I will give as a King Thus God in the dispensing his Favours does not respect the meanness of our Persons or Services but gives to us as a God And the clearest Notion of the Deity is that he is a Being infinite in all Perfections therefore all-sufficient and most willing to make his Creatures compleatly happy 4. If a Creature perfectly Holy that never sinn'd is uncapable to merit any thing from God much less can those who are born in a sinful State and guilty of innumerable actual Transgressions pretend to deserve any Reward for their Works This were presumption inspir'd by prodigious Vanity For 1. By his most free Grace they are restored in conversion to that Spiritual Power by which they serve him The Chaos was not a deader Lump before the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters than the best of Men were before the vital influences of the Spirit wrought upon them And for this they are so deeply obliged to God that if a thousand times more for his Glory were perform'd yet they cannot discharge what they owe. 2. The continuance and increase of the powerful supplies of Grace to the Saints who even since their holy calling by many lapses have justly deserved that God should withdraw his grieved Spirit are new Obligations to Thankfulness and the more Grace the less Merit 3. The best Works of Men are imperfect allayed with the mixtures of Infirmities and not of full weight in the Divine Ballance If God should strictly examin our Righteousness 't will be found neither pure nor perfect in his Eyes and without Favour and Indulgence would be rejected And that which wants Pardon cannot deserve Praise and Glory He shews Mercy to thousands that love him and keep his Commandments If Obedience were meritorious it were strict justice to reward them The Apostle prays for Onesiphorus who had exposed himself to great danger for his love to the Gospel The Lord grant he may find Mercy in that day The Divine Mercy gives the Crown of Life to the Faithful in the day of eternal Recompenses II. The meritorious Cause of our obtaining Heaven is the Obedience of Jesus Christ comprehending all that he did and suffered to reconcile God to us From him as the eternal Word we have all benefits in the order of Nature for all things were made by him and for him as the incarnate Word all good things in the order of Grace What we enjoy in Time and expect in Eternity is by him To shew what influence his Mediation has to make us happy we must consider 1. Man by his Rebellion justly forfeited his Happiness and the Law exacts precisely the forfeiture Pure Justice requires the Crime should be punisht according to its Quality much less will it suffer the guilty to enjoy the favour of God For Sin is not to be considered as an Offence and Injury to a private Person but the violation of a Law and a disturbance in the order of Government so that to preserve the honour of governing Justice an equivalent reparation was necessary Till Sin was expiated by a proper Sacrifice the Divine Goodness was a sealed Spring and its blessed effects restrain'd from the guilty Creature Now the Son of God in our assumed Nature offered up himself a Sacrifice in our stead to satisfy Divine Justice and removed the Bar that Mercy might be glorified in our Salvation The Apostle gives this account of it We have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Christ by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vaile that is to say his Flesh. 2. Such were the most precious Merits of his Obedience that it was not only sufficient to free the guilty contaminated race of Mankind from Hell but to purchase for them the Kingdom of Heaven If we consider his Human Nature all Graces were born with him as Rays with the Sun and shin'd in the whole course of his Life in the excellence of perfection And the dignity of his divine Person derived an immense value to all he perform'd as Mediator One act of his Obedience was more honourable to God than all the Lives of the Saints the Deaths of the Martyrs and the Service of the Angels God was more pleased in the Obedience of his Beloved Son than he was provok't by the Rebellion of his Servants Therefore as the just recompence of it he constituted him to be Universal Head of the Church supream Judg of the World invested him with Divine Glory and with Power to communicate it to his faithful Servants He is the Prince of Life In short it is as much upon the account of Christ's Sufferings that we are glorified as that we are forgiven The Wounds he received in his Body the Characters of Ignominy and Footsteps of Death are the Fountains of our Glory His Abasement is the cause of our Exaltation If it be said this seems to lessen the freeness of this Gift The answer is clear This was due to Christ but undeserved by us Besides the appointing his Son to be our Mediator in the way of our ransom was the most glorious work of his Goodness 2. The means of our obtaining Heaven are to be considered Though the Divine Goodness be free in its Acts and there can be nothing in the Creature of Merit or Inducement to prevail upon God in the nature of a cause yet he requires qualifications in all those who shall enjoy that blessed unchangeable Kingdom The Apostle expresly declares 'T is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth Mercy But we must distinguish the Effects of this Mercy which are dispensed in that order the Gospel lays down The first Mercy is the powerful calling the Sinner from his corrupt and wretched State a second Mercy is the pardoning his Sins the last and most eminent is the glorifying him in Heaven Now 't is clear that in this place the shewing of Mercy signifies the preventing Grace of God in Conversion for in the 18 th verse 't is said God shews Mercy to whom he will and whom he will he hardens Where 't is evident that shewing Mercy is oppos'd not to condemning but to hardning and consequently the intent of the Words is this That Divine Grace overcomes the Rebellious Will softens the stiff and stubborn Heart and makes it pliant to Obedience This flows from his pure good Will and Pleasure without the least motive from the inclinations or endeavours of sinful Men. But the other Effects of God's Mercy require Conditions in the Subjects that receive them for he pardons only penitent Believers and glorifies none but persevering Saints To make this clear 't is worthy of Observation The Gospel has several Denominations 'T is called a Law a Covenant and a Testament 'T is called the Law of Faith and the Law of the Spiritual Life As a Law it signifies a new Right that God has most freely establisht in
is not so purified but some Vapors arise that intercept his chearful refreshing Light From hence there are alternate successions of Spiritual Comforts and Sorrows of Doubts and filial Confidence in the Saints 'T is a rare favour of Heaven when an humble Believer in his whole course is so circumspect as not to provoke God to appear displeased against him When a Christian as those tutelar Angels spoken of in the Gospel always beholds the face of his Heavenly Father and converses with him with an holy Liberty And what a torment the hiding of God's Face is to a deserted Soul only they know who feel it External troubles are many times attended with more Consolations to the Spirit than Afflictions to Sense but to love God with a transcendent Affection and to fear he is our Enemy no Punishment exceeds or is equal to it As his Loving-kindness in their esteem is better than Life so his Displeasure is worse than Death How do they wrestle with God by Prayers and Tears and offer as it were a holy Violence to the King of Heaven to recover their first serenity of Mind the lost Peace of Heart How passionately do they cry out with Job in the Book of his Patience O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me when his Candle shin'd upon my head and when by his Light I walk'd through darkness As I was in the days of my youth when the Secret of God was upon my Tabernacle And sometimes God delays the revealing himself even to his dearest Children not that he does not see their Necessities and hears their Prayers or is so hard that till their Extremities he is not moved with Compassion but for wise and holy Reasons Either that they may not return to folly if by any presumptuous Sin they forfeited their Peace or if they have been careful to please him yet he may deprive them of Spiritual Comforts for a time to keep them humble and that with an obedient resignation to his Sovereign Pleasure they may wait for his reviving Presence And then Joy returns greater than before For thus God usually renders with interest what he suspended only for trial But the Saints above are for ever enlightned with the vital splendor and dear regards of his Countenance always enjoy his beamy smiles A continual effusion of Glory illustrates Heaven and all its blessed Inhabitants And their Contemplation of God is fixed If the Object though extraordinary glorious were transient or the Eye so weak that it could only see it but by glances the heighth of Joy would not be perpetual But the mind is prepar'd with supernatural vigour to see the brightness of God's Face and by the most attentive application always converses with that blessed Object so that the Joy of Heaven is never intermitted for a moment They always see and love and rejoyce and praise him 'T is possible a carnal suspicion may arise in some as if the uniform perpetual vision of the same Glory might lose its perfect delightfulness For those who seek for happiness in the vanity of the Creatures are always desirous of change and have their Judgments so corrupted that while they languish with a secret desire after an unchangeable Good yet they conceive no Good as desireable that is not changed But to correct this gross errour of Fancy let us a little enquire into the causes of Dissatisfaction that make the constant fruition of the same thing here to be tedious Sensible things are of such a limited Goodness that not any of them can supply all our present wants so that 't is necessary to leave one for another And the most of them are Remedies of our diseased Appetites and if not temperately used are destructive Evils Eating and Drinking are to extinguish Hunger and Thirst but continued beyond just measure become nauseous Besides the Insufficiency of their Objects the Senses themselves cannot be satisfied all at once The Ear cannot attend to delightful Sounds and the Eye be intent on beautiful Colours at the same time The Satisfaction of one Sense defeats another of enjoying its proper good therefore the same Object is not constantly pleasant but the Heart is distemper'd from as many Causes as there are desires unaccomplish'd Add farther all things under the Sun afford only a superficial delight and miserably deceive the Expectations raised of them and many times there is a mixture of some evil in them that is more offensive than the good is delightful The Honey is attended with a Sting so that often those very things we sigh after through vehement desire when they are obtain'd we sigh for grief Now all these Causes of dissatisfaction cease in Heaven for God is an infinite Good and whatever is truly desireable and precious is in Him in all degrees of Perfection And in his Presence all the Powers of the Soul are drawn out in their most pleasant exercise and always enjoy their entire happiness The fruition of him exceeds our most raised hopes as much as he is more glorious in Himself than in any borrowed Representations God will be to us incomparably above what we can ask or think The compass of our thoughts the depth of our desires are imperfect measures of his Perfections And as he is a Pure Good in Himself so he is prevalent over all Evil. 'T is evident therefore that nothing can allay the Joys of Saints when they are in God's presence 2. Novelty is not requisite to ingratiate every Good and make it perfectly delightful God is infinitely happy to whom no Good was ever new 'T is indeed the Sauce that gives a delicious taste to inferiour things For Men relish only what is eminent and the good things of this World are so truly mean that they are feign to borrow a shew of Greatness by comparison with a worse estate preceding But an infinite Good produces always the same pure equal compleat Joy because it arises from its intrinsic perfection that wants no Foil to commend it The Psalmist breaks forth Whom have I in Heaven but Thee This is no vanishing Rapture but a constant joyful height of Affection God the essential happiness of the Saints is always perfectly lovely and delightful to them 3. The glorified Saints in every period of their happy state have as lively a perception of it as in the beginning To make this evident we must consider that the pleasure of Novelty springs from a quick sense of the opposite terms between our condition in the want of some desired Good and after our obtaining it Now the Mind is more intense on the advantage and more strongly affected at first One newly freed from the torments of a sharp disease feels a greater pleasure than from a constant tenour of health Those who are rais'd from a low state to eminent Dignity are transported with their first change but in tract of time the remembrance of their mean condition is so weakned
Man to declare the Truth and Strength of his love to God by despising all Temptations when they are most inviting and he is most receptive of them But alas how many neglect their Duty and defer their Happiness They think it too soon to live for Heaven before the evil days come wherein they shall have no Pleasure when they cannot Sin and fondly presume they can Repent The infinite danger of this I will briefly lay open 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 afterwards 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 Mankind 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 are not so vain as to pretend to an exemption by privilege from that fatal necessity not to fancy that they may be imbalm'd alive and Nature made incorruptible by Art The Pallace is as near the Grave as the Cottage Therefore the Devil cherishes in Men fond hopes of long Life As some Optick Glasses deceive the sight and make a superficial representation in Colours on a Wall but two or three steps distance appear a long deep Gallery Thus the Tempter by a dangerous artifice presents to the imagination the fatal term at a great distance and since he cannot weaken the certainty of Death in Mens Belief he removes the Image of it out of their Memories to lessen the impression that it is capable to make on their Spirits They dare not venture to die as they live careless of Salvation and unprepared for their accounts with God therefore to suspend the workings of Conscience by a seeming compliance the Tempter insinuates there will be a long interval between the present time and the last hour that shall decide their state for ever that it will be a convenient season to prepare for the other World when they have done with this as if Repentance were best at last when there are no Temptations and therefore no danger of retracting it And the Heart of Man is a great Flatterer very subtile to deceive and ruin him with vain resolutions of a devout retirement and becoming seriously Religious hereafter and thus by an easy permission he gratifies the present desires of the Flesh and goes in a Circuit from one Vanity to another till Death surprise the Presumer 'T is very applicable to this purpose what is related of Alcaeus the Poet who from every season of the Year took Arguments to give a new title to his intemperance The Spring requir'd liberal drinking in sign of Joy for the renovation of Nature The Summer to temper the heat and refresh our draught 'T was due to Autumn as dedicated to the Vintage and Winter requir'd it to expel the Cold that would congeal the Blood and Spirits Thus he pleaded for the allowance of his Excess And thus Men in the several Ages of Life which are correspondent to the seasons of the Year have some Excuses to delay Repentance and give some colour to their contumacy in neglecting Salvation The Vanity of Childhood the Pleasures of Youth the Business of Middle Age the Infirmities of old Age are plausible pretences to put off the seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof Now to excite us to a present choice and pursuit of eternal Happiness Let us consider 1. This Life is the only season allowed us for preparation in order to Immortallity As we improve or neglect it we shall be for ever 'T is observ'd concerning the Straights where the Sea is but a few miles broad yet from thence it pours it self into the vast Ocean that extends to both the Indies So this Life that is confin'd within the straits of Time issues it self into a boundless Eternity of Good or Evil. From a few years well or ill spent here tam immensa soeculorum vastitas panditur Millions of Ages follow of Happiness or Misery If Men now set their affections on things above and earnestly seek them they shall joyfully ascend to the Inheritance of the Saints in Light for the preparation for Happiness is here the perfection of it hereafter But if they are carnally minded and the main design of their lives be to enjoy the present World when the parting hour is come and Death shall make a separation between them and it their Misery is irrecoverable as the Grave Indeed if we had two lives in succession allowed us for tryal and having err'd in our choice of Happiness in the first might correct our errour in a second Life there were some pretence for security but since immediately after Death a private judgment passes upon the Soul without appeal to a more favourable Tribunal since then the errour is unpardonable for ever there is no stupidity equals the present neglect of Salvation 2. Let us consider the desperate uncertainties upon which Men build their Hopes of a future Repentance and Divine Acceptance 1. Men are flattered with the Presumption of long Life But what is more uncertain 'T is the Wisdom and Goodness of God to keep concealed in his own Counsels the time of our sojourning here for if Men though liable to Death every hour and therefore should be under a just fear lest it surprise them unprepared yet against so strong a curb run with that exorbitant vehemence after the Vanities of the World how much more licentious would they be if secur'd from sudden Death But none can promise to himself one day Death comes not according to the order of Nature but the Divine Decree How many in the flower of their Youth and Strength thought themselves at as great a distance from Death as the East is from the West when there was but a step between them and Death between them and Hell The Lamp suddenly expires by a blast of Wind when there is plenty of Oil to feed it The rich Man pleas'd himself with designs of sensual enjoyments for many Years yet did not see the dawning of the next Morning Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee This Sentence is now pronounc'd in Heaven against thousands that are alive this day conversant in the Vanities and Businesses of the World Eating and Drinking Playing and Trading and all unconcerned as to Dying yet shall breath their last before to Morrow and their unwilling Souls be rent from the embraces of the Body In various manners Men die suddenly from inward and outward causes An Apoplexy
be discovered by constancy in Obedience under all Tryals Blessed is the Man that endures Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him The Law required unsinning Obedience as the condition of Life the Gospel accepts of Sincerity but if that be wanting there is no Promise that gives right to the Reward Now Sincerity implies such an entire Love of God as makes a Person submit to all Duties commanded in his Law and all Trials appointed by his Providence A high Example we have of this in Abraham when he was commanded to offer up his only Son Isaac and by his own Hands for a burnt Offering This was to kill a double Sacrifice at one blow for the Life of Abraham was bound up in Isaac he lived in him more dearly than in himself all his Joy all his Posterity by Sarah had dyed in Isaac What resentments what resistance of Nature did he suffer yet presently he addrest himself to perform his Duty Who ever saw a more glorious Victory over all the tender and powerful Passions of human Nature O unexampled Obedience being an Original without any Precedent to imitate and without a Copy to succeed it After this clear infallible Testimony of his Sincerity the Angel declar'd from Heaven Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me And 't is said concerning the Followers of the Lamb that they loved not their Lives unto the Death The Love of Christ that animated them in all their Sufferings was sweeter than Life and stronger than Death Indeed there was a wonderful difference in the Behaviour of the Martyrs under Sufferings but in all the same Persevering Grace was evident though working variously Some in the most beautiful Flower of their Age encounter'd Fire and Sword Tormentors and Torments with that sensible Joy with those Songs of Praise to Christ as if they saw the Heavens open with St. Stephen and their Saviour ready to receive and crown them But many others as Chrysostom testifies went to the Tribunals to the Theatres to Death with many Appearances of Fear Upon hearing the wild Beasts roar they were struck with horrour at the sight of the Executioners and the Instruments of Torment they were pale and trembling The Flesh seem'd to cry out O let this Cup pass from me yet weak and faint it followed the Spirit that corrected the natural desire with not my will but thine be done As the Moon in Eclipse though obscure yet goes on in a regular course as when 't is full of Light by the reflection of the Sun So those desolate Martyrs though as it were forsaken and deprived of the bright Beams of Comfort yet persever'd in their Profession of the Truth When one word to renounce Christianity would have saved them no Torments could force it from them but they patiently endured all Now in these the Combate of Nature was visible and the admirable Power of Grace They first overcame their own Fears the reluctancy of the carnal part their Affections to what ever is desireable in the World which is the noblest Victory and then the Cruelty of their Persecutors In them was verified the Testimony of the Spirit Here is the patience of the Saints Here are they that keep the Command of God and the Faith of Jesus But how many appear faithful while their Faith is not to be shewed by difficult Works and proved by Sufferings The Seed that fell on the stony Ground sprang up as hopeful as the Seed in the good Ground at first but when Tribulation came it wither'd away wanting the Root of Sincerity And that which was sown among Thorns was choakt by the Cares and Pleasures of the World Some Lust in the Heart interweaves with the Affections and causes Apostacy How many from glorious Beginnings have made a lamentable End not only Mercenaries in Religion whose Zeal is a foraign Complexion not springing from an inward Principle of Life and Health relinquish even the profession of Godliness when their gain ceases but some who have thought themselves sincere yet in times of danger their resolutions like sick Feathers dropt away As the foolish Builder that computed not the charges of his designed Work began to raise a magnificent Structure but unable to finish it laid the Foundation in his own Shame They repented their choice of Heaven when they saw what it must cost them and would save the World with the loss of their Souls Others that began in the Spirit and with raised Affections set out in the ways of Godliness yet by the allurements of sensual Lusts and Temptations and therefore with greater Guilt leave their first Love and end in the Flesh. They fall from high Professions but received by soft Pleasures feel not the fall These were never sincere and never had a right to Heaven They took up sudden Resolutions not grounded in serious and deep Thoughts and for a Flash were hot and active but with great levity return to their former Lusts. The Apostle tells us of such it had been better for them they had not known the way of Righteousness than to turn back and voluntarily to forsake it 'T is observed that boiling Water taken off from the Fire congeals more strongly than that which was never heated because the subtile parts being evaporated by the Fire the more terrestrial parts remaining are more capable of Cold. So those who have felt the power of the Word in their Affections and afterwards lose that holy heat become more harden'd in their Sins God justly withdraws his Grace and the evil Spirit that was expell'd for a time returns with seven worse and aggravates his Tyranny To conclude Since the certainty of Salvation is conditional if we persevere in a holy State let us beware of a corrupt Confidence and a vicious Dejection of Spirit the trusting in our selves or distrusting God To prevent the trusting in our selves Consider 1. The most excellent Creatures are by the instability of Nature liable to defection subject to a corruptive change Of this the fallen Angels are a dreadful Example who of their own motion untempted sinned in Heaven 2. The danger is greater of falling away when they are urged and solicited by a violent or grateful Temptation Thus our first Parents fell and lost more Grace in an Hour then can be recovered by their Posterity in all Ages to the end of the World 3. When there is supervenient Corruption in the Creature that inclines them with earnest propensity to forbidden Things and takes Flame from every Spark the danger is extream Like a besieged City that is in great hazard of taking by Assaults from without and Conspiracies from within Let us therefore be very watchful over our Hearts and Senses and keep as much as is possible at a safe distance from Temptations And be very diligent in the use of all holy means to
to make an Experiment whether any satisfaction could be found in it at last sadly declares that all things here below are but several kinds and ranks of Vanities as ineffectual to make Men happy as counterfeit Jewels of several Colours are to enrich the Possessor Nay they are not only Vanity but Vexation an empty show that has nothing real but the vexation of disappointment And shall we not value the judgment of Men when they are best instructed and give credit to their Testimony when they are sincere Certainly in their Approaches to the Divine Judgment they are most considerate and serious they have the truest and justest thoughts of Things and most freely declare them O the astonishing Folly of Men the will not be convinc'd of the error of their ways till they come to the end of them and the Sun is set and no time remains for their returning into the way of Life CHAP. VIII The stedfast belief of Eternal Things requisite to direct our Choice The power of Faith illustrated Infidelity total or partial the cause of Mens neglecting Eternal Salvation I Shall proceed to shew further what is necessary to direct us in our choice that we may not fall into the double Misery of being deceived with a false Happiness for a little time and deprived of true Happiness for ever Three things are requisite for this 1. A sound and stedfast belief of unseen Eternal Things 2. Serious Consideration of the vast difference between things that are the objects of Sight and that are the objects of Faith 3. Humble and ardent Prayer to God that he would turn away our Eyes and Hearts from Vanity to the solid durable Good First The sound and stedfast belief of Eternal Things is requisite to direct our choice aright Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen It assures us of their reality and worth as if they were before our Eyes and in our actual Possession This Divine Light governs and conducts the Will to choose wisely and excites all the practick Powers for the prevening the greatest Evils and the obtaining perfect Felicity When the Devil the deadly Flatterer by inviting representations of the World intices the Heart the serious belief of the future reward so glorious and eternal disgraces the most splendid Temptations and makes them ineffectual This is the Victory that overcomes the World even our Faith If tempted to Lasciviousness by the allurements of an earthly Beauty Faith represents the angelical lustre of the Saints when they shall come with the unspotted Lamb in his glorious appearance and this unbinds the Charm and makes the tempting Person an object not of Desire but Aversation If tempted with Honour to a sinful compliance Faith represents so convincingly the Glory which 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 persuasion 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 establisht 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 They do not fear Hell but are afraid they should be fearful of it This is such a piece of Folly as that of the West Indians who at the first Invasion by the Spaniards were so terrified with the glittering of their Swords that they presently fled and very advisedly resolved to hide themselves in the day and assault their Enemies in the night They were fearful to see their Danger and rash to encounter it and fighting in the dark were killed in the dark The Threatnings of Eternal Death are the brandishings of God's glittering Sword before he strikes and sensual Infidels are