"even

comes to God by Christ has chosen the world that is infinitely good; a world, betwixt which and this there can be no comparison. This must be granted, because he that comes to God by Christ is said to have made the best choice, chose a city that has foundations." There are several things that make it manifest enough that he that comes to God by Christ has made the best market, or chose the best world.

1. That is the world which God commendeth, but this that that he slighteth and contemneth, 2 Thess. i. 5, 6. Hence that is called the kingdom of God, but this, an evil world, Gal. i. 4. Now let us conclude, that since God made both, he is able to judge which of the two are best; yea, best able so to judge thereof. I choose the rather to refer you to the judgment of God in this matter, for should I put you upon asking of him as to this, that is, coming to God by Christ, perhaps you would say, he is as little able to give an account of this matter as yourselves. But I hope you think God knows, and therefore I refer you to the judgment of God, which you have in the scriptures of truth-" Heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool." I hope you will say here is some difference. The Lord is the God of that, the devil the god and prince of this. Thus also it appears there is some difference between them.

2. That world, and those that are counted worthy of it, shall all be everlasting; but so shall not this, nor the inhabitants of it. The earth with the works thereof shall be burned up, and the men that are of it shall die in like manner, 2 Pet. iii.; 66 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: they shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end," Isaiah, xlv. 17.

This world, with the lovers of it, will end in a burning hell; but the world to come fadeth not away, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4.

3. The world that we are now in has its best comforts mixed either with crosses or curses; but that to come, with neither. There shall be no more curse; and as for crosses, all tears shall be wiped from the eyes of them that dwell there. There will be nothing but ravishing pleasures and holy; there will be no cessation of joys, nor any speck of pollution. In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore," Psalm xvi. 12.

4. There men shall be made like angels, "neither can they die any more," Luke, xx. 35, 36. There shall they behold the face of God and his Son, and swim in the enjoyment of them for ever. 5. There men shall see themselves beyond all misery, and shall know that it will be utterly impossible that either anything like sorrow, or grief, or sickness, or discontent, should touch

them more.

6. There men shall be rewarded of God for what they have done and suffered according to his will for his sake; there they shall eat and drink their comforts, and wear them to their everlasting consolation.

7. They are all kings that go to that world, and so shall be proclaimed there. They shall also be crowned with crowns, and they shall wear crowns of life and glory, crowns of ever

lasting joy, crowns of loving-kindness; yea, "In that day the Lord of hosts himself shall be for a crown of glory to those that are his people," Heb. ii. 7; Isaiah, xxviii. 5; xxxv.10; Psalm ciii. 4. Now, if this world (though no more could be said for it than is said in these few lines) is not infinitely far better than what the present world is, I have missed it in my thoughts. But the coming man, the man that comes to God by Christ, is satisfied, knows what he does; and if his way, all his way thither were strewed with burning coals, he would choose, God helping him, to tread that path rather than to have his portion with them that perish.

Fourthly, If there be a world to come, and such a way to it so safe and good, and if God is there to be enjoyed by them that come to him by Christ, then this shews the great madness of the most of men,-madness, I say, of the highest degree, for that they come not to God by Christ that they may be inheritors of the world to come. It is a right character which Solomon gives of them-"The heart of the sons of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts, while they live, and after that they go to the dead," Eccles. ix. 3.

A mad man is intent upon his joys upon anything but that about which he should be intent; and so are they that come not to God by Jesus Christ. A mad man has neither ears to hear, nor a heart to do, what they that are in their rights wits advise him for the best, no more have they that come not to God by Christ. A mad man sets more by the straws and cock's feathers by which he decks himself, than he does by all the pearls and jewels in the world. And they that come not to God by Christ set more by the vanishing bubbles of this life than they do by that glory that the wise man shall inherit-" The wise shall inherit glory, but shame," says Solomon, "shall be the promotion of fools." What a shame it is to see God's jewels lie unregarded of them that yet think none are wiser than themselves.

I know the wise men of this world will scorn one should think of them that they are mad; but verily it is so, the more wise for this world, the more fool in God's matters; and the more obstinately they stand in their way, the more mad.

When Solomon gave himself to backsliding, he saith he gave himself to folly and madness, Eccles. i. 17; ii. 12. And when he went about to search out what man is since the fall, he went about to search out foolishness and madness, Eccles. vii. 25-30. And is it not said, that when the Jews were angry with Jesus for that he did good on the Sabbath, that that anger did flow from their being filled with madness? Doth not Paul also, while he opposed himself against Christ, the gospel, and professors thereof, plainly tell us that he did it even from the highest pitch of madness? -"And being exceeding mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities," Acts, xxvi. 11. Now if it is exceeding madness to do thus, how many at this day must be counted exceeding mad, who yet count themselves the only sober men? They oppose themselves, they stand in their own light, they are against their own happiness, they cherish and nourish cock

atrices in their own bosoms; they choose to themselves those paths which have written upon them in large characters, These are the ways of death and damnation. They are offended with them that endeavour to pull them out of their ditch, and choose rather to lie and die there than to go to God by Christ that they may be saved from wrath through him, (John, x. 20; Acts, xxvi. 24;) yea, so mad are they, that they count the most sober, the most godly, the most holy man the mad one; the more earnest for life, the more mad; the more in the spirit, the more mad; the more desirous to promote the salvation of others, the more mad. But is not this a sign of madness, of madness unto perfection? And yet thus mad are many, and mad are all they that while it is called to-day, while their door is open, and while the golden sceptre of the golden grace of the blessed God is held forth, stand in their own light, and come not to God by Christ. That is the fourth inference.

Fifthly, A fifth inference that I gather from this text is, that the end that God will make with men will be according as they come or come not to God by Christ. They that come to God by Christ have taken shelter and have hid themselves; but they that come not to God by Christ lay themselves open to the windy storm and tempest that will be in that day. And the wind then will be high, and the tempest strong, that will blow upon them that shall be found in themselves: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth that he may judge his people," Psalm 1. 3, 4.

And now, what will be found in that day to be the portion of them that in this day do not come to God by Christ? None knows but God, with whom the reward of unbelievers is.

But writing and preaching is in vain as to such; let men say what they will, what they can, to persuade to come, to dissuade from neglecting to come, they are resolved not to stir. They will try if God will be so faithful to himself and to his word as to dare to condemn them to hellfire that have refused to hear and comply with the voice of him that speaketh from heaven.

But this is but a desperate venture. Several things declare that he is determined to be at a point in this matter

1. The gallows are built, hell is prepared for the wicked.

2. There are those already in chains, and stand bound over to the judgment of that day, that are, as to creation, higher and greater than men -to wit, the angels that sinned, 2 Pet. ii. 4. Let sinners, then, look to themselves.

3. The Judge is prepared and appointed, and it hath fallen out to be he that thou hast refused to come to God by; and that predicts no good to thee; for then will he say of all such, "Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me," Luke, xix. 27.

But what a surprise will it be to them that now have come to God by Christ to see themselves in heaven indeed, saved indeed, and possessed of everlasting life indeed. For alas!

what is faith to possession? Faith that is mixed with many tears, that is opposed with many assaults, and that seems sometimes to be quite extinguished; I say, what is that to a seeing of myself in heaven? Hence it is said, that he shall then come to be admired in them that now believe, (2 Thess. i. 10,) because they did here believe the testimony; then they shall admire that it was their lot to believe when they were in the world. They shall also admire to think, to see, and behold what believing has brought them to, while the rest for refusing to come to God by Christ drink their tears mixed with burning brimstone.

Repentance will not be found in heaven among them that come to God by Christ; no, hell is the place of untimely repentance; it is there where the tears will be mixed with gnashing of teeth, while they consider how mad, and worse, they were in not coming to God by Jesus Christ.

Then will their hearts and mouths be full of, "Lord, Lord, open unto us." But the answer will be, "Ye shut me out of doors; I was a stranger, and you took me not in," (Matt. xxv. ;) besides, you refused to come to my Father by me, wherefore now you must go from my Father by me.

They that will not be saved by Christ, must be be damned by Christ; no man can escape one of the two. Refuse the first they may, but shun the second they cannot.

And now they that would not come unto God by Christ will have leisure and time enough, if I may call it time, to consider what they have done in refusing to come to God by Christ. Now they will meditate warmly on this thing, now their thoughts will be burning hot about it, and it is too late, will be in each thought such a sting, that, like a bow of steel, it will continually strike him through.

Now they will bless those whom formerly they have despised, and commend those they once contemned. Now would the rich man willingly change places with poor Lazarus, though he preferred his own condition before his in the world.

The day of judgment will bring the worst to rights in their opinions; they will not be capable of misapprehending any more. They will never after that day put bitter for sweet, or darkness for light, or evil for good any more. Their madness will now be gone. Hell will be the unbeliever's Bedlam house, and there God will tame them as to all those Bedlam tricks and pranks which they played in this world, but not at all to their profit nor advantage; the gulf that God has placed and fixed betwixt heaven and hell will spoil all as to that, Luke, xvi. 23-27.

But what a joy will it be to the truly godly to think now that they are come to God by Christ! It was their mercy to begin to come, it was their happiness that they continued coming; but it is their glory that they are come, that they are come to God by Christ.

To God! why he is all! all that is good, essentially good, and eternally good. To God! the infinite ocean of good. To God in friendly wise, by the means of reconciliation; for the other now will be come to him to receive his anger, because they come not to him by Jesus Christ.

SEEING the Lord hath been pleased to put it into mine heart to write a few things to thee, reader, touching those things which are most surely believed by all those that are or shall be saved, (Luke, í. 1; Acts, xiii. 38,) I think it meet also to stir up thy heart by way of remembrance, touching those things that are the hindrances of thy believing the things that are necessary to the welfare of thine immortal soul. And indeed this is the only thing necessary; it is better to lose all that ever thou hast than to have thy soul and body for ever cast into hell; and therefore I beseech thee to consider with me a few things touching the stratagems, or subtle temptations, of the devil, whereby he lieth in wait, if by any means he may, to make thee fall short of eternal life, 1 Pet. v. 8. And first of all, he doth endeavour by all means to keep thee in love with thy sins and pleasures, knowing that he is sure of thee if he can but bewitch thee to live and die in them, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; 2 Thess. ii. 12. Yea, he knows that he is as sure of thee as if he had thee in hell already, John, iii. 19. And that he might accomplish his design on thee in this particular, he laboureth by all means possible to keep thy conscience asleep in security and self-conceitedness, keeping thee from all things that might be a means to awaken and rouse up thine heart; as, first, he will endeavour to keep thee from hearing of the word, by suggesting unto this and the other worldly business which must be performed; so that thou wilt not want excuse to keep thee from the ordinances of Christ, in hearing, reading, meditation, &c.; or else he seeks to disturb and distract thy mind when thou art conversant in these things, that

thou canst not attend to them diligently, and so they become unprofitable; or else, if thou art a little more stirred, he labours to rock thee asleep again, by casting thee upon, and keeping thee in, evil company, as among rioters, drunkards, jesters, and other of his instruments, which he employeth on purpose to keep thee secure, and so ruin thy soul and body for ever and ever.

If not thus, then peradventure he will seek to persuade thee it is but a melancholy fit, and will put thee upon the works of thy calling, or thy pleasures, or physic, or some other trick he will invent such as best agreeth with thy nature; and thus thy heart is again deaded, and thou art kept in carnal security, that thou mightst perish for ever. But if notwithstanding these and many cunning sleights, more which might be named, he cannot so blind and benumb thy conscience but that it doth see and feel sin to be a burden, intolerable and exceeding sinful, then, in the second place, his design is to drive thee to despair by persuading thee that thy sins are too big to be pardoned; he will seek by all means possible to aggravate them by all the circumstances of time, place, person, manner, nature, and continuance of thy sins; he will object in thy soul thou hast outsinned grace by rejecting so many exhortations and admonitions, so many reproofs, so many tenders of grace; hadst thou closed in with them, it had been well with thee, but now thou hast stood it out so long that there is no hope for thee; thou mightst have come sooner, if thou didst look to be saved, but now it is too late. And withal, that he might carry on his design upon thee to purpose, he will be sure to present to thy

conscience the most sad sentences of the scripture; yea, and set them home with such cunning arguments, that, if it be possible, he will make thee despair and make away thyself, as did Judas. But if he be prevented in this his intended purpose, the next thing he doth beset thee with is, to make thee rest upon thy own righteousness, telling thee that if thou wilt needs be saved, thou must earn heaven with thy fingers' ends; and, it may be, he represents to thy soul such a scripture-" If thou do well, shalt thou not be accepted?" And thou having (but in the strength of nature) kept thyself from thy former grosser pollutions, and it may be from some more secret sins, art ready to conclude now thou dost well, now God accepts thee, now he will pardon, yea, hath pardoned thee, now thy condition is good, and so goest on till thou meetest with a searching word and ministry, which tells thee, and discovers plainly unto thee, that thou dost all this while deceive thyself by a vain hope and confidence; for though thou seek after the law of righteousness, thou hast not yet attained to the law of righteousness, nor yet canst, because thou seekest it not by faith, "but as it were by the works of the law," Rom. ix. 31, 32. Here, again, thou art left in the mire, and now peradventure thou seest that thou art not profited by the works of the law, nor thy own righteousness; and this makes thee stir a little; but in process of time, through the subtle sleights of the devil, and the wickedness of thine own heart, thou forgettest thy trouble of conscience, and slippest into a notion of the gospel and the grace thereof, and now thou thinkest thyself cocksure; now thou art able to say, He that lives and dies in his sins shall be damned for them; he that trusts in his own righteousness shall not be saved. Now thou canst cry, Grace, grace, it is freely by grace, it is through the death of the man Christ Jesus that sinners do attain unto eternal life, Heb. ix. 14. This, I say, thou hast in the notion, and hast not the power of the same in thine heart, and so it may be thine head is full of the knowledge of the Scriptures, though thine heart be empty of sanctifying grace. And thus thou dost rejoice for a time, yet because thou hast not the root of the matter within thee," in time of temptation thou fallest away," Luke, viii. 13.

Now, being in this condition, and thinking thyself to be wondrous well because of that notion of the truth, and that notion thou hast in the things of God, I say, being in this state, thou art liable to these dangers

First, Thou art like to perish if thou die with this notion in thine head, except God out of his rich grace do work a saving work of grace and knowledge in thy heart; for know this, thou mayst understand glorious mysteries, and yet be a cast-away, 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3. Or else,

Secondly, Thou art liable to the next damnable heresy that the devil sendeth into the world. See and consider Luke, viii. 13; 2 Tim. ii. 18. I say, thou dost lie liable to be carried away with it, and to be captivated by it, so that at last, through the delusions of the devil, thou mayst have thy conscience seared as with a hot iron, so hard, that neither law nor gospel can make any entrance thereinto to the doing of thee the least good. And

indeed, who are the men that at this day are so deluded by the quakers, and other pernicious doctrines, but those who thought it enough to be talkers of the gospel and grace of God, without seeking and giving all diligence to make it sure unto themselves? "And for this cause God hath sent them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness," as it is written, 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. And indeed, if you mark it, you shall see that they be such kind of people who at this day are so carried away with the quakers' delusionsnamely, a company of loose ranters and light notionists, with here and there a legalist, which were shaking in their principles from time to time, sometimes on this religion, sometimes on that, and thus these unstable souls are deluded and beguiled at last, 2 Pet. ii. 14. So that these who before, as one would have thought, had something of God in them, are now turned such enemies to the glorious truths of the gospel, that there are none so obstinately erroneous as they. And indeed it is just with God to "give them over to believe a lie" (2 Thess. ii. 11) who before were so idle that they would not receive the truth of God into their hearts "in the love of it," and to be bewitched by the devil to obey his temptations, and be damned, who would not obey the truth, (Gal. iii. 1,) that they might be saved.

But you will say, what lies are those that the devil beguileth poor souls withal? I shall briefly tell you some of them; but having before said that they especially are liable to the danger of them who slip into high notions, and rest there, taking that for true faith which is not, I shall desire thee seriously to consider this one character of a notionist: such an one, whether he perceives it or not, is puffed up in his fleshly mind, and advanceth himself above others, thinking but few may compare with him for religion and knowledge in the Scriptures, but are ignorant and foolish in comparison of him, (thus "knowledge puffeth up," 1 Cor. viii. 1 ;) whereas, when men receive truth in the love of the truth, the more the head and heart are filled with the knowledge of the mystery of godliness, the more they are emptied of their own things, and are more sensible of their own vileness, and so truly humbled in their own eyes.

And further, a notionist, though he fall from his former strictness and seeming holiness, and appear more loose and vain in his practices, yet speaks as confidently of himself as to assurance of salvation, the love of God, and union with God, as ever. But now, to return, and declare some of those lies which the devil persuades some of these men to believe.

1. That salvation was not fully and completely wrought out for poor sinners by the man Christ Jesus, though he did it gloriously, (Acts, xiii. 38, 39,) by his death upon the cross without the gates of Jerusalem, Heb. xiii. 12, compared with John, xix. 20.

2. This is another of his lies wherewith he doth deceive poor sinners, bidding them follow the light that they brought into the world with them, telling them that light will lead them to the kingdom; for, say they, it will convince of sin, as swearing, lying, stealing, covetousness,