For the clearing this we are to consider that Sin Satan and Death are Enemies in combination against Man in his mortal State and the destructive Power of Satan and Death is from Sin When Man renounced his Creator and natural Lord he was judicially given up to Satan as the Executioner of Vengeance and to the Power of Death Such is the Order rather the Confusion in the World by Sin The Empire of Satan and Death is built on the Ruins of our Innocence Now the Son of God came from his Throne in Heaven to deliver us And whereas there are two ways of obtaining freedom from Captivity either by Ransom or by Power and Rescue in both respects our deliverance from Bondage to these Capital Enemies is ascribed to the Death of Christ. 'T is called our Ransom and that in its strict Notion has a respect to Captivity There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all His Life was the full price of our Liberty and Salvation God does not pardon Sin and release from Punishment by a pure absolute Act of his Will and Authority as a Creditor forgives a Debtor but in such a way as to preserve the Rights of Justice inviolate Therefore when Man was devoted to Death our Redeemer exchang'd Conditions with him and offer'd up his precious Blood as our Ransom to God in the quality of the King and Judg of all Such was the Dignity of his Person that the entire World the Heavens and the Earth with all their Inhabitants are of less value to him than the basest Dross to refined Gold Such was the greatness of his Sufferings in which the highest degree of Obedience and the lowest degree of Humility were conspicuous as to be a valuable Compensation to obtain eternal Redemptâ—â—â— for us Now when God the supreme Judâ—â— satisfied Satan forfeits the right he 〈◊〉 to torment us and is divested of hâ—â— Dominion over our Wills which thâ— justly permitted was an usurpation upon God's Right in Man that can neveâ— be extinguish'd 'T is said by the Apostle that our Saviour blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross He abolish'd the use of the Ceremonial Law that was an Evidence and Enditement of their Guilt who performed it and the Curse of the Moral Law It follows and having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it Our Saviour died victoriously the Tree of Infamy on which he suffered was the Trophy of his Conquest His Death disarm'd Satan of his Weapons whereby he subdued Us Sin the Law and Death for though his actual Triumph was in his Resurrection and Ascension to Glory yet it is justly ascribed to his Death for that meritoriously open'd the Grave at his Resurrection and Heaven at his Ascension And here by the way 't is most worthy of observation that our Deliverance from our spiritual and most deadly Enemies is equally righteous as admirable and glorious for our suffering Saviour appeas'd the Wrath of God and broke the Powers of Darkness The Wisdom and Love of God had their Designs in his Death as well as the Malice and Rage of Satan as Lines that are opposite in the Circumference meet in the Centre And as from the Tyranny of Satan so the Death of our Redeemer is our redemption from Death as to the Curse and final Dominion of it nay has made it a blessed Advantage to us 1. The Curse is removed Death considered as the Wages of Sin is all sting and poison the consequent of the spiritual Death and the introduction to eternal Death The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law Death hath its wounding Power from Sin and Sin from the Law that forbids it that discovers its Nature and enhanses the measure of its Guilt and denounces condemnation for it Now our Saviour having in our stead subjected himself to Death the penalty of the Law for Sin There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Death inflicted on the Saints has not that relation to the guilt of Sin as to be properly satisfaction to revenging Justice There are no petty payments to be made by our Sufferings after his compleat Satisfaction to God The Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all 'T is indeed still a declaration of God's holy Displeasure against Sin for that originally open'd the way of its coming into the World and sometimes by the immaturity or manner of it 't is a chastisement upon good Men for Sin that is to make them renew their Repentance and mortify their carnal Affections that fasten them to the World For though after the last act of Expiration there is no place for Repentance yet in the approaches of Death the Soul is strongly excited by the Call of God to review its State and make solemn preparation to be found of him in Peace But 't is not in a strict sense the malediction and vengeance of the Law executed upon them The Serpent is turn'd into a Rod of Correction in the hands of our Heavenly Father for their good As the Apostle speaking of some that for their profaning the Lord's Table were fallen asleep adds that when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World A Believer shall not be hurt of the second Death From hence it is that in the Book of Life the Scriptures the Death of the Saints is called a Sleep Saint Paul argues If we believed that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 'T is observable how the Apostle varies the expression Jesus died and the Saints sleep in him for he sustained Death with all its Terrors that it might be a calm Sleep to his People They enjoy as perfect a Rest in the Beds of Dust as ever in the softest Down Stephen in the midst of a shower of Stones fell asleep Believers die in Peace The Righteous is taken from the Evil to come he enters into Peace Being reconciled to God through the Blood of Christ they are not terrified at his Call but with sweet tranquillity resign their Souls unto him Lord now let thy Servant depart in Peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation There is a vast difference in God's account between the Death of the Righteous and the Wicked As the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was taken down with care upon their change of station and delivered to the Levites charge in order to the raising of it again with honour but the House incurably infected with the Leprosy was pluck'd down with violence and thrown into an unclean
twinkling of an Eye be changed that they may be qualified for it Now herein the Wisdom of God is wonderful that Death which by the Covenant of Works was the deserved Penalty of Sin by the Covenant of Grace should be the Instrument of Immortality That as Joseph by a surprising Circuit was brought from the Prison to the Principality so a Believer by the Grave ascends to Heaven This the Apostle in his Divine Disputation against Infidels proves in a most convincing manner Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die As the rotting of the Corn in the Earth is necessary to the reviving and springing of it up so we must die and the Image of the Earthly Adam be abolish'd that we may be transformed into the Image of the Heavenly One And to the other part of the Question Why the Saints remain in the state of Death for a time there is a clear Answer The Resurrection of the Saints is delayed till Christ's coming to Judgment partly for the Glory of his Appearance For what an admirable Sight will it be that the Saints of all Ages shall at once arise glorified and immortalized to attend upon our Saviour in the last Act of his Regal Office and then to make a triumphant Entry with him into Heaven And partly that the establish'd order of Providence may not be disturbed for the changing of our Nature into Glory in a suddain and inexplicable manner cannot be without miraculous Power and if every Believer presently after Death were in his glorified Body translated to Heaven the World would be always filled with Miracles which were to cease after the sufficient Confirmation of the Gospel by them But how long soever the Interval be to the Resurrection it shall be with them that sleep in Jesus as 't is with those that awake out of a quiet natural Sleep to whom the longest Night seems but as a Moment so when the Saints first awake from Death in the great Morning of the World a thousand Years will seem no more to them than to God himself but as one day I now come to prove the third thing That our Saviour will abolish the Dominion of Death over the Saints Whilst the Bodies of the Saints remain in the Grave they seem to be absolutely under the Power of Death The World is a Golgotha fill'd with the Monuments of its Victories And it may be said to this our last Enemy in the Words of the Prophet to the bloody King Hast thou killed and taken Possession But we are assur'd by an infallible Word that the Power of Death shall be abolish'd and the Bodies of the Saints be reviv'd incorruptible and immortal The Resurrection is a Terra incognita to the wisest Heathens a Doctrine peculiar to the Gospel some Glimmerings they had of the Soul's Immortality without which all Vertue had been extinguish'd in the World but no conjecture of the reviving of the Body But Reason assists Faith in this point both as to the Will of God and his Power for the performing it I will glance upon the natural Reasons that induce the considering Mind to receive this Doctrine and more largely shew how the Resurrection of the Just is assured by our Redeemer 1. The Divine Laws are the Rule of Duty to the entire Man and not to the Soul only and they are obeyed or violated by the Soul and Body in Conjunction Therefore there must be a Resurrection of the Body that the entire Person may be capable of Recompences in Judgment The Soul designs the Body executes the Senses are the open Ports to admit Temptations Carnal Affections deprave the Soul corrupt the Mind and mislead it The Love of Sin is founded in bono jucundo in sensible Pleasures and the Members are the Servants of Iniquity The Heart is the Fountain of Prophaneness and the Tongue expresses it And the Body is obsequious to the Holy Soul in doing or suffering for God and denies its sensual Appetites and Satisfactions in Compliance with Reason and Grace The Members are the Instruments of Righteousness It follows then there will be an universal Resurrection that the rewarding Goodness of God may appear in making the Bodies of his Servants gloriously happy with their Souls and their Souls compleatly happy in Union with their Bodies to which they have a natural Inclination and his revenging Justice be manifest in punishing the Bodies of the Wicked with eternal Torments answerable to their Guilt And of the Possibility of the Resurrection the circular and continual Production of things in the World is a clear Demonstration of the Power of God for that effect There is a pregnant Instance that our Saviour and the Apostle made use of as an Image of the Resurrection A Grain of Corn sowed in the Earth corrupts and dies and after springs up entire its Death is a disposition to Life The Essays of God's Power in the Works of returning Nature Flowers and Fruits in their season instruct us how easily he can make those that are in the Dust to awake to Life If the Art of Man whose Power and Skill are very narrow and limited can refine Gold and Silver to such a Luster as if their matter were not Earth digged out of the Mines If from black Cinders it can form Chrystal Glasses so clear and shining how much more can Omnipotency recompact our Dust and reanimate it with a glorious Life Death that dissolves our vital Frame does not abolish the matter of our Bodies and though 't is corrupted and changed by a thousand accidents yet 't is unperishing and under whatsoever Colours and Figures it appears God perfectly discerns and will separate it for its proper use More particularly I will shew how the Resurrection of Christ is an assurance of the Resurrection of Believers to Glory As our Surety he was under the arrest of Death it becoming the holy Majesty of God and conducing to the ends of his Government not to derogate from the dignity of his Law but to lay the penalty upon his Son who interposed for us Now having finish'd the Work of our Redemption by his Sufferings his Resurrection was the just consequent of his Passion And 't is observable that his Resurrection tho one entire Act is ascribed as to himself so to his Father by whose consent and concurrence he rose again Therefore 't is said Whom God raised up having loosed the Pains of Death since it was impossible he should be holden by it 'T was naturally impossible upon the account of the Divine Power inherent in his Person and legally impossible because Divine Justice required that he should be raised to Life partly to vindicate his Innocence for he was reputed and suffered as a Malefactor and principally because he had fully satisfied God Accordingly the Apostle declares he died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification Having paid our Debt he was releas'd from the Grave and the Discharge was
Right to redeem them by his Alliance and Propinquity for he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all one and that he might undergo Sufferings even to death for the price of their Redemption and the remedy of their Infirmities Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Lives subject to Bondage The Devil is said to have the Power of Death 1. Because he induces Men to commit Sin that meritoriously renders them liable to Death He tempted the first Man cum effectu and was a Murderer from the beginning 2. In that he inspires them with furious Thoughts and inflames their Passions from whence proceed Strifes and Wars that efficiently cause Death He is supream in all the Arts of Mischief and always intent upon Evil. 'T is by his Instigation that Men become like raging Beasts animated and bent on mutual Slaughter 3. Because he is many times the Executioner of God's Wrath and inflicts Death upon rebellious and incorrigible Sinners 'T is recorded by the Psalmist That God cast upon the Egyptians the fierceness of his Anger Wrath Indignation and Trouble by sending evil Angels Those Princes of the Air the Instruments of the Thunder and fiery Storm of Hail that destroyed them 4. Because he makes Death more formidable to Sinners by heightning their guilty Fears of God's Tribunal The false Spirit tempts Men to sin by many Blandishments but afterward he is a severe Accuser of them to God and to themselves Lastly This Title may signify his tormenting Sinners with unrelenting Cruelty in Hell which is the second Death Now these Evils being the penal Consequence of Sin our Saviour by his Death appeas'd the injur'd Justice of God and thereby destroyed the cruel Tyranny of the Devil As the Lamb of God in the notion of a Sacrifice he overcomes our spiritual Enemies Sin Satan and Death lie vanquish'd at the foot of his Cross. Besides our Saviour having felt such Sorrows and Infirmities as are usual to his People by that correspondence and resemblance between them is compassionately inclin'd to relieve them I shall now insist upon the blessed Priviledg of Believers set down in the Text viz. That Jesus Christ by his Death frees his People from the servile tormenting fear of Death In prosecuting the Point I shall 1. Consider the Account the Scripture gives of Death's entrance into the World 2. Shew what the fear of Death includes and the Bondage consequent to it 3. How the Death of Christ frees us from the thraldom of that Fear 4. Who are partakers of this blessed Priviledg And then apply it I. The Scripture gives an account of Death's entrance into the World in a threefold Respect 1. As the Desert of Sin 2. As the Effect of the divine Decree 3. As the Sentence of the Law 1. As the Desert of Sin The first Design of the Creator was his own Glory in conjunction with the Happiness of Man He was made accordingly holy in Perfection placed in Paradise and his State contained all the Ingredients of Felicity proper to his Nature He was capable of dying as sad Experience proves yet no Accident from without no Distemper from within had impair'd his Vigour and made him actually subject to Death without Sin Whilst innocent he was immortal not from everlasting Principles of Nature but by Divine Preservation of which the Tree of Life was the ordained Means and sacramental Pledg For God unchangeably loves his own Image and though by his Sovereignty and absolute Power he may resume the Being he gives yet his Goodness and Covenant were a sacred assurance that Mans happy Life should run parallel with his perseverance in his Duty This Immortality was not the singular Priviledg of Adam's Person but had been the Inheritance of all his Progeny But he soon revolting from his just Obedience of Immortal became Mortal and according to the original Establishment of Propagation transmitted his Nature with the guilt and poison of Sin to all his Posterity Thus by one Man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned As his Obedience had been rewarded so his Rebellion is punish'd in all that naturally descend from him From hence it is that so numerous a part of Mankind are cut off before the commission of actual Sin Death enters into the Forge of Life and destroys the Conception that newly began to live And what is more righteous than that Man when he disobeyed the Author of Life should forfeit his Life and Blessedness The Soul voluntarily lost the spiritual Life by forsaking God therefore unwillingly loses the natural Life by expulsion from the Body The Apostle says the Wages of Sin is Death not only that of the Body but the Death of the Soul which is a dreadful Concomitant of it And from hence we may discover the false Philosophy of the wisest Heathens in their Opinion of Death They judged it to be the primary necessity and condition of Nature fix'd by irresistible Fate and not understanding the true and just reason of its coming into the World they could not apply a sufficient Remedy against its Evil. 2. As the Effect of the divine Decree respecting Sin This is discovered by Revelation in the Word of God and by the real execution of it It is appointed to Men once to die This Decree is universal and unrepealable One Generation passeth away and another Generation cometh like the ebbing and flowing of the Sea in its stated Periods Nothing can interrupt or frustrate this Appointment There are divers Conditions of Men and various ways of living in the World some are high in Dignity others are level with the Earth some walk in a Carpet-way smooth and easy others in a thorny and troublesom some walk on the golden Sands others on the Mire but the same uncontroulable necessity of dying involves all And whatever the way be whether pleasant or doleful yet every one passes in it with equal Steps measured by the same invariable spaces of Hours and Days and arrive at the same common End of Life Those who are regarded as visible Deities amongst Men that can by their Breath raise the Low and depress the Lofty that have the Lives of Millions in their Power yet when the ordained Time is come as they cannot bribe the accusing Conscience for a minute's Silence so neither delay Death I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like Men. 3. Death is to be considered as the Sentence of the Law The reasonable Creature was made under a Law the Rule of his Actions The moral Law directed him how to continue in his holy and blessed State To which was annex'd the Precept of not eating of the
most solemnly publish'd to the World 'T is therefore said the God of Peace raised him from the Dead the Act is most congruously ascribed unto God invested with that Title because his Power was exerted in that glorious Work after he was reconciled by the Blood of the Covenant Briefly Our Saviour's Victory over Death was obtained by dying his Triumph by rising again He foil'd our common Enemy in his own Territories the Grave His Death was a Counter-poison to Death it self as a bruised Scorpion is a noble Antidote against its Venom Indeed his Death is incomparably a greater Wonder than his Resurrection For 't is apparently more difficult that the Son of God who originally possesses Immortality should die than that the humane Body united to him should be raised to a glorious Life It is more conceivable that God should communicate to the humane Nature some of his Divine Perfections Impassibility and Immortality than that he should submit to our lowest Infirmities Sufferings and Death Now the Resurrection of Christ is the argument and claim of our happy Resurrection For God chose and appointed him to be the Example and Principle from whom all Divine Blessings should be derived to us Accordingly he tells his Disciples in a fore-cited Scripture Because I live ye shall live also Our Nature was rais'd in his Person and in our Nature all Believers Therefore he is called the first-fruits of them that sleep because as the first Fruits were a pledg and assurance of the following Harvest and as from the condition of the first Fruits being offered to God the whole Harvest was entitled to a Consecration so our Saviour's Resurrection to the Life of Glory is the earnest and assurance of ours He is called the first-born among the Dead and owns the Race of departed Believers as his Brethren who shall be restored to Life according to his Pattern He is the Head Believers are his Members and therefore shall have Communion with him in his Life The effect is so infallible that now they are said to be raised up together and made to sit in heavenly Places in Christ Jesus If his Victory over our Enemies had been imperfect and he had saved himself with difficulty and hazard as it were by Fire in the Apostle's expression our Redemption had not been accomplish'd But his Passion was triumphant and is it conceivable that he should leave the Saints his own by so many dear titles under the power of Death If Moses the Deliverer of Israel from the Tyranny of Pharaoh would not suffer any thing of theirs not an hoof to remain in the House of Bondage Will our great Redeemer be less perfect in his Work Shall our last Enemy always detain his Spoils our Bodies in the Grave This would reflect upon his Love and Power 'T is recorded to confirm our Hopes how early his Power was displayed in forcing the Grave to release its chained Captives And many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the Graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many What better Earnest can we have that the strength of Death is broken From what he has done to what he is able to do the Consequence is clear The Apostle tells us He will raise our vile Bodies and change them like unto his glorious Body by that Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Our Redemption will then be compleat and all the bitterness of Death past The Redemption of the Soul is accomplish'd from Sin and Misery immediately after Death but the Redemption of the Body is the last in order and reserved to crown our Felicity at the Great Day Then Death shall be swallowed up in Victory abolish'd for ever And O the joyful reunion of those dear Relatives after such a Divorce when the Body that was so long detained in the loathsome Grave shall be reformed with all glorious Perfections and be a fit Instrument for the Soul and partaker with it in consummate Blessedness and Immortality 'T is said that those that wear rich Clothing are in Kings Houses but what are all the Robes of costly Folly wherein earthly Courtiers appear to the Brightness and Beauty of the Spiritual Body wherewith the Saints shall be clothed to qualify them for the Presence of the King of Kings and to be in his House for ever But O the miserable Condition of the Wicked in that Day Death now breaks their Bodies and Souls into an irreconcileable Enmity and how sad will their Conjunction be The Soul will accuse the Body to have been Sin 's Solicitor continually tempting to Sensualities and the Body will upbraid more than ever it allured the Soul for its wicked Compliance Then the Sinner shall be an entire Sacrifice burning but never consumed Now from the assurance of a blessed Resurrection by Christ the forementioned Fear of Death is conquered in Believers If the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls into Bodies the invention of Pythagoras inspired his Disciples with that fiery vigour as to encounter the most present and apparent Dangers being fearless to part with the Life that should be restored how much more should a Christian with a holy Confidence receive Death knowing that the Life of his Body shall not be finally lost but renewed in a blessed Eternity The fourth General to be considered is the Persons that have an Interest in this blessed Priviledg This Inquiry is of infinite moment both for the awakning of the Secure who vainly presume upon their Interest in the Salvation of the Gospel and for the confirming and encouraging the Saints And we have an infallible rule of trial declared by St. John He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life All the excellent and comfortable Benefits procur'd by our Saviour are communicated only to those who are united to him Particularly with respect to the present Subject Justification that great Blessing of the Gospel the compleat Pardon of Sins that disarms Death of its Sting is not common to all that are Christians in title but is a Priviledg with a limitation There is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus vitally as their Head from whom are derived spiritual Influences and judicially as their Advocate in Judgment and such are described by this infallible Character who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The Blessedness after Death that is assured by a Voice from Heaven is with this precise restriction exclusive of all others Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them The glorious Resurrection at the last Day when the Bodies of the Saints that now rest in Hope shall be incorruptible and immortal is the consequence of Union with him Thus the Apostle declares As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made
justly deprived of it and cast into a Dungeon of Horror the Emblem of Hell The Sentence of the Law has its full force upon impenitent Sinners with intolerable aggravations for neglecting the Salvation of the Gospel Concerning the Heathens the Scripture declares 1 st That although the Law publish'd by Moses was not communicated to them yet there was a silent though less perfect Impression of it in their Hearts The Law of Nature in the fundamental Precepts of Religion and Society and Temperance was better known than obeyed by them Therefore the Apostle endites them for atrocious Crimes such as natural Conscience consenting with the Law of God severely forbids upon the pain of Damnation Thus 't is said of the Heathens Who knowing the Judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death not only commit the same but have pleasure in them that do them And at the last Day As many as have sinned without the Law as delivered to the Jews shall be judged and perish not according to that Law of Moses but the Law of Nature that obliged them to do Good and restrain themselves from Evil of which the counterpart was not totally deleted in their Hearts 2 dly Although the Revelation of Christ in his Person Office and Benefits is not by the preaching of the Gospel that is necessary for the begetting of Faith extended to all Nations yet the Grace of the Redeemer is so far universal that upon his account the indulgent Providence of God invited the Heathens to Repentance His renewed Benefits that sweetned their Lives and his powerful Patience in forbearing so long to cut them off when their Impurities and Impieties were so provoking was a Testimony of his inclination to Clemency upon their Reformation And for their abusing his Favours and resisting the methods of his Goodness they will be inexcusable to themselves and their Condemnation righteous to their own Consciences We are next to consider the Sanction of the Law that enforces Obedience and it will appear that God is not extream but wisely and justly ordained Eternal Death to be the punishment of Sin This will appear by considering 1. The end of the Sanction is to preserve the Authority of the Law in its full vigour to render it most solemn and awful and consequently 't is the wisdom of the Law-giver to ordain a Punishment so heavy as to overpoise all Temptations that might otherwise induce the Subjects to transgress its Precepts Therefore to Adam the first and second Death was threatned upon his Disobedience and Fear as a Sentinel was planted in his Breast that no guilty Thought no irregular Desire no deceitful Suggestion should enter to break the Tables of the Law deposited therein Now since notwithstanding the threatning Man was so easily seduced by the insinuations of the Tempter to break the Law and disorder the Government of God in the World 't is evident that such a Restraint was not over-rigorous to secure his Obedience I shall not insist on what is sadly visible since the first Apostacy that there is in Mankind such a prodigious propensity to sensual things that without the fear of Hell no Arguments are strong enough to prevent the bold violation of the Divine Law 2. 'T is consented to by common Reason that there ought to be a proportion between the quality of the Offence and the degrees of the Punishment Justice takes the Scales into its hand before it takes the Sword Now Sin against God is of such an immense Guilt that an eternal Punishment is but equivalent to it This will appear by considering 1. The Perfections of the Law-giver who is infinitely above us One Act of Sin is Rebellion against God and includes in it the contempt of his Majesty before whom the highest Angels cover their Faces with Reverence and Adoration as unworthy to behold his Glory and cover their Feet as unworthy that he should behold them the contradiction of his Holiness that is his peculiar Glory the denial of his Omniscience and Omnipresence as if he were confin'd to the superior World and busy in regulating the harmonious Order of the Stars and did not discern and observe what is done below the defiance of his Eternal Power and provoking him to Jealousy as if we were stronger than he 2. If we consider the Obligations of the reasonable Creatures to obey his Commands the guilt of Sin rises prodigiously They were made by his Power with this special character of Excellency according to his Image they were happy in his Love they were endowed with intellectual Faculties capable to understand and consider their Obligations to their bountiful Lord. From hence it appears that Sin is the most unnatural Rebellion against God and in it there is a concurrence of Impiety Ingratitude Perfidiousness and whatever may inhance a Crime to an excess of Wickedness 3. The meanness of the Motives that induce Men to prefer the pleasing their depraved Appetites before Obedience to his sacred Will extreamly aggravates the Offence Of this we have a convincing Instance in the first Sin committed upon Earth Deceitful Curiosity flattering Pride a secret pleasure of acting according to his Will join'd with the low attractives of Sense blinded and transported Adam to eat the Mortal Fruit against the express Command of God And ever since the vanishing shadows of Honour or Gain or Pleasure are the only perswasives to Sin And what can be more provoking than for a Trifle to transgress the Law of God and equally despise his Favour and Displeasure Can any Punishment less than Eternal expiate such Impieties The Rules of Humane Justice may discover to us the Equity of the Divine Justice 'T is ordained by the wisest States that many Crimes which may be done in a few minutes shall be punish'd with Death and the Offender be deprived of his natural Life for ever And is it not most just that Treason against the Great and Immortal King should be revenged with Everlasting Death 4. That which farther clears the Divine Justice in punishing Sin with Hell is this That God by his infallible Promise assures us that all who sincerely and uniformly obey him shall be rewarded with Heaven for ever a Blessedness most worthy the Greatness and Love of the Eternal God to bestow upon his Servants a Blessedness that surpasses our most comprehensive Thoughts Now if Everlasting Glory be despised what remains but endless Misery to be the Sinner's Portion The Consequence is remediless If Sin with an eternal Hell in its Retinue be chosen and embrac'd is it not equal that the rational Creature should inherit his own choice How just is it that those who are the Slaves of the Devil and maintain his Party here should have their Recompence with him for ever That those who now say to the Almighty Depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy Ways should hear the dreadful Depart from me into everlasting Fire
THE Four Last Things Viz. DEATH JUDGMENT HEAVEN HELL Practically considered and applied In Several DISCOURSES By William Bates D. D. Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1691. To the Right Honourable RACHEL Lady RVSSEL MADAM OF all Affairs for the compassing whereof Men are so diligent and sollicitous there is none of that absolute necessity and high importance as the Preparation for Death and Judgment and the immediate Consequences of them Heaven and Hell to obtain the one and escape the other This requires the whole Man in his best vigour and should be the Work of the Day but 't is usually delayed till the melancholy Evening of Age or the twilight of Death The Trifles of this World divert them from that main business to which all other things should be subordinate It equally deserves Wonder and Compassion that Death which is so constantly in Mens view should be so seldom the matter of their application when all are of the same Glass made of the same frail natural Principles and no Argument is more frequently pathetically urged upon them 'T is not strange that deep Truths that by the strength and exercise of the mind are drawn like Gold out of the Mines have no efficacy upon those that are not capable of understanding them but the Doctrines of Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are plain Truths by Na-Natural Moral and Divine Evidence known to all yet no more affect Men than a Paradox of incredible Novelty If the Doctrine of Eternal Judgment were but a probable Opinion controverted with equal Arguments yet 't is a matter of such vast concernment that Reason requires all our possible diligence to avoid an eternal evil that may be the loss of Celestial Glory and the Torments of Hell But since 't is an infallible Truth as certain as the Word of God 't is a Miracle to astonish Heaven and Earth that Men live as carelesly as if they should never die and die as securely as if they should not live in the next state to receive the just punishment of their Sins They are fearless whilst Death is far off in their thoughts and when Age has snowed upon their heads that no Marks of decaying Nature should appear make their own Winter to flourish with anothers Spring But 't is in vain for Death knows them under their disguise and will not stay beyond the appointed time And in that decisive hour Infidelity or Presumption hardens Men to pass as quietly and boldly in appearance into another world as unfeigned Faith and a regular lively Hope in the Promises of the Gospel But as deceitful Physick stops the Fit for the present that will return more violently and fatally afterwards So a counterfeit short Peace transmits them to everlasting Sorrows The design of the following DISCOURSE is to awaken Men that they may be wise and consider their latter end to secure an interest in our Redeemer who has disarmed Death of its Sting and made that Enemy our Friend and to practise dying every day by withdrawing their hearts from the vanities of this transient World that have such a pernicious influence to excite the carnal Appetites and stupify the Conscience which are the true causes of their sin and Misery And what can be more powerful to render them temperate and sober in the use of present things vigilant and serious in their preparations for their great and final Change than the remembrance that Death is immediately attended with Judgment and Judgment with Blessedness or Misery for ever I know this Argument is naturally displeasing but the usefulness should recommend it to our most solemn and composed thoughts before all the vain entertainments of the Fancy and sensual Affections As Herbs of Medicinal virtue that are not pleasing to the sight or smell yet are valued by the Skilful as treasures of Health and preferr'd before the fairest Flowers that are perfum'd and painted by Nature so as to excel the richest lustre of Solomon's Glory The Body is in a continual Consumption and no Art can long preserve it but whilst the outward Man is irrecoverably declining and wasting if the Inward Man be ascending and renewing to perfection the advantage is incomparable O how comfortable is it to a holy Believer in the parting hour to commit his Spirit into the hands of his Heavenly Father for thus he is authorized and encouraged by our Saviour's Example and lay down the Flesh to rest in Hope for Christ is the Guardian of the Grave has the Keys of Death and will revive the Bodies of his Saints incorruptible and immortal the Copies of his own glorious Body The immediate Recompences of Eternal Judgment Heaven and Hell are worthy of our most attentive and applicative Thoughts that we obtain the one and escape the other Heaven is the true Happiness of the reasonable Creature and is the first and last in the order of things desireable the first for its attractive Excellence the last in its consummate Fruition This may be certainly and perpetually enjoyed by all who sincerely and diligently seek it If in the very different States of Life here there were any uncapable of Eternal Life or that have another Object for their last End there might be some reason why they should be coldly affected towards Celestial Happiness and to justify their sole pretentions to the Things of Time wherein their Interests are confin'd but the offer of Heaven regards all that upon God's Terms will accept of it The most sensible inequality that Riches Dignity or any temporal Accident makes between Men here is so true a Nothing in comparison of Eternal Glory that it makes no difference of one from another as to the obtaining it For this Reason it most nearly concerns every Person First to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof as the only way to ascend to it The serious consideration of the everlasting Hell prepared for unreformed Sinners is most necessary and useful tho carnal Men are extreamly averse from thinking on that terrible Object For this is the first Motive that turns Men from Sin to Holiness The Joys of Heaven being Spiritual and Divine have no attractive influence upon the carnal Affections would never convert and reform any but the Torment of Fire being most evident and vehement to Sense is strongly represented by the Imagination and moves the Affections How many by solemn and believing Thoughts of the unquenchable Fire have felt the Miracle upon the three Children in the Furnace renewed in themselves their strong Cords the obstinate Habits of Sin burnt asunder and their Powers restor'd to the freedom of Duty the blessed Liberty of Obedience In this respect the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom that directs us in the Way to Blessedness Madam I shall not attempt the celebrating your Ladiship 's Vertues that render you a bright Ornament of
your Sex and more truly Honourable than your Noble Descent and Alliance but direct my best Desires to God that your Family may be a singular and eminent Example of the Divine Favour that the fading Gloss of this World may not deceive you but your Heart may be above where your Treasure is that you may live to God and your Soul for Heaven and Eternity I am Madam Your Honour 's very humble and faithful Servant WILLIAM BATES The Bookseller's Advertisement THE Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are Subjects of that great Importance and so nearly concerns all Persons that serious Discourses publish'd upon them deserve the Reader 's best Attention and Application And that they may be of more diffusive and general Benefit it will be a proper Means that according to the Examples of some pious Persons Books treating of those solemn Arguments BE GIVEN AT FUNERALS AS A FUNERAL-LEGACY When according to the observation of the wise Preacher The Living lay to Heart their own Frailty and are more receptive of Holy Counsels to prepare for their great Change from Time to Eternity and would affect their Minds with the present Instance of Mortality much better than Wine Sweatmeats Gloves or Rings or unprofitable Talk as is too usual at such Solemnities All serious practical Books are proper for this Design which may be of any Price or Bigness And if Bound in Black with a Cypher of Mortality will be very decent And some Memorables of the Life of the Deceased if desired may be printed on a Leaf or more and bound with it Several Books so bound may be seen at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil B. A. OF DEATH HEB. 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to Bondage IN the first Chapter of this Epistle the Proofs of the Eternal Deity of Christ are produced with that evidence of Scripture-Light that only a vailed Heart obstinate Infidelity can resist The Medium which the inspired Pen-man makes use of is the comparing him with the Angels the most noble Flower of the Creation and shewing that he is infinitely dignified above them This he does by a strong connexion of Arguments First By his Title that is divinely high and peculiar to himself He is declared by the Testimony of the eternal Father to be his Son in the most proper and sublime sense begotten of him and therefore having the same essential Perfections of the Godhead in their uncreated Glory But the Angels are not dignified with this Name in any Places of Scripture where the Excellency of the Angels is in the fullest Terms expressed And that this Name is taken from his Nature is clearly proved because Adoration is due to him upon this account even from the Angels of the highest Order When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Divine Worship is a Prerogative inseparably annex'd to the Deity both upon the account of the supream Excellencies of the Nature of God and his Relation to Angels and Men as Creator and Preserver the Fountain of their Being and Happiness This without the most open defiance of his Authority cannot be given to a meer Creature and by the Command of God himself is to be performed as a Respect due to the filial Godhead The Argument proceeds from the Name to the Offices Of the Angels he saith Who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flame of Fire They are the prime Instruments of his Providence most zealous and active to accomplish his Pleasure But the Son is God not by Analogy and Deputation as Princes are nor with a limitation and diminution as Moses was made a God to Pharaoh but absolutely and really as subsisting in the Divine Nature And consequently he is the Supreme King and to him the Ensigns of Majesty divinely Royal are ascribed But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Whereas the Scepters of Earthly Kings are often unrighteously manag'd and their Thrones ruinously fall There is a further Confirmation from his Works that are divinely great and glorious wherein no Creature has any share of Efficiency The making of the World is ascribed to him Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands The Divine Attributes the peculiar Character of the Deity belong to him Eternity and Immutability The most solid parts of the visible Creation shall perish and be changed but thou remainest and art the same His Life is an intire uniform unchangeable Perfection His Glory and Felicity are in the same invariable Tenor for ever possess'd by him Lastly the Son sits in that quality at the right Hand of the Father in the Society of Empire as equal to him in Power and Honour commanding all in the visible and invisible World most easily and irresistibly tho gradually subduing his Enemies to a consummate Victory But the Angels so numerous and powerful are ministring Spirits employed for the defence and benefit of the Church From this summary account we may understand how firmly the Divinity of Christ is establish'd in the Scripture For those Passages of the Prophets that speak of the God of Israel as Creator and the sole Object of Adoration are directly referr'd to Jesus Christ. And the Name Jehovah the Majesty of which consists in its being incommunicable is attributed to him This is the Foundation upon which the whole Fabrick of the Gospel is built The Office of Mediator in the Prophetical Priestly and Regal Administration is necessarily join'd with the Divinity of his Person And the revelation of it from Heaven is as clear as the Sun is visible in the Firmament All the Difficulties in our conceiving this great Mystery of Godliness are but like the Shadows that attend the Light And all the heretical Subtilties to pervert the Sense of such plain and positive Texts are as impertinent as impious This being establish'd the Apostle proceeds to give an account of the Son of God's assuming the Humane Nature and submitting to Sufferings and Death This is a Divine Secret so miraculously strange that the Contrivance was without the Compass of the Angelical Minds and the discovery of it is only by supernatural Revelation but when revealed the account of it is so open and consentaneous to Reason as being the most congruous Means for the illustration of God's Glory in the saving lost Men that the humane Mind if not deeply corrupted with the tincture of Prejudice must consent to it as worthy of all Acceptation The substance of his reasoning is this That it was the product of the most wise merciful and righteous Counsel of God that the Saviour of Men should have Communion with them in their Nature that he might have a
Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil only as a mark of his Subjection and for the trial of his Obedience This Precept had an infallible Sanction by the most high Law-giver In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the Death Man did not keep this Command of so easy Observation and justly incurr'd its doom As Sin is the violation of the Law so Death is the violation of the Sinner in his Nature and Felicity retorted from the Law The Deaths of Men are very different in their kinds and are comprised in the words of David concerning Saul The Lord shall smite him or his Day shall come to die or he shall descend into the Battel and perish Sometimes they are cut off by the immediate flaming Hand of God for the more exemplary revenge of Sin sometimes by surprising Accidents sometimes by bloody Contentions sometimes by consuming Diseases But though Death be not uniform yet 't is always the execution of the Law upon Offenders As of those who are condemned by humane Justice some suffer a more easy and honourable Death others a more disgraceful and torturing some are beheaded others are crucified yet all die as Malefactors Thus some die a natural Death others a violent some by a gentle preparing Sickness without reluctation others die upon the Rack by sharp Pains some die attended with their Friends and all Supplies to sweeten their Passage others forsaken of all Comforters yet Death is the same Sentence of the Law upon all Men. And this if duly considered makes it terrible in whatever shape it appears II. The next Thing to be considered is What the fear of Death includes and the Bondage that is consequent to it This I shall explain and amplify by considering four Things 1. The nature of Fear in general as applicable to the present Subject 2. The particular Causes that render Death so fearful 3. The degree of this Fear express'd by Bondage 4. How it comes to pass that Men are not always under the actual fear of Death but subject to the Revolutions of it all their Lives 1. I will consider the nature of Fear in general as applicable to the present Subject Fear is a Passion implanted in Nature that causes a flight from an approaching Evil. Three things are requisite to qualify the Object and make it fearful 1. The Evil must be apprehended Knowledg or at least Suspicion excites Fear by representing an Evil that is likely to seize upon us Till the Mind discern the Danger the Passions are unmoved and imaginary Evils by the mere apprehension are as strongly fear'd as real 2. The Evil must be future For the naked Theory of the most pernicious Evil does not wound the Soul but the apprehension of falling under it If Reason can open an Expedient to prevent an Evil this Passion is quiet And Fear precisely regards its Object as to come Present Evils induce Grief and Sorrow past Evils by reflection affect with Joy and give a quicker relish to present Felicity Approaching Evils alarm us with Fear 3. The Evil must be apprehended as prevalent to make it fearful For if by comparison we find our Strength superior we either neglect the Evil for its levity or determine to encounter it and resistance is the proper effect of Anger not of Fear But when an impendent Evil is too hard for us the Soul shrinks and recoils from it Now all these Qualifications that make an Object fearful concur in Death 1. 'T is an Evil universally known The frequent Funerals are a real demonstration that speaks sensibly to our eyes that Death reigns in the World On every side Death is in our view and the shadow of it darkens our brightest Days 2. 'T is certainly future All the wretched Accidents of this Life such as concern us in our Persons Relations Estates and Interests a thousand Disasters that a jealous Fear and active Fancy will extend and amplify as they may so they may not happen to us And from this mixture of contrary Possibilities from the uncertainty of event Hope that is an insinuating Passion mixes with Fear and derives Comfort For as sometimes a sudden Evil surprizes not forethought of so often the Evil that was sadly expected never comes to pass But what Man is he that lives and shall not see Death Who is so vain as to please himself with an imagination of Immortality here Though Men are distinguish'd in the condition of Living yet all are equal in the necessity of Dying Humane Greatness in every kind Nobility Riches Empire cannot protect from the sudden and Sovereign Hand of Death that overthrows all The most conspicuous difference in this World is between the Victorious and the Vanquish'd prostrate at their Feet but Death makes them equal Then the wretched Captive shall upbraid the proud Conqueror Art thou become weak as we Art thou become like us The Expressions of Scripture concerning the frailty of Man are often literally and precisely verified He is like the Grass in the morning it flourishes and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and withereth Death is a prevalent insuperable Evil hence the proverbial Expression Strong as Death that subdues all cruel as the Grave that spares none 'T is in vain to struggle with the pangs of Death No Simples in Nature no Compositions of Art no Influence of the Stars no Power of Angels can support the dying Body or retain the flitting Soul There is no Man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath he power in the day of Death and there is no discharge in that War The Body sinks in the Conflict and Death feeds on its prostrate Prey in the Grave 2. I shall consider more particularly the Causes that render Death so fearful to Men 1. In the apprehension of Nature 2. In the apprehension of Conscience 1. In the apprehension of Nature Death hath this Name engraven in its forehead Vltimum terribilium the Supreme of terrible things upon several accounts 1. Because usually Sickness and Pains languishing or tormenting make the first Changes in the Body and the natural Death is violent This Hezekiah complained of with a mournful accent He will cut me off with pining Sickness from day even to night thou wilt make an end of me I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so will he break all my Bones A Troop of Diseases are the forerunners of this King of Terrors There is a preceding Encounter and sometimes very fierce that Nature feels the cruel Victory before it yields to this Enemy As a Ship that is tost by a mighty Tempest and by the concussion of the Winds and Waves loses its Rudder and Masts takes in water in every part and gradually sinks into the Ocean So in the shipwrack of Nature the Body is so shaken and weakned by the violence of a Disease that the Senses the animal and vital Operations decline and at last are extinguish'd in Death
place with execration Thus the death of the Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord their Bodies are kept in the bosom of the Earth to be raised in Glory and the death of the Wicked is accurs'd In short as the Wood that Moses cast into the Waters of Marah by a miraculous virtue sweetned them so the Cross of Christ has taken away the malignity and bitterness of Death 2. Death is a blessed Advantage and enriching Gain to a Believer it brings him to the possession of that Good that incomparably exceeds the Evil that remains in it For the Death of a Saint is not total but as in the Ceremony of Purification from Leprosy one Bird was killed and the other let fly in the open Air the mysterious shadow of the Lepers being restored to a state of Liberty Thus when the Body dies and returns to the Earth the Spirit returns to God the Father of Spirits and Fountain of Life Our Saviour told the Jews I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven if any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh that I will give for the Life of the World The Heavenly Divine Life that is communicated by the Spirit of Christ to Believers remains entire when the sensitive Life is lost The natural Order is There is a time to be born and a time to die the supernatural is there is a time to die and a time to be born The Death of a Saint is a new Birth the pains of the dying Body are as Throws whereby the ripen'd Soul is delivered into the Land of the Living The happiness of a Saint after Death more particularly will appear by considering 1. The freedom he obtains from all afflicting Evils that are numberless here and from Sin the worst in its nature and the cause of all the rest The present World is a Labyrinth of Thorns in every state we meet with something to vex us You may as well count the Waves of the Sea when inraged by a Tempest as the Troubles to which in this mortal open state we are expos'd Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Trouble A short Life and many Miseries O our unhappy Capacity the Body is liable to as many Diseases as there are Members and the Soul to as many Perplexities as Passions How often are the Scenes and Habits chang'd in the time of one Man He that lives in Pleasures must act the Mourner's part Our sweetest Comforts have hidden Stings and whatever is most pleasing may occasion bitter grief And usually holy Men have a greater portion of Afflictions here sometimes by the malignity and violence of the Wicked as under the Law the Lamb and the Dove were Sacrifices the Emblems of Innocence and Purity and Meekness whilst the Vulture and the Lion the greedy Devourers escaped This the Apostle declares of the Elect They are predestinated to be conformed to the Image of God's Son who trac'd out the Way to Heaven in his own Blood and by the Cross ascended to the Throne Sometimes more immediately Divine Providence afflicts them to preserve their Spirits from the tainted Pleasures of the World and for other holy Ends but there is a Rest for the People of God in Heaven Besides there are Relicks of Sin in the best of the Saints here Indeed Sin is depos'd from Sovereignty and Rule the imperious Lusts are crucified but not quite expir'd As those that were nail'd to the Cross in their Hands and Feet the parts least vital and most sensible died a painful lingring Death Still the Flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh. As there is a complexion of Humours in humane Bodies always jarring when they are in the soundest Health and where there is not this active contrariety either the Body is without a Soul a meer Carcass or a glorified Body in Heaven So where there is not this internal Combat between Grace and Sin either the Man is wholly carnal dead in Sins and Trespasses or wholly spiritual reigning in Heaven And there is nothing more works on the tender Affections of a Saint than to find in himself what is displeasing to God that still he is under a sad necessity of sinning What is said concerning an old Man wasted and decayed in his drooping Years that the Grashopper is a burden to him is true of the new Man in a Christian the Sins that are counted light in the valuation of the World are a heavy weight to him Vain Thoughts idle Words irregular Passions unprofitable Actions are motives of heart-breaking Sorrow Now Death is to a Believer an universal Remedy against all the Evils of this Life it frees him from all Injuries and Sufferings and from Sin in all its degrees from all inclinations and temptations to it He that is dead ceaseth from Sin Death is the Passage from this Wilderness to the true Canaan the Rest above that flows with better Milk and Hony with Innocence and Happiness for ever There nothing can disturb the Peace or corrupt the Purity of the Blessed 3. Besides the privative advantage the freedom from all the Effects of God's Displeasure and the resentments of it there is the highest positive Good obtained by Death The Spirits of just Men are made perfect in Heaven The Soul is the Glory of Man and Grace is the Glory of the Soul and both are then in their Exaltation All the Faculties of the Soul are rais'd to the highest degrees of Natural and Divine Perfection In this Life Grace renews the Faculties but does not elevate them to their highest pitch it does not make a mean Understanding pregnant nor a frail Memory strong nor a slow Tongue eloquent but sanctifies them as they are But when the Soul is releas'd from this dark Body of Earth the Understanding is clear and quick the Memory firm the Will and Affections ardent and vigorous And they are enrich'd with Divine Light and Love and Power that makes them fit for the most noble and heavenly Operations The Lineaments of God's Image on the Soul are first drawn here but then it receives his last Hand All the Celestial Colours are added to give the utmost life and lustre to it Here we are advancing but by Death we arrive at Perfection We shall in Heaven be join'd to the Assembly of Saints and Angels our best Friends Love is the Law of that Kingdom and perfectly obeyed there Now how charming is the Conversation of one that is wise and holy especially if the sweetness of Affability be in his Temper How pleasantly does Time slide away in the company of our beloved Friends We are not sensible of its flight But what dear satisfaction is it to be united to that chosen consecrated Society Above who love one another as themselves Though the Angels and Saints have different degrees of Glory yet every one is
perfectly happy and pleased As the strings of an Instrument differ in the size and sound some are sharp and high some grave and deep others a mean and from that variety results the Harmony and Musick so that if every string had Judgment and Election it would chuse to be what it is so from the different degrees of Glory in Heaven the most amiable and equal Order of the Divine Wisdom appears that satisfies every one We shall be in the glorious Presence of God and Christ where is fulness of Joy and infinite Pleasures for ever 'T is said of Abraham he rejoic'd to see the Day of Christ two thousand Years before his coming When by Faith he saw the Incarnation of the Son of God in order to the redemption of Men it put him into an exstasy Yet then our Saviour was born to Sorrows and Miseries But how ravishing is the sight of our Redeemer set down on the right Hand of the Majesty on high having purged our Sins by himself and accomplish'd our Salvation Now we are absent from God yet in believing his infallible Promises we rejoice with a Joy unspeakable and glorious But how much more joyful is the fruition of them Here the Divine Goodness is derived to us through secondary means that weaken its efficacy but in Heaven the Consolations of the Creator are most purely dispensed and his immediate Excellencies are made known This Blessedness exceeds all our Thoughts and explicite Desires and requires the eloquence and experience of an Angel to set it forth The bright Sum of it is this We shall see God in his Glory face to face in the most perfect manner the sight of his Glory shall transform us into his Likeness we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is This shall produce in us the most pure and ardent Love and Love shall be attended with inexpressible joy and that with the highest Praises of the blessed God whose influxive Presence is the Heaven of Heaven And that which crowns all is that the Life above is Eternal This satisfies all our Desires and excludes all our Fears for Unchangeableness is an inseparable Attribute of perfect Felicity The Blessed are in full Communion with God the Fountain of Life and Christ the Prince of Life Because I live saith our Saviour ye shall live also What can interrupt much less put an end to the Happiness of the Saints The Love of God is immutably fix'd upon them and their Love upon him Here their Love is subject to decays and gradual alienations as the Needle in the Compass though it always has a tendency to the North-Pole yet sometimes it declines and has its variations But in Heaven the Love of the Saints is directly and constantly set upon God The Light of his Countenance governs all their Affections 'T is as impossible to divert their Desires from him as to cause one that is inflam'd with Thirst to leave a clear flowing Spring for a noisom Puddle In short Heaven is filled with eternal Hallelujahs for there is no appearance of Sin no shadow of Death there all Miseries are vanish'd and all that is desirable is possess'd by the Saints the Circle of their Employment is to enjoy and praise the Divine Goodness for ever Now is not the blessed Exchange a Christian makes of the present Life for that which is infinitely better sufficient to make Death not fearful nay desirable to him The regular well-grounded hope of this will compose the Thoughts in the nearest Approach and Apprehension of Death No other Principles or Resolutions are able to vanquish the Terrors of our last Enemy And this Happiness was purchas'd for us by the everlasting Treasure of our Saviour's Blood The Satisfaction of his Sufferings was meritorious as the Merits of his active Obedience was satisfying Before I proceed to the third Head I shall resolve a Question How it comes to pass since Believers are freed from the Sting of Death that they die and remain in the State of Death for a time For this there are several Reasons 1. By this means all the sinful Frailties that cleave to the Sains in this Life are abolish'd The Body is dead because of Sin And what is more becoming the wise and Holy Providence of God than that as by Sin Man was at first made subject to Death so by Death Sin dies entirely for ever Thus as in Sampson's Riddle Out of the Devourer comes Meat and our worst Enemy is conquer'd by his own Weapons 2. Death is continued to the Saints for the more eminent Exercise and Illustration of their Graces for the Glory of God and in order to their future Reward Faith and Love and Patience are declared in their most powerful Operations in our Encounter with Death If every Saint were visibly and entirely translated to Heaven after a short course of Holy Obedience if the Wicked did visibly drop down quick into Hell Faith would be resigned to Sight here This would confound the Militant State of the Church with the Triumphant Therefore now Death happens to the Good as well as to the Wicked In the next State they shall be separated by a vast Gulph and an amazing Difference Now Faith whatever the kind of Death be that a Christian suffers sees through the thickest Clouds of Disgrace and Misery the glorious Issue As the illustrious Confessor who was crucified with our Saviour proclaim'd his Eternal Kingdom in the midst of insulting Infidels And our Love to God then appears in its Radiancy and Vigour when we are ready for the Testimony of his Truth and advancing his Glory to suffer a violent Death or when it comes in a gentler manner for 't is even then terrible to Nature we are willingly subject to Dissolution that we may be united to God in Heaven And our Patience has never its perfect Work and is truly victorious till this last Enemy be subdued Death is the Seal of our Constancy and Perseverance Now the righteous Rewarder will crown none but those that strive lawfully and are compleat Conquerors And how wise and sweet is the Oeconomy of the Divine Providence in this that the Frailty of our Nature should afford us a means of glorifying God and of entitling our selves by his most gracious Promises to a blessed Reward 3. Our Saviour by his unvaluable Obedience and Sufferings has procur'd for Believers a Celestial Divine Life of which the natural Body is not capable The Apostle saith Flesh and Blood cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The exigencies and decays of the sensitive Nature require a continual Relief by Food and Sleep and other material Supplies but the Life above is wholly spiritual and equal to that of the Angels Therefore till this earthly Animal Body be reformed and purified 't is not capable of the Glory reserv'd in Heaven This is so absolutely requisite that those Believers who are sound alive at the last Day shall in the
Sadness to an Agony in his Soul and suffered the equal extremities of Ignominy and Torment in his Body The Favour of God was intercepted from him that it may shine upon us in that gloomy hour And all his terrible Sufferings though foreknown by his enlightned Mind could not weaken his determined Will to undergo them for us But when Peter regarded with a more tender eye his Life than our Salvation he was repell'd with indignation Unparallel'd Love no less than Divine transcending all the Instances of humane Affection The highest kind and excess of Love amongst Men is to die for another and the highest degree in that kind is to die to save an Enemy and of this our Saviour is the singular Example Love incomprehensible it passes knowledg and all understanding but his who express'd it His Love was equal to the heighth of his Glory from whence he descended and the depth of his Sufferings that he sustained in our stead By washing us from our Sins in his Blood he makes us Kings dignifies us with spiritual Soveraignty over not only defiling but disturbing Passions The freest and most confident Sinner in the World that rebels against the Divine Laws without restraint is a Slave not only under the Chains of his imperious Lusts but in that he is liable to the scourgings of Conscience when ever awaken'd and to the servile fear of Death every day But the sincere Christian has a clear and sweet Peace a blessed Tranquillity from the tormenting apprehensions and fears of Death that are the just consequents of Guilt One of the ancient Romans highly celebrates the Astronomers who discover'd the true Causes of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and freed the World from the double darkness of Ignorance and Fear for before that Discovery Men believed the obscuring of those great Lights were the fainting fits of Nature and mortal Symptoms threatning an universal Calamity But what Praise and Blessing is due to our Saviour who hath given us infallible assurance that the Death of the Righteous is not as the Heathen World imagin'd an irreparable loss of Life but a short eclipsing of this low and mean Light that is common to sensitive Creatures to be restored more excellent and permanent in Heaven where those Stars shine in the Divine Presence for ever Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This should render him infinitely precious to us and inflame our Hearts with Desires equal to our Obligations to serve him 2. Let us make it the main Business of our Lives to remove from our Souls the just Fears of Death 'T is one of the solemn Follies of the World to fear where there is no cause As if a Sentinel should mistake Gloworms in the Night for lighted Matches and give a false Alarm but 't is a worse Folly though pleasing not to fear when there is the greatest Reason to excite it And 't is so in the present Case for the most are without the Fear of Death that should make them serious in preparing for it nay to maintain their Security are as unwilling to hear Conscience declare the Wretchedness of their Condition with respect to Eternity as Ahab was the Prophet Micaiah who always foretold evil things to him 'T was the chief Design of the Philosophers by Principles of Reason to fortify themselves against all frightful Accidents and with a masculine Mind with an Heart ardent and with generous Spirits to encounter this inevitable Evil. When one of them was threatned by the Emperor Antigonus with present Death he boldly replied Threaten this to your dissolute Courtiers that are softned and melted by sensual Pleasures and easily receptive of terrible Impressions not to a Philosopher to whom Death is contemptible in any Appearance This was a piece of affected Bravery for Pagan Philosophy could never furnish them with Armor of Proof against the Dart of our last Enemy But the Gospel assuring us that Death is an Entrance into Immortality makes that to be the Reality of a Christian that was a vain boast of the Philosophers Now that we may be establish'd in that blessed Tranquillity that Death cannot discompose the following Directions are infinitely useful 1. We must give all Diligence to be in a State of Reconciliation with God The things requisit to that are as the Apostle declares Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance includes a Godly Sorrow for Sins past with a Detestation and forsaking them sincerely without Hypocrisy and entirely without Partiality in the Heart and Conversation 'T is call'd Repentance from dead Works the proper Name of our Sins that deserve Eternal Death By Repentance we return to Obedience that is due to God our Maker and Lawgiver Faith respects the Redeemer who by his Blood shed on the Cross and pleaded in Heaven reconciles God to penitent Sinners The Belief of his merciful and powerful Mediation for our Acceptance and Pardon Works by Love and constrains us to dedicate our selves in a devoted Propriety to his Glory and Service and to live according to that Dedication These two are absolutely necessary to the vital and salvifical State of a Christian. And as soon as a Person sincerely repents and believes he is justified before God and if he dies will certainly obtain eternal Glory This should be the early and most speedy Work of our Lives for the Delay of Repentance and Neglect of securing the Favour of God arms Death with more Stings and Terrors The infinite Danger of this I will unfold to awaken the Careless and Secure The Devil is a Sophister in Perfection and his ordinary and successful Artifice to elude the force of present Conviction and wrap Men in Sin and Damnation is to induce them to delay the great Work of the Soul till afterward He is not so foolish to tell them as he did our first Parents Ye shall not die for the Temptation is so palpable that it could deceive none Though the Evidence and Certainty of supernatural Truths that disturb the Security of Sinners is sometimes obscur'd by affected Doubts yet there is no Artifice that can resist the full and strong Conviction in Men that Death is inevitable Though Nature recoils from it with Abhorrence yet this sad Truth is so visible that it forces an Assent from all Those who are titular Gods the greatest Princes are not so vain as to pretend to an Exemption by Priviledg from that fatal Necessity they cannot fancy to be imbalm'd alive and that Nature may be made incorruptible by Art The Palace is as near the Grave as the Cottage therefore the Devil cherishes in Men fond hopes of a long Life As some optick Glasses deceive the Sight and make a superficial Representation in Colours on a Wall but two or three Steps distant appear a long deep Gallery Thus the Tempter by a dangerous Deceit presents to the Imagination the fatal term at a
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
is an happy means to render Death comfortable to us Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity of sudden Surreption and Surprize the best Men are not freed from in the present State and being the daily motive of our Grief and serious circumspection to prevent them are consistent with the regular Peace of Conscience and the Friendship and Favour of God But great Sins in their matter being so contrary to natural Conscience and supernatural Grace or Sins presumptuous in the manner of their commission such as proceed from the choice of the perverse Will against the inlightned Mind whatever the matter or kind of them be are direct Rebellion against God a despising of his Command and provoke his pure Eyes and make the aspect of Death fearful The Spirit seals our Pardon and Title to Heaven as the holy Spirit his Testimony that we are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory is concurrent with the renewed Conscience and distinguish'd from the ignorant Presumptions blind Conjectures and carnal Security of the Unholy As the sanctifying Spirit he distinguishes true Christians from the lost World appropriates them to God confirms their present Interest in the Promises of the Gospel and their future Hopes Briefly Grace is the most sensible effect and sign of God's special Favour the fruit of Election and the earnest of Glory and the Truth of Grace is most clearly and certainly made evident by the continual Efficacy of it in the Conversation The observation of our Hearts to suppress unholy Affections and of our Senses to prevent them a constant course of Holiness in our Lives though many Frailties will cleave to the best is usually rewarded with great Peace here God has establish'd a connexion between our Obedience and his Comforts Those that keep themselves pure from the Defilements of the World have the white Stone promised the bright Jewel of assurance of God's pardoning and rewarding Mercy We read of Enoch that he walk'd with God was a Star shining in a corrupt Age the tenour of his Life was holy and he was translated to Heaven without seeing Death Though this was an extraordinary Dispensation yet there is a peculiar Reward analogical to it for those who walk circumspectly they shall not see Death with its Terrors but usually have a holy Chearfulness a peaceful Joy in their passage through the dark Valley to Heaven But presumptuous Sins against external and internal Restraints the convincing Law of God and the Directions of Conscience to which even the Saints of God are liable here as appears by David's earnest Prayer to be preserved from them such Sins grieve the holy Spirit and wound our Spirits and if continued sequester us from the comfortable Priviledges of the Gospel and render us unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven And when they are retracted by Repentance yet there often remains a bitter Remembrance of them as deep Wounds though cur'd yet are felt in change of Weather And sometimes a Spring-tide of Doubts and Fears breaks into humble penitent Souls in the last Hours though Death brings them safely yet not comfortably to Heaven 3. The zealous Discharge of the Duties of our Place and Calling the Conjunction of our Resolutions and Endeavours to glorify God and do good according to our Abilities and Opportunities of Service sweetens the Thoughts of Death to us For the true End and Perfection of Life is the Glory of God and when with Fidelity it is employed in order to it Death brings us to the blessed Rest from our Labours Our Saviour when he was to leave the World address'd himself to his Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finish'd the Work thou gavest me to do And now Father glorify me with thy self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was A Christian that imitates and honours Christ and with Diligence perseveres in well-doing may with an humble Confidence in the Divine Mercy expect the promised Reward The Reflection upon a well-spent Life is joyn'd with a joyful Prospect of God's Favour and Acceptance above But to the careless and remiss to those who are wilfully negligent of their Duty how fearful is Death that summons them to give an account of their Talents to the Righteous Lord 4. A holy Indifference of Affection to present things makes it easy to part with them and Death less fearful to us David though a King declares he was a Stranger on Earth not only with respect to his transient Condition but his inward Disposition and that he was as a weaned Child from the admired Vanities of the World Chrysostom in a Letter to Ciriacus who was tenderly sensible of his Banishment wrote to him You now begin to lament my Banishment but I have done so for a long time for since I knew that Heaven was my Country I have esteemed the whole Earth a place of Exilement Constantinople from whence I am expell'd is as distant from Paradise as the Desert to which they send me But when our Affections are set upon external things and we are irregular in our Aims intemperate in our Use and immoderate in our Delights how sensible and cutting is the Division from them How bitter is Death that deprives a carnal Wretch of all the Materials of his frail Felicity What a Storm of Passions is raised to lose all his good things at once for 't is a Rule in Nature What is possess'd with transporting Joy is lost with excessive Sorrow As the Ivy that twines so closely about the Tree and is intimately fastned by so many Roots as there are Branches cannot be pluck'd away without rending the Bark with it so when the World that was as it were incarnated with the Heart is taken away the Heart it self is grievously rent by the violent Separation And the Infelicity of carnal and worldly Persons is heavily aggravated in that the Guilt in procuring or abusing those Treasures and Delights that they leave here with so great Sorrow will cleave to them and give Testimony against them before their Judg. But when the Affections are loose to the World and set upon Heaven our leaving the Earth is no Loss but Gain and our Separation from the Body of Flesh is with that Alacrity as the putting off a vile Garment to be clothed with a Royal Robe 'T was the wise Counsel of Tertullian to the Women of the first Ages of the Church not to value and love the Jewels and Ornaments of Gold that they might be more ready and resolved to obtain by Death Martyrdom and by Martyrdom Eternal Glory And that we may disentangle our Souls from those voluntary Bands that fasten us to present things we must have a sincere uncorrupted Judgment of their Meanness The Apostle exhorts Christians to Moderation in their Temper and Conversation with respect to the Business and Enjoyments here that they who have Wives be as though they had none that those that rejoice be as though they rejoiced not and they
that buy as though they possessed not and they that use the World as not abusing it for the fashion of the World passeth away To a wise and pondering Observer what comparison is there between Shadows and Dreams and substantial everlasting Blessedness If Men had the same opinion of this World whilst they live as they will have when they are to die they would not inordinately seek it They who have magnified temporal Honours and Riches and lived in Pleasures without Remorse yet in their dying Hours when Men speak with most Feeling and least Affectation how have they vilified those empty Appearances of Happiness with what moving Expressions declared the Vanity and Brevity of worldly things As when the Israelites were to go through the River Jordan that opened it self to make a free and dry Passage for them the lower part of its Waters ran into the Dead Sea and utterly fail'd but the Waters that came from above rose up and appear'd like a Mountain Thus when Men come to the universal Passage from this to the next Life inferiour things absolutely fail and are lost in the dead Sea but the things above that are eternal then appear in their true Greatness exceeding all humane Comprehension from hence is the change of Mind and Language concerning the one and other 5. Solemn affectionate and frequent Converse with God in religious Duties will render Death not fearful to us The whole Life of a Christian as such is a continual Communion with the Father and with Jesus Christ. For he performs all good Works by Divine Grace communicated from above and refers all to the Divine Honour As in a pair of Compasses one Foot is fix'd in the Center while the other moves in the Circumference so the Heart of a Christian is in Heaven his aims are for God whilst he is active here in the World His Natural and Civil Actions are heightened to a supernatural End And thus his Conversation is in Heaven But this was spoken of before and that which is now specified is the more immediate Service of God in Holy Meditation Prayer and the Ordinances of the Gospel which is the noblest part of the spiritual Life Our blessed Saviour who was a Comprehensor upon Earth always saw the Face of God and invariably sought his Glory in all things yet had his special times of Prayer and Heavenly Communion with God and the most glorious Testimonies of his Favour in those times Our Communion with God here is as true as in Heaven but the Influence and Fruition is different according to our Capacity When the Soul feels the vigorous Exercise of the Thoughts and Affections upon God and the raised Operations of Grace in Holy Duties 't is as certain a Sign of God's Favour and Acceptance as when Fire descended from Heaven to consume the Sacrifice And often our affectionate Duties are rewarded with sensible Consolations and holy Souls are dismiss'd from the Throne of Grace as they shall be received at the Throne of Glory with the reviving Testimonies of God's Approbation Now the Assurance of God's Love conquers the Fear of Death This Communion must be frequent As Love and Respects between Friends are maintained by constant Visits and Letters and mutual Confidence arises from Acquaintance so by the interchange of holy Duties and divine Favours we preserve a lively Sense of God's Love and an humble Familiarity with his Majesty that his Presence is not a Terror to us A Christian that walks with God here when he leaves the World to use the Words of a dying Saint changes his Room but not his Company God was always with him on Earth and he shall be ever with God in Heaven But cold and seldom Converse begets Strangeness and that makes us shy of God When religious Duties are performed as a complemental Visit without zealous Affections or used only in times of Affliction and Exigency as Cordial Waters in swooning Fits the Divine Presence is uncomfortable to us They who prefer carnal Sweets before Acquaintance with God cannot with Peace and Joy think of appearing before him O how unwelcome is Death to such for then the Spirit returns to God that gave it 6. Let us strengthen our Belief of the blessed State after Death Divine Truths lose their Influence and Efficacy when they are not stedfastly believed Faith is the substance of things not seen and the Evidence or Conviction of things hoped for The Spirit confirms our Faith not by a pure Physical Act but by convincing Reasons of the Truth of the Gospel The Life of Christ so glorious in Holiness his Doctrine so becoming the Wisdom and other excellent Attributes of the Deity his Miracles so great numerous open and beneficial not meerly to surprize the Spectators with Astonishment but to touch their Hearts his Death foretold by the Prophets and exactly agreeing in all the Circumstances of the Predictions his Resurrection the most noble Operation of the Divine Power are the strongest Proofs that what he has reveal'd as the Counsel of God for our Redemption and the Preparations of Glory for the Saints in Heaven are divine Truths And the Efficacy of the Spirit of Christ in sanctifying his Disciples in all Ages is a continual and as satisfying an Argument that the Gospel is derived from God the Fountain of Truth as extraordinary Miracles For Holiness is as inseparable a property of the Divine Nature as Omnipotence and the Sanctification of the Soul as divine an Effect as the Resurrection of the Body Now in the Gospel God enters into Covenant with obedient Believers to be their God a Title and Relation that supposing them the most happy here all the Enjoyments of this World cannot fulfil This Covenant is not dissolv'd by Death for he uses this Stile after the Death of his faithful Servants and from hence it follows they are Partakers of his Glory and Joys in the next Life For the Honour of his Veracity is most dear to him The Psalmist declares that he has magnified his Word above all his Name No Perfections of his Nature are more sacred and inviolable than his Truth The Foundations of Nature shall be overturn'd and the most solid parts of the Creation destroyed but his Promises shall be compleatly accomplish'd We are assured by his infallible Authority that there remains a Rest for the People of God And he that receives this Testimony sets to his Seal that God is true honours the Truth of God's Word and binds himself more firmly to his Service and is encouraged to leave this sensible World for that which is infinitely better Our Confidence and Patience in well-doing and in suffering the utmost Evil to Nature is from the pregnant Apprehensions of the Reality of eternal things We know saith the Apostle if our earthly Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens This fortified him against the Terrors of Death When Stephen saw the Heavens open
and the Son of God ready to receive him with what Courage and Constancy did he encounter the bloody Rage of his Murderers Faith supplies the want of Vision it pierces the Clouds opens a Window in Heaven sees the Crowns of Righteousness prepared for the Saints and sweetens the bitterest Passage to it But if our Faith be weak and wavering our Courage will decline in the needful Hour 'T is with Christians in their last Passage from Earth to Heaven as with Saint Peter walking upon the Waters to Christ whilst his Faith was firm in Christ he went upon the Waves as on the firm Land but upon the rising of a Storm his Faith sunk into Fear and he sunk in the Waters till our Saviour upon his earnest Prayer Lord save me took hold of him and rais'd him with that compassionate Reproof O thou of little Faith wherefore didst thou doubt The last Use is to excite the Saints to die with that Courage and Chearfulness as becomes the Gospel of Christ. The Encouragement of Joshua to the Israelites against the Giants that terrified them from entring into the Land of Canaan the Type of Heaven Be not afraid of them they are Bread for us we shall obtain an easy Conquest over them is applicable to this purpose Do not fear Death the Enemy that interposes between us and the true Canaan for our Conflict shall be the means of our Victory and triumphant Possession of the holy and blessed Land above This is very honourable to our Redeemer and recommends Godliness to the Judgment Affections and Practice of others St. Basil tells of a Custom to annoint the tops of Doves Wings with some fragrant Liquor that mixing in company with other Doves they might by the Sent allure them to follow to the Dove-houses Thus when holy Persons live and die with peaceful Joy those that converse with them are drawn by that Fragrance of Paradise to apply themselves to serious Religion 'T is the Apostle's consolatory Advice to Believers Not to be sorrowful for those that sleep in JESVS as those that are without hope When Jacob saw his beloved Son's Coat rent and stain'd with Blood he abandoned himself to desperate Sorrow and continued mourning for his Death when Joseph was advanc'd in Authority and Dignity next to Pharaoh in the Kingdom of Egypt Thus when we see the Garment of Mortality rent by Diseases we mourn for departed Saints as if Death had absolutely destroyed them when their Souls are reigning in Glory This immoderate Sorrow is an Heathenish Passion suitable to their ignorance of the future happy State but very unbecoming the plenary Assurance the Gospel affords us of it Indeed for the Wicked to die with fears and palpitations of heart to be surrounded with impendent horrours when such a precipice and depth of Misery is before them is very just and reasonable but for the Saints to die uncomfortably under inordinate Fears is a disparagement to the Blessed Hope establish'd upon the Revelation of Life and Immortality by the Gospel Now in three things I shall propound the Duty of dying Christians 1. To submit to the Divine Pleasure with resigned Spirits as to the Means the Manner and Time of Death God has a Sovereign Right and Dominion over us The present Life is his most free Favour and he may justly resume it when he pleases His Will should be the first and last Rule of ours Whether he gently untwines the Band of Life or violently breaks it we must placidly without reluctation yield up our selves By what Means soever Death comes all second Causes are moved by an impression from above in what Age of Life soever all our Times are appointed by the divine Counsel and a Saint ought with that readiness and meek submission receive it as if he heard an express Voice from Heaven calling him to God and say in his heart with Samuel Here I am thou didst call me This is the last act of our Obedience and very pleasing to God We read of the marvellous Consent of Abraham and his Son Isaac the Father to offer up his Son and the Son his Life that were both the Gifts of God in compliance with the divine Command and from Heaven he declared his high approbation of it This is to make a Vertue of Necessity and turn Nature into Grace But discontent and reluctancy as if our Lives were our own and taken from us unjustly or unseasonably is Rebellious Unthankfulness unbecoming a Creature much more a true Christian who exchanges a perishing Life for that which is eternal 2. To receive Death not only with Patience but earnest desires to be with Christ. I know Death is naturally unwelcome Our Saviour tells St. Peter When thou art old another shall bind thee and lead thee where thou wouldest not signifying his Martyrdom The Circumstance when thou art old is remarkable and intimates the natural unwillingness to die when there was little time to live But his rational sanctified Will was superiour and prevalent The universal desire of the Saints is to be happy in the Presence of God for the divine Nature communicated to them is intelligent and inclining towards its chief Good and if the obtaining it were not by being unclothed but clothed upon by an immediate Translation to Heaven how willingly would they leave this World But there is a bitterness in Death that makes it unpleasant and many holy Souls that desire the Glorious Liberty in Heaven yet are loth to leave their Prison Now there are so many Arguments to make the Saints desirous of dying that methinks since Life is chiefly valued and dear to them as it is the way to Heaven when they are come to that blessed end it should not be longer desirable What is this lower World that chains us so fast 'T is the Devil's Circuit wherein he ranges seeking whom he may devour 'T is the Theater of Contentions The Low aspire to rise the Exalted fear to fall The Poor envy the Rich and the Rich despise the Poor 'T is a foreign Country to the Saints and as Pilgrims and Strangers they are liable to Reproaches Injuries and hard Dealings from the Wicked the Natives of the Earth What is the present momentany Life that so enamours us 'T is surrounded with Temptations oppress'd with Fears ardent with irregular Desires and continually spent in Vanity or Vexation In Adversity 't is depress'd and melancholy in Prosperity foolish and proud 'T is a real Infelicity under the deceitful appearance of Felicity But above all other Motives the evil of Sin from which we cannot be clearly exempted here should render Death desirable The best suffer internal Divisions between the Law of the Flesh and the Law of the Mind as Rebecca felt the Twins Esau and Jacob repugnant in her Womb. How hard is it to be continually watching the Heart that Corruptions do not break out and the Senses that Temptations do not break in How difficult to order
Stream is disturbed it does not truly represent the Object When the Affections are disordered the Mind does not judg aright of a Christian's State A Serpent may hiss when it has lost its Sting Death may terrify when it cannot hurt us I doubt not but some excellent Saints have been in anxieties to the last till their Fears were dispell'd by the actual fruition of Blessedness As the Sun sometimes sets in dark Clouds and rises in a glorious Horizon We read our Evidences for Heaven by the Light of God's Countenance his Image is made visible in our Souls by the illustration of his Spirit and he exercises Prerogative in the dispensation of his Comforts 'T is his pleasure to bestow extraordinary Favours on some and deny them to others that are as holy But every penitent Believer has just cause of Joy in Death for Jesus Christ has reconciled God destroyed Satan and conquered Death and the last Day of his Life is the first of his Glory FINIS OF ETERNAL JUDGMENT BY WILLIAM BATES D.D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1691. OF Eternal Judgment Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he raised him from the dead SAint Paul had this Title of Honour eminently conferred upon him the Apostle of the Gentiles This Office he performed with persevering Diligence diffusing the Light of Life to those that sate in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death In this Chapter we have recorded the Substance of his Sermon to the Athenians wherein his admirable Zeal and Prudence are remarkable in the matter and order of his Discourse to convince and perswade them to recive the saving Truth of the Gospel He first lays down the Principles of natural Religion to prepare them for the more easy Belief of supernatural revealed Religion The Depravation of the Minds of Men was in no Instance more prodigious than in their vilifying Conceits of the Deity They attributed his Name and Honour to various Idols and ascribed to him their own Figure and which was infinitely more unworthy and dishonourable their own Passions and Vices They adored their own vain Imaginations The Idols of their Hearts were erected on their Altars Venus was a Goddess because impure Love reigned in their Brests Bacchus had religious Rites because sensual Pleasures as sweet as Wine intoxicated their Spirits These Errors as gross as impious were universal the Philosophers themselves were not exempted from the Contagion The Apostle therefore makes use of the clearest Arguments to give Authority to the plain conspiring Voice of Nature that had so long in vain recall'd them from Idolatry to the Worship of the only true God He therefore declares that the Divine Maker of all things the Father of Spirits could not be represented by corporeal and corruptible things but was to be acknowledg'd and ador'd in a manner becoming his spiritual and infinite Perfections That he made all Nations of one Blood though distinguish'd in their Habitations and Times that they might seek and serve the one universal Creator And though the Pagan World for many Ages had lived in an unnatural Oblivion of God and he seem'd unconcerned for their Violation of his Laws yet it was not from the defect of Justice but the Direction of his Wisdom that his Patience was so long extended to them And this he proves by the new and most express Declaration of his Will But now he commanded all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a Day in which he will judg the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance to all Men in that he raised him from the Dead In the Words the Eternal Counsels of God are revealed in two great things 1. The determining a time wherein he will righteously judg the World He hath appointed a Day 2. The Designation of the Person by whom he will perform that eminent part of Soveraignty by Jesus Christ whom he hath raised from the dead In order to the handling of the main Point it is requisite to premise briefly some Propositions 1. That God is the Universal Monarch of the World and has supreme Authority to govern reasonable Creatures antecedent to their Election and Consent The Psalmist calls to the Heathens Know ye that the Lord is God that is the most glorious Being and absolute Sovereign for it is he that made us and not we our selves He formed all things by his Almighty Goodness and is King by Creation 2. The two principal and necessary parts of his Soveraignty are to give Laws for the ruling of his Subjects and to pass final Judgment upon them for their Obedience or Disconformity to his Precepts Mere natural Agents are regulated by a wise Establishment that is the Law of their Creation The Sun and Stars are moved according to the just Points of their Compass The Angels are under a Law in Heaven and obey his Commandments The Humane Nature of Christ though advanced to the highest capacity of a Creature yet received a Law And his whole Work upon Earth for our Salvation was an Act of Obedience to the Will of God If a Prince out of affection to his Friend will leave his own Dominions and live privately with him in a foreign Country he must be subject to the Laws of that Place Indeed it is not conceivable that a Creature should be without a Law for this is to make it supreme and independent Supreme in not being liable to a superior Power to confine and order it Independent as to its Being and Operations for Dependance necessarily infers Subjection There is a visible connexion between those Titles The Lord is our Judg the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King And sometimes in Scripture his Soveraignty is intimated in the Title of Judg thus in that humble Expostulation of Abraham for Sodom Shall not the Judg of all the World do right He addresses his Request to God under that Title to soften his Power and incline his Clemency to save the Wicked for their sakes who were comparatively Righteous that is innocent of their crying Sins 3. As his right to govern and judg the World is natural so are his Attributes his Wisdom Holiness Justice and Power that qualify and render him most worthy to exercise this Government These are finite separable Qualities in Angels or Men but essential Perfections to the Deity 'T is more rational to conceive that things may be congeal'd by the heat of Fire or turn'd black by whiteness than that the least act of Injustice can be done by the righteous Lord. The Apostle rejects with extreme detestation the blasphemous Charge of Unrighteousness in God's Proceedings Is God unrighteyus that taketh Vengeance God forbid For then how
shall God judg the World He may as soon renounce his Nature and cease to be God for as such he is necessarily Judg of the World as violate his own Perfections in his judicial proceedings with us 4. God being invisible in his own Nature hath most wisely ordained the last Judgment of the World to be transacted by a visible Person because Men are to be judged and the whole process of Judgment with them will be for things done in the Body The Person appointed for this Great Work is Jesus Christ the Son of God united to the Humane Nature The Father judgeth no Man Not as if he descended from the Throne and devested himself of his Supremacy but not immediately but hath committed all Judgment to the Son And it follows As the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in himself And hath given him Authority to execute Judgment also because he is the Son of Man that is in the quality of Mediator for the reward of his Sufferings The quality of this Office requires no less Person for the discharge of it than the Son of God 1. Upon the account of its superlative Dignity No mere Creature is capable of such a glorious Commission To pass a Sovereign Sentence upon Angels and Men is a Royalty reserv'd for God himself We read that no Man in Heaven or Earth was able to open the Sealed Book of his Eternal Counsels as unsearchable as deep only Jesus Christ who was in the Bosom of the Father the Seat of his Counsels and Compassions and was acquainted with all his Glorious Secrets could unfold the Order of the Divine Decrees about the Church And if no Creature was worthy to be admitted into God's Counsel much less to be taken into his Throne The Eternal Son the express Image of his Person is alone fit to be his authorised Representative in Judgment Our Saviour declares that the Father invested the Son with this Regal Power that all Men should honour the Son with the same religious Reverence and supreme Adoration as they honour the Father 2. Upon the account of the immense Difficulty no mere Creature is able to discharge it To judg the World includes two things 1. To pass a righteous and irrevocable Judgment upon Men for all Things done in this Life 2. The actual execution of the Sentence And for this no less than infinite Wisdom and infinite Power are necessary If a select number of Angels of the highest Order were deputed yet they could not manage the judicial Trial of one Man For besides the innumerable Acts and Omissions in one Life the Secrets of the Heart from whence the guilt or goodness of Moral Actions is principally derived are not open to them He alone that discerns all Things can require an account of all 3. The Son of Man is invested with this high Office as the Reward of his Sufferings We must distinguish between the essential and oeconomical Power of Christ. The Son of God considered in his Divine Nature has an original Power of Judgment equal with the Father but considered as Mediator has a Power by delegation In the quality of the Son of Man he is inferior in Dignity to the Father The Apostle declares this in that scale of Subordination of the Creatures to Believers and of Believers to Christ and of Christ to God All things are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's And observing the beautiful Order that arises from the superiority and dependance between Things he saith The Head of every Man is Christ and the Head of the Woman is the Man and the Head of Christ is God Now this Power by Commission was conferr'd upon him as the Reward of his Sufferings The Apostle expresly declares it that Christ being in the Form of God and without any usurpation truly equal to him in Divine Perfections and Majesty humbled himself and became obedient to the Death of the Cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow of Things in Heaven and Things in Earth and Things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father His victorious Sufferings are the Titles to his Triumphs his being so ignominiously depress'd and condemn'd by Men is the just reason of his advancement to judg the World 5. There is a Day appointed wherein the Son of Man will appear in sensible Glory and exercise his judicial Power upon Angels and Men. He is now seated at the right Hand of the Majesty on High and the Celestial Spheres are under his Feet Universal Nature feels the power of his Scepter He reigns in the Hearts of the Saints by his Word and Spirit and restrains the Fury of his Enemies in what degrees he pleases but still his Servants are in distress and his rebellious Enemies insolently break his Laws and the Curtains of Heaven conceal his Glory from us therefore a Time is prefix'd when in the face of the World he will make an eternal difference by Rewards and Punishments between the Righteous and the Wicked and his Government shall have its compleat and glorious Issue This is stiled the Judgment of the Great Day 1. With respect to the appearance of the Judg. When the Law was given from Mount Sinai the Mountain was covered with Fire and the Voice of God as loud as Thunder proclaimed it from the midst of the Flames so that the whole Army of the Israelites was prostrate on the Plain struck with a sacred Horror and almost dead at the amazing Sights and Sounds From hence 't is said that in his right Hand was a fiery Law And if the Law-giver appear'd in such terrible Majesty at the proclaiming the Law how much more when he shall come to revenge the Transgressions of it 'T is set forth in Scripture in the most lofty and magnificent Expressions He shall come in his Father's Glory and his own Glory and the Glory of the Angels A devouring Fire shall go before him to consume all the Works of the Universe He shall descend from the highest Heavens glorious in the attendance of innumerable Angels but more in his own Majesty and sit on a radiant Throne high above all 2. 'T is great with respect to the appearance of those who are to be judg'd All the Apostate Angels and the universal Progeny of Adam The bowels of the Earth and the bottom of the Sea and all the Elements shall give up the Dead The mighty Angels the winged Ministers of Justice shall fly to all Parts and attach the Wicked to bring them as miserable Prisoners before that high Tribunal And those blessed powerful Spirits shall congregate the Righteous to present them at his right Hand 3. 'T is great with respect to what shall be then done He shall perform the most glorious and
Parents that should instil the Principles of Godliness into their Children in their early Age and season their Minds with the knowledg of the Divine Laws to regulate their Lives and make them sensible of their Obligations to obey them that should recommend Religion to their Affections by an holy and heavenly Conversation if by the neglect of their Duty their Children are exposed as a Prey to the Tempter and ruin'd for ever it will enhance their last Reckoning and encrease the Score of their Guilts beyond expression And Masters of Families and all others that have Authority and Advantage to preserve or reform from evil those that are committed to their Care and to instruct and command them to do what is pleasing to God and profitable to their Souls will be sadly accountable for those that perish by their neglect In short we see by common Experience that Company and mutual Consent is a usual Motive to Sin and many Persons that alone would with abhorrence reject some Temptations yet are sociably sinful Now all those who by excitation or example lead others to Destruction as they are first in Sin will be chief in Punishment We read in the Parable of the rich Voluptuary that being in Hell he desired a Messenger might be dispatch'd from the Dead to warn his Brethren lest they should come to that place of Torment Is there such Charity in Hell to the Souls of others No that Furnace always burns with its proper Flames there is not a spark of that Divine Fire there But remembring how guilty he had been of their Sins feared that his Torments would be encreased by their coming thither Society in endless Sorrows does not divide but reflect them Now if Damnation for Sin be such a Misery as is express'd in the Scripture by the most violent Figures and Words of the heaviest signification if all the possible Tortures suffered here are but a Lenitive to the preparations of Wrath in Hell how miserable shall those be who as if a single Damnation were a light matter do not only commit Sin in their own Persons but are in combination with Satan to corrupt and destroy others and multiply Damnation against themselves These treasure up Wrath against the day of Wrath. Briefly The whole Process of that Day the Arraignment and Sentence will be so ordered the Righteousness and Reasonableness of the Proceedings will be so manifest as to clear the Judg and confound the Guilty God will be justified in his Sentence and overcome when he judgeth I shall now come to apply this great Doctrine 1. Let us from what has been discours'd of Judgment to come be excited to confirm our Faith in this great and useful Doctrine and by serious and frequent thoughts to apply it to our selves Some within the Church have only a superficial belief of this as a point of the Religion wherein they were educated but carnal Affections Fear Hope Love and Desire controul their Assent as to its operation upon them They believe in the general that God is the Judg and Rewarder of our Actions and in the absence of Temptation resolve to obey him but when a strong Tryal comes from some temporal Good or Evil that is present their Faith is negligent and unactive to keep them from Sin Now to make our Faith powerful we must First confirm it by convincing Arguments that it may be an undoubted Assurance a certain Light directive and perswasive in the course of our Lives Some Doctrines of Religion that are of an incomprehensible nature and should be received with silent adoration for the Authority of the Revealer are obstinately contradicted by some upon a vain pretence that nothing is to be believed that will not endure the rigorous inquisition of Reason and be comprehended by our narrow Minds but Reason though darkned sees the necessity of a future Judgment Nature and Scripture testify there is a God and that he has a Right and Power and Will to distribute the rewards of Vertue and the penalties of Vice to his Subjects To deny this is directly against the implanted Notion of the Deity in the Heart of Man There is a real difference between Moral Good and Evil not depending upon Opinion but arising from the immutable Nature of things and the eternal Law of God Otherwise considered in it self it were no more faulty to murder a Parent than to kill a Fly nor to rob a Travellor than to chase a Deer But the Conscience of the most profligate Wretch would startle at such an Assertion The disposition and admirable order of the World in its various parts and the vicissitude of Seasons declare to the observing Mind that a most wise good and powerful God governs and preserves all things by his vigorus Influence And can it be that the Divine Providence so visibly wise and good in regulating the course of Nature should be defective towards Man the most noble part of the World And can it be extended to humane Affairs if there be no other than the present state wherein the Righteous are afflicted and the Wicked prosper where Sins of the deepest stain and the lowdest cry are unpunish'd and the sublime and truly heroick Vertues are unrewarded nay where Vice receives the natural reward of Vertue Honour and Felicity and Vertue the just wages of Vice Disgrace and Sufferings 'T is necessary therefore that there be a future State and a righteous distribution of Rewards according to the good and evil of Mens Actions here The Heathens disguised this terrible Truth under the Fictions of the Infernal Judges Minos and Rhadamanthus and Eacus And the Furies and Vultures and fiery Lake which they thought tormented the Wicked in the next World discover what apprehensions they had of the desert of Sin and the punishment that certainly attended it The Guilty would fain be freed from the terrours of it and strangle Conscience that is bound over to give Testimony in the Day of Judgment that they may sin without scruples But though Fear be a troublesom and involuntary Passion they cannot totally extinguish the internal sense and presages of future Judgment but as the motions of Courage came upon Sampson at times so Conscience awakened by sharp Afflictions by sudden Dangers and the approaches of Death makes a sad deduction of past Sins and forecasts cruel things It cites the Offender before the enlightened Tribunal of Heaven scourges with remorse and makes him feel even here the strokes of Hell Tho' the Sin be secret and the guilty Person powerful not within the cognizance or reach of humane Justice yet Conscience has a Rack within and causes pain and anxiety by fearful expectations of Judgment to come And Divine Revelation is most express in declaring this great Truth The Light of Faith is more clear and certain from the infallible Word of God than the Light of Reason Before the Flood Enoch in the early Age of the World foretold it Behold the Lord cometh
the glorious Creatour As if one from the Region of the Stars should look down upon the Earth the Mountains and Hills with the Vallies would appear one flat Surface an equal Plain the height and the lowness of the several parts being indiscernible at that immense distance Now in Heaven the Divine Majesty is most visible and most awful and adorable The sublimest Spirits cover their Faces before his glorious Brightness The Prophet Isaiah had a representation of Heaven I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple Above it stood the Seraphims each one had six Wings With twain he cover'd his Face with twain he cover'd his Feet with twain he did fly And one cried to another and said Holy holy holy Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory They highly honour him by the reflection of his separate and peerless Excellencies his Almighty Power his Infinite Supremacy and Eternal Empire in their consert of Praises This is the principal Duty of Angels and Men to the blessed Creator for his admirable Perfections and his excellent Benefits The Evidence of it is so entire that the reasonable Mind cannot suspend its Assent for Goodness and Beauty the Fruit and the Flower of amiable Things do so recommend them to the Understanding and Will that they powerfully allure and engage the Affections Now these are in God in unspeakable degrees of Eminence The Prophet breaks out in a rapture How great is his Goodness how great is his Beauty 'T was a Precept of the Ceremonial Law that the Firstlings of the Flock and the first and best Fruits of the Earth should be offer'd to God not as if the first that open'd the Belly was more valuable in his Account than the last or the most early Fruits in the Spring more pleasing to him than the later in the Autumn but 't was instructive that our Love the first born of the Soul and the beginning of its strength should be consecrated to God 2. In Heaven the Saints as perfectly love God as they know him The Love of God is the Essential Character of a Saint that distinguishes him from the Unregenerate Indeed it is strange that God who is infinitely lovely and infinitely liberal and benificent should not prevail on the Hearts of all Men but if we consider the degeneracy of Mankind how their Minds are depraved and deceived and their Affections are vitiated the Wonder will cease Carnal Men have not due Conceptions of God and will not attentively observe his amiable Perfections St. John tells us He that loveth not doth not know God Knowledg is the leading Principle in the Operations of the Soul There must be a heavenly Eye to discover the heavenly Beauty before there can be love of it Now Men are in ignorant darkness and are defiled in Flesh and Spirit and therefore cannot love God who is glorious in Holiness Without resemblance there can be no affectionate Union which is the Essence of Love The contrariety of Dispositions infers a contrariety of Affections The Scripture expresses this in dreadful Colours The carnal Mind is enmity against God the Friendship of the World is enmity with God that is Pride and Covetousness and Sensuality which are the Lusts of the Carnal Mind and are terminated upon worldly Things are inconsistent with the Love of God The Justice of God is terrible to the Consciences and his Holiness odious to the Affections of the Unrenewed 'Till by Divine Grace the Understanding is enlightned and purified to have right apprehensions of God till the Will and Affections are cleansed and changed till there be a resemblance of God's holy Nature and a conformity to his holy Laws they are not capable of delightful adhering to him which is the internal essential Property of Love But those who are partakers of the Divine Nature the holy and heavenly taste and see how good the Lord is and according to the Illustrations of the Mind such are the Impressions upon the Heart the Love of God in their Breasts here is like smoaking Flax but in Heaven 't is a triumphant Flame God is the first Fair the Original of all amiable Excellencies in whom they shine in their unstained Lustre and Perfection when he fully reveals himself and displays the richest Beams of his Love and Glory how transporting and endearing is that Sight Our Affections that are now scatter'd on many things wherein some faint Reflections of his Goodness appear shall then be united in one full Current to him who is all in all In Heaven the immense Treasures of his Grace are reveal'd That when Man for his rebellious Sin was justly expell'd from Paradise and under the Sentence of Eternal Death God should not only pardon but prefer us to the dignity of his Children and prepare such a Glory for us and us for such a Glory This will inspire the Saints with such ardent Affections that will make them equal to the Angels those pure and everlasting Flames of Love to God In Heaven we shall be with Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant who is seated at the right Hand of God And how admirable will he appear to the Sense and Soul of every glorified Saint for we shall see the King in his Beauty When our Saviour was upon the Holy Mount and one vanishing Beam of Glory appear'd in his Transfiguration Peter was so transported at the sight that he forgot the World and himself How ravishing then will the sight of him in his Triumphant Majesty be when we shall be transfigur'd our selves Now while Believers are in the shadows of the earthly State they love their unseen Saviour with such intense degrees of affection as deface all the washy Colours all the vain loves of things in this World but when they are admitted into his shining Presence and see him in the day of Celestial Glory with what an extasy of Affection will they be transported We shall then feel the endearing Obligations our Saviour has laid upon us who ransom'd us with so rich a Price and purchas'd for us such an unvaluable Inheritance For in proportion as we shall understand his Greatness in himself we shall his Goodness to us The Eternal Son of God descended from the Heaven of Heavens to our lowly Earth and which is more from the Majesty wherein he there reign'd and was visible to the Angels he became Man that he might die to redeem us from the most woful Captivity from Death and the sting of Death Sin and the strength of Sin the Law and obtain a blessed Life and Immortality for us O unexampled Love Greater Love hath no Man than this to lay down his Life for his Friend And what is the Life of a sinful Man a vanishing Vapour a Life mix'd with Troubles and Vexation and to lay down this for a Friend deservedly dear is the highest expression of humane Love But for the Son of God to lay down his Life
of Paradise that Men should still seek for substantial Blessedness to fill the Soul in vain shows that can only feed the Eye is beyond all degrees of Folly Astonishing madness that God and Heaven should be despised in comparison of painted Trifles This adds the greatest contumely to their Impiety What powerful Charm obstructs their true judging of things What Spirit of Errour possesses them Alas Eternal things are unseen not of conspicuous moment and therefore in the carnal Ballance are esteemed light against temporal things present to the Sense It does not appear what we shall be The Vail of the visible Heavens covers the Sanctuary where JESUS our High-Priest is entred and stops the enquiring Eye But have we not assurance by the most infallible Principles of Faith that the Son of God came down from Heaven to live with us and die for us and that he rose again to confirm our Belief in his exceeding great and precious Promises concerning this Happiness in the Future State And do not the most evident Principles of Reason and universal Experience prove that this World cannot afford true Happiness to us How wretchedly do we forfeit the Prerogative of the reasonable Nature by neglecting our last and blessed End If the Mind be darkned that it does not see the amiable Excellencies of God and the Will be depraved that it does not feel their ravishing Power the Man ceases to be a Man and becomes like the Beasts that perish As a blind Eye is no longer an Eye being absolutely useless to that end for which it was made And though in this present state Men are stupid and unconcern'd yet hereafter their Misery will awaken them to discover what is that Supream Good wherein their Perfection and Felicity consists When their Folly shall be exposed before God Angels and Saints in what extream confusion will they appear before that glorious and immense Theatre Our Saviour told the unbelieving Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves turn'd out They shall be tortur'd with the desire of Happiness without possible Satisfaction 'T is most just that those who err without excuse should repent without remedy 2. Let us be seriously excited to apply our selves with inflamed desires and our utmost diligence to obtain this 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 but 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 I will give as a King Thus God in the dispensing his Favours does not respect the meanness of our Persons or Services but gives to us as a God And the clearest Notion of the Deity is that he is a Being infinite in all Perfections therefore all-sufficient and most willing to make his Creatures compleatly happy 4. If a Creature perfectly Holy that never sinn'd is uncapable to merit any thing from God much less can those who are born in a sinful State and guilty of innumerable actual Transgressions pretend to deserve any Reward for their Works This were presumption inspir'd by prodigious Vanity For 1. By his most free Grace they are restored in conversion to that Spiritual Power by which they serve him The Chaos was not a deader Lump before the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters than the best of Men were before the vital influences of the Spirit wrought upon them And for this they are so deeply obliged to God that if a thousand times more for his Glory were perform'd yet they cannot discharge what they owe. 2. The continuance and increase of the powerful supplies of Grace to the Saints who even since their holy calling by many
partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is entirely the Work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living Impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's Power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the Habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of Nothing to produce this great and regular World And altho there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its Effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the humane Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sense in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in producing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital Influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their Nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sinn'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensable necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant mark'd in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial amongst them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high Priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the Band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the Reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's Works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind laps'd and miserable was in his view he chose some to be Vessels of Mercy and by priviledg separated them from the rest that finally perish Now what induc'd him to place a singular Love on the Elect There was nothing in them to incline his Compassion being equally guilty and depraved with the rest of the Progeny of Adam This difference therefore is to be resolved into his unaccountable and adorable Will as the sole cause of it Thus God declares it to be his glorious Prerogative I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion And this is no unjust acceptance of Persons For as a Benefactor he may dispense his own Favours as he pleases A Gift from meer and arbitrary Bounty may be bestowed on some and not on others without injustice But there are other Actions of God for which there is an evident reason in Men on whom they are terminated Thus as the supreme Judg without respect of Persons he will judg and reward every Man according to his Works The Evangelical Law as was toucht on before is the rule of eternal Judgment and gives a right from the gracious
understanding can apply from reason and revelation 2. In order to make a right Choice we must be very watchful lest the general Example of Men taint our Reason and cause an immoderate esteem of temporal things The whole World lies in Wickedness in a sensual Sty without Conscience of its Misery or care of regaining its Happiness deceived and pleased with shews of Felicity The way to Hell is broad as the inclinations of the licentious Appetite pleasant as the delights of Sense so plain and easy that Men go to it blindfold and so frequented that it would force Tears from any considering Person to see Men so hasty to meet with Damnation When Calisto the Harlot reproach'd Socrates that there were more followers of her Beauty than his Wisdom the Philosopher replied That was not strange because it was much easier to draw them in the way of Pleasure that is steep and slippery than to constrain them to ascend to Vertue seated on a Hill where the ascent is slow and with toil and difficulty Now there is nothing more contagious than Example We blindly consent with the Multitude and are possest with foolish Wonder and carnal admiring of worldly Greatness Treasures and Delights neglecting to make a due estimation of things 'T is the ordinary Artifice of the Devil to render temporal things more valuable and attractive to particular Persons from the common practice of Men who greedily pursue them as their Happiness As some crafty Merchants by false reports raise the Exchange to advance the price of their own Wares The Men of the World are under the direction of Sense and think them only to be wise and happy that shine in Pomp abound in Riches and overflow in Pleasures The Psalmist tells us of the prosperous Worldling that while he lives he blesses his Soul and Men will praise thee when thou dost well to thy self By vicious imitation our Judgments are more corrupted and our Passions rais'd to higher degrees for painted Vanities The Affections in the pursuit of earthly things are inflam'd by the contention of others And when holy Desires and Resolutions spring up in Men yet so powerful is the custom of the World that they often become ineffectual As a Ship whose Sails are fill'd with a fair Wind but makes no way stopt by the force of the Current Now to fortify us against the pernicious influence of Example consider 1. 'T is most unreasonable in this Affair of so vast moment to be under the direction of the Multitude For the most are sottish and sensual govern'd by the uncertain motions of a giddy voluble Fancy and roving impetuous Passions so that to be led by their example and disregard the solid immortal rules of heavenly Wisdom is as perfect madness as for one to follow a herd of Swine through the Mire and leave a clean Path that lies before him If there were but few in an Age or Country that were deluded with false Appearances it would be a disgrace to imitate the practice of the Foolish and shall the great numbers of the Earthly-minded give Reputation and Credit to their Error He were a strange Fool indeed that should refuse a single piece of counterfeit Money and receive a great heap in payment as if the number added a real value to them 'T is therefore a necessary point of Wisdom to devest all vulgar Prejudices to separate our selves from the Multitude that we may see the vanity of Things that dazle inferior Minds 2. Consider the universal Judgment even of the worldly Men in their last and serious Hours when the Prospect of Eternal Things is open before them How vastly different are their Apprehensions of Temporal Things in the review from what they were in their vicious Desires How often do they break forth in the sorrowful Words of the Apostle We have been toiling all Night and caught nothing When there are but a few remaining Sands in the Glass of Time and Death shakes the Glass before them how powerfully do they preach of the emptiness and uncertainty of Things below and sigh out in Solomon's Phrase All is vanity And this is more singularly observable in those who have had the fullest enjoyment of earthly Things How do they complain of the vain World and their vainer Hearts when Experience has convinc'd them of their woful Folly Solomon who was among other Princes as the Sun in the midst of the Planets that obscures them by his illustrious Brightness He that had surveyed this Continent of Vanity 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 they 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 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 First A sound and stedfast belief of unseen Eternal Things Secondly Serious Consideration of the vast difference between things that are the objects of Sight and that are the objects of Faith 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 preventing 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
Trumpet of the Arch-Angel were sounding and the noise of the dissolving World were universally heard Infidelity deads the Impression and suppresses the reigning Power of Eternal Things in our Hearts In short Men are heavenly or earthly in their Choice and Conversation as they are directed by the sincere Light of Faith or misled by the false Beams of Sense Secondly The second Thing requisite in order to a wise Choice is Consideration For as by Faith the Vertue of the Reward is diffused through all the Faculties and the Powers of the World to come are felt in the Soul so by consideration Faith is exercised and becomes effectual This unites and reinforces the Beams of Eternal Truth and inflames the Affections As the Psalmist expresses himself My Heart was hot within me while I was musing the Fire burned Heaven is a Felicity so glorious and attractive that if duly considered no Man can possibly refuse it and Hell is a Misery so extream and fearful that if seriously laid to Heart none can possibly chuse it The last End is to be conceived under the Notion of an infinite Good without the least mixture of Evil to which the humane Will swayed by the invincible Impression of Nature has a tendency The Liberty of Indifference is with respect to some particular good Things which may be variously represented so as to cause Inclination or Aversion Those Men who believe Eternal Life is the Reward of Holiness yet with a careless Inadvertency pass over their Duty and that Eternal Death is the Wages of Sin yet securely continue in it is more wonderful than to see Martyrs sing in the Flames and the great Cause of it is the neglect of Consideration This is assigned to be the Cause of that unnatural and astonishing Rebellion of Israel against God their Father and Sovereign Hear O Heavens and give Ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me The Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but Israel doth not know my People doth not consider This Duty as it is of admirable Advantage so 't is universally necessary for all are equally concern'd and it is within the Power of all to perform Though Men cannot convert themselves yet they may consider what is preparatory to Conversion For the Will may turn the Thoughts of the Mind to any sort of Objects I will briefly shew the Nature of this Duty and how to manage it for spiritual Profit and those Objects from whence our Thoughts derive vigour for the swaying of the Will and the Conduct of the Life 1. The Nature of Consideration is discovered by its End which is this That the Mind being satisfied in the just Reasons upon which the Choice of Heaven is to be made the Will and Affections may be engaged in an earnest joyful and constant pursuit of it And in this respect it differs from simple Knowledg and naked Speculation that informs the Mind without Influence and Efficacy upon the Heart Like a Garland of Flowers that adorns the Head without any benefit and refreshing to him that wears it And practical Meditation differs from the study of Divine Things in order to the instructing of others That is like a Merchant's buying of Wine for Sale this like providing it for our own use 2. That the Consideration of Eternal Things may be effectual it must be 1. Serious and deliberate For the Affair is great in reality above all possible Conception or Comparison All other things how considerable soever in themselves yet respectively and in parallel with this are of no account Our Saviour told Martha One thing is necessary Mary hath chosen the better part that shall not be taken from her What Instance can be of equal moment with that of entertaining the Son of God Yet a serious attention to the Words of Eternal Life dropping from his Lips was more necessary than making provision for him The greatest and most weighty Affairs in the World are but a vain Employment but Irregularity and Impertinence in compare with Eternal Salvation And the greatest solemnity of Thoughts is requisite to undeceive the Mind and ingage the Will for Heaven 'T is very observable that Errors in Judgment and Choice spring from the same Causes the not sincere and due weighing of Things In the decisions of Questions Truth is discovered by comparing with an equal staid Attention the Reasons of the one and the other part But when some vicious Affection contradicts the Truth it fills the Mind with Prejudices that it cannot impartially search into Things and is deceived with specious Fallacies with the Image of Truth For according to the present application of the Mind 't is determined and Passion strongly applies it to consider that which is for the Carnal Interest and consequently Inclination not Reason is the Principle of the Perswasion And this is more evident in Mens foolish Choice As the Eye cannot see but what is visible nor the Understanding conceive what is not Intelligible the Will cannot love and chuse what is not amiable at least in shew If the Devil did appear without a Disguise he would have no Power to perswade but in all his Temptations there is the mixture of a Lie to make it pleasant He presents a false Perspective to make what is but superficial appear solid and substantial And the carnal Heart turns the Thoughts to what is grateful without seriously considering what is infinitely better and accordingly chuses by the Eye of Sense the happiness of this World Therefore till Eternal Things are open'd in the view of Conscience and the Mind calmly considers by the Light of Faith their Reality and Greatness no right valuation nor wise choice can be made Besides the most clear and rational enforcements by the actings of the Thoughts are necessary to make a strong impression on the Affections and rescue them from the captivity of the Flesh. In other things as soon as the Mind is inlightned the Will resolves and the inferior Faculties obey but such is the resistance of the carnal Heart that altho 't is evident from infallible Principles there is an everlasting Glory infinitely to be preferr'd above the little appearances of Beauty and Pleasure here yet the most piercing Reasons enter heavily without earnest inculcation Slight or sudden Thoughts may produce vanishing Affections of complacence or distaste and fickle Resolutions that like sick Feathers drop away and leave the Soul naked to the next Temptation but solemn and fixed Thoughts are powerful on the Heart in making a thorow and lasting Change When the Clouds dissolve in a gentle Shower the Earth drinks in all and is made Fruitful but a few sprinkling Drops or a short storm of Rain that wets only the Surface without sinking to the Root is little beneficial In short there may be some excitations to Good and retractions from Evil some imperfect faint essays towards Heaven from an impulse
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
Perfection and Satisfaction of the immortal Soul The Felicity resulting from it is as entire and eternal as God is Great and True who has so often promis'd it in Scripture Now the Damned are for ever excluded from the reviving Presence of God 'T is often seen how tenderly and impatiently the humane Spirit resents the loss of a dear Relation Jacob for the supposed death of Joseph was so overcome with Grief that when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him he refused to be comforted and said I will go down mourning to the Grave Indeed this overwhelming Sorrow is both a Sin and a Punishment 'T is ordain'd by the righteous and unchangeable Decree of God that every inordinate Affection in Man should be his own Tormentor But if the loss of a poor frail Creature for a short time be so afflicting how insupportable will the Sorrow be for the loss of the Blessed God for ever Who can fully conceive the Extent and Degrees of that Evil For an Evil rises in proportion to the Good of which it deprives us It must therefore follow that Celestial Blessedness being an infinite eternal Good the exclusion from it is proportionably Evil. And as the Felicity of the Saints results from the Fruition of God in Heaven and from comparison with the contrary State So the Misery of the Damned arises both from the thoughts of lost Happiness and from the lasting Pain that torments them It may be replied If this be the utmost Evil that is consequent to Sin the Threatning of it is likely to deter but few from the pleasing their corrupt Appetites for carnal Men have such gross and vitiated Affections that are careless of spiritual Happiness They cannot taste and see how good the Lord is To this a clear Answer may be given In the next State where the Wicked shall be for ever without those Carnal Objects that here deceive and delight them when deprived of all things that pleases their voluptuous Senses their Apprehensions will be changed they shall understand what a Happiness it is to enjoy God and what a Misery to be expell'd from the Celestial Paradise Our Saviour tells the Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out How will they pine with envy at the sight of that triumphant Felicity of which they shall never be Partakers To see that blessed Company entring into the sacred Mansions of Light will make the loss of Heaven infinitely more discernable and terrible to the Wicked who shall be cast into outer Darkness and for ever be deprived of Communion with God and his Saints Depart from me will be as dreadful a part of the Judgment as Eternal Fire With the loss of the most excellent Good the suffering of the most afflicting painful Evil is join'd The Sentence is Depart ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire God's Justice is not satisfied in depriving them of Heaven but inflicts the most heavy Punishment upon Sense and Conscience in the Damned for as the Soul and Body in their state of union in this Life were both guilty the one as a Guide the other as the Instrument of Sin and if an imaginarry Sorrow conceived in the Mind without a real external Cause as in Melancholly Persons when gross Vapours darken and corrupt the brightness and purity of the Spirits that are requisite for its chearful Operations is often so oppressing that Nature sinks under it How insupportable will the Sorrow of condemned Sinners be under the impression and sense of God's Almighty and avenging Hand when it shall fully appear how pure and holy he is in his Anger for Sin how just and dreadful in punishing Sinners It may be the indulgent Sinner may lessen his fear of Hell by fancying the number of Sufferers will asswage the sense of their Misery But this is a foolish Mistake For the number of Sufferers shall be so far from affording any relief that the Misery is aggravated by the Company and Communication of the Miserable Every one is surrounded with Sorrows and by the sights of Wo about him feels the universal Grief The weeping and wailing the cries and dolorous expressions of all the Damned increases the torment and vexation of every one As when the Wind conspires with the Flame 't is more fierce and spreading 3. The Concomitant of Sorrow will be Fury and Rage against themselves as the true causes of their Misery For God will make such a discovery of his righteous Judgment that not only the Saints shall glorify his Justice in the condemnation of the Wicked but they shall be so convinc'd of it as not to be able to charge their Judg with any defect of Mercy or excess of Rigour in his proceedings against them As the Man in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast when taxt for his presumptuous intrusion without a Wedding-Garment How camest thou in hither was speechless so they will find no plea for their Justification and Defence but must receive the eternal Doom with Silence and Confusion Then Conscience shall revive the bitter remembrance of all the methods of divine Mercy for their Salvation that were ineffectual by their Contempt and Obstinacy All the compassionate Calls by his Word with the holy Motions of the Spirit were like the sowing of Seed in the Stony Ground that took no root and never came to perfection All his terrible Threatnings were but as Thunder to the Deaf or Lightning to the Blind that little affects them the bounty of his Providence design'd to lead them to Repentance had the same effect as the Showers of Heaven upon Briars and Thorns that makes them grow the faster And that a Mercy so ready to pardon did not produce in them a correspondent affection of grateful obedient Love but by the most unworthy provocations they pluck'd down the Vengeance due to obstinate Rebels will so enrage the Damned against themselves that they will be less miserable by the Misery they suffer than by the conviction of their torn Minds that they were the sole Causes of it What Repentings will be kindled within them for the stupid neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and earnestly offered to them What a fiery addition to their Torment that when God was so willing to save them they were so wilful to be Damned They will never forgive themselves that for the short and mean Pleasures of Sense which if enjoyed a thousand years cannot recompence the loss of Heaven nor requite the pains of Hell for an Hour they must be deprived of the one and suffer the other for ever 4. The Sorrow and Rage will be increased by Despair for when the wretched Sinner sees the Evil is peremptory and no Outlet of Hope he abandons himself to the violence of Sorrow and by cruel Thoughts wounds the Heart more than the fiercest Furies in Hell can This
in their full force upon the obstinate Offenders withal considering the inflicting of them is so far from working any ingenuous Change in those Rebels that thereby they become more fierce and obdurate Lastly the immense Guilt that adheres to Sin requires a proportion in the Punishment 'T is a rule in all Courts of Judicature that the degrees of an Offence arise according to the degrees of Dignity of the Person offended Now the Majesty of God is truly infinite against whom Sin is committed and consequently the Guilt of Sin exceeds our boundless Thoughts This is the reason of the Sentence Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them The Curse threatned includes the first and the second Death What a dishonour is it to the God of Glory that proud Dust should fly in his Face and controul his Authority What a provocation that the reasonable Creature that is naturally and necessarily a Subject should despise the Divine Law and Lawgiver Though carnal Minds elevate the Guilt of Sin yet weighed in the Scales of the Sanctuary 't is found so heavy that no Punishment inflicted on Sinners exceeds either in the degrees or duration the desert of Sin God's Justice is not satisfied in depriving them of Heaven but inflicts the most heavy Punishment upon Sense and Conscience in the Damned For as the Soul and Body in their State of Union in this Life were both guilty the one as the Guide the other as the Instrument of Sin so 't is equal when reunited they should feel the penal Effects of it Sinners shall then be tormented wherein they were most delighted they shall be invested with those Objects that will cause the most dolorous perceptions in their sensitive Faculties The Lake of Fire and Brimstone the blackness of darkness for ever are words of a terrible signification But no words can fully express the terrible Ingredients of their Misery The Punishment will be in proportion to the Glory of God's Majesty that is provoked and the extent of his Power And as the Soul was the principal and the Body but an Accessary in the Works of Sin so it s capacious Faculties shall be far more tormented than the limited Faculties of the outward Senses The fiery Attributes of God shall be transmitted through the Glass of Conscience and concenter'd upon damned Spirits The Fire without is not so tormenting as the Fire within them How will the tormenting Passions be inflam'd What Rancour Reluctance and Rage against the just Power that sentenc'd them to Hell What impatience and indignation against themselves for their wilful Sins the just cause of it How will they curse their Creation and wish their utter extinction as the final Remedy of their Misery But all their ardent Wishes are in vain for the Guilt of Sin will never be expiated nor God so far reconcil'd as to annihilate them As long as there is Justice in Heaven or Fire in Hell as long as God and Eternity shall continue they must suffer those Torments which the strength and patience of an Angel cannot bear one hour I shall now draw some practical Inferences and conclude this Subject 1. From the Revelation in Scripture of the dreadful Punishment prepared for unreformed Sinners in the next State we may understand the tender Mercies of God to Men how willing he is they should be saved who are so wilful to be damned Hell is represented to them by the most violent Figures to terrify their Imaginations and strongly affect their Minds that they may flee from the Wrath to come God counsels commands intreats urges Sinners to be wise to foresee and prevent the Evil that every Hour is approaching to them and with Compassion and Indignation laments their Misery and reproaches their Folly in bringing it upon themselves The Divine Mercy is as eminently and apparently declar'd to Men in the present corrupt State in threatning Hell to excite their Fear as in promising Heaven to allure their Hopes For if carnal indulgent Sinners are not roused by a quick apprehension of Hell they will securely enjoy their pernicious Pleasures and despise the blessed Reward and Heaven would be as empty of humane Souls as 't is full of Glory 1. Because they are more capable to conceive of the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven Storms and Darkness are more easily drawn by a Pencil than a clear calm Day Fire mix'd with Brimstone is very painful to Sense and the Fancy strongly represents its Vehemence in tormenting the Body And what Misery the uncessant remorse of the guilty Conscience will cause in the Damned hereafter is in part understood by the secret Accusations and Twinges of Conscience in self-condemning Sinners here But they are absolutely strangers to the Joys of the Holy Ghost to the Delights of the Soul in communion with God and to Peace of Conscience in his favour They cannot without experience know how good the Lord is no more than see a taste To discourse to them of spiritual Pleasures that flow from the Divine Presence of the Happiness of the Saints that are before the Throne of God and serve him in his Temple is to speak with the Tongue of an Angel unintelligible things Their Minds and Language are confin'd to sensible things The natural Man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discern'd There may be in the carnal Mind a conception of Heaven as a Sanctuary wherein they may be secured from the Wrath of God and some smothering confused thoughts of its Felicity as the Idea of Light and Colours in one blind from his Birth but only the pure in Heart can see God as in the perfect Vision of Glory hereafter so in the imperfect reflection of it here 2. Carnal Men are more disposed to be wrought upon by representing the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven For we cannot love but what is known nor enjoy but what is loved And as the purification of the Heart from vicious Affections is an excellent means to clear the Mind so the illustration of the Mind is very influential to warm the Heart The true conception of Heaven in its amiable Excellencies would powerfully and sweetly ravish the Affections and of this prepared Souls are only capable But those who are sensual are without relish of spiritual Happiness and are allur'd or terrified only with what is pleasant or painful to Flesh. 'T is recorded as the unparallel'd Folly of Nero that when he was ready to cut his own Throat to avoid the Fury of the multitude he broke forth into great Expressions of Sorrow what an excellent Artist he died 'T was not the loss of the Roman Empire that so much troubled him as that so much skill in Musick died with him He valued himself more as a Fidler than an Emperor Thus carnal Men with
the Soul to Eternal Vengeance for the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a Season 3. Let us stedfastly believe and frequently consider that Eternal Death is the Wages of Sin that we may renounce it with the deepest Abhorrence and forsake it for ever We are assured from the Wisdom and Compassion of our Saviour that 't is a powerful Means to mortify the Inclination to sin and to induce us to prevent and resist all Temptations The subtile Tempter cannot present any Motives that to a rectified Mind will make Sin eligible Let the Scales be even and put into one all the Delights of the Senses all the Pleasures and Honours of the World that are the Elements of Carnal Felicity how light are they against the Heavenly Glory Will the Gain of the World compensate the Loss of the Soul and Salvation for ever If there were any possible comparison between deluding transient Vanities and the Happiness that is substantial and satisfying for ever the Choice would be more difficult and the Mistake less culpable but they vanish into nothing in the Comparison According to the Judgment of Sense would any one chuse the enjoyment of the most exquisite Pleasures for a Year and afterwards be content to burn in a Furnace for a Day much less to enjoy them for a Day and to burn for a Year What stupid Brutes are they who for momentany Delights incur the fiery Indignation of God for ever Try but the Finger with the Flame of a Candle you will soon discover your weakness Will the remembrance of sensual Delights allay the Torments of the Damned When Carnal Lusts are most inflamed and Objects are present Pain will extinguish all the Pleasure of the Senses And if actual Enjoyment cannot afford Delight when the Body is under a Disease will the Reflections upon past Pleasures in the Fancy and Memory refresh the Damned in their extream Torments No the remembrance will infinitely increase their Anguish that for such seeming and short Pleasures they brought upon themselves Misery intolerable without Ease or End O that Men would strip Sin of its disguises and wash off its flattering Colours and look into its odious Nature and to the consequential Evils of it in the next World O that they would consider they hang by slender Strings a little Breath that expires every Minute over the bottomless Pit and that within a little while nothing will remain of the Pleasures of Sin but the undying Worm and the ever-living Flames This would be a means to raise and preserve in them an invincible Resolution and Reluctancy against all temptations to sin and provoke God But how hardly are Men induced to exercise their Minds on this terrible Object They think least of Hell who have most reason to consider it To this I must add that the meer fear of Hell and the judicial impression upon Conscience from it is not sufficient to convert Men to God For that servile Affection though it may stop a Temptation and hinder the eruption of a Lust into the gross Act yet does not renew the Nature and make Men Holy and Heavenly There may be a respective dislike of Sin with a direct Affection to it Besides that Religion that is the meer Effect of Fear will be according to the Nature of its Principle with resistance and trouble wavering and inconstant for tormenting Fear is repugnant to the humane Nature and will be expelled if possible In short the fear of Hell may be only a natural Affection that recoils from what is painful to Sense Therefore 't is the great Design of the Gospel by the fear of Hell as a powerful Preparative to make way for the Love of God who offers Pardon and Indempnity to all returning Sinners and for the Hope of Heaven the blessed Reward promised to them No Offers of Mercy will prevail to make Sinners to yield themselves till they are storm'd by the Terrors of the Lord. But when the fear of Hell has made a Breach Divine Grace enters and takes possession As the Virtue of the Loadstone when encompass'd and arm'd with Iron is increas'd and draws a far greater weight than when 't is naked and single thus the Attractives of Heaven are more powerful to move the Hearts of Men when enforced from the Terrors of Hell Now the Love of God and the Hope of Heaven are spiritual Affections and the Obedience that flows from them is voluntary from the intire consent of the Soul and persevering Lastly From the consideration of the Punishment determin'd for Sin we may understand how dear our Engagements are to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Rector and Judg of the World would not release the Guilty without a Ransom nor the Surety without Satisfaction and the Son of God most willingly and compassionately gave his precious Blood the Price of our Redemption He obtain'd the Spirit of Holiness to illuminate our Minds to incline our Wills to sanctify our Affections without whose Omnipotent Grace neither the Hopes or Fears of things Spiritual and Future would ever have cleansed and changed our Hearts and Lives We are naturally as senseless as the Dead as to what concerns our everlasting Peace blind and brutish and without fear should plunge our selves into Destruction if the Spirit of Power and of a sound Mind did not quicken us and direct us in the way to everlasting Life O that we might feel our dear Obligations to him who has delivered us from the Wrath to come and purchast for us a Felicity perfect and without end I would not lessen and disparage one Divine Work to advance and extol another but 't is a Truth that shines with its own Light and is declar'd by our Saviour that our Redemption from Hell to Heaven is a more excellent Benefit than our Creation in as much as our Well-being is better than our Being and eternal Misery is infinitely worse than mere not being Our Saviour speaks of Judas It had been better for him if he had never been born How engaging is the Love of Christ who rais'd us from the Bottom of Hell to the Bosom of God the Seat of Happiness If his Perfections were not most amiable and attractive yet that he died for us should make him the Object of our most ardent Affections To those who believe he is precious to those who have felt their undone Condition and that by his Merits and Mediation are restor'd to the Favour of God that are freed from tormenting Fears and revived with the sweetest Hopes he is and will be eminently and eternally precious Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be to Him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever FINIS Books writ by William Bates D. D. and sold by B. Aylmer THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God
Death and Judgment sting them by fits and make them uneasy The flashes of Conscience like moments of Lightning startle them but they relapse into their habitual stupidity And the account of it will be clear by considering the following Particulars 1. Men are apt to flatter themselves with the hopes of long Life and look upon Death at a great distance Tho there be a dying disposition in the youngest and strongest Persons though we live in a World of Casualties and Death lie in ambush to surprize us every day yet we are secure because Evils affect us according to their apprehended nearness A petty Constable that is troublesom and vexatious is more fear'd by his Neighbours than the Grand Signior with all his Executioners As remote Objects though of vast bigness are lessen'd to our sight so through the supposed interval of many years Death is look'd on with a diminution of its Terror But when Death presents it self before Men ready to dispatch them how formidable is its appearance Saul though renowned for his Valour yet when he understood by Revelation that to morrow he and his Sons should be in the state of the Dead there was no strength in him but he fell straitway all along on the Earth struck through with fear before he was wounded by the Arrows of the Philistines Belshazzar in the midst of his luxury and jolity attended with a thousand Lords and his Herd of Concubines inflam'd with Wine and therefore less capable of fear yet upon the sight of the fatal Hand writing on the Wall a few unknown Characters which his guilty Conscience before the Prophet Daniel came interpreted to be the Sentence of present Death how fearfully was his Countenance changed pale as a Carcass How suddenly did his Blood congeal and his warmest quickest Spirits die in his Heart His whole Body was seized by such a vehement trembling that his Joints were loosed and his knees smote one against another This is a representation of those who bid defiance to Death at a distance but when the fatal Hour is come and they hear the Sentence decreed against them God has numbred thy days and finish'd them thou art weighed in the ballance all thy Words and Actions thy Thoughts and Affections and art found wanting and thy Soul shall be divided from thy Body the one sent to Hell to suffer the undying Worm of Conscience the other to the Grave to be a Prey to the Worms of Corruption how are they overcome with horror 2. The continual succession of the Pleasures and Business of the World divert the Mind from the attentive strong contemplation of Death and the Consequences of it Pensive Thoughts are unwelcome and we studiously endeavour to cancel the memory of such things as afflict us 'T is said of the Wicked that God is not in all their Thoughts The consideration of the holy Inspector and Judg of their Actions is tormenting therefore they fill their Minds with earthly Imaginations to exclude the Divine Presence We read of those who to put far away the evil Day chaunted to the sound of the Viol and drank Wine in Bowls They are rock'd asleep with the motion of phantastick Vanities And Sleep takes away Fear but gives no safety 'T is recorded of Marius that after his Overthrow by Sylla he was always in consternation as if he heard the sound of the Trumpets and the noise of the victorious Army pursuing him And his Fears were no longer quiet than whilst charm'd with Wine and Sleep he therefore was continually drunk that he might forget himself his Enemy and his Danger Thus Men make a pitiful shift to forget their latter End and whilst they are following either secular Affairs or sensual Pleasures are unconcerned for what is to be hereafter But this Diversion will shortly be at an end for in their languishing hours when the wasted Body fails the carnal Mind and sensual Desires fail the Man then Conscience that spoke with a low Voice before is loud and terrible and like the rigid Exactor in the Parable that took his Debtor by the throat requires them to pay what they owe. 3. Some are so hardned in Infidelity that the Powers of the World to come make no Impression on their Hearts They mind but little and are less affected with invisible things They fortify themselves with gross Thoughts that the Spirit of Man vanishes with his Breath that Death is the end of this Life and not the beginning of another and feed without Fear Place one in the midst of destructive Evils but unseen or not believed and he is as fearless as a blind Person walking on the brink of a deep Pit Indeed there are none less disturbed with the Terrors of Death than the eminently Good or the extremely Bad for the one sort have a blessed Hope that Death will be to them an entrance into Life and live like the Angels with a Joy unspeakable and glorious The others are as sensual and secure as the Beasts that perish having extinguish'd the fear of eternal future Evils which is the proper passion of Reason The Apostle declares That knowing the Terror of the Lord we perswade Men to be reconcil'd to him before the Season of Mercy be expired But those who have suppress'd the natural Notions of Eternal Judgment as they think it beneath their Wisdom to be perswaded by the Promises of Heaven so beneath their Courage to be terrified with the Threatnings of Hell and triumph over the Ruines of Conscience But though wicked Infidels slight the Threatnings they shall not escape the Vengeance of God We read of Noah That being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear he prepared an Ark for the saving of his House His Fear was the native issue of his Faith But the profane World in whom Sense was predominant that despised the Oracle and trembled at no Judgments but what were acting on the visible Stage they ate and drank married and were given in marriage till swept away by the unfeared Inundation We read that Lot being certified by an embassy of Angels that a Deluge of Fire would in a few hours pour down from Heaven upon Sodom he most earnestly sollicited his Sons-in-Law Arise depart out of this Place for the Lord will destroy this City but they entertained his compassionate Advice with derision he seemed to them as one that mocked and were surprised by those fearful Flames that dispatch'd them from a Temporal Hell to that which is Eternal Thus 't was prophesied That in the last days there shall come Scoffers walking after their own Lusts and saying Where is the Promise of his coming But let them blaspheme and scorn the most sacred and terrible Truths let them perpetuate their excess of Riot and wild Mirth while they live Death will come and Judgment as sure as Death III. I now come to shew how the Death of Christ frees us from the tormenting fear of Death
alive As all that were naturally in and from Adam the corrupt Fountain of Mankind are under the sentence of Death so all that are in Christ the Head of the Regenerate shall partake of his blessed Life Others shall be raised by his Power as their Judg but not as their Head rais'd to be more miserable than Death can make them not be transform'd into his glorious Resemblance made capable of suffering an ever-dying Death not revived to eternal Life Now the Bond of our Union to Christ is the Holy Spirit derived from him as the Head of the Church and is the inward powerful and lasting Principle of Holiness and new Obedience in Believers He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit that is by the Spirit of Holiness has a real Participation of his Life is both quickned and united to him When the Prophet Elisha by the outward applying the parts of his Body to the dead Child inspir'd Life into him there was no real Union between them but Christ is by his Spirit so intimately united to Believers that he lives in them and they in him The sanctifying Spirit renews the directing and commanding Faculties the Fountains of moral Actions enlightens the Understanding with saving Knowledg rectifies the Obliquity of the Will purifies the Affections and reforms the Life so that the same Mind is in Christians as was in Christ and as his Conversation was such is theirs in the World This Divine Change is not wrought by natural Reason though assisted by the most powerful Arguments The Breath of a Man may as easily dispel a Mist or thaw a Frost as humane Directions and Motives to Vertue can renew the Mind and Heart and produce a Holy frame of Soul towards God Renewed Christians are said to be in the Spirit illuminated inclin'd and enabled by the Spirit to do God's Will and the Spirit of God to dwell in them by his peculiar and eminent Operations They live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit An Angel may assume a Body and act by it but the humane Soul enlivens it and performs sensible Operations by it And such a Principle is the Holy Spirit to the Soul gives it spiritual Life Activity and Power for good Works By what Application of the Spirit 's Power this is produc'd is mysterious and inexplicable but as the Apostle speaks of his Rapture into the third Heavens that he knew it was real and heard unutterable things though how it was performed whether in the Body or out of the Body he could not tell thus when a natural Man the current of whose Thoughts and Affections was to the things of this World becomes spiritual when the carnal Appetite is subdued and sanctified Reason has the Throne when he feels such strong and sweet Impulsives to Holiness as engage the Will when the Stream of his Desires ascend to the things above and his Life becomes Holy and Heavenly he feels and knows this wonderful Change though the manner how it was wrought he cannot tell I will shew more fully this sanctifying Work of the Spirit that we may the better understand our State The Spirit of God is denominated by various Titles the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Holiness the Comforter and represented by various Types by an Ointment that clarifies the Eye to see things aright by cleansing refreshing Water by purifying refining Fire correspondent to his sacred Operations in the Soul As the Spirit of Truth he illuminates the Understanding to see the Reality and Excellency of supernatural and Heavenly things of the great Mysteries of Godliness of Eternal Glory so that a Christian in his most deliberate solemn and composed Thoughts in his exactest Valuation infinitely prefers them before the gaudy Vanities of this transient World When the Eyes of the Mind are truly enlightned present things appear or rather disappear as Shadows As the Spirit of Holiness he renews the Will and Affections inspires the Soul with Divine and unutterable Desires after the Favour and Grace of God and communicates spiritual Power for the Prosecution and obtaining those Desires The Holy Spirit raises such a Love to God that habitually and strongly inclines the Soul to obey his Commands This is the most clear and essential Character of a Christian the special and most excellent Property of a Saint upon which all other Holy Qualifications depend As Reason is the first and chief Excellence of Man from whence his other Perfections are derived that distinguish him from the Brutes and give him a natural and regular Preeminence and Dominion over them so that a Man is most properly defined a reasonable Creature Thus the Love of God is the most Divine Grace the true Form of Holiness the Root from whence all other Vertues spring and flourish and most peculiarly distinguish a Saint from unregenerate Men however adorn'd and accomplish'd so that a Saint is most properly defined to be a Lover of God This is the Principle of true Holiness inherent in the Soul and shining in the Conversation that distinguishes the Sincerity of a Saint from the Art of Hypocrisy an affected Appearance of Religion for carnal sordid respects and from civil Vertue that restrains from what is ignominious and disgraceful to our Reputation and makes obnoxious to Penalties of the Laws and excites to praise-worthy Actions upon worldly Motives and from Philosophical Morality that forbids Vice as contrary to Reason and commends Vertue as the chief Ornament and Perfection of humane Nature without a Regard to please and glorify God And Divine Love is the Principle of universal Holiness Love is called the fulfilling of the Law as 't is a comprehensive Grace and as it draws forth all the active Powers of the Soul to do God's Will in an exact manner Universal Obedience is the Exercise of Love in various Instances As the Spouse in the Song of Solomon is transform'd in divers Representations sometimes as a Sister sometimes as a Warriour sometimes as the Keeper of a Vineyard but she always acted as a Lover and her chief business was to please her Beloved This Allegorical Description of the Church signifies that when the Soul is inflamed with the Love of God that Affection will be active and discover it self in all it does or suffers in the Service of God This will make a Christian very desirous and diligent to please God in all things and careful not to displease him in any thing for that is the inseparable Effect of Love The Felicity of the natural temper and the force of Education may cause a loathing of some Evils and dispose to some good Works but with a reserved delight in other Sins and a secret Exception against other Duties Servile Fear is a partial Principle and causes an unequal respect to the Divine Precepts it restrains from Sins of greater Guilt at which Conscience takes fire it urges to some Duties the neglect of which causes Disquiet but the Love of