_Direct._ VI. But God telleth you, that "without holiness none shall see him," Heb. xii. 14. The unlearned may be saved, but the ungodly cannot, Psal. i. 6. Holiness is to the soul, as life to the body: he that hath it not, is dead; though all have not the same degree of health: sin is sin, and hated of God, in learned or unlearned. All men have souls that need regenerating at first: and as all bodies that live, must live on the earth, by the air, and food, &c.; so all souls that live, do live upon the same God, and Christ, and heaven, by the same word and Spirit; and all this may be had by the unlearned.
_Tempt._ VII. But, saith the tempter, God is not so unmerciful as to damn all that are not holy: this is but talk to keep men in awe; and not to be believed.
_Direct._ VII. But if God's threatenings be necessary to keep men in awe, then are they necessary to be executed. For God needs not awe men by a lie. He best knows to whom he will be merciful, and how far. Did you never read, Isa. xxvii. 11, "It is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour." And Psal. lix. 5, "Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors." Is he not just, as well as merciful? Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Do you not see that men are sick, and pained, and die, for all that God is merciful? And do not merciful judges condemn malefactors? Are not angels made devils by sin for all that God is merciful? The devil knoweth this to his sorrow. "And if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell," 2 Pet. ii. 4, will he be unjust for you?
_Tempt._ VIII. But Christ died for all; and God will not punish him and you both for the same fault.
_Direct._ VIII. Christ died so far for all that have the gospel, as to procure and seal them a free and general pardon of all their sins, if they will repent and take him for their Saviour, and so to bring salvation to their choice. But will this save the ungodly obstinate refusers? Christ died to sanctify, as well as to forgive, Eph. v. 27, and to "purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14; and to "destroy the works of the devil," 1 John iii. 8; and to bring all men under his dominion and government, Rom. xiv. 9; Luke xix. 27. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his," Rom. viii. 9.
_Tempt._ IX. No man can be certain of his salvation; but all must hope well: and to raise doubts in men's hearts, whether they shall be saved or no, will not help them, but puzzle them, and cast them into despair.
_Direct._ IX. But is there so little difference between a child of God and of the devil, and between the way to heaven and the way to hell, that they cannot be known asunder? Hath not Christ taught us plainly how to know them? Psal. i. and xv.; 1 John iii; and bid us "give diligence to make our calling and election sure?" 2 Pet. i. 10. If all men must hope that they shall be saved, then most must hope for that which they shall never have: but it is no hope of God's making, which deceiveth men. Should so great a matter as our everlasting joy or misery be cast out of our care, and ventured so regardlessly in the dark? When is it that we have life, and time, and all for to make it sure? And what hurt can it do you, to find out the truth of your own condition? If you are indeed unregenerate and unholy, discover it now in time, and you have time to be recovered. You must despair of being saved without conversion; but that preventeth absolute, final despair. Whereas if you find not out your case till time is past, then hope is past, and the devil hath you in endless desperation, where he would.
_Tempt._ X. If this prevail not, the devil will seek to carry it by noise instead of reason; and will seek to keep you in jovial, merry, voluptuous company, that shall plead by pots, and plays, and pleasures; and shall daily make a jest of godliness, and speak of the godly with scorn, as a company of fanatic hypocrites.
_Direct._ X. But consider, that this is but the rage of fools, that speak of what they never understood. Did they ever try the way they speak against? Are they to be believed before God himself? Will they not eat their words, at last, themselves? Will their merry lives last always? Do they die as merrily as they live? and bring off themselves as well as they promised to bring off you? See Prov. xiii. 20; xxviii. 7; Eph. v. 7, 11. He that will be cheated of his salvation, and forsake his God, for the ranting scorns of a distracted sinner, is worthy to be damned.
_Tempt._ XI. Next he telleth them, that a godly life is so hard and tedious, that if they should begin, they should never endure to hold on, and therefore it is in vain to try it.