Compassionate counsel to all young men especially I. London apprentices, II. students of divinity,…

Qu. 10. Is it a wise and reasonable expectation, that the righteous God should give that man everlasting Glory, who will not leave his Whores, his Drunkenness, or the basest vanity, for all his Love, and for all his Mercies, for the sake of Christ, nor for the hopes of all this Glory? Heaven is the greatest reward of holiness, and of the diligent and patient seekers of it: Heaven is the greatest gift of the great Love of God: And can you believe that he will give it to the slaves of the Devil, and to contemning wilful Rebels? May not you next think that the Devils may be saved? If you say that God is merciful, it's most true; and this will be the unconverted mans damnation, that he would for a base Lust offend so merciful ⟨p. 72⟩a God, and sell everlasting mercy for nothing, and abuse so much mercy all his life. Abused and refused mercy will be the fuel to feed the flames of Hell, and torment the Conscience of the impenitent for ever. Doth not God know his own mercy better than you do? Can he not be merciful, and yet be holy and just? Is the King unmerciful if he make use of Jails and Gallows for Malefactors? It's mercy to the Land to destroy such, as would destroy others: The bosom of eternal Love is not a place for any but the holy: The heavenly Paradise is not like Mahomet's, a place of Lust and sensual Delights. You blaspheme the most just and holy God, if you make him seem indifferent to the holy and the unholy, to his faithful Servants and to the despisers of his Grace.

Qu. 10. Is it a wise and reasonable expectation, that the righteous God should give that man everlasting Glory, who will not leave his Whores, his Drunkenness, or the basest vanity, for all his Love, and for all his Mercies, for the sake of Christ, nor for the hopes of all this Glory? Heaven is the greatest reward of holiness, and of the diligent and patient seekers of it: Heaven is the greatest gift of the great Love of God: And can you believe that he will give it to the slaves of the Devil, and to contemning wilful Rebels? May not you next think that the Devils may be saved? If you say that God is merciful, it's most true; and this will be the unconverted mans damnation, that he would for a base Lust offend so merciful ⟨p. 72⟩a God, and sell everlasting mercy for nothing, and abuse so much mercy all his life. Abused and refused mercy will be the fewel to feed the flames of Hell, and torment the Conscience of the impenitent for ever. Doth not God know his own mercy better than you do? Can he not be merciful, and yet be holy and just? Is the King unmerciful if he make use of Jails and Gallows for Malefactors? It's mercy to the Land to destroy such, as would destroy others: The bosom of eternal Love is not a place for any but the holy: The heavenly Paradise is not like Mahomet's, a place of Lust and sensual Delights. You blaspheme the most just and holy God, if you make him seem indifferent to the holy and the unholy, to his faithful Servants and to the despisers of his Grace.