Christian account Death among his Gains for it is the Hand of Death that draws the Curtain and lets him in to see God face to face in Heaven that Palace of inestimable Pleasure and Delight where the strongest Beams of Glory shall beat fully upon our Faces and where we shall be made strong enough to bear them Neither doth Death bring any detriment to our Bodies since they shall be new moulded at the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.53 when this Mortal shall put on Immortality and this Corruptible put on Incorruption when these dull Lumps shall become impassible as the Angels subtle as a Ray of Light bright as the Sun nimble as Lightning Who is there that hath hopes of Heaven that would have this Law of Death reversed Who would be confined to live always a wretched Life here on Earth that Sin and Sorrow share between them A holy Soul cannot but long and be impatient in breathing forth Desires after the kind Office of Death to deliver it into so great and incomprehensible a Glory crying out earnestly with the Apostle Phil. 1.21 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Now of what great concernment this Subject of Man's Mortality is Of what concernment the thoughts of Death are God by his Providence since I last spake in this Place hath sadly evinced and by a near Instance hath confirmed what I then Preached unto you of the Frailty and Uncertainty of this present Life Happy were it for us if either Sermons or Examples might awaken us to a serious Consideration that we our selves also must shortly die and it may be as suddenly Are we not all subjected to the same Attack Hath not God's Hands kneaded our Bodies out of the same clay and may not his Fingers crumble them again into the same dust Certainly the Cords of our Tabernacles may be as easily unloosed and cut asunder as theirs I have read of a great Emperour that to engrave upon himself the deeper Apprehensions of his own Frailty and Mortality caused his own Funerals to be solemniz'd while he was yet living laying himself down in his Tomb weeping over himself as his own Mourner If there were any advantage in this to prepare him to die at last really by dying thus first in an Emblem we may almost daily have the same There 's not a Funeral of any of our Relations or Acquaintance that we are called to give our Attendance upon but by serious and solemn Reflections upon our selves we may make it our own and if by beholding others nailed up in their Coffins laid down in their cold Graves covered over with Earth that they may become a Feast for Worms if now we reckon our selves among the number of them we shall not be very much mistaken for this is only but a few days to anticipate what shall shortly be our state and condition This Advantage we our selves may make of the Death of others to look upon it as a resemblance at least of our own What is the Language of every Grave we see open its mouth to receive into it the dead Body of some Neighbour or Acquaintance but only this That we also are mortal and perishing There 's not a broken Skull or a rotten Bone that lies scattered about the Grave but hath Death and Mortality written upon them and call loudly upon us to prepare our selves to take up our Abode in the same darkness and corruption with them and if upon every such sad occasion we do not make a particular Application thereof unto our own selves we not only lose our Friend's Lives but their very Deaths also And yet in this Affair that might be of great advantage to us we are exceeding faulty for the reflections we make on the death of others are usually very impertinent and make no lasting impressions upon us When Death comes and mows down our Acquaintance and Relations round about us the Reflection that we usually make is more upon the Loss that we have sustained by their Death than upon the Example they are thereby made to us of our own Frailty and Mortality and thereby as God by his Providence hath deprived us of the Comfort we had in their Lives so we deprive our selves of the Instruction and Benefit we might have by their Death Or if some extraordinary Circumstance that appears in the Death of others strikes us into serious Thoughts of our own yet usually they are but short-liv'd and fleeting for a while it may be we think of humane frailty and the mutability of our present State but these Thoughts soon wear off and we return to the same Vanity and wretched Security as before for such dying Meditations of Death are usually very unprofitable It is with most men as it is with a Flock of Sheep that graze fearlesly till the Shepherd rusheth in among them and lays hold of one of them for the Slaughter and this presently frights them making them leave their Food and run scattering about the Field but no sooner is the Tumult over but they flock together again and feed as securely without Thoughts of death or danger as before So truly is it with most men when either the report is spread abroad that such or such a person is dead and it may be suddenly by some sudden and unexpected stroke or when they are called to visit some dying Person where they behold departing Pangs distorted Eyes quivering Limbs wan and ghastly Corpse the Image of Death in all its lively terrours if they have any Remainders of natural Tenderness it must needs strike them into Pensiveness to think that one day this must be their own Case and that therefore it behoves them to be in continual preparation for this last and dreadful Change But no sooner is the Dead interr'd and the Grave fill'd up again but all these sage and serious Thoughts vanish and they return to the same excess of Sin and Pleasure as before This is the brutish Folly and Sottishness of most men But Oh why should not men always keep alive vigorous thoughts and meditations of Death Are they not always alike mortal Are they not as much subject to the Arrest of Death at other times as when they see Examples of Mortality before their Eyes The Law stands still in force unrepealed in Heaven That it is appointed unto all Men once to die Indeed it fares with such as these as ordinarily it doth with Malefactors that fear not the Penalty of the Law till they see it executed upon others Let us therefore act rationally as Men and as long as we are in danger be kept by that danger prepared to entertain that which we know is irreversibly appointed unto us But now besides this general Appointment of God That all shall die there is a particular Appointment that reacheth to every particular Circumstance of Man's Death the time when the manner how we shall die These are unalterably determined in God's
serious and pensive to think this is but the Pattern of what must befall themselves and that all this must shortly be acted upon them that they now see done unto others But since this Day presents us with no such Solemnity some perhaps may wonder that I have chosen this Text and Subject of Mortality to treat upon Indeed Custom hath made it almost improper to preach of Death without a Funeral and to speak to Men of their last End and Dissolution without setting before their Eyes an Example of it Look well therefore one upon another what are we all as it were but so many Corpses so many Spectacles of Mortality rather to be numbred among the Dead than among the Living every Day and Hour wears away part of our Lives and so much of them as is already spent so far are we already dead and buried This present moment is the longest measure of our Lives what is past is dead to us and what is to come is not yet born how soon God may put a final Period to our present state how few times more our Pulses may beat and this busie Breath in our Nostrils return to us again we know not so frail and so uncertain are our Lives that this may be truly a Funeral Sermon to some one of us before the close of it Since then we are all of us thus subject to the stroke of Death it can never be unseasonable to warn you that you be not surprized and taken by it unprovided In the Words now read you have the great Statute-Law of Heaven that Law that God hath passed upon all the Chil-of Men and that is That it is appointed to them once to die Now that I may make way to press upon you the serious consideration of your own Mortality let me briefly mark out some things that tend to the Explication of the Words And First In that the Proposition is laid down in the Text indefinitely It is appointed unto men it is that which is equivalent to an Universal and reacheth to all men It is appointed to all men once to die We read of two only in the whole Book of God that were exempted by an extraordinary Grace and peculiar Priviledge from this great Law of Dying and they were Enoch and Elias Of Enoch it is said Gen. 5.24 That he walked with God and he was not for God took him And of Elias it is said 2 Kin 2.11 That he went up by a Whirlwind into Heaven The great God after a strange and unusual manner tackt their temporal and eternal Life together making their Time run it self into Eternity without any period or interruption The Apostle also tells us 1 Cor. 15.51 52. That all shall not die to wit at the last Day at the last appearing of Jesus Christ there shall be a World full of Persons that shall not taste of Death All shall not die but all shall be changed in a moment in the twinckling of an Eye These are exempted and being excepted it is certain all the Generations of Men from the first Creation to the last Consummation of all things are all appointed by God unto Death Secondly All must die once All must die once but Believers do not die the second Death There is frequent mention made in Scripture of the first and second Death The first Death is the separation of the Soul from the Body The second Death is the separation of the Soul from God As the Union of the Soul and Body is the Life of Man so the Union of God with the Soul is the Life of the Soul Now Believers do not die this second Death Rev. 20.8 for on such as the Apostle speaks the second Death hath no power They are still united unto God after an unconceivable and ineffable manner As when Christ lay in the Grave though his Soul was truly separated from his Body yet both Soul and Body were hypostatically united to the Godhead so also though the natural Union between a Believer's Soul and Body be dissolved by Death yet both Soul and Body continue mystically united unto Christ even in their separation one from another It is not therefore this second but the first Death that all are appointed unto The Hand of Death must untie those secret and sweet Bands those vital Knots that fasten Soul and Body together must fall asunder one day in every Man All Men must die because Death is the punishment of Sin Thirdly It is appointed unto every Man to undergo this first Death It is decreed and ordained by God and that not upon the Account of any natural Necessity but for the Punishment of Sin The Apostle tells us plainly That by Sin Death entred into the World Death therefore is not so much a Debt due to Nature as a Debt due to the avenging Justice of God for though Man at first was created in pure Nature yet was he also created in a deathless State and Death siezeth upon us not as we are Men but as we are Sinners liable to the Curse of the Covenant of Works containing in it that Threatning In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die It is true Adam even before he sinned had in him the contemperation of the same contrary Qualities that we now have and so at least had also the remote Principles of Death but yet it is probable that he was created with such a Priviledge that he might by his own Will sway and over-rule the Jars and Discords of his elementary constitution and continue himself in Life as long as he should continue himself in Obedience however whether it was so or otherwise yet certain it is that Death came into the World as the punishment of Sin So then it is not primarily Man's Nature but Man's Sin and the Curse of the Law taking hold of him that brought in this necessity of dying Sin is not only the Sting but the Cause of Death and it gives it not only its Terrour but it s very Being also And therefore it is somewhat remarkable that among all the Creatures in the World Man only is termed Mortal most certain it is that other Creatures decay and perish as well as he yet among all perishing things Man only hath that wretched denomination of being Mortal and there is good reason for it since he alone of all perishing things being created immortal voluntarily subjected himself unto Death and by his own Fault brought upon himself that Name of Mortal as a Brand of perpetual Infamy And thus now I come to the Subject that I intend to insist upon and that is The Unavoidableness and Certainty of Death To go about to prove this were to lose so much time every one grants he must die All other Questions about Man are answered by Peradventures If it be demanded Whether such an Embryo shall see the Light What 's the Answer but perhaps it shall perhaps it shall not If it be
secret Counsel To speak a little briefly to this God appoints the time of Man's life Dan. 5.23 First God hath punctually and exactly determined the time of our Death to a very moment The great God in whose hands our Lives our Breath and all our Ways are he turns up our Glass and puts such a measure of Sand into it and no more it is he that prefixes it to run to such a length of Time and then determines it shall run no longer It is he who is Lord of all Time that writes our Names upon so many Days and Hours as we shall live as upon so many Leaves of his Book and it is impossible for us to live one Day or Hour that hath not our Name written upon it by him from all Eternity It is God that sets every one the Bounds of their living as well as the Bounds of their habitations Acts 17.26 beyond which they shall not be able to pass The Embryo that dies before ever it sees the Light fills up its appointed time by God as well as he that lives to decrepit old Age. And therefore though the Scripture and we use to say Such or such an one is taken away in the midst of his days yet simply in it self considered that is impossible the whole Tale of days that God hath appointed to every one must be fulfilled and that to a very moment according as the number of them is set down by God from all eternity Such Expressions as these denote no more than either that God cuts them off in the full strength and vigour of their years when yet they might according to the course of Nature and humane probability have lived longer or else comparing the shortness of their Lives with the length of others God seems to break it off in the very midst before he had finished his Work I shall not enter into a Dispute whether the Term of Life be fixed or moveable Methinks Job hath fully stated and determined the Question Job 7.1 Is there not says he an appointed time to Man upon Earth Are not his days also like the days of an Hireling Now an Hireling hath a time of Service prefixed which when it is expired he is discharged from his Labour God hath sent all Men into the World as so many Hirelings and as soon as these days are expired he takes them from their labour to their reward Are not my days as the days of an Hireling So Job speaks also in another Chapter concerning Man His days are determined Job 14.5 the number of his Months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass What can be more punctual and particular It is true however that though God hath thus numbred out our days and set us our bounds yet we may well say That whoever dies might have lived longer had they made use of the right Means As Martha said unto our Saviour Luke 11.21 Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died So may we say If such and such Means had been used and such Remedies applied this or that Person had not died but withal we must observe also that that God who hath prefixed to every one his Term of Life hath also ordained in his own Counsel and Purpose that those Means that are proper to prolong Life beyond that Term should through some unavoidable mistake or mishap either not be known or not used This therefore may be of great support unto us as against all inordinate Fears of our own Death so against all inordinate grief and sorrow for the Death of others to consider that all our Times are in God's hands he measures out every day to us and as he hath appointed bounds to us beyond which we shall not pass so also hath he appointed that we shall certainly reach unto those bounds His all wise Providence disposeth of the meanest and smallest Concernments of our Lives and therefore much more of our Lives themselves and if a Hair of our Heads cannot much less shall not we our selves fall to the ground without our Heavenly Father Secondly As God hath appointed the exact critical Hour so also the particular Manner of our Death It is he that appoints whether it shall be sudden or foreseen by Diseases or by Casualty whether the Thred of our Life shall be snapt in pieces by some unexpected Accident or worn and fretted away by some tedious and lingring Consumption or burnt asunder by some fiery Fever In whatever manner or shape Death may appear to us is a Secret known only unto God but this we know that it is always his Serjeant and wears his Livery and all the Circumstances of our Death are of God's appointment as well as our Death it self And in whatever shape it shall appear to us if we diligently endeavour by a holy Life to prepare our selves for it it shall not be frightful or terrible to us Now to make some Practical Improvement of this And Vse 1 First If God thus unalterably appoints to us our last period if he hath thus appointed us to Die if all men are concluded under that irrevocable Law let this then serve to convince us of the gross and notorious folly of setting our Affections eagerly upon this present World a World that we must shortly leave behind us Death within a very little while will most certainly pluck us from it and it will prove a violent rending to us if our Affections are inordinately set upon any thing here below It was a strange and perverse use also that the Ancient Heathens made of the necessity of dying when in their Feasts their custom was to bring in the resemblance of an Anatomy to their Guests thereby to excite them to Mirth and Voluptuousness whilst they should relish such delights as were then before them because shortly they must be as much dust and bones as what they saw 1 Cor. 15.32 Like those the Apostle makes mention of who said let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die But how much better use doth the same Apostle teach us to make of this when in the same Epistle he tells us but this I say Brethren the time is short Why what then why says he it remains therefore that they that have Wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away Death one would think should beat down the price of the World in every wise man's esteem Why should we lay out our affections upon those things from which we may be ravisht in a moment Both they and we perish in the using of them they are dying comforts and we must die also that enjoy them Oh! what Folly then is it to toil and wear away our
Lives in pursuing such vain things from which we may be snatcht before we can cast another look at them Sowre Death will soon convince us that all is but vanity and vexation of spirit that we here set our eyes and hearts upon And therefore Vse 2 Secondly Seeing by the appointment of God we must all shortly die let us be perswaded to be always in a readiness and preparation for it Our Souls are Immortal and must live for ever and when our Bodies die and fall into the Dust they immediately enter into an Estate that is for ever unalterable Directions to prepare for Death Now here I shall only lay down a few directions and so conclude First Wean your Hearts from an inordinate love of the World Get hearts weaned from the World Death must and will pluck you from it and oh it will be a violent rending if your affections be glewed to it Consider that all things in this present World are fading and perishing but your precious Souls are ever living and Immortal be not therefore unequally yoaked joyn not your ever-living Souls to dying comforts This is a tyranny worse than that which was Exercised by those of old who tied living Bodies to dead Carkasses Oh! what a sad parting hour will it be to thee when thou shalt go into another World and leave behind thee all that thou countest good in this how wilt thou protract and linger and wishly look back again upon all those precious vanities and dear nothings and follies that here thou placedst thy happiness and contentment in But now when the heart sets loose from all these things with what satisfaction shall we be able to Die accounting what we lose by Death to be no great matter because what we gain thereby will be infinitely more to our advantage Secondly Repentance must not be deferred upon hopes of long Life Would you be prepared for Death beware then that you do not defer your Repentance one day or hour longer upon any presumption of the continuance of your Life Death depends not upon the warning of a sickness God doth not always afford it but sometimes he doth execution before he Shoots off his warning Piece why may it not be so with you however it is possible your sickness may be such as may render you uncapable of doing your last good Office for your Soul But if it should be otherwise yet this I am sure of it is the unfittest time in all your Life to be then casting up your Accounts when you should be giving of them up to have your Evidences for Heaven then to clear up to your Souls when you should produce and shew them for your support and comfort Live every day as if it were your last Thirdly Live every day so as if every day were your last and dying day and the very next day allotted to you unto Eternity if it be not so it is more than any of us know and since we have no assurance of one day or hour longer it is but Reason and Wisdom to look upon every day as that which may prove our very last Be constant in the exercise of a holy life Fourthly Be constant in the Exercise of a Holy Life and always doing of that that you would be content Christ should find you doing when he comes to Summon you before his Bar. Think with thy self if thou wer 't now upon thy sick Bed and hadst received the Sentence of Death and sawest thy Friends stand mourning round about thee but cannot help thee what would be thy thoughts and thy discourse then Why let the same thoughts and the same discourse fill up every day and hour of thy Life for thou knowest not whether now this moment thou art not as near Death as if thy Friends and Relations yea and thy Physicians also dispaired of thy Life and had given thee over for Dead Fifthly and Lastly Get an assurance of a better Life Labour to get an assurance of a better Life and this will prepare you for a temporal Death When you and all things in the World must take leave of one another and part forever than to have the sense of the Love of God of an interest in Jesus Christ and the sight and view of your own Graces these will bear up your Heart in a dying hour these things are Immortal as your Souls are and will enter into Heaven with you and abide there with you to Eternity O whom will it not comfort to think that Death will change his Bottle into a Spring though here our Water sometimes fails us yet in Heaven whither we are going we shall bath our selves in an infinite Ocean of Delights lying at the breasts of an infinite Fountain of Life and Sweetness Whoever hath such an assurance as this is cannot but welcome Death embracing it not only with contentment but with Delight And while the Soul is strugling and striving to unclasp it self and to get loose from the Body it cannot but say with Holy Longings and Pantings Come Lord Jesus come quickly THE GREAT EVIL and DANGER OF Little Sins IN FOUR SERMONS ON St. MATTH V. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break any one of these least Cammandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven By EZEKIEL HOPKINS late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed by E. H. for NATHANAEL RANEW at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. THE GREAT EVIL and DANGER OF LITTLE SINS FROM St. MATTH V. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break any one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven AMongst those many Points that our Saviour handles in this his Sermon on the Mount An Introduction one is the Stability and Permanency of the Moral Law the Obligation of which he affirms to be as perpetual as Heaven and Earth Verse 18. Verily verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled This Assertion Christ lays down in opposition to the common and corrupt Doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees the Jewish Teachers who by their Traditions sought to make void the Law of God Now says Christ unless they can remove the Earth and rowl up the Heavens and carry the World without the World it is but a vain Attempt for it is decreed in Heaven That till Heaven and Earth pass not a tittle of the Law shall fail but all shall be fulfilled As it is in this lower World notwithstanding it is maintained by a continual flux and vicissitude by the perpetual change of one being into another one corrupting and another rising up in a new form and shape out of its Ruines and yet not the least dust of Matter is or can be consumed but the same Matter and the same Quantity still continues which were at first created
observe these following particulars First Consider this that we and all Mankind were in Adam not only as in our common Parent from whom we received our Being but as in our Common Head Surety and Representative from whom we were to receive either our well or our ill Being he was the Head of the Covenant both he and we were Parties in the Covenant he obeying we obeyed and he sinning we transgressed what he did as in this publick capacity was not alone his Personal Act but it was ours also Now what Right Adam had to Indent for his Posterity and to oblige them to the Terms of the Covenant I have long since opened to you on another occasion and I shall therefore pass it by now Secondly The Threatning annexed to the Covenant of Works was Death In the Day thou Eatest thereof says God thou shalt surely Die Gen. 2.17 Now there is a Threefold Death that by the violation of this Command Man was subject unto A Temporal Death onsisting in the Miseries of this Life and at last a separation of the Soul from the Body An Eternal Death consisting in the everlasting separation of the Soul from God and a Spiritual Death consisting in the loss and separation of God's Image from the Soul And upon Adam's Sin this Threefold Death was Threatned namely Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Of these Three the Spirituaâ— Death was presently inflicted upon Man's Fall consisting in the separation of the Image of God from the Soul Man waâ— immediately deprived of that Holiness and perfect Righteousness wherein the Image of God did consist Then Thirdly Observe No Action can be Holy that doth not flow from the Image of God in the Soul as from its principle Every Action is sinful that hath not the Glory of God for its end now no Action can have the Glory of God for its end that hath not the Image oâ— God for its principle and therefore Man being despoiled of this Image of God there is no Action of any Man in the state of Nature but what is sinful and corrupt And hence it is that in Regeneration God again stamps his Image upon the Soul not indeed so perfectly as at Man's first Creation but yet in such a degree as doth thorough Grace enable him to Act Holily and in some measure according to the will of God Fourthly Though Man be despoiled of the Image of God and cannot Act Holily yet he is a busie and active Creature and must and will be still acting he hath an active Nature and he hath active Faculties still left him though the Image of God that should make those Actions Holy is justly taken from him And here at last we have traced out the true cause of that strong propension that there is in all Men unto Sin While the Soul enjoyed the Image of God it sought especially to do all in reference unto God but now that it hath lost that Image it cannot any longer raise up its Actions to a suitableness to the Will of God and therefore now it sinks them and seeks only to please its own Carnal Desires and Appetite Take the whole resolution of it in Two or Three Words The Nature of the Soul makes it prone and inclined to Act for it is a busie active Creature and if it Acts it must Sin because it hath not the Image of God to raise its Actions to a Holy and Divine conformity to the Will of God and therefore now to be prone to act is to be prone to sin and this is the true ground of that strong Propension that is in all Men to that which is evil and sinful Quest But You will say if this proneness to sin be from the loss of God's Image how comes it to pass that those who are renewed again according to the Image of God do still complain of this strong proneness and propension to sin Answ To this I answer that those of fallen Mankind to whom God is pleased to restore his Image in regeneration accordingly as this Image is more or less perfect so is this proneness to sin more or less strong but because the best are but in part renewed therefore this sinful proneness is but in part destroyed in the best Grace weakens it but Grace doth not quite remove it and therefore the holiest Christian hath and shall have as long as he lives in this World ' cause to complain with the Apostle Romans 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind there is a carnal sensual inclination in him strongly swaying him to sin contrary to the bent and inclination of his renewed part and therefore he shall have cause still to cry out with the Apostle Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death because the Image of God is but in part restored in him therefore there is partly also an inclination in him to sin Yea but you will say possibly this inclination in the best Christians may be to smaller and lesser sins Object but it cannot be thought that a Child of God who is renewed again according to the Image of God should have a strong proneness and inclination to those foul sins that the wicked of the World lie in To this I answer Answ the most that Grace doth in the best of God's Children in this life is to weaken and lessen that natural propension that is in a Child of God to every sin but not to destroy that Propension to any one sin at all no not to the foulest and vilest sins The Old Man in this life never loseth one limb though it be weakned and consuming away in his whole body Take a Child of God that before his Conversion had a strong Propension to any sin suppose what sin you will though never so foul and horrid the same Propension still remains It is not indeed so violent and raging as it was but there it is it is abated and overcome by Grace but still there is the same proneness to sin it may be a Christian is not so sensible of this Propension to sin not so frequently as formerly he hath but yet the experience of the best sometimes can inform them that even to the worst sins and most horrid temptations they find a faction and party in their hearts to promote them and it is as much work as Grace can do to subdue and quell these great sins I now come to enquire into the grounds and reasons why God should suffer this proneness to sin to continue in his dearest Saints and Children after their Conversion and Regeneration possibly some may think it would have been far more conducible to God's glory as well as their own peace and comfort if God had at once at their first Conversion utterly destroyed all the seeds and remainders of corruption in them and at first made them as perfectly holy as they shall be at last hereby God would not have been so
born and it be asked Whether it shall live and grow up to Age Why perhaps so perhaps otherwise If it grow up to Age and Enquiry be made Shall it be rich or shall it be poor honourable or despised learned or ignorant What 's the Answer Only perhaps it shall perhaps not But if it be asked Whether it shall die The Answer now is Yes it is certain without any Peradventure there is no doubt at all of this It is appointed by God for Men once to die And therefore though Physicians have written Books of preserving of Health yet never any wrote Books of avoiding of Death We need no other proof of Man's Mortality but only to search into the Records of the Grave there lie Rich and Poor Strong and Weak Wise and Foolish Holy and Prophane the Rubbish of ten thousand Generations heaped one upon another and this Truth that all must die written indelibly in their Dust That therefore that I shall do shall be in an Applicatory Way to make some Reflections upon the brutish Stupidity of Men who though they know themselves Mortal yet thrust from themselves the Thoughts of Death and neglect due Preparations for it Men live in the World as if they were arbitrary of their own Time as if they should never die and come to Judgment Oh the beastly Sottishness of Men who though they see Multitudes cut down daily by the hand of Death round about them yet they live carelesly and presumptuously as if they were priviledged Persons and Death durst not touch them Should we make Enquiry into the Causes of this gross Stupidity and Sottishness perhaps we should find it to proceed from some of these following Reasons why men put off the thoughts of Death Because they are drown'd in the affairs of the World First The generality of men are so immers'd and drowned in the Affairs and pleasures of Life that all serious thoughts of Death and preparations for it are swallowed up and devoured by them Their minds are taken up about other things and their time spent upon other matters like an heap of Ants that busily toil to gather in their Provision not regarding the foot that is ready to tread upon them so is it with most men they are taken up with impertinencies and vain things One contrives how he may melt away his days in Luxury and Pleasure and with variety of invented Delights imp the wings of time that in their apprehensions makes but slow hast that so their days and hours may roll away the faster these are such Prodigals of their time and lavish it away at that rate as if their stock would last as long as Eternity it self Some are busily climbing up the sleep ascent of Honour and Dignity and are so taken up in seeking after promotions and new Titles that they forget their old stile of mortal creatures Others are plotting with the Fool in the Gospel how they may grow rich and lay up goods for themselves for many years as they fansie when yet they know not but God may take away their Souls from them this very night and what then remains to them of all that they have thus greedily scraped together O vain and foolish men are these the things you set your hearts upon must the World drink up all your thoughts and Death that shortly will snatch you from all your enjoyments here below be forgotten by you Secondly Men put off their preparation for Death because they look upon it as a far off Men put off the thoughts of Death and their preparations for it because they generally look upon it as a far off This is the greatest sottishness in the World and yet most men are too guilty of it Those that are young and in the prime of their Days if it be askt them what they think of Death they will readily Answer that they think they ought of right and course to live till they are aged And they that are aged will tell you their weaknesses and decays are not so many or so great but they may well weather away a few more years Those that are healthful and strong think surely they need not prepare for dying till God by some sickness sends them a summons and those whom God is pleased to vouchsafe a summons by Sickness and Distempers alas they think that it is yet possible for them to escape from them again And thus all are ready to thrust Death from them and to put the Evil Day a far off And though God hath told out to them but a few days or hours yet they liberally and bountifully reckon upon Years and Ages as if their time were not in God's hands but their own It is a true saying that usually the hopes of a long Life is the Cause of an Evil Life Suppose now that every one of us knew for a certainty that our lives must run out with the Glass that is before us that at the end of the hour God would strike us all dead upon the place should we not all of us have more lively apprehensions of Death and Eternity than ever yet we have had should we not pour out our Souls before God requires them from us in holy Affections and fervent Prayers should we give scope to the gaddings of our Thoughts and the vanity of our Hearts should we think of such a vain Pleasure or such a worldly Employment if God now from Heaven should speak audibly to us and bid us give an account of our Stewardship for we must be no longer Stewards no certainly it is impossible that men should thus behave themselves And why Sirs is it not so with you always for ought you know that Film and Bubble that holds your Lives may be now a breaking your Graves may be ready to be digging and the last Sand in your Glass may be now a running however certain it is it cannot be long before it will be so with all of us Did we but seriously consider by what small pins this frame of Man is tacked together it would appear to us to be no less than a Miracle that we live one day yea one hour to an end Thirdly The thoughts of Death being terible makes men put off their preparation for it Men generally put off the thoughts of Death and their preparation for it because of those frightful terrors and that insupportable dread that such apprehensions bring with them Death is that which above all things Humane Nature most abhors Oh! to think of the separation of those near and dear companions the Soul and Body of the debasement dishonour and horrour of the Grave that there we must lie in a Bed of stench and rottenness under a coverlet of Worms crawling upon us consuming and mouldring away to dust in oblivion and forgetfulness Oh! these are too sad and Melancholy Thoughts for the Jovial World to entertain and dwell upon But though the consideration of these things are very unwelcome yea
very dismal unto the minds of sinners yet is there far worse behind then all this still and that which carries in it far greater terrour and amazement and that is the sin that deserves Death and the Hell that follows it for as the Apostle says 1 Cor. 15.56 the sting of Death is sin And it s no wonder that Men who are conscious to themselves of condemning guilt dare not think of standing before the dreadful Tribunal of God and Death now is God's Serjeant to Arrest them and to bring them thither they cannot bear the thoughts of Eternal Vengeance and prepared Torments to be for ever inflicted on them by the Almighty Power of an incensed God and therefore it is no wonder that they put far from them the thoughts of Death because their Consciences tell them that that Day whensoever it comes will be to them an Evil Day Many more Reasons might be given of this brutishness of men in putting off the thoughts of Death and preparations for it but these shall suffice The next thing that I shall do shall be to lay down some Considerations that may fore-arm Christians against the Fears and Terrours of Death Considerations to arm men against the fears of Death and make them willing to submit unto this law of Dying unto which God hath subjected all men And First The soul is immortal and parting with this it enters into a better life If the Soul be immortal as certainly it is and that parting from this it enters upon a better Life than this we may well then be contented to Die upon that account No man says a Roman Author thinks Death is much to be avoided since Immortality follows Death I am very sensible how hard a task it is to perswade men to be willing to Die but yet let me ask you if you are believers for in this I speak only unto such what is there in Death that is so terrible to you I know it is monstrous and full of horrour if we consider nothing but the Corruption of the Flesh the gastly paleness the stiff cold and grim visage the distorted Eyes and trembling Limbs of Dying Persons And afterwards think of the stench and filthiness of the Grave and lastly the dissipation of the visible part of Man All these Considerations make Death very terrible and full of horrour to us But now he that shall consider after all this his spiritual invisible part what can he see in Death that is not very desirable to him the Body rests from its labours and the Soul enjoys its reward in Heaven If you are hereby taken away from conversing with men yet the Soul is elevated to an acquaintance with Angels that is still alive in its own Nature the Soul lives for ever being placed above the common Arrests of Death We find to this purpose after that God had tryed the patience of Job by the loss of all his substance and afterwards of all his Children also he restores to him double whatever he had taken from him Job 42. â—0 so we read in the Holy Story the Lord gave unto Job twice as much as he had before Now whereas at first Job had three thousand Camels God restores to him six thousand whereas before he had seven thousand Sheep God restores to him fourteen thousand and so of all the rest double the number of what he lost But when God comes to recompence to him the loss of his Children which doubtless were of far greater value than all the rest whereas he had seven Sons and three Daughters God restores to him the same number again not double in these as he did in all the rest And wherefore did God double his Camels his Sheep and his Oxen and not his Children why the Reason was because his Children were not so dead as were his Camels and the rest of his brute Creatures their Souls remain'd Immortal and Entire still after Death So that God in giving Job seven Sons and three Daughters did double them notwithstanding though he gave him no more than he had at first So here though we Die yet Death doth us no injury our better part survives and if we are Believers it survives in such unconceivable Joys as that all the pleasures of the World are but Misery and Wretchedness compared to them A Christian's Hope cannot be accomplished but by dying Secondly The whole Life of a Christian is founded upon a Hope that cannot be accomplished but by dying And if so that Mans Mistake must needs be inexcusable who abhors that which alone can bring him to the possession of his Hopes and Desires Christians what is it that you hope for Is it not to arrive at Glory with an innumerable Host of Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to see God and to rejoyce in him at a nearer hand than you now do here below to be for ever blessed in the close Embraces of the sovereign Good And what other way is there of obtaining this but only by dying Death is now made to us an In-let to Glory the very Gate to Heaven It is therefore unreasonable to fear that which is the only way to obtain that we hope for Death is a quiet sleep Thirdly This Death though so much dreaded is no other than a quiet Sleep So the Scripture often represents it to us under the Notion of Sleep Them that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him Sleep is the natural resemblance of Death Sleep and Death are very near a-kin When we are asleep we see not we hear not all our Senses are lock'd up from the enjoyment of any worldly Delights we take no comfort in our Friends in our Riches or Estates all these are cancell'd out of our Minds and what more doth Death do than cancel these things out of Men's Memories And yet the weary Labourer lays himself down with contentment to take his Sleep until the Morning and why may not we also lay down our selves with the same peace and contentment in our Graves to take our Rest and Sleep until the Morning of the Resurrection Indeed the Sleep of Death is different from natural Sleep since that deprives us of natural Light but this Sleep of Death brings us to the vision of true inaccessible Light What then is there in death that we should stand in dread of it Why should that be feared by those for whom the sting of it is already taken out Such may safely take this Serpent into their bosoms for though it hiss at them yet it cannot wound or hurt them nay instead of wounding them it is reconciled to them and become one of their party The Apostle therefore reckoning up the Inventory of a Christian reckons this among them 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Life or Death all is yours And in another place he tells us Phil. 1.21 That to him to live was Christ and to die was Gain And well may a
â—s small Sins yet they still plod on in â—he way to Hell and Destruction without any stop or interruption In sharp Diseases the violence of the Fit doth not â—ast so long as the Disease lasts at times â—here is an Intermission but still there is â— constant Distemper in the Body So when the pang of a violent Sin is well over yet still there remains a constant Distemper in the Soul which though it be not outragious yet still continues the Souls Disease and will bring it to its Death at last In the Fortification of a City or Town all the Ramparts are not Castles and Strong holds but between Fort and Fort there is a Line drawn thaâ— doth as it were joyn all together anâ— makes the place Impregnable So is â— in the Fortification of the Soul by Sin all Sins are not Strong holds of Sathan they are greater and grosser Sins but between these is drawn a line of smalleâ— Sins so close that you cannot find â— Breach in it and by these the Heart iâ— fenced against God Now is it nothing that your Little Sins fill up all the voiâ— spaces of your Lives Is it nothing thaâ— you no where lie open to the force and impression of the Holy Spirit He by his Convictions batters the greater and more hainous Sins of your Lives buâ— these Strong holds of Sathan are Impregnable and give him the repulse he seeks to enter in by the Thoughts but these are so fortified by Vanity and Earthly mindedness and a thousand other Follies that though they are but Little Sins yet swarms of them stop up the passage and the Soul is so full already that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to enter There 's not a sinner here that if he will make an Impartial search within him but will find the experience of this in his own breast When at any â—me you have flown out into the Commission of any boisterous and notorious Wickedness have you not afterwards â—und that you live in a more constant â—king and allowance of little Sins When â—nce a Man is stunn'd by some heavy â—ow a small nip or pinch is not then felt â—y him And when once Conscience is â—eadned by the stroak of some great and â—andalous Sin afterwards it grows less â—ensible of the guilt and evil that there â— in smaller Sins and thus you live in â—hem without pain and regret till you â—ll into some notorious Wickedness that â—ore hardens the Heart and more fears â—he Conscience and what is this but to â—n round from Sin to Sin from a small â—in to a great Sin and from a great Sin â—o a small Sin again till Hell put a peâ—iod to this Circle what is this now â—ut for the Devil to get ground upon â—ou by great Sins and to keep it by little Sins whereby he drives on and keeps up â—he trade of Sin and when God shall â—ast up your Accounts for you at the last Day you will find that the Trade hath â—gain'd you no small loss even the loss of â—our Immortal Souls Now although â—he evil and danger of committing little Sins hath been made very apparent in the forementioned particulars yet because Men are very prone to indulge and excuse themselves herein I shall add some farther Demonstrations of their aggravated Guilt in these following particulars Which will serve greatly for the confirmation of the truth of the Doctrine Little Sins usually are the damning Sins First Consider little Sins usually are the damning and destroying Sins There are more beyond comparison that perish and go down to Hell by the Commission of little Sins than by those that are more Notorious and Infamous here perisheth the Hypocrite and here the formal Professor here perisheth your honest civil neighbourly Man that is so fair and upright in his dealing that you can see nothing that is gross and scandalous by him Oh! but yet the blood of their precious and Immortal Souls runs out and is spilt for ever thorough those insensible wounds that little Sins do make Yea hereby commonly perisheth the Prophane Sinner also for it is usually but the Commission of one small Sin more that fills up the measure of their â—niquities and makes them fully ripe â—or Damnation sometimes indeed God â—oth by some signal Stroke of his Vengeance strike the sinner through and â—hrough in the Commission of some bold â—nd daring Sin but usually the last Sin â—f the worst of Men is but of the lesser â—ze and though God hath formerly â—orn many great impieties from such â—ersons yet is he at last so provoked by â—ome little Sin that he will wait no lonâ—er but snatcheth the sinner away in his â—rath and throws him down into Hell This is an Argument how dreadfully â—rovoking small Sins are that usually â—pon the Commission of one of them God puts an end to his patience and forâ—earance It is not all the great and crying â—ins of a Mans Life that brings so much misery upon him as a little Sin that â—nks him down into Eternal Torments â—oth Usually the last Sin that a sinner â—nters into Hell by is but a little Sin Take it therefore as a warning from God â—enceforth never more despise any Sin â—s slight because it is small We have a â—nown Proverb among us that when a â—east hath his full load one straw more will break his Back Believe it sirs it is most certainly true in the present Case many Christians have been a long time sinners against God and their own Souls adding iniquity to iniquity and some oâ— you may already have your full load â— beware how you ever venture upon thâ— Commission of another Sin though it bâ— but a little and a slight Sin yet this slighâ— and small Sin added to the rest may breaâ— and sink you for ever into Hell thiâ— little Sin may fill up the Ephah of youâ— iniquities and after this small Sin yoâ— may neither have time to Sin again noâ— to Repent of your Sin Little Sins what they want in weight they do more than make up innumber Secondly Consider this Small Sin what they want in weight usually they do more than make up in number and therefore are as pernicious to the Souâ— as the greatest Sins can be Hence David prays Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret Sins Psal 19.12 Secret Sins must needs bâ— the least and smallest Sins seeing they are so small that he that commits then cannot discern them but yet as they are small so are they numerous whâ— knows how often he thus transgresseth whâ— can understand his errours Therefore cleanse thou me O Lord from these secret â—ins A Ship may have a heavy burâ—en of Sands as well as of Milstones and â—ay be as soon sunk with them And â—uly small Sins though they should be â— small as Sands yet commonly they â—e as numerous as the Sands too and â—hat odds then is there between
them â—d the greatest Sins Every thought â—ou thinkest and every word thou â—eakest in an unregenerate State and conâ—tion there is Sin in it and though most â— them possibly are but little Sins yet â— multitude of them alone are able to â—nk you down into the lowest Hell â—our Consciences start back and are â—frighted as indeed they ought at a â—emptation to Murder Incest Blasâ—emy or any of those more horrid Sins â—at are the prodigies of corrupt Nature â—ese Sins you dare not so much as comâ—it once And yet thousands of thouâ—nds of lesser Sins such as sinful Thoughts â—le Words petty Oaths commodious Lyes â—ese proceed from you without either â—riving against them or mourning for â—em Why now Sirs do you more fear â—tolerable and everlasting Wrath for â—e single Commission of a great Sin than you do for the frequent and repeated Commission of less Sins Truly â— cannot precisely tell you whether you had not as good Blaspheme God once aâ— take his Name in vain often whetheâ— it be not as good to Murder once as to hate always The frequency of little Sins makes their guilt so great and theiâ— punishment so intolerable that the vilest Sins you can imagine shall have nothing to exceed them in unless it be the horror of the Name of that Sin Anâ— yet it fares with us as it did with thâ— Israelites we tremble more at one Goliah than we do at the whole Army of thâ— Philistines One gross scandalous Siâ— makes Conscience recoil and go back when yet we venture upon the number less guilt of smaller Sins that have leâ— terror in their Name though united iâ— their guilt they bring far sorer Condemnation on the Soul than the single Commission of a great Sin What great diâ—ference is there whether your Eternaâ— burning be kindled by many sparks oâ— by one fire brand Whether you Die bâ— many smaller Wounds or by one greaâ— one Many little Items may make Debt desperate and the payment impossible And truly when God shall â—eckon up against us at the great Day many thousand vain Thoughts and as many superfluous idle Words with as many petty Oaths and Lyes that we â—ave been guilty of the account will be â—s dreadful and the Wrath that will â—ollow as insupportable as if Murder Blasphemy or the greatest outrage that â—ver was committed in the World were â—ingly charged upon us Thirdly It 's difficult to convince men of the evil of little Sins Consider it is very difficult â—o convince Men of the great Evil and Danger that there is in little Sins and â—herefore it is very difficult to bring them â—o Repentance for them Indeed this is â—he great and desperate Evil that there â—s in small Sins that Men will not be perswaded that they are Evil. Flagitious wickednesses are usually self condemning they carry that brand upon them that makes them evident to every Mans Conscience that they come from Hell and will certainly lead to Hell Rom. 1.33 and therefore the Apostle Rom. 1.33 after he had reckoned up a black Catalogue of Sins tells them in the last verse that though they were Heathens yet they knew the Judgments of God that they that committed such things were worthy of Death But now the guilt of little Sins is not so apparent the eye of a meer natural Conscience looks usually outward to the Life and Conversation and if that be plain and smooth it sees not or dispenseth with the lesser Sins of the Heart Hence is it that we so seldom confess or mourn for those that we call lesser Sins When is it that we are deeply humbled for the Omission of duties or for the slight and perfunctory performance of them these we look not upon as deserving Damnation and therefore we think they need no Repentance Nay are we not so far from judging and condemning our selves for them that we seek out pretences to excuse and lessen them calling them Slips Failings and vnavoidable Infirmities Gen. 19.20 And as Lot said of Zoar is it not a little one and our Souls shall live What can I think there is so much danger in a foolish Thought in a vain and inconsiderate Word Can I think that the great God will torment his poor creatures for ever for a Thought for a Word for a Glance yes believe it unless these Sins be done away in the Blood of Christ there is not the least of them but hath an infinite Evil in it and an infinite Wrath following of it If you will not now be convinced of it you shall be then when with dread and astonishment you shall hear God calling your little Sins by other Names than you now do you call them Failings and Infirmities but God will call them Presumptions and Rebellions What you say is but a vain Thought shall be arraign'd as Treason against God as Atheism and Soul Murder Then every formal heartless Duty that here you performed shall be accused of mocking and scoffing of God they are so interpretatively and in God's esteem and unless the guilt of them be done away by the Blood of sprinkling you will find them no less at the great and terrible Day of the Lord. Indeed the generality of Men have gotten a dangerous Method of doing away the guilt of their Sins great Sins they make to be little and little Sins they make to be none at all and thus they do away their Sins and so they Live in them customarily and Die in them impenitently and perish under them irrecoverably The least sin allow'd is a sign of an hypocritical Heart Fourthly Consider that the allowance anâ— cordial approbation but of the least Sin is â— certain sign of a most rotten and hypocriticaâ— Heart Be thy Conversation never sâ— blameless be thy profession never so glorious be thy Duties and Services never sâ— pompous yet if there be the secret reservation and allowance but of the leasâ— Sin all this is no more than so much vain show and pageantry Jam. 1.26 What says the Apostle Jam. 1.26 If any Man among you seem tâ— be Religious and bridleth not his Tongue that Man deceiveth himself his Religion is vain Why is it not strange that after so many prayers daily put up to God after an eminent profession and a considerable progress made in the ways of God that yet both the sincerity and success oâ— all this should depend upon so small â— thing as the tip of a man's Tongue If thaâ— be allowed to run at random into impertinencies not to say into Debaucheries and Prophaneness all your Duties all youâ— Prayers all your Profession is blown away by the same Tongue that uttered them and all your Religion will be in vain and let me add This seeming Religion will enâ— only in shame and confusion at the last when the Soul and Conscience of a sinner shall be ript open at the great Day before Men and Angels and that little Sin that kept God and Christ
works upon Wicked Men and Reprobates as well as others Buâ— Sanctifying Grace that is special and belongs only to those who belong themselves to the Election of Grace Esaâ— whom the Scripture Notes as the greaâ— instance of Reprobation comes out against Jacob with a Troop of Four Thousand Ruffins intending doubtless to Revenge himself upon him for the loss oâ— his Birth-Right and Blessing but at their first meeting God by a secret work so mollifies his Heart that instead of falling upon him and killing him he falls upon his Neck and kisses him here God restrains him from that Presumptuous Sin of Murder not in a way of meer External Providence but with his own Hand immediately turns about his Heart and by seeing such a company of Cattel bleating and bellowing so many timorous Men and helpless Children all bowing and supplicating unto him he turns his Revenge into Compassion and with much urging receives a Present from him whom before he intended to make a Prey The same power of restraint God laid upon the Heart of Abimelech that Heathen King you have it in Geneses 20.6 when he had taken Sarah Abraham 's Wife intending to make her his Wife or Concubine God tells him in a Dream I with-held thee from â—inning against me therefore suffered I â—hee not to touch her Here was nothing visible to hinder Abimelech from so great â— Wickedness but God invisibly wrought upon his heart and unhinged his wicked Desires now from the instances of Esau and Abimelech we may clearly collect how Restraining Grace differs both from Restraining Providence and also from Sanctifying Grace From Providence it differs because usually when God Providentially restrains from Sin he doth it by some visible apparent means that doth not work by bringing any change or alteration on the Heart but only by â—aying an External Check upon Men's Actions but now by Restraining Grace God deals in a secret way with the very Heart of a Sinner though he doth not change the nature of his Heart yet he alters the present frame and disposition of it and takes away the desire of committing those Sins that yet it doth not Mortifie and from Sanctifying Grace it differs also in that God vouchsafes Restraining Grace to Wicked Men as you have heard but none partake of Sanctifying Grace besides the Children of God and the Remnant according to Election those whom he predestinates them he also calls that is them he Sanctifies as yoâ— have it in Rom. 8.30 Election Sanctification are of the self same bredth Electionâ— the cause of Sanctification Sanctificatioâ— is a sign of Election Those whom Goâ— will bring to himself in Glory he causeth a double separation to pass upoâ— them the one from Eternity when hâ— calls them out from the mass of thoâ— that he leaves to perish in their Sins anâ— the other in Time when those whom he hath set apart for himself by Election he brings home to himself by Conversion And therefore whatever measure of Restraining Grace God may aâ—ford to Wicked Men and Reprobates yeâ— Sanctifying Grace is the fruit only of Election and the portion only of thoâ— who are Elected And that is the firâ— difference In their Nature Essence Secondly They differ also in theiâ— Nature and Essence Sanctifying Gracâ— is a Habit wrought in the Soul by thâ— Spirit of God called therefore a writinâ— of the Law on the Heart and a putting God's fear into our inward parts Jer. 31. 33. And St. John terms it a Seed that remains John 1.9 These Expressions clearly denote it to be an internal Principle or Habit deeply rooted and fixed in the Soul and whatever Holy Actions a Saint performs as they are caused by a Divine influence without him so they flow also from a Holy Principle within him Hence our Saviour tells us in Mark 12.35 That a good Man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things that is out of that inward Habit and Principle of Grace that the Holy Ghost hath wrought in him in the work of Regeneration But Restraining Grace hath no such Habit and Principle implanted in the Soul but is only a Merciful Actual influence from God hindering the commission of those Sins to which Men's Natural Corruptions make them enclined in brief Sanctifying Grace is a Quality wrought in us but Restraining Grace is only an Action flowing from God Thirdly In the manner of their Operation Sanctifying and Restraining Grace differ in their manner of Working and Operation and here we may observe a Four fold difference Sanctifying Grace destroys Sin Restraining Grace only Imprisons it First Sanctifying Grace keeps the Soul from Sin by destroying of it but Restraining Grace keeps the Soul from Sin only by imprisoning of it God many times shuts up the sins of those in Prison whom notwithstanding he will at last shut up in Hell It is sanctifying Grace alone that can do execution upon them restraining grace may debar them of their liberty but it is only Sanctifying Grace can deprive them of their Life There may appear but little difference betwixt the Conversation of a Child of God whom Special Grace doth Sanctifie and one in a state of Nature whom common Grace doth only Restrain doth the one walk blamelessly without offence doth he avoid the grosser Pollutions of the World so doth the other a Star is not more like a Star than these Meteors may be like them But now here lies the difference Restraining Grace only ties the Hands but Sanctifying Grace stabs the old Man to the Heart It is one thing to bind a Thief to a Tree and another thing to Nail him fast to the Cross Restraining Grace only binds Corruption fast that it cannot stir not outwardly but still it hath as much strength as ever But now Sanctifying Grace that Crucifies it and Nails it to the Cross of Christ where it weakens and languisheth and hangs a dying Body of Death The Earth is as dry and hard in a frosty Winter as it is in a parching Summer yet there 's a great deal of difference in the cause of it in Summer the Sun dries up the moisture and in Winter the Frost binds it in Truly Restraining and Sanctifying Grace are for all the World like Frost and Sun the ways of those who have only a Restraint laid upon them may be altogether as fair and clean as the ways of those that are Sanctified are but there 's a great difference in the cause Sanctifying Grace dries up the Filth and Corruption in the Heart of the one but Restraining Grace only frezeth in and binds up the Filth and Corruption of the other Secondly Sanctifying Grace strikes at the Sins of the heart Restraining Grace only hinders the Sins of the Life Sanctifying Grace strikes especially at the Sins of the Heart but Restraining Grace usually only hinders the Sins of the Life An Unregenerate Man though never so Moral hunts his Sins only in
force of his Wrath but like a mighty Torrent it swept them all into Perdition How much less then could we stand before him God could have blown away every sinner in the World as so much loose Dust into Hell It had been easie for his Power and Justice if he had so pleased to have triumph'd in the Destruction of all Mankind but only that he intended a higher and more noble Victory even that his Mercy should triumph and prevail over his Justice in the pardoning and saving of sinners Thirdly God pardons tho he might gain Renown as on the Damned God pardons sin though he might gain to himself a great Renown as he hath on the Damned God might have written thy Name in Hell as he hath written theirs and might have set thee up a flaming Monument and inscribed on thee Victory and Conquest to the Glory of his Everlasting Vengeance Both Books were open before him both the Book of Life and of Death and the Contents of both shall be rehearsed to his infinite Glory at the last Day Now what was it dictated thy Name to him that guided his Hand to write thee down rather in the Book of Life than in the Book of Death that set thee down a Saint and not a Sinner Pardon'd and not Condemn'd What moved him to do all this for thee Why truly the only Answer that God gives and which is the only Answer that can be given is the same which Pilate gives concerning our Saviour What I have written I have written Fourthly Consider the paucity and smallness of the number of those that are pardon'd Professours of Christianity are calculated by some to possess not above the sixth part of the known World and if among them we make a proportionable abatement for those that are professed Idolaters for the grosly ignorant for the prophane and the Hypocritical Certainly there will be but a small Flock remaining unto Jesus Christ here and there one pick't and cull'd out of the Multitudes of the World like the Olive berries the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of left on the top of the uppermost Branches when the Devil hath shaken down all the rest into Hell Now is it not infinite Mercy that thou should'st be found among these Gleanings after Harvest that thou shoul'dst be one of these few God might have left thee to perish upon the same Reason that he left others but he gathered thee out of all Nations Kindreds and Languages of the Earth to make thee a Vessel of Mercy for himself Indeed thou canst never enough admire the peculiar Love of God to thee herein till the last Day when thou shalt see the small number of those that are saved standing on the Right Hand of Christ compared with the vast numbers of those that perish standing at the Left Hand of Christ and seest thy self among the small number of those that are saved Fifthly This also commends the freeness of pardoning Grace that whereas the fallen Angels themselves were absolutely excepted out of God's Act of Indemnity and Oblivion yet fallen Man is again restored unto his Favour Them God hath reserved in chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day us he hath brought into glorious Light and Liberty Our sins are blotted out of the Book of God's Remembrance whereas their Names are blotted out of the Muster-Roll of God's Heavenly Host Now here there are four things that dâ— greatly advance the Glory of free Grace First Their Natures were more excellent than ours Secondly Their Services would have been much more perfect than ours Thirdly Their Sins were fewer thaâ— ours are And Fourthly Their Pardon might have been procured at as cheap a rate and at a little Expence as ours And yet not them but us God hath chosen to be Vessels oâ— his Mercy First Their Natures were more excellent than ours They were glorious Spirits the top and cream of the Creation we Clods of Earth the Lees and Dregâ— of Nature our Souls the only part by which we claim Kin to Angels even they are of a younger House and of a more Ignoble Extract how are they debased by being confined to these Lumps of Flesh which with much adoe they make a shift to drag with them up and down the Earth rather as Fetters of their Bondage than Instruments of their Service nay so low sunk are we in this slime of matter that we have not Excellency enough so much as to conceive what a pure Heavenly Orient Substance a Spirit is And yet such as we are Dust and Filth hath God gathered up into his own Bosome though he hath disbanded whole Legions of Angels and sent them down into Hell In these Natures of ours hath the Son of God Revealed or rather hid himself Even he who thought it no Robbery to be equal with God thought it no scorn to become lower than Angels He took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Secondly Their Services would have been more perfect upon their restoration than ours can be Indeed when we arrive at Heaven our Services our Love our Joy and our Praises shall then attain to a perfection exclusive of all sinful defects But even then must we give Place to the Angels as in our Beings so in our Actings also Had God restored them and given them a Pardon Heaven would more have resounded with the Shouts and Hallelujahs of one fallen Angel than it can now with a whole Consort of glorified Saints They would have burnt much more ardently in Love who now must burn much more fiercely in Torments They would much more mightily and sweetly have sung forth the Praises of God their Redeemer who now curse and blaspheme him more bitterly And as far have out-stript a Saint in the work of Heaven as they shall do a sinner in the Punishment of Hell And yet free Grace passeth by them and elects and chuseth narrower Hearts to conceive and feebler Tongues to utter the Praises of their Redeemer whose Praises ought therefore to be the more because he chuseth not them that may give him the most Thirdly Consider this their sins were fewer then ours are We cannot exactly determine what their sins were only the Apostle gives us a hint that it was Pride gave them their fall 1 Tim. 3.6 Not a Novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil Whether it was Pride in that they affected to be God or in that they scorn'd to be Guardians and Ministring Spirits unto Man or in that they refused to become subject unto the Son of God who was shortly to become Man the Schools boldly enough dispute but no Man can determine but whatever it was this is certain God was speedy in the execution of wrath upon them tumbling them all down headlong into Hell upon their first Rebellion The time of their standing in their Primitive State is conceived to be very short for their Creation though the Socinians
we are both ways discharged from our Guilt by Satisfaction unto the Penalty of the Law in Christ our Surety and by the free Grace and Mercy of God who hath made and sealed to us a gracious Act of Pardon in Christ's Blood and therefore we stand upright in Law and are as Just and Righteous in God's sight as if we had never sinned against him O how great Consolation is here unto the Children of God! They account themselves great Sinners yea the greatest and worst of Sinners but God accounts them Just and Righteous they keep their sins in remembrance as David speaks my sin is ever before me when God hath not only forgiven but fotgotten them they write and speak bitter things against themselves when God is writing out their Pardon and setting his Seal unto it God's Grace as easily pardons great as small sins Fourthly Pardoning Grace can as easily triumph in the remitting of great and many Sins as of few and small Sins What a great blot upon the Heavens is a thick Cloud and yet the Beams of the Sun can pierce thorow that and scatter it easily Why now God will blot out our Trangressions as a thick Cloud so himself tells us by the Prophet Isa 44.12 I will blot out thy transgressions as a cloud and thine iniquities as a thick cloud A great Debt may as easily be blotted out as a small one Ten thousand Talents is a great Summ yet it is as easily and freely forgiven by the great God as a few Pence God proclaims himself to be a God pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin that is Sins of all sorts and sizes The greatest Sins repented of are no more without the Extent of Divine Grace and Mercy than the least Sins unrepented of are without the Cognizance of Divine Justice Esay 1.18 Though your sins be as scarlet yet shall they become as white as snow though they be red as crimson yet they shall be as wooll And can there then be found a despairing Soul in the World when the great God hath thus magnified his Grace and Mercy above all his Works yea and above all ours also Say not then O Sinner my sins are greater than can be forgiven this is to stint and limit the Grace of God which he hath made boundless and infinite and thou mayest with as much Truth and Reason say thou art greater than God as that thy Sins are greater than his Mercy Of all things in the World take heed that you be not injurious to this rich Grace to this free Love and Mercy that pardons thee even for his own sake God pardons thee for himself for his own Sake and dost thou fear O Penitent believing Soul that ever he will condemn thee for thy Sins no but as much as God and his Mercy is greater than our Sins so much more Reason will he find in himself to Pardon the Repenting Believing Sinner than he can find Reason in his Sins to condemn him Thus we see what cause of Comfort there is in this Pardoning Grace of God And thus also we have consider'd Pardon of Sin in its own Nature Of the Concomitants of Pardon of sin Secondly We shall now consider Pardon of Sin in its Concomitants and Adjuncts and so we shall take a view of those things which do inseparably accompany it and thereby also we may see how great and unspeakable a Mercy it is It is a Mercy that is never bestowed upon the Soul singly and alone but evermore comes environ'd with whole Troops and Associate-Blessings As Pardon of Sin and Acceptation go together First Pardon of Sin is always conjoyn'd with the Acceptation of our Persons Indeed these two are the twin Parts of our Justification and therefore we have them coupled together Ephes 1.6 7. He hath made us accepted in the beloved In whom we have Redemption thorow his blood even the Forgiveness of Sin The whole Mystery of our Justification stands in these two things Remission and Acceptation Remission takes away our liableness unto Death and Acceptation gives us a Right and Title unto Life for to be accepted of God in Christ is no other than for God through the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ imputed to us to own and acknowledge us as having a Right and Title unto Heaven and therefore we have mention made of Pardon and an Inheritance together as the full summ of our Justification Acts 11.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those that are sanctified It is not therefore O Soul a bare negative Mercy that God intends thee in the Pardon of thy Sins it is not merely the removing of the Curse and the Wrath that thy sins have deserv'd though that alone can never be sufficiently admired but the same hand that plucks thee out of Hell by pardoning Grace and Mercy lifts thee up to Heaven by what it gives thee together with thy Pardon even a Right and Title to the glorious Inheritance of the Saints above Secondly Another Concomitant is this Pardoning and sanctifying Grace go together Who-ever God pardons he doth also in some measure sanctifie He subdues our sins as well as blots them out he abates their Power as well as removes their Guilt And indeed it were no better than lost labour for God to pardon sin if he did not purifie the Sinner also for were but the least Sin and Corruption left to rule and reign in us we should presently run our selves as far into Debt and Arrears as ever we were Indeed the best Christian in whom Grace is most prevailing and Corruption weakest yet even he stands daily and hourly in need of pardoning Mercy but yet withal his Sins are not of so high a Nature nor so deep a Stain as usually the Sins of wicked Men are His Sins usually are such rather for the manner of them than for the matter of them God by his pardoning Grace forgives Infirmities Failings and Defects and by his sanctifying Grace ordinarily keeps him from the commission of more gross and scandalous Sins And how then can we enough admire the rich Grace of God that not only forgives us our Debts but withal bestows a new stock upon us to keep us from running into Debt again in any great and desperate Summs Pardon of Sin and Adoption are inseparable Thirdly Pardon of sin is always conjoyn'd with our Adoption into the Family of Heaven Herein is the Love of God greatly seen not only to pardon Rebels but to make them his Children not only to forgive Debtors but to make them Heirs of his own Estate The same precious Blood that blots out our Sins writes us down Heirs of Glory and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself O infinite and unspeakable Mercy of God thus richly and bountiful to give as well as freely to forgive that he should thus instate us at present in his Love and Favour and hereafter instate us in his Glory This is not the