(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!" 1693)
As to be blessed by God is the greatest blessing--so to be cursed by God is the sorest curse!
"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--let him be Anathema! Maranatha." 1 Corinthians 16:22
To be accursed when the Lord shall come, will be to be cursed with a dreadful curse--so dreadful, as will make your joints to tremble, your knees to knock together, your faces gather paleness--for you will be cursed by God Himself!
Men will not be persuaded to love the Lord Jesus--but will . . .
love their cups,
and their lusts,
and their profits,
and their pleasures
--better than Christ.
They love their sin--and not Christ!
They love the world--and not Christ!
Oh you non-lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ! When the Lord comes, you shall be cursed in all you are!
You shall be cursed in your BODY, and all the parts thereof:
cursed shall be your eyes--which were as windows to let vanity into your heart;
cursed shall be your ears--which hearkened to the enticements of sinners, but not to the commands and calls of God;
cursed shall be your hands and feet--which acted wickedly, and carried you on in ways of sin.
You shall be cursed in your in your SOUL, and in all the powers and faculties thereof!
Cursed shall be your understanding--which was never enlightened with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Cursed shall your will be--which never made choice of Jesus for your Savior and your Lord.
Cursed shall your conscience be--which did not effectually stir you up to look after, and to hasten to, Jesus Christ.
Cursed shall be all your affections--which were set upon the world and sin, which should have been placed upon Christ.
Those desires which ran out after vanity, which should have been upon the wing in moving after Christ--were cursed desires.
Those delights which were fetched from the creature, and from sinful objects--were cursed delights.
That hatred which you had to Christ and His ways, which should have risen against sin--was cursed hatred.
Thus where the love of Christ does not rule in the heart, sin is spread all over--so then the sinner shall be cursed all over.
To be Anathema shall be to be cursed with a bitter curse, without any ingredient of the least blessing to allay or mitigate the bitterness of it. Then he shall have . . .
sorrow--without joy,
mourning--without mirth,
darkness--without light,
pain--without ease,
misery--without mercy,
all evil--without the least good, and
all this without end, and therefore without hope!
This cup of cursing, because it shall be so pure without mixture--shall be so exceedingly bitter, so inconceivably bitter! "He will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever! They have no rest day and night!" Revelation 14:10-11
This bitter curse, at the coming of Christ, shall embitter your thoughts, your soul, your very being--and make you cry out, "Oh this is a bitter place! This is a bitter state! This is a bitter condition--exceedingly bitter! My loving of the world and sin was not so sweet--as this is bitter; that seemed to me once as sweet as honey--but this is more bitter than gall!
But here is my woe, which makes it still more bitter: The sweet is gone--and the bitter remains! The sweet will never return--and the bitter will never be gone! I once put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter--but now I cannot! Oh! I never thought the sweet delight I took in what I loved, would have brought upon me this bitter curse, or me to these bitter torments!
~ ~ ~ ~
Oh you non-lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ! When the Lord comes, you shall be cursed in all you are!
You shall be cursed in your BODY, and all the parts thereof:
cursed shall be your eyes--which were as windows to let vanity into your heart;
cursed shall be your ears--which hearkened to the enticements of sinners, but not to the commands and calls of God;
cursed shall be your hands and feet--which acted wickedly, and carried you on in ways of sin.
You shall be cursed in your in your SOUL, and in all the powers and faculties thereof!
Cursed shall be your understanding--which was never enlightened with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Cursed shall your will be--which never made choice of Jesus for your Savior and your Lord.
Cursed shall your conscience be--which did not effectually stir you up to look after, and to hasten to, Jesus Christ.
Cursed shall be all your affections--which were set upon the world and sin, which should have been placed upon Christ.
Those desires which ran out after vanity, which should have been upon the wing in moving after Christ--were cursed desires.
Those delights which were fetched from the creature, and from sinful objects--were cursed delights.
That hatred which you had to Christ and His ways, which should have risen against sin--was cursed hatred.
Thus where the love of Christ does not rule in the heart, sin is spread all over--so then the sinner shall be cursed all over.
To be Anathema shall be to be cursed with a bitter curse, without any ingredient of the least blessing to allay or mitigate the bitterness of it. Then he shall have . . .
sorrow--without joy,
mourning--without mirth,
darkness--without light,
pain--without ease,
misery--without mercy,
all evil--without the least good, and
all this without end, and therefore without hope!
This cup of cursing, because it shall be so pure without mixture--shall be so exceedingly bitter, so inconceivably bitter! "He will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever! They have no rest day and night!" Revelation 14:10-11
This bitter curse, at the coming of Christ, shall embitter your thoughts, your soul, your very being--and make you cry out, "Oh this is a bitter place! This is a bitter state! This is a bitter condition--exceedingly bitter! My loving of the world and sin was not so sweet--as this is bitter; that seemed to me once as sweet as honey--but this is more bitter than gall!
But here is my woe, which makes it still more bitter: The sweet is gone--and the bitter remains! The sweet will never return--and the bitter will never be gone! I once put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter--but now I cannot! Oh! I never thought the sweet delight I took in what I loved, would have brought upon me this bitter curse, or me to these bitter torments!
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