764 WI CKE D MEN coMPARED To CAPTIVES. Book IV. C A P T I V E. P A R A L L E L. W hy Jhould ye be flricken any more? ye will revolt more m1d more : A nd as a Proof of it, h e faith, '.the whole Head is jick, and the whole Heart faint. ::>in was the Sicknefs, and the W ounds; and thole Alllic\Jons that G oct had br(ms>h: upon them, was the Cure. But why, faith God, fhould I afflict or chail:ite you o ~y more, or ule Means for your Help and H ealing , when under the U te or E xncile of t!JJt fovereign M eans I have ufed, you grow worfe and worfc! It is faid of the Man that went from ]"erufalem to 1ericho, and fell among Thieves, that he was not only ilript of his Raiment, but wounded alfo, L uke x. 30. .My W ounds flink, and are corrupt, faith David, Pfa!. ]xxxviii. 5. and in another Place he cries out, Lord, have mercy upon me, and heal 11'1)' Soul; for I have finned aga;,ifi tbee, Pfal. xli. 4 · F rom whence it ap pears, t hat a godly M an may be wounded by his Sin, and rhat lorely reo. E very Sm makes a Wound in the Soul; what a fearful Cafe are unconvnred Souls then in? 0 that Sin– ners wou Id but confide r this. See Sin a fVounr! and Sickncfs. X. S ome Perfons that have been X. "l he Ungodly, who remain Capt ives to taken captive, and brought into Satan, b~ing under the Power of their Lufis, or Prifon and Bondage, befides orher abiding in rhe Srate o! Unregeneracy, are not only fad Circumfl:ances they have been under all the fad Ci rcun·flances you ha\·e heard ; -under, they have been brought unbut to render then1 every way n: ifer~;blc, as in der the Sentence of Death, nay, Truth their prefen t State is, they are under the and for their horrid R ebellions, Sentence of D eath. l'crhap< wme wr,ulc: c~nTreafons, &c. under a fearful and elude, that Deat h to fuch Perft,ns I have ;rven painful Death, as to be torn in the CharaC1er of, is better than L ife ;. and, wirl 1 pieces, or burned altve. Job, they had better chute rr. Alas! tt " ould be fO indeed, were it to die the common Death of all Men. D eath puts an E nd to all the external Mile ries of M orrals: Bur the D eath of Sin's Captives is quite another Thing: They are condemned to be burned, to be burned alive roo ; but this is not all, to lie burning in the Ftre of God's eternal \Vrath for ever, where they fh all be always dying , bu t cannot die: !Vhere the W orm dietb not, and the Fire is not quenched. CAPTIVE. 1. CAPTIVES, that are fo only to M en, are but externally enfiaved. II. Some Perfons may be free and at Liberty in their Souls, at the fame time when they may be Cap· tives as to their Bodies, and fo their Captivity may feem lefs g rievous ro them. IlL Captives that are fo only to Men, may and have been redeemed with Money. D I S P A R IT Y. I. £UT wicked Men, that are Slaves to Sin and Satan, are captivated in rhc:ir Souls, not– with11anding as to the Body they may be at Li– berty, as to outward Thraldom. I I. But it can not be fo faid of a wicked Man; for whatever Mifery befal ls his Body, it is abun– dantly aggravared by and from the Captivity and Slavery of his Soul; nay, in the Enjoyment of his greatefl: outward Liberty, he is in dreadful T hral– dom by Sin and Satan. Ill. But fpiritual Captives, fuch as are in Bon. dage to Sin and Satan, cannot be redeemed with Money. It is not Silver or Gold, that can pur– chafe the Redemption of one of Satan's Slaves; for the Redemption of the Soul is fo precious, that nothing can make a Compenlarion for it, but the precious Blood of Chrifl:, t Pet. i. 1 9· IV. If no other M eans can pro. IV. But wicked Men, living and dy ing in Bondcure the Liberty of Captives, that age ro Satan and their own Lufl:s, cannot be free are fo only as to their Bodies, yet by D eath, but are thereby put into an irrecover– Deatn fets them free, and thofe to able State of eternal Mitery, from which there whom they are in Bondag;e have no can be no R edemption, being delivered up to more to do with them. Satan. V. Some that are Captives only V. Btit fome wicked Men are not only inlenliin their Bodies, are fo fenfible of ble of thetr Bondage to the Devil, and their own their Mifery and T hraldom, that Lufl:s, but are lifelels as ro any ways or means of they feek, and defire to improve Deliverance. Though Means be uled daily to all Means imagrnable for therr convmce them of the clreadtu l Danger of their Deliverance. Bondage-State, and of the Way and Means of their R edemption; yet throug h the Blindnefs and } lard-
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