Baxter - BJ1441 B3 1673

t6 The mifery of tl1e Ullcon1Jerted. And indeed if God himfelf had not charged men with that fin, and called them by that name, we fhould fcarce have found btlitfor patiruce when we had t:ndeavoured to convince the:: world of it. In. treat but the worll of men to repent of Hating God, and try how they will take it. Yet they may read that name in Scripture, Rom. 1. 30. Pfal. 81. 15· Lu/IJ 19· '4· Did not the Jervs hm Chrij! think you, when they murdered him? and when they hated all his followers for his !ake> Mattb. 10. 2 2 . Mar. 13· 1 3· And doth not Chrill fay, that they jhaU be bated for hi1 Jakj, not only of the Jews, but alfo of aU Nanons, an.d aU mm, Jlo!attb. 24. 9·. & 10. 22· Even bytheworld, Job1. '7· '4· & 15, , 7 , 18, 19, &·c. And thiS was a hatmgboth Chrij! and hu Fathtr, J ohn '5· 23,24· But you will fay, It IS not poffible that any man can hate God? Ian[wer, How then come the Devils to hate him? Yea, ivery '~ng.~dly man hateth G0d: Indeed no man hateth him as Gooti, or as hltrciful to them : But they hate h1rn as Holyand Juft, as one that will not let them have the pleafure of fin, without damning them : as one engaged in jufiice to call them into Hell, if they dye without converfion : and as one that hath made fo pure and prt:cifc aLaw togovern them, and c;onvinceth them of fin, and calls rhem to that repentance and Holinefs which they hate. Why did the world hate Chrill himfdf? He tells )'Ou, John 7·.7· 1be world cannot hatt you, but me it baWIJ, becaufe I tej!ijie againj! it, that the work.f t/Jef'eofare cvz{, John 3· 19. 1'hir ii the condemn.atioJtt that Light U comt intothe world, and men loved dar~efi rather than light, becaufi their duds were evil. Nay, it is awonder of blj,ndnefs, that this God-hating world and age, fhould not perceive that they are God·haters, while t~ey hate his fervants to the death, and implacably rage againll them, and hate his holy wayes and Kingdom, and bend all their power and interell in moll of the Kingdoms of the world, againll his intere!l and his people u~n earth : While the Devil fighteth his battels againfl Chrifl through the world, by their hands,they wtll yet confef• the Devils malice againll God, but deny their '"'" ; as if he ufed their bandi without their hearu. Well poor wretched worms ! inflead of denying your enmity to him, lament it, and know that he alfo taketh you for hir enemitt, and will prove too hard for you when you have done your wotll. Read Pfal. 2• and tremble and fubmit. This is efpecia!ly the cafe of pirftcutm and open tnem_ier ; but in their meafure alfo of all that woHld not have him to reit.n over them. And theretore C_hufi came to Reconcile ur unto God, and God to us ; and it is only the janllified that are Reconciled to btm. SeeCol. I· 21· Phi/. 3· ,g, 1 Cor. '5· 25. Ram. 5· 10. '!he carnal mind is Cllmity againJI God; f.,. it is not [ubjeft to the Law of God; nor indred can be, Rom. S. 7· Mark that Tex.t well. Y· 2· 2· As long as you are unfanllifled, you arc unjH 1 1ifiedand unpordoned : you are under the guilt of all the fins that ever you committed; Every finful thought, word and deed, of which the leall defervech Hell, is on your fcore, to be anfwered for by your fe!f: And what this fignitieth, the threat· nmgs of the Law will tell you. See Al1r 26. 18. Mar. 4· 12. Col. J. 14• There is no fin forgiven to an impenitent unconverted finner. §· 3. 3. And no wonder, when the uncanvertrd have no [pedal i:nttreft in Chrift. The pardon and Jife that is given by God, is given in and wjrh the Son: God hatb given M eternal lift, and thH life;, in hi-t So11: He that bath the Son, bath life; anti he that hath not the Sbn, batb Jtnt lift, 1 John 5· 10, 1 1, 12· Till we are members ofChrifl, we have no part in the pardon and falvadon purchaftd by him: And ungodly finners are not his members. So that Jefus Chrill who is the hope and life of all his own, doth leave thee as he found thee; aud that is not the worfl: for, ~. 4· 4· It will be far worfe with the impenitent rejecters of the grace of Chrill, than if they had never heard of a Redeemer. For it cannot be, that God having provided fo precious a Remedy for !inful mifcrable fouls,Chould fuffer it to be defpifed and rejeded,without cncrcafed puniChment. was it not enough that you had difobeyed yout Great Crtator, but you mufl a\fo fet light by a moll Gra· citJur Redttmer, that offered you pardon, purchafed by his blood, if you would but have come ro God by him ? Yea, the Saviourthaqou defpifed fhall be himfelf your judge, and the Grace and Mer· cy which you fet fo light by, fhall be the heaviell aggravation of your fin and mifny. For howjhaU you eflape if yu neglell fa great falvati•n 1 Heb. 2· 3· And of how m11ch farer punijhment ( then the defpifers of1\oLfti Law) jhaU t~ey be thought wortby, who bave troddw under foot theSon ofGod,&c. Heb. 10. 29. • §• 5• 5• The verypraym and facrifice of the wicked are abominable to God: (except filCh as con· tain their returning frum their wickednefs.) So that terror arifeth to you from that which you expect OtOuldbeyourhelp. SeeP,v. t5.8. &21·27· Ij).1. I3· 6. 6. 6. Your common Mercies do but increafc your tin and rnifery (till you return to God): Yo~u carnal hearts rurn an to fin, Tit. I· 1 5· Vnto tbe pure aU thingJ are pure : but unlo thtm tb.Jt art defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure: but even their mind and conjcience Hdefiled. §• 7· 7• While you are unfanllified, you are impotent and dead to any holy acceptable work : when you lhould redeem your time, and prepare for eternity, and try your fiates, er pr.ay, or meditate, or do good to others, you have no be&rt to any fuch fpirirual works : your minds are by:dfed againlt them. Rom. 8. 7· And it is not the cxcufahle impore·ncy of fuch, as woulddo good, but cannot ; but it is the malicious impotency of the wicked, ( the fame with that of Devils) that cannot do good, be– caufe they will not; and will not becauf~ they have blind malicious and ungodly hearts, which makLs their fin fo much the greater. 7'it. J, 16. §. 8. ~.While you have unfanClitied hearts, you have at all times the feed and difpojitinn unto (Very (in: And if you commit not the werft, it is bt:caufc fame providence rellraining the Tempter hindereth you: No thanks to you that you do not daily commit Idolatry, Blafphemy, Theft, Mur· dcr, Adultery, 6...c. It is in your beartl to do ir, when you have but temptation and opportunity : a~d will be till you ..e renewed by f<nllifying Grace.

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