Serm. CXV. ofItaly Refolrttion. with fo much danger as thou didft fear? Hath God alteredhis opinionof it, or is he become more favourable to it than he was ? Haft thou received any news lately from Heaven by any good hands, that God bath revert} bis threatnings a- gainft Sin, or that he had adjourn'd the Judgment of the World, fine die, with- out any fet time? That he bath fet theDevils at Liberty, and releatt them from their Chains of darknefs, and hath quenched and put out the fire of Hell ? Or art thou fatisfied that there is no fuch. Being as God in the World, or that he is not fo good as thou dida apprehendhim to be, or that he will not reward thole that diligently ferve him? Haft thou found upon tryal, that Holinefs and Vir- tue are but empty Names, and that there is nothing in them ? That there is not that Pleafure and Peace in keeping the Commandments of God, which thou wert told of? I am fur&thou cant} not with Reafon pretend any thingofall this. ThyReafon and Confcience and Experience cannot fpeak one word on the be- half ofSin, orgive any Teftimony againft God and his holy ways. And if the Cafe be the fame it was, nothing but thine own vanity and ficklenefs, or force worfe Reafon, could move thee to alter thy purpofe. 2. Let it be farther confidered, Thatif we be not confiant to our Refolution, all we have done is loft. If thou repenteft of thy Repentance, it will not prove a Repentance to Salvation. As good to have hayed inSodom, as to look back af- ter thou art come out ofit. Thus God tellsus by the Prophet, Ezek. 33. 12, 13. Therefrre thou fon of Man, fay unto the children of thy People, the righteoufnefs of the righteous Jhall not deliver him in the day ofhis tranfgreffcon: neither(hall the righ- teous be able to live in the day that hefinneth. When I fay to the righteous, He (hall finely live : ifhe trufi to his own righteoufnefs, and commit iniquity, allhis righteouf weft !hallnot be remembred :. but fir his iniquity that he hathcommitted, he /hall diefor it. So that whatever we have done in the Work of Repentance, what Refolu- tions foever we have taken up ; if afterwards we give over and let them fall, all that we have done is loft, and will come to nothing. 3. Let us confider in the last place, that if we be not conftant toour Refolu- tion, we (hallnot only lofe all that we have done, but we (hall thereby render our Condition much worfe. Remember Lot's Wife, who, after the was efcapedout ofSodom, look'd back, and was made a particular and lafting monument ofGod's wrath and difpleafure ; which feems to be meant by that expreffion of her be- ing turned into a Pillar of Salt, that is, a lafiing monument, Prov, 14. 14. The barkJlider in heartfhall befilledwith his own ways. Shall be filled with his ownways; this expreffion Both liignifie a mot} heavy anddreadful curfe upon thofe, who fall off from their goodPurpofe and Refolution, that they (hall have Sorrow and Trouble enough upon it. For fo likewife Prov. i. 26, 27. where God threat- ens wilful and obftinate Sinners with the heavieft Judgments, that he wouldlaugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear comes, when their fear comes as defolati- on, and their defiruï#ion as a whirl-wind, and fear and angui/b comethupon them; he adds, as the fum of all other Judgments, that they (hall eat thefruit oftheir own ways, and be filled with their own devices, Heb. to. 38. But if any. Man draw back, myfoul 'hall have no pleafure in him; which words are a tcdenç, and lignifie a great deal more than feems to be exprefk. My foul (hall have no pleafure in him; thatis, let fuch an oneexpel the effects of God's fierceft wrath and difpleafure. For fo the Hebrews are wont to exprefs things that are great and unfpeakable; when they cannot fufficiently fet them forth ; by flying lefs, they fay more. So Pfal. 5. a,.. where it is faid, Thou art not a God that haft pleafure in wickednefs, the Pfalmfi means, and would have us to underhand it fo, that God is fo farfrom taking any Pleafure in the Sins of men, that he bears themoil violent hatred and difpleafure againft them. Sowhen the Apofile here fays, If any Man draw back, willdeal with fuchPefons,nand how feverely his Juftice them. God To the fame purpofe is that Declaration, 2 Pet. 2. 20, 21. For if after they have efcaped the Pollutions of the World, through the knowledge of the Lord andSaviour fefus Chrifl, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worfe u:th'them than the beginning. For it had been better for them, not to have knownthe way 79
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