touching a dead Body contracted Uncleanness he was to wash his Cloaths in the evening and not to lie down in his Uncleanness This was typical of our duty that we should wash away our sinful defilements every day in the purifying Fountain of Christ's Blood that is set open for Sin and for Uncleanness And the method of the Gospel to obtain the grant of Pardon and our comfortable sense and the blessed effects of it is this there must be a mournful sight and serious acknowledgment of our daily sins and a judging our selves by the domestical tribunal in our breasts as worthy of Condemnation for tho we cannot satisfie Divine Justice for the least Sin we must glorify it and with humility and fervency desire that God would graciously forgive our renewed Sins with unfeigned Resolutions and Care against them for the future Thus we are to sue out our Pardon for Sins committed every day And whereas many Errors in regard of our frailty and their fineness do slip from us we should with contrite Spirits implore the Divine Majesty to cleanse us from our secret Sins such as through ignorance or inadvertancy escape from our observation If we are obliged to be reconciled to an offended or offending Brother before the night and the Sun must not go down upon our wrath much more to be reconciled to an offended God that his displeasure may be atoned The morning and evening Sacrifice was a Figure of the constant use of Christ's Merits and Mediation for us The secure neglect of renewing our Repentance for our renewed Sins deprives us of the comforts of the Covenant and will make the thoughts of Judgment as heavy as Mountains upon the Conscience when 't is awakened out of its slumber But when the Soul's Accounts are kept clear with Heaven every day O what a blessed Rest does the penitent Believer enjoy in the Favour of God! O the divine calm of Conscience when our Debts are cancell'd in the Book of God's Remembrance If we should be unexpectedly summoned to appear before the Judg of all the sight of our Sins will rather excite thankful affections and joyful praises of God for his Mercy that he hath pardoned them than fearful despairing thoughts of his Mercy that he will not pardon them And as this considering our ways leads to Repentance and is a remedy for past Sins so 't is a powerful Preservative from Sins afterwards For as in War the greatest care is to fortify the weakest part of a besieged Town and make it impregnable so a Christian by the experience of his infirmity and danger will be more wise and wary more circumspect and resolved against those Sins whereby he has often been foil'd to prevent the daily incursion and sudden surreption by them And according to the degrees of our Innocence we have confidence of Acceptance with God in Judgment 4. Let us improve with a wise and singular diligence the talents committed to our trust for in that day we shall be responsible for all that we have received All the Blessings we possess whether natural our Life our Faculties our Endowments our Health and Strength or Civil Honour and Dignity Riches and Reputation or Spiritual the Gospel in its light and power the graces and assistance of the Holy Ghost as they are gifts from God's Love so they are talents to be imployed for his Glory We are Stewards not Proprietaries for the Supream Lord does not relinquish his right in our Blessings that we may dispose of them at our own pleasure but hath prescribed Rules for our using them in order to his Glory our own Good and the Benefit of others And 't is sad to consider that usually those who enjoy the greatest gifts render the least acknowledgments and the most abundant in Favours are most barren in Thankfulness Time that unvaluable treasure that is due to God and the Soul the price of which arises from the work of Salvation to be done in it how is it squander'd away Conscience would blush at the serious reflection that every day so much is spent in the business of the World or Pleasures and so little redeemed for Communion with the holy God that as in the Prophetick Dream the lean Kine devoured the fat so unconcerning vanities take up that time that should be employed for our last and blessed End While time is miserably wasted the Soul lies a bleeding to everlasting Death More particularly we shall be accountable for all the days of the Son of Man that we have seen all the special seasons of Grace these we should improve for our Eternal Advantage to prepare us for the Divine Presence above But alas the Lord's Day that is consecrated for the immediate Service of God and should be entirely spent in it and in things that have a necessary subordination to it yet neither the enforcement of Duty nor incitations of Love prevail upon the most conscienciously to imploy it in spiritual affairs If they afford their presence at the Publick Worship 't is thought enough and as if the rest of the Day was unsanctified time they waste it in either Complemental Visits or Secular Business in Recreations or things impertinent to their Salvation Riches are an excellent Instrument of doing good Gold is the most precious and extensive Metal and by a marvellous Art an Ounce may be beaten out into some hundred Leaves but 't is a more happy Art by giving it to enrich our own Souls and supply the Necessities of many others But great Estates are often used to foment Mens vicious guilty affections Pride and Sensuality and 't is called Greatness Magnificence to waste them in sumptuous Vanities I instance 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 5. 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 over-born our Saviour commands and will reward our undiscouraged visible Constancy in it
SERMONS UPON DEATH AND Eternal Judgment BY WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1683. To the Right Honourable RACHEL Lady RUSSEL 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 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 and 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 Doctrins of Death and Judgment after it are plain Truths by 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 coelestial 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 another 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 SERMONS 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 Madam I shall not attempt the celebrating your Ladiships Vertues that render you a bright Ornament of your Sex and more truly Honourable than your Noble Descent and Alliance but direct my best Desires to God that your Family may be a singular and eminent Example of the Divine Favour that the fading Gloss of this World may not deceive you but your Heart may be above where your Treasure is that you may live to God and your Soul for Heaven and Eternity I am Madam Your Honours very humble and faithful Servant WILLIAM BATES SERMONS UPON DEATH HEB. 2. 15. And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life-time subject to Bondage IN the first Chapter of this Epistle the Proofs of the Eternal Deity of Christ are produced with that evidence of Scripture-Light that only a vailed Heart obstinate Infidelity can resist The Medium which the inspired Pen-man makes use of is the comparing him with the Angels the most noble Flower of the Creation and shewing that he is infinitely dignified above them This he does by a strong connexion of Arguments First By his Title that is divinely high and peculiar to himself He is declared by the Testimony of the Eternal Father to be his Son in the most proper and sublime sence begotten of him and therefore having the same essential Perfections of the God-head in their uncreated Glory But the Angels are not dignified with this Name in any places of Scripture where the Excellency of the Angels is in the fullest terms expressed And that this Name is taken from his Nature is clearly proved because Adoration is due to him upon this account even from the Angels of the highest Order When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Divine Worship is a Prerogative inseparably annext to the Deity both upon the account of the supream Excellencies of the Nature of God and his Relation to Angels and Men as Creator and Preserver the Fountain of their Being and Happiness This without the most open defiance of his Authority cannot be given to a mere Creature and by the Command of God himself is to be performed as a respect due to the filial God-head The Argument proceeds from the Name to the Offices Of the Angels he saith Who maketh the Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flame of Fire They are the prime Instruments of his Providence
Death reigns in the World 2. 'T is certainly future All the wretched Accidents of this Life such as concern us in our Persons Relations Estates and Interests a thousand Disasters that a jealous Fear and active Fancy will extend and amplify as they may so they may not happen to us And from this mixture of contrary possibilities from the uncertainty of event Hope that is an insinuating passion mixes with Fear and derives Comfort For as sometimes a suddain Evil surprises not fore-thought of so often the Evil that was sadly expected never comes to pass But what Man is he that lives and shall not see Death Who is so vain as to please himself with an imagination of Immortality here 3. 'T is a prevalent Evil from hence the proverbial Expression Strong as Death that subdues all cruel as the Grave that spares none 'T is in vain to struggle with the pangs of Death No Simples in Nature no Compositions of Art no Influence of the Stars no Power of Angels can support the dying Body or retain the flitting Soul There is no Man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath he power in the day of Death and there is no discharge in that War The Body sinks in the Conflict and Death feeds on its prostrate prey in the Grave 2. I shall consider more particularly the Causes that render Death so fearful to Men. 1. In the apprehension of Nature 2. In the apprehension of Conscience 1. In the apprehension of Nature Death hath this Name engraven in its forehead Ultimum terribilium the supreme of terrible things upon several accounts 1. Because usually sickness and pains languishing or tormenting make the first changes in the Body and the natural Death is violent This Hezekiah complained of with a mournful accent He will cut me off with pining sickness from day even to night thou wilt make an end of me I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so will he break all my Bones A Troop of Diseases are the forerunners of this King of Terrors There is a preceding encounter and sometimes very fierce that Nature feels the cruel Victory before it yields to this Enemy As a Ship that is lost by a mighty tempest and by the concussion of the Winds and Waves loses its Rudder and Masts takes in water in every part and gradually sinks into the Ocean So in the shipwrack of Nature the Body is so shaken and weakened by the violence of a Disease that the senses the animal and vital Operations decline and at last are exstinguish'd in death 2. Death considered in the strictest propriety as destructive of the natural being that is our first and most valuable good in the order of Nature is the just object of Fear The union between Soul and Body is very intimate and dear and like David and Jonathan they part unwillingly Nature has a share in the best Men and works as Nature St. Paul declares we would not be uncloathed not finally put off the Body but have it glorified in conjunction with the Soul Our blessed Saviour without the least impeachment of the Rectitude and perfection of his Nature exprest an aversness from Death and with submission to the divine Will desired a freedom from it His Affections were holy and humane and moved according to the quality of their Objects 3. The natural consequents of Death render it fearful Life is the foundation of all natural enjoyments and the loss of it induces the loss of all for ever 'T is from hence that such Evils that are consistent with Life and deprive us only of some particular content and pleasure are willingly chosen rather than Death The forfeiture of Estate the degrading from honour the confinement to a perpetual Prison the banishing from our native Country are less Penalties than Death There is a natural love of Society in Man and Death removes from all The Grave is a frightful solitude There is no conversation in the territories of darkness This also Hezekiah in his apprehensions of death speaks of with tears I shall see Man no more in the Land of the Living As in the Night the World is an universal Grave all things are in a dead silence Palaces Courts of Justice Temples Theaters Schools and all places of publick Conversation are shut up the noise and rumour that keeps Men in continual observation and action ceases Thus when the Sun of this present Life is set all the Affairs and Business all the vain joys of Company Feasting Dancing Musick Gaming ceases Every one among the Dead is confined to his sealed obscure Cell and is alone an entertainment for the Worms The Psalmist saith of Princes Their breath goeth forth they return to the Earth in that very day their thoughts their glorious compassing thoughts perish This the Historian observes was verified in Julius Caesar After his assuming the Imperial Dignity he thought to reduce the numerous Laws of the Romans into a few Volumes comprising the substance and reason of all to enrich and adorn the City of Rome as was becoming the Regent of the World to epitomise the Works of the most learned Grecians and Romans for the publick Benefit And whilst he was designing and pursuing these and other vast and noble things Death surprised him and broke off all his Enterprises At the terrible Gate that opens into Eternity Men are stript of all their Honours and Treasures and as naked as they come into the World go out of it Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his House is encreased For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him Death equally vilifies makes loathsom and ghastly the Bodies of Men and reduces them to sordid Dust. In the Grave the dust is as precious and powerful of one as of another Civil distinctions are limited to the present time The prodigious Statue in Nebuchadnezzar's Vision Dan. 2. 32 33 34 35. While it was upright the parts were really and visibly distinct The head was of fine gold the breast and arms of silver the belly and thighs of brass the legs of iron the feet part of iron and part of clay but when the stone cut out without hands smote the Image upon the feet then was the iron the clay the brass the silver and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the Chaff the wind carries away Who can distinguish between Royal Dust taken out of magnificent Tombs and Plebean Dust from common Graves Who can know who were Rich and who were Poor who had power and command who were Vassals who were remarkable by Fame who by Infamy They shall not say this is Jezebel not know this was the Daughter and Wife of King The King of Babylon stiled Lucifer the bright Star of the Morning that possest the first Empire in the World was degraded by Death humbled to the
strength we are enabled to mortify the deeds of the Body to crucify the Flesh with the affections and lust thereof And to perform holy Duties with freedom alacrity and zeal in such a manner as is acceptable to God In short saving Grace is distinguisht from that which is common to the unregenerate by its prevalency and constancy There may be a declination in the Saints tending to a downfal but the Seed of God that supernatural Grace that remains in them will by the power of the holy Spirit recover the supremacy Others may be enlightned and feel some good motions and transient touches as Saul had his rapture among the Prophets but they are not truly entirely and perseveringly converted to God They are not proof against the allurements or terrors of the World They make a fair profession till they are try'd by temptations Congealed drops of water appear like solid Chrystal till the warm beams of the Sun dissolve them and discover the hypocrisie of the Chrystal False Jewels may seem to have the luster of Diamonds till they are broke by a fall and discovered to be Glass Thus the Riches the Honours and Pleasures of the Flesh melt some and temporal Evils break the resolutions of others and make it evident they were not sincere Converts But where the holy Spirit savingly works he is said to dwell he is not like a Passenger or a Tenant at will that neglects the House and suffers it to fall into ruine but as the Proprietary and Owner he keeps perpetual residence in true Christians and by his continual influence preserves them from final Apostacy Now from hence we may judg whether we have an interest in Christ and his Benefits For the Apostle clearly tells us that if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his By this sacred Signature we are appropriated to Christ and visibly distinguish'd from the World For tho the secret and pure influences of the Spirit in the soul are only known to the person that feels them yet his active inspirations are declarative of his presence and power in the outward conversation As the Wind that is of so thin and subtil a nature that 't is invisible in it self but we certainly know from what point it blows by the course and way that the Ship makes thus the Spirit of God who is compared to the Wind is discovered by an infallible Indication his fruits and effects in a holy Life And those who have communion with Christ by his Spirit have a share in his Victories and may with confidence meet the last enemy Death For we are assured If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal Bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in us A preparative conformity to Christ in Grace will be followed with a consummate in Glory But those who never felt the sanctifying efficacy of the Spirit in their hearts and lives tho they are Christians in profession yet they have no other union with Christ than a dead Branch with a Tree that receives no sap and virtue from it or an artificial Member joyned to the Body that may have the outward clothing and ornaments proper to that part but derives no life and sense from it Whoever is in Christ is a new Creature And only those who partake in the first resurrection from Sin shall be exempted from the power of the second Death and upon just grounds are freed from the terrors of the first To apply this point let us 1. Consider our dear Obligations to our blessed Saviour who to free us from the sting and enslaving fear of Death submitted to it with all its terrors from God and wicked Men. He felt a sadness to an Agony in his Soul and suffered the equal extreamities 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 tho foreknown by his enlightened 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 Unparallell'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 knowledge and all understanding but his who exprest 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 which 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 tho 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
the Offence and the degrees of the Punishment Justice takes the Scales into its hand before it takes the Sword Now sin against God is of such an immense Guilt that an eternal Punishment is but equivalent to it This will appear by considering 1. The Perfections of the Law-giver who is infinitely above us One Act of Sin is rebellion against God and includes in it the contempt of his Majesty before whom the highest Angels cover their Faces with reverence and adoration as unworthy to behold his Glory and cover their Feet as unworthy that he should behold them the contradiction of his Holiness that is his peculiar Glory the denial of his Omniscience and Omnipresence as if he were confin'd to the superior World and busy in regulating the harmonious order of the Stars and did not discern and observe what is done below the defiance of his Eternal Power and provoking him to jealousy as if we were stronger than he 2. If we consider the Obligations of the reasonable Creatures to obey his Commands the guilt of Sin rises prodigiously They were made by his Power with this special character of Excellency according to his Image they were happy in his Love they were endowed with intellectual Faculties capable to understand and consider their Obligations to their bountiful Lord. From hence it appears that Sin is the most unnatural Rebellion against God and in it there is a concurrence of Impiety Ingratitude Perfidiousness and whatever may inhance a Crime to an excess of Wickedness 3. The meanness of the Motives that induce Men to prefer the pleasing their depraved Appetites before Obedience to his Sacred Will extreamly aggravates the Offence Of this we have a convincing Instance in the first Sin committed upon Earth Deceitful Curiosity flattering Pride a secret pleasure of acting according to his own Will join'd with the low attractives of sence blinded and transported Adam to eat the Mortal Fruit against the express Command of God And ever since the vanishing shadows of Honour or Gain or Pleasure are the only perswasives to Sin And what can be more provoking than for a Trifle to transgress the Law of God and equally despise his Favour and Displeasure Can any punishment less than Eternal expiate such Impieties The Rules of Humane Justice may discover to us the Equity of the Divine Justice 'T is ordained by the wisest States that many Crimes which may be done in a few minutes shall be punish'd with Death and the Offender be deprived of his natural Life for ever And is it not most just that Treason against the Great and Immortal King should be revenged with Everlasting Death 4. That which farther clears the Divine Justice in punishing Sin with Hell is this That God by his infallible Promise assures us that all who sincerely and uniformly obey him shall be rewarded with Heaven for ever a Blessedness most worthy the greatness and love of the Eternal God to bestow upon his Servants a Blessedness that surpasses our most comprehensive Thoughts Now if Everlasting Glory be despised what remains but endless Misery to be the Sinner's Portion The Consequence is remediless If Sin with an eternal Hell in its Retinue be chosen and embrac'd is it not equal that the rational Creature should inherit his own choice How just is it that those who are the Slaves of the Devil and maintain his Party here should have their recompence with him for ever That those who now say to the Almighty depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy Ways should hear the Dreadful Depart from me into everlasting Fire As there will be no vain-boasting in Heaven where the Reward is the Gift of pure Bounty so there will be no righteous Complaint against God in Hell where the Punishment is inflicted by powerful Justice He that voluntarily sins by consequence chuses the Punishment due to it 5. The estimation of an Offence is taken from the disposition of him that does it When 't is done with pleasure and obstinacy there is no place for Favour Now final impenitence alone makes Sin actually and eternally damning to the Sinner Those that notwithstanding all gracious Means live continually in rebellion against God those that impenitently die in their Sins those that desire to live here for ever that they might enjoy their sweet Sins those that are so hardned and naturaliz'd in their Vices that if they were revived and brought again into this World of Temptations would certainly return to the pleasures of Sin is it not righteous that their incorrigible obstinacy should be punish'd for ever Is it not just that those who would continue under the dominion of Sin should forfeit all their claim to the Divine Mercy For if we consider them as unrepentant and irreclaimable from their Wickedness there are in them the just provocations and true causes of God's final rejection and hatred and if we consider God as revealed in his Word and Works his essential Properties Wisdom Purity Justice necessarily work upon such Objects in such a manner How zealous an indignation did the Son of God express against the obdurate Pharisees You Serpents you Generation of Vipers how should you escape the damnation of Hell They in despite of all his Miracles the equal Expressions of his Goodness and Power resisted his Authority blasphemed his Person and slighted his Salvation Now tho' other Sins are of an inferior Nature and weaker Evidence yet Obstinacy added to them makes a Person unworthy and uncapable of Mercy From hence the misery of the Damned is without Redemption without Hope without Allay for ever 2. I shall now proceed to consider the Evidence of the Facts that is produc'd as the Reason of that Judgment The temper of Divine Justice is very observable in the particular Judgments recorded in Scripture In the first process of Justice on Earth we read that God made the enquiry of Adam Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat and by palpable Evidence convinc'd him before he condemn'd him Thus before the fiery Vengeance upon the wicked Cities the Memory of which will never be extinguish'd The Lord said to Abraham Because the Cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their Sin is grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done according to the Cry of it that is come up unto me viz. whether they were so numerously and excessively wicked if not I will know God is pleased to incarnate himself in Man's Expression to declare more sensibly to us that he never punishes with precipitation but after an equal trial of the Cause Thus we read of that prophane King of Babylon Belshazzer That he was weighed in the Ballance and found wanting before he was sentenc'd to be deprived of his Kingdom and Life And the destruction of the Antichristian State is attended with solemn Halelujahs for the righteousness of that Judgment And in
the last Day the Righteousness of God's Proceedings shall be universally manifest and magnified 'T is therefore called the Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God Now in order to this the Scripture informs us that all the Works of Men shall be brought in to Judgment even every secret thing whether good or evil And the Apostle saith That we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad All Sins whether secret or openly visible shall be accounted for Those Sins that have been acted in the most secret Retirement so that no eye of Man could take cognizance of them Nay the Sins of the thoughts and affections of which Satan could not accuse Men when the inward Fire of Lust or Malice is not discovered by the least smoke or sparkles by no expressions all those shall be brought to Judgment God will judg the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ. The sins of Omission of our Duty that are so numerous from carelesness and diversions from slothfulness and delays and that now so little affect us for we are more sensible of what we do than of what we have not done the guilt of all these shall then be heavily charged on the Conscience of the Sinner The neglect of improving all the Means Advantages and Opportunities of doing or receiving Good will be a great part of that Judgment The Lord called his Servants to an account for the Talent committed to their trust and required profit in proportion to their number and worth All sins of Commission in Youth and Age whether gross Sensuality as Lasciviousness Lusts excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings and abominable Idolatries and all excess of Riot shall be accounted for to him who is ready to judg the quick and the dead or acts of unrighteous-to others He that doth wrong shall receive according to the wrong he has done And sins of a lesser guilt for which the most are not touch'd with grief or shame shall then be produc'd in Judgment All the sins of our words so easily committed and not so easily observed shall then be called to a heavy remembrance The Judg himself tells us I say unto you that every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment And if vain words the Signs and immediate Effects of a vain Mind shall sadly encrease our Accounts how much more all the contentious fierce and revengeful words the detracting false contumelious and injurious words the impure filthy and contagious words the prophane blasphemous and impious words that flow from the evil Treasure of the Heart O their dreadful number and oppressing weight And all the Aggravations and Circumstances of Mens Sins that raise their Guilt to such fearful heights shall be enumerated in order to Judgment For thus 't was foretold Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly Deeds which they have ungodly committed and all their hard Speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him And all the good Works of the Saints shall then be remembred even to the least work of Piety the giving of two Mites to the Treasury of the Temple and the least work of Charity the giving a cup of cold Water to a Disciple upon the account of his Relation unto Christ. All their secret Graces and Duties shall then be rewarded The manner of this Judicial Evidence is set forth to us in Scripture by the opening the Books congruously to proceedings in humane Judgment wherein the Information and Charge is produc'd from Writings for the conviction of the Accused Thus it was represented to St. John in a Vision I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and the Dead were judged out of the things that were written in the Books according to their Works 1. The Books of the Law and Gospel shall then be open'd in all the Injunctions and Prohibitions and our Lives compar'd with them Our Saviour told the Jews Do not think that I will accuse you to my Father there is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom you trust not the Person but the Law of Moses And he denounced against those that reject the Gospel the Word that I have spoken the same shall judg them in the last Day The Law is the exact Transcript of God's Sacred Will the natural and immutable Rule of Righteousness 't is pure forbids all Sin and enjoyns universal Holiness 't is Spiritual requires not only a conformity in Words and Actions but inward sanctity in mind and heart for the Soul is the principal part of Man entirely open to God's Eye the Maker and Judg of it And the most enlightned Saints have but an imperfect knowledg of it here This made Holy David after his meditation upon its purity and perfection to cry out in an Agony Who can understand his Errors cleanse thou me from secret sins This when opend in its spiritual and comprehensive Nature by a wise and zealous Preacher darts a Light into the Conscience and discovers many secret Sins that like so many Serpents were still and quiet in the dark but upon the suddain breaking in of the Light fly upon the Sinner and torment him with their mortal Stings But when the Law-giver himself shall expound the Law in its full extent and perfection with respect to all the Duties it commands and Sins it forbids how guilty will Men appear how unable to answer one Article of a thousand charg'd upon them 2. The Omniscience of God will give most convincing Evidence of all our Works All things are naked and open to his Eyes with whom we have to do in Judgment The Psalmist declares the infinite perspicacity of his sight The Darkness hides not from thee but the Night shines as the Day As his Light and transcendent Brightness is invisible to us so our thickest darkness is visible to him We cannot see things in the Night because it hinders the reception of the Rays that insinuate into the Eye and causes sight but the Eyes of our Judg are like a flame of Fire dispelling all darkness From his Throne in Heaven his piercing Eye sees through all the concealments of Mens Sins Thou hast set our Iniquities before thee and our secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance He discovered the Sacrilege of Achan the Lie of Gehazi the Deceit of Ananias Saul's disobedience in sparing the Amalekites devoted to destruction had the colourable pretence of Piety and as a Sacrifice was laid on the Altar And David's Murder of Uriah was imputed to the chance of War as a sufficient excuse But tho' they might have deceived others they could not
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 consisideration 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 affections of others when our chearful and couragious Example in suffering would animate those that are fearful to constancy of 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 unto the Judgment 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 scurrilous Reslections 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 rejoyced 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 Judge 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 shal tell them I am Jesus whom for base shame ye denied How will it confound those abject Wretches to be a spectacle of abhorrence and scorn before that Universal Glorious Confluence They would chuse rather to be covered under the ruins of the World If we value and desire the approbation of the King of Angels if we fear a final rejection from him to obtain the one and avoid the other we must entirely adhere to his Interest without any respect to the eyes and esteem of the perverse deceived World 6. A cordial beneficent Love to the Saints is a requisit qualification of our Acceptance in the Day of Judgment Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World For I was an hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me The union and endearments betwixt Christ and his People are mutual and reflexive as they are extreamly tender of his Glory so he is concern'd in all that is done to them And tho the perfection of Love consists more in the affection of the heart than