And first,1 if this Rest be for none but this people of God, What doleful tidings is this to the ungodly world? That there is so much Glory, but none for them: so great joys for the Saints of God, while they must consume in perpetual sorrows! Such Rest for them that have obeyed the Gospel; while they must be Restless in the flames of hell! If thou who Readest these words art in thy soul a stranger to Christ, and to the holy nature and life of his people, and art not one of them who are before described, and shalt live and dye in the same condition that thou art now in; Let me tell thee, I am a messenger of the saddest tidings to thee, that ever yet thy ears did hear: That thou shalt never partake of the joys of Heaven, nor have the least taste of the Saints eternal Rest;2 I may say to thee, as E•ud to E•gon; I have a message to thee from God: but it is a mortal message; against the very life and hopes of thy soul, That as true as the word of God is true, thou shalt never see the face of God with comfort. This sentence I am commanded to pass upon thee, from the word: Take it as thou wilt, and scape it if thou canst. I know thy humble and hearty subjection to Christ would procure thy escape: and if thy heart and life were throughly changed, thy relations to Christ and eternity would be changed also, he would then •••nowledge thee for one of his people, and justify thee from all things that could be charged upon thee, and give thee a portion in the inheritance of his chosen, And if this might be the happy success of my message, I should be so fa• from repining like ⟨p. 266⟩Jonah, that the threatenings of God are not executed upon thee, that on the contrary I should bless the day that ever God made me so happy a Messenger, and return him hearty thanks upon my knees, that ever he blessed his Word in my mouth with such desired success. But if thou end thy days in thy present condition, (whether thou be fully resolved never to change; or whether thou spend thy days in fruitless purposing to be better hereafter, all is one for that; I say,) if thou live and die in thy unregenerate estate, as sure as the heavens are over thy head, and the earth under thy feet; as sure as thou livest and breathest in this air, so sure shalt thou be shut out of the Rest of the Saints, and receive thy portion in everlasting fire.
ANd first,1 if this Rest be for none but this people of God, What doleful tidings is this to the ungodly world? That there is so much Glory, but none for them: so great joys for the Saints of God, while they must consume in perpetuall sorrowes! Such Rest for them that have obeyed the Gospel; while they must be Restless in the flames of hell! If thou who Readest these words art in thy soul a stranger to Christ, and to the holy nature and life of his people, and art not one of them who are before described, and shalt live and dye in the same condition that thou art now in; Let me tell thee, I am a messenger of the saddest tidings to thee, that ever yet thy ears did hear: That thou shalt never partake of the joyes of Heaven, nor have the least tast of the Saints eternall Rest;2 I may say to thee, as E•ud to E•gon; I have a message to thee from God: but it is a mortall message; against the very life and hopes of thy soul, That as true as the word of God is true, thou shalt never see the face of God with comfort. This sentence I am commanded to pass upon thee, from the word: Take it as thou wilt, and scape it if thou canst. I know thy humble and hearty subjection to Christ would procure thy escape: and if thy heart and life were throughly changed, thy relations to Christ and eternity would be changed also, he would then •••nowledge thee for one of his people, and justifie thee from all things that could be charged upon thee, and give thee a portion in the inheritance of his chosen, And if this might be the happy successe of my message, I should be so fa• from repining like ⟨p. 266⟩Jonas, that the threatnings of God are not executed upon thee, that on the contrary I should bless the day that ever God made me so happy a Messenger, and return him hearty thanks upon my knees, that ever he blessed his Word in my mouth with such desired success. But if thou end thy days in thy present condition, (whether thou be fully resolved never to change; or whether thou spend thy days in fruitless purposing to be better hereafter, all is one for that; I say,) if thou live and die in thy unregenerate estate, as sure as the heavens are over thy head, and the earth under thy feet; as sure as thou livest and breathest in this air, so sure shalt thou be shut out of the Rest of the Saints, and receive thy portion in everlasting fire.
- 1Use I. Consuevimus nos homines praesertim qui crassiore mente praediti sumus, metis potius quam beneficicia quod opor•et addiscer•. Tophylact. in Joan. c. 5. vers. 22.Vse I. Consuevimus nos homines praesertim qui crassiore mente praediti sumus, metis potius quam beneficicia quod opor•et addiscer•. Tophylact. in Joan. c. 5. vers. 22.
- 2Judg. 2.20, 21.
