to make an Experiment whether any satisfaction could be found in it at last sadly declares that all things here below are but several kinds and ranks of Vanities as ineffectual to make Men happy as counterfeit Jewels of several Colours are to enrich the Possessor Nay they are not only Vanity but Vexation an empty show that has nothing real but the vexation of disappointment And shall we not value the judgment of Men when they are best instructed and give credit to their Testimony when they are sincere Certainly in their Approaches to the Divine Judgment they are most considerate and serious they have the truest and justest thoughts of Things and most freely declare them O the astonishing Folly of Men the will not be convinc'd of the error of their ways till they come to the end of them and the Sun is set and no time remains for their returning into the way of Life CHAP. VIII The stedfast belief of Eternal Things requisite to direct our Choice The power of Faith illustrated Infidelity total or partial the cause of Mens neglecting Eternal Salvation I Shall proceed to shew further what is necessary to direct us in our choice that we may not fall into the double Misery of being deceived with a false Happiness for a little time and deprived of true Happiness for ever Three things are requisite for this 1. A sound and stedfast belief of unseen Eternal Things 2. Serious Consideration of the vast difference between things that are the objects of Sight and that are the objects of Faith 3. Humble and ardent Prayer to God that he would turn away our Eyes and Hearts from Vanity to the solid durable Good First The sound and stedfast belief of Eternal Things is requisite to direct our choice aright Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen It assures us of their reality and worth as if they were before our Eyes and in our actual Possession This Divine Light governs and conducts the Will to choose wisely and excites all the practick Powers for the prevening the greatest Evils and the obtaining perfect Felicity When the Devil the deadly Flatterer by inviting representations of the World intices the Heart the serious belief of the future reward so glorious and eternal disgraces the most splendid Temptations and makes them ineffectual This is the Victory that overcomes the World even our Faith If tempted to Lasciviousness by the allurements of an earthly Beauty Faith represents the angelical lustre of the Saints when they shall come with the unspotted Lamb in his glorious appearance and this unbinds the Charm and makes the tempting Person an object not of Desire but Aversation If tempted with Honour to a sinful compliance Faith represents so convincingly the Glory which all those who preserve their Conscience and Integrity inviolable shall receive at the universal Judgment in the presence of God and the holy Angels as our Saviour has promis'd He that serves me him will my Father honour and the confusion wherein the most honourable Sinners shall then be cover'd that with a generous disdain all secular honours will be despised And it is as powerful to enervate the Temptation of temporal Profit We read of Moses that by Faith when he was come to Years and therefore more capable to understand and enjoy what Felicity the brightest Honours and greatest Riches could afford refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh ' s Daughter chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of Reward And all the Evils which a wicked World inspir'd with rage from Satan can threaten to fright us from our Duty Poverty Disgrace Banishment nay Torments and Death those terribles visu formae so heightned by the carnal Fancy are easily overcome by a sincere and strong Believer Thus some who were urged by such motives to renounce their Religion told the Persecutors that Life was not sweet to them if they might not live Christians nor Death bitter if they must die for Christ. A lively firm persuasion of the excellence and eternity of the Reward what miraculous effects would it produce Nothing would be impossible within the compass of our Duty either to do or suffer in order to a glorious Immortality Faith has a celestial Power a magnetick Virtue to draw up the Heart from the Earth and fastens it to things above It is not imaginable that a clear sighted Soul that sees a Good infinitely great should reject it for mean things to please the lower Desires We may as probably imagine that a skilful Jeweller would part with the richest Oriental Pearls for Cherry Stones to play with Children From hence we may discover the true cause of the neglect of the great Salvation offered in the Gospel the Word preached does not profit not being mixt with Faith in them that hear it It is astonishing to consider that Earth should contend with Heaven for our Affections and prevail against it that Vanity should turn the Scale against the exceeding and eternal weight of Glory that Men should pursue fleeting Shadows and neglect the most excellent Realities as if they could be happy here and continue for ever and hereafter there were neither Happiness nor Eternity But this releases the wonder that all Men have not Faith Eternal Things are not of conspicuous moment in the carnal Ballance Some are Infidels in Profession openly declaring themselves to be without Religion without God and have the same credit of the Heaven and Hell discovered in the Gospel as of the Elysian Fields and Stygian Lake the Fables of the Poets These live as if they should never die and die as if they should never live in the other World as if Death caused so deep a sleep that the Voice of the Son of God could not awaken them at the last day Their unbelief is not from reason but vicious opposite Affections for the truth of the Eternal State is so clearly revealed and strongly establisht in the Gospel that the sincere Mind must readily assent to it But the Wicked cannot delight in the discovery of that for which they are unprepared and therefore try all ways to elude the force of the most satisfying Arguments They do not fear Hell but are afraid they should be fearful of it This is such a piece of Folly as that of the West Indians who at the first Invasion by the Spaniards were so terrified with the glittering of their Swords that they presently fled and very advisedly resolved to hide themselves in the day and assault their Enemies in the night They were fearful to see their Danger and rash to encounter it and fighting in the dark were killed in the dark The Threatnings of Eternal Death are the brandishings of God's glittering Sword before he strikes and sensual Infidels are
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 sence 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 what ever cherishes and increases it and rejects what might asswage and lessen the sence 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 sence 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 banisht from the Society of the Saints where God was publickly worshipt 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 'T is often seen how tenderly and impatiently the human Spirit resents the loss of a dear Relation Jacob for the supposed Death of Joseph was so overcome with Grief that when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him he refused to be comforted and said I will go down to the Grave unto my Son mourning This is a Sin and a punishment 'T is establisht by the righteous and unchangeable Decree of God that every inordinate Affection in Man should be his own Tormentor But if the loss of a poor frail Creature for a short time be so afflicting how insupportable will be the Sorrow for the loss of an infinite Eternal Good It may be a carnal Wretch may think comfortably of this now whilst he lives in Pleasures but in the next World he shall be totally deprived of all things that please his voluptuous Senses and shall understand what a misery it is to lose the favour and enjoyment of the blessed God Our Saviour told the Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth the Symptoms of extreme Sorrow when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out The sight of that blessed Company entring into the sacred Mansions of Light will make the loss of Heaven infinitely more discernable and terrible to the Wicked who shall be cast into outer Darkness and for ever be deprived of Communion with God and his Saints With the loss of the most excellent Good the suffering of the most afflicting painful Evil is join'd The Sentence is Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire And if an imaginary Sorrow conceived in the Mind without a real external Cause as in Melancholly Persons when gross Vapours darken and corrupt the brightness and purity of the Spirits that are requisite for its chearful Operations is often so oppressing that Nature sinks under it how insupportable will the Sorrow of condemned Sinners be under the impression and sence of God's Almighty and avenging Hand when it shall fully appear how pure and holy he is in his Anger for Sin how just and dreadful in punishing Sinners It may be the indulgent Sinner may lessen his fear of Hell by fancying the number of Sufferers will asswage the sence of their Misery But this is a foolish mistake For the number of Sufferers shall be so far from affording any relief that the Misery is aggravated by the Company and Communication of the Miserable Every one is surrounded with Sorrows and by the sights of Woe about him feels the universal Grief The weeping and wailing the cries and dolorous expressions of all the Damned increases the torment and vexation of every one As when the Wind conspires with the Flame 't is more fierce and spreading 3. The Concomitant of Sorrow will be Fury and Rage against themselves as the true causes of their Misery For God will make such a discovery of his righteous Judgment that not only the Saints shall glorify his Justice in the condemnation of the Wicked but they shall be so convinc'd of it as not to be able to charge their Judg with any defect of Mercy or excess of Rigour in his proceedings against them As the Man in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast when taxt for his presumptuous intrusion without a Wedding Garment how camest thou in hither was speechless so they will find no plea for their Justification and Defence but must receive the eternal Doom with Silence and Confusion Then Conscience shall revive the bitter remembrance of all the methods of divine Mercy for their Salvation that were ineffectual by their Contempt and Obstinacy All the compassionate calls of his Word with the holy Motions of the Spirit were like the sowing of Seed in the Stony Ground that took no root and never came to perfection All his terrible Threatnings were but as Thunder to the Deaf or Lightning to the Blind that little affects them the bounty of his Providence design'd to lead them to Repentance had the same effect as the Showers of Heaven upon Briers and Thorns
is not so purified but some Vapors arise that intercept his chearful refreshing Light From hence there are alternate successions of Spiritual Comforts and Sorrows of Doubts and filial Confidence in the Saints 'T is a rare favour of Heaven when an humble Believer in his whole course is so circumspect as not to provoke God to appear displeased against him When a Christian as those tutelar Angels spoken of in the Gospel always beholds the face of his Heavenly Father and converses with him with an holy Liberty And what a torment the hiding of God's Face is to a deserted Soul only they know who feel it External troubles are many times attended with more Consolations to the Spirit than Afflictions to Sense but to love God with a transcendent Affection and to fear he is our Enemy no Punishment exceeds or is equal to it As his Loving-kindness in their esteem is better than Life so his Displeasure is worse than Death How do they wrestle with God by Prayers and Tears and offer as it were a holy Violence to the King of Heaven to recover their first serenity of Mind the lost Peace of Heart How passionately do they cry out with Job in the Book of his Patience O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me when his Candle shin'd upon my head and when by his Light I walk'd through darkness As I was in the days of my youth when the Secret of God was upon my Tabernacle And sometimes God delays the revealing himself even to his dearest Children not that he does not see their Necessities and hears their Prayers or is so hard that till their Extremities he is not moved with Compassion but for wise and holy Reasons Either that they may not return to folly if by any presumptuous Sin they forfeited their Peace or if they have been careful to please him yet he may deprive them of Spiritual Comforts for a time to keep them humble and that with an obedient resignation to his Sovereign Pleasure they may wait for his reviving Presence And then Joy returns greater than before For thus God usually renders with interest what he suspended only for trial But the Saints above are for ever enlightned with the vital splendor and dear regards of his Countenance always enjoy his beamy smiles A continual effusion of Glory illustrates Heaven and all its blessed Inhabitants And their Contemplation of God is fixed If the Object though extraordinary glorious were transient or the Eye so weak that it could only see it but by glances the heighth of Joy would not be perpetual But the mind is prepar'd with supernatural vigour to see the brightness of God's Face and by the most attentive application always converses with that blessed Object so that the Joy of Heaven is never intermitted for a moment They always see and love and rejoyce and praise him 'T is possible a carnal suspicion may arise in some as if the uniform perpetual vision of the same Glory might lose its perfect delightfulness For those who seek for happiness in the vanity of the Creatures are always desirous of change and have their Judgments so corrupted that while they languish with a secret desire after an unchangeable Good yet they conceive no Good as desireable that is not changed But to correct this gross errour of Fancy let us a little enquire into the causes of Dissatisfaction that make the constant fruition of the same thing here to be tedious Sensible things are of such a limited Goodness that not any of them can supply all our present wants so that 't is necessary to leave one for another And the most of them are Remedies of our diseased Appetites and if not temperately used are destructive Evils Eating and Drinking are to extinguish Hunger and Thirst but continued beyond just measure become nauseous Besides the Insufficiency of their Objects the Senses themselves cannot be satisfied all at once The Ear cannot attend to delightful Sounds and the Eye be intent on beautiful Colours at the same time The Satisfaction of one Sense defeats another of enjoying its proper good therefore the same Object is not constantly pleasant but the Heart is distemper'd from as many Causes as there are desires unaccomplish'd Add farther all things under the Sun afford only a superficial delight and miserably deceive the Expectations raised of them and many times there is a mixture of some evil in them that is more offensive than the good is delightful The Honey is attended with a Sting so that often those very things we sigh after through vehement desire when they are obtain'd we sigh for grief Now all these Causes of dissatisfaction cease in Heaven for God is an infinite Good and whatever is truly desireable and precious is in Him in all degrees of Perfection And in his Presence all the Powers of the Soul are drawn out in their most pleasant exercise and always enjoy their entire happiness The fruition of him exceeds our most raised hopes as much as he is more glorious in Himself than in any borrowed Representations God will be to us incomparably above what we can ask or think The compass of our thoughts the depth of our desires are imperfect measures of his Perfections And as he is a Pure Good in Himself so he is prevalent over all Evil. 'T is evident therefore that nothing can allay the Joys of Saints when they are in God's presence 2. Novelty is not requisite to ingratiate every Good and make it perfectly delightful God is infinitely happy to whom no Good was ever new 'T is indeed the Sauce that gives a delicious taste to inferiour things For Men relish only what is eminent and the good things of this World are so truly mean that they are feign to borrow a shew of Greatness by comparison with a worse estate preceding But an infinite Good produces always the same pure equal compleat Joy because it arises from its intrinsic perfection that wants no Foil to commend it The Psalmist breaks forth Whom have I in Heaven but Thee This is no vanishing Rapture but a constant joyful height of Affection God the essential happiness of the Saints is always perfectly lovely and delightful to them 3. The glorified Saints in every period of their happy state have as lively a perception of it as in the beginning To make this evident we must consider that the pleasure of Novelty springs from a quick sense of the opposite terms between our condition in the want of some desired Good and after our obtaining it Now the Mind is more intense on the advantage and more strongly affected at first One newly freed from the torments of a sharp disease feels a greater pleasure than from a constant tenour of health Those who are rais'd from a low state to eminent Dignity are transported with their first change but in tract of time the remembrance of their mean condition is so weakned
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 Lastly The Blessedness of the Saints is without end This makes Heaven to be it self There is no satiety of the present no solicitude for the future Were there a possibility or the least suspicion of losing that happy state it would cast an aspersion of bitterness upon all their delights they could not enjoy one moments repose but the more excellent their Happiness is the more stinging would their fear be of parting with it But the Inheritance reserved in Heaven is immortal undefiled and fades not away And the tenure of their Possession is infinitely firm by the Divine Power the true Support of their everlasting Duration With God is the Fountain of Life They enjoy a better Immortality than the Tree of Life could have preserved in Adam The Revolutions of the Heavens and Ages are under their Feet and cannot in the least alter or determin their Happiness After the passing of millions of Years still an entire Eternity remains of their enjoying God O most desireable State where Blessedness and Eternity are inseparably united O joyful Harmony when the full Chorus of Heaven shall sing This God is our God for ever and ever This adds an infinite weight to their Glory This redoubles their unspeakable Joys with infinite sweetness and security They repose themselves in the compleat Fruition of their Happiness God reigns in the Saints and they live in him for ever CHAP. III. The Mercy of God the Original Cause of his designing and preparing Heaven for his People The Obedience of Christ the meritorious Cause Some Qualifications are required in those that shall possess it The holy Change of Man's Nature indispensibly requisite in order to his Reception into Heaven The Reasons of it specified HAving such a Revelation of Heaven in the Gospel that all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them in comparison are but as a Glow-worm to the Light of the Sun with what inflamed desires should we seek and strive for that unchangeable Happiness In order to this we shall consider the causes of it and the means whereby 't is obtain'd The Original moving Cause is the pure rich Mercy of God that prepared it for his People and prepares them for it The procuring Cause is the meritorious efficacy of Christ's Obedience and Sufferings This is expresly declared by the Apostle The wages of Sin is Death but the gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I. The designing the preparation and actual bestowing of the Heavenly Glory is from the Mercy of God This will appear by considering 1. That it is absolutely impossible that a meer Creature though perfect should deserve any thing from God For enjoying its being and powers of working from his Goodness the product of all is entirely due to him And the payment of a Debt acquires no Title to a Reward He is the Proprietary and Lord of all by Creation Hence 't is clear that in the order of distributive Justice nothing can be challenged from him 2. Besides such is the infinite Perfection of God in Himself that no benefit can redound to him by the service of the Creature When you have done all say you are unprofitable Servants for we have done what we ought to do The neglect of our duty justly exposes to punishment but the performance of it deserves no Reward because no advantage accrues to God by it Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed to him again He challenges all Creatures even of the highest order To speak strictly therefore When God crowns the Angels with Glory he gives what is meerly his own and does not render what is theirs If he should leave them in their pure Nature or deprive them of their Being he were no loser nor injurious to them For what Law binds him to enrich them with Immortal Glory who are no ways profitable to him or to preserve that being they had from his unexcited Goodness No Creature can give to him therefore none can receive from him by way of valuable Consideration 3. There is no proportion between the best works of Men and the excellency of the Reward much less an equivalence 'T was the just and humble acknowledgment of Jacob to God I am less than the least of all thy Mercies those that common Providence dispenses for the support and refreshment of this temporal Life But how much less than the glorious Excellencies of the supernatural Divine Life wherein the Saints reign with God for ever The most costly the most difficult and hazardous Services are equally nothing in point of Merit with the giving but a Cup of cold Water to a Disciple of Christ there being no correspondence in value between them and the Kingdom of Heaven The Apostle tells us I count the Sufferings of the present Life are not to be compar'd to the Glory that shall be revealed in us And suffering is more than doing God rewards his faithful Servants not according to the dignity of their Works but his own Liberality and Magnificence As Alexander having ordered fifty Talents of Gold to be given to a Gentleman in Poverty to supply his want and he surpris'd with that immense Bounty modestly said ten were enough He replied If fifty are too much for you to receive ten are too little for me to give therefore do you receive as Poor
as their Actions that bear the image of their Minds clearly manifest They think that God is so gracious such a lover of Souls so easy to be entreated that upon their dying Prayer Lord remember me in thy Kingdom the answer will be To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Now this presumptuous Indulgence gives the deepest grain to their Sins and makes them more uncapable of Pardon Chrysostome observes that Judas was encouraged to betray his Master presuming on his Lenity Goodness and Benignity which Consideration 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 refused I have stretched 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 Bridegrooms coming in vain at last discovered their want of Oil in vain sollicited the wise Virgins for a supply in vain knockt at the door crying Lord Lord open unto us the answer was severe and peremptory I know you not and they were for ever excluded from Spiritual Joys 3. I will add further how incongruous it is to delay the solemn work of Reconciliation with God till the time of Sickness This is an affair wherein our transcendent interest is concern'd and should be perform'd 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 and 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 Spirit are benummed 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 wholly 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 Maracle When there is a Tempest in the humours of the Body and the Soul by sympathy is so discomposed that it cannot apply it self seriously to prepare for the Divine Tribunal what danger of being lost and passing from a short Agony to everlasting Pains Besides suppose the Sickness more tolerable yet how unfit is a Person weak and languishing when Sence and Conscience are both afflicted to encounter with the cruel Enemy of Souls All that truly seek Peace with God must expect fierce Anger and War from Satan therefore 't is a point of necessary Wisdom while we are possest of Health and Strength to be in a heavenly preparation against his Assaults 4. Consider how uncomfortable it is to delay Repentance till Age and Sickness when the Fruits of it are not so evident and acceptable In evil days and the approaches of Death 't is very hard to discover the sincerity of the Heart whether Repentance proceed from holy Principles whether the sorrow then exprest be Godly for Sin or meerly natural for Punishment whether the good resolutions be the effects of a 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 seemed dead in the cold revived by the Fire The inordinate Affection that seemed mortified when the sensitive Faculties were disabled for carnal Enjoyments may have inward Life and will soon be active and vigorous in the presence of Temptations And that a Death-bed Repentance is usually deceitful appears from hence that not one of a thousand who recover from dangerous Diseases are faithful in performance of their most sacred Vows to God How many having a Sentence of Death in themselves and under the terrours of the Lord have exprest the greatest detestation of their Lusts and resolved as they thought sincerely that if God would spare them to reform their ways to become new refined 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 having been supprest only by fear are more fierce in their return Their Hearts were as Marbles that in rainy Weather seems dissolved into Water but 't is only from the moisture of the Air and remain as hard as ever All their promises of Reformation are ineffective as violent and void Now if these Persons had died before this visible trial and discovery they had past into another 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 alarm'd Conscience Therefore Ministers ought to be very circumspect in applying the Promises of Mercy to Persons in such a state for an errour 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 unfeined 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 't is possible with God to abolish the most vicious confirmed habits in a short time and by a swift Conversion to prepare a Sinner for Heaven But these Examples are not to be drawn into Consequence for the encouragement of any in their Sins A Prince will not indure that his free Favours should be made a
be discovered by constancy in Obedience under all Tryals Blessed is the Man that endures Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him The Law required unsinning Obedience as the condition of Life the Gospel accepts of Sincerity but if that be wanting there is no Promise that gives right to the Reward Now Sincerity implies such an entire Love of God as makes a Person submit to all Duties commanded in his Law and all Trials appointed by his Providence A high Example we have of this in Abraham when he was commanded to offer up his only Son Isaac and by his own Hands for a burnt Offering This was to kill a double Sacrifice at one blow for the Life of Abraham was bound up in Isaac he lived in him more dearly than in himself all his Joy all his Posterity by Sarah had dyed in Isaac What resentments what resistance of Nature did he suffer yet presently he addrest himself to perform his Duty Who ever saw a more glorious Victory over all the tender and powerful Passions of human Nature O unexampled Obedience being an Original without any Precedent to imitate and without a Copy to succeed it After this clear infallible Testimony of his Sincerity the Angel declar'd from Heaven Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me And 't is said concerning the Followers of the Lamb that they loved not their Lives unto the Death The Love of Christ that animated them in all their Sufferings was sweeter than Life and stronger than Death Indeed there was a wonderful difference in the Behaviour of the Martyrs under Sufferings but in all the same Persevering Grace was evident though working variously Some in the most beautiful Flower of their Age encounter'd Fire and Sword Tormentors and Torments with that sensible Joy with those Songs of Praise to Christ as if they saw the Heavens open with St. Stephen and their Saviour ready to receive and crown them But many others as Chrysostom testifies went to the Tribunals to the Theatres to Death with many Appearances of Fear Upon hearing the wild Beasts roar they were struck with horrour at the sight of the Executioners and the Instruments of Torment they were pale and trembling The Flesh seem'd to cry out O let this Cup pass from me yet weak and faint it followed the Spirit that corrected the natural desire with not my will but thine be done As the Moon in Eclipse though obscure yet goes on in a regular course as when 't is full of Light by the reflection of the Sun So those desolate Martyrs though as it were forsaken and deprived of the bright Beams of Comfort yet persever'd in their Profession of the Truth When one word to renounce Christianity would have saved them no Torments could force it from them but they patiently endured all Now in these the Combate of Nature was visible and the admirable Power of Grace They first overcame their own Fears the reluctancy of the carnal part their Affections to what ever is desireable in the World which is the noblest Victory and then the Cruelty of their Persecutors In them was verified the Testimony of the Spirit Here is the patience of the Saints Here are they that keep the Command of God and the Faith of Jesus But how many appear faithful while their Faith is not to be shewed by difficult Works and proved by Sufferings The Seed that fell on the stony Ground sprang up as hopeful as the Seed in the good Ground at first but when Tribulation came it wither'd away wanting the Root of Sincerity And that which was sown among Thorns was choakt by the Cares and Pleasures of the World Some Lust in the Heart interweaves with the Affections and causes Apostacy How many from glorious Beginnings have made a lamentable End not only Mercenaries in Religion whose Zeal is a foraign Complexion not springing from an inward Principle of Life and Health relinquish even the profession of Godliness when their gain ceases but some who have thought themselves sincere yet in times of danger their resolutions like sick Feathers dropt away As the foolish Builder that computed not the charges of his designed Work began to raise a magnificent Structure but unable to finish it laid the Foundation in his own Shame They repented their choice of Heaven when they saw what it must cost them and would save the World with the loss of their Souls Others that began in the Spirit and with raised Affections set out in the ways of Godliness yet by the allurements of sensual Lusts and Temptations and therefore with greater Guilt leave their first Love and end in the Flesh. They fall from high Professions but received by soft Pleasures feel not the fall These were never sincere and never had a right to Heaven They took up sudden Resolutions not grounded in serious and deep Thoughts and for a Flash were hot and active but with great levity return to their former Lusts. The Apostle tells us of such it had been better for them they had not known the way of Righteousness than to turn back and voluntarily to forsake it 'T is observed that boiling Water taken off from the Fire congeals more strongly than that which was never heated because the subtile parts being evaporated by the Fire the more terrestrial parts remaining are more capable of Cold. So those who have felt the power of the Word in their Affections and afterwards lose that holy heat become more harden'd in their Sins God justly withdraws his Grace and the evil Spirit that was expell'd for a time returns with seven worse and aggravates his Tyranny To conclude Since the certainty of Salvation is conditional if we persevere in a holy State let us beware of a corrupt Confidence and a vicious Dejection of Spirit the trusting in our selves or distrusting God To prevent the trusting in our selves Consider 1. The most excellent Creatures are by the instability of Nature liable to defection subject to a corruptive change Of this the fallen Angels are a dreadful Example who of their own motion untempted sinned in Heaven 2. The danger is greater of falling away when they are urged and solicited by a violent or grateful Temptation Thus our first Parents fell and lost more Grace in an Hour then can be recovered by their Posterity in all Ages to the end of the World 3. When there is supervenient Corruption in the Creature that inclines them with earnest propensity to forbidden Things and takes Flame from every Spark the danger is extream Like a besieged City that is in great hazard of taking by Assaults from without and Conspiracies from within Let us therefore be very watchful over our Hearts and Senses and keep as much as is possible at a safe distance from Temptations And be very diligent in the use of all holy means to
Learning with Diligence and Delight is intent in his Studies and though ingaged in other Affairs yet his Thoughts are still conversant about Learning In short the fear of Hell may be only a natural Affection that recoils from what is tormenting to the Body and is consistent with the Love of Sin but the hope of Heaven as 't is revealed in the Scripture is a spiritual Affection and always joined with the hatred of Sin Now the great design of the Gospel is by the fear of Hell as a powerful preparative to make way for the love of Heaven If carnal indulgent Sinners are not roused by a quick apprehension of Hell they will securely enjoy their pernicious Pleasures and grow old in Sin and at last die impenitent No offers of Mercy will prevail till they are storm'd by the Terrors of the Lord. But when the fear of eternal Misery has made a breach divine Grace victoriously enters and takes Possession The convinced and contrite Sinner most humbly and willingly embraces the precious Promises wherein not only Pardon and Indemnity is offered but the richest favour the advancing him into a State of Eternal Glory Thus the sweetest Hopes succeed tormenting Fears and the Obedience which before had a mixture of involuntary flows from the intire consent of the Soul with filial Freedom Before the particular Description of the pains of the Damned I shall observe in General That the full representation of Hell is beyond all human Expression nay our most fearful Thoughts cannot equal the Horror of it Who knows the Power of thine Anger What are the prepared Plagues by infinite Justice and Almighty Wrath for obstinate Sinners It is impossible for the most guilty and trembling Conscience to inlarge its sad apprehensions according to the degrees of that Misery The Lord will shew forth his Wrath and make his Power known in the Vessels fitted for Destruction None can tell what God can do and what Man shall suffer when made capable to endure such Torments for ever as now would presently consume him As the Glory of Heaven cannot be fully understood till enjoyed so the Torments of Hell cannot be comprehended till felt But we may have some discovery of those unknown Terrors by the following Considerations 1. The Wisdom of God requires that the Punishment threatned in his Law as it must so be firmly decreed that all obstinate Rebels shall of necessity undergo it so it must incomparably exceed all temporal Evils to which Men may be exposed for their Obedience to the divine Commands Otherwise the threatning would not be an effectual restraint from Sin For the propinquity of an Evil makes a strange impression on the Mind and present Fear makes a Person sollicitous to avoid the incursion of a danger ready to seize on him without forecasting to prevent an evil look'd on at a distance Therefore that the sanction of the divine Law may preserve the Precepts inviolable that there may be a continual reverence of it and a fixed resolution in the Heart of Men not to transgress the penaly threatned must be in its own nature so terrible that the fear of it may conquer the apprehension of all present Evils that can be inflicted to force us to Sin As on the other side to confirm our purpose to please God in all things the Reward of Obedience must be of infallible assurance that all and only those who serve him faithfully shall enjoy in the future State and so excellent that all the allurements of the World may in comparison with it be of no consideration to divert us from our Duty They command the Heart and have its most prevailing Respects from whom is expected the most desireable Good and feared the most terrible Evils Therefore our Saviour warns his Disciples Fear not them that can kill the Body make that part die that is mortal but fear him that after he has killed has power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him All the exquisite Tortures that the most cruel contriving and powerful malice of wicked Men can inflict is so much less than the Wrath to come that avoid the one and venture on the other is more brutish Stupidity than that of the Horse or Mule that starts at the shadow of a Bush and springs over a Precipice 2. The Judgments of God executed here are light and tolerable in comparison of the punishment of Sinners in the next Life 1. Temporal Evils of all kinds and degrees as Pestilence Famine War are designed for the bringing of Men to a sight and sence 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 sence 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 the 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 Crys 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