apprehension Now all these troubles of Mind are but the beginnings of Sorrows but the Smoak of the infernal Furnace but Earnests of that terrible Sum which divine Justice will severely exact of the Wicked in Hell Indeed these Examples are rare and not regarded by the most and by some lookt on as the effects of Distraction but to convince the bold and careless Sinners who never felt the stings of an awakned Conscience what extream Terrors seize upon the Wicked in the other World Consider 1. The Apprehension shall be more clear and enlarged than in the present State Now the Soul is opprest with a weight of Clay and in Drowsiness and Obscurity The great things of Eternity are of little force to convince the Conscience or perswade the Affections But then the Soul shall work with the quickest activity The Mind shall by an irresistible Light take a full view of all afflicting Objects The most stupid and unconcerned Sinners shall then see and feel their ruin'd State what a glorious Felicity they have lost what a Misery they are plunged into without any possibility of lessening it by false Conceits and receiving any relief by the error of Imagination 2. The mournful Thoughts shall be always fixt upon what is tormenting The Soul in conjunction with the Body cannot always apply it self to one sort of Objects For the Ministry of the sensible Faculties is requisite to its Operations And the Body must be supported by Eating and Drinking and Rest which interrupts troublesom Thoughts Besides the variety of Objects and Accidents here avert the Mind sometimes from what is afflicting But the separate Soul is in no dependance on the Body and after their reunion there shall be no necessity of Food or Sleep or any other animal actions to support it but it shall be restored to a new capacity for new Torments and preserved in that miserable State by the power of God There will be nothing then to divert the lost Soul from sad Reflections upon its Misery There are no lucid intervals in Hell 3. All the tormenting Passions will then be let loose at once upon the guilty Creature And if there be no single Passion so weak but heightned will break the Spirit and render Life so miserable that a Man will take Sanctuary in the Grave to escape how miserable is the Condition when the most fierce and united Passions war against the Soul This is signified by the never-dying Worm that gnaws on the tenderest parts and of quickest sense Shame Sorrow Despair Fury Hatred and Revenge are some of that brood of Vipers that torment the Damned 1. Shame is a Passion of which human Nature is very sensible and this in the highest degree of Confusion shall seize on the Wicked For all the just causes of Shame shall then meet The inward source of it is the consciousness of Guilt or Turpitude and Folly in the Actions and all these are the inseparable Adjuncts of Sin The guilty Soul by a piercing reflection upon its Crimes has a secret shame of its Degeneracy and Unworthiness The Passion is increast when a discovery is made of vile practices that defile and debase a Man expose to Contempt and Infamy before Persons of high Quality and eminent Vertue whom we admire and reverence and whose esteem we value To be surprized in an unworthy Action by such a Person disorders the Blood and transfuses a Colour into the Face to cover it with a Vail of Blushing And the more numerous the Spectators are the more the Disgrace is aggravated And if Derision be joined with the Ignominy it causes extream Displeasure O the universal Confusion the over-powring amazement that will seise on Sinners in the great Day of Discovery when all the Works of Darkness all their base Sensualities shall be revealed before God Angels and Saints When all the Covers of Shame shall be taken off the Excuses and Denials to extenuate or conceal their Sins shall vanish and their Breasts be transparent to the Eyes of all How will they be ashamed of their foul and permanent Deformity in the Light of that glorious Presence How will they be astonisht to appear in all their Pollutions before that bright and immense Theatre How will they be confounded to stand in all their Guilt before that sublime and severe Tribunal How will they endure the upbraidings for all the Sins which they have so wickedly committed and the derision for the Punishment they so deservedly suffer The holy Judg will laugh at their Calamity and mock when their fear comes The Righteous also shall see and shall laugh at them Lo these are the Men that made not God their Portion but perishing Vanities that prefer'd sweet Folly before severe Wisdom The Devils will reproach them for that scornful advantage they had over them That as Children are seduc'd for things of Lustre to part with real Treasures so they were easily persuaded for the Trifles of Time to exchange Eternal Happiness Whither will they cause their Shame to go Those black Sinners that here never change colour for their Filthiness that hardned by custom in Sin are impenetrable to Shame as the brute Beasts that are absolutely destitute of reason nay that have not only overcome all tenderness but glory in their Shame shall glow at the manifestation of their sordid Lusts their vile Servilities and be covered with Confusion and the sense of it shall be revived in their Minds for ever 2. To open Shame is joined the greatest inward Sorrow This Passion when violent penetrates the Soul in all its Faculties and fastens it to the afflicting Object When it dwells in the Bosom it gives an easy entrance to whatever cherishes and increases it and rejects what might asswage and lessen the sense of the Evil. The most pleasant things do not excite Desire or Joy but exasperate Grief Like those Animals that convert the best nourishment into their own Poison so deep Sorrow receives mournful impressions from all things and turns the sweetest Comforts of Life into Wormwood and Gall. The causes of Sorrow are either the loss of some valued Good or the sense of some present Evil. And the Sorrow is more violent as the Cause is great in it self and in the apprehension and tenderness of the Sufferers Now both these Causes with all the heavy Circumstances that can multiply and aggravate Sorrow meet in Hell the Centre of Misery The loss is inconceivably great If Cain when banish'd from the Society of the Saints where God was publickly worship'd and by spiritual Revelations and visible Apparitions graciously made himself known cry'd out in anguish of Soul My punishment is greater than I can bear from thy Face shall I be hid and I shall be a Fugitive upon the Earth how intolerable will be the final separation from his glorious and joyful Presence be In the clear and transforming Vision of his Glory and the intimate and indissolvable Union with him by Love consists the
THE Four Last Things Viz. DEATH JUDGMENT HEAVEN HELL Practically considered and applied In Several DISCOURSES By William Bates D. D. Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1691. To the Right Honourable RACHEL Lady RVSSEL MADAM OF all Affairs for the compassing whereof Men are so diligent and sollicitous there is none of that absolute necessity and high importance as the Preparation for Death and Judgment and the immediate Consequences of them Heaven and Hell to obtain the one and escape the other This requires the whole Man in his best vigour and should be the Work of the Day but 't is usually delayed till the melancholy Evening of Age or the twilight of Death The Trifles of this World divert them from that main business to which all other things should be subordinate It equally deserves Wonder and Compassion that Death which is so constantly in Mens view should be so seldom the matter of their application when all are of the same Glass made of the same frail natural Principles and no Argument is more frequently pathetically urged upon them 'T is not strange that deep Truths that by the strength and exercise of the mind are drawn like Gold out of the Mines have no efficacy upon those that are not capable of understanding them but the Doctrines of Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are plain Truths by Na-Natural Moral and Divine Evidence known to all yet no more affect Men than a Paradox of incredible Novelty If the Doctrine of Eternal Judgment were but a probable Opinion controverted with equal Arguments yet 't is a matter of such vast concernment that Reason requires all our possible diligence to avoid an eternal evil that may be the loss of Celestial Glory and the Torments of Hell But since 't is an infallible Truth as certain as the Word of God 't is a Miracle to astonish Heaven and Earth that Men live as carelesly as if they should never die and die as securely as if they should not live in the next state to receive the just punishment of their Sins They are fearless whilst Death is far off in their thoughts and when Age has snowed upon their heads that no Marks of decaying Nature should appear make their own Winter to flourish with anothers Spring But 't is in vain for Death knows them under their disguise and will not stay beyond the appointed time And in that decisive hour Infidelity or Presumption hardens Men to pass as quietly and boldly in appearance into another world as unfeigned Faith and a regular lively Hope in the Promises of the Gospel But as deceitful Physick stops the Fit for the present that will return more violently and fatally afterwards So a counterfeit short Peace transmits them to everlasting Sorrows The design of the following DISCOURSE is to awaken Men that they may be wise and consider their latter end to secure an interest in our Redeemer who has disarmed Death of its Sting and made that Enemy our Friend and to practise dying every day by withdrawing their hearts from the vanities of this transient World that have such a pernicious influence to excite the carnal Appetites and stupify the Conscience which are the true causes of their sin and Misery And what can be more powerful to render them temperate and sober in the use of present things vigilant and serious in their preparations for their great and final Change than the remembrance that Death is immediately attended with Judgment and Judgment with Blessedness or Misery for ever I know this Argument is naturally displeasing but the usefulness should recommend it to our most solemn and composed thoughts before all the vain entertainments of the Fancy and sensual Affections As Herbs of Medicinal virtue that are not pleasing to the sight or smell yet are valued by the Skilful as treasures of Health and preferr'd before the fairest Flowers that are perfum'd and painted by Nature so as to excel the richest lustre of Solomon's Glory The Body is in a continual Consumption and no Art can long preserve it but whilst the outward Man is irrecoverably declining and wasting if the Inward Man be ascending and renewing to perfection the advantage is incomparable O how comfortable is it to a holy Believer in the parting hour to commit his Spirit into the hands of his Heavenly Father for thus he is authorized and encouraged by our Saviour's Example and lay down the Flesh to rest in Hope for Christ is the Guardian of the Grave has the Keys of Death and will revive the Bodies of his Saints incorruptible and immortal the Copies of his own glorious Body The immediate Recompences of Eternal Judgment Heaven and Hell are worthy of our most attentive and applicative Thoughts that we obtain the one and escape the other Heaven is the true Happiness of the reasonable Creature and is the first and last in the order of things desireable the first for its attractive Excellence the last in its consummate Fruition This may be certainly and perpetually enjoyed by all who sincerely and diligently seek it If in the very different States of Life here there were any uncapable of Eternal Life or that have another Object for their last End there might be some reason why they should be coldly affected towards Celestial Happiness and to justify their sole pretentions to the Things of Time wherein their Interests are confin'd but the offer of Heaven regards all that upon God's Terms will accept of it The most sensible inequality that Riches Dignity or any temporal Accident makes between Men here is so true a Nothing in comparison of Eternal Glory that it makes no difference of one from another as to the obtaining it For this Reason it most nearly concerns every Person First to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof as the only way to ascend to it The serious consideration of the everlasting Hell prepared for unreformed Sinners is most necessary and useful tho carnal Men are extreamly averse from thinking on that terrible Object For this is the first Motive that turns Men from Sin to Holiness The Joys of Heaven being Spiritual and Divine have no attractive influence upon the carnal Affections would never convert and reform any but the Torment of Fire being most evident and vehement to Sense is strongly represented by the Imagination and moves the Affections How many by solemn and believing Thoughts of the unquenchable Fire have felt the Miracle upon the three Children in the Furnace renewed in themselves their strong Cords the obstinate Habits of Sin burnt asunder and their Powers restor'd to the freedom of Duty the blessed Liberty of Obedience In this respect the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom that directs us in the Way to Blessedness Madam I shall not attempt the celebrating your Ladiship 's Vertues that render you a bright Ornament of
Sadness to an Agony in his Soul and suffered the equal extremities of Ignominy and Torment in his Body The Favour of God was intercepted from him that it may shine upon us in that gloomy hour And all his terrible Sufferings though foreknown by his enlightned Mind could not weaken his determined Will to undergo them for us But when Peter regarded with a more tender eye his Life than our Salvation he was repell'd with indignation Unparallel'd Love no less than Divine transcending all the Instances of humane Affection The highest kind and excess of Love amongst Men is to die for another and the highest degree in that kind is to die to save an Enemy and of this our Saviour is the singular Example Love incomprehensible it passes knowledg and all understanding but his who express'd it His Love was equal to the heighth of his Glory from whence he descended and the depth of his Sufferings that he sustained in our stead By washing us from our Sins in his Blood he makes us Kings dignifies us with spiritual Soveraignty over not only defiling but disturbing Passions The freest and most confident Sinner in the World that rebels against the Divine Laws without restraint is a Slave not only under the Chains of his imperious Lusts but in that he is liable to the scourgings of Conscience when ever awaken'd and to the servile fear of Death every day But the sincere Christian has a clear and sweet Peace a blessed Tranquillity from the tormenting apprehensions and fears of Death that are the just consequents of Guilt One of the ancient Romans highly celebrates the Astronomers who discover'd the true Causes of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and freed the World from the double darkness of Ignorance and Fear for before that Discovery Men believed the obscuring of those great Lights were the fainting fits of Nature and mortal Symptoms threatning an universal Calamity But what Praise and Blessing is due to our Saviour who hath given us infallible assurance that the Death of the Righteous is not as the Heathen World imagin'd an irreparable loss of Life but a short eclipsing of this low and mean Light that is common to sensitive Creatures to be restored more excellent and permanent in Heaven where those Stars shine in the Divine Presence for ever Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This should render him infinitely precious to us and inflame our Hearts with Desires equal to our Obligations to serve him 2. Let us make it the main Business of our Lives to remove from our Souls the just Fears of Death 'T is one of the solemn Follies of the World to fear where there is no cause As if a Sentinel should mistake Gloworms in the Night for lighted Matches and give a false Alarm but 't is a worse Folly though pleasing not to fear when there is the greatest Reason to excite it And 't is so in the present Case for the most are without the Fear of Death that should make them serious in preparing for it nay to maintain their Security are as unwilling to hear Conscience declare the Wretchedness of their Condition with respect to Eternity as Ahab was the Prophet Micaiah who always foretold evil things to him 'T was the chief Design of the Philosophers by Principles of Reason to fortify themselves against all frightful Accidents and with a masculine Mind with an Heart ardent and with generous Spirits to encounter this inevitable Evil. When one of them was threatned by the Emperor Antigonus with present Death he boldly replied Threaten this to your dissolute Courtiers that are softned and melted by sensual Pleasures and easily receptive of terrible Impressions not to a Philosopher to whom Death is contemptible in any Appearance This was a piece of affected Bravery for Pagan Philosophy could never furnish them with Armor of Proof against the Dart of our last Enemy But the Gospel assuring us that Death is an Entrance into Immortality makes that to be the Reality of a Christian that was a vain boast of the Philosophers Now that we may be establish'd in that blessed Tranquillity that Death cannot discompose the following Directions are infinitely useful 1. We must give all Diligence to be in a State of Reconciliation with God The things requisit to that are as the Apostle declares Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance includes a Godly Sorrow for Sins past with a Detestation and forsaking them sincerely without Hypocrisy and entirely without Partiality in the Heart and Conversation 'T is call'd Repentance from dead Works the proper Name of our Sins that deserve Eternal Death By Repentance we return to Obedience that is due to God our Maker and Lawgiver Faith respects the Redeemer who by his Blood shed on the Cross and pleaded in Heaven reconciles God to penitent Sinners The Belief of his merciful and powerful Mediation for our Acceptance and Pardon Works by Love and constrains us to dedicate our selves in a devoted Propriety to his Glory and Service and to live according to that Dedication These two are absolutely necessary to the vital and salvifical State of a Christian. And as soon as a Person sincerely repents and believes he is justified before God and if he dies will certainly obtain eternal Glory This should be the early and most speedy Work of our Lives for the Delay of Repentance and Neglect of securing the Favour of God arms Death with more Stings and Terrors The infinite Danger of this I will unfold to awaken the Careless and Secure The Devil is a Sophister in Perfection and his ordinary and successful Artifice to elude the force of present Conviction and wrap Men in Sin and Damnation is to induce them to delay the great Work of the Soul till afterward He is not so foolish to tell them as he did our first Parents Ye shall not die for the Temptation is so palpable that it could deceive none Though the Evidence and Certainty of supernatural Truths that disturb the Security of Sinners is sometimes obscur'd by affected Doubts yet there is no Artifice that can resist the full and strong Conviction in Men that Death is inevitable Though Nature recoils from it with Abhorrence yet this sad Truth is so visible that it forces an Assent from all Those who are titular Gods the greatest Princes are not so vain as to pretend to an Exemption by Priviledg from that fatal Necessity they cannot fancy to be imbalm'd alive and that Nature may be made incorruptible by Art The Palace is as near the Grave as the Cottage therefore the Devil cherishes in Men fond hopes of a long Life As some optick Glasses deceive the Sight and make a superficial Representation in Colours on a Wall but two or three Steps distant appear a long deep Gallery Thus the Tempter by a dangerous Deceit presents to the Imagination the fatal term at a
Parents that should instil the Principles of Godliness into their Children in their early Age and season their Minds with the knowledg of the Divine Laws to regulate their Lives and make them sensible of their Obligations to obey them that should recommend Religion to their Affections by an holy and heavenly Conversation if by the neglect of their Duty their Children are exposed as a Prey to the Tempter and ruin'd for ever it will enhance their last Reckoning and encrease the Score of their Guilts beyond expression And Masters of Families and all others that have Authority and Advantage to preserve or reform from evil those that are committed to their Care and to instruct and command them to do what is pleasing to God and profitable to their Souls will be sadly accountable for those that perish by their neglect In short we see by common Experience that Company and mutual Consent is a usual Motive to Sin and many Persons that alone would with abhorrence reject some Temptations yet are sociably sinful Now all those who by excitation or example lead others to Destruction as they are first in Sin will be chief in Punishment We read in the Parable of the rich Voluptuary that being in Hell he desired a Messenger might be dispatch'd from the Dead to warn his Brethren lest they should come to that place of Torment Is there such Charity in Hell to the Souls of others No that Furnace always burns with its proper Flames there is not a spark of that Divine Fire there But remembring how guilty he had been of their Sins feared that his Torments would be encreased by their coming thither Society in endless Sorrows does not divide but reflect them Now if Damnation for Sin be such a Misery as is express'd in the Scripture by the most violent Figures and Words of the heaviest signification if all the possible Tortures suffered here are but a Lenitive to the preparations of Wrath in Hell how miserable shall those be who as if a single Damnation were a light matter do not only commit Sin in their own Persons but are in combination with Satan to corrupt and destroy others and multiply Damnation against themselves These treasure up Wrath against the day of Wrath. Briefly The whole Process of that Day the Arraignment and Sentence will be so ordered the Righteousness and Reasonableness of the Proceedings will be so manifest as to clear the Judg and confound the Guilty God will be justified in his Sentence and overcome when he judgeth I shall now come to apply this great Doctrine 1. Let us from what has been discours'd of Judgment to come be excited to confirm our Faith in this great and useful Doctrine and by serious and frequent thoughts to apply it to our selves Some within the Church have only a superficial belief of this as a point of the Religion wherein they were educated but carnal Affections Fear Hope Love and Desire controul their Assent as to its operation upon them They believe in the general that God is the Judg and Rewarder of our Actions and in the absence of Temptation resolve to obey him but when a strong Tryal comes from some temporal Good or Evil that is present their Faith is negligent and unactive to keep them from Sin Now to make our Faith powerful we must First confirm it by convincing Arguments that it may be an undoubted Assurance a certain Light directive and perswasive in the course of our Lives Some Doctrines of Religion that are of an incomprehensible nature and should be received with silent adoration for the Authority of the Revealer are obstinately contradicted by some upon a vain pretence that nothing is to be believed that will not endure the rigorous inquisition of Reason and be comprehended by our narrow Minds but Reason though darkned sees the necessity of a future Judgment Nature and Scripture testify there is a God and that he has a Right and Power and Will to distribute the rewards of Vertue and the penalties of Vice to his Subjects To deny this is directly against the implanted Notion of the Deity in the Heart of Man There is a real difference between Moral Good and Evil not depending upon Opinion but arising from the immutable Nature of things and the eternal Law of God Otherwise considered in it self it were no more faulty to murder a Parent than to kill a Fly nor to rob a Travellor than to chase a Deer But the Conscience of the most profligate Wretch would startle at such an Assertion The disposition and admirable order of the World in its various parts and the vicissitude of Seasons declare to the observing Mind that a most wise good and powerful God governs and preserves all things by his vigorus Influence And can it be that the Divine Providence so visibly wise and good in regulating the course of Nature should be defective towards Man the most noble part of the World And can it be extended to humane Affairs if there be no other than the present state wherein the Righteous are afflicted and the Wicked prosper where Sins of the deepest stain and the lowdest cry are unpunish'd and the sublime and truly heroick Vertues are unrewarded nay where Vice receives the natural reward of Vertue Honour and Felicity and Vertue the just wages of Vice Disgrace and Sufferings 'T is necessary therefore that there be a future State and a righteous distribution of Rewards according to the good and evil of Mens Actions here The Heathens disguised this terrible Truth under the Fictions of the Infernal Judges Minos and Rhadamanthus and Eacus And the Furies and Vultures and fiery Lake which they thought tormented the Wicked in the next World discover what apprehensions they had of the desert of Sin and the punishment that certainly attended it The Guilty would fain be freed from the terrours of it and strangle Conscience that is bound over to give Testimony in the Day of Judgment that they may sin without scruples But though Fear be a troublesom and involuntary Passion they cannot totally extinguish the internal sense and presages of future Judgment but as the motions of Courage came upon Sampson at times so Conscience awakened by sharp Afflictions by sudden Dangers and the approaches of Death makes a sad deduction of past Sins and forecasts cruel things It cites the Offender before the enlightened Tribunal of Heaven scourges with remorse and makes him feel even here the strokes of Hell Tho' the Sin be secret and the guilty Person powerful not within the cognizance or reach of humane Justice yet Conscience has a Rack within and causes pain and anxiety by fearful expectations of Judgment to come And Divine Revelation is most express in declaring this great Truth The Light of Faith is more clear and certain from the infallible Word of God than the Light of Reason Before the Flood Enoch in the early Age of the World foretold it Behold the Lord cometh
in these Talents because they are usually abused to the dishonour of the Donor If the slothful Servant that hid his single Talent in a Napkin and returned it without advantage to his Lord was cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth a fearful Image of what will befal all unprofitable Persons how severe will their Accounts be who lavish out their numerous Talents to gratify their carnal Appetites and betray the Blessings of God to his Enemy the Devil Only the wise and good Servant that with prudent Contrivance and zealous Endeavours improves his Talents shall from the gracious Lord in whom are all Attractives and Remuneratives of our Service receive an excellent Reward Fifthly Another Rule of our Acceptance at the last Day is That we must with Courage and Zeal maintain in our rank and places the Cause of Christ. For thus he declares expresly Whosoever shall confess me before Men him also will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven But whosoever shall deny me before Men him also will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven When the Truth Purity and Power of Religion in Doctrine Worship and Practice is discountenanc'd and overborn our Saviour commands and will reward our undiscouraged visible Constancy in it He will not only reign in our Hearts but be honoured with our Lips and in our Conversations We usurp the Title of Christians unless we adhere to our Duty in despite of all opposition The Temptations that usually withdraw Men from confessing and glorifying Christ are such as work upon the Passions of Fear and Shame And the consideration of the last Judgment will fortify us against both 1. Sometimes Religion exposes the Professors of it to the loss of all temporal Enjoyments and of Life it self And when the Honour of our Saviour requires such a Service of us when that Confirmation is necessary to recommend Divine Truth to the Belief and Affections of others when our chearful and couragious Example in suffering would animate those that are fearful to Constancy and Confession then from Cowardise to withdraw our Testimony is to betray him again When our Duty is attended with extream Dangers then the sincerity and perfection of our Love to Christ is brought to the strictest trial As true Carbuncles are discovered in the Night for the Darkness redoubles their Splendor so the fidelity of Christians is evident in Persecutions that enflame and excite their Zeal to magnify the Name of Christ in the sight of the World There is no Fear in Love but perfect Love casts out Fear But Fearfulness hinders the expressing acts of Love to Christ and betrays to Apostacy For as every Passion is a Perturbation so especially Carnal Fear that blinds and disturbs the Mind and hinders the serious consideration of the Reasons of our Duty and those Motives to persevere in it that are the Fountains of our Strength From hence the timerous are often treacherous and Faith lies buried under the cold pale Ashes of Fear Now the irregularity of this Passion is best cured by directing it to the most powerful Object As the Rod of Moses swallowed up the Rods of the Magicians so a stronger Fear will subdue that which is in a weaker degree Our Saviour therefore threatens those that for the fear of Men who can but kill the Body dare not own and defend his Truth and Cause that he will renounce them before his Father in the great Day the immediate consequence of which will be the destruction of Body and Soul in Hell If Earthly Potentates had a Jurisdiction over Heaven if Men were to be tried by their Laws at the last Day if their Power extended to Eternity they might exact unlimited Obedience to their Wills but Conscience is a more desirable Friend and terrible Enemy than Caesar and all temporal Tribunals are subordinate and accountable to the Supream and Eternal there is one Lawgiver and Judg who is able to save and to destroy for ever It is the worst Perdition to secure our selves by the neglect of our Duty when we ought to perish for the Glory of our Saviour He that saves his Life shall lose it 2. Shame wounds deeper the Breasts of some than Violence Zedekiah would rather expose his Kingdom and Life to the Fury of the Chaldean Armies than be himself exposed as an Object of Derision by surrendring it And Satan who understands the temper of Mens Spirits suits his Temptations accordingly The Purity and Holiness of Religion exprest in the Actions of the Saints is by the seurrilous Reflections and bitter Sarcasms of prophane Persons made contemptible This is as foolish and malicious as if a Slave should reproach the Son of a King that he was like his Father in his Countenance and Actions for by how much the resemblance of God's Holiness appears with more evidence and eminence in their Lives their Divine Relation is more certainly and justly to be acknowledged Yet how many are ashamed of this Glory And Zeal to vindicate the Honour of Religion is traduc'd and vilified either as the Effect of designing Faction or of the Indiscretion and Rashness of a weak Judgment and strong Passions In every Age the faithful Servants of God are by scornful Titles despised We are accounted saith the Apostle the Off-scouring of the World But a generous Christian looks upon disgrace for the sake of Christ as his Honour The Apostles rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for his Name 'T is said of the Baptist He was not that Light but came to bear Witness to that Light intimating as if that were the next degree of Dignity to it And our Saviour speaking of the Proofs of his Divine Mission reckons up the Witnesses of such Dignity that 't is not possible for Sacred Ambition to aspire to higher Honour than to be in Conjunction with them they are John the Baptist his Miracles his Father and the Scriptures Let us appeal then from the light depraved Fancies of carnal Men to the wise and faithful Judgment and Authority of the Son of God He will at the last Day in the presence of his Father and all the Court of Heaven give an incomparable Crown to all that have despised Shame for his sake But those vile Spirits whose Courage of Straw is quell'd by vain Opinion and the Reproaches of Fools and have deserted the Cause of Christ shall then be clothed with Confusion for this we are assured by our Judg That whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels If the unnatural Brothers were astonish'd when the Governor of Egypt told them I am Joseph whom ye sold how much more will false Christians when the Lord of Glory shall tell them I am Jesus whom for base shame ye
all those who preserve their Conscience and Integrity inviolable shall receive at the universal Judgment in the presence of God and the holy Angels as our Saviour has promis'd He that serves me him will my Father honour and the confusion wherein the most honourable Sinners shall then be cover'd that with a generous disdain all secular honours will be despised And it is as powerful to enervate the Temptation of temporal Profit We read of Moses that by Faith when he was come to Years and therefore more capable to understand and enjoy what Felicity the brightest Honours and greatest Riches could afford refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh 's Daughter chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of Reward And all the Evils which a wicked World inspir'd with rage from Satan can threaten to fright us from our Duty Poverty Disgrace Banishment nay Torments and Death those terribles visu formae so heightned by the carnal Fancy are easily overcome by a sincere and strong Believer Thus some who were urged by such motives to renounce their Religion told the Persecutors that Life was not sweet to them if they might not live Christians nor Death bitter if they must die for Christ. A lively firm perswasion of the excellence and eternity of the Reward what miraculous effects would it produce Nothing would be impossible within the compass of our Duty either to do or suffer in order to a glorious Immortality Faith has a celestial Power a magnetick Virtue to draw up the Heart from the Earth and fastens it to things above It is not imaginable that a clear-sighted Soul that sees a Good infinitely great should reject it for mean things to please the lower Desires We may as probably imagine that a skilful Jeweller would part with the richest Oriental Pearls for Cherry Stones to play with Children From hence we may discover the true cause of the neglect of the great Salvation offered in the Gospel the Word preached does not profit not being mixt with Faith in them that hear it It is astonishing to consider that Earth should contend with Heaven for our Affections and prevail against it that Vanity should turn the Scale against the exceeding and eternal weight of Glory that Men should pursue fleeting Shadows and neglect the most excellent Realities as if they could be happy here and continue for ever and hereafter there were neither Happiness nor Eternity But this releases the wonder that all Men have not Faith Eternal Things are not of conspicuous moment in the carnal Ballance Some are Infidels in Profession openly declaring themselves to be without Religion without God and have the same credit of the Heaven and Hell discovered in the Gospel as of the Elysian Fields and Stygian Lake the Fables of the Poets These live as if they should never die and die as if they should never live in the other World as if Death caused so deep a sleep that the Voice of the Son of God could not awaken them at the last day Their Unbelief is not from Reason but vicious opposite Affections for the truth of the Eternal State is so clearly revealed and strongly establish'd in the Gospel that the sincere Mind must readily assent to it But the Wicked cannot delight in the discovery of that for which they are unprepared and therefore try all ways to elude the Force of the most satisfying Arguments Their Infidelity is obstinate and incurable An instance whereof we have in the Pharisees who rejected our Saviour Tho all the Characters of the Messiah were conspicuous in his Person tho his Doctrines were confirmed by Miracles yet they would not yield up themselves to that omnipotent conviction so strong were their carnal Prejudices against his humble State and holy Doctrines That Reproach is more justly due to Infidels under the Gospel than to Israel in the Prophet Who is blind as my Servant The Heathens who are blind from their Birth and have only some glimmering apprehensions that Eternity succeeds Time are less culpable than those who have infinitely more reason to believe it and yet believe it less The Plea for them will be a terrible Accusation against such Unbelievers If a blind Person falls it moves Compassion but if one voluntarily shuts his Eyes against the Sun and refuses the Direction of the Light and falls from a Precipice his Ruin is the just Consequence of his Folly Simple Ignorance excuses as to the degrees of the Fault but affected wilful Ignorance now Reason and Revelation with united Beams give so clear a prospect into the Eternal World aggravates the Guilt and Sentence of such Unbelievers Besides the most who are Believers in Title are Infidels in Heart Our Saviour tells the Jews who pretended the highest Veneration to the Writings of Moses That if they had believed Moses they would have believed him for Moses wrote of him If Men did seriously believe such an excellent Reward as the Gospel propounds would it be a cold unperswasive Motive to them The depravation of the Will argues a correspondent defect in the Mind though not absolute total Infidelity yet such a weakness and wavering in the Assent that when Temptations are present and urgent and it comes to actual Choice Sense prevails over Faith This will be clear by Universal Experience in temporal Things The probable hope of Gain will make those who are greedy of Gold prodigal of their Lives and venture through tempestuous Seas to accomplish their Desires And if the belief were equal would not Men do or suffer as much for obtaining what is infinitely more valuable A firm Assent would produce adherence and Faith in the Promises Fidelity in obeying the Commands of Christ. Tertullian propounds it as a powerful incentive to the Martyrs Quis ergo non libentissimè tantum pro vero habeat erogare quantum alii pro falso Who would not joyfully sacrifice Life and all its Indearments to obtain true Blessedness which others do for the vain Appearance of it Men may be as truly Subjects without subjection as Believers without a Heavenly Conversation which is inseparable from the Reality of Faith Many in the Bosom of the Church are as truly though not so notoriously Infidels as Turks and Heathens Indeed even in true Believers the apprehension of eternal Things has such great allays that temporal Things are over-valued and over-feared A strong Faith in the Truth and Power of God would make the glorious World so sure and near in our Thoughts that with indifferent Affections we should receive good or evil Things here Rejoice as if we rejoiced not and mourn as if we mourned not Our Lives would be so regular and pure as if the Judg were to come the next Hour as if the Sun did now begin to be darkned and the
Perfection and Satisfaction of the immortal Soul The Felicity resulting from it is as entire and eternal as God is Great and True who has so often promis'd it in Scripture Now the Damned are for ever excluded from the reviving Presence of God 'T is often seen how tenderly and impatiently the humane Spirit resents the loss of a dear Relation Jacob for the supposed death of Joseph was so overcome with Grief that when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him he refused to be comforted and said I will go down mourning to the Grave Indeed this overwhelming Sorrow is both a Sin and a Punishment 'T is ordain'd by the righteous and unchangeable Decree of God that every inordinate Affection in Man should be his own Tormentor But if the loss of a poor frail Creature for a short time be so afflicting how insupportable will the Sorrow be for the loss of the Blessed God for ever Who can fully conceive the Extent and Degrees of that Evil For an Evil rises in proportion to the Good of which it deprives us It must therefore follow that Celestial Blessedness being an infinite eternal Good the exclusion from it is proportionably Evil. And as the Felicity of the Saints results from the Fruition of God in Heaven and from comparison with the contrary State So the Misery of the Damned arises both from the thoughts of lost Happiness and from the lasting Pain that torments them It may be replied If this be the utmost Evil that is consequent to Sin the Threatning of it is likely to deter but few from the pleasing their corrupt Appetites for carnal Men have such gross and vitiated Affections that are careless of spiritual Happiness They cannot taste and see how good the Lord is To this a clear Answer may be given In the next State where the Wicked shall be for ever without those Carnal Objects that here deceive and delight them when deprived of all things that pleases their voluptuous Senses their Apprehensions will be changed they shall understand what a Happiness it is to enjoy God and what a Misery to be expell'd from the Celestial Paradise Our Saviour tells the Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out How will they pine with envy at the sight of that triumphant Felicity of which they shall never be Partakers To see that blessed Company entring into the sacred Mansions of Light will make the loss of Heaven infinitely more discernable and terrible to the Wicked who shall be cast into outer Darkness and for ever be deprived of Communion with God and his Saints Depart from me will be as dreadful a part of the Judgment as Eternal Fire With the loss of the most excellent Good the suffering of the most afflicting painful Evil is join'd The Sentence is Depart ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire God's Justice is not satisfied in depriving them of Heaven but inflicts the most heavy Punishment upon Sense and Conscience in the Damned for as the Soul and Body in their state of union in this Life were both guilty the one as a Guide the other as the Instrument of Sin and if an imaginarry Sorrow conceived in the Mind without a real external Cause as in Melancholly Persons when gross Vapours darken and corrupt the brightness and purity of the Spirits that are requisite for its chearful Operations is often so oppressing that Nature sinks under it How insupportable will the Sorrow of condemned Sinners be under the impression and sense of God's Almighty and avenging Hand when it shall fully appear how pure and holy he is in his Anger for Sin how just and dreadful in punishing Sinners It may be the indulgent Sinner may lessen his fear of Hell by fancying the number of Sufferers will asswage the sense of their Misery But this is a foolish Mistake For the number of Sufferers shall be so far from affording any relief that the Misery is aggravated by the Company and Communication of the Miserable Every one is surrounded with Sorrows and by the sights of Wo about him feels the universal Grief The weeping and wailing the cries and dolorous expressions of all the Damned increases the torment and vexation of every one As when the Wind conspires with the Flame 't is more fierce and spreading 3. The Concomitant of Sorrow will be Fury and Rage against themselves as the true causes of their Misery For God will make such a discovery of his righteous Judgment that not only the Saints shall glorify his Justice in the condemnation of the Wicked but they shall be so convinc'd of it as not to be able to charge their Judg with any defect of Mercy or excess of Rigour in his proceedings against them As the Man in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast when taxt for his presumptuous intrusion without a Wedding-Garment How camest thou in hither was speechless so they will find no plea for their Justification and Defence but must receive the eternal Doom with Silence and Confusion Then Conscience shall revive the bitter remembrance of all the methods of divine Mercy for their Salvation that were ineffectual by their Contempt and Obstinacy All the compassionate Calls by his Word with the holy Motions of the Spirit were like the sowing of Seed in the Stony Ground that took no root and never came to perfection All his terrible Threatnings were but as Thunder to the Deaf or Lightning to the Blind that little affects them the bounty of his Providence design'd to lead them to Repentance had the same effect as the Showers of Heaven upon Briars and Thorns that makes them grow the faster And that a Mercy so ready to pardon did not produce in them a correspondent affection of grateful obedient Love but by the most unworthy provocations they pluck'd down the Vengeance due to obstinate Rebels will so enrage the Damned against themselves that they will be less miserable by the Misery they suffer than by the conviction of their torn Minds that they were the sole Causes of it What Repentings will be kindled within them for the stupid neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and earnestly offered to them What a fiery addition to their Torment that when God was so willing to save them they were so wilful to be Damned They will never forgive themselves that for the short and mean Pleasures of Sense which if enjoyed a thousand years cannot recompence the loss of Heaven nor requite the pains of Hell for an Hour they must be deprived of the one and suffer the other for ever 4. The Sorrow and Rage will be increased by Despair for when the wretched Sinner sees the Evil is peremptory and no Outlet of Hope he abandons himself to the violence of Sorrow and by cruel Thoughts wounds the Heart more than the fiercest Furies in Hell can This