it. For 
 if thou art godly, then here is that which will, through God's 
 blessing, encourage thee to go on in the faith of the truth 
 of the gospel; but if thou art ungodly, then, here thou 
 mayst meet with conviction ; yea, and that of what will be, 
 without fail, thy end at the end of the world, whether thou 
 continue in thy sins, or repent. If thou continue in them, 
 blackness and darkness, and everlasting destruction ; but if 
 thou repent and believe the gospel, then light, and life, and 
 joy, and comfort, and glory, and happiness, and that to 
 eternity. 
 
 25* (293) 
 
294 TO THE READER. 
 
 Wherefore, let me here beg these things at thy hand : 
 
 First, That thou take heed of that spirit of mockery, that 
 saith, '^ Where is the promise of his coming V 
 
 Secondly, Take heed that thy heart be not overcharged 
 with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, 
 and so that day come upon thee unawares. But 
 
 Thirdly, Be diligent in making thy calling and elec- 
 tion sure; that thou, in the day of which thou shalt read 
 more in this book, be not found without that glorious 
 righteousness that will then stand thee in stead, and present 
 thee before his glorious presence, with exceeding joy. To 
 him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, world without 
 end. Amen. 
 
 JOHN BUNYAN. 
 
THE 
 
 RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, 
 
 ETERNAL JUDGMENT 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EXPOSITION OF THE TEXT. 
 
 But this I contess unto thee, that after the way which thet call heresy, so ■wor- 
 ship I the God of my fathers, relieving all things which are written in the 
 
 LAW AND IN THE PROPHETS : AND HAVE HOPE TOWARD GOD, WHICH THEY THEMSELVES 
 ALSO ALLOW, THAT THERE SHALL BE A RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, BOTH OF THE JUSX 
 
 AND UNJUST. — Acts xxiv. 14, 15. 
 
 My discourse upon this text, will cliiefly concern the Res- 
 urrection of the Dead ; wherefore to that I shall immedi- 
 ately apply myself, not meddling with what else is couched 
 in the words. 
 
 You see here that Paul, being, upon his arraignment,- ac- 
 cused of many things, by some Jews that were violent for 
 his blood; and being permitted to speak for himself, by 
 the then heathen magistrate ; doth in few words tell them, 
 that as touching the crimes wherewith they charged him, he 
 was utterly faultless. Only this he confessed. That after 
 that way which they call heresy, so he worshipped the Grod 
 of his fathers, believing all things that are written in the 
 
 (295) 
 
296 THE EESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 law and the prophets; and that he had the same hope to- 
 wards God, which they themselves did allow, that there 
 should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and 
 unjust. 
 
 Whence note by the way, that a hypocritical people will 
 persecute the power of those truths in others, which them- 
 selves in words profess : ^ I have hope towards God, and that 
 such a hope as they themselves do allow, and yet I am this 
 day, and for this very thing, persecuted by them.' 
 
 But to come to my purpose, "There shall be a resur- 
 rection of the dead, &c. By these words the apostle show- 
 eth us what was the substance of his doctrine, namely, that 
 there should be a resurrection of the dead ; and by these 
 words also, what was the great argument with his soul, to 
 carry him through those temptations, afflictions, reproaches, 
 and necessities he met with in this world, even the doctrine 
 of a Resurrection : ^ I have hope towards God,' saith he, 
 'and there is my mind fixed. "For there shall be a resur- 
 rection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." The rea- 
 son why I cannot do what these Jews would have me; also 
 why I cannot live as do the Gentiles; is, because I have in 
 my soul the faith of the Resurrection. This is the doctrine, 
 I say, which makes me fear to offend, and which is as an 
 undergirder to my soul, whereby I am kept from destruc- 
 tion, and confusion, under all the storms and tempests I 
 here go through. In a word, this is it that hath more 
 awe upon my conscience, than all the laws of men, with all 
 the penalties they inflict. "And herein do I exercise my- 
 self, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God 
 and toward men.' 
 
 Now here, seeing this doctrine of the Resurrection of the 
 Dead, hath that power both to bear up and to awe, both to 
 encourage and to keep within compass, the spirit and the 
 body of the people of God, it will be requisite and profita- 
 
WHO ARE MEANT BY THE DEAD. 297 
 
 ble for us, to inquire into the true meaning and nature of 
 this word, ^' The resurrection of the dead/^ 
 
 And, for the better compassing of this matter, I shall 
 briefly inquire, 1. What in this place is meant by the 
 Dead: 2. What is meant by the Resurrection : 3. Why the 
 apostle doth here speak of the Resurrection of the Dead as 
 of a thing yet to come. '^ There shall be a resurrection of 
 the dead, both of the just and unjust/' 
 
 For the first. The ^dead,' in scripture go under a fivefold 
 consideration : as, 
 
 1. Such as die a natural death, or as when a man ceaseth 
 to be any more in this world; as David, whom Peter tells 
 us, ^'is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre remaineth 
 with us to this day.'' 
 
 2. There is a people that are reckoned ^^dead in tres- 
 passes and sins;" as those are who never yet were trans- 
 lated from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
 to God. Such, I say, as yet never felt the power of the 
 word and Spirit of Grod, to raise them from that state, to 
 walk with him in the regeneration; making a life out of 
 Christ, and his present benefits. 
 
 3. There is a death seizeth men often after some measure 
 of light received from Grod, and some profession of the gos- 
 pel of Christ. These, for the certainty of their damnation, 
 are said to be dead, dead: "twice dead, and plucked up by 
 the roots." 
 
 4. There is in scripture mention made of a death to sin 
 and the lust of the flesh. This death is the beginning of 
 true life and happiness, and is a certain forerunner of a share 
 in Christ, and with him in another world. 
 
 5. Lastly. There is also in the word a relation of eternal 
 death. This is the death that those are in, and swallowed 
 up of, that go out of this world Grodless, Christless, and 
 graceless : dying in sin, and so under the curse of the 
 dreadful God. These, I say, because they have missed of 
 
298 THE llESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 tlie Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour, in this day of grace, are 
 fallen into the gulf and jaws of eternal death and misery, in 
 " the fire that shall never be quenched/' 
 
 Now then, seeing there is 'death,' or to be 'dead,' taken 
 under so many considerations in the scripture ; it is evident, 
 that the text is not meant of them all. I then must distin- 
 guish, and inquire from which of these deaths it is, that 
 here the apostle did look for a resurrection. 
 
 1. First then, it cannot be meant of a resurrection from 
 eternal death ; for from that there is no redemption. 
 
 2. Neither is it a resurrection from that double death; for 
 they that are in that are past recovery also. 
 
 3. And as for those that are dead to sin, it is nonsense to 
 say there shall or can be a resurrection from that ; for that 
 itself is a resurrection. Which resurrection also the apostle 
 had then passed through, and also all the brethren; as he 
 saith, '' You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses 
 and sins:" And again, "If ye then be risen with Christ:" 
 And again, "Wherein also ye are risen with him through 
 the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the 
 dead." Eph. ii.; Col. ii. 
 
 Lastly, The dead therefore in this scripture, must be un- 
 derstood of those that have departed this life, that have body 
 and soul separated each from the other : and so the resur- 
 rection of the body out of the grave. As Daniel saith, 
 "Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise." And 
 again, the Lord saith : " The hour is coming, when all that 
 are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come 
 forth," &c. Dan. xii; John v. 
 
 The resurrection of the just then, is the rising of the 
 hodies of the just; and the resurrection of the unjust, the 
 rising of their hodies at the last judgment. This also is the 
 meaning of that saying of Paul to Agrippa, " I stand," saith 
 he, "and am judged for the hope of the promise made unto 
 our fathers:" which promise at first began to be fulfilled in 
 
WHAT THE RESURRECTIOI!? IS. 299 
 
 the resurrection of the body of Christ and hath its accom- 
 plishment, when the dead small and great are raised out of 
 their graves. Wherefore, though Paul saith, it is already 
 fulfilled; yet h^re he saith, he hopes it shall come: ^'Unto 
 which promise" saith he "our twelve tribes instantly serv- 
 ing God day and night, hope to come ;" as God told Daniel, 
 saying, " Go thy way, for thou shalt stand in thy lot at tho 
 end of the days." 
 
 Christ is already risen, and therefore so far the promise 
 is fulfilled, but his saints are yet in their graves ; and there- 
 fore that part of the fulfilling of it is yet to come ; as he 
 saith, "Why should it be thought an incredible thing with 
 you, that God should raise the dead V 
 
 Again, That it is the resurrection of the dead bodies of 
 both saints and sinners that is here asserted, is further evi- 
 dent, because the apostle saith, It is the resurrection that 
 the very Pharisees themselves allowed. " I have hope to- 
 wards God," saith he, " which themselves also allow :" then 
 what that hope is, he in the next words showeth, namely, 
 " That there shall be a resurrection of the dead," &c. Now 
 we know, that the Pharisees did not allow of a resurrection 
 from a state of nature to a state of grace, which is the same 
 with the new birth; but did confidently allow and teach, 
 that they were " the children of Abraham according to the 
 flesh." Yea, when any of them began to adhere, or incline 
 to Christ's doctrine in some things, yet the doctrine of tho 
 new birth, or of being raised from a state of nature to a state 
 of grace, they would very much stick at; though in the 
 mean time, they utterly were against the doctrine of the 
 Sadducees, which denied the resurrection of the body. 
 
 Further, the resurrection here spoken of must needs be 
 the resurrection of the bod?/, because it is called, a " resur- 
 rection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;" that is, of 
 both saints and sinners ; according to the saying of Christ. 
 " The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves 
 
300 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have 
 done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have 
 done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation/' 
 
 Again, the resurrection here mentioned, is a resurrection 
 to come, not already enjoyed, either by saints or sinners. 
 '^ There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just 
 and unjust/' Now, I say, the resurrection here being yet 
 desired by the just, and counted also the resurrection of the 
 dead, both of the just and unjust, it must needs be the same 
 resurrection that is spoken of by Job, who saith : " So man 
 lieth down, and risethnot; till the heavens be no more, they 
 shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.'' 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EVIDENCE or THE DOCTRINE. 
 
 Having thus, in few words, opened this scripture unto 
 you, I shall, in the next place, for the further satisfaction 
 of those that are yet wavering, and for the refreshment of 
 those that are strong and steadfast, lay down before you 
 several undeniable scripture demonstrations of the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 
 
 I. I shall first begin with the Resurrection of the just. 
 
 1. The just must arise, because Christ is risen from the 
 dead. Christ is the head of the just, and they are the 
 members of his body; and because of this union, therefore 
 the just must arise. This is the apostle's own argument: 
 ^^If Christ,'' saith he, "be preached, that he rose from the 
 dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection 
 of the dead ? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, 
 then is not Christ risen." Now, I say, the reason why the 
 apostle thus argueth the resurrection from the dead, by the 
 resurrection of Christ, is, because the saints (of whose resur- 
 rection he here chiefly discourseth) are in their bodies, as 
 well as in their souls, the members of Christ. " Know you 
 not," saith he, "that your bodies are the members of 
 Christ." A very weighty argument; for if a good man be 
 a member of Christ, then he must either be raised out of 
 his grave, or else sin and death must have power over a 
 member of Christ. I say, again, if this body be not raised, 
 then also Christ is not a complete conqueror over his ene- 
 mies; forasmuch as death and the grave have still power over 
 his members. " The last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
 death." Now, though Christ in his own person hath a com- 
 
 26 (301) 
 
302 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 plete conquest over death, &c., yet death hath still power 
 over the bodies of all that are in their graves. Now, I say, 
 Christ being considered with relation to his members, then 
 he hath not yet a complete conquest over death; neither will 
 he, until they every one be brought forth of their graves; 
 for then, and not till then, shall that saying be every way 
 fulfilled, " Death is swallowed up of victory.'' 
 
 2. As there must be a resurrection of the just, because 
 Christ is their head, and they his members; so also, because 
 the hod 2/ of the saints, as well as their soul, is the purchase 
 of Christ's blood: "Ye are bought with a price," saith 
 Paul : " therefore glorify Grod in your body, and in your 
 spirit, which are God's.'' Christ will not lose the purchase 
 of his blood. ^ Death, saith Christ, I will have them. O 
 Grave, I will make thee let them go : I will ransom them 
 from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death. 
 I have bought them, and they shall be mine : " Death, I 
 will be thy plague, Grave I will be thy destruction." ' I 
 say, though the power of the grave be invincible, and death 
 be the king of terrors, yet he hath the keys of hell and 
 of death at his girdle, to whom belong the issues from 
 death : " He that is our God is the God of salvation ; and 
 unto God the Lord belong the issues from death." And 
 we, the price of his blood, shall be delivered. 
 
 3. As the body is a member of Christ, and the price of 
 his blood, so it is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in 
 us : " What ! know ye not that your body is the Temple of 
 the Holy Ghost, which is in you ? And ye are not your 
 own." The body is no such ridiculous thing in the account 
 of Christ, as it was in the account of the Sadducees. " The 
 body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord 
 for the body;" and that not only in this world, but that 
 which is to come : Wherefore he adds, " God hath both 
 raised up the Lord Jesus, and will raise us up also by his 
 
EVIDENCE OF ITS CERTAINTY. 303 
 
 power ;" that is^ as lie hath raised up the body of Christ, so 
 he will raise up ours also by Christ. 
 
 4. The bodies of the just must arise again, because of 
 that siinilitude that must he heticixt the hody of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the bodies of the saints : ^' When he shall 
 appear, we shall be like him.'' Now, we have it abundantly 
 manifest in scripture, that the body of the Lord Jesus was 
 raised out of the grave, and caught up into heaven, and that 
 it ever remaineth in the holiest of all, a glorified body. 
 
 Now, I say, it would be very strange to me, if Christ 
 should be raised, ascended, and glorified in that body, and 
 yet that his people should be with him no otherwise than in 
 their spirits ; especially, seeing that he in his resurrection is 
 said to be but the first-begotten from the dead, and the first- 
 fruits of them that sleep. For we know, that a first-begot- 
 ten doth imply more sons, and that first-fruits do foreshow 
 an after-crop. Wherefore we conclude, " That as in Adam 
 all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every 
 man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; afterwards 
 they that are Christ's at his coming.'' 
 
 And hence it is that the scripture saith, '' He shall change 
 our vile body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious 
 body." And hence it is, again, that the day of Christ is 
 said to be '^ the day of the manifestation of the sons of Grod, 
 and of the redemption of our body;" for then shall the 
 saints of God not only be, but ai^pear, as their Saviour, 
 being delivered from their graves, as he is from his, and 
 glorified in their bodies, as he is in his. 
 
 5. There must be a resurrection of the body of the saints, 
 because the body as well as the mind, hath been a deep sharer 
 in the afflictions that we meet with for the gospel's sake. 
 Yea, the body is ofttimes the greater sufierer in all the cala- 
 mities, that for Christ's sake we here undergo. It is the 
 body that feels the stocks, the whip, hunger, and cold, the 
 fire and rack, and a thousand calamities. It is the body in 
 
304 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 which we have the dying marks of the Lord Jesus : " That 
 the life of Jesus, also might be made manifest in our mortal 
 flesh/' God is so just a God, and so merciful to his people, 
 that though the bodies of his saints should, through the 
 malice of the enemy, be never so dishonorably tortured, 
 killed, and sown in the grave, yet he will (as further will be 
 showed anon) raise it again in incorruption, glory, and 
 honor. As he saith also in another place, that we who have 
 continued with Christ in his temptations, that have for his 
 sake undergone the reproach and malice of the world ; '^ to 
 you,'' saith Christ, "I appoint a kingdom, as my Father 
 hath appointed unto me." ^'If we suffer with him, we shall 
 also reign with him;" and ^'he that hateth his life in this 
 world, shall keep it to life eternal." All this is to be enjoyed, 
 especially at the resurrection of the just. But, 
 
 6. There must be a resurrection of the just, otherioise 
 there will he the greatest disappointmoit on all sides that ever 
 was since man had a being on the earth. 
 
 A disappointment, I say, first. Of the loill of God : " For 
 this is the will of the Father that sent me," saith Christ, 
 *' that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing" 
 (not a dust), "but should raise it up again at the last day." 
 
 A disappointment also of the poicer of God : for he that 
 hath raised up the Lord Jesus, doth also intend to raise us 
 up by his power, even our bodies. As Paul saith, " The 
 body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord 
 for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and 
 will also raise up us by his power." 
 
 If there should be no resurrection of the just, Christ 
 also would be wonderfully disappointed of the fruits of all 
 his sufferings. As I told you before, his people are the 
 price of his blood, and the members of his body; and he is 
 now at the right hand of God, far above all principalities 
 and powers, and every name that is named, expecting till 
 his enemies be made his footstool, and brought under the 
 
NO DISAPPOINTMENT POSSIBLE. 305 
 
 foot of the weakest saint; which will not be, until the last 
 enemy, death, is destroyed. We know that he said, when 
 he went away, that he would come again, and fetch all his 
 people to himself, even up into heaven, that where he is, 
 there we may be also. But I say, how will he be disap- 
 pointed, if when he comes, the grave and death should 
 prevent and hinder him, and each with its bars, keep down 
 those whom he hath ransomed with his blood from the power 
 thereof ! 
 
 If the bodies of the just arise not from the dead, then 
 they also will be disappointed. It is true, the saints 
 departed have far more fellowship and communion with God 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ, than we have, or are yet capable 
 of having; they being in paradise, and we in this world; but 
 yet, I say for all that, they are, though there, very much 
 longing for the day of the Lord's vengeance, which will be 
 the day in which they will, and must arise from the dead. 
 This, I say, is the time that they long for, when they cry 
 under the altar, ^^ How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost 
 thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on 
 the earth V When they died, they died in hope to obtain 
 a better resurrection ; and now they are gone, they long till 
 that day be come : till the day come, I say, when the dead, 
 even all the enemies of Christ shall be judged; for then will 
 he " give reward to his servants the prophets, and to his 
 saints, and to all that fear his name, small and great." 
 
 If the just arise not, great disappointment also will be 
 to tlie saints yet alive in this world. For, notwithstanding 
 they have already received the first-fruits of the Spirit, yet 
 they wait, not only for more of that, but also for the resur- 
 rection, redemption, and changing of this vile body. " For 
 our conversation is in heaven,'' saith Paul; ^^from whence 
 also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : who 
 shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like 
 unto his glorious body.'' But now, I say, if the body riseth 
 
 26 
 
806 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 not, then how can it be made like to the glorious body of 
 Christ Jesus ; yea, what a sad disappointment, infatuation, 
 and delusion, are those poor creatures under, that look, and 
 that by scripture warrant, for such a thing ? They look for 
 good, but behold evil : they expect to be delivered in their 
 whole man from every enemy; but lo ! both death and the 
 grave, their great enemies, do swallow them up for ever ! 
 But, beloved, be not deceived. The needy shall not always 
 be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shall not perish for 
 ever. For, saith Christ, ^' Every one that seeth the Son, 
 and believe th on him, hath everlasting life : and I will raise 
 him up at the last day." 
 
 If the just arise not out of their graves, then also is 
 every grace of God in our souls defeated. For though the 
 spirit of devotion can put forth a feigned show of holiness, 
 with the denial of the resurrection, yet, every grace of God 
 in the elect, doth prompt them forward to live as becomes 
 the gospel, by pointing at this day. 
 
 It is this that Faith looks at, according as it is writ- 
 ten, ^'I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also 
 believe, and therefore speak ; knowing that he which raised 
 up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall 
 present us with you." 
 
 Hope looks at this : " "We," saith Paul '^ which have 
 the j&rst-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within 
 ourselves, waiting for the adoption, namely, the redemption 
 of our body." That is, we expect this by hope. ^^ But hope 
 that is seen, is not hope : for what a man seeth" (or hath in 
 present possession), " why doth he yet hope for ?" 
 
 The grace of Self-denial also worketh by this doctrine : 
 ''If, after the manner of men," saith Paul, "I have fought 
 with beasts at Ephesus, what advantagcth it me if the dead 
 rise not?" As if he should say, AVhereforc do I deny 
 myself of those mercies and privileges that the men of this 
 world enjoy? Why do not I also, as well as they, shun per- 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF DENYING IT. 307 
 
 secution for the cross of Christ ? If the dead rise not, what 
 shall I be the better for all my trouble that here I meet with 
 for the gospel of Christ ? 
 
 Both Zeal and Patience^ with all the other graces of 
 the Spirit of God in our hearts, are much, yea, chiefly en- 
 couraged, animated, and supported by this doctrine. As 
 James saith, ^^ Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the 
 coming of the Lord" (for then shall the dead be raised). 
 ^^ Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of 
 the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the 
 early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient 3 stablish your 
 hearts ; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.'^ 
 
 8. The doctrine of the resurrection of the just, must needs 
 be a certain truth of God, if we consider the devilish and 
 fanatical errors and absurdities that must luiavoidahly 
 follow the denial thereof: as, 
 
 First, he that holdeth no resurrection of our hodi/j denies 
 the resurrection of the hody of CJirist. This is the Spirit's 
 own doctrine : ^' For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not 
 risen.'' He that dcnieth the resurrection of the members, 
 denies the resurrection of the head : for seeing the resurrec- 
 tion of the saints is proved by the resurrection of Christ ; he 
 that doth deny the resurrection of the saints, must needs 
 deny the resurrection of Christ, that proves it. 
 
 Now this error, as it is in itself destructive to all Christian 
 religion ; so, like an adder, it carrieth within its bowels many 
 others alike devilish and filthy : As, 
 
 (1.) He that dcnieth the resurrection of the saints, con- 
 cludeth, that to preach deliverance from sin and death, is 
 vain preaching. For how can he be freed from sin, that is 
 swallowed up for ever of death and the grave ? as he most 
 certainly is that is always contained therein. As Paul saith, 
 <^ If Christ be not risen (whose resurrection is the ground of 
 ours), then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also 
 
308 THE RESURRECTIOX OF THE DEAD. 
 
 vain;" then we preacli fables, and you receive them for 
 truth. 
 
 (2.) This error caste th the lie in the face of God, of 
 Christ, and the scriptures. ^' Yea, and we also," saith Paul, 
 '^ are found false witnesses of Grod : because we have testi- 
 fied of God that he raised up Christ; whom he raised not up, 
 if 60 be that the dead rise not." Mark, before he said, that 
 Christ, in his resurrection, doth prove our resurrection ; but 
 now he saith, that our resurrection will prove the truth of 
 his. And indeed both are true : for as by Christ's rising, 
 ours is aflOj-med; so by ours, his is demonstrated. 
 
 (3.) The denial of the resurrection, also damneth those 
 that have departed this world in the faith of this doctrine. 
 If Christ be not risen (as if he is not, we- rise not) then is 
 not only your faith vain, and ye are yet in your sins that are 
 alive ; but, " then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ 
 are perished." 
 
 (4.) He that denieth the resurrection of the just, con- 
 cludeth, that the Christian is of all men the most miserable : 
 Mark the words, "If in this life only we have hope in 
 Christ, we are of all men most miserable." First, "Of all 
 men most miserable," because we let go present enjoyments 
 for those that will never come, if the dead rise not. " Of 
 all men most miserable," because our faith, our hope, our 
 joy and peace, are all but a lie, if the dead rise not. But 
 you will say, he that giveth up himself to God shall have 
 comfort in this life. Ah ! but if the dead rise not, all our 
 comfort that now we think we have from God, will then be 
 found presumption and madness. Because we believe that 
 God hath so loved us, as to have us, in his day, in body and 
 soul to heaven ; which will be nothing so, if the dead rise 
 not : "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of 
 all men most miserable." Poor Christian ! thou that lookest 
 for the blessed hope of the resurrection of the body, at the 
 glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus 
 
SECRET CAUSES OF DENYING IT. 309 
 
 Christ, how wilt thou be deceived, if the dead rise not! 
 ^^ But now is Christ risen, and become the first fruits of them 
 that sleep. For since by man came death, by man came 
 also the resurrection of the dead.'' 
 
 (5.) But again, he that denieth the resurrection of the 
 dead, setteth open a flood-gate to all manner of impiety. He 
 cutteth the throat of a truly holy life, and layeth the reins 
 upon the neck of the most outrageous lust : for if the dead 
 rise not, "Let us eat and drink,'' that is, do any thing, 
 though ever so diabolical and hellish; '^let us eat and drink, 
 for to-morrow we die ;" and there is an end of us ; we shall 
 not rise again, to receive either evil or good. 
 
 (6.) To deny this resurrection; nay, if a man do but say, 
 it is past, either with him or any Christian, his so saying 
 tendeth directly to the destruction and overthrow of the faith 
 of them that hear him ; and is so far from being according 
 to the doctrine of God, that it eateth out good and whole- 
 some doctrine, even as cankers eat the face and flesh of a 
 man. How ill favorcdly do they look, that have their nose 
 and lips eat off with the canker ? Even so badly doth the 
 doctrine of no resurrection of the dead look in the eyes of 
 Grod, Christ, saints, and scripture.* 
 
 Lastly, I conclude, then, that to deny the resurrection of 
 the bodies of the just, argue th. 
 
 Great ignorance of God; ignorance of his power to 
 raise, ignorance of his promise to raise, ignorance of his 
 faithfulness to raise; and that in regard both to himself, 
 Son, and saints, as I showed before. Therefore saith Paul 
 to those that were thus deluded, "Awake to righteousness, 
 and sin not ; for some have not the knowledge of God : I 
 speak this to your shame." As if he had said. Do you 
 
 * Would that Professor Bush, and those who with him in our times, have been led 
 astray by a show of " science — falsely, so called" — would heed this homely, but true, 
 strong and solemn strain of old John Bunyan.— J. N. B. 
 
310 THE RESURRECTION OE THE DEAD. 
 
 profess Christianity? and do you question the resurrection 
 of the body ? Do you not know, that the resurrection of the 
 body and glory to follow, is the very quintessence of the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ ? Are you ignorant of the resurrec- 
 tion of the Lord Jesus ? And do you question the power 
 and faithfulness of Grod, both to his Son and his saints, be- 
 cause you say, there shall be no resurrection of the dead? 
 You are ignorant of Grod ; of what he can do, of what he will 
 do, and of how he will by doing glorify himself. 
 
 As it argueth very great ignorance of God's power, 
 promise, and faithfulness ; so it argueth gross ignorance of 
 the tenor and current of the scriptures. ^^ For,'' as touching 
 the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the 
 book of Moses (saith Christ) how that God said unto him 
 in the bush, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
 and the God of Jacob ? God is not the God of the dead, 
 but of the living. Ye do therefore greatly err." To be the 
 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is to be understood of 
 his being their God under a new covenant relation ; as he 
 saith, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 
 Now, thus he is not the God of the dead, that is, of those 
 that perish, whether they be angels or men. 
 
 Now, I say, they that are the children of God, as Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are counted the ^living,' under a 
 threefold consideration. 1. In their Lord and Head. And 
 thus all the elect may be said to live ; for they are from 
 eternity chosen in him, who also is their life, though possi- 
 bly many of them yet unconverted: yet, I say, Christ is 
 their life, by the eternal purpose of God. 2. The children 
 of the new covenant do live ; both in their spirits in glory, 
 by open vision, and here by faith, and the continual com- 
 munication of grace from Christ into their souls. 3. They 
 live also with respect to their rising again; ^'for God calleth 
 those things that are not, as though they were." To be 
 born, dead, buried, risen, and ascended, are all present with 
 
311 
 
 God. He liveth not by time, as we do. A thousand years 
 to him are but as the day that is past. And again, ^' One 
 day is as a thousand years.''' Eternity, which is Grod him- 
 self, admitteth of no first, second, and third. All things are 
 naked and bare before him, and present with him ; all (his) 
 live unto him. 
 
 ^' There shall be (then) a resurrection of the dead, both of 
 the just and unjust.'' A resurrection, of what? of that which 
 is sown, or of that which was never sown ? If of that which 
 is sown, then it must be either of that nature that was sown, 
 or else of the corruption that cleaveth unto it ; but it is the 
 nature, not the corruption that cleaveth unto it, that riseth 
 again. And verily, the very term ^^ resurrection" is a forci- 
 ble argument to prove that the dead shall come forth of 
 their graves ; for the Holy Grhost hath always spoken more 
 properly than to say, ^^ There shall be a resurrection of the 
 dead, both of the just and unjust," when yet neither the 
 good nor the bad shall come forth of their graves, but rather 
 something else to delude the world withal. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MANNER or RISING OP THE JUST. 
 
 Having thus, in a few words, showed you the truth of 
 the resurrection of the dead, I now come to the manner of 
 their rising. 
 
 And j&rst (as I said before) of the rising of the just. 
 
 The apostle, when he had (1 Cor. xv.) proved the truth 
 and certainty of the resurrection, descends to the discovery 
 of the manner of it. And to the end that he might remove 
 those foolish scruples that attend the hearts of the ignorant, 
 he begins with one of their questions, " But some man will 
 say,'^ saith he, ^'How are the dead raised up? and with what 
 body do they come ?" To which he answereth, first, by a 
 similitude of seed that is sown in the earth. In which simi- 
 tude he inserteth three things. 
 
 1. That our reviving, or rising, must be after death: 
 ^'That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." 
 
 2. That at our rising, we shall not only revive and live, 
 but be changed into a far more glorious state than when we 
 were sown : " That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that 
 body that shall be,'' &c. "But God giveth it a body as it 
 pleaseth him ;" that is, he giveth the body more splendor, 
 lustre, and beauty, at its resurrection. 
 
 But, 3. Neither its quickening, nor yet transcendent 
 splendor, shall hinder it from being the same body (as to 
 the nature of it) that was sown in the earth ; for as God 
 giveth it a body for honor and splendor, as it pleaseth him, 
 so, " to every seed his own body." 
 
 And indeed, this similitude by which he here reasoneth 
 the manner of the resurrection of the just, is very natural, 
 (312) 
 
MANNER OF THE RESURRECTION. 313 
 
 and fitly suite th each particular. For as to its burial. 1. The 
 corn of wheat is first dead, and afterward sown and buried 
 in the earth; and so is the body of man. 2. After the corn 
 is thus dead and buried, then it quickeneth and reviveth to 
 life : so shall also it be with our body; for after it is laid in 
 the grave and buried, it shall quicken, rise, and revive. 
 
 Again, as to the manner of its change in its rising, this 
 similitude also doth fitly suit; as, 1. It is sown a dead corn; 
 it is raised a living one. 2. It is sown dry, and without 
 comeliness; it riseth green and beautiful. 3. It is sown a 
 single corn; it riseth a full ear. 4. It is sown in its husk; 
 but in its rising it leaveth that husk behind it. 
 
 Further, Though the kernel thus die, be buried, and 
 meet with all this change and alteration in these things; 
 yet none of them can cause the nature of the kernel to 
 cease : it is wheat still. Wheat was sown, and wheat riseth. 
 Only it is sown dead, dry, and barren wheat; and riseth 
 living, beautiful, and fruitful wheat. It hath this alteration 
 then, that it doth greatly change its resemblance ; though 
 yet it hath this power, still to retain its own nature. ^^ Grod 
 giveth it a body as it pleaseth him ; but to every seed his 
 own body.'' 
 
 The apostle having thus presented the manner of the res- 
 urrection of the saints, by the nature of seed sown and rising 
 again ; he proceedeth, for further illustration, to three more 
 similitudes. The first is, to show us the variety and glory 
 of flesh. The second is, to show us the difi"erence "of 
 glory that is between heavenly bodies, and those that are 
 earthly. The third is, to show us the difference that is 
 between the glory of the light of the sun, from that of the 
 moon ; also how one star differeth from another in glory : 
 and then concludeth, ^' So is the resurrection of the dead." 
 As if he should say. At the resurrection of the bodies, they 
 will be abundantly more altered and changed, than if the 
 flesh of beasts and fowls were made as noble as the flesh of 
 
 27 
 
314 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 men ; or tlie bodies of earth were made as excellent as the 
 heavenly bodies ; or as if the glory of the moon should be 
 made as bright, and as clear, as the glory of the sun ; or as 
 if the glory of the least star was as glorious and shining as 
 the biggest in the firmament of heaven. 
 
 It is a resurrection indeed; a resurrection every way. 
 The body ariseth as to the nature of it, the self-same na- 
 ture ; but as to the manner of it, how far transcendent is it ! 
 There is a poor, dry, wrinkled kernel cast into the ground, 
 and there it lieth, and swelleth, breaketh, and one would 
 think, perisheth; but behold, it receiveth life, it chitteth, 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 form 
 and fashion of that which now ariseth, doth differ from that 
 which then was sown ; its glory also when it was sown, is no 
 glory when compared with that in which it ariseth. And 
 yet it is the same that riseth that was sown, and no other ; 
 though the same after a far more glorious manner : not the 
 same with its husk, but without it. Our bran shall be left 
 behind us when we rise again. The comparison also between 
 the bodies heavenly, and the bodies earthly, holds forth the 
 same. ^' The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of 
 the terrestial is another.'' Now mark it, he doth not speak 
 here of the natures of each of these bodies, but of the tran- 
 scendent glory of one above another. The glory of the 
 heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 
 AA^herefore, I say, at our rising, we shall not change our 
 nature, but our glory; we shall be equal to the angels; 
 not with respect to their nature, but glory. The nature 
 also of the moon is one thing, and the glory of the moon 
 is another; and so one star also differeth from another in 
 gbry. 
 
 A beggar hath the same nature as a king, and gold in 
 the ore hath the same nature with that which is best re- 
 
" FLESH AND BLOOD'^ FIGURATIVELY USED. 315 
 
 fined : but the beggar hath not the same glory with the king, 
 nor yet the gold in the ore the same glory with that which 
 is refined. But our state will be far more altered, than 
 any of these in the day when we arise out of the heart and 
 bowels of the earth, like so many suns in the firmament of 
 heaven. 
 
 These things thus considered, do show you how vainly 
 they argue, that say, our human nature, consisting of body 
 and soul, shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; and also 
 how far from their purpose, that saying of the apostle is, 
 which saith, that ^^ flesh and blood shall not inherit the 
 kingdom of God." And now also because I am fallen upon 
 the objection itself, I shall not pass it, but with a short dash 
 at it. Wherefore, reader, whoever thou art, consider, that 
 frequently in scripture, the word "flesh and blood'^ (as also 
 in the place alleged) is not to be understood of that matter 
 which God made — which flesh cleaveth to our bones, and 
 blood runs in our veins — but is taken for that corruption, 
 weakness, mortality, and evil that cleave unto it. Which 
 weakness and corruption, because it possesseth all men, and 
 also wholly ruleth where the soul is unconverted, therefore 
 it beareth the name of that which is ruled and actuated by 
 it, namely, our whole man, consisting of body and soul. Yet, 
 I say, io is a thing distinct from that flesh and blood which 
 is essential to our being, and without which we are no men. 
 As for instance, " He that is Christ's," saith Paul, " hath 
 crucified the flesh with the afiections and lusts." Who is so 
 vain as to think, that the apostle, by these words, should 
 mean our material flesh that hangeth on our bones, and that 
 is mixed with our natural blood, sinews, and veins ; and not 
 rather that inward fountain of sin, corruption, and wicked- 
 ness, which in another place he calleth " the old man, with 
 the deceitful lusts." Again, " The flesh lusteth against the 
 Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." Is it our flesh that 
 hangeth on our bones, which lusteth against the Spirit; and 
 
316 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 that also against which the Spirit lusteth ? Certainly if the 
 Spirit lusteth against our material flesh, then it is our duty 
 not to nourish it at all ; because, by nourishing it, we 
 nourish that against which the Spirit of God fighteth and 
 warreth. Nay, if the Spirit lusts against the flesh on our 
 bones, simply considered as flesh ; and if it be our duty to 
 follow the Spirit, as it is, then we must needs kill ourselves, 
 or cut our flesh from our bones. For whatever the Spirit 
 of God lusteth against, must be destroyed; yea, it is our 
 duty with all speed to destroy it. But wilt thou know, 
 vain man, that by flesh here, is to be understood, not the 
 nature that God hath made, but the corrupt apprehension 
 and wisdom, with those inclinations to evil, that lodge within 
 us, which in another place is called "the wisdom of the 
 flesh ;" yea, in the plain terms, '' flesh and blood," where 
 Christ saith, " Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto 
 thee, but my Father which is in heaven," 
 
 Nay, observe it, all these places, with many others, do 
 rather point at a corrupt soul, than a corrupt body; for 
 indeed, sin, and all spiritual wickedness, have their seat in 
 the heart and soul of a man, and by their using this or that 
 member of the body, so deflle the man ; the weaknesses of 
 the body, or that attend our material flesh and blood, they 
 are weaknesses of another kind : as sickness, aches, pains, 
 sores, wounds, defect of members, &c. Wherefore, where 
 you read of flesh and blood as rejected of God, especially 
 when it speaks of the flesh and blood of saints, you are not 
 to understand it as meant of the flesh which is their proper 
 human nature, but of that weakness which cleaveth to it. 
 
 Paul, in another place, rcckoneth up the works of the 
 flesh, in many things, as in witchcraft, hatred, variance, 
 strife, emulation, fornication, and many others. But can 
 any imagine that he there should strike at that flesh which 
 hangeth on our bones ? rather at that malignity and re- 
 bellion that is in the mind of man against the Lord; by 
 
"PLESII AND ELOOD" OFTEN MEANS MORTALITY. 317 
 
 reason of which, the members of the body are used this 
 way, and also some times that, to accomplish its most filthy 
 and abusive deeds. " They are enemies in their minds by 
 wicked works.'^ 
 
 Thus you see that ^^ flesh and blood" is not to be taken 
 always for the flesh that is upon our hands, and feet and 
 other parts of our body, but for that sin, weakness, and in- 
 firmity, that cleave to our whole man. 
 
 Further, then, touching our real substantial flesh, it may 
 be either considered as God's creature purely, or as cor- 
 rupted with sin and infirmity. Now, if you consider it as 
 corrupted ; so it shall not inherit the kingdom of God : but 
 yet consider it as God's creature, and so all that God hath 
 converted to himself, through Jesus Christ, shall, even with 
 that body, when changed, inherit the kingdom of God. The 
 woman whose clothes are foul, can yet distinguish between 
 the dirt and the cloth on which it hangeth; and so deals 
 God with us. It is true, there is not one saint, but while 
 he liveth here, his body is arrayed and infected with many 
 corrupt and filthy things, as touching bodily weakness; yea, 
 and also with many sinful infirmities, by reason of that body 
 of sin and death that yet remains in us : but yet God, I say 
 distinguisheth between our weaknesses and his workman- 
 ship, and can tell how to save the whole man of his people, 
 while he is destroying the corruption and weakness that 
 cleave to them. 
 
 And now to return to the place objected, ^' Flesh -and 
 blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God." It cannot be 
 truly understood, that that flesh which is man's nature, shall 
 not enter into the kingdom: for then, as I said before, 
 Christ must lose his members, the purchase of his blood, 
 the vessels and temples of his Spirit; for all this is our 
 body. 
 
 Again; then Christ also, in that body of his, which is 
 also our flesh and blood, is not in glory; contrary to the 
 27* 
 
318 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 whole current of the Xcw Testament. Yea, it would be 
 nonsense to say, there should be a resurrection, and that our 
 vile body shall be changed and made like to the glorious 
 body of the Son of God, if this body do not at all rise again, 
 but some other thing, which is not in us and our nature. 
 
 But to be short, the apostle here when he saith, " Flesh 
 and blood shall not inherit," &c., speaks properly of that 
 mortality and weakness that now attend our whole man^ 
 and not of our real substantial body itself. For after he 
 had said, "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom 
 of God," he adds, "Neither doth corruption inherit incor- 
 ruption." Which two sayings are answerable to what he 
 presently adds, saying, "Behold, I show you a mystery; 
 we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for 
 the trumpet shall sound, and the dead/' mark, "the dead 
 shall be raised incorruptible." That is, the dead shall be 
 so raised, as that in their rising, incorruption shall possess 
 them instead of incorruption, and immortality, instead of 
 that mortality that descended to the grave with them. "For 
 this corruptible (mark, "this corruptible") must put on 
 incorruption; and this mortal shall put on immortality;" 
 mark, I say, it is this corruptible, and this mortal, that must 
 be raised, though not corruptible and mortal, as it was bu- 
 ried, but immortal and incorruptible. It shall leave its 
 grave-clothes of corruption and mortality behind it. 
 
 The manner of which rising, the apostle doth more dis- 
 tinctly branch out, a little above, in four particulars. Which 
 particulars are these that follow: 1. "It is sown in corrup- 
 tion, it is raised in incorruption." 2. "It is sown in dis- 
 honor, it is raised in glory." 3. "It is sown in weakness, 
 it is raised in power." 4. " It is sown a natural body, it is 
 raised a spiritual body." 
 
 1. "It is raised in incorruption ^ We are brought into 
 this world by sin and corruption; corruption is our father, 
 
INCORRUPTION AND GLORY. 819 
 
 and in sin did our mother conceive ns. And hence it is, 
 that we have our life, not only like a span, shadow, or post, 
 for shortness, but also that it is attended with so much 
 vanity and vexation of spirit. But now being raised from 
 the dead incorruptible (which is also called a begetting and 
 birth) these things that now in our life annoy us, and at 
 last take away our life, are eifectually destroyed. And 
 therefore we live for ever; as saith the Spirit, "And there 
 shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither 
 shall there be any more pain : for the former things (that is, 
 all that belong to our corruptibleness) are passed away.^^ 
 
 There shall be in our resurrection no corruption, either of 
 body or of soul ; no weakness nor sickness, nor any thing 
 tending that way: as he saith, "He will present us to him- 
 self a glorious church, not having spot, nor wrinkle, nor any 
 such thing.^' Therefore, when he saith, "It is raised in in- 
 corruption,^^ it is as if he had said. It is impossible that 
 they should ever sin more, be sick more, sorrow more, or die 
 more. They that shall be counted worthy of that world, 
 and the resurrection from the dead, " neither marry, nor are 
 given in marriage," though it was thus with them in this 
 world ; " neither can they die any more : for they are equal 
 unto the angels; and are the children of Grod, being the 
 children of the resurrection. '^ 
 
 2. "It is raised in glory .'^ The dishonor that doth at- 
 tend the saint at his departing from this world, is often very 
 great. He is "sown in dishonor;" he is sometimes so loath- 
 some at his death that his dearest friends are weary of him, 
 stop their noses at him, see no beaut}^ in him, nor set any 
 price upon him. I speak nothing here, how some of the 
 saints are hanged, starved, banished, and some die, torn to 
 pieces, and not suffered to be put into graves. But " it is 
 raised in glory." Grlory is the sweetness, comeliness, purity, 
 and perfection of a thing. The light is the glory of the sun; 
 strength is the glory of youth ; and gray hairs are the glory 
 
820 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 of old age; that is, it is the excellency of these things, and 
 that which makes them shine. 
 
 Therefore to arise in glory, is first to arise in all the 
 beauty and utmost completeness, that it is possible for a 
 human body to possess. I say, in all its features and 
 members, inconceivably beautiful. Sin and corruption have 
 made sad work in our bodies, as well as in our souls. It is 
 sin commonly which is the cause of all that deformity, and 
 ill-favoredness, that now cleave to us, and that also render 
 us so dishonorable at our death. But now at our rising, 
 being raised incorruptible, we shall appear in such perfec- 
 tions and that of all sorts belonging to the body — that all 
 the beauty and comeliness, sweetness and amiableness, that 
 have at any time been in this world, shall be swallowed up 
 a thousand times told, with this glory. The psalmist saith 
 of Christ, that he is ^^ fairer than the children of men;" and 
 that, as I believe, in his outward man, as well as in his in- 
 ward part; he was the exactest, purest, completest, and 
 beautifulest creature, that ever God made, till '^his visage 
 was so marred" by his persecutors : for in all things he had 
 and shall have the pre-eminence. Now, our bodies at our 
 resurrection will not only be as free from sin, as his was be- 
 fore he died, but also as free from all other infirmities, as 
 he was after he was raised again. In a word, if incorrupti- 
 bleness can put a beauty upon our bodies, when they arise, 
 we shall have it. There shall be no lame legs, nor crump 
 shoulders, no blear-eyes, nor yet wrinkled faces. " He shall 
 change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his 
 glorious body." 
 
 Again, all the glory that a glorified soul can help this 
 body to, it at this day shall enjoy. That soul that hath 
 been these hundreds or thousands of years in the heavens, 
 resting in the bosom of Christ, shall in a moment come 
 spangling into the body again, and inhabit every member 
 and vein of the body, as it did before its departure. That 
 
POWER AND SPIRITUALITY. o21 
 
 Spirit of God also, that took its leave of the body when it 
 went to the grave, shall now, in all perfection, dwell in this 
 body again. I tell you, the body at this day will shine 
 brighter than the face of Moses or Stephen, even as bright 
 as the sun, the stars, and angels. "When Christ who is 
 our life, shall appear, then we shall appear with him in 
 glory.'' 
 
 3. "It is raised in poiver.^' While we are here, we are 
 attended with so many weaknesses and infirmities, that in 
 time the least sin or sickness is too hard for us, and taketh 
 away both our strength, our beauty, our days, our breath 
 and life, and all. But behold, we are raised in power ; in 
 that power, that all these things are as far below us, as a 
 grasshopper is below a giant. At the first appearance of us, 
 the world will tremble. 
 
 Behold, the gates of death, and the bars of the grave, are 
 now carried away on our shoulders, as Samson carried away 
 the. gates of the city. Death quaketh, and destruction 
 falleth down dead at our feet. What then can stand before 
 us ? We shall then carry that grace, majesty, terror, and 
 commanding power in our souls, that our countenances shall 
 be like lightning. " For this corruptible must put on incor- 
 ruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when 
 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this 
 mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought 
 to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up of 
 victory.'' 
 
 4. " It is raised a spiritual body." This is the last par- 
 ticular, and is indeed the reason of the other three. It is 
 an incorruptible body, because it is a spiritual one ; it is a 
 glorious body, because it is a spiritual one ; it doth rise in 
 power, because it is a spiritual body. When the body is 
 buried, or sown in the earth, it is a body corruptible, dis- 
 honorable, weak, and natural ; but when it ariseth, it doth 
 rise incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. So, 
 
322 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 that as far as incorruption is above corruption, g^ory above 
 dishonor, power above weakness, and spiritual above natural, 
 so great an alteration will there be in our body, when raised 
 again. And yet it is this body, and not another; this in 
 nature, though changed into a far more glorious state, a 
 thousand times further than if a hogherd was changed to be 
 an emperor. Mark, "It is sown a natural body ;" a very 
 fit word : for though there dwell ever so much of the Spirit 
 and grace of God in it while it liveth, yet so soon as the soul 
 is separate from it, so soon also doth the Spirit of God 
 separate from it ; and so will continue until the day of its 
 risinjr be come. Therefore it is laid into the earth a mere 
 lump of man's nature : " It is sown a natural body." But 
 now, at the day, when " the heavens shall be no more," as 
 Job saith, then the trump shall sound, even the trump of 
 God, and, in a moment, the dead shall be raised incorrupti- 
 ble, glorious, and spiritual. So that, I say, the body, when 
 it ariseth, will be so swallowed up of life and immortality, 
 that it will be as if it had lost its own human nature j 
 though, in truth, the same substantial real nature is every 
 whit there still. It is the same " it" that riseth that was 
 sown : it is sown, it is raised, saith the apostle. 
 
 You know, that things which are candied by the art of 
 the apothecary, are so swallowed up with the sweetness 
 and virtue of that in which they are candied, that they are 
 now as though they had no other nature than that in which 
 they are boiled ; when yet, in truth, the thing candied doth 
 still retain its own proper nature and essence ; though, by 
 virtue of its being candied, it loseth its former sourness, 
 bitterness, bad smell, or the like. Just thus, at the last 
 day, it will be with our bodies : we shall be so candied, 
 by being swallowed of life, as before is showed, that we 
 shall be as if we were all spirit ; when, in truth, it is but 
 this body that is swallowed up of life. And it must needs 
 be that our nature still remains; otherwise it cannot be us 
 
POWERS OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY. 823 
 
 that shall be in hoaven, but something besides us. Let us 
 lose our proper human nature, and we lose absolutely our 
 being, and so arc annihilated into nothing. Wherefore it, 
 the same it that is sown a natural body, shall rise a spiritual 
 body. 
 
 But again, as I said concerning things . that are candied, 
 our body, when thus risen, shall lose all that sourness and 
 ill smell that now, by reason of sin and infirmity, cleave to 
 it ; neither shall its lumpishness or unwieldiness be any im- 
 pediment to its acting after the manner of angels. Christ 
 hath showed us what our body at our resurrection shall be, 
 by showing us in his word, what his body was after his res- 
 urrection. We read, that his body, after he was risen from 
 the dead, retained the very same flesh and bones that did 
 hang upon the cross } yet how angelical was it at all times, 
 upon all occasions ! He could conic in to his disciples with 
 that very body, when the doors were shut upon them. He 
 could at pleasure, to their amazement, appear in the twink- 
 ling of an eye, in the midst of them. He could be visible 
 and invisible, as he pleased, when he sat at meat with them. 
 In a word, he could pass and repass, ascend and descend in 
 that body, with far more pleasure and ease, than the bird by 
 the art of her wing. 
 
 Now, I say, as we have in this world borne the image of 
 our first father, so at that day, we shall have the image of 
 Jesus Christ, and be as he is. ''As is the earthy, such are 
 they also that are earthy ; and as is the heavenly, such are 
 they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the 
 image of the earthy, so we shalF^ (at our resurrection) " bear 
 the image of the heavenly;" it is so in part now, but shall 
 BO be in perfection then. 
 
 To mount up to heaven, and to descend again at pleasure, 
 shall with us, in that day, be ordinary. If there were ten 
 thousand bars of iron, or walls of brass, to separate between 
 us and our pleasure and desire at that day, they should as 
 
324 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 easily be pierced by us, as is the cobweb, or air, by tlio 
 beams of the sun ; and the reason is, because to the Spirit, 
 wherewith we shall be inconceivably filled at that day, 
 nothing is impossible : and the working of it at that day, 
 shall be in that nature and measure, as to swallow up all 
 impossibilities. He shall "change our vile body, that it 
 may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" — now mark, 
 "according to the working whereby he is able even to 
 subdue all things unto himself." As if he should say, I 
 know that there are many things that in this world hinder 
 us from having our bodies like the body of Christ. But 
 when God shall raise us from the dead, because he will then 
 have our bodies like the body of his Son, he will then have 
 such a power to work upon, and in, our body, as will remove 
 all impossibilities, and hindrances. 
 
 Nay, further, we do not only see what operation the Spirit 
 will have in our body, by the carriage of Christ after his 
 resurrection, but even by many a saint before their death. 
 The Spirit used to catch Elijah away, no man could tell 
 whither. It carried Ezekicl hither and thither. It carjied 
 Christ from the top of the pinnacle of the temple into 
 Galilee. Through it he walked on the sea. The Spirit 
 caught away Philip from the eunuch, and carried him as far 
 as Azotus. Thus the great God hath given us a taste of the 
 glorious power that is in himself; and how easily it will 
 help us, by its possessing us at the resurrection, to act and 
 do like angels ; as Christ saith, They that shall be counted 
 worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from the dead, 
 shall no more die, but be equal to the angels. 
 
 Further, as the body, by being thus spiritualized, shall be 
 as I have said; so again it must needs be, that hereby all the 
 service of the body, and faculties of the soul must be infi- 
 nitely enlarged also. Now "we shall see him as he is," and 
 now " we shall kno"', even as we are known." 
 
 First; Now we shall see him^ namely, Christ, in his glory ; 
 
POWERS or THE OLOlliriED SOUL. 325 
 
 not by revelation only, as we do now, but then face to face; 
 and he will have us with him, to this very end. Though 
 John was in the Spirit when he had the vision of Christ, yet 
 it made him fall at his feet as dead. It also turned Daniel's 
 beauty into corruption ; so glorious, and so overwcighing was 
 the glory that he appeared in. But we shall at the day of 
 our resurrection, bo so furnished, that we shall with the 
 eagle be able to look upon the sun in his strength. We 
 shall then, I say, sec him a.s he is, who now is in the light 
 that no eye hath seen, nor any man can see it till that day. 
 
 Now we shall see into all things : there shall not be any 
 thing hid from us : there shall not be a saint, a prophet, or 
 saved soul, small or great, but we shall then perfectly know 
 them; also, all the works of creation, election, and redemp- 
 tion. We shall see and know as thoroughly all the things 
 of heaven, and earth, and hell, even as now we know our 
 A. B. C. ; for the Spirit with which we shall in every cranny 
 of soul and body be filled, I say, that searcheth all things, 
 yea, the deep things of God. 
 
 We see what strange things have been known by the pro- 
 phets and saints of God, and that when they knew but in 
 part. Abraham could, by it, tell to a day how long his 
 seed should be under persecution in Egypt. Elisha, by it, 
 could tell what was done in the king of Assyria's bed- 
 chamber. Abijah could know, by this, Jeroboam's wife, so 
 soon as, yea, before her feet entered within his door, though 
 he saw her not. The prophet of Judah could tell by this, 
 what God would do to Bethel, for the idolatry there com- 
 mitted; and could also point out the man by name, that 
 should do the execution, long before he was born. What 
 shall I say? Enoch, by it, could tell what should be done 
 at the end of the world. How did the prophets, to a cir- 
 cumstance, prophesy of Christ's birth, his death, his burial, 
 of tlieir giving him gall and vinegar, of their parting his 
 raiment, and piercing his hands and feet, of his risifig on the 
 
 28 
 
326 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 third day ! All this they saw -when they spake of him. Peter 
 also, though half asleep, could at the very first word, call 
 Moses and Elias by their names, when they appeared to 
 Christ in the holy mount. He is very ignorant of the ope- 
 ration of the Spirit of Grod, that scrupleth these things. 
 But now, I say, if these things have been done, seen, and 
 known, by spiritual men, while their knowledge hath been 
 but in part; how shall we know, see, and discern, when that 
 which is perfect is come ? which will be at the resurrection. 
 '^ It is raised a spiritual body." 
 
 Thus, in a few words, have I showed you the truth of 
 the resurrection of the just, and also the manner of their 
 rising. Had I judged it convenient, I might have much 
 enlarged on each particular, and have added many more. 
 For the doctrine of the resurrection, however questioned by 
 heretics and erroneous persons, yet is such a truth, that 
 almost all the holy scriptures of God point at, and centre 
 in it. 
 
 God hath from the beginning of the world, showed to us 
 that our body must be with him, as well as our soul, in the 
 kingdom of heaven. I say, he hath showed it. 
 
 1. He hath showed us, how he will deal with those that 
 are alive at Christ's coming, by his translating Enoch, and 
 taking him body and soul to himself: as also, by his catch- 
 ing Elias up, body and soul, into heaven, in a fiery chariot. 
 
 2. He hath often put us in remembrance of the rising of 
 those that are dead at that day. 1. By the faith he gave 
 Abraham, concerning the offering of his Son: for when 
 he ofi'ered him, he accounted that God was able to raise 
 him up, even from the dead : from whence also he received 
 him in a figure of the resurrection of Christ, for Abraham's 
 justification, and of Abraham's resurrection by Christ at the 
 last day, for his glorification. 2. By the faith he gave 
 Joseph, concerning his bones; which charge the godly in 
 Egypt did diligently observe; and to that end, did keep 
 
ANCIENT INTIMATIONS OF THIS. 327 
 
 them four hundred years, and at length carried them, I say, 
 from Egypt to Canaan, which was a type of our being car- 
 ried in our body from this world to heaven. 
 
 Besides, How oft did God give power to his prophets, ser- 
 vants, and Christ Jesus, to raise some that were now dead, 
 and some that had been long so; and all, no doubt, to put 
 the present generations, as also the generations yet unborn, 
 in mind of the resurrection of the dead. To this end, I say, 
 how was the Shunamite's son raised from the dead ! the man 
 also at the touching of the bones of Elisha ! together with 
 the body of Lazarus, with Jairus' daughter, and Tabitha, 
 and many others; who after their souls had departed from 
 them (Lazarus lying in his grave four days), were all 
 raised to life again, and lived with that very body, out of 
 which the soul, at their death, had departed ! 
 
 But above all, that notable place in Matthew, at the re- 
 surrection of the Lord Jesus, gives us a notable fore-word 
 of the resurrection of the just. Saith the text, '' And the 
 graves were opened; and many bodies of saints which slept 
 arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and 
 went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." 
 
 When the author to the Hebrews had given us a cata- 
 logue of the worthies of the Old Testament, he saith at last, 
 "These all died in faith.'' In the faith of what? That 
 they should lie and rot in their graves eternally? No, 
 verily : this is the faith of Ranters, not of Christians. They 
 all died in faith, that they should rise again; and therefore 
 counted this world not worth the living in (upon unworthy 
 terms), that after death "they might obtain a better resur- 
 rection.'' 
 
 It is also worth considering, what Paul saith to the Phi- 
 lippians. That he was confident, that that God who had 
 begun a good work in them, would "perform it unto the day 
 of Christ." Which day of Christ was not the day of their 
 conversion, for that was past with them already; they were 
 
328 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 now the children of God; but this day of Christ, is the 
 same which in other places is called the day when he shall 
 come with the sound of the last trump to raise the dead. 
 For you must know, that the work of salvation is not at an 
 end with them that are now in heaven; no, nor ever will be, 
 until (as 1 showed you before) their bodies be raised again. 
 Grod, as I have told you, hath made our bodies the members 
 of Christ, and God doth not count us throughly saved, 
 until our bodies be as well redeemed and ransomed out of 
 the grave of death, as our soul from the curse of the law and 
 dominion of sin. 
 
 Though God's saints have felt the power of much of his 
 grace, and have had many a sweet word fulfilled on them : 
 yet one word will be unfulfilled on their particular persons, 
 so long as the grave can shut her mouth upon them. But, 
 as I said before, when the gates of death do open before 
 them, and the bars of the grave do fall asunder; then shall 
 be brought to pass that saying that is written, ^' Death is 
 swallowed up of victory:" And then will they hear that 
 most pleasant voice, ^' Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the 
 dust : for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall 
 cast out the dead." Thus much touching the truth of the 
 resurrection of the just, with the manner of their rising. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TRIAL AND REWARD OF THE JUST. 
 
 Now you must know, that the time of the rising of the 
 just, will be at the coming of the Lord, For when they 
 arise, nay, just before they are raised, the Lord Jesus Christ 
 will appear in the clouds, in flaming fire, with all his mighty 
 angels ; the effect of which appearing will be the rising of 
 the dead. ^' For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 
 with a shout," saith Paul, ^^ with the voice of the archangel, 
 and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall 
 rise first.'' 
 
 Now at the time of the Lord's coming, there will be found 
 in the world alive both saints and sinners. As for the saints 
 that then shall be found alive, they shall not die, but so 
 soon as all the saints are raised out of their graves, be 
 changed and swallowed up of incorruption, immortality, and 
 glory; and have the same spiritual translation, as the raised 
 saints shall have. As Paul also saith, " We shall not all 
 sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the 
 twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall 
 sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 
 shall be changed.'' And again, " For the Lord himself 
 shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 
 the archangel, and with the trump of Grod : and the dead in 
 Christ shall rise first : then we which are alive and remain 
 shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet 
 the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 
 As he saith also in another place, ^^He shall judge the quick 
 and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom." 
 
 Now, when the saints that sleep shall be raised thus incor- 
 28* (329) 
 
330 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 ruptible, powerful, glorious and spiritual ; and also those that 
 then shall be found alive, made like them ; then forthwith, 
 before the unjust are raised, the saints shall appear before 
 the judgment-seat of the Lord Jesus Christ, there to give 
 an account to their Lord, the judge of all things they have 
 done ; and to receive a reward for their good according to 
 their labor. 
 
 They shall rise, I say, before the wicked, they being them- 
 selves the proper children of the resurrection ; that is, those 
 that must have all the glory of it, both as to pre-eminency, 
 and sweetness ; and therefore they are said, when they rise, 
 to rise from the dead ; that is, in their rising, they leave the 
 reprobate world behind them. And it must be so, because 
 also the saints will have done their account, and be set upon 
 the throne with Christ as kings and princes with him to 
 judge the world, when the wicked world are raised. The 
 saints "shall judge the world;" they shall '^ judge angels;" 
 yea, they shall sit upon the throne of judgment to do it. 
 But to pass that. 
 
 Now, when the saints are raised, as ye have heard, they 
 must give an account of all things in general, that they have 
 done while they were in the world. Of all things, I say, 
 " whether they be good or bad." 
 
 1. Of all their had: but mark, not under the considera- 
 tion of vagabond slaves and sinners, but as sons, stewards, 
 and servants of the Lord Jesus. That this shall be, is 
 evident from divers places of the holy scriptures. First, 
 Paul saith, " We must all stand before the judgment-seat 
 of Christ;" we saints. "For it is written, As I live, saith 
 the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue 
 shall confess to God, So then every one of us shall give 
 an account of himself to God." Again, "Wherefore we 
 labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted 
 of him. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat 
 of Christ ; that every one of us may receive the things done 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 331 
 
 in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be 
 good or bad." 
 
 It is true, Grod loveth his people, but yet he loveth not 
 their sins, nor any thing they do, though with the greatest 
 zeal for him, if it be contrary to his word. Wherefore, as 
 truly as Grod will give a reward to his saints and children, 
 for all that they have indeed well done ; so truly will he at 
 this day distinguish their good and bad; and when both are 
 manifest by the righteous judgment of Christ, he will burn 
 up their bad, with all their labor, travail, and pains in it for 
 ever. He can tell how to save his people, and yet take 
 vengeance on their inventions. 
 
 That is an observable place. 1 Cor. iii. 12-15. '^ If any 
 man build,'^ saith he, "upon this foundation (which is 
 Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 
 every man's work shall be manifest : for the day shall de- 
 clare it, because it shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire 
 shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's 
 work shall abide, that he hath built thereupon, he shall 
 receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he 
 shall sufi*er loss, but he himself shall be saved ; yet so as 
 by fire.'' 
 
 Now, observe (1.), as, I said before, the foundation is 
 Christ. (2.) The gold, silver, and precious stones, that here 
 are said to be built upon him, are all the actings in faith and 
 love according to the word, that the saints are found doing 
 for his sake in the world. (3.) To build on him wood, hay, 
 and stubble, is to build together with what is right in 
 itself, human inventions and carnal ordinances; fathering 
 them still on Grod and his allowance. (4.) The fire that 
 here you read of, is the pure word and law of God. 
 (5.) The day that here you read of, is the day of Christ's 
 coming to judgment, to reveal the hidden things of darkness, 
 and to make manifest the counsels of the heart. (6.) At 
 this day the gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and 
 
332 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 stubble, and that of every man, shall be tried by this fire, 
 that it may be manifest of what sort it is. The wind, the 
 rain, and floods, beat now as vehemently against the house 
 upon the rock, as against that on the sand. 
 
 Observe again, (1.) That the apostle speaks here of the 
 saved, not of the reprobates : " He himself shall be saved." 
 (2.) That this saved man may have wood, hay and stubble; 
 that is, things that will not abide the trial. (3.) That 
 neither this man's goodness, nor yet Grod's love to him, shall 
 hinder all his wood, hay, or stubble, from coming on the 
 stage : " Every man's work shall be manifest :" " the fire 
 shall try every man's work, of what sort it is." (4.) Thus, 
 a good man shall see all his wood, hay, and stubble, burnt 
 up in the trial before his face. (5.) That good man then 
 shall suffer loss ; or the loss of all things that are not then 
 according to the word of God. " If any man's work shall 
 be burned (or any of them), he shall suff"er loss, but he him- 
 self shall be saved, yet so as by fire;" that is, yet so as that 
 all that ever he hath done, shall be tried and squared by the 
 word of God.* 
 
 From all which it must be unavoidably concluded, that 
 the whole body of the elect must account with their Lord 
 for all things they have done, whether good or bad; and 
 that he will destroy all their bad with the purity of his 
 word ; yea, and all their pains, travail, and labor, that they 
 have spent about it. I am persuaded, that there are now 
 many things done by the best of saints, that then they will 
 gladly disown and be ashamed of; yea, which they have 
 
 * It may be doubted whether our author has hit upon the exact meaning of this 
 passage. If we look back to verse 10th, we find Paul is speaking of building the 
 Visible Church. Of course the gold, silTcr, &c., signify the different sorts of mem- 
 bers, sound or unsound, introduced into it. These must be tried thoroughly, as by 
 fire, at the last day ; and the results of the trial will show who are the sound mem- 
 bers, and who have been faithful and wise Church builders. Still this special view 
 involves the idea of the more general trial on which Bunyan insists. — J. N. B. 
 
THE saint's confession OF SIN. 333 
 
 done and still do with great devotion. Alas ! what gross 
 things do some of the saints, in their devotion, father upon 
 God ; and do reckon him the author thereof, and that he also 
 prompts them forward to the doing thereof, and doth give 
 them his presence in the performance of them ! Yea, and 
 as they father many superstitions and scriptureless things 
 upon him ; so they die in the same opinion, and never come, 
 in this world, to the sight of their evil and ignorance herein. 
 But now the judgment-day is the principal time wherein 
 every thing shall be set in its proper place ; that which is 
 of God in its place, and that which is not, shall now be dis- 
 covered and made manifest. ''In many things now, we 
 all offend;^' and then we shall see the many offences we 
 have committed, and shall ourselves judge them as they are. 
 The Christian is, in this world, so candid a creature, that 
 take him when he is not under some great temptations, and 
 he will ingenuously confess to his God, before all men, how 
 he hath sinned and transgressed against his Father; and 
 will fall down at the feet of God, and cry out, 'Thou art 
 righteous, for I have sinned; and thou art gracious, that 
 notwithstanding my sin, thou shouldst save me.^ Now, I 
 say, if the Christian is so simple and plain-hearted with 
 God, in the days of his imperfection, when he is accompa- 
 nied with many infirmities and temptations; how freely will 
 he confess and acknowledge his miscarriages, when he comes 
 before the Lord and Saviour, absolutely stripped of all 
 temptation and imperfection. "As I live, saith the Lord, 
 every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess 
 to God.'' Every knee shall bow, and reverence God the 
 Creator, and Christ the Redeemer of the world; and every 
 tongue shall confess that his will alone ought by them to 
 have been obeyed in all things; and shall confess also, and 
 that most naturally and freely (I mean the saints shall) in 
 how many things they were deceived, mistaken, deluded, 
 
334 THE RESURREOTIUX OP THE DEAD. 
 
 and drawn aside in their intended devotion and honor to 
 God. 
 
 But yet take notice, that in this day, when the saints are 
 thus accounting for their evil before their Saviour and 
 Judge, they shall not then, at the remembrance and con- 
 fession of sin, be filled with that guilt, confusion, and shame, 
 that now, through the weakness of faith, attend their souls ; 
 neither shall they, in the least, be grieved or offended, 
 that God hath before the angels, and the rest of their holy 
 brethren, laid open, to a tittle, their infirmities, from the 
 least and first, to the biggest and last. 
 
 For, (1.) The God to whom they confess all, they will 
 now, more perfectly than ever, see doth love them, and free 
 them from all, even when and before, they confess and ac- 
 knowledge them to him. And they shall, I say, have their 
 soul so full of the ravishing rapture of the life and glory 
 that now they are in, that they shall be of it swallowed up 
 in that measure and manner, that neither fear, nor guilt, 
 nor confusion, can come near them or touch them. Their 
 Judge is their Saviour, their husband, and head; who, 
 though he will bring every one of them for all things to 
 judgment, yet he will keep them for ever out of condemna- 
 tion, and any thing that tendeth that way. " Perfect love 
 casteth out fear,'^ even now : much more then, when we are 
 with our Saviour, our Jesus, being passed from death to life. 
 
 (2.) The saints at that day shall have their hearts and 
 souls so wrapped up in the pleasure of God their Saviour, 
 that it shall be their delight to see all things (though once 
 ever so near and dear unto them) yet now perish, if not 
 according to his word and will. " Thy will be done," is to 
 be always our language here; but to delight to see it done 
 in all things, though it tend ever so much to the destruction 
 of what we love — to delight, I say, in the height and per- 
 fection of delight, to see it done, will be when we come to 
 heaven, or when the Lord shall come to judge the world. 
 
HAPPINESS OF SAINTS IN CONFESSION. 335 
 
 (3.) But, the end of the accounting of the saints at the 
 day of God, will be, not only the vindication of the right- 
 eousness, holiness, and purity of the word; neither will it 
 centre only in the manifestation of the knowledge and heart- 
 discerning nature of Christ (though both these will be in 
 it) ; but the very remembrances, and sight of sin and vanity 
 that they have done while here, shall both set off, and 
 heighten the tender affections of their God unto them, and 
 also increase their joy and sweetness of soul, and clinging 
 of heart to their God. Saints while here, are sweetly sensi- 
 ble that the sense of sin, and the assurance of pardon, will 
 make famous work in their poor hearts. Ah, what meltings, 
 without guilt; what humility, without casting down; and 
 what a sight of the creature's nothingness, yet without fear, 
 will this sense of sin work in the soul ! The sweetest frame, 
 the most heart-endearing frame that a Christian can possibly 
 get into, while in this world, is to have a warm sight of sin, 
 and of a Saviour, upon the heart at one time. Now it weeps 
 not for fear, and through torment, but by virtue of constrain- 
 ing grace and mercy ; and is at this very time so far off of 
 disquietness of heart, by reason of the sight of its wicked- 
 ness, that it is driven into an ecstasy, by reason of the love 
 and mercy that is mingled with the sense of sin in the soul. 
 The heart never sees so much of the power of mercy as now, 
 nor of the virtue, value, and excellency of Christ in all his 
 offices as now ; nor is the tongue so sweetly enlarged to pro- 
 claim and cry up grace, as now. Now will Christ come to 
 be glorified in his saints, and admired in them that believe. 
 
 Wherefore, though the saints receive by faith the forgive- 
 ness of sins in this life, and so are passed from death to life, 
 yet again, Christ Jesus, and God his Father, will have every 
 one of these sins reckoned up again, and brought fresh upon 
 the stage in the day of judgment, that they may see, and be 
 sensible for ever, what grace and mercy hath laid hold upon 
 them. And this I take to be the reason of that remarkable 
 
336 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 saying of the apostle Peter, ''■ Repent ye, therefore, and be 
 converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the 
 times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
 Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was 
 preached unto you : whom the heaven must receive until the 
 times of restitution of all things, spoken of by the mouth of 
 all the holy prophets since the world began/' 
 
 If a sense of some sin, (for who sees all ?) and a sight of 
 the love of Grod, will here so work upon the spirit of the 
 godly ; what will a sight of all sin do, when together with it, 
 they are personally present with their Lord and Saviour? 
 
 Yea, if a sight of some sins, with a possibility of pardon, 
 will make the heart love, reverence, and fear, with guiltless 
 and heart-affecting fears; what will a general sight of all his 
 sins, and together with them an eternal acquittance from 
 them, work on the heart of a saint for ever ? 
 
 Yea, I say again, if a sight of sin, and the love of God, 
 will make such work in that soul, where j^et there is unbe- 
 lief, blindness, mistrust, and forgetfulness, what will a sight 
 of sin do in that soul, who is swallowed up of love ; who is 
 sinless and temptationless; who hath all faculties of soul 
 and body strained, by love and grace, to the highest pin of 
 perfection that is possible to be in glory enjoyed and pos- 
 sessed ? the wisdom and goodness of God, that he at this 
 day should so turn about the worst of our things (even 
 those that naturally tend to sink us, and damn us) for our 
 great advantage ! All things shall work together for good, 
 indeed, to them that love God. Those sins that brought a 
 curse upon the whole world, that spilt the heart-blood of our 
 dearest Saviour, and that laid his tender soul under the 
 flaming wrath of God, shall, by his wisdom and love, tend 
 to the exaltation of his grace, and the inflaming of our affec- 
 tions to him for ever and ever. 
 
 It will not be thus with devils; it will not be thus with 
 reprobates : the saved only have this privilege peculiar to 
 
INQUIRY INTO THE GOOD DONE HERE. 337 
 
 themselves. Wherefore, (to vary a little from the matter 
 in hand) ; will God make that use of sin, even in our ac- 
 counting of it, that shall in this manner work for our ad- 
 vantage? Why, then, let saints also make that advantage 
 of their sin, as to glorify Grod thereby. Which is to be 
 done, not by saying. Let us do evil that good may come, or, 
 Let us sin that grace may abound; but by taking occasion 
 by the sin that is past, to set the crown upon the head of 
 Christ for our justification; continually looking upon it, so 
 as to press us to cleave close to the Lord Jesus, to grace 
 and mercy through him, and to the keeping of us humble 
 for ever, under all his dispensations and carriages to us. 
 
 2. Now having accounted for all their evil, and confessed 
 to God's glory how they fell short, and did not the truth in 
 this or that, or other particular; and having received their 
 eternal acquittance, from the Lord and Judge, in the sight 
 of both angels and saints; forthwith the Lord Jesus will 
 make inquiry into all their good; the holy actions and deeds 
 they did do in the world. Now here shall all things be reck- 
 oned up, from the very first good thing that was done by 
 Adam or Abel, to the last that will fall out to be done in 
 the world : the good of all the holy prophets, of all apos- 
 tles, pastors, teachers, and helps in the church. Here also 
 will be brought forth and to light, all the good carriages of 
 masters of families, of parents, of children, of servants, of 
 neighbors, or whatever good things any man doth. 
 
 But to be general and short. (1.) Here will be a recom- 
 pense for all that have sincerely labored in the word and 
 doctrine; I say, a recompense for all the souls they have 
 saved by their word, and watered by the same. 
 
 Now shall Paul the planter, and Apollos the waterer, with 
 every one of their companions, receive the reward that is 
 according to their works. 
 
 Now all the preaching, praying, watching, and labor, thou 
 hast been at, in thy endeavoring to catch men from Hatau 
 
 29 
 
338 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 to God, shall be rewarded with spangling glory. Not a soul 
 thou hast converted to the Lord Jesus, nor a soul thou hast 
 comforted, strengthened, or helped by wholesome counsel, 
 admonition, and comfortable speech, but it shall stick as a 
 pearl in that crown, which the Lord the righteous Judge 
 shall give thee at that day; that is, if thou dost it willingly, 
 delighting to lift up the name of God among men ; if thou 
 dost it with love, and longing after the salvation of sinners ; 
 otherwise thou wilt have only thy labor for thy pains, and 
 no more. If I do this willingly, I have a reward ; but if 
 against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed to 
 my charge. But I say, if thou do it graciously, then a re- 
 ward followeth. ^'For what is our hope, our joy, our crown 
 of rejoicing? Are not even ye," saith Paul, "in the pre- 
 sence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? for ye are 
 our glory and joy.'' Let him, therefore, that Christ hath 
 put into his harvest, take comfort in the midst of all his sor- 
 row, and know that God acknowledgeth, that he that con- 
 verteth a sinner from the error of his way, doth even save 
 that soul from death, and covereth a multitude of sins. 
 Wherefore labor to convert, labor to water, labor to build 
 up, and to feed the flock of God which is among you, taking 
 the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not 
 for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; "and when the chief 
 Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that 
 fadeth not away." 
 
 (2.) And as the minister of Christ's gospel shall at this day 
 be recompensed; so shall also those more private saints be 
 with tender affections and love looked on, and rewarded for 
 all their work and labor of love, which they have showed to 
 the name of Christ, in ministering to his saints, and suffer- 
 ing for his sake. "Whatsoever good thing any man doeth, 
 the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond" 
 or free." Ah ! little do the people of God think how 
 largely and thoroughly God will at that day own and re- 
 
THE REWARDS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 339 
 
 compense all tlie good and holy acts of his people. Every 
 bit, every drop, every rag, and every night's harbor, though 
 but in a wisp of straw, shall be rewarded in that day before 
 men and angels. ^^ Whosoever shall give to drink to one of 
 these little ones a cup of cold water, only in the name of a 
 disciple, verily I say unto you,^^ saith Christ, ^^he shall in 
 no wise lose a disciple's reward,^' ^^ Therefore, when thou 
 makest a feast," saith he, ^^ call the poor, the maimed, the 
 lame, and the blind : and thou shalt be blessed ; for they 
 cannot recompense thee : for thou shalt be recompensed at 
 the resurrection of the just.'' If there be any repentance 
 among the godly at this day, it will be, because the Lord 
 Jesus, in his person, members, and word, was no more 
 owned, honored, entertained, and provided for by them, 
 when they were in this world ; for it will be ravishing to all, 
 to see what notice the Lord Jesus will then take of every 
 widow's mite. He, I say, will call to mind, even all those 
 acts of mercy and kindness which thou hast showed to him, 
 when thou wast among men. I say, he will remember, cry 
 up, and proclaim before angels and saints, those very acts 
 of thine, which thou hast either forgotten, or, through bash- 
 fulness, will not at that day count worth the owning. He 
 will reckon them up so fast, and so fully, that thou wilt cry, 
 Lord, when did I do this? and when did I do the other? 
 '^ When saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee ? or thirsty 
 and gave thee drink ? When saw we thee a stranger, and 
 took thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee ? or when saw we 
 thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King 
 shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say unto you, in- 
 asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
 my brethren, ye have done it unto me." ^The good works 
 of some are manifest beforehand, and they that are other- 
 wise cannot be hid. Whatever thou hast done to one of the 
 least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me. I 
 felt the nourishment of thy food, and the warmth of thy 
 
340 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 fleece; I remember thy loving and holy visits, when my 
 poor members were the sick, and in prison, and the like. 
 When they were strangers, and wanderers in the world, thou 
 tookest them in. "Well done, thou good and faithful ser- 
 vant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'' ' 
 
 (3.) Here also will be a reward for all that hardness, and 
 Christian enduring of affliction, that thou hast met with for 
 thy Lord, whilst thou wast in the world. Here now will 
 Christ begin from the greatest suffering, even to the least, 
 and bestow a reward on them all ; from the blood of the 
 suffering saint, to the loss of an hair ; nothing shall go un- 
 rewarded: for these light afflictions, which are but for a 
 moment, do work out for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory. Behold, by the scriptures, how 
 God hath recorded the sufferings of his people, and also how 
 he hath promised to reward them. "Blessed are they which 
 are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the 
 kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile 
 you, and shall speak all manner of evil against you falsely 
 for my sake. Rejoice, and leap for joy, and be exceeding 
 glad, for great is your reward in heaven." "And every 
 one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or 
 father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my 
 name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit 
 everlasting life." 
 
 (4.) There is also a reward at this day, for all the more 
 secret, and more retired works of Christianity. 1. There is 
 not now one act of faith in the soul, either upon Christ, or 
 against the devil and Antichrist, but it shall in this day be 
 found out, and praised, honored, glorified, in the face of 
 heaven. 2. There is not one groan to God in secret, against 
 thine own lusts, and for more grace, light, spirit, sanctifica- 
 tion, and strength, to go through this world like a Christian, 
 but it shall even at the coming of Christ be rewarded openly. 
 3. There hath not one tear dropped from thy tender eye 
 
SECRET GOODNESS REWARDED OPENLY. 341 
 
 against thy lusts, the love of this world, or for more com- 
 munion with Jesus Christ, hut as it is now in the bottle of 
 God, so then it shall bring forth such plenty of reward, that 
 it shall return upon thee with abundance of increase. 
 '^Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. ^^ 
 " Thou tellest my wanderings : put thou my tears into thy 
 bottle; are they not in thy book ?'' ^' They that sow in 
 tears shall reap in joy." ^^He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
 bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with re- 
 joicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'^ 
 
 Having thus in brief showed you something concerning 
 the resurrection of the saints, and that they shall account 
 with their Lord at his coming, both for the burning up 
 what was not according to the truth, and rewarding them 
 for all their good; it remains that I now, in few words, 
 show you something also of that with which they shall be 
 rewarded. 
 
 1. Then those that shall be found in the day of their res- 
 urrection, when they shall have all their good things brought 
 upon the stage — they, I say, that then shall be found the 
 people most laborious for God while here, shall at that 
 day enjoy the greatest portion of God, or shall be possessed 
 with most of the glory of the Godhead then : for that is the 
 portion of the saints in general. And why shall he that 
 doth most for God in this world, enjoy most of him in that 
 which is to come, but because by doing and acting, the 
 heart, and every faculty of the soul is enlarged, and more 
 capacitated, whereby more room is made for glory? Every 
 vessel of glory shall at that day be full of it ; but every one 
 will not be able to contain a like measure. And so if they 
 should have it communicated to them, they would not be 
 able to stand under it ; for there is an eternal weight in the 
 glory that saints shall there enjoy; and every vessel must 
 be at that day filled, that is, have its heavenly load of it. 
 
 All Christians have not the same enjoyment of God in 
 29* 
 
342 THE REcUnPtZCTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 this life, neither indeed were they able to bear it, if they 
 had it. But those Christians that are most laborious for 
 Grod in this world, they have already most of him in their 
 souls; and that not only because diligence in God's ways, 
 is the means whereby God communicates himself, but also 
 because thereby the senses are made more strong and able, 
 by reason of use, to understand God, and to discern both 
 good and evil. For he that hath, to him shall be given, 
 and he shall have more abundantly. He that laid out his 
 pound for his master, and gained ten therewith, he was 
 made ruler over ten cities ; but he that by his pound gained 
 but five, he was made ruler over but five. Often he that is 
 best bred in his youth, is best able to manage most when he 
 is a man (touching things of this life) ; but always he that 
 is best bred, and that is most in the bosom of God, and that 
 so acts for him here, he is the man that will be best able to 
 enjoy most of God in the kingdom of heaven. It is ob- 
 servable, that Paul saith. Our afflictions work out for us a 
 far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Our afflic- 
 tions do it ; not only because there is laid up a reward for 
 the afflicted, according to the measure of affliction; but 
 because affliction, and so every service of God doth make 
 the heart more deep, more experimental, more knowing and 
 profound, and so more able to hold, contain, and bear more : 
 ^' every man shall receive his own reward, according to his 
 own labor.'^ And this is the very reason of such sayings as 
 these : " Lay up for yourselves a good foundation against 
 the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life :" 
 which eternal life is not the matter of our justification 
 from sin in the sight of God; for that is done freely by 
 grace through faith in Christ's blood; but as here the apostle 
 speaks of giving alms, it is the same that in the other place 
 he calls the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory." And h§nce it is that he, in his stirring them up to 
 be diligent in good works, doth tell them, that he doth not 
 
NATURE AND MEASURE OF THE REWARDS. 3 13 
 
 exhort them to it because he wanted, but because he would 
 have, '^ fruit that might abound to their account/' As he 
 saith also in another place, ^^ Beloved brethren, be steadfast, 
 unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; 
 forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the 
 Lord." Therefore, I say, the reward that the saints shall 
 have at this day, for all the good they have done, is the en- 
 joyment of Grod according to their works; though they shall 
 be freely justified and glorified without works. 
 
 2. As the enjoyment of Grod at that day will be to the 
 saints according to their works and doings (I speak not now 
 of justification from sin); so will their praise and commenda- 
 tions at that day be according to the same ; and both of them 
 be their degrees of glory. For I say, as Grod by communi- 
 cating of himself unto us at that day, will thereby glorify us ; 
 so also he will (for the adding all things that may furnish 
 with glory every way) cause to be proclaimed in the face of 
 heaven, and in the presence of all the holy angels, every 
 thing that hath been done by us for God, his ways and 
 people, while we have been here. " Whatsoever ye have 
 spoken in darkness, shall i)e heard in the light : and that 
 which ye have spoken in the ear in closets, shall be pro- 
 claimed upon the house-tops." Again, ^' He that shall 
 confess me," saith he, '' before men, him will I confess 
 before the angels of Grod." 
 
 Now as he of whom Christ is ashamed when he comes in 
 his glory, and in the glory of the holy angels, will then lie 
 under inconceivable disgrace, shame, dishonor, and con- 
 tempt; so he whom Christ shall confess, own, commend, 
 and praise at that day, must needs have very great dignity, 
 honor, and renown ; for then, shall every man have praise 
 of God, namely, according to his works. Now will Christ 
 proclaim before thee, and all others, what thou hast done, 
 and what thou hast suffered, what thou hast owned, and 
 what thou hast withstood for his name. ^ This is he that 
 
844 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 forsook his goods, his relations^ his country, and life for me ! 
 This is the man that overcame the flatteries and threats, 
 allurements and enticings of a whole world for me ! Behold 
 him, he is an Israelite indeed — the top man in his genera- 
 tion — none like him in all the earth I' 
 
 It is said, that when king Ahasuerus had understanding 
 of how good service Mordecai the Jew had done to and for 
 him, he commanded that the royal apparel and the crown, 
 with the horse that the king did ride on, should be given to 
 him, and that he should with that crown, apparel, and horse, 
 be led through the city, in the presence of all his nobles, 
 and that proclamation should be made before him, " Thus 
 shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to 
 honor/ ^ Ahasuerus in this way was a type to hold forth to 
 the children of God, how kindly he will take all their labor 
 and service of love, and how he will honor and dignify the 
 same. As Christ saith, " Let your loins be girded about, 
 and your lights burning ; and ye yourselves like unto men 
 that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wed- 
 ding ; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open 
 to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the 
 Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: Verily I say 
 unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit 
 down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." The 
 meaning is, that those souls that shall make it their business 
 to honor the Lord Jesus Christ in the day of their tempta- 
 tion, he will make it his business to honor and glorify them 
 in the day of his glorification : " Yerily, I say unto you, that 
 he will make them sit down to meat, and shall come forth 
 and serve them.'' " If any man will serve me," saith he, 
 ^' him will my Father honor." It hath been God's way in 
 this world, to proclaim the acts and doings of his saints in 
 his word, before all in this world, and he will do it in that 
 which is to come. 
 
 3. Another thing that shall be yet added to the glory of 
 
HONOR AND GLORY PUT ON THE SAINTS. 345 
 
 the saints, in the kingdom of their Saviour, at his coming, 
 is, they shall every one of them then have his throne and 
 place of degree on Christ's right hand and on his left, in his 
 glorious kingdom, according to the relation they stand in to 
 Christ, as the members of his body. For as Christ will have 
 a special eye on us, and a tender and affectionate heart, to 
 recompense to the full, every good thing that any man doeth 
 for his name in the world; so also he will have as great re- 
 gard, that there be to every member of his body, the place 
 and state that is comely for every such member. When the 
 mother of Zebedee's children petitioned our Saviour, that he 
 would grant to her, that her two sons might sit, the one on 
 the right hand, and the other on the left, in his kingdom, 
 though he did not grant to her the request for her children, 
 yet he affirmed, that there would be places of degrees and 
 honor in heaven, saying, " To sit on my right hand, and on 
 my left, is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them 
 for whom it is prepared of my Father.^' 
 
 In the temple there were chambers bigger and lesser, 
 higher and lower, more inward and more outward ; which 
 chambers were types of the mansions that our Lord, when 
 he went away, told us he went to prepare for us. '^In my 
 Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I 
 would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." 
 The foot here shall not have the place prepared for the eye ; 
 nor yet the hand, that which is prepared for the ear; but 
 every one shall have his own place in the body of Christ, 
 and the glory also prepared for such a relation. Order, as 
 it is comely in earth, so much more in the kingdom of the 
 God of order, in heaven, where all things shall be done in . 
 their utmost perfections. Here shall Enoch, Noah, Abra- 
 ham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, with the prophets, 
 have every one his place, according to the degree of Old 
 Testament saints. As God said to Daniel, ^^Go thou thy 
 way till the end be : for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot 
 
346 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 at the end of the days," And here also, shall Peter, Paul, 
 Timothy, and all the other church-officers, have their place, 
 and heavenly state, according as God hath set them in the 
 Church in the New Testament. As Paul saith of the dea- 
 cons, ^'They that use the office of a deacon well, purchase 
 to themselves a good degree — and great boldness in the faith 
 which is in Christ.'^ And so of all other saints, be they 
 here of what rank, quality, or place in the Church soever, 
 they shall have every one his state, his heavenly state, ac- 
 cording as he standeth in the body of Christ : as he saith, 
 '^seeing those members that are most feeble, are necessary, 
 to them shall be given more abundant honor/' 
 
 Of this heavenly order in the kingdom of Christ, when his 
 saints are risen from the dead, was Solomon a notable type, 
 in his family and among his servants and officers; who kept 
 such exactness in the famous order in which he had placed 
 all about him, that it did amaze and confound beholders. 
 For when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solo- 
 mon, and the house which he built, and the meat of his 
 table, the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his 
 ministers and their apparel, his cup-bearers also and their 
 apparel, and the ascent by which he went up into the house 
 of the Lord ; there was no more spirit in her. " Glorious 
 things are spoken of thee, thou city of God I" 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 RESURRECTION OP THE UNJUST. 
 
 Having gone this far, I shall now come to the second 
 part of the text, namely, that there shall be a resurrection of 
 THE WICKED : *^ There shall be a resurrection of the dead, 
 both of the just and unjust.'^ For as the just go before the 
 unjust, in name, and dignity, and honor; so they shall, in 
 the last day, go before them in the resurrection. 
 
 Now, then, when the saints have thus risen out of their 
 graves, given up their accounts, received their glory, and 
 are set upon the thrones (for ^Hhere are set thrones of 
 judgment, the thrones of the house of David' ^) ; when, I 
 say, they are all of them in royal apparel, with crowns of 
 glory, every one presenting the person of a king; then come 
 the unjust out of their graves, to receive their judgment for 
 what they have done in the body; as Paul saith, ^'We must 
 all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every 
 one'' (both saints and sinners) "may receive the things done 
 in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be 
 good or bad/' 
 
 But now, because I would prove by the word of God, 
 whatever I would have others receive for a truth, therefore 
 I shall in a few particulars, prove the resurrection of the 
 wicked. 
 
 1. First, then. It is evident, that the wicked shall rise, 
 from the very terms and names that the raised shall then 
 go under; which are the very same names that they did go 
 under when they lived in this world. They are called the 
 heathen, the nations, the world, the wicked, and those that 
 do iniquity; they are called men, women, Sodom, Sidon, 
 
 (347) 
 
348 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 Bethsaida, Capernaum, and Tjre. Then " the men of Ni- 
 neve shall rise up in judgment; the queen of the south 
 shall rise up in the judgment; and it shall be more tolerable 
 for Sodom in the day of judgment/' than for other sinners 
 that have resisted more light. ^' The heavens and the earth 
 that now are, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against 
 the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. '^ Now, 
 these terms, or names, are not given to the spirits of the 
 wicked only; but to them as consisting of body and soul. 
 Further, Christ tells his adversaries, when they had appre- 
 hended him, and shamefully treated him, that yet they 
 should see him sit on the right hand of power, and coming 
 in the clouds of heaven; as John also doth testify. "Be- 
 hold, he Cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, 
 and they also that pierced him; and all the kindreds of the 
 earth shall wail because of him.'' Now none of these say- 
 ings are yet fulfilled ; neither shall they be until his second 
 coming. For though the Jews did many of them see him, 
 when he did hang upon the cross; yet then he was not com- 
 ing in the clouds of heaven; neither did then all kindreds 
 of the earth wail because of him. No; this is reserved till 
 he comes to judge the world; for then shall the ungodly be 
 so put to it, that gladly would they creep into the most in- 
 visible rock or mountain under heaven, to hide themselves 
 from his face and the majesty of his heavenly presence. 
 There shall therefore, that this may be brought to pass, be 
 a resurrection of the dead, "both of the just and unjust." 
 For though an opinion of no resurrection may now lull men 
 asleep, in security and impiety; yet the Lord, when he 
 comes, will rouse them, and cause them to awake, not only 
 out of their security, but out of their graves, to their doom ; 
 that they may receive for their error the recompense that is 
 meet. 
 
 2. The body of the ungodly must, at last, arise out of 
 the grave, because that body and their soul, while they lived 
 
EXTENDS TO THE UNJUST. 849 
 
 in the world, were copartners in their lusts and wickedness. 
 God is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 
 " He will therefore bring every work into judgment, with 
 every secret thing/' And as he will bring into judgment 
 every work ; so will he also the workers thereof, even ^^ the 
 dead, small and great/' It is not in God to lay the punish- 
 ment where the fault is not, neither to punish a part of the 
 damned for the whole. " With righteousness shall he judge 
 the world, and the people with equity." ^' Shall not the 
 judge of all the earth do right ?'' As therefore, the body 
 was copartner with the soul in sinning, so shall every man 
 receive the things done in his body, according to what he 
 hath done. Wherefore he saith in another place, ^^ Behold 
 I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every 
 man according as his work shall be." There shall there- 
 fore be " a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and 
 unjust." 
 
 3. The body of the wicked must rise again; because, as 
 the whole man of the just also is the vessel of mercy and 
 glory, so the whole man of the unjust is the vessel of wrath 
 and destruction : " There are," saith Paul, ^' in a great 
 house, not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood 
 and of earth ; and some to honor and some to dishonor." 
 Now, as he showeth us, these vessels to honor, are the 
 good men, and the vessels to dishonor are the bad. Now, 
 as the vessels to dishonor are called the vessels of wrath ; so 
 it is said, that God, with much long suifering, doth suffer 
 them to be fitted to destruction. How they are thus fitted, 
 he also further showeth, where he saith, they do, "after 
 their hard and impenitent heart, treasure up wrath against 
 the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judg- 
 ment of God." Which treasure of wickedness, James saith, 
 is treasured up " against the last days," which is the time 
 of judgment. And observe it, he saith, that it shall then 
 ^'eat their ^es^ as it were fire." Now, then, their bodies 
 
 30 
 
350 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.; 
 
 being the vessels of the wrath of Grod; and again, seeing 
 with this wrath they must be so possessed at the last day, 
 that their flesh must with it be eaten, it is evident that 
 their body must rise again out of their graves, and appear 
 before the judgment-seat ; for it is from thence that each 
 of them must go, with this full load, to their long and eter- 
 nal home, " where their worm dieth not and the fire is not 
 quenched/' 
 
 4. The severity of the hand of God towards his children, 
 with his forbearance of his enemies, doth clearly bespeak a 
 resurrection of the ungodly, that they may receive the re- 
 ward for their wickedness which they have committed in this 
 world. We know, that while " the eyes of the wicked stand 
 out with fatness, the godly are plagued all the day long, and 
 chastened every morning.'' Wherefore it is evident, that the 
 place and time of the punishment of the ungodly, is in 
 another world. ^^If judgment begin at the house of God, 
 what will the end of them be that obey not the gospel of 
 God ? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall 
 the ungodly and sinner appear?" Alas, poor creatures! 
 they now "plot against the righteous, and gnash upon them 
 with their teeth ; but the Lord laugheth at them ; for he 
 seeth their day is coming;" for as he saith, the "wicked is re- 
 served (or let alone in his wickedness) to the day of destruc- 
 tion, and shall then be brought forth to the day of wrath ;" 
 though, in the mean time, he may go to his grave in his 
 banner, and rest within his tomb. As Peter saith ajrain, 
 " The Lord knowcth how to deliver the godly out of tempta- 
 tions, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to 
 be punished." And Jude saith, "For them is reserved the 
 blackness of darkness for ever." The punishment of the 
 ungodly, is reserved till the day of judgment, which will be 
 the time of their resurrection. Observe, (1.) The wicked 
 must be punished. (2.) The time of their punishment is 
 not now, but at the day of judgment. (3.) This day of 
 
THE WICKED MUST ARISE. 351 
 
 judgment must be tlie same witli the resurrection of the 
 dead, at the end of this world. "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 which do iniquity, and shall cast them into 
 a furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of 
 teeth." Thei'e shall then be " a resurrection of the dead, 
 both of the just and unjust.'^ 
 
 5. The sovereignty of the Lord Jesus over all creatures, 
 doth plainly foreshow a resurrection of the bad, as well as 
 of the good. Indeed, the unjust shall not arise, by virtue 
 of any relation they stand in to the Lord Jesus, as the saints 
 shall ; but yet, because all are delivered into his hand, and 
 he made sovereign Lord over them, therefore by an act of 
 his sovereign power, they that are ungodly shall arise. This 
 is Christ's own argument, " The Father judgeth no man," 
 saith he, " but hath committed all judgment unto the Son 
 that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the 
 Father" (that is, count him, and fall before him as their 
 sovereign Lord) : " and he hath given him authority to exe- 
 cute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." And 
 then he adds, " Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, 
 in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 
 and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the 
 resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil unto the 
 resurrection of damnation." From hence Paul argueth, 
 saying, "For this cause he both died, rose and revived, 
 that he might be Lord both of the dead, and living." And 
 then adds, " We must all stand before the judgment-seat of 
 Christ." 
 
 Pray, mind these words. Jesus Christ by his death and 
 resurrection, did not only purchase grace and remission of 
 sins for his elect, with their eternal glory; but did thereby 
 also obtain of the Father, to be Lord and head over all 
 
352 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 things, whether they be things in heaven, or things on earth, 
 or things under the earth. ^^All power,'' saith he, "in 
 heaven and in earth, is given unto me," and " I have the 
 keys of hell and of death." So that all things, I say 
 "whether they be visible or invisible, whether they be 
 thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers ; all things 
 were created by him, and for him." This being thus, at 
 the name of Jesus every knee must bow, and every tongue 
 shall confess that he is sovereign Lord, to the glory of Grod 
 the Father. Now, that this may be done, he hath his reso- 
 lutions upon a judgment day, in which he, to show himself, 
 his people, his way, and word in their glory, will have all 
 his enemies raised out of their graves, and brought before 
 him, where he will sit in judgment upon them on the 
 throne of his glory, and will show them then, " who is the 
 blessed and only Potentate the Kinj^ of kings, and Lord of 
 lords." 
 
 "Behold, he cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to 
 execute judgment upon all; and to convince all that are 
 ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they 
 have committed, and of all their hard speeches which un- 
 godly sinners have spoken against him." 
 
 6. The great preparation that Grod hath made for the 
 judgment of the wicked, doth clearly demonstrate their 
 rising forth out of their graves. 1. He hath aj^pointed the 
 day of their rising. 2. He hath appointed their judge to 
 judge them. 3. He hath recorded their acts and doings 
 against that day. 4. He hath also already appointed the 
 witnesses to come in against them. 5. The instruments of 
 death and misery, are already prepared for them. 
 
 For the first. He hath appointed the da^ of their rising, 
 which day John calleth "the time of the dead, that they 
 should be judged." Which time, Paul saith, is a time 
 fixed; " He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge 
 the world," &c. This time and day, Christ brings down to 
 
THE PREPARATIONS MADE. 353 
 
 an hour, Scaying, '^The hour is coming, when all that are in 
 their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." 
 
 As he hath appointed the day, so he hath appointed the 
 judge; ^'He hath appointed a day, in the which he will 
 judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath 
 ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in 
 that he hath raised him from the dead." This man is 
 Jesus Christ; for ^^it is he that is ordained of Grod, to be 
 the judge of the quick and the dead." 
 
 All their deeds and works, to a word and thought, are 
 every one already recorded and enrolled in the books of the 
 laws of heaven against that day. '^The sin of Judah is 
 written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond, 
 upon the table of their heart." And again, saith God, 
 ^' Write it in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be 
 for the time to come, for ever and ever, that this is a rebel- 
 lious house." 
 
 God hath prepared his loitnesses against this day. 
 
 The instruments of death and eternal misery, are already 
 prepared. ^^He hath prepared for them the instruments of 
 death; he hath ordained his arrows against the face of per- 
 secutors." Hell ^^is of old prepared; he hath made it deep 
 and large;" the fire, the everlasting fire, is also now of a 
 long time prepared ; the heavy weights of God's curse are 
 also ready, and 'Hheir damnation now of a long time slum- 
 bereth not." But now, I say, how ridiculous a business 
 would all this be, if these things should be all prepared of 
 the only wise God, and there should be none to be judged; 
 or if he that is ordained judge, should not, either through 
 want of power or will, command these rebels, and force 
 them before his judgment-seat. Glad, indeed, would the 
 sinners be, if things might be so; glad, I say, at very heart, 
 if they might be in their secret places of darkness and the 
 grave for ever. But it must not be. The day of their 
 rising is set; the judge is appointed; their deeds are writ- 
 
 30* 
 
854 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 ten; the deep dungeon is with open mouth, ever waiting for 
 them: wherefore, at the day appointed, neither earth, nor 
 death, nor hell can hinder. *^ There shall be a resurrection 
 of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 
 
 7. Lastly, Besides what hath been said, I cannot but be- 
 lieve there shall be a resurrection of the wicked at the last 
 day, because of the ungodly consequences and errors that do 
 most naturally follow the denial thereof. 
 
 For, (1.) He that taketh away the doctrine of the resur- 
 rection of the wicked, he taketh away one of the main argu- 
 ments that God hath provided to convince a sinner of the 
 evil of his ways. For how shall a sinner be convinced of 
 the evil of sin, if he be not convinced of the certainty of 
 eternal judgment? and how shall he be convinced of eternal 
 judgment, if you persuade him, that when he is dead, he 
 shall not at all rise? especially seeing the resurrection of 
 the dead and eternal judgment, must unavoidably be one 
 the forerunner of the other. It was Paul's reasoning of 
 righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, that made 
 Felix tremble. It is this also he calleth the argument of 
 terror, wherewith he persuaded men. This was Solomon's 
 argument, and Christ's also, where he saith, that every idle 
 word that man shall speak, he shall give an account thereof 
 in the day of judgment. 
 
 (2.) They that deny the resurrection of the wicked, do 
 both allow and maintain the chief doctrine of the Ranters,* 
 with most of the debauched persons in the world. For the 
 Ranters deny it both in principle and practice, and the 
 others in practice at least. Now, to me it is very strange, 
 that these men, above all others, should both know and live 
 in the doctrines of the kingdom of God; especially, seeing 
 
 * The Ranters were a mystical sect, who arose in England, A.D. 1645. They ad- 
 vocated the light of nature, like modern deceivers, under the name of Chrfst within. 
 Bunyan's " Gofjpd Truths Opened" was written against them.— J. N. B. 
 
A MAIN ARG U:\IEXT TOR CONVICTION. 355 
 
 the denial hereof is an evident token of one appointed to 
 wrath and destruction. But, to be plain, "there shall be a 
 resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 
 "Wherefore, whatever others may say or profess, being be- 
 guiled by Satan, and their own hearts, yet do thou "fear 
 him that can destroy both body and soul in hell.'' 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MANNER OF RISING OF THE UNJUST. 
 
 There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the 
 just and unjust. ^^ And the sea gave up the dead that were 
 in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in 
 them/' 
 
 Having, in the first place, showed jou, that the wicked 
 must arise, I shall, in the next place, show you the manner 
 of their rising. And, observe it, as the very titles of the 
 "just" and "unjust'^ are opposites, so they are in all other 
 matters, and in their resurrections. 
 
 First, then, as the just in their resurrection do come forth 
 in incorruption ; the unjust in their resurrection shall come 
 forth in their corruptions. For though the ungodly at their 
 resurrection shall for ever after be incapable of having both 
 body and soul separate; or, of their being annihilated into 
 nothing; yet it shall be far from them to rise in incorrup- 
 tion. For if they arise in incorruption, they must arise to 
 life, and also must have the conquest over sin and death. 
 But that they shall not; for it is the righteous only that 
 put on incorruption — that are swallowed up of life. The re- 
 surrection of the wicked, is called the ^^resurrection of damna- 
 tion." These, in their very resurrection shall be " hurt of the 
 second death." They shall arise in death, and shall be un- 
 der it, under the gnawings and terrors of it, all the time of 
 their arraignment. As it were, a living death shall feed 
 upon them; they shall never be spiritually alive, nor yet 
 absolutely dead ; but much after that manner that natural 
 death, and hell, by reason of guilt, do feed on him that is 
 going before the judge to receive his condemnation to the 
 (35G) 
 
THE UNJUST IN DREAD AND DISHONOR. 357 
 
 gallows. You know, though a felon go forth of the jail, 
 when he is going to the bar for his arraignment, yet he is 
 not out of prison, or out of his irons, for that ; his fetters 
 are still making a noise on his heels, and the thought of 
 what he is to hear by and by from the judge, is still fright- 
 ening and afflicting his heart. Death, like some evil spirit 
 or ghost, doth continually haunt him, and playeth the 
 butcher continually in his soul and conscience, with frights 
 and fears about the thoughts of the sudden and insupporta- 
 ble after-clap, which by and by he is to meet withal. 
 
 Thus, I say, will the wicked come out of their graves, 
 having yet the chains of eternal death hanging on them, and 
 the^ talons of that dreadful ghost fastened in their souls ; so 
 that life will be far from them, even as far as heaven is from 
 hell. This morning to them, is even as the shadow of 
 death. They will then be in the very terrors of the shadow 
 of death : as Christ saith, '^ Their worm never dies, and 
 their fire is never quenched.'' From death to eternity it 
 never shall be quenched : their bed is now among the 
 flames, and when they rise, they will rise in flames ; while 
 they stand before the judge, it will be in flames, even the 
 flames of a guilty conscience. They will in their coming 
 before the judge, be within the very jaws of death and 
 destruction. Thus, I say, the ungodly shall be far off" from 
 rising as the saints ; for they will be ever in the region and 
 shadow of death. The first moment of their rising, death 
 will be ever over them, ever feeding on their souls, and ever 
 presenting to their hearts the heights and depths of the 
 misery that now must seize them, and, like a bottomless 
 gulf, must swallow them up. ^'They shall come out of 
 their holes like worms of the earth, and be afraid of the 
 Lord our God.'' 
 
 2. As the resurrection of the godly shall be a resurrection 
 in glory ] so the resurrection of the wicked, will be a res- 
 urrection of dishonor. Yea, as the glory of saints at the 
 
358 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD., 
 
 day of their rising will be glory unspeakable ; so tbe dis- 
 honor of the ungodly at that day, will be dishonor beyond 
 expression. As Daniel saith, the good shall rise to ever- 
 lasting life, but the wicked to ^^ shame and everlasting con- 
 tempt.^' And again, ^' When thou, God, awakest," that 
 is, to judge them, " thou shalt despise their image. ^' Never 
 was a toad or serpent more loathsome to any than these will 
 be in the eyes of God, in their rising forth of their graves. 
 WJien they go to their graves (saith Job) ^' their bones are 
 full of the sin of their youth, which shall lie down with 
 them in the dust.'' And they shall arise in the same noisome 
 and stinking condition; for as death leaves, so judgment 
 finds them. At the resurrection then of these ungodly, they 
 will be in a very loathsome condition. 
 
 The ungodly at their death are like the thistle seed : but 
 at their rising, they will be like the thistle grown ; more 
 noisome, offensive, and provoking to rejection, abundantly. 
 Then such dishonor, shame, and contempt, will appear in 
 them, that neither God nor Christ, saints nor angels, will so 
 much as once regard them, or vouchsafe once to come near 
 them. " He beholdeth the wicked afar off." Because in 
 the day of grace they would not come to him, and be 
 saved, therefore now they shall all like thorns be thrust away 
 as with fences of iron. Their rising is called the resurrec- 
 tion of the "unjust;" and so they at that day will appear, and 
 will more stink in the nostrils of God, and all the heavenly 
 hosts, than if they had the most irksome plague-sores in the 
 world running on them. If a man at his birth be counted 
 as one cast forth to the loathing of his person; how loath- 
 some and irksome, dishonorable and contemptible, will 
 those be that shall arise Godless, Christless, Spiritless, and 
 graceless, when the trumpet sounds to their judgment; they 
 then coming out of their graves far more loathsome and 
 filthy, than if they should ascend out of the most filthy hole 
 on earth ! 
 
THE UNJUST IN WEAKNESS AND DESPAIR. 359 
 
 3. As the just shall rise in power; so the wicked and 
 unjust; in iceakness and astonishment. Sin and guilt bring 
 weakness and l^iintness in this life ; how much more, when 
 both, with all their power and force, like a giant, fasten on 
 them ! As God saith, ^^ Can thy hands be strong, and can 
 thy heart endure, in the day that I shall deal with thee V 
 Now will the ghastly jaws of despair gape upon thee, and 
 now will the condemnings of conscience, like thunder-claps, 
 continually batter against thy weary spirits. It is the 
 godly that have boldness in the day of judgment; but the 
 wicked will be like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 
 Oh ! the fear, and the heart-aching that will seize them in 
 their rising ! The frightful thoughts that then will fill 
 their throbbing hearts ! Now must that soul that hath 
 been in hell-fire among the devils possess the body again — 
 possess it, I say, but with the scalding stink of hell upon it. 
 They shall not be able to lift up the head for ever : ^^ pangs 
 shall take hold on them; all their hands shall faint, and 
 every man's heart shall melt; they shall be amazed one at 
 another; their faces shall be as flames." Every thing they 
 see, hear, or think of, shall tend to their discomfort. They 
 must needs be weak whom Grod hath left, whom guilt hath 
 seized, and whom death is swallowing up for ever ! 
 
 4. As the just shall arise in spiritual bodies, so the unjust 
 shall arise only as mere naked lumps of sinful nature; 
 not having the least help from God to bear them up under 
 this condition. Wherefore, so soon as ever they are risen 
 out of their graves, they will feel a continual sinking 
 uader every remembrance of every sin, and thoughts of 
 judgment. In their rising, they fall ; fall, I say, thence- 
 forth and for ever. And for this reason the dungeon into 
 which they fall, is called bottomless ; because as there will 
 be no end of their misery, so there will be no stay or 
 prop to bear them up in it. Only as I said before, they 
 
360 THE RESURUFXTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 shall not now, as afore, be separate body from soul; but 
 both together be bound in the cords of sin and iniquity, 
 in which they shall now tremble as thieves and murderers 
 do, as they go before the judge, to hear what he will say 
 unto them. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BOOKS OPENED FOR JUDGMENT. 
 
 Now, when the wicked are thus raised out of their graves, 
 they shall, together with all the angels of darkness, their 
 fellow-prisoners, be brought up, being shackled in their sins, 
 to the place of judgment; where there shall sit upon them 
 Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Lord 
 Chief Judge of things in heaven and earth, and things 
 under the earth. On whose right hand and left, shall sit 
 all the princes and heavenly nobles, the saints and prophets, 
 the apostles and witnesses of Jesus ; every one in his kingly 
 attire upon the throne of his glory. Then shall be fulfilled 
 that which is written, ''As for these my enemies, that would 
 not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay 
 them before me." 
 
 When every one is thus set in his proper place, the Judge 
 on his throne, with his attendants, and the prisoners coming 
 up to judgment, forthwith there shall issue forth a mighty 
 fire and tempest from before the throne, which shall compass 
 it round about. Which fire shall be as bars and bounds to 
 the wicked, to keep them at a certain distance from the 
 heavenly Majesty. As David saith, " Our God shall come, 
 and shall not keep silence : a fire shall devour before him, 
 and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.'^ And 
 again, Daniel saith, " His throne was like the fiery flame, 
 and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued, and 
 came forth from before him,'' &c. 
 
 This preparation being made, namely, the Judge with his 
 attendance on the throne, the bar for the prisoners, and the 
 rebels all standing with ghastly jaws, to look for what comes 
 31 (361) 
 
362 THE RESURRECTION OP THE DEAD. 
 
 after; presently the books are brought forth, namely, the 
 books both of death and life; and every one of them opened 
 before the sinners, now to be judged and condemned. For 
 after that he had said before, " A fiery stream issued, and 
 came forth from before him," he adds, " thousand thousands 
 ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
 stood before him : the judgment was set and the books were 
 opened." And again, '^I saw a great white throne, and 
 him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
 heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 
 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God : 
 and the books were opened ; and another book was opened, 
 which is the book of life : And the dead were judged out 
 the things which were written in the books, according to 
 their works." 
 
 He doth not say, the book was opened, as of one ; but the 
 books, as of many. And indeed, they are more than one, 
 two, or three, out of which the dead shall in the judgment 
 be proceeded against. 
 
 There is 1. The book of the Creation to be opened. 2. 
 The book of God's Remembrance. 3. The book of the 
 Law. 4. The book of Life. For by every one of these, 
 that is, out ef what is written in them, shall the ungodly be 
 judged. 
 
 "And the books were opened." 
 
 I. The book of the Creation shall be opened. And that, 
 first. As it concerns man's nature; and next, As it relates 
 to all other creatures. 
 
 First, He will show in what the principles of nature 
 were, as they were God's creation; and how contrary to 
 these principles the world have walked, acted, and done. 
 The principles of nature are concluded under these three 
 general heads. 
 
 1. That man, by his own natural reason and judgment, 
 may gather, that there is a God} a deity, a first chief, or 
 
THE BOOK OF CREATION. 363 
 
 principal being, wlio is over all, and supreme above all. 
 This instinct, I say, man, merely as he is a rational creature, 
 findeth in himself. And hence it is, that all heathens that 
 mind their own natural reason, do conclude, that " we are 
 his offspring ;" that is, his creation and workmanship ; that 
 ^'he made heaven and earth,'' and "hath made of one blood 
 all nations of men;" that "In him we live and move and 
 have our being/' &c. 
 
 It appears further, that man, by his own nature, doth 
 know that there is such a God. 
 
 (1.) By his being able to judge by nature, that there is 
 such a thing as sin. As Christ saith, "Why do ye not 
 even of yourselves judge that which is right?" as if he had 
 said, you are degenerated even from the principles of na- 
 ture and right reason. As Paul saith in another place, 
 "Doth not even nature itself teach you?" Now he that 
 can judge, that there is such a thing as sin, it must of ne- 
 cessity be, that he understandeth that there is a Grod, to 
 whom sin is opposite : for if there be no God, there is no 
 sin against him; and he that knows not the one, knows not 
 the other. 
 
 (2.) It is evident further, that man by nature knows that 
 there is a God, by those fits of fear and dread that are often 
 begotten in themselves, even in every man that breatheth in 
 this world. For they are by their own consciences and 
 thoughts, convicted and reproved, judged and condemned, 
 though they know neither Moses nor Christ. "For the Gen- 
 tiles, which have not the law," saith Paul, " these are a law 
 to themselves, and show the work of the law written in 
 their hearts;" that is, by this very thing, they hold forth 
 to all men, that God created them in that state and quality, 
 that they might, in and by their own nature, judge and 
 know that there is a God. And it further showeth itself, 
 saith he, by those workings of heart, convictions of con- 
 science, and accusations, that every thought maketh within 
 
364 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 them ; together with the fear that is begotten in them, when 
 they transgress, or do those things that are irrational, or 
 contrary to what they see they should do. I might add 
 further, that the natural proneness that is in all men to de- 
 votion and religion, that is, of one kind or another, doth 
 clearly tell us, that they, by the book of nature, which book 
 is themselves, do read, that there is one great and eternal 
 God. 
 
 2. The second principle of nature is, that this God should 
 hy men he sought after, that they might enjoy communion 
 with him for ever. As I said before, the light of nature 
 showeth man, that there is a great God, even God that 
 made the world ', and the end of its showing him this is, 
 ^Hhat they might seek the Lord, if haply they may feel 
 after him, and find him, though he be not far from every 
 one of us," &c. 
 
 3. This light of nature teacheth, that men hetween them,- 
 selves, should do that which is Just and equal. As Moses 
 said, and that long before the law was given, " Sirs, ye are 
 brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?'' As if he 
 should say, ' You are of equal creation, you are the same 
 flesh : you both judge, that it is not equally done of any to 
 do you wrong, and therefore ought to judge by the same 
 reason, that ye ought not to wrong one another.' 
 
 Now, against every one of these three principles hath 
 every man in the whole world transgressed : as Paul saith, 
 •' For both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin.'' 
 
 1. For, as touching the first, who is he that hath honored, 
 reverenced, worshipped, and adored the living God, to the 
 height both of what they saw in him, and also according to 
 the goodness and mercy they have as men, received from 
 him? All have "served and worshipped the creature more 
 than the Creator, who is blessed for ever," and so have 
 walked contrary to, and have sinned against this bond of 
 nature, in this first principle of it. 
 
ALL MANKIND UNDER SIN. 365 
 
 2. Men, instead of minding their own future happiness, 
 as nature teacheth, have, through their giving way to sin 
 and Satan, minded nothing less : for though reason teacheth 
 all men to love that which is good and profitable, yet they, 
 contrary to this, have loved that which is hurtful and de- 
 structive. Yea, though sense teacheth to avoid the danger 
 that is manifest; yet man, contrary to reason and sense 
 both, even all men have, both against light and feeling, re- 
 jected their own happiness. As Paul saith, ^Hhough they 
 know the judgment of Grod, that they which do such things 
 are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but take 
 pleasure in them that do them.'^ 
 
 3. Man, instead of doing equity, and as he would be done 
 by, which nature itself teacheth, hath given up himself un- 
 to vile affections. ^^ Being filled'' (by refusing the dictates 
 of nature) ^^with all unrighteousness, fornication, wicked- 
 ness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, ma- 
 lignity, whispering, backbiting; to hate Grod, to be despite- 
 ful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to 
 parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without 
 natural afi'ections, implacable, unmerciful.'^ 
 
 And observe it, he doth not say, that all these things are 
 by every man put into practice; but every man hath all 
 these in his heart, which there defile the soul, and make it 
 abominable in the sight of Grod. ^^They are filled with all 
 unrighteousness;" which also appears, as occasion serveth, 
 sometimes one • of them, sometimes more. Now, man hav- 
 ing sinned against the natural light, judgment, reason, and 
 conscience, that G-od hath given him : therefore, though, as 
 I said before, he neither knew Moses nor Christ, yet he shall 
 perish. '^As many," saith Paul, ^^as have sinned without 
 law, shall perish without law." 
 
 Yea, here will man be found, not only a sinner against 
 God, but an opposer of himself, a contradictor of his own 
 nature, and one that will not do that which he judgeth even 
 
 31* 
 
366 THE RESURRECTION OF TUE DEAD. 
 
 of himself to be right. Their sin is written upon the tables 
 of their own hearts, and their own wickedness and backslid- 
 ing shall both correct and reprove them. 
 
 It is marvellous, if we consider how curious a creature 
 man was made of God, to behold how much below, besides, 
 and against, that state and place, man acts and does in this 
 state of sin and degeneracy. Man, in his creation, was made 
 in the image of Grod ; but man, by reason of his yielding to 
 the tempter, hath made himself the very figure and image 
 of the devil. Man by creation, was made upright and sin- 
 less; but man, by sin, hath made himself crooked and sin- 
 ful. Man, by creation, had all the faculties of his soul at 
 liberty, to study Grod his Creator, and his glorious attributes 
 and being; but man, by sin, hath so bound up his own 
 senses and reason, and hath given way for blindness and 
 ignorance of Grod so to reign in his soul, that now he is 
 captivated, and held bound in alienation and estrangedness, 
 both from God, and all things truly spiritually good. " Be- 
 cause," saith Paul, ^^when they knew God, they glorified 
 him not as God ; but became vain in their imagination, and 
 their foolish hearts were darkened." And again, ^^ Having 
 the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life 
 of God, through the ignorance that is in them, through the 
 blindness of their hearts." 
 
 Now for this abuse of the workmanship of God, shall man 
 be brought forth to the judgment, shall be convicted, cast, 
 and condemned as a rebel, against both God and his own 
 soul; as Paul affirmeth, and that when he reasoned but as 
 a man. 
 
 When this part of the book touching man's nature is 
 opened, and man convicted and cast by it, by reason of his 
 sinning against the three general principles thereof, then 
 forthwith is the second part of the book opened, which is 
 the mystery of the creatures. For the whole of the crea- 
 tion before thee arc not only made to show the power of God 
 
ALL CREATURES SPEAK FOR GOD. 867 
 
 in themselves^ but also to teach thee, and to preach unto 
 thee, both much of God and thyself, as also the righteous- 
 ness and justice of God against sin. "For the wrath of 
 God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and 
 unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteous- 
 ness; because that which may be known of God is manifest 
 in them : for God hath showed it unto them. For the in- 
 visible things of him from the creation of the world, are 
 clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, 
 even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are with- 
 out excuse." 
 
 The several parts then of the world, namely, the heavens, 
 earth, sun, moon, stars, with all the other creatures of God, 
 do preach aloud to all men, the eternal power and God- 
 head of their Creator. In wisdom he hath made them all, 
 to be teachable, and carry instruction in them; and he 
 that is wise and will understand these things, even he shall 
 understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. " For the works 
 of the Lord are great, and sought out of all them that have 
 pleasure therein. '^ 
 
 2. As the creation in general preacheth to every man 
 something of God; so all its parts do hold forth how men 
 should behave themselves both to God, and to one another; 
 and will assuredly come in, at the judgment, against all 
 those that shall be found crossers and thwarters of what 
 God, by the creatures, doth hold forth to us. 
 
 As, (1.) The obedience of the creatures both to God and 
 thee. 1. To God, they are all in subjection (set devils 
 and men aside), even the very dragons, and all deeps, fire, 
 hail, snow, and vapors, fulfilling his word. Yea the wind 
 and seas obey him. Thus, I say, by their obedience to 
 God, they teach thee obedience, and by their obedience shall 
 thy disobedience be condemned in the judgment. 2. Their 
 obedience to thee also, teacheth thee obedience to all supe- 
 riors; "for every kind of beasts, and of birds, and serpents, 
 
368 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 and tilings in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed," and 
 brought into obedience by mankind. Man only remains 
 untamed, and unruly, and therefore by these is condemned. 
 
 (2.) The fruitfulness of all the creatures, in their kind, 
 doth teach and admonish thee to a fruitful life to Godward, 
 and in the things of his holy word. God did but say in the 
 beginning, Let the earth bring forth fruit, grass, herbs, 
 trees, beasts, creeping things, and cattle after their kind; 
 and it was so. But to man he hath sent his prophets, 
 rising early, and sending them, saying, ^' do not this abo- 
 minable thing that I hate I" but they will not obey. For 
 if the Gentiles which have not the law, do, by some acts of 
 obedience, condemn the wickedness of those, who do by the 
 letter and circumcision break the law; how much more shall 
 the fruitfulness of all the creatures come in at the judg- 
 ment, against the whole world ! As Job saith. By the obe- 
 dience and fruitfulness of the creatures he judgeth (and so 
 will he judge) the people. 
 
 (3.) The knowledge and v, isdom of the creatures, do, with 
 a check, command thee to be ^\ ise, and so teach thee wisdom. 
 The stork in the heaven, the swallow and the crane, by 
 observing the time and season of their coming, do admonish 
 thee to learn the time of grace, and of the mercy of God. 
 The ox and the ass, by the knowledge they have of their 
 master's crib, do admonish thee to know the bread and table 
 of God ; and both do, and shall, condemn thy ignorance of 
 the food of heaven. 
 
 (4.) The labor and toil of the creatures do convict thee 
 of sloth rnd idleness. " Go to the ant, thou sluggard; con- 
 sider her way> and be wise ;" for she provideth her food in 
 summer, and layeth up against the day of trial. But thou 
 spendest the whole summer of thy life, in wasting both time 
 and soul. ^'All things are full of labor," saith Solomon; 
 only man spendeth all the day idle, and his years like a tale 
 that is told. The coney is but a feeble folk, yet laboreth 
 
LESSONS FROM ALL CREATURES. 369 
 
 for a house in the rock, to be safe from the rage of the 
 hunter. The spider also taketh hold with her hands, and is 
 in kings' palaces. It is man only that turneth himself upon 
 the bed of sloth, as the door doth upon the hinges : it is man, 
 I say, that will neither lay hold on the Rock Christ, as the 
 coney doth teach, nor lay hold on the kingdom of heaven, 
 as the spider doth bid him. 
 
 (5.) The fear that is in all creatures, when they per- 
 ceive that danger is near, teacheth men to fly from the 
 wrath to come. " In vain is the snare laid in the sight of 
 any bird f but man, man only, is the fool-hardy creature, 
 that layeth wait for his own blood, and that lurketh privily 
 for his own life. How, I say, will every creature fly, run, 
 strive, and struggle to escape the danger it is sensible of? 
 It is man only that delighteth to dance about the mouth of 
 hell, and to be knowingly smitten with Satan's snare. 
 
 (6.) The dependence that all the creatures have upon 
 God. They teach thee to depend on him that made thee; 
 yea, and will in the judgment condemn thee for thy unlaw- 
 ful practices, and dealings for thy preservation. " The young 
 ravens seek their food from God," and will condemn thy 
 lying, cheating, over-reaching, defrauding, and the like ; they 
 provide neither storehouse nor barn ; but thou art so greedy 
 of these things, that thou, for them, shuttest thyself out of 
 the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 (7.) The love and pity that are in their hearts to their 
 young, and to one another, will judge and condemn the 
 hard-hearteduess that is in thee to thy own soul. What 
 shall I say ? " The heavens shall reveal thy iniquity ; and 
 the earth shall rise up against thee '/' that is, all the crea- 
 tures of God, will by their fruitfulness and subjection to the 
 will of their Creator, judge and condemn thee for thy dis- 
 obedience, and rebellion against him. 
 
 Now, as these creatures do every day call unto thee, and 
 lay before thee these things; so he hath for thy awakening, 
 
370 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 in case tliou be asleep and senseless, creatures of another 
 nature; as, 
 
 (1.) Thy bed, when thou liest down in it, preacheth to 
 thee thy grave; thy sleep, thy death; and thy rising in the 
 morning, thy resurrection to judgment. 
 
 (2.) The jail that thou seest with thine eyes, and the 
 felons that look out at the grate, put thee in mind of the 
 prison of hell, and of the dreadful state of those that are 
 there. 
 
 (3.) The fire that burns in thy chimney, holds forth the 
 fire of hell unto thee. 
 
 (4.) The stench and steam of burning brimstone, show 
 thee the loathsome, odious, and dreadful torments of hell. 
 
 (5.) The darkness of the night in solitary places, and the 
 fears that do commonly haunt those that walk therein, preach 
 to thee the fears and frights, the scares and amazements, 
 that will for ever attend all damned souls. 
 
 All these things, as inconsiderable and unlikely as they 
 may appear to you now, yet in the judgment, will be found 
 the items and warning-words of God to your souls. And 
 know, that he who could overthrow the land of Egypt with 
 frogs, lice, flies, locusts, &c., will overthrow the world at the 
 last day, by the book of the creatures; and that by the 
 least, and most inconsiderable of them, as well as by the 
 rest. This book of the creatures, is so excellent, and so full, 
 so easy, and so suiting the capacity of all, that there is not 
 one man in the world, but is caught, convicted, and cast by 
 it. This is the book that he who knows no letters may read 
 in : yea, and that he who neither saw New Testament, nor 
 Old, may know both much of God, and himself by. 'Tis 
 this book, out of which generally both Job and his friends 
 did so profoundly discourse of the judgments of God, and 
 that out of which God himself did so convincingly answer 
 Job. Job was as perfect in this book, as we are many of 
 us in the scriptures ; yea and could see further by it, than 
 
PREMONITIONS OP JUDGMENT. 371 
 
 many now a-days do see by the New Testament and Old. 
 This is the book, out of which both Christ, the prophets, 
 and apostles do so frequently discourse by their similitudes, 
 proverbs, and parables, as being the most easy way to con- 
 vince the world ; though by reason of their ignorance, nothing 
 will work with them but what is set on their heart by the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 One word further, and I have done with this, and that is, 
 God hath sealed the judgment of the world by the book of 
 the creatures, even by man's own carriage unto such pf 
 them as through any impediment, have disappointed his 
 expectations. And thus, if thou hadst but a tree in thy 
 orchard, that neither beareth fruit, nor aught else that is 
 good ; why, thou art for hewing it down and for appointing 
 it as fuel for the fire. Now thou little thinkest that by thy 
 thus judging, thou shouldst pass sentence upon thine own 
 fruitless soul; but so it is. ^Tor now is the axe laid to the 
 root of the trees ; and every tree that bringeth not forth 
 good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." For as 
 truly as thou sayest of thy fruitless tree, ^'Cut it down; why 
 doth it cumber the ground ?" so truly doth thy voice cause 
 heaven to echo again upon thy head, ^' Cut him down; why 
 doth he cumber the ground V 
 
 Further, the inclination of thy heart as to fruitless and 
 unprofitable creatures, doth fore-preach to thee the inclina- 
 tion of the heart of God towards thee in the judgment. If 
 thou hast either a cow, or any other beast, that is now un- 
 profitable to thee, though thou mayst sufi'er them for some 
 time to be with thee, as God suffereth sinners in the world; 
 yet all this while thy heart is not with them. But thou wilt 
 take thy time to clear thyself of them. Why, just so shall 
 thy judgment be. As God saith, ^'Though Moses and 
 Samuel stood before me" (that is, to pray me to spare this 
 people), "yet my heart could not be towards them; therefore 
 cast them out of my sight and let them go forth." 
 
372 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 Thus I say, God will judge the world at the last day. He 
 will open before them, how they have degenerated and gone 
 back from the principles of nature, in which he created 
 them. Also how they have slighted all the instructions that 
 he hath given them, even by the obedience, fruitfulness, 
 wisdom, labor, fear, and love of the creatures. And he will 
 tell them, that as to their judgment, they themselves have 
 decided it, both by their cutting down that which was fruit- 
 less, and by the withdrawing of their hearts from those 
 things which to them were unprofitable. ^' As therefore the 
 tares are gathered, and burned in the fire; so shall it be in 
 the end of the world.'' As men deal with weeds, and rot- 
 ten wood, so will God deal with sinners in the day of final 
 judgment : and will bring in, I say, all the counsels and 
 warnings he hath given men by these things, both to clear 
 up his justices, and to aggravate their judgment to them. 
 
 II. The second book that will be opened at this day will 
 be the book of God's remembrance. For as God hath in 
 his remembrance, recorded all and every particular good 
 thing that his own people have done to and for his name, 
 while they were in this world ; so he hath in his remem- 
 brance recorded all the evil and sin of his adversaries, even 
 every thing. Now God's remembrance is so perfect every 
 way, that it is impossible that any thing should be lost that 
 is committed to it to be kept, and brought forth to the judg- 
 ment at the time appointed. For as a thousand years are 
 but as yesterday with his eternity, so the sins that have been 
 committed a thousand of years since, are all so firmly fixed 
 in the remembrance of the eternal God, that they are 
 always as fresh and clear in his sight as if they were but 
 just now in committing. He calleth again the things that 
 are past, and hath set our most secret things in the light of 
 his countenance. As he also saith in another place ; " hell 
 itself is naked before him, and destruction hath no cover- 
 ing;" that is, the most secret, cunning, and hidden con- 
 
THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE. 373 
 
 trivances of the most subtle of the infernal spirits, which yet 
 are far more artful than men, to hide their wickedness ; yet 
 I say, all their ways, hearts and most secret doings, are clear 
 to the very bottom of them, in the eyes of the great God. 
 '^All things are naked and open, before the eyes of him 
 with whom we have to do;" who also "will bring to light the 
 hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the 
 counsels of the heart.'' 
 
 "Ye that say. The Lord shall not see, neither shall the 
 God of Jacob regard it; understand, ye brutish among 
 the people ; and ye fools, when will ye be wise ? He that 
 planted the ear, shall not he hear? he that formed the eye, 
 shall he not see ? he that chastiseth the heathen, shall not 
 he correct ? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he 
 know?'' "Can any hide himself in secret places, that I 
 should not see him?" (that is, when he is committing wick- 
 edness,) "saith the Lord: do not I fill heaven and earth 
 saith the Lord?" 
 
 Now, to know and see things, is the cause among men 
 of their remembrance. Wherefore God to show us that he 
 will remember all our sins, if we die out of Christ, tells us, 
 that he knoweth and seeth them all, and therefore must 
 needs remember them ; for as are his sight and knowledge, 
 so is his remembrance of all things. 
 
 "When this book of his remembrance therefore, is opened, 
 as it shall be in the judgment; then shall be brought forth 
 of their hidden holes, all things whatsoever hath been done 
 since the world began; whether by kingdoms in general, or 
 persons in particular. Now also shall be brought forth to 
 open view, all the transactions of God and his Son among 
 the sons of men, and every thing shall be applied to every 
 particular person, in equity and justice, to whom they 
 belong. The sins which thou hast committed shall be thy 
 own, and thou thyself shalt bear them. "The Lord is a 
 God of knowledge; and by him actions are weighed." 
 32 
 
374 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.' 
 
 It will be marvellous to behold how, by thousands, and 
 ten thousands, God will call from their secret places those 
 sins that one would have thought had been dead, and 
 buried, and forgotten; yea, how he will show before the 
 sun, such things, so base and so horrid, that one would 
 think it was not in the hearts of any to commit; for all is 
 recorded in the book of God's remembrance. While men 
 are here, they have a thousand tricks to present themselves 
 one to another, far more fair and honest than they are, or 
 ever were. As Christ said to the Pharisees, " Ye are they 
 who justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your 
 hearts." Ay, God knoweth indeed, what a nest, what a 
 heap, what swarms, yea, what legions of hellish wickedness, 
 are now with power lurking, like cockatrices, in those men, 
 that one would swear a thousand times, are good and honest 
 men. The way of men in their sins, is like that of an eagle 
 in the air, a serpent upon a rock, a ship in the midst of the 
 sea, and a young man with a maid, saith Solomon ; that is, 
 hidden ly, closely, covertly; burying all under fair pre- 
 tences; wiping their mouths in the close of their evils, and 
 saying, ^I have done no wickedness.' 
 
 But by this though it may serve for the time present, and 
 no longer, God will not be deluded, nor blinded, nor mocked, 
 nor put oflP. "They consider not," saith he, "that I remem- 
 ber all their wickedness." "But I will reprove thee, and 
 will set them in order before thine eyes." Here will be 
 laid open the very heart of Cain the murderer, of Judas the 
 traitor, of Saul the adversary of David, and of those that 
 under pretences of holiness have persecuted Christ, his 
 word, and people. Now shall every drunkard, whoremaster, 
 thief, and other wicked person, be turned their inside out- 
 ward — their hearts laid right open — and every sin, with 
 every circumstances of place, time, person, with whom, with 
 the causes also that drew them to the commission of every 
 evil, be discovered to all. Here will be no hiding your- 
 
THE STRIVINGS OF GOD'S SPIRIT WITH MEN. 375 
 
 selves behind curtains, no, nor covering yourselves with the 
 black and dark night. ^^If I say, Surely the darkness shall 
 cover me; even the night shall be light about me; yea, O 
 God, ^^ darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth 
 as the day : the darkness and light are both alike unto 
 thee." 
 
 The piercing eye of God beholds all places, persons, and 
 things; the holy hand of his justice writeth them down in 
 the book of his remembrance; and by his power and wis- 
 dom, will he open and read to all men exactly, distinctly, 
 and convincingly, whatever hath passed from them, or been 
 done by them, in their whole life ; for '^ for all these things 
 God will bring thee into judgment." 
 
 Again, as God will bring out of the book of his remem- 
 brance, whatever hath passed from thee, against him; so 
 also will he then bring forth by the same book, all things 
 and carriages of his towards thee. Here will he bring to 
 thy mind every sermon thou hast heard, every chapter thou 
 hast read, every conviction thou hast had upon thy con- 
 science, and every admonition that hath been given thee in 
 all thy life, when thou wast in the land of the living. 
 
 Now will God lay open before thee, what patience he ex- 
 tended to thee; how he let thee live one year, two years, 
 ten, yea, twenty and thirty years, and all to try thee. Yea, 
 now also will he bring to thy view, how many times he 
 warned, rebuked, threatened, and chastised thee for thy 
 wickedness; how many awakening providences and judg- 
 ments he continually laid before thy face; yea, how many 
 a time thou didst like Balaam run upon the point of the 
 sword of justice, and how he gave back, as being loath to 
 kill thee. 
 
 Now also again shall be brought before thee and all men, 
 how many strugglings God had with thy heart, on thy sick- 
 bed, to do thee good; yea, and at such times, how many 
 vows, promises, engagements, and resolutions thou madest 
 
876 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 before God, to turn, if he would release thee from thy afflic- 
 tion, and take oif his rod from thy back; and yet how thou 
 didst, like the man possessed, break and snap in twain all 
 these chains of iron with which thou hadst bound thy soul; 
 and that for a very lust and sin. Here also will be opened 
 before thee, how often thou hast sinned against thy light 
 and knowledge; how often thou hast laid violent hands on 
 thy own conscience; how often thou hast labored to put out 
 that light that hath stood in thy way to hinder thee from 
 sinning against thy soul. Ah, Lord ! what a condition will 
 the Christless soul be in at this day ! How will every one 
 of these things afflict the guilty soul ! They will pierce 
 like arrows, and bite like serpents, and sting like an adder. 
 With what shame will that man stand before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ, who must have all things he hath done 
 against God, to provoke the eyes of his glory to jealousy, 
 laid open before the whole host of the heavenly train ! It 
 would make a man blush to have his pockets searched for 
 things that are stolen, in the midst of a market, especially 
 if he stand upon his reputation and honor. But thou must 
 have thy heart searched ; the bottom of thy heart searched ; 
 and that, I say, before thy neighbor, whom thou hast 
 wronged, and before the devils, whom thou hast served; 
 yea, before God, whom thou hast despised ; and before the 
 angels, those holy and delicate creatures, whose holy and 
 chaste faces will scarce forbear blushing, while God is mak- 
 ing thee vomit up all thou hast swallowed ; for God shall 
 bring it out of thy soul. 
 
 For, as for God to ^^ forget iniquity,'^ is one of the chief 
 heads of the covenant of grace, and is an argument of the 
 highest nature, to beget and to continue consolation in the 
 godly; so "the remembrance of iniquity,'^ by the Lord, is 
 one of the heaviest loads and judgments that can befall any 
 poor creature. " Lord,'' saith the prophet, "remember not 
 against us former iniquities." And again, "If thou, Lord, 
 
THE BOOK OF THE LAW OPENED. 377 
 
 Bhouldst mark iniquity, Lord, who shall stand ?'^ And 
 the reason is, because that which the Lord forgetteth, is 
 forgiven for ever; hut that which he remembereth, is 
 charged for ever, and nothing can take it away : ^' Though 
 thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet 
 thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Grod/' 
 
 III. The third book that will at this day be opened, and 
 out of which God will judge the world, is the book of the 
 LAW, or the ten words given forth on Mount Sinai. But 
 this book will more especially concern those that have re- 
 ceived it, or that have had knowledge thereof. Every one 
 shall not be judged by this book, as there delivered, though 
 they shall be judged by the works of it, which are written 
 in their hearts. ^^As many as have sinned without law, 
 shall perish without law, and they that have sinned in the 
 law shall be judged by the law.^^ That is, the Heathens 
 that never knew the law, as delivered on Sinai, shall be 
 judged by the law, as it was written in man's heart in his 
 creation, (which is comprised within the book of the Crea- 
 tion); but those that have knowledge of the law as deli- 
 vered on Sinai, they shall be judged by the law as there 
 given. 
 
 Now then this book, when it is opened at the day of 
 judgment, will, to those to whom it especially relates, be a 
 most terrible law, far surpassing the two aforementioned. 
 This law, as I may so say, is the chief and most pure resem- 
 blance of the justice and holiness of the heavenly Majesty, 
 and doth hold forth to all men the sharpness and keenness 
 of his wrath above the other two that I have before men- 
 tioned. I say, above, because it hath been delivered more 
 plain and open, both as to the duty enjoined, and the sin 
 prohibited ; and therefore must of necessity fall with the 
 more violence upon the head of all that shall be found within 
 the compass of it. 
 
 This law hath in it, to be opened at this day, these two 
 32* 
 
378 THE RESURRECTION OP THE DEAD. 
 
 general heads: 1. A discovery of the evil of sin, that is so 
 against plain light and truth. And, 2. A discovery of the 
 vanity of all things that will at this day be brought by 
 sinners, for their help and plea at the judgment. Alas ! 
 who can but imagine, that the poor world, at the day of 
 their arraignment, should muster up all that ever they can 
 think of, as arguments to shelter them from the execution 
 of that fierce wrath, that then with sinking souls they will 
 see prepared for them ! 
 
 1. As to the first of these, the apostle tells us, that ''the 
 law was added, that the offence might abound," or be dis- 
 covered what it is. As he saith again, " I had not known 
 sin but by the law." Thus it is in this life, and thus it will 
 be in the day of judgment; that is, those that see sin, and 
 that in its abounding nature, and in its exceeding sinfulness, 
 they must see it by the law ; for that is indeed the glass by 
 which God discovereth sin, and the filthy spots of leprosy 
 that are in the soul. Now, those that have not the happi- 
 ness to see their sin by the law in this life, while there is a 
 fountain of grace to wash in and be clean, must have the 
 misery to see it at the judgment, when nothing is left but 
 misery and pain, as the punishment for the same. At which 
 day, those little tittles of this holy law, that now men so 
 easily look over, and sin against with ease, will every one of 
 them, appear with such dread and with such flaming justice 
 against every offence committed, that if heaven and earth 
 itself should step in to shelter the sinner from the justice 
 and wrath due to sin, it would turn them up by the roots. 
 '' It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for 
 one tittle of the law to fail." If there appeared such 
 flames, such thunderings and tempests, as there were at the 
 giving of the law ; what flames and blackness will there ap- 
 pear at the execution thereof ! And if at the giving of the 
 law there appeared so much holiness and justice, that it made 
 all Israel fly, yea, Moses himself exceedingly fear and quake ; 
 
THE STRICTNESS OF THE LAW. 379 
 
 what will become of those that God shall judge by the rigor 
 of this law in the day of judgment ! 
 
 what thunderings and lightnings, what earthquakes 
 and tempests, will there be in every guilty soul at the 
 opening of this book ! Then, indeed, will God visit them 
 with thunder, and earthquake, and great noise ; with storm 
 and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. " For, 
 behold," saith the prophet, " the Lord will come with fire, 
 and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger 
 with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." The Lord 
 will come with fire, that is, in the flaming heat of his justice 
 and holiness against sin and sinners, to execute the rigor of 
 his threatenings upon their perishing souls. 
 
 2. The second general head that is contained in this law, 
 to be opened at this day, is its exactness ; the purity, and 
 strictness as to all acts of good that any poor creature hath 
 done in this life, whereby he in the judgment will think to 
 shelter, or secure himself from the wrath of God. This is 
 the rule, and line, and plummet, whereby every act of every 
 man, shall be measured ; and he whose righteousness is not 
 found every way answerable to this law — which all will fall 
 short of, but they that have the righteousness of God by 
 faith in Jesus Christ — must perish. As he saith, '^ Judg- 
 ment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the 
 plummet ; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, 
 and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place." That is, 
 though men may now shelter themselves under legal repent- 
 ance, cold profession, good meanings, thinkings, and doings ; 
 yet all these things must be measured, and weighed in the 
 balance of God's most righteous law; and as I said,- what- 
 ever in that day is not found " the righteousness of God,'' 
 will be found a ^^ refuge of lies," and will be drowned by 
 the overflowing of the wrath of God, as the waters of Noah 
 overflowed the world. And hence it is, that all the ungodly 
 will at this day be found as stubble, and the law as fire. As 
 
380 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 it saith, " From his right hand went out a fiery law." And 
 again, ^^ His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as 
 a devouring fire." For as fire, where it seizeth, doth burn, 
 destroy, devour, and consume; so will the law, all those 
 that at this day, shall be fovmd under the transgression of 
 the least tittle of it. It will be with these souls at the day 
 of judgment, as it is with those countries that are overrun 
 with most merciless conquerors, who leave not any thing 
 behind them, but swallow up all with fire and sword. ^' For 
 by fire, and by his sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh : 
 and the slain of the Lord shall be many." 
 
 There are two things which, at the day of judgment, will 
 meet and encounter each other in their height and utmost 
 strength ; and they are Sin and the Law. For the judg- 
 ment will not be till the iniquity of the world be fully ripe. 
 Now then, when sin is come to its full, having played all 
 its pranks, and done all the mischief it can against the Lord 
 of glory; then God brings forth the law, his holy and 
 righteous law. One of these will now reign for ever; that 
 is, either the law or sin. Wherefore sin and sinners must 
 tremble, with all that help and hold them up ; for God will 
 magnify the law and make it honorable; that is, will give 
 it the victory over the world for ever. For that is holy, just, 
 and good. They are unholy, unjust, and bad. Therefore by 
 this law will the Lord rain ^^ snares, fire, and brimstone, and 
 a horrible tempest : this shall be the portion of their cup." 
 
 Let no man say, then, because God is so famous in his 
 mercy and patience, in this day of grace, that, therefore, he 
 will not be fierce and dreadful in his justice, in the day of 
 judgment; for judgment and justice are the last things that 
 God intends to bring upon the stage, which will then be to 
 the full as terrible, as now his goodness, and patience, and 
 long-sufferance, are admirable. " Lord, who knoweth the 
 power of thine anger ? even according to thy fear, so is thy 
 wrath." 
 
TERRORS OF THE LAW. 381 
 
 You may see, if you will, a few of the sparks of the jus- 
 tice of God against sin and sinners, by his casting off angels 
 for sin, from heaven to hell ; by his drowning the old world ; 
 by his burning Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes; condemning 
 them with an overthrow, "making them an example to those 
 that after should live ungodly." 
 
 " For what things soever the. law saith, it saith to them 
 that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, 
 and all the world become guilty before God.'' Moses 
 seems to wonder that the children of Israel could continue 
 to live, when they did but hear the law delivered on the 
 mountain. " Did ever people,'' saith he, " hear the Lord 
 speak out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast done, and 
 live ?" that ye did but know the law, and the wondrous 
 things that are written therein, before the Lord cause that 
 fearful voice to be heard, " Cursed is every one that con- 
 tinueth not in all things that are written in the book of the 
 law to do them." Which curse must fall on all that walk 
 not in the commandments of God, without iniquity; which 
 none do, I say, but they that walk in Christ, who hath alone 
 fulfilled them all. 
 
 The law is that which standeth at the entrance of the 
 paradise of God, as a flaming sword, turning every way to 
 keep out those that are not righteous with the righteousness 
 of God ; that have not skill to come to the throne of grace 
 by that new and living way which Jesus hath consecrated for 
 us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. For though 
 the curse of this law, be taken away by Christ, for all that 
 truly and savingly believe; yet it remains in full force and 
 power, in every tittle of it, against every soul of man that 
 now shall be found in his tabernacle; that is, in himself, 
 and out of the Lord Jesus. It lieth, I say, like a lion ram- 
 pant, at the gates of heaven, and will roar upon every un- 
 converted soul, fiercely accusing every one that now would 
 gladly enter in through the gates into this city. So, then, 
 
382 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 lie only that can answer all its most perfect and legal de- 
 mands, and that can live in the midst of devouring fire, and 
 there enjoy God, and solace himself, shall dwell on high, and 
 shall not be hurt by this law. " His place of defence shall 
 be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him, his 
 water shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his 
 beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far ofiF.'^ 
 
 Blessed, then, is he whose righteousness doth answer 
 every point of the law of God, according to 1 Cor. i. 30. He 
 shall be able to ^^ escape all those things that shall come to 
 pass, and to stand before the Son of man.'' For in himself 
 our God is a consuming fire; and man, out of Christ, is but 
 as stubble, chaff, thorns, briers, fuel, for the wrath of this 
 holy and sinner-consuming God to seize upon for ever. 
 *^Who can stand before his indignation? and who can 
 abide in the fierceness of his anger ? His fury is poured out 
 like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE WITNESSES. 
 
 Now, when these three books are thus opened, there will, 
 without doubt, be sad throbbing and pricking in every heart 
 that now stands for his life, before the judgment-seat of 
 Christ, the righteous judge; and without all question, they 
 will be studying a thousand ways to evade and shift the 
 stroke, that by the sins that these three books do charge 
 them with, will immediately fall upon them. 
 
 But now, to cut off all these at a blow, forthwith appear 
 the witnesses, who are ready to evince, and make full and 
 Boul-killing proof of every particular charged against them. 
 
 1. And the first is, Grod himself. "I/' saith he, "will be 
 a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adul- 
 terers, and against false swearers, and against those that op- 
 press the hireling of his wages, the widow and the father- 
 less, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and 
 fear not me, saith the Lord." 
 
 This must needs be of great sway with every soul, that 
 God should now come in. 'I will witness,' saith Grod, ^ that 
 those things of which ye are accused before the Judge are 
 true. I have seen all, know all, and write down all. There 
 hath not been a thought in your heart, nor a word in your 
 tongue, but I have known it altogether. All things have 
 always been open and naked to mine eye; yea, my eye-lids 
 try the children of men. I have known your down-sitting, 
 and your up-rising, and have understood your thoughts afar 
 off; I have compassed your path, and am well acquainted 
 with all your ways. 
 
 ' You have not continued in that state of nature in which 
 
 (383) 
 
384 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 I did at first create you. You have not liked to retain that 
 knowledge and understanding of God that you had, and 
 might have had, by the very book of the creation. You 
 gave way to the suggestions of fallen angels; and so your 
 foolish hearts were darkened, and alienated, and estranged 
 from God. 
 
 ^All the creatures that were in the world have even con- 
 demned you: they have been fruitful, but you fruitless; 
 they have been fearful of danger, but you fool-hardy; they 
 have taken the fittest opportunity for their own preserva- 
 tion, but thou hast both blindly and confidently gone on to 
 thy punishment. 
 
 'Touching the book of my remembrance, who can con- 
 tradict it? ''Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the 
 Lord ?" Was I not in all places to behold, to see, and to 
 observe thee in all thy ways? My eye saw the thief and 
 the adulterer; and I heard every lie and oath of the wicked. 
 I saw the hypocrisy of the dissembler. They have committed 
 villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their 
 neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, 
 which I have not commanded them : even I know, and am 
 a witness, saith the Lord.' 
 
 God will also come in against them for their transgressing 
 his law, even the law which he delivered on Mount Sinai. 
 He will, I say, ojDen every tittle thereof in such order and 
 truth, and apply the breach of each particular person with 
 such convincing arguments, that they will fall down silenced 
 for ever. "Every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world 
 shall become guilty before God.'' 
 
 2. There is yet another witness for condemning the trans- 
 gressors of these laws, and that is Conscience. " Their con- 
 sciences also bearing witness," saith the apostle. Conscience 
 is a thousand witnesses. Conscience will cry, Amen, to 
 every word that the great God doth speak against thee. 
 Conscience is a terrible accuser; it will hold pace with the 
 
CONSCIENCE A WITNESS. 385 
 
 witness of God, as to tlie truth of evidence, to a hair's 
 breadth. The witness of conscience, is of great authority; 
 it commands guilt, and fasteneth it on every soul which it 
 accuseth. And hence it is said, ^^If our heart, or con- 
 science condemn us." Conscience will thunder and lighten 
 at this day. Even the consciences of the most Pagan sinners 
 in the world will have sufficient wherewith to accuse, to 
 condemn, and to make paleness appear in their faces, and 
 breaking in their loins, by reason of the force of its convic- 
 tion. the mire and dirt that a guilty conscience, when it 
 is forced to speak, will cast up and throw out before the 
 judgment-seat! It must out. None can speak peace, nor 
 health to that man, upon whom Grod hath let loose his own 
 conscience. Cain will now cry, ^^My punishment is greater 
 than I can bear;" Judas will hang himself; and both Bel- 
 shazzar and Felix will feel the joints of their loins to be 
 loosened, and their knees to smite one against another, 
 when conscience stirreth. When conscience is once tho- 
 roughly awakened, as it shall be before the judgment-seat, 
 God need say no more to the sinner than Solomon said to 
 filthy Shimei, "Thou knowest all the wickedness that thy 
 heart is privy to." As if he should say, ^ Thy conscience 
 knoweth, and can well inform thee of all the evil and sin 
 that thou art guilty of.' To all which it answereth even as 
 face answereth to face in a glass; or as an echo answereth 
 the man that speaketh. As fast, I say, as God charge th, 
 conscience will cry out, ' Guilty, guilty. Lord ! guilty of all, 
 of every whit; I remember, clearly, all the crimes thou 
 layest before me.' Thus, I say, will conscience be a wit- 
 ness against the soul in the day of God. 
 
 3. As God and conscience will at this day be most dread- 
 ful witnesses against the sinful man; so also will those 
 several thoughts that have passed through man's heart be a 
 witness also against him. As he said before, " Their con- 
 science also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean 
 
 33 
 
386 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 while accusing, or else excusing one another; in the day 
 when God shall judge tne secrets of men by Jesus Christ, 
 according to the gospel." 
 
 The Thoughts come in as a witness for God against the 
 sinner, upon the account of that unsteadiness and variety 
 that was in them, both touching God and their ownselves. 
 
 (1.) Sometimes the man thinks there is no God; but that 
 every thing hath its rise of itself, or by chance or fortune : 
 *' The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." 
 
 Sometimes again, they think there is a God ; but yet they 
 think and imagine of him falsely : '■'■ Thou thoughtest that I 
 was altogether such an one as thyself," saith God ; ^^ but I 
 will reprove thee." 
 
 Men think, that because they can sin with delight, that 
 therefore God can let them escape without punishment. 
 Nay, oftentimes they think, that God doth either quite 
 forget their wickedness, or else that he will be pleased with 
 such satisfaction as they are pleased to give him ; even a few 
 howling prayers, feigned and hypocritical tears and weep- 
 ings, which pass from them more for fear of the punishment 
 of hell-fire, than because they have offended so holy, so just, 
 and so glorious a God, and so loving and so condescending a 
 Jesus. 
 
 Sometimes again they have had right thoughts of some- 
 thing of God, but not of him altogether; either thinking so 
 of his justice, as to drive them from him, and also cause 
 them to put him out of their mind ; or else so thinking of 
 his mercy, as that they quite forget his holiness and justice. 
 Now both these are but base thoughts of God, and so erro- 
 neous and sinful thoughts. 
 
 Sometimes also they have pretty right thoughts of God, 
 both as to justice and mercy; but then through the wretch- 
 edness of their unsatisfied nature, they, against light and 
 knowledge, do, with shut eyes, and hardened hearts, rush 
 
THE THOUGHTS WITNESSES. 387 
 
 fiercely, knowingly; and willingly, again into their sins and 
 wickedness. 
 
 (2.) As men have these various thoughts of God so also 
 their thoughts are not steady about themselves. 
 
 Sometimes they think they are sinners, and therefore they 
 have need of mercy. 
 
 Sometimes again they think they are righteous, and so 
 have not so much need; and yet, mark, both alike rotten 
 and base ; because as the last is altogether senseless, so the 
 first is not at all savingly sensible. 
 
 Sometimes again they think they are gods that shall 
 never die ; or, that if they do die, yet they shall never rise 
 again; or, if they do rise again, yet they shall be saved, 
 though they had lived vilely, and in their sins, all the days 
 of their life. Now, I say, every one of these thoughts, with 
 ten thousand more of the like nature, will God bring in 
 against the rebels in the judgment-day. Which thoughts 
 shall every one of them be brought forth in their distinct 
 order. ^' He showeth to man what is his thought." And 
 again, " I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no 
 thought can be withholden from thee.'' We read, that when 
 the strangers at Jerusalem did but hear the apostles speak to 
 every one of them in their own language, how it amazed and 
 confounded them. But I say, how will they look and be 
 amazed, when God shall evidently, clearly, and fully, speak 
 out all their hearts, and every thought they have had before 
 them ? 
 
 Now, the reason and strength of this witness will lie here, 
 that God will, by the variety and crossness that their 
 thoughts had one to another, and by the contradiction that 
 was in them, prove them sinners and ungodly. Because, I 
 say, sometimes they thought there was a God; sometimes 
 again they thought there was none. Sometimes they thought 
 that he was such a God; and sometimes again they thought 
 of him quite contrary : sometimes they thought he was 
 
385 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 worth regarding ; and sometimes they thought he was not ; 
 as also, sometimes they thought he would be faithful, both 
 to mercy, and justice, and sinners; and sometimes again 
 they thought he would not. 
 
 What greater argument now can there be, to prove men 
 vanity, froth, a lie, sinners, deluded by the devil, and such 
 as had false apprehensions of Grod, his ways, his word, his 
 justice, his holiness, of themselves, their sins, and every 
 action ? 
 
 Now they will, indeed, appear a very lump of confusion, 
 a mass of sin, a bundle of ignorance, of atheism, of unbelief, 
 and of all things that should lay them obnoxious to the judg- 
 ments of God. Thus will God, I say, by mustering up the 
 thoughts of man, and by showing them, that every imagina- 
 tion and thought of their heart was only evil, and that con- 
 tinually (by showing them what staggering, drunken, wild, 
 and uncomely thoughts they have had, both of him and of 
 themselves) convince them, cast them, and condemn them 
 for sinners and transgressors against the book of creation, 
 the book of his remembrance, and the book of the law. By 
 the variety of their thoughts, they shall be proved unstable, 
 ignorant, wandering stars, clouds carried with a tempest, 
 without order or guidance, and taken captive by the devil at 
 his will. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 APPEAL TO THE BOOK OF LIFE. 
 
 Now, while the wicked are thus standing upon their trial 
 and lives before the judgment-seat, and that in the view of 
 heaven and hell ; they, I say, hearing and seeing such dread- 
 ful things, both written and witnessed against every one of 
 them ; and that by such books and such witnesses as do not 
 only talk, but testify, and that with the whole strength of 
 truth against them ; they will then begin, though poorly, 
 and without any advantage, to plead for themselves — which 
 plea will be to this effect : 
 
 ^Lord, we did find in the scriptures, that thou didst send 
 a Saviour into the world, to deliver us from these sins and 
 miseries. We heard this Saviour also published, and openly 
 proffered to such poor sinners as we are. Lord, Lord, we 
 also made profession of this Saviour, and were many of us 
 frequenters of his holy ordinances : we have eat and drunk 
 in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. Lord, 
 we have also, some of us, been preachers ourselves; we have 
 prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out 
 devils, and done many wondrous works. Nay, Lord, we did 
 herd among thy people ; we forsook the profane and wicked 
 world, and carried our shining lamps before us in the face 
 of all men. Lord, Lord, open to us !' 
 
 All the while they are thus pleading and speaking for 
 themselves, behold how earnestly they groan, how ghastly 
 they look, and how now the brinish tears flow down like 
 rivers from their eyes ; ever redoubling their petition, Lord ! 
 Lord ! Lord ! Lord ! first thinking of this thing, and then 
 of that; ever contending, seeking, and striving ^Uo enter iu 
 
 33* (389) 
 
390 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 at the strait gate/' As Christ saith, ^^When once the mas- 
 ter of the house is risen up;" that is^ when Christ hath laid 
 aside his mediation for sinners, and hath taken upon him 
 only to judge and condemn; then will the wicked begin to 
 stand without, and to knock, and contend for a portion among 
 them that are the blessed. Ah ! how will their hearts twitter, 
 while they look upon the kingdom of glory! And how 
 will they ache and throb at every view of hell, their proper 
 place ! Still crying, ^ that we might inherit life !' and, 
 ' that we might escape eternal death !' 
 
 But now, to take away all cavils and objections of this 
 nature that will arise in the hearts of these men; forthwith 
 the Book of Life is brought out as a conclusion and a final 
 end of eternal judgment. As John saith, "The books were 
 opened; and another book was opened, which is the book 
 of life : and the dead were judged out of those things that 
 were written in the books, according to their works." 
 
 But this book of life is not at this time opened because 
 there are now any godly to be tried; for (as I have showed 
 before) their judgment is past and over, before the wicked 
 rise. The book of life, then, is now opened for further 
 conviction of guilty reprobates, that their mouths may be 
 stopped for ever, as touching all their cavils, contendings, 
 and arguments against God's proceeding in judgment with 
 them. For, believe it, while God is judging them, they 
 will fall to judging him again; but he will be justified in 
 his sayings, and will overcome when he is judged at this 
 day. Yet not by a hasty and angry casting them away, 
 but by a legal and convincing proceeding against them, and 
 overthrowing all their cavils by his manifest and invincible 
 truth. Wherefore, to cut off all that they can say, he will 
 now open the book of life before them, and will show them 
 what is written therein, both as to election, conversion, and 
 a truly gospel conversation; and will convince them, that 
 they neither are of the number of his elect, neither were 
 
THE BOOK OF LIFE OPENED. 801 
 
 they ever regenerate, neither had ever a truly gospel con- 
 versation in the world. 
 
 By these three things, then, out of this hook, thou, who 
 art not saved, must at last be judged, and overcome : 
 
 1. Here will be tried, whether thou art within that part 
 of this book wherein all the elect are recorded. For all the 
 elect are written here. As Christ saith, "Rejoice that your 
 names are written in heaven.^' And again, "In thy book,'' 
 saith he to his Father, "are all my members written." 
 
 Now, then, if thy name be not found either among the 
 prophets, apostles, or the rest of the saints, thou must be 
 put by, as one that is cast away, as one polluted, and as an 
 abominable branch. Thy name is wanting in the genealo- 
 gies and rolls of heaven; thou art not pricked for everlast- 
 ing life; therefore thou must not be delivered from that 
 soul-amazing misery. For there are no souls that can, 
 though they would give a thousand worlds, be delivered at 
 the day of Grod, but such as are found written in this book. 
 Every one of those that are written, though never a one of 
 those that are not written, shall in that day be delivered 
 from the wrath to come. 
 
 But, oh! methinks, with what careful hearts will the 
 damned now begin to look for their names in this book. 
 Those that, when once the long-suflFering of God waited on 
 them, made light of all admonition, and slighted the coun- 
 sel of making their calling and election sure, would now 
 give thousands of treasures, that they could but spy their 
 names, though last and least among the sons of God. But, 
 I say, how will they fail; how will they faint; how will 
 they die and languish in their souls, when they shall, still 
 as they look, see their names wanting ! What a pinch will 
 it be to Cain, to see his brother there recorded, and he him- 
 self left out ! Absalom will now swoon, and be as one that 
 giveth up the ghost, when he shall see David his father, 
 and Solomon his brother, written here, while he withal is 
 
392 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 written in the earth, among the damned. Thus, I say, will 
 sadness be added to sadness, in the soul of the perishing 
 world, when they fail of finding their names in this part of 
 the book of life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of 
 the world. 
 
 2. The second part of this book, is that in which is re- 
 corded the nature of conversion; of faith, love, &c. And 
 those that have not had the effectual work of God upon 
 them, and the true and saving operation of grace in their 
 hearts (which is, indeed, the true life which is begun in 
 every Christian), will be found still not written in this 
 book; for the living, the holy living souls, are they only 
 that are written therein. As the prophet saith, " And he 
 that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even 
 every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem." 
 Eternal life is already in this life begun in every soul that 
 shall be saved. As Christ saith, ^'He that believeth in me 
 hath everlasting life." And again, "Whoso eateth my 
 flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will 
 raise him up at the last day." And hence they are called, 
 "the living,' that are written in this book. Here, then, 
 the Lord will open before thee what conversion is, in the 
 true and simple nature of it; which, when thou beholdest, 
 thou wilt then be convinced, that this thou hast missed of. 
 For it must needs be, that when thou beholdest, by the re- 
 cords of heaven, what a change, what a turn, what an altera- 
 tion the work of regeneration maketh on every soul, and in 
 every heart, where the effectual call, or the call according 
 to his purpose, is, that thou who hast lived a stranger to this 
 or that, hast contented thyself with the notion only, or a 
 formal and feigned profession thereof; I say, it cannot be, 
 but that thou must forthwith fall down, and with grief con- 
 clude, that thou hast no share in this part of the book of 
 life neither. The living only are written herein. There is 
 ■'dot one dead, carnal, wicked man, recorded here. 
 
DELUSIONS DISPELLED TOO LATE. 293 
 
 No; but when the Lord shall at this day make mention 
 of Rahab, of Babylon, of Philistia, and Ethiopia; that is, 
 of all the cursed rabble and crew of the damned, then he 
 will say, that this man was born there, that is, amongst 
 them; so that he hath his name where they have theirs, 
 namely, under the black rod, in the king's black book, 
 where he hath recorded all his enemies and traitors. It 
 shall be said of this man, of this ungodly man, that he was 
 born there; that he lived and died in the state of nature, 
 and so is under the curse of God, even as others. For as 
 he said of wicked Coniah, ^' Write this man childless;'' so he 
 saith of every ungodly man, that so departed out of this 
 world. Write this man graceless. Wherefore, I say, among 
 the Babylonians and Philistines among the unbelieving 
 Moors, and Pagans, his name will be found in the day when 
 it will be inquired where every man was bom ; for God at 
 this day will divide the whole world into these two ranks, 
 the children of the world, and the children of Zion. 
 
 Wherefore, here is the honor, the privilege, and advantage, 
 that the godly above the wicked will have at the day of their 
 counting. When the Lord maketh mention of Zion, it shall 
 be then acknowledged, that this and that good man was 
 born in her : " The Lord shall count," saith the prophet, 
 ^^ when he writeth up the people, that this man was born 
 there." ' This man had the work of conversion, of faith, 
 and grace in his soul. This man is a child of Zion, of the 
 heavenly Jerusalem, which is also written in heaven.' 
 Blessed are the people that are in such a case ! 
 
 But, poor soul, counters will not go for gold now. For 
 though so long as thou didst judge thyself by the crooked 
 rule of thy own reason, and fancy, and affection, thou wast 
 pure in thine own eyes ; yet now thou must be judged alone 
 by the words and rule of the Lord Jesus. Which words 
 shall not now, as in times past, be wrested and wrung, both 
 this way and that, to smooth thee up in the hypocrite's hope, 
 
894 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, 
 
 and carnal confidence ; but be tliou king, or Kaiser, be thon 
 who tliou wilt, the word of Christ, and that with his inter- 
 pretation only, shall judge thee in the last day. 
 
 Now will sinners begin to cry with loud and bitter cries, 
 ' Oh ! ten thousand worlds for a saving work of grace ! 
 Crowns and kingdoms for the least measure of saving faith, 
 and for the love that Christ will say is the love of his own 
 Spirit r 
 
 Now they will begin also to see the worth of a broken and 
 a contrite spirit, and of walking with God, as living ones in 
 this world. But, alas ! these things appear in their hearts, 
 to the damned too late ; as also do all things else. This will 
 be but like the repentance of the thief, about whose neck is 
 the halter, and he turning off the ladder; for the unfortunate 
 hap of the damned will be, that the glory of heavenly things 
 will not appear to them, till out of season. Christ must 
 now indeed be showed to them, as also the true nature of 
 faith, and all grace ; but it will be when the door is shut, 
 and mercy gone : they will pray, and repent most earnestly ; 
 but it will be in the time of great waters, of the floods of 
 eternal wrath, when they cannot come nigh him. 
 
 Well, then, tell me, sinner, if Christ should now come to 
 judge the world, canst thou abide the trial of the book of 
 life ? Art thou confident that thy profession, that thy con- 
 version, thy faith, and all other graces thou thinkest thou 
 hast, will prove gold, silver, and precious stones in this day ? 
 Behold, he comes as a refiner's fire, and as a fuller's soap. 
 Shalt thou indeed abide the melting and washing of this 
 day? Examine, I say, beforehand, and try thyself un- 
 feignedly; for ^^ every one that doeth truth, cometh to the 
 light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are 
 wrought in God.'' 
 
 Thou sayest thou art a Christian ; that also thou hast re- 
 pented, dost believe, and love the Lord Jesus; but the ques- 
 tion is, whether these things will be found of equal length, 
 
THE NOBLE DEEDS OP THE JUST. 395 
 
 height^ and breadth, with the book of life ? or whether, when 
 thou art weighed in the balance, thou wilt yet be found 
 wanting ? How if, when thou comest to speak for thyself 
 before God, thou shouldst say Sibboleth, instead of Shib- 
 boleth ? that is, though almost, yet not rightly and naturally, 
 the language of the Christians. If thou miss but one letter 
 in thy evidence, thou art gone. For though thou mayst 
 deceive thy own heart with brass instead of gold, and with 
 tin instead of silver ; yet God will not be so put off. You 
 know how confident the foolish virgins were, and yet how 
 they were deceived. They herded with the saints, they 
 went forth from the gross pollutions of the world, they every 
 one had shining lamps, and all went forth to meet the bride- 
 groom ; and yet they missed the kingdom. They were not 
 written among the living in Jerusalem ; they had not the 
 true, powerful, saving work of conversion, of faith, and grace 
 in their souls. They that are^foolish, take their lamps, but 
 take no oil, no saving grace, with them. Thus you see how 
 sinners will be put to it before the judgment-seat from these 
 two parts of this book of life. But, 
 
 3. There is yet another part of this book to be opened, 
 and that is, the part in which are recorded those noble and 
 Christian acts that they have done, since the time of 
 their conversion and turning to Christ. Here I say, are re- 
 corded the testimony of the saints against sin and Anti- 
 christ; their suffering for the sake of God; their love to the 
 members of Christ; their patience under the cross; their 
 faithful frequenting the assemblies of the saints; and their 
 encouraging one another to bear up in his ways in the worst 
 of times— even when the proud were called happy, and when 
 they that wrought wickedness, were even set up. As he 
 there saith, ^^ Then they that feared the Lord spake often 
 one to another : and the Lord hearkened and heard it ; and 
 a book of remembrance was written before him for them 
 that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.'' 
 
896 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 For indeed, as truly as any person hath his name found 
 in the first part of this book of life, and his conversion in 
 the second; so there is a third part, in which his noble, 
 spiritual, and holy actions are recorded, and set down. 
 As it is said by the Spirit, to John, concerning those that 
 suffered martyrdom for the truth of Jesus, '^ Write, Blessed 
 are the dead which die in the Lord; yea, saith the Spirit, 
 that they may rest from their labors ; and their works do 
 follow them.^' 
 
 And hence it is, that the labors of the saints, and the 
 book of life, are mentioned together; signifying that the 
 travels and labors, and acts of the godly, are recorded 
 therein. 
 
 And hence it is again, that the Lord doth tell Sardis, that 
 those among them that stood it out to the last gasp, in the 
 faith and love of the gospel, should not be blotted out of the 
 book of life ; but they, with the work of God on their soul, 
 and their labor for Grod in this world, should be confessed 
 before his Father, and before his angels. 
 
 This part of this book, is in another place called, '' The 
 book of the word of the Lord ;" because in it, I say, are re- 
 corded these famous acts of the saints, against the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil. 
 
 You find also, how exact the Holy Ghost is, in recording 
 the travels, pains, labor, and goodness of any of the children 
 of Israel, in their journey from Egypt to Canaan; which 
 was a representation of the travels of the saints, from nature 
 to grace, and from grace to glory. King Ahasuerus kept in 
 his library, a book of records, wherein was written the good 
 service that his subjects did for him at any time; which was 
 a type also of the manner and order of heaven. And as 
 sure as ever Mordecai, when search was made in the rolls, 
 was found there to have done such and such service for the 
 king and his kingdom ; so surely will it be found what every 
 saint hath done for God at the day of inquiry. You find in 
 
GRAPES ARE NOT GATHERED FROM THORNS. 397 
 
 the Old Testament also, still as any of the kings of Judah 
 died, there was surely a record in the book of Chronicles, 
 of their memorable acts and doings for their God, the church, 
 and the commonwealth of Israel; which still doth further 
 hold forth unto the children of men, this very thing, that 
 all the kings of the New Testament, which are the saints of 
 God, have all their acts, and what they have done for their 
 God, &c., recorded in the book of Chronicles, in the heavenly 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Now I say, when this part of the book of life shall be 
 opened, what can be found in it, of the good deeds, and 
 heaven-born actions of wicked men ? Just nothing. For as 
 it is not to be expected that thorns should bring forth 
 grapes, or that thistles should bear figs; so it cannot be 
 imagined, that ungodly men should have any thing to their 
 commendation recorded in this part of the book of life. 
 
 What hast thou done, man, for God in this world ? 
 
 Art thou one of them that hast set thyself, like Job and 
 Paul, against those strong strugglings of pride, lust, covet- 
 ousness, and secret wickedness, that remain in thy heart? 
 
 And do these strugglings against these things, arise from 
 pure love to the Lord Jesus ? or from some leo;al terrors and 
 conviction for sin? 
 
 Dost thou, I say, struggle against thy lusts, because thou 
 dost in truth love the sweet, holy, and blessed leadings of 
 the Spirit of the Lord Jesus; its leadings of thee, I say, 
 into his blood and death, for thy justification, and deliver- 
 ance from wrath to come ? 
 
 What acts of self-denial hast thou done for the name of 
 the Lord Jesus, among the sons of men ? I say, what house, 
 what friend, what wife, what children, and the like, hast 
 thou lost, or left, for the word of God, and the testimony of 
 his truth in the world ? 
 
 Wast thou one of them that did sigh and afflict thyself 
 34 
 
398 THE RESURRECTION OP THE DEAD. 
 
 for the abomination of the times, and that Christ hath 
 marked and recorded for such a one ? 
 
 In a word, Art thou one of them that would not "be 
 won, neither by fear, frowns, nor flatteries, to forsake the 
 ways of God, or wrong their conscience ? Or art thou one of 
 them that slighted those opportunities, that Satan and this 
 world did often give them to return to sin in secret? These 
 be the men whose praise is in the gospel, and whose com- 
 mendable and worthy acts are recorded before the Judge of 
 all the world. Alas, alas ! these things are strange things 
 to a carnal and wicked man. Nothing of this hath been 
 done by him in this life; and therefore how can any such 
 be recorded for him in the book of life. Wherefore he must 
 needs be shut out of this part also; as David saith, ^'Let 
 them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be 
 written, with the righteous." 
 
 Thus, therefore, when Christ hath opened before them this 
 book of life, and convinced the ungodly at this day out of 
 it, he will then shut it up again, saying, 'I find nothing 
 herein that will do you good; you are none of my elect; 
 you are the sons of perdition/ 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 MORE WITNESSES FOR CONVICTION. 
 
 Thus, ^s I have said, the wicked will find nothing for 
 their comfort, in the first part of the Book of Life, where all 
 the names of the elect are; neither will they find any thing 
 in the second part thereof, where are recorded the true na- 
 ture and operation of efi:ectual conversion, of faith, of love, 
 or the like; and, I say, neither can any thing be found in 
 the third part, wherein are recorded the worthy acts and 
 memorable deeds of the saints of the Lord Jesus. For as 
 these will be found clear and full in the book of life, so 
 they will be found efiiectually wrought in the hearts of the 
 elect; all whose conversion and perseverance shall now be 
 opened before thine eyes, as a witness, I say, of the truth of 
 what thou here seest opened before thee, and also of thy un- 
 regenerate state. 
 
 Now, in the first place, thou wilt see what a turn, what a 
 change, and what a clinging to God, to Christ, and his word 
 and ways, there was found in the souls of the saved ones. 
 Here shall be seen also how resolvedly, unfeignedly, and 
 heartily, the true child of God did oppose, resist, and war 
 against his most dear and darling lusts and corruptions. 
 Now, the saints are hidden ones; but then they shall be 
 manifest. This is the manner in which the Lord will show 
 who are his, and who they are that fear the Lord, and who 
 that fear him not. Now you shall see how Abraham left 
 his country; how close good Lot did stick to God in pro- 
 fane and wicked Sodom; how the apostles left all to follow 
 Jesus Christ, and how patiently they took all crosses, afflic- 
 tions, persecutions, and necessities; for the kingdom of hea- 
 
 (399) 
 
400 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 ven's sake; how they endured burning, starving, stoning, 
 hanging, and a thousand calamities; how they manifested 
 their love to their Lord, his cause, and people in the worst 
 of times, and in the days when they were most rejected, 
 slighted, abused, and abased. "Then shall the King say to 
 them on his. right hand,'' (and that when all the devils and 
 damned sinners stand by,) "Come ye, blessed of my Fa- 
 ther, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
 tion of the world. You are indeed the truly converted 
 souls, as appears by the grace that was in your hearts ; 
 for I was an hungered, and you gave me meat: I was 
 thirsty, and you gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye 
 took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye 
 visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me." * You 
 owned me, stood by me, and denied yourselves, to nourish 
 me and my poor members, in our low, and Aveak, and most 
 despised condition.-' This, I say, the world shall see, hear, 
 and be witnesses of, against themselves and their souls for 
 ever. For how can it be but these poor damned sinners 
 should be forced to confess, that they were both Christless 
 and graceless, when they shall find, both in the book of life, 
 and in the hearts of the holy and beloved souls, that to 
 which themselves are the greatest strangers. 
 
 Saints, by the fruits of regeneration, even in this world, 
 do testify to the world, not only the truth of conversion in 
 themselves, but also that they that are not converted, are 
 yet Christless, and so heavenless and salvationless. But, 
 alas! while we are here, they will evade this testimony, 
 both of our happiness, and of their misery, by calling our 
 faith fancy, our communion with God delusion, and the sin- 
 cere profession of his word before the world, hypocrisy, pride, 
 and arrogancy. Yet, when they see us on the right hand of 
 Christ, commingled among the angels of light, and them- 
 selves on his left hand, and commingled with the angels of 
 darkness ; and, when they shall see our hearts and ways opened 
 
HOW GIFTS AND GRACE DIFFER. 401 
 
 before their eyes, and owned by the Judge for honest hearts 
 and good ways, and yet the same ways that they hated, 
 slighted, disowned, and contemned; what will they, or what 
 can they say, but this, We fools counted their lives mad- 
 ness, and their end to be without honor; but how are they 
 numbered with the saints, and owned by Grod and Christ ! 
 
 And truly, was it not that the world might, by seeing the 
 turn that is wrought on the godly, at their conversion, be 
 convinced of the evil of their ways, or be left without ex- 
 cuse the more in the day of God (with some other reasons), 
 they should not, I am persuaded, stay so long from heaven 
 as they do, nor undergo so much abuse and hardship as 
 frequently befalls them, Grod by the lengthening out of 
 the life of his people that are scattered here and there 
 among men in this world, is making work for the day of 
 judgment, and the overthrow of the implacable, for ever 
 and ever; and, as I have said, will by the conversion, life, 
 patience, self-denial, and heavenly-mindedness of his dear 
 children, give them a heavy and most dreadful blow. For, 
 when God hath thus laid open the work of grace, both by 
 the book of life, and the Christian's heart; then, of itself, 
 will fall to the ground their pleading what gifts and abilities 
 they had in this world. They will now see that gifts and 
 grace are two things; and also, that whosoever are grace- 
 less let their gifts be ever so excellent, must perish and be 
 lost for ever. Wherefore, for all their gifts, they shall be 
 found the workers of iniquity, and shall be so judged and 
 condemned. This is a notable place in the prophecy of 
 Ezekiel, '^Thus saith the Lord, If the prince (the Prince 
 of life) give a gift to any of his sons," that is, to any that 
 are truly gracious, "the inheritance'' (or the profit that he 
 gets thereby) "shall be his son's;" that is, for the exer- 
 cise of his gift, he shall receive a reward; "but if he give 
 a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants" (that is not 
 a son), " then it shall be his (but) to the year of liberty ; 
 34* 
 
402 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 after wliicli it sliall return to the prince/' &c. This day of 
 liberty is now, when the Judge is set upon the throne to 
 judgment, even "the glorious liberty of the children of 
 Grod/' Wherefore then will Christ say to them that stand 
 by, " Take from him the pound, and give to him that hath 
 ten pounds/' This servant must not abide in the house for 
 ever, though with the son it shall be so.' A man may be 
 used as a servant in the Church of Grod, and may receive 
 many gifts, and much knowledge of the things of heaven, 
 and yet at last himself be no more than a very bubble and 
 nothing. But now, I say, at this day they shall clearly see 
 the difference between gifts and grace, even as clearly as now 
 they that have eyes can see the difference between gifts, and 
 ignorance and very foolishness. This our day doth, indeed, 
 abound with gifts; many sparkling wits are seen in every 
 corner; men have the word and truth of Christ at their 
 finger ends; but, alas! with many, yea, a great many, there 
 is nought but wit3 and gifts. They are but words; all 
 their religion lieth in their tongues and heads; the power 
 of what they see and know is seen in others, not in them- 
 selves. These are like the lord on whom the king of Israel 
 leaned : they shall see the plenty, the blessed plenty, that 
 Grod doth provide, and will bestow upon his church, but they 
 shall not taste thereof. 
 
 Before I conclude this matter, observe, that among all the 
 objections and cavils that are made, and will be made, by 
 the ungodly, in the day of the Lord Jesus, they have not 
 one word about election and reprobation. They murmur 
 not at all that they were not predestinated to eternal life : 
 and the reason is, because then they shall see, though now 
 they are blind, that God could in his prerogative-royal, 
 without prejudice to them that are damned, choose and 
 refuse at pleasure. And besides, they at that day shall be 
 convinced, that there was so much reality, and downright 
 willingness in God, in every tender of grace and mercy to 
 
SINNERS ARE SELF-DESTROYERS. 403 
 
 the worst of men; and also so much goodness, justness, and 
 reasonableness, in every command of the gospel of Christ, 
 which they were so often entreated and beseeched to em- 
 brace, that they will be drowned in the conviction of this, 
 that they did refuse, love, grace, and reason, — refuse love, I 
 say, for hatred ; grace, for sin ; and things reasonable, for things 
 unreasonable and vain. Now they shall see that they left glory 
 for shame; God, for the devil; heaven, for hell; light, for 
 darkness. Now they shall see, that though they made 
 themselves beasts, yet God made them reasonable creatures; 
 and that he did with reason expect that they should have 
 adhered to, and have delighted in, things that are good and 
 according to God. Yea, now they shall see, that though 
 God did not determine to bring them to heaven against 
 their hearts and wills, and the love that they had to their 
 sins, yet that God was far from infusing any thing into 
 their souls, that should in the least hinder, weaken, or ob- 
 struct them, in seeking the welfare of their souls. Now 
 men will tattle and prattle at a mad rate, about election and 
 reprobation, and conclude, that because all are not elected, 
 therefore God is to blame that any are damned. But then 
 they will see, that they are not damned because they were 
 not elected, but because they sinned; and also that they 
 sinned, not because God put any weakness into their souls, 
 but because they gave way, and that wilfully, knowingly, 
 and desperately, to Satan and his suggestions, and so turned 
 away from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 
 Yea, then you will see, that though God at sometimes did 
 fasten his cords about your heads, and heels, and hands, 
 both by godly education, and smarting convictions; yet you 
 rushed away with violence from all, saying, ^'Let us break 
 these bands asunder, and cast these cords from us.^' God 
 will be justified in his sayings, and be clear when he judgeth, 
 though now thy proud ignorance thinks to have, and to mul- 
 tiply, cavils against him. 
 
404 THE RESURRECTIOX OF THE DEAD. 
 
 But, secondly, as the whole body of the elect, by the na- 
 ture of conversion in their hearts, shall witness a non-con- 
 version in the hearts of the wicked; and as the ungodly 
 shall fall under the conviction of this cloud of witnesses ; so 
 to increase their conviction, there will also be opened before 
 them all the labors of the godly, both ministers and others, 
 and the pains that they have taken, to save, if it had 
 been possible, these very wretches. And now will it come 
 burning hot upon their souls, how often they were fore- 
 warned of this day. Now they shall see, that there was 
 never any quarter-sessions, nor general jail-delivery, more 
 publicly foretold than this day. You know that the judges, 
 before they begin their assizes, do give to the country in 
 charge, that they take heed to the laws and statutes of the 
 king. Why, rebel, thou shalt be at this day convicted, that 
 every sermon thou hast heard, and that every serious debate 
 thou hast been at about the laws of God, and things of eter- 
 nity, they were to thee as the judge's charge before the 
 assizes and judgment began. Every exhortation of every 
 minister of God, is as that which Paul gave to Timothy, 
 and commanded him to give in charge to others. "I charge 
 thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect 
 angels,'' saith he, "that thou observe these things." And 
 again, " I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quick- 
 eneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pon- 
 tius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this 
 commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appear- 
 ing of Jesus Christ." "These things give in charge," 
 saith he, " that they may be blameless.'^ This, I say, hast 
 thou heard and seen; and yet thou hast not held fast, but 
 hast cast away the things that thou hast heard, and hast 
 been warned of. Alas! God will multiply his witnesses 
 against thee. 
 
 For, thirdly, The words of thine own mouth shall be in 
 testimony. 
 
THE UNJUST ARE SELF-CONDEMNED. 405 
 
 1. Thine own vows and promises shall witness against 
 thee, that thou hast, contrary to thy light and knowledge, 
 destroyed thy soul. As Joshua said to the children of Is- 
 rael, when they said, the Lord should be their Grod : " Well," 
 saith he, " Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have 
 chosen you the Lord to serve him :" that is, if now you turn 
 back again, even this covenant and resolution of yours will 
 in the great day be a witness against you : " And they said, 
 We are witnesses.'' 
 
 2. Every time you have with your mouth said well of 
 godliness, and yet gone on in wickedness; or every time 
 you have condemned sin in others, and yet have not re- 
 frained it yourselves; I say, every such word and conclusion 
 that hath passed out of thy mouth, sinner, shall be as a 
 witness against thee in the day of Grod, and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. As Christ saith, '^By thy words thou shalt be justi- 
 fied, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.'' 
 
 I observe, that talk with whom you will, they will with 
 their mouth, say. Serving Grod, and loving Christ, and walk- 
 ing in ways of holiness, are best; and best will come of them. 
 I observe again, that men who are grossly wicked themselves, 
 will yet, v/ith heavy censures and judgments, condemn 
 drunkenness, lying, covetousness, pride, and whoring, with 
 all manner of abominations, in others; and yet, in the mean 
 time, continue to be neglecters of Grod., and embracers of 
 sin and the allurements of the flesh themselves. Why, such 
 souls, every time they speak well of godliness, and continue 
 in their sins, do then pass judgment upon themselves, and 
 provide a witness, even their own mouth, against their own 
 soul, at the judgment-seat. ^^ Out of thy own mouth," saith 
 Christ, ^^will I judge thee, thou wicked servant:" thou 
 knewest what I was, and that I loved to see all my servants 
 zealous and active for me, that at my coming I might have 
 received again what I gave thee, with increase. Thou 
 oughtest, therefore, to have been busying thyself in my 
 
406 THE RESURRECTION Or THE DEAD. 
 
 work, for my glory, and thine own good ; but seeing thou 
 hast, against thine own light and mouth, gone contrary — 
 Angels, take the unprofitable servant, and east ye him into 
 utter darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth. He sinned against light; he shall go to hell against 
 his will.' 
 
 The very same, I say, will befall all those that have used 
 their mouth to condemn the sins of others, while they them- 
 selves live in their sins. Saith Grod, ' thou wicked wretch, 
 thou didst know that sin was bad, thou didst condemn it in 
 others, thou didst also condemn and pass judgment upon 
 them for their sin ; thou art therefore, inexcusable, O man, 
 whosoever thou art, that hast thus judged; for thou that 
 judgest doest the same thing: wherefore, wherein thou hast 
 judged another, thou hast condemned thyself. I must, 
 therefore, saith Christ, look upon thee to be no other but a 
 sinner against thine own mouth, and cannot but judge thee as 
 a despiser of my goodness, and the riches of my forbearance ; 
 by which means thou hast treasured up wrath against this 
 day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of 
 God. " He that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to 
 him it is sin." Thus will God, I say, judge and condemn 
 poor sinners, even from and by themselves, to the fire — that 
 lake of brimstone and fire. 
 
 Lastly, God hath said in his word, that, rather than there 
 shall want witness at the day of judgment against the 
 workers of iniquity, the very dust of their city, that shall 
 cleave to his messengers that publish the gospel, shall itself 
 be a witness against them. And so Christ bid his servants 
 say : " Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you 
 not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, 
 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth to us, we 
 do wipe ofi" against you," &c. " But I say unto you," saith 
 he to his ministers, " It shall be more tolerable for Sodom 
 at the judgment, than for that city." 
 
THE DUST A WITNESS. 407 
 
 It may be, that wlien thou hearest that the dust of the 
 street (that cleaveth to a minister of the gospel, while thou 
 rejectest his word of salvation) shall be a witness against 
 thee at the day of judgment, thou wilt be apt to laugh and 
 say, ^ The dust a witness ! witnesses will be scarce, where 
 dust is forced to come in to plead against a man/ Well, 
 sinner, mock not. Grod doth use to confound the great and 
 mighty, by things that are not, and that are despised. And 
 how sayest thou? If God had said, by a prophet, to 
 Pharaoh, but two years before the plagues, that he would 
 shortly come against him with one army of flies, a second 
 army of frogs, and with a third army of locusts, &c., and 
 would destroy his land, dost thou think it had been wisdom 
 in Pharaoh now to have laughed such tidings to scorn? ^^Is 
 any thing too hard for the Lord ?" ^' Hath he said it, and 
 shall he not bring it to pass V You shall see, in the day 
 of judgment, of what force all these things will be as wit- 
 nesses against the ungodly. 
 
 Many more witnesses might I here reckon up; but these 
 at this time shall suffice to be nominated. " For out of the 
 mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be estab- 
 lished ;'' and ^^at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall 
 he that is worthy of death be put to death.'' 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE FINAL SENTENCE OP THE JUDGE. 
 
 Thus, then, the books being opened, the laws read, the 
 witnesses heard, and the ungodly convicted, forthwith the 
 Lord and Judge proceeds to execution; and to that end doth 
 pass the sentence of eternal death upon them, saying, ^'De- 
 part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for 
 the devil and his angels." You are now, by the book of 
 the creation, by the book of God's remembrance, by the 
 book of the law, and by the book of life, adjudged guilty of 
 high treason against Grod, and me, and murderers of your 
 own souls ; as these faithful and true witnesses here have 
 testified, every one of them appearing in their most upright 
 testimony against you. Also you never had a saving work 
 of conversion and faith passed upon you; you died in your 
 sins. Neither can I find any thing in the last part of this 
 book that will serve your turn ; no worthy act is here re- 
 corded of you: ^^ When I was an hungered, you gave me no 
 meat; when I was athirsty, you gave me no drink; when 1 
 was a stranger, you took me not in ; I was naked, but ye 
 clothed me not : I was sick, and in prison, but ye visited me 
 not.'' I have made a thorough search among the records 
 of the living, and find nothing of you, or of your deeds 
 therein. ^' Depart from me, ye cursed.'^ 
 
 Thus will these poor ungodly creatures be stripped of all 
 hope and comfort, and, therefore, must needs fall into great 
 sadness and wailing before the judge; yea, crying out, as 
 being loath to let go all for lost. And even as the man that 
 is fallen into the river will catch hold of any thing, when he 
 is struggling for life^ though it tend to hold him faster under 
 (408) 
 
THE FINAL SENTENCE ON THE UNJUST. 409 
 
 the water, to drown him ; so, I say, with these poor crea- 
 tures, as they lie struggling and twining under the ireful 
 countenance of the Judge, they will bring out yet one more 
 faint and weak groan, and there goes life and all. Their 
 last sigh is this, " Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, 
 and gave thee no meat ? or when saw we thee thirsty, and 
 gave thee no drink ? when saw we thee a stranger, and took 
 thee not in ? or naked and clothed thee not ? or when wast 
 thou sick, or in prison, and we did not minister unto 
 thee V 
 
 Thus you see how loath the sinner is now to take a nay 
 of life everlasting. He that once would not be persuaded 
 to close with the Lord Jesus, though one should have per- 
 suaded him with tears of blood, behold how fast he now 
 hangs about the Lord ! What arguments he frames, with 
 mournful groans ! How, with shifts and words, he seeks to 
 gain the time, and to defer the execution : '^ Lord, open 
 unto us ! Lord, Lord, open unto us ! Lord, thou hast 
 taught in our streets, and we have both taught in thy name, 
 and in thy name have we cast out devils. We have eat and 
 drunk in thy presence. And when did we see thee an 
 hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
 prison, and did not minister to thee V poor hearts ! 
 How loath, how unwilling, do they turn away from Christ ! 
 How loath are they to partake of the fruit of their ungodly 
 doings ! Christ must say. Depart once, and depart twice, 
 before they will depart. When he hath shut the door upon 
 them, yet they knock, and cry, " Lord, open unto us !" 
 When he hath given them their answer, " that he knows 
 them not," yet they plead and mourn. Wherefore he is fain 
 to answer again, " I tell you, I know you not whence you 
 are : Depart !" 
 
 "Depart:" this word, depart! How dreadful is it I 
 With what weight will it fall on the head of every con- 
 demned sinner ! For you must note, that while the ungodly 
 
 35 
 
410 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 stand thus before the Judge, they cannot choose but have a 
 most famous view, both of the kingdom of heaven, and of 
 the damned wights in hell. Now they see the God of 
 glory, the King of glory, the saints of glory, and the an- 
 gels of glory, and the kingdom in which they have their 
 eternal abode. Now they also begin to see the worth of 
 Christ, and what it is to be smiled upon by himj from all 
 which they must depart. And, as I say, they shall have 
 the view of this, so they will most famously behold the pit, 
 the bottomless pit ; the tire, the brimstone, and the flaming 
 beds, that justice hath prepared for them of old. Their 
 associates also will be very conspicuous and clear before 
 their watery eyes. They will see now, what and which are 
 devils, and who are damned souls. Now their great-grand- 
 father Cain, and all his brood, with Judas and all his com- 
 panions, must be their fellow-sighcrs in the flames and 
 pangs for ever. heavy day ! heavy word ! 
 
 This word, ^'depart," therefore, looketh two ways, and 
 commands the damned to do so too : ^ Depart from heaven, 
 depart to hell; depart from life, depart to death.' " Depart 
 from 7726." Now the ladder doth turn from under them 
 indeed. The Saviour turns them off"; the Saviour throws 
 them down. The Father hath given him authority to exe- 
 cute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. ^^ Depart 
 from me." I would come to have done you good; but then 
 you would not : now then, though you would have it ever 
 so willingly, yet you shall not. 
 
 " Depart from me, yc curscdJ' Ye forsaken and left of 
 God, ye vessels of wrath, ye despisers of God and goodness, 
 you now lie open to the stroke of justice for your sins. You 
 must now have vengeance feed upon you ; for you did, when 
 you were in the world, feed on sin, and treasure up wrath 
 against this day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous 
 judgment of God. 
 
 "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fireJ' Fire is that 
 
THE ETERNAL JUDGMENT. 411 
 
 which of all things is the most insufferable and insupporta- 
 ble. Wherefore by fire is showed the grievous state of the 
 ungodly, after judgment. Who can eat fire ? drink fire ? 
 and lie down in the midst of flames of fire ? Yet this must 
 the wicked do. Again, not only fire, but everlasting fire. 
 Behold how great a fire a little matter kindleth. A little 
 sin, a little pleasure, a little unjust dealing and doing; what 
 preparation is made for the punishment thereof! And hence 
 it is, that the fire into which the damned fall, is called the 
 lake or sea of fire. ^^And whosoever,'' saith John, "was 
 not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake 
 of fire.'' Little did the sinner seriously think, that when 
 he was sinning against God, he was making such provision 
 for his poor soul. But now it is too late to repent. His 
 worm must never die, and his fire shall never be quenched. 
 Though the time in which men commit sin is short, yet the 
 time of God's punishing them for their sin is long. 
 
 '^Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- 
 pared for the devil and his angelsJ' In that he saith, 
 '^prepared for the devil and his angels," he insinuates a 
 further conviction upon the consciences of the damned. As 
 if he had said, ^As for this fire and lake that you must go 
 to, though you thought but little of it, because you were 
 careless, yet I did betimes put you in mind of what would 
 be the fruits of sin, even by preparing this judgment for 
 the devil and his angels. The devil in his creation is far 
 more noble than you; yet when he sinned, I spared him 
 not. He sinned also before man; and I, upon his sinning, 
 did cast him down from heaven to hell, and did hang the 
 chains of everlasting darkness upon him ; which might, yea, 
 ought, to have been a fair item to you to take heed, but 
 you would not. AVherefore, seeing you have sinned as he 
 hath done, and that, too, after he had both sinned, and was 
 bound over to eternal punishment, the same justice that lay- 
 eth hold on these more noble creatures, must surely seize 
 
412 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 on you.' The world should be convinced of judgment then, 
 because the prince of the world is judged. And that, be- 
 fore they came to this condition of hearing the eternal sen- 
 tence rattle in their ears; but seeing they did not regard it 
 then, they must, and shall, feel the smart of it now. ^'De- 
 part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for 
 the devil and his angels." 
 
 God would have men learn both what mercy is and jus- 
 tice is to them, by his showing it to others ; but if they be 
 sottish and careless in the day of forbearance, they must 
 learn by smarting in the day of rebuke and vengeance. 
 Thus it was with the old world. God gave them one hun- 
 dred and twenty years warning by the preparation of Noah, 
 for the flood that should come. But forasmuch as they then 
 were careless, and would not consider the works of the Lord, 
 nor his threatening them, by this preparation, therefore he 
 brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, as he 
 doth here the last judgment upon the workers of iniquity, 
 and sweeps them all away in their wilful ignorance. 
 
 Wherefore I say, the Lord Chief Judge, by these words, 
 *' prepared for the devil and his angels," doth as good as 
 say, ^This fii*e into which I now send you, did of itself, 
 even in the preparation of it, had you considered it, fore- 
 warn you of this that is now come upon you. Hell-fire is 
 no new or unheard of thing. You cannot now plead, that 
 you heard not of it in the world, neither could you with any 
 reason judge, that seeing I prepared it for angels — for no- 
 ble, powerful, and mighty angels — that you, poor dust and 
 ashes, should escape the vengeance. "Depart from me, ye 
 cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
 angels." 
 
 The sentence being thus passed, it remains now, the work 
 being done, that every one go to his eternal station. Where- 
 fore, forthwith this mighty company do now, with heavy heart, 
 retire again from before the judgment-seat: and that full 
 
THE ETERNAL JUDGMENT. 413 
 
 hastily, Grod knoweth; for their proper centre is in the hell 
 of hell; into which they descend like a stone into a well, or 
 like Pharaoh into the bottom of the Red Sea. For all hope 
 being now taken from them, they must needs fall with vio- 
 lence into the jaws of eternal desperation, which will deal 
 far worse with the souls of men, and make a greater slaughter 
 in their tortured consciences, than the lions in the den 
 with Daniel could possibly do with the men that were cast 
 in among them. 
 
 This is that which Paul calleth " eternal judgment," be- 
 cause it is that which is last and final. Many are the judg- 
 ments that God doth execute among the sons of men, some 
 after this manner and some after that; divers of which con- 
 tinue but for a while, and none of them are eternal. No, 
 the very devils and damned spirits in hell, though theirs is 
 the longest and most terrible of all the judgments of God 
 yet on foot, yet I say, they must pass under another judg- 
 ment, even this last, great, and final judgment. "The 
 angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own 
 habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under 
 darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.'^ And so 
 also it is with the damned soul. For both Sodom and Go- 
 morrah, with all the other, though already in hell in their 
 souls, yet they must (as I have before showed) all arise to 
 this judgment, which will be their final judgment. Others 
 of the judgments of God, as they have an end, so the end 
 of many of them proves the profit of those on whom they are 
 inflicted; being, I say, God's instruments of conversion to 
 sinners; and so may fitly be compared to those petty judg- 
 ments among men, as putting in the stocks, whipping, or 
 burning in the hand: which punishments and judgments, 
 do often prove profitable to those that are punished with 
 them. But eternal judgment is like those more severe 
 judgments among men, as beheading, shooting to death, 
 hanging, drawing and quartering; which swoop all, even 
 
 35* 
 
414 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 healthy time, and the like, and cut oflf all opportunity of 
 good, leaving no place for mercy or amendment. " These 
 shall go away into everlasting punishment." This word, 
 ^^depart,'' &c., is the last word the damned for ever are 
 like to hear. I say, it is the last voice, and therefore will 
 stick longest, and with most power, on their slaughtered 
 souls. There is no calling of it back again; it is the very 
 wind up of eternal judgment. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE ETERNAL FUTURE. 
 
 Thus, then, the judgment being over, the mediatorial 
 kingdom ceaseth to be any longer in the hand of the man 
 Christ Jesus. For as the judges here among men, when 
 they have gone their circuit, do deliver up their commission 
 to the king ; so Christ the Judge doth now deliver up his 
 kingdom to his Father. And now all is swallowed up of 
 eternity. The damned are swallowed up of eternal justice 
 and wrath; the saved, of eternal life and felicity; and the 
 Son also delivereth up, I say, the kingdom to the Father, 
 and as man is subject himself under him, that did put all 
 things under him, that God may be all in all. 
 
 For now is the end come, and not before, even the end 
 of the reign of death itself; for death, and hell, and sinners, 
 and devils, must now go together into the lake that burns 
 with fire and brimstone. And now is the end of Christ's 
 reign, as the Son of man, and the end of the reign of the 
 saints with him in this his kingdom, which he hath received 
 of his Father, for his work's sake, which he did for him, and 
 for his elect. "Then cometh the end," saith Paul, "when 
 he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the 
 Father.'^ But when shall that be ? Why, he answers 
 saying, " When he shall have put down all rule, and all 
 authority and power. For he must reign until he hath put 
 all enemies under his feet'^ (which will not be until the final 
 sentence and judgment be over); "For the last enemy that 
 shall be destroyed, is death. For God hath put all things 
 under his feet. But when he saith. All things are put under 
 him ; it is manifest he is excepted which did put all things 
 
 (415) 
 
416 Tni: restiurection of the dead. 
 
 under hiin. And when all things shall be subdued unto 
 him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, 
 that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.'' 
 
 All things being now at this pass, namely, every one being 
 in his proper place ; God in his, Christ in his, the saint in 
 his, and the sinner in his ; I shall conclude with this brief 
 touch upon both the state of the good and bad after this 
 eternal judgment. 
 
 1. The righteous now shall never fear death, the devil, 
 and hell more : and the wicked shall never hope for life. 
 
 2. The just shall ever have the victory over these things; 
 but the wicked shall everlastingly be swallowed up of them. 
 
 3. The holy shall be in everlasting light, but the sinner 
 in everlasting darkness. Without light, I say, yet in fire ; 
 ever burning, yet not consumed ; always afraid of death and 
 hell; vehemently desiring to be annihilated to nothing; con- 
 tinually fearing to stay long in hell, and yet certainly sure 
 they shall never come out of it; ever desiring the saints' 
 happiness, and yet always envying their felicity; they would 
 have it because it is easy and comfortable ; yet cannot abide 
 to think of it, because they have lost it for ever. Ever 
 loaded with the delight of sin ; and yet that is the greatest 
 torture ; always desiring to put it out of their mind; and yet 
 assuredly knowing they must for ever abide under the guilt 
 and torment thereof. 
 
 4. The saints are always inflamed with the consideration 
 ©f the grace that once they embraced ; but the wicked most 
 flamingly tormented with the thoughts of their once reject- 
 inf^ and refusing; it 
 
 5. The just, when they think of their sins, are comforted 
 with the thoughts of their being delivered from them ; but 
 the ungodly, when they think of their righteousness, will 
 gnaw themselves, to think that this would not deliver them 
 from hell. 
 
 0. When the godly think of hell, it will increase their 
 
THE ETERNAL STATE. 417 
 
 comfort; but when the wicked think of heaven, it will 
 twinge them like a serpent. Oh, this eternal judgment ! 
 What would a damned soul give, that there might be, 
 though after thousands and hundreds of thousands of mil- 
 lions of years, an end put to this eternal judgment. But 
 their misery is, they have sinned against a Grod that is eter- 
 nal; they have offended that justice that will never be satis- 
 fied; and therefore they must abide the fire that never shall 
 be quenched. Here is judgment, just and sad. 
 
 Again, As it will be thus with good and bad in general; 
 so again more particularly, when the wicked are thus ad- 
 judged and condemned, and also received of the fiery gulf, 
 then they shall find, that as he that busieth himself to do 
 good, shall have more glory than others ; so they that have 
 been more busy and active in sin than others shall have 
 more wrath and torment than others. For as doing good 
 abundantly doth enlarge the heart to receive and hold more 
 glory; so doing evil abundantly doth enlarge the heart and 
 soul to receive punishment so much the more. And hence 
 it is that you have such sayings as these : ^^ It shall be more 
 tolerable in the judgment for Sodom than for others ;" that 
 is, than for those that had sinned against much greater light 
 and mercy : for these, as he saith in another place, ^^ shall 
 receive greater damnation. '^ Yea, it standeth to reason, that 
 he who hath most light, most conviction, most means of 
 conversion, and that was highest towards heaven, must needs 
 have the greatest fall, and so sink deepest into the jaws of 
 eternal misery. As one star, that is, one saint, differeth 
 from another in heaven, so one damned soul shall difier from 
 another in hell. It is so among the devils themselves : there 
 are some worse than others : Beelzebub is the prince, or the 
 chief of the devils ; that is, one that was most glorious in 
 heaven, chief among the reprobate angels before his fall ; and 
 therefore sinned against the greater light, mercy, and good- 
 ness, and so became the chief for wickedness, and will also 
 
418 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 have, as the wages thereof, the chief of torments. For that 
 will be true of the damned of hell which is prayed for against 
 Babylon: ^'How much she hath glorified herself, and lived 
 deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her.'' Can it 
 be imagined, that Judas should not have more torment, who 
 betrayed the Prince of life and Saviour of the world, than 
 others who never came near his wickedness by ten thousand 
 degrees ? " He that knew his master's will, and prepared 
 not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten 
 with many stripes,"— with many more stripes than others, 
 that through ignorance did commit sin worthy of stripes. 
 
 But why should I thus discourse of the degrees of the tor- 
 ments of the damned souls in hell? for he that suffers least, 
 will have the waters of a full cup wrung out to him. The 
 least measure of wrath will be the wrath of God ; eternal 
 and fiery wrath, insupportable wrath ] it will lay the soul in 
 the gulf of that second death, which will for ever have the 
 mastery over the poor sinking, perishing sinner. "And 
 death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the 
 second death. And whosoever was not found written in the 
 book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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