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
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
Minds clearly manifest Now this presumptuous Indulgence gives the deepest grain to their Sins and makes them more uncapable of Pardon Chrysostom observes that Judas was encouraged to betray his Master presuming on his Lenity Goodness Benignity which Considerations intolerably aggravated his Treason and confounded his Hopes There is a dreadful threatning against those who reject the Invitations of Grace in their Prosperity and when the righteous Judg comes to Sentence and Execution are earnest Suppliants for Mercy Because I have called and ye have refused I have stretch'd out my Hands and no Man regarded But ye have set at naught all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I will also laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear comes When your Fear comes as a Desolation and your Destruction as a Whirlwind when Distress and Anguish come upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me For they hated Knowledg and did not choose the Fear of the Lord. A doleful Case beyond all possible expression when the sinful Creature forsaken of all Comforts below addresses to Heaven for Relief and meets with Derision and Fury Scorn and Indignation The foolish Virgins careless to prepare for the Bridegroom 's Coming in vain at last discover'd their want of Oil in vain sollicited the wise Virgins for Supply in vain knock'd at the door crying Lord Lord open to us the Answer was severe and peremptory I know you not and they were for ever excluded from the Joys of Heaven 4. How incongruous is it to delay the solemn Work of Reconciliation with God till the time of Sickness This is an Affair wherein our transcendent Interest is concerned and should be performed in our most calm and sensible Condition when we are most capable of reflecting upon our Ways and making an exact trial of our selves in order to our returning to God by a holy Change of our Lives Now that the Time of Sickness is not a convenient Season for this Work is sadly evident for some Diseases are stupifying and all the Powers of the Soul are benumm'd in a dull Captivity so that the sick Man only perceives with his animal Faculties Some Diseases are tormenting and cause a great Disorder in the Soul and distract the Thoughts from considering his spiritual State When the Storm is at the highest and the Pilot so sick that he can give no Directions the Ship is left to the fury of the Winds and escapes by Miracle When there is a Tempest in the Humours of the Body and the Soul by Sympathy is so discompos'd that it cannot apply it self to prepare for its appearance before the Divine Tribunal what danger of being lost and passing from a short Agony to everlasting Torment Besides Suppose the Sickness more tolerable yet how unfit is a Person weak and languishing when Sense and Conscience are both afflicted to encounter with the cruel Enemy of Souls All that sincerely seek Peace with God must expect fierce Anger and War from Satan therefore 't is a point of necessary Wisdom whilst our Bodies and Minds are in the best order to be preparing against his Assaults 5. Consider how uncomfortable it is to delay Repentance till Age and Sickness when the Fruits of it are not so evident nor acceptable In evil days and the Approaches of Death 't is very hard to discover the Sincerity of the Heart whether Repentance proceeds from Holy Principles whether the Sorrow then express'd be Godly for Sin or meerly natural for Punishment whether the good Resolutions be the Effects of permanent Fidelity or of violent Fear that will vanish the cause being removed When the Invitations to Sin cease there may remain a secret undiscerned Love to it in the Heart which is the Centre of Corruption and Root of Apostacy The Snake that seem'd dead in the Frost revived by the Fire The inordinate Affections that seemed mortified when the sensitive Faculties were disabled to carnal Enjoyments may have inward Life and will soon be active and vigorous in the Presence of Temptations And that a Deathbed-Repentance is usually deceitful appears from hence that not one of a thousand that recover from dangerous Diseases are faithful in performing their most sacred and solemn Vows How many having the Sentence of Death in themselves and under the Terrors of the Lord have expressed the greatest Detestation of their Sins and resolved as they thought sincerely if God would spare them to reform their ways to become new Creatures exemplary in all Holy Conversation yet the Danger being over their Heats of Devotion expire as they revive and their Lusts recover Strength with their Bodies and being suppress'd only by Fear are more fierce in their Return Their Hearts were as Marble that in rainy Weather seems dissolved into Water but 't is only from the Moisture of the Air and remains as hard as ever When the Fear of Death is removed all their Promises of Reformation are ineffective as violent and void all their religious Affections vanish as the Morning-Dew Now if these Persons had died before this visible Trial and Discovery they had past into the other World with the Reputation of true Penitents deceiving others with their Prayers and Tears and liberal Promises the outward Signs of Repentance and deceived themselves by the inward Workings of an alarmed Conscience Therefore Ministers should be very circumspect in applying the Promises of Mercy to Persons in such a State for an Error in that kind has fearful Consequences A little opiate Divinity may quiet the Mind for a time but the Virtue of it will be soon spent and the Presumer perishes for ever But suppose a dying Person with true Tears and unfeigned persevering Affections returns to God Can he have a comfortable Assurance of his Sincerity Indeed the Searcher and Judg of Hearts will accept him but how doubtful and wavering are his Hopes what anxious Fears are in his Breast lest he builds upon a sandy Foundation And how dreadful is it to appear before the Tribunal of God and expect an uncertain Sentence But Sinners still please themselves in this that God has effectually called some at the last Hour and they may find the same Favour with others To this I answer 1. 'T is true we have some rare admirable Instances of God's Mercy and Grace the dying Thief and some others which shew'd 't is possible with God to abolish the most confirmed Habits in a short time and by a swift Conversion to prepare a Sinner for Heaven But these miraculous Examples are not to be drawn into Consequence for the Encouragement of any in their Sins A Prince will not endure that his free Favours should be made a Law to him and the special Privilege of some be extended to all As Thales said An old Mariner that has escap'd the various Dangers by Rocks and Storms at Sea was a new Miracle So that one
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 naturalized 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 though other Sins are of an inferiour 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 II. 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 profane King of Babylon Belshazzar 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 Hallelujahs 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 into 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 Sins concealed from the Eye of the Day the Light of the Sun and from the Eye of the Night the Light of a Candle shall then be made manifest 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 smoak 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 carelessness 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 I was an hungry and you gave me no Meat I was thirsty and you gave me no Drink was the Accusation of the Reprobates from the Judg himself To him who knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is a Sin 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 Talents 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 Unrighteousness 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 call'd 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 slow 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 comes 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
with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all Solomon under the Law repeats this Doctrine that every secret thing shall be brought into Judgment whether good or evil And God himself speaks in the sublimest stile of Majesty and swears by himself for our firmer belief As I live saith the Lord very Knee shall bow to me and every Tongue confess to God the glory of his Justice From whence the Apostle infers So then every one of us shall give an account to God for himself In the Gospel we have distinctly described the Person of the Judg the glorious Attendants of his Coming and the manner of his proceedings in that Day Now the many Predictions in Scripture so visibly accomplish'd in the Person of Jesus Christ and by him give infallible assurance that all his Promises and Threatnings are equally certain and shall be fulfilled As sure as our Saviour is come in his humble state and has accomplish'd the Prophecies of his Sufferings he will come in his Glory to judg the World Secondly That the belief of eternal Judgment may be powerful in our hearts and lives it must be actuated by frequent and serious thoughts Faith gives life and efficacy to our notions of eternal things and Consideration makes our Faith effectual As the natural Life is preserved by the activity of the vital Principles the Circulation of the Blood the drawing of the Breath the motion of the Pulse so the spiritual Life is maintained by the exercise of Grace The carnal Affections dare not appear before Reason and Conscience when awakened by the serious believing Consideration of eternal Judgment The Evangelists relate that when our Saviour was asleep in the Ship a sudden Tempest arose that was likely to over-set it in the Sea but awakened by the cry of his Disciples Lord save us we perish he presently rebuked the Wind and a Calm ensued Thus whilst the habit of Faith is asleep in the Soul there will be great danger from the concurrent violence of Temptations and Corruptions but when 't is awakened by lively and powerful thoughts it does Miracles in subduing the strongest Lusts. 'T is monstrous and beyond all belief did not sensible Experience make it evident that notwithstanding the minds of Men are convinc'd of the certainty of the Divine Judgment and the Recompences that immediatly follow yet their Wills remain unconverted and their Affections cold and unactive in their preparations for it That such numbers who have so much Christianity as to believe that an irrevocable Doom will pass upon the Wicked and so little Christianity that they cannot justly hope to escape from it yet are so careless of their Duty nay joyful in their sinful courses as if Judgment were a dreadless thing What is the cause of this prodigious security 'T is the neglect of considering that we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to receive according to the things done in the body whether good or evil The next Cause of this stupidity is that they put the Evil Day at a remote distance as the Scorners said the Vision is for many Days They study to be secure and delay their preparations presuming to have time enough before them Their Senses and Faculties are so imployed abroad in the World they have neither leisure nor desire to think seriously of it Their Hearts are so ravish'd with Dreams of Sensuality and engaged in terrene Affairs that they are very averse from exercising their minds upon such displeasing Objects Vain Men how willingly do they deceive themselves The Judg himself declares Behold I come quickly His Throne is like a fiery Flame and his Wheels as burning Fire an Emblem of his swift coming to judgment Can they be assur'd of Life one Hour The Day of Death is equivalent to the Day of Judgment for immediately after there is a final decision of Mens states for ever I have read of an excellent Preacher that in a Sermon described the last Judgment in all its Terrors with such ardent Expressions and those animated with such an affecting Voice such an inflamed Countenance and Action that his Hearers broke forth into passionate Cries as if the Judg himself had been present to pass the final Sentence upon them In the heighth of their Commotion the Preacher bid them stop their Tears and Passions for he had one thing more to add the most afflicting and astonishing Consideration of all the rest That within less than a quarter of an hour the Memory and regard of that which so transported them would vanish and their Affections return to carnal Objects in their usual manner The neglect of Consideration makes even the Doctrine of Judgment to come to be without efficacy 'T is necessary therefore that the belief of this be so firmly seated in the Heart as its Throne that it may command the thoughts to be very attentive to it and may have Regal Power over our Wills and Affections that our Lives may be ordered according to its Rules 2. The Consideration of Eternal Judgment will vindicate the Proceedings of Divine Providence and the honour of God's governing this World from the imputations of Unrighteousness God is provoked every day yet spares the Wicked and heaps an abundance of Favours on them His Patience and Goodness they prophanely abuse and become more obdurate and inflexible They are apt to blaspheme the Excellency of his Nature in their Hearts thinking that he is ignorant or careless impotent or unjust They implicitly deny his Providence and Judgment that he does not observe their Sins and will not require an account for them Or else they interpret his Permission to be an Approbation of their Sins These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest I was such an one as thy self Thus the Heathens transplanted the Vices of Earth to Heaven and represented their Gods to be sensual jealous furious as Men and accordingly expected an easy Absolution for their Sins Or else the distance of Judgment to come so hardens them that they hear God's Thunder with less fear than Boys do their Squibs and Crackers Because Sentence against an evil Work is not speedily executed therefore the hearts of the Sons of Men are fully set in them to do evil But how desperate is the madness of Sinners God now seems to wink at their Sins but hath appointed a day of Accounts He suffers them to live in prosperity but they are reserved to the day of Judgment to be punish'd and possibly sooner for sometimes they are cut off by visible Vengeance to convince the World that the supream Judg does not bear the Sword in vain But though 't is delayed for a time yet he declares that their Sins are laid up in store with him and sealed up among his Treasures To him belongs Vengeance and Recompence He is a mild Judge now and his Clemency suspends their Punishment but Justice will not
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 rejoice 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 there is an infinite variety in God and whatever is truly desirable is eminently enjoyed in him 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 inferior 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 intrinsick 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 and spent that 't is like the shadow of a Dream and proportionably their Joy is lessened Honours like Perfumes by custom are less sensible to those that carry them But the Saints above always consider and feel the excellent difference between their suffering and triumphant state They never lose that ravishing part of felicity the vivid sense of past evils Their reflections are always as strong on the Misery from whence they were rais'd to the pitch of Happiness as in their first glorious Translation In what an Extasy of wonder and pleasure will they be from the fresh memory of what they were and the joyful sense of what they are I was says the admiring Soul poor blind and naked but O miraculous and happy Alteration I am full of Light enrich'd with the Treasures of Heaven adorn'd with Divine Glory I was under the tyrannous power of Satan but he is bruised under my feet I was sentenc'd to an everlasting separation from the Presence of God my only Life and Joy but now am possest of my supream Good O how transporting is the comparison of these wide and contrary extreams How beautiful and pleasant is the Day of Eternity after such a dark tempestuous Night How does the remembrance of such Evils produce a more lively and feeling fruition of such Happiness How strangely and mightily does Salvation with Eternal Glory affect the Soul This gives a spritely accent to their everlasting Hallelujahs This preserves an affectionate Heat in their Thanksgivings to their Victorious Deliverer And thus their Happiness is always the same and always new Their Pleasure is continued in its Perfection The number of Possessors cannot lessen their Felicity The Divine Presence is an unwasted Spring of Pleasure equally full and open to all and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their Desires Envy reigns in this World because earthly things are so imperfect in their Nature and so peculiar in their Possession that they cannot suffice nor be enjoyed by all But in Heaven none is touch'd with that base low Passion for God contains all that is precious and desirable in the highest degrees of Perfection and all partake of his Universal Goodness without intercepting one another In the Kingdom of Heaven there is no cause for the Elder Brother to repine at the Father's Bounty to the Younger nor for the Younger to supplant the Elder to obtain the Birth-right The Heirs of God are all rais'd to Sovereign Glory and every one enjoys him as entirely and fully as if solely his Felicity God is a Good as indivisible as infinite and not diminished by the most liberal communications of Himself We may illustrate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption
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 Combat of Nature was visible and the admirable Power of Grace They first overcame their own Fears the reluctancy of the carnal part their Affection to whatever is desirable 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 choak'd 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 foreign 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 the morning Dew have suddenly vanish'd 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 than 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 confirm and fortify our Resolutions for Heaven God promised to Hezekiah 15 Years but not to preserve his Life by Miracle he was obliged to repair the wastings of Nature by daily Food and to abstain from what was noxious and destructive to his Body The Apostle excites Christians to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that works in them to will and to do of his good Pleasure Let him that stands take heed lest he fall None are a more easy Conquest to the Tempter than those who presume upon their own Strength We should be always jealous of our selves from the sad Examples of Apostacy in every Age. St. Ambrose testifies from his own knowledg that many after the couragious enduring of cruel Torments for Religion the tearing open their Sides that their Bowels appeared and the burning of some parts of their Bodies yet when led forth to finish the Victory of Faith to be a triumphant Spectacle to Angels and Men when the blessed Rewarder was ready to put the Martyrs Crown on their Heads at the sight of their mourning Wives and Children in the way were overcome by Pity the weakest Affection and fail'd in the last act of Christian Fortitude We must pray to be strengthned with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness For some may vigorously resist one sort of Temptation and render themselves to others And if finally vanquish'd by one of those Enemies we lose our Victory and Crown And as Presumption betrays the Soul into the Devil's Snares so a vicious dejection of Spirit from a distrust of Relief from God in our Difficulties and his assistance with our unfeigned endeavours for Salvation is very pernicious For this damps Industry and causes either a total neglect or uncomfortable use of Means for that End Many Christians considering their Graces are weak their Nature fickle and apt to revolt are ready as David said One day I shall perish by the Hand of Saul to conclude sadly of the Issue of their Condition To encourage such let them consider that Perseverance is not only a Condition but a Privilege of the Covenant of Grace For that assures us of supply of spiritual Strength to the
State For 1. Temporal Evils of all kinds and degrees as Pestilence Famine War are designed for the bringing of Men to a sight and sense of their Sins and are common to Good and Bad here And if his Anger be so terrible when he chastises as a compassionate Father what is his Fury when he punishes as a severe Judg If the correcting Remedies ordered by his Wisdom and Love for the conversion of Sinners be so sharp what is the deadly revenge of his irreconcileable Hatred 2. The Miseries of the present State are allayed with some enjoyments None are so universally afflicted so desolate but something remains to sweeten the sense of their Sufferings Judgments are tempered with Mercies No Man is tortur'd with all Diseases nor forsaken of all Friends nor utterly without Comfort And when the Affliction is irremediable yet if our grief produces Sympathy in others 't is some ease to the troubled Mind and by that assistance the Burthen is made lighter But in Hell the Damned are surrounded with Terrors encompast with Flames without any thing to refresh their Sorrows not a drop of Water to a Lake of Fire All that was esteemed Felicity here is totally withdrawn Death puts a period to their Lives and Pleasures of Sin for ever For 't is most just that those Objects which were abused by their Lusts and alienated their Hearts from their Duty and Felicity should be taken away And which is extream Misery in their most pitiful State they are absolutely unpitied Pity is the cheap and universal Lenitive not denied to the most guilty in their Sufferings here for the Law of Nature instructs us to pity the Man when the Malefactor suffers But even this is not afforded to the Damned All their Agonies and Cries cannot incline the Compassion of God and the blessed Spirits in Heaven towards them for they are not compassionable Objects their Misery being the just effect of their perverse obstinate Choice And in Hell all human tender Affections are extinguisht for ever Now 't is the perfection of Misery the excess of Desolation to be deprived of all good things pleasing to our Desires and to suffer all Evils from which we have the deepest aversation and abhorrence As in Heaven all Good is eminently comprised and nothing but Good so in Hell all Evil is in excessive degrees and nothing but Evil. 3. Temporal Evils are inflicted by the mediation of second Causes that are of a limited power to hurt but in the next World he more immediately torments the Damned by his absolute Power The Apostle tells us that the Wicked are punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power What is the lashing with a few Rushes to a blow given by the hand of a Giant that strikes dead at once This comparison is below the Truth More particularly the state of Misery is set forth in Scripture by such representations as may powerfully instruct and terrify even the most carnal Men. Nothing is more intolerably painful than suffering the violence of Fire inraged with Brimstone and Hell is described by a Lake of Fire and Brimstone wherein the Wicked are tormented Whether the Fire be Material or Metaphorical the reality and intenseness of the Torment is signified by it But the ordinary Fire tho mingled with the most torturing Ingredients is not an adequate representation of it For that is prepared by Men but the Fire of Hell is prepared by the Wrath of God for the Devil and his Angels The Divine Power is illustriously manifested in that terrible Preparation So that as some of the Fathers express it if one of the Damned might pass from those Flames into the fiercest Fires here it were to exchange a Torment for a Refreshment The Scripture speaks of the vehement heat and fiery Thirst and outer Darkness in which the Damned suffer to satisfy the rights of Justice in the torment of those Senses for the Pleasure of which Men wilfully broke the Laws of God But the Soul being the chief Sinner shall be the chief Mourner in those Regions of Sorrow An Image of this we have in the Agonies of Spirit which sometimes the Saints themselves are in here and which the most stubborn Sinners can neither resist nor endure Job was afflicted in that manner that he complains The Arrows of the Almighty are with me the Poison whereof drinks up my Spirit the Terrors of God set themselves in Array against me If a Spark of his Displeasure falls on the guilty Conscience it tears and blows up all as a Fire-ball cast into a Magazine Solomon who understood the Frame of humane Nature tells us The Spirit of a Man can bear his Infirmity that is the Mind fortified by principles of moral Counsel and Constancy can endure the assault of external Evils but a wounded Spirit who can bear This is most insupportable when the sting and remorse of the Mind is from the sense of Guilt for then God appears an Enemy righteous and severe and who can encounter with offended Omnipotence Such is the sharpness of his Sword and the weight of his Hand that every stroke is deadly inward Satan the cruel Enemy of Souls exasperates the Wounds He discovers and charges Sin upon the Conscience with all its killing Aggravations and conceals the divine Mercy the only Lenitive and Balm to the Wounded Spirit What Visions of Horror what Spectacles of Fear what Scenes of Sorrow are presented to the distracted Mind by the Prince of Darkness And which heightens the Misery Man is a worse Enemy to himself than Satan he falls upon his own Sword and destroys himself The guilty Conscience turns the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood the precious Promises of the Gospel that assure Favour and Pardon to returning and relenting Sinners are turn'd into Arguments of despair by reflecting upon the abuse and provocation of Mercy that the Advocate in God's bosom is become the Accuser Whatever the Soul-wounded Sinner sees or hears afflicts him whatever he thinks torments him All the Diversions in the World Business Pleasures merry Conversation Comedies are as ineffectual to give freedom from those Stings and Furies in the Breast as the sprinkling of Holy Water is to expel a raging Devil from a possest Person Those who in their Pride and Jollity have despised serious Religion either as a fond Transport and Extasy towards God or a dull Melancholy and Dejection about the Soul or an idle Scrupulosity about indifferent things yet when God has set their Sins with all their killing circumstances in order before their Eyes how changed how confounded are they at that Apparition how restless with the dreadful expectation of the doom that attends them Belshazzer in the midst of his Cups and Herd of Concubines by a few Words written on the Wall containing his Process and Judgment was so terrified by his guilty jealous Conscience that his Joints were loosed Nature sunk under the