1 Conviction, and terror to them which are out of Christ. If Gods People be liable to inward and outward trouble at once, wherein yet there is not a drop of wrath; What shall the visitation of the rest be wherein there is not a drop of saving pity? If they may be so hardly put to it which yet are ever secretly and mightily supported, what shall they do that have no strength but their own to bear up under the mighty hand of God? Surely if they smart sevenfold: the wicked must be avenged seventy times sevenfold. If the cup of affliction, by reason of the bitter ingredient of inward perplexity, be so bitter to them, what becomes of them for whom the dregs of that Cup are reserved? The godly may stand condemned at their own Bar, but the wicked at Gods too, and nothing remains to them but a certain expectation of execution without a change. O! if Jacob halt, sure Esau's back and bones must be broken; If the righteous be (by reason of sharp afflictions within and without) scarcely saved, (to whom yet all afflictions are through grace ever sufferable, short, and sanctified,) where shall the sinner appear when his sins and sorrows shall meet together? There be three days wherein thou shalt never be able to hold up thy head, and yet thou must appear: First, A day of extreme Calamity; Secondly, Of Death; Thirdly, of Judgment. Oh! remember how sad it goes with the godly in a day of outward Calamity because of inward trouble joining with it through gradual want of Knowledge, Faith, and Evidence, the venom of sin, unmortified malice of Satan, not yet quite trodden under their feet, and the withdrawing of Gods Grace and Countenance in part? And consider how thou wilt speed, which hast no saving Knowledge, no Faith, no Interest, art under the reign of sin and Satan, whom the holy and ⟨p. 369⟩jealous God cannot endure to behold but with revenge and execration. Psal. 27.13. David had fainted (in his affliction) had he not believed, &c. Surely then thou must utterly faint because thou hast not obtained an heart to understand and believe to this day: The Children of God, notwithstanding all their inward and outward pressures, can say as Paul sighs for them all, 2 Cor. 4.8, 9. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed, (so as there is no way to escape or bear up;) We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not quite destroyed.
1 Conviction, and terrour to them which are out of Christ. If Gods People be lyable to inward and outward trouble at once, wherein yet there is not a drop of wrath; What shall the visitasion of the rest be wherein there is not a drop of saving pity? If they may be so hardly put to it which yet are ever secretly and mightily supported, what shall they do that have no strength but their own to bear up under the mighty hand of God? Surely if they smart sevenfold: the wicked must be avenged seventy times sevenfold. If the cup of affliction, by reason of the bitter ingredient of inward perplexity, be so bitter to them, what becomes of them for whom the dregs of that Cup are reserved? The godly may stand condemned at their own Bar, but the wicked at Gods too, and nothing remains to them but a certain expectation of execution without a change. O! if Jacob halt, sure Esaus back and bones must be broken; If the righteous be (by reason of sharp afflictions within and without) scarcely saved, (to whom yet all afflictions are through grace ever sufferable, short, and sanctified,) where shall the sinner appear when his sins and sorrows shall meet together? There be three daies wherein thou shalt never be able to hold up thy head, and yet thou must appear: First, A day of extream Calamity; Secondly, Of Death; Thirdly, of Judgment. Oh! remember how sad it goes with the godly in a day of outward Calamity because of inward trouble joyning with it through gradual want of Knowledge, Faith, and Evidence, the venome of sin, unmortified malice of Satan, not yet quite troden under their feet, and the withdrawing of Gods Grace and Countenance in part? And consider how thou wilt speed, which hast no saving Knowledge, no Faith, no Interest, art under the raign of sin and Satan, whom the holy and ⟨p. 369⟩jealous God cannot endure to behold but with revenge and execration. Psal. 27.13. David had fainted (in his affliction) had he not believed, &c. Surely then thou must utterly faint because thou hast not obtained an heart to understand and believe to this day: The Children of God, notwithstanding all their inw•rd and outward pressures, can say as Paul sighs for them all, 2 Cor. 4.8, 9. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed, (so as there is no way to escape or bear up;) We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not quite destroyed.
