But the great loss of the damned, will be their loss of GOD, they shall have no comfortable relation to him: nor communion with him. As they did not like to retain GOD in their knowledge; but bid him, depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways; so GOD will abhor to retain them in his household, or to give them entertainment in his fellowship and glory. He will never admit them to the inheritance of his saints, nor endure them to stand amongst them in his presence: but bid them, depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, I know ye not. Now these men dare belly the Lord, if not blaspheme, in calling him by the title of their Father; how boldly and confidently do they daily approach him with their lips, and indeed reproach him in their formal prayers, with that appellation? As if GOD would father the devil's children; or, as if the slighters of Christ, the friends of the world, the haters of godliness, or any that delight in iniquity, were the offspring of heaven! They are ready now, to lay confident claims to Christ, as if they were sincere believers. But when that time is come, and Christ will separate his followers from his foes, and his faithful friends from his deceived flatterers, where then will be their presumptuous claim? Then they shall find that GOD is not their father, but their foe, because they would not be his people. And as they would not consent that GOD should by his Spirit dwell in them, so shall not these evil-doers dwell with him; the tabernacles of wickedness shall have no fellowship with him: nor the wicked inhabit the city of GOD; for without are dogs, sorcerers, whore mongers, murderers, idolaters, and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie. GOD is first enjoyed in part on earth, before he be fully enjoyed in heaven. It is only they, that walked with him here, who shall live and be happy with him there. ⟨p. 90⟩Oh, little doth the world know what a loss that soul hath, who loseth GOD! What were the world but a dungeon, if it had loft the sun? What were the body, but a loathsome carrion, if it had lost the soul? Yet all these are nothing to the loss of GOD. So that as the enjoyment of GOD, is the heaven of the saints; so the loss of GOD is the hell of the ungodly. And as the enjoying of GOD is the enjoying of all; so the loss of GOD is the loss of all.
But the great loss of the damned, will be their loss of GOD, they shall have no comfortable relation to him: nor communion with him. As they did not like to retain GOD in their knowledge; but bid him, d•part from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways; so GOD will abhor to retain them in his household, or to give them entertainment in his fellowship and glory. He will never admit them to the inheritance of his saints, nor endure them to stand amongst them in his presence: but bid them, depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, I know ye not. Now these men dare bely the Lord, if not blaspheme, in calling him by the title of their Father; how boldly and confidently do they daily approach him with their lips, and indeed reproach him in their formal prayers, with that appellation? As if GOD would father the devil's children; or, as if the slighters of Christ, the friends of the world, the haters of godliness, or any that delight in iniquity, were the offspring of heaven! They are ready now, to lay confident claims to Christ, as if they were sincere believers. But when that time is come, and Christ will separate his followers from his foes, and his faithful friends from his deceived flatterers, where then will be their presumptuous claim? Then they shall find that GOD is not their father, but their foe, because they would not be his people. And as they would not consent that GOD should by his Spirit dwell in them, so shall not these evil-doers dwell with him; the tabernacles of wickedness shall have no fellowship with him: nor the wicked inhabit the city of GOD; for without are dogs, sorcerers, whore mongers, murderers, idolaters, and whatsoev•r loveth and maketh a lie. GOD is first enjoyed in part on earth, before he be fully enjoyed in heaven. It is only they, that walked with him here, who shall live and be happy with him there. ⟨p. 90⟩Oh, little doth the world know what a loss that soul hath, who loseth GOD! What were the world but a dungeon, if it had loft the sun? What were the body, but a loathsome carrion, if it had lost the soul? Yet all these are nothing to the loss of GOD. So that as the enjoyment of GOD, is the heaven of the saints; so the loss of GOD is the hell of the ungodly. And as the enjoying of GOD is the enjoying of all; so the loss of GOD is the loss of all.
