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
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
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
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
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
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
great Distance and since he cannot lessen the Certainty of Death in Mens Belief he removes the Image of it out of their Memories to weaken the Impression that it is capable to make on their Affections they dare not venture to die as they live careless of Salvation and unprepared for their Accounts with God therefore they suspend the Workings of Conscience by a seeming Compliance they resolve at random to convert and reform hereafter but will not determine at present to forsake their Sins The Tempter insinuates there will be a long Interval between the present time and the last hour that shall decide their State for ever that it will be a convenient season to prepare for the other World when they have done with this as if Repentance were best at last when there are no Temptations and therefore no Danger of retracting it And the Heart of Man is a great Flatterer very subtile to deceive and ruin him with vain Resolutions of a devout Retirement and becoming seriously religious hereafter and thus by an easy Permission he gratifies the present Desires of the Flesh and goes in a Circuit from one Vanity to another till Death surprize the Presumer 'T is very applicable to this purpose what is related of Alcaeus the Poet who from every season of the Year took Arguments to give a new Title to his Intemperance The Spring he said required liberal drinking in Sign of Joy for the Renovation of Nature the Summer to temper our Heat and refresh our Thirst 't was due to Autumn that is dedicated to the Vintage and Winter required it to expel the cold that would congeal the Blood and Spirits Thus he pleaded for the Allowance of his Excess And so Men in the several Ages of Life that are correspondent to the Seasons of the Year frame some Excuses to delay Repentance and give some colour to their Rebellion against God who commands us to hear his Voice to Day obediently and immediately upon no less Penalty than being excluded from his blessed Rest for ever Yet the self-deceiving Sinner preaches another Gospel to himself and thinks the Vanities of Childhood the Pleasures of Youth the Business of Middle-Age and the Infirmity of Old Age are plausible Pretences to put off the serious Work of Repentance O that such would duly consider the desperate Uncertainty upon which Men build their Hopes of a future Repentance and Divine Acceptance 1. Men delay Repentance upon the Presumption of a long Life But what is more uncertain 'T is the Wisdom and Goodness of God to conceal in his impenetrable Counsels the time of our Sojourning here For if Men though liable to Death every hour and therefore should be under just Fear lest it surprize them unprepar'd yet against so strong a Curb run with that exorbitant vehemence after the present World how much more licentious would they be if secured from sudden Death But none can promise to himself one Day Death comes not according to the order of Nature but the Decree of God How many in the Flower of their Youth and Strength thought themselves at as great a Distance from Death as the East is from the West when there was not the space of an Hour between them and Death between them and Hell The Lamp suddenly expires by a Blast of Wind when there is plenty of Oil to feed it The rich Man pleased himself with Designs of sensual Enjoyments for many years yet did not see the dawning of the next Morning Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee This Sentence is pronounced in Heaven against thousands that are now alive conversant in the Vanities and Business of the World Eating and Drinking Playing and Trading and all unconcerned as to dying yet shall breath their last before to Morrow and their unwilling Souls be rent from the Embraces of their Bodies In various manners Men die from inward and outward causes an Apoplexy an Imposthume a Flux of Rhume stopping Respiration kills the Body without any presaging Signs of Death As if the Roof and all the Chambers should fall within the House while the Walls are standing entire And how many unforeseen Accidens and therefore inevitable put a sudden Period to Life Is it not our truest Wisdom by an early Repentance to prepare for Death when the Season is certainly short and but uncertainly continued and the Omission is irreparable 2. Suppose Life be continued yet Sinners that delay Repentance can have no rational hopes that they shall sincerely repent in time to come For 1 st Saving Repentance is the Gift of God and is it likely that those who have been insensible of the loud and earnest Calls of the Word inflexible to the gracious Methods of his Providence leading them to Repentance should at last obtain Converting Grace The Gales of the Spirit are very transient and blow where he pleases and can it be expected that those who have wilfully and often resisted him should by an exuberant Favour receive afterwards more powerful Grace to over-rule their stubborn Wills and make them obedient To expect Divine Grace and the powerful Workings of the Spirit after long resisting his Holy Excitations is both unreasonable and unrevealed 'T is written as with a Sun-beam that God will graciously pardon repenting Sinners that reform their Lives but 't is no-where promised that he will give Saving-Repentance to those who securely continue in Sin upon a corrupt Confidence they will repent at last Our Saviour threatens to him that neglects the improving the Grace that is offer'd That which he hath shall be taken away Yet Men unwilling at present to forsake their Sins of Pleasure and Profit vainly hope they shall obtain Grace hereafter without any Promise from God and against the Tenor of his Threatnings God has threatned that his Spirit shall not always strive with rebellious Sinners and then their State is remediless This may be the case of many in this Life who are insensible of their Misery As consumptive Persons decline by degrees lose their Appetite Colour and Strength till at last they are hopeless So the Withdrawings of the Spirit are gradual his Motions are not so strong nor frequent and upon the continued Provocations of the Disobedient finally leaves them under that most fearful doom He that is filthy let him be filthy still He that is unrighteous let him be unrighteous still and thus punishes them on this side Hell as he does the Damned by giving them over to Sin 'T is a bloody Adventure for Men to indulge their carnal Appetites as if they had infallible Assurance that they should not die in an impenitent State The Delayer does not regularly trust but tempt God 2 dly Suppose the Holy Spirit be not totally withdrawn yet by every Day 's Continuance in Sin the Heart is more hardned against the Impressions of Grace more averse from returning to God and Repentance more difficult and hazardous The last guilty Disposition
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
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 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
neglect their Duty and defer their Happiness They think it too soon to live for Heaven before the evil Days come wherein they shall have no pleasure when they cannot sin and vainly presume they can repent The danger of this I have consider'd in the Discourse of Death and shall therefore proceed to the next Head Thirdly Our Choice of Heaven must be constant and lasting The two principal Rules of the Spiritual Life are to begin and end well to fix and establish the main Design for everlasting Happiness and from a determinate Resolution and ratified Purpose of Heart to pursue it with firmness and constancy to live for Heaven and with readiness and courage to die for it if the Glory of God so require Perseverance is indispensably necessary in all that will obtain the Eternal Reward For the clearing this most important Point I will First Represent from Scripture the Idea of Perseverance that is attended with Salvation Secondly Consider why 't is so strictly required First Saving Perseverance includes the permanent residence of Grace in the Soul 'T is composed of the whole Chain of Graces the union of holy Habits that are at first infused into a Christian by the sanctifying Spirit When Eternal Life is promised to Faith or Love or Hope 't is upon supposal that those Graces being planted in the Heart shall finally prosper He that is faithful to the Death shall inherit the Crown of Life 'T is Love that never fails that shall enter into Heaven 'T is Hope firm unto the End that shall be accomplished in a glorious Fruition If Grace be disseised by a usurping Lust Apostacy will follow and the forfeiture of our right in the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Grace must be continually drawn forth into exercise according to our several states and duties and the various occasions that happen in our course through the World Those who are light in the Lord are commanded to walk as Children of the Light to signify the excellency and purity of the Christian Life Those who live in the Spirit must walk in the Spirit that is by a conspicuous course of Holiness declare the vigour and efficacy of the divine Principle that is communicated to them Paulum septultae distat inertiae celata virtus Vertue that breaks not forth into visible Actions is not worthy of the Name The meer abstaining from evil is not sufficient but all the positive acts of the holy Life are to be constantly done In discharging both these parts of our Duty compleat Religion is exprest and the power of Grace consists 3. Perseverance includes not only continuance in well-doing but fervour and progress towards Perfection There are two fix'd States the one in Heaven the other in Hell The blessed Spirits above are arrived to the height of Holiness The Devil and damned Spirits are sunk to the lowest extremity of Sin But in the middle state here Grace in the Saints is a rising growing Light and Sin in the Wicked improves every day like Poison in a Serpent that becomes more deadly by his Age. We are injoined not to remain in our first Imperfections but to follow Holiness to the utmost issue of our Lives to its intire consummation For this end all the dispensations of Providence must be improved whether prosperous or afflicting And the Ordinances of the Gospel were appointed that in the use of them we may be changed into the divine Image from Glory to Glory 4. Preseverance is required notwithstanding all Temptations that may allure or terrify us from our Duties what ever affects us one way or other while we are clothed with frail Flesh. 'T is the fundamental Principle of Christianity declared by our Saviour If any Man will come after me that is be my Disciple and Servant let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me even to be crucified with him rather than wilfully forfeit his Integrity and Loyalty to Christ. He must by a sacred sixt resolution devest himself of all things even the most valued and desirable in the present World and actually forsake them nay entertain what is most distasteful and resist unto Blood rather than desert his Duty 1. He must with unfainting Patience continue in doing his Duty notwithstanding all Miseries and Calamities Losses Disgraces Torments or Death it self which wicked Men and greater Enemies the Powers of Darkness can inflict upon him To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life is promised He that endures to the End notwithstanding the most terrible Sufferings to which he is exposed for Christ's sake shall be saved In this a Christian must be the express image of his Saviour who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of God Disgrace and Pain are Evils that humane Nature has a most tender sense of yet the Son of God with a divine generosity and constancy endured them in the highest degrees He was scorn'd as a feigned King and a false Prophet He suffered a bloody Death and by the Cross ascended to Glory And we must follow him if we desire to be where he is 2. But this is not the only trial of a Christian. Prosperity is a more dangerous Enemy to the Soul though Adversity be more rigorous Saevior armis Incumbit luxuria For the Spirit is excited by Perils and Difficulties to seek to God for Strength and with vigilant resolute Thoughts unites all its Powers to oppose them but 't is made weak and careless by what is grateful to the sensual Inclinations It keeps close the Spiritual Armour in the open encounter of Dangers that threaten its ruin but is inticed to put it off by the caresses and blandishments of the World It does not see its Enemies under the disguise of a pleasant Temptation Thus Sin insinuates its self and by stealing steps gets into the Throne without observation A Man is wounded with a pleasant Temptation as with the Plague that flies in the dark and Grace is insensibly weaken'd From hence it is that Adversity often reforms the Vicious and Prosperity corrupts the Vertuous Now Perseverance must be of proof against Fire and Water against what ever may terrify or allure us from our duty 5. Saving Perseverance excludes not all Sins but total Apostacy and final impenitency which are fatal and deadly under the New Covenant If the Righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the Abominations that the wicked Man doth shall he live all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he has trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned he shall die If any Man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him saith the Lord. These Threatnings imply there is a possibility of the Saints falling away considered in themselves but not that
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
are glorified in that great and blessed Work In Octavo Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the Future State To which is now added The Divinity of the Christian Religion proved by the Evidence of Reason and Divine Revelation for the Cure of Infidelity the Hectick Evil of the Times In Octavo The Soveraign and Final Happiness of Man with the effectual Means to obtain it Also the Joys of Heaven and Torments of Hell are discoursed of In Octavo Several Sermons upon Death and Eternal Judgment In Octavo The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied in several Discourses In Octavo The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons upon Prov. 1.17 In Octavo The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. In Octavo A Funeral Sermon preached upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton who deceased October 18 1677. To which is now added the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached In Octavo The Sure Trial of Uprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. In Octavo A Description of the Blessed Place and State of the Saints above in a Discourse on John 14.2 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The Way to the highest Honour on John 12.26 Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22.12 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Ashurst ADVERTISEMENT NEwly printed The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New With Annotations and Parallel Scriptures To which is annex'd The Harmony of the Gospels As also The Reduction of the Jewish Weights Coins and Measures to our English Standards And a Table of the Promises in Scripture By Samuel Clark Minister of the Gospel Printed in Folio of a very fair Letter the like never before in one Volume Printed for Brabazon Aylmer in Cornhill Ver. 4 5. Ver. 6. Deut. 6.13 10.20 Ver. 7. Ver. 8. Ver. 10. Ver. 13. Ver. 14. Psal. 97.9 Chap. 2.11 Psal. 78.49 Rom. 5.12 Anima volens perdidit vivere nolens ergo perdat vivificare Rom. 6.23 Hac lege intraverant ut exiirent Senec. Heb. 9.27 Eccles. 1.4 Gen. 2.17 1 Sam. 26.10 Psal. 89.4 Eccles. 8.8 Isa. 38. Isa. 38.11 Dies moritur in noctem tenebrisusquequaque sepelitur funestatur mundi honor omnis substantia denigratur sordent silent stupent cuncta ubique justitium est Tertul. de Resurrec Car. Talia agentem atque meditantem mors praevenit Sueton. Psal. 49.16 17. * As our Divine Poet expresses it The brags of Life are but a nine days wonder And after Death the Fumes that spring From private Bodies make as big a Thunder As those that rise from a huge King Herbert 2 Kings 9.37 Isa. 14.11 Heb. 9.27 Acts 24.25 Heb. 10.31 Praestat semel mori quam semper timere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.7 Eccles. 11.7 Prov. 29. Job 36.21 Rev. 21. Nullum malum sine effugio Senec. Timor fugam perdidit 1 Sam. 28. Dan. 5.1 2 3 4. Amos 6.3 4. Aelian 2 Cor. 5.11 Heb. 11. 1 Tim. 2.6 1 Pet. 1. 〈…〉 〈…〉 1 Cor. 15. Gal. 3. Isa. 53. Heb. 12. 1 Cor. 10.33 Rev. 2. 1 Thess. 4.14 Annon longe gloriosius fuit quandoquidem totum pro nobis agebatur ut non modo passio corporis sed etiam cordis affectio pro nobis faceret Et quos vivificabat mors nihilominus trepidatio robustos moestitia laetos taedium alacres turbatio quietos facecet desolatio consolatos Bern. Serm. 1. de S. Andr. Isa. 57.1 2. Luke 2. John 6.48 †Dies iste quem tu tanquam supremum reformidas aeterni natalis est Senec. Job 14.1 Tempus angustatur ad vitam dilatatur ad miseriam * Omnes homines aut sunt penitus caro nihil habent spiritus ii sunt infideles sine regeneratione Aut sunt tantum spiritus sine carne Ii sunt sancti qui jam in Coelo aeterna fruuntur pace sine pugna Aut sunt partim spiritus partim caro Ii sunt omnes renati per Spiritum Sanctum in Christo. Aug. cont Jul. 1 Cor. 13. 1 John 3. Rom. 8. ‖ Poterat autem Christus etiam hoc donare credentibus ut nec istius experiâ—entur corporis mortem sed si hoc fecisset carni quaedam foelicitas adderetur minueretur fidei fortitudo Quid enim magnum erat vivendo eos non mâ—â—i qui crederent se non morituros Quanto est majus quanto fortius quanto laudabilius ita credere ut se speret moriturus sine fine victurum Aug. de pecc Mort. Lib. 2. Exercitia nobis sunt non funera dant animo fortitudinis gloriam Contemptu mortis praeparant ad coronam Cypr. de Mortal * Nomen terrae in igni reliquit Tertul. Rom. 1.11 Acts 2.24 Rom. 4. Heb. 13. * Qui sibi ipse pulcherrimum medicamentum Celsus Ephes. 2.6 Exod. 10.26 Mat. 27.52 53. Phil. 3.1 Rom. 8.23 1 Cor. 15. 1 Cor. 15. Mark 9. †Foelices errore suo quos ille timorum Maximus haud urget leti metus inde ruendi In ferrrum mens prona viris animaeque capaces Mortis ignavum rediturae parcere vitae Lucan 1 John 5.12 Rom. 8.1 Revel 1 Cor. 15.22 1 Cor. 6.17 John 6.36 2 Kings 4.34 Gal. 2.20 John 15.26 Rom. 1.4 Rom. 8.9 Rom. 8.11 2 Cor. 5.17 Revel 1. Macti ingenio este Coeli interpretes rerumque naturae capaces Argumenti repertores quo Deos hominesque vinxistis Plin. lib. 2. * Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Atque metus mortis inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus Virgil. Acts 20.21 Heb. 6.1 2 Cor. 5.14 Athen. Heb 2.7 8. Quis enim satis explicet verbis quantum mali sit non obedire tanto potestatis imperio tanto tenenti supplicio Nemo ergo sibi promittat quod evangelium non promittit Aug. Jer. 13.16 Psal 78.34 36. Rom. 2. 1 Sam. 26.21 Prov. 1. Matth. 25. Male cum his agitur quibus necessitas incumbit belli morbi Vâ—g ‖ Quod alicui gratiosè conceditur trahi non debet ab aliis in exemplum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Vix dici potest quantos haec inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. †Tull. Tully ‖ Miserrimum morbi genus in quo aeger siti aquae metu cruciatur quorum spes in angusto est Cels. John 17. Haec enim est infoelicitas hominum propter quae peccant Morientes hic dimittunt ipsa peccata secum portant Aug. Stemus expeditae ad omnem vim nihil habentes quod relinquere timeamus Retinacula ista sunt spei nostrae De cult Foem Josh. 3.16 Ad instar montis intumescentis apparebant procul 1 John 1.3 Heb. 11.1 2 Cor. 5.1 Epist.