Hindrances in the Way of Man's Salvation
AISD ELECTION.
truth. It is good for us, therefore,to be thoroughly settled in the truth, that we be not entangled or snarled with any cavils, or sophistications whatsoever; but I do verily think, notwithstanding all his objections and exceptions, that he doth in his conscience desire, with Balaam, to die the death of the righteous, and to be as one of them whom he seemeth to despise.
TTieol.
I am so persuaded too; for this is the triumph that virtue hath over vice, that, where she is most hated, there she is often desired and wished for.
And this is the great pvmishment that Grodbringeth upon the wicked, "Virtutem ut tnd^antjintabegcantque relicta," as saith the poet,
" That they shall see virtue and pine away, having no power to follow it."
HINDIIANCES IN THE WAY OP MAITS
SALVATION.
Phil. Now let us return to the point we were in hand with before we feU into these objections and cavils, which was concerning the small number of them which shall be saved; and as you have shewed us many reasons thereof, so proceed to speak yet more unto that point.
Theol. As I have shewed you of sundry lets, both within us and without us, which do keep us back from God, and hold us fast in our sins; so now, imto all that hath been said before, I will add nine great hindrances unto eternal Hfe, which may not unfitly be termed nine bars out of heaven, and nine gates into heU.
Phil. Which be they?
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Theol. They be these:—infidelity—^presumption of God's mercy—example of the multitude
—long custom of sin—long escaping of punishment — hope of long life— conceitedness— illcompany—evil example of ministers.
Phil. These, indeed, be strong bars out of heaven, and vfide gates into hell.
I pray you, therefore, prove them out of the scriptures, and lay them forth somewhat more largely.
Theol. The first, which is infidehty, is proved out of the fourth chapter to the Hebrews, where
" Unto us was the gospel preached, as unto them ; but the word which they heard it is written, profited them not, because it was not mixed with " They could not enter in, because of unbelief."
Here we see that unbelief did bar out the old people from entering into the land of promise, which was a figure of God's eternal kingdom; and sure faith in those that heard it;" and again, it is that the same unbelief doth bar out thousands of us; for many will believe nothing but their own fancies; they will not believe the word of God, especially when it is contrary to their lusts and likings, profits and pleasures.
Though things be manifestly proved to their faces, and both the chapter and the verse shewed them, yet they will not believe; or though they say they beheve, yet will they never go about the practice of anything, but reply against God in all their actions; and, for the most part, when God saith one thing they will say another; when God saith yea, they will say nay; and so give God the lie.
Some again will say, if all be true that the preachers say, then God help us.
Thus you see how infidelity doth bar men out of heaven, and cast them into hell.
OF MAK's SALTATIOir.
Phil. Let U8 hear of the second gate, which is presumption of God's mercy.
Theol. This is set dowTi in the twenty-ninth chapter of Deuteronomy, where the Lord saith thus, "When a man heareth the words of this curse, and yet flattereth himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, although I walk according to the stubbornness of mine own heart (thus adding drunkenness to thirst, that is, one sin to another,) the Lord will not be merciful unto him, but the wrath of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man; and every curse that is written in this book shall light upon him, and the Lord shall put out his name from under heaven."
Here we see how the mighty God doth thunder down upon such as go on in their sins, presuming of his mercy, and saying in their hearts, if I may have but a "Lord have mercy upon me," three hours before death I care not.
But it is just with God, when those three hours come, to shut them up in blindness and hardness of heart, as a just plague for their presumption; therefore the prophet David, seeing the grievousness of this sin, prayeth to be delivered from it, " Keep me, Lord, (saith he) from presumptuous sins; let them not reign over me," Psalm lix.
Let all men, therefore, take heed of presumptuous sins : for though God be full of mercy, yet will he shew no mercy to them that presume of his mercy; but they shall once know, to their cost, that justice goeth from him as well as mercy.
Phil. Let us come to the third gate, which is the example of the multitude.
Theol.
This is proved in the twenty-third chapter of Exodus, ver. 2, where the Lord saith flatly, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do
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evil."
In another place, the Lord saith, Levit. xviii. 3, "After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do ; and after the manner of the land of Canaan, whither I will bring you, shall ye not do, neither walk in their ordinances."
Against this law did the children of Israel offend when they said, in the stubbornness of their heart, to the prophet Jeremiah, xliv.
16, 17, "The word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord we shall not hear.
But we will do whatsoever goeth out of our own mouth; and we will do as we have done, both we and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem."
Note here how they do altogether refuse the word of the Lord, and how to follow the example of the multitude.
We see, in these our days, by lamentable experience, how thousands are violently carried down this stream, and for defence of it some will say, "Do as the most men do, and the fewest will speak of you;" which is a very wicked speech, for if we will follow the course of the most we shall have the reward of the most, which is eternal perdition.
Let us, therefore, take heed of bending with the sway ; for the sway of the world doth weigh down all things that can be spoken out of the word of God, and openeth a very wide passage into hell.
Pliil. Proceed to the fourth gate into hell, which is the long custom of sin.
Theol. This is noted by the prophet Jeremiali to be a very dangerous thing; for he saith, xiii.
23, " Can the black Moor change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, which are accustomed to do evil:" noting thereby that it is as hard a matter to leave an old
or MA2f's SALTATION.
custom of sin as to wash a black Moor white, or to change the spots of a leopard, which, because they are natural, are most impossible: so, when men through custom have made swearing, lying, adultery, and drunkenness, as it were natural unto them, oh how hard it is to leave them! for custom maketh another nature, and taketh away all sense and feehng of sin.
Phil. Let us hear of the fifth gate, which is the long escaping of punishment.
Theol. This is avouched by the wise man in these words, Eccles, viii. 11, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the children of men are set in them to do evil;" where he sheweth that one cause why men are so hardened in their sins is because God winketh at them, and letteth them alone, not punishing them immediately after they have sinned; for if God should forthwith strike down one, and rain fire and brimstone upon another, and cause the earth to swallow up the third, then men would fear indeed.
But it hath been shewed before that God taketh not that course ; but though he meet with some in this life, yet he lets thousands escape; and that makes them more bold, thinking they shall never come to their answer ; even as an old thief, which hath a long time escaped both prison and gallows, thinks he shall always so escape, and therefore goeth boldly on in Ms thefts.
But let men take heed; for, as the proverb saith, "Though the pitcher goeth long to the well, yet at last it cometh broken home;" so, though men escape long, yet they shall not escape always; for there will come a day of reckoning, a day that will pay it home for all.
Thus you see how impunity leadeth num-
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bers to destruction; that is, when men are let alone, and neither smitten by the hand of God nor punished by the law of the magistrate.
Phil. Let us come to the sixth gate, which is the hope of long life.
Theol. This is affirmed by our Lord Jesus concerning that rich worldling who, when he felt the world come in upon him with full stream, said he would pull down his barns and build greater, and say to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years.
Live at ease, eat, drink, and take thy pastime," Luke xii. 19.
But our Saviour calleth him fool, for flattering himself in security, and promising unto himself long life.
Moreover, he plainly told him that the same night he should make a miserable end in helL Note, I pray you, how Jesus Christ, the fountain of all wisdom, calleth this man a fool, and yieldeth a reason thereof, to wit because he gathered riches to himself, and was not rich in God: he had great care of this life, and none at all for that which is to come.
So then, it followeth that all such are right fools indeed, and may be chronicled for fools, how wise soever they may be taken and reputed in the world, which have much care for their bodies, and none for their souls: great care for this life, and little for that which is to come.
Well, let all such profane worldlings as dream and dote of long life, and therefore defer the day of their repentance and conversion unto God, take heed by this man's example that they reckon not without their host, and be suddenly snatched away in the midst of all their pleasures and gaities: as Job saith, xxi. 23, 24, "Some die in their full strength, being in all ease and prosperity ; their breasts run full of milk,
or man's SAiTATioir.
and their bones run full of marrow;" we see, therefore, how dangerous a thing it is for men to flatter and sooth up themselves with hope of long life.
I*hil. Proceed to the seventh gate, which is conceitedness.
Theol.
This is, indeed, a very broad gate into hell ; for the scripture saith, " Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of such a one."
And again, " The fool is wiser in his own eyes, than seven men that can give a sensible reason,"
Prov. xxvi.
12, 16.
The Holy Ghost, we see, affirmeth that such as are puffed up with an overweening* of their own gifts are farthest of all others from the kingdom of heaven; for they despise the wisdom of God to their own destruction.
They hold scorn to be taught; they will say they know as much as all the preachers can tell them; for, what can all the preachers say more than this? we are all sinners—we must be saved by Christ—we must do as we would be done to.
There is no more but do well, and have well, &c.
Alas! poor souls, they look aloft; they are desperately hoven up with conceitedness, not knowing that they are poor, naked, blind, and miserable, Eev. iii. 17.
These men trust altogether to their own wit, learning, policy, riches, and great reputation in the world ; and because all men crouch to them, and clap their hands at them, therefore they swell like turkey cocks, set up their feathers, and draw their wings upon the ground, with a kind of snuff and disdain of all men, as if they were the only wightsf of the * High canceit. f Feisons.
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world.
Moreover, when men do praise them for their gifts, sooth them, and applauded unto them, then is it a wonder to see how they streak* themselves, as though they would forthwith take their flight and mount up into the clouds.
But let all insolent and conceited men hearken unto the woe that is pronounced against them, by the eternal King of glory, saying, " "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight,"
Isa. v.
21.
Again, let them hearken to the counsel of God, which saith, "Trust unto the Lord with all thy heart, but lean not unto thine own wisdom.
Be not wise in thine own eyes; but fear God and depart from evO,"
Prov. iii.
These silly conceited fools think that because they have the cast of this life, and can cunningly compass the things of this world, and go through stitch with them, therefore they can compass heaven also by their fine wits and deep devices ; but, alas ! poor wretches, they are greatly and grossly deceived; " For the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God; and he catcheth the wise in their own craftiness,"
1 Cor. iii. 19. And again the Lord saith, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will cast away the understanding of the prudent," 1 Cor. i.
19.
Let not these men, therefore, stand too much in their own light: let them not trust to their own policies; for they are all but as an ice of one night's freezing, which will deceive them that trust unto it.
Let them, therefore, become fools themselves, that God may make them wise.
Let them deny themselves, that God may acknowledge them ; let them be humbled in them- * stretch themselves up.
OF man's salvation.
selves, that God may exalt them.
For assuredly, there is no use after this life, of the exquisite wisdom of the flesh; it aU endeth when we end.
For how dieth the wise man ? even as dieth the fool, saith the Holy Ghost, Eccles. ii.
16; and where all worldly wisdom endeth, there all heavenlv Ansdom beginneth.
Thus, therefore, we see what a wide gate into hell conceitedness is, and how many enter in thereat, Phil. Now, let us xmderstand of the eighth gate into hell, which is ill company.
Theol. The Spirit of God, forseeing the great danger of this, and knowing how ready we are to be carried away with iU company, doth give us most earnest warning to take heed of it as a most dangerous thing.
" Enter not (saith he) in the way of the wicked; and walk not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, go not by it, turn from it, and pass by," Prov. iv.
14, 15.
The reason hereof is yielded in another place, where " A companion of fools shall be deit is said, stroyed," xiii.
20.
Let men, therefore, take heed of ill company; for many thereby have been brought to the gallows, and have confessed upon the ladder that Ul company hath brought them unto it, and therefore have admonished all by their example to take heed, and beware of, lewd company.
Moreover, the scriptures saith, "He that foUoweth vain companions shall be fiUed with poverty,"
Prov. xxviii.
19; and again, in the same chapter, "He that keepeth company with banqueters, shameth his father."
Let us, therefore, with David say, "I am a companion of all them that fear God and keep his commandments,"
Psalm cxix. 63.
And, on the contrary, let us say with him, "I have not haunted with vain persons.
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neither kept company with the dissemblers.
I hate the assembly of the evil, and have not companied with the wicked," Psalm xxvi, 4.
Let us, therefore, by David's example, shun the company of the wicked; for as a man is so is his company.
It is the surest note to discern a man by ; for, as all unlike things are unsociable, so all like things are sociable.
Herein let us beware we deceive not ourselves with vain words, and an opinion of our own strength ; as if we were as strong as Christ, and could not be drawn away with any company.
No, no; we are more apt to be drawn than to draw : to be drawn to evil by others, than to draw others to good; therefore, God saith by his prophet, Jeremiah, xv. 19, "Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them."
Undoubtedly, he is an odd man that is not made worse with ill company, For can a man touch pitch and not be defiled therewith?
Can a man carry coals in his bosom and not be bvirnt?
Daily and lamentable experience sheweth that many of them which think themselves strong, are this way most grievously smutted.* Let a man think, therefore, he never abandoneth evil, till he abandon ill company; for no good is concluded in this parliament; for ill company is the suburbs of hell.
Furthermore, it is to be observed that some, upon admonitions and some inward compunctions of their own conscience, do leave their sins until they have new provocations, and until they come amongst their old copesmatesf and sin companions; and then are they carried back again to their old bias, and return to their folly as a dog returneth to liis vomit.
For we see * Corrupted, disgraced.
+ Wild companions.
OF man's saltation.
some, which otherwise are of good natures and dispositions, most pitifully and violently carried away with ill company; for even as green wood of itself is unapt to burn, yet being laid on the fire with a great deal of sear* wood, it burneth as fast as the rest; so many toward youths, which of themselves are not so prone unto evil as others, yet with this violent stream and blustering tempest of 01 company, are carried clean away.
Phil. Let us come to the last gate, which is the evil example of ministers.
Theol.
It grieveth me, and I am almost ashamed to speak of this point; for is it not a woful and lamentable thing that any such should be found amongst the sons of Levi?
Is it not a corsey,t that the ministers of Christ should be of a scandalous conversation? for if the eye be dark, how great is the darkness?
If they be examples of all evil to the flock, which should be patterns, lights, and examples of all goodness, must it not needs strengthen the hands of the wicked, so as they cannot return from their wickedness?
But this is an old disease and evil sickness which hath always been in the church.
The prophet Jeremiah doth most grievously complain of it in his time, and saith, xxiii. l4, that "from the prophets of Jerusalem is wickedness gone forth into all the land; for both the prophet and the priest do wickedly.
I have seen, (saith he) in the prophets of Jerusalem, filthiness ; they commit adiiltery, and walk in lies; they strengthen also the hands of the wicked, that none can return from his wickedness; they are all unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gromor- * Dry wood. f A fretting burning plaster to a sore—a painful grievance.
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rah."
And in the ninth verse of the same chapter, he shevveth that it was no pleasure or joy unto him so pubHcly to reprove them; but that he did it with exceeding grief, as being forced thereunto, both in regard of God's glory, and the good of his church.
His words are these, "Mine heart breaketh within me, because of the prophets; and all my bones shake."
Moreover, in the same chapter is set down how the Lord would feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall, and sundry other ways plague them for their flatteries, seducements, corrupt doctrine, and evil example of life.
I'hil. Most certain it is that the evil example of ministers, and especiallj'^ of preachers, is yer}^ dangerous and offensive: for thereby thousands are hardened in their sins.
For men will say, such a minister and such a preacher doth thus and thus, and therefore, why may not we do so too?
They are learned, and know the word of God; therefore, if it were evil, I hope they would not do it; for they should be lights to us, and give us good examples ; therefore, since they do such things, we cannot tell what to think, or what to say to the matter: the}'' bring such simple folks as we are into a mammering.*
Theol. Oh that I could, with the prophet Jeremiah, quake and shake to think of these matters!
Oh that I could mourn as a dove, in penning of it!
Oh that I had in the wilderness a cottage, and could with Job be a brother to the dragons, and a companion to the ostriches, whilst I have any thoughts of those things! Oh that I could weep and mourn without sin, before * Perplexity.
OF man's saltation.
I yield you an answer.
For weep indeed I may, but answer
cannot.
Alas, with much grief 1 speak it, all is too true that you say: and herein the people have a vantage against us, if I may call it vantage.
But let this be mine " If the blind lead the blind, both shall answer, fall into the dit<»h," Matt. xv. 14.
Blind guide? and blind people, shall perish together.
If because we are wicked they \vill be more wicked, then both they and we shall bum in hell-fire together.
Then, let them reckon their gains and see what they have got.
They have small cause so to triumph over us; for thereby their market is never a whit amended: let them take this for answer.
And let us that are the ministers of Christ, and preachers of the gospel, look narrow;ly to ourselves, and make straight steps to our feet; for, if we tread never so little awry, we may see how many eyes are upon us.
Let us, therefore, with David pray continually, " Order my goings, O Lord, that my footsteps slip not.
For when my foot slipped, they rejoiced against me."
And as for the people, let them follow the example of those which walk unblameably, as God be thanked, some such there be, and let them fly the examples of such as are offensive.
So shall God have more glory, and they more peace in their own hearts.
Thus have we heard what a wide gate is opened into heU by the evil example of ministers, and especially of preachers.