II ' They' not in B, C— G. §§ ' Of in B, 0.— G.
^ ' Then' added in B, C— G.
100 judgment's reason.
things ; there is the outward^ duty, tlic shell, and the life and soul of the duty. A carnal •worldly man may do the outward thing ; he may be bap- tized and receive the communion ; he may come to hear the word of God, but there is a life and soul in the duty ; to hear as he should ; to be moulded into the performance of it ; to obey that we hear, and to come to receive the sacrament with reverence and due preparation ; and to increase the assurance of salvation, and our comfort and joy. This is the hard part of the duty ; this the world cannot do. Let us value ourselves by the practice of the inward part of the duty, the power of the duty, and not rest in the outward performance.
[4.] The next reason to shew that the world must needs bo condemned, it is this, hccausc even in the church there are a compaiiy of iiicn (I beseech you, let not your thoughts go out of your* congregations and places we live in when we speak of the world) that iviJl he damned. It is a strange thing ; that will be damned ! Who will be damned ? I say, there are a company among whom we live, that resolve to be damned. Why ? There are evil courses, which whosoever will take, they will go to hell ; they will end in death, as in the Proverbs, Prov. viii. 35. * He that takes such a course, hates his own soul.' God saith thus, thatf is Wisdom himself; and therefore if you wilfully walk in those courses that lead to hell, it is as much as if you wouldj be damned. Indeed, there is none but would be saved, if they would be saved in the paths of the broad way, that lead to damnation ; they could be content to go to heaven in a race of vanity. Who would not be saved in that sense ? But the world will be damned in this sense, if they resolve to take a course to flatter their own lusts, going their own ways in spite of God, in spite of his truth, in spite of con- science, and to despite the Spirit that awakeneth them and tells them that there is another way that they should walk in, and puts them in mind, * This is the way, walk in it,' Isa. xxx. 21 ; and this is not the way, avoid it ; and yet they will rush on in their courses, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Say God what he will, the world will be damned. Are there not many that have been told of their pride§, of their vanities, of their lusts, of their sins that their conscience tells them they pamper themselves in ? and they will not amend for all this. This, in God's construction (and this conscience will tell them another day), is because they would go on rebelliously in courses tending to damnation. Nay, which is worse, there is a generation of venomous persons, that hate the ministers, hate good people, hate the image of God, and hate anything, that may present to their hearts a dislike of the courses they are wedded to. Oh ! I would they would hate the devil so ; and do you wonder that these are damned, that hate the image of God, the motions of the Spirit, and raise reproaches upon religion, and make it odious as much as they can, that their vileness may the less appear, and be the less disgraced in their wicked ways ? And yet this is the course of many thousands in the bosom of the church, and in the best places, that are guilty of this ; whom if one tell, that this temper and frame of soul is contrary to God, and will yield nothing but despera- tion in the end,|| notwithstanding they will not regard what you say. Well, beloved,^ I must hasten. Many other reasons there are to shew that the world must be damned, as,
* ' Our' in B, C— G. § ' And hypocrisv' in B, C— G.
t ' Who' in B, C— G. II ' They will nothin;^ ret^ard' in B, C— G.
X ' Eesolved' in B, C— G. % ' Beloved' not in B, C— G.
1 ' Holy' in B, C.-G.
judgment's reason. 101
[5.] The'ivorhl, it is shut out of Christ's prayer. They have no part in the prayer of Christ, in him that died to redeem us. And the world will not receive the Spirit, hecause they maintain their own lusts. Many other reasons the Scripture heaps upon this, that there are a company of men that must and will be damned. But what is the use of this ?
Use (1.) First, to })hU our friends, our children, out of the tcorld ; to get ourselves out of the world, as soon as we can. Come out of Sodom, come out of Babylon, make all haste ; for, as the angel tells Lot, ' I will destroy this place,' Gen. xix. 16. The world is a place that God will destroy. It is Sodom ; it is Babylon ; get oat of it. There is no being there, except you will reap eternal damnation with the world.