so neither is our purchas'd Inheritance of so trifling and inconsiderable a value The Liberty of the Sons of God is an Eternal Emancipation from Sin and Misery from the Sollicitations of our Senses the Importunities of Satan and from all the Disadvantages and Incumbrances of this mortal State Have you seen the Cedars or the Fir-Trees which from a little Seed rise so high and spread their Branches so wide Just so will it fare with Man in the State of Regeneration infinitely beyond his present Self will his Perfections be Here the Corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the Earthly Tabernacle weighs down the Mind which otherwise would muse of many things But there will our Spirits to their endless Joy and Comfort find their Garments lighter this unweildy Clog of Flesh and Blood being made fit to serve them in their briskest Motions and even to vye with the swiftest Seraph that flies in the Regions of Light and Glory Here though we sometimes travel with Vigour and Alacrity in the way that leads to Sion yet in an instant such Fogs and Vapours rise from our terrene and sensual Affections as cast a cold Damp over all our Faculties and make us heartless and unactive as the Earth we tread on But there we shall be all Life and Spirit and Wing entirely freed from the Vicissitudes of Mortality and bath our active and sprightly Plumes in the Silver Streams of Eternal Joy and Delight Here Satan sometimes mixeth himself among the Children of God and many enter into the Choirs of the Saints who know not how to chant their ravishing Melody the Songs of Sion But in the Blessed Consort above every Soul will be harmonious and skilfully contribute its part to the full Musick of Heaven The glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs together with the several Orders of glorious Angels will stand about the Throne with one Heart and one Voice giving glory to him who sits thereupon and to the Lamb for ever and ever They shall wear Crowns on their Heads more bright and glittering than those of the Mightiest Oppressors and those immortal Palms they shall carry in their hands declare That Death is Swallowed up in victory They shall no longer stand behind the Wall of Partition nor be debarr'd by a thick House of Clay from beholding the ultimate Object of their Love and Praise but all intervening Obstacles and Impediments shall be remov'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 84.7 and that Summum Bonum that Fountain of Life and Blessedness that Primitive and Original Beauty the God of Gods himself appear in his Essential Lustre and Brightness to every one of them in Sion In short 'T is in vain to attempt the painting of this Blessed State by Rhetorical Colours no Words no Thoughts can reach it yea the bold licentious Metaphors even of Poets themselves fall infinitely short of its Greatness and Excellency Eye hath not seen says St. Paul nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Now then can we think this Blessed State design'd for them that are at Ease in Sion who rest in the Notional Considerations of the Goodness of their Maker and therefore lie securely dissolv'd in the softest Caresses of Luxury and Voluptuousness No. We must be conformable to our Lord in the Likeness of his Death before we can be so in the Likeness of his Resurrection We must crucifie the Old Man and utterly abolish the whole Body of Sin and by our constant and uniform Practice of an Universal Righteousness strive to enter in at the strait Gate We must labour with all our Might to make our Calling and Election sure and press with all possible Vehemence towards the Mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus If these Corruptible Crowns the fading momentary Honours of this Life if I say the transient Favour of a Prince and the vain uncertain Plaudite's and Hosanna's of the Crowd cannot be justly atchiev'd without Toll and Labour then surely we cannot expect that these immortal Honours the Approbation of God himself the Applause of his Holy Angels and the Crown of Immortality can be obtain'd at a cheaper Rate This were to prostitute the Divine Favours to vilifie the Pearl of Price and insufferably to debase that Glory which cannot be comprehended but by the Circle of Eternity Nothing then but Constancy and Perseverance can crown the Christian Hero and set on his Head an immortal Diadem Be faithful unto the End saith our Lord and I will give thee the Crown of Life and again To him that overcometh I will grant to sit down with me on my Throne even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father on his Throne Lift up the Hands then that hang down and strengthen the feeble Knees Behold Thy Saviour holds out to thee a Crown of Glory and invites thee to partake of his immortal Joys He calls thee to the blissful Choir of Angels and to the glorious Society of Just Men made perfect who following him in White Robes do nothing but sing and love to all Eternity Alas could we but hear some Echoes of those Songs wherewith they make the Paradise of God the Place of his happy Residence the Seat of his Eternal Empire the Heaven of Heavens continually resound some Remains of those Voices that Symphony and Joy wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises and solemn Adoration of the King of Spirits how would they inflame our Desires to be join'd with them O how amiable should we think those Dwellings of the Lord of Hosts Our Souls would most passionately desire and long to enter into the Courts of the Lord and to go and sing with those glorious Beings the Praises of the Living God We should choose rather to be Door-Keepers the very meanest Persons of all that Blessed Company in the House of God than to enjoy for ever the utmost Liberality of Created Nature in the Tents of Wickedness We should think nothing too much to part with for that Blessed Inheritance but readily sell all that we have for that Pearl of Price that inestimable Treasure those solid and substantial Glories of the Kingdom of Heaven In a word we should chearfully follow the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Confessors through all the Stages of Mortification and Self-denial most gladly encount'ring all the Tribulations Hardships and Difficulties the World or Satan can bring upon us that we might at last attain to that ineffable Glory But Lastly I come to represent to you the Reasonableness of the Exhortation contain'd in the Text from the Consideration of the exceeding Brevity or Shortness of the Time we are allow'd to work in Man is like a thing of nought says the Psalmist his time passeth away like a Shadow that necessarily disappears when the Sun leaves our Horizon and
increas'd in Wisdom and Knowledge Though as God he is from Everlasting and World without end yet that as Man he had a Beginning in the Circumscriptions of time Lastly Though as God 't was impossible for him to suffer yet that as Man he was the Subject of Torment and Misery 2. That some Virtues and Excellencies were then in the Soul of Jesus which are not consistent with a glorify'd State such as Hope Holy Desires and the like All which having their Seat in the Soul do suppose her yet in a state of Pilgrimage a Condition that is imperfect and in order to something beyond what is present it being impossible as St. Paul observes for a Man to hope for that which he already sees and enjoys 3. That this Opinion annuls and destroys the whole Merit of his Sufferings For the least glympse of Glory the minutest Ray of Beatifick Vision out-weighs the greatest Calamities and infinitely exceeds all that Spirit of Pain that can be extracted from the Infelicities of this World But the Holy Scriptures everywhere assure us that his Passion upon the Cross was a state of Merit and Work and that as a Reward of it he was crown'd with Glory and Immortality We see Jesus says the * Heb. 2.9 Apostle who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death crowned with glory and honour And ‖ Phil. 2.8 9. again Christ humbled himself and became obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name For his Sufferings you see his Name was exalted his Kingdom glorify'd and his Humanity advanc'd above all the Orders of Angels For these he was made the Lord of all the Creatures the First-fruits of the Resurrection the Exemplar of Glory the Prince and Head of the Catholick Church And therefore since all this was his Recompence the Reward of his Sufferings it could not be a necessary Consequence and natural Efflux of the Personal Union of the Godhead with the Humanity On the other hand there are who affirm that the Soul of Jesus upon the Cross suffered the Pains of Hell and all the Torments of the Damn'd and that without such Sufferings it is not imaginable he should pay the Price which God's Wrath did demand of us But the same that reproves the former does likewise reprehend these latter For the Hope which was the support of his Soul in the midst of its Agonies as it confesseth an Imperfection that is not consistent with the state of Glory so does it exclude that Despair which is the Sting and Torment of accursed Souls Our dearest Lord suffer'd indeed the whole Condition of Humanity Sin only excepted and by those sad Pains he endur'd upon the Cross merited Heaven for himself as the Head and for all his faithful Servants as the Members of his Mystical Body But yet I say we cannot conceive that he was ever under the Amazement of Hell or that upon the Cross he felt the formal Misery and Spirit of Pain which is the Portion of Damned Spirits because 't was impossible he should despair and without Despair 't is impossible there should be a Hell But though I can by no means subscribe to this Assertion yet I think 't is highly probable that in the Intention of Degrees and present Anguish the Soul of our Lord upon the Cross might feel a greater Load of Wrath than is incumbent in every instant upon perishing Souls S. Paul tells us that every Sinner as such carries no less a Load about with him than a whole Body of Death How many Death 's then and unconceivable Agonies must the Lamb of God have felt when as the Prophet speaks the Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all Certainly the lively Sense of united concentred Vengeance due to the Sins of the whole World and the vast and singular Capacity of his Soul who was the Word incarnate rendred his Sufferings most amazing and insupportable His Agony was so great that it compell'd him for a time almost to despair and sink under its weight Sure we are it extorted from him this most bitter Cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And how insupportable must those Sufferings have been which could appear even to stagger such a Faith and to eclipse his Assurance of the Presence and Love of his Heavenly Father But now again How great is the Bitterness of that Death the rescuing us from which brought so much Shame and Pain and Amazement upon the Son of God How unparalell'd and unconceivably great that Salvation in the purchasing of which the Lord of Hosts himself did even bleed and die The Waters of Bitterness you see entred his Soul and the Storms of Death and of his Father's Anger broke him all in pieces But if this was done in the Green Tree what without this would have been done in the Dry If I say the Sufferings of our Lord who was the Son of God and innocent who was all fair and had no spot in him were so sad and lamentable then how amazing and insupportable had our Portion been without this Atonement whom Sin had rendred his profess'd Enemies and as it were fitted and mark'd out as Fewel for everlasting Burnings But 3. The Greatness of our Salvation appears in that it frees us from the Bondage and Slavery of the Law This was a grievous and servile Dispensation consisting of innumerable little Rites and Ceremonies which had no intrinsick Value in themselves and are therefore said by God himself to be Statutes that were not good but were only adapted for a time to the weak Capacities and babe-like Humours of the Jews Of Rites and Ceremonies I say so heavy and burdensome that the Apostles themselves complained that 't was a Yoke upon their Necks which neither they nor their Forefathers were ever able to bear But now has Christ taken this Yoke from off our Necks and made out a way for us into the Liberty of the Sons of God He deals no longer with us as with Children in our Minority but has deliver'd us from the Tutorage and Paedagogy of the Law from the Severity of its Commands from the exact Punctilio's and Numerousness of its Imposition The new Moons and Sabbatical Years the many Washings and Purifications stand us in no stead neither are we oblig'd to long and tedious Journeys to Jerusalem to present our Oblations and Sacrifices at the Temple Christ our Passover having been sacrificed for us and the Messiah cut off all those typical Oblations and Sacrifices must for ever cease the Shadow give place to the Substance those Ritual Observances to Natural and Moral Duties those Carnal Ceremonies to the Spiritual Worship and that Temporary Dispensation to the Everlasting Covenant of the Gospel Circumcision now avails no more than Uncircumcision and 't is neither Meat nor Drink but a new Creature only that commends a Man to God In
a word our Duty is no longer clogg'd with a company of useless and troublesome Ceremonies but like the Services of the ancient Patriarchs is more easie and acceptable more plain and simple more humane and natural more becoming the Grandure and Majesty of the Divine Being and more agreeable to the Nature of a spiritual and immortal Soul 'T is only to be happy the most proper and compendious way to love our blessed Maker for himself and our Neighbours for his sake to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Afflictions and to keep our selves unspotted from the World All which especially if we consider the extraordinary Indulgence of Divine Assistance which we now enjoy render our Salvation Great Wonderful and Glorious And so I come to my Fourth Particular which is to shew the Greatness of our Salvation from the Consideration of those greater Aids of Divine Grace those particular Mercies we now enjoy under the Dispensation of the Gospel whereby we may be freed both from the Guilt and Punishment and also from the Power and Dominion of Sin 4. Now the Law only discovers Sin but affords no degrees of supernatural Power to subdue it but with the Preaching of the Gospel the Holy Ghost was sent down from Heaven who by illuminating preventing and exciting Grace assists Men to perform the Conditions of Salvation and is promis'd in rich and liberal Supplies to all that humbly and ardently pray for him God now pours Water upon him that is thirsty and Floods upon the dry Ground he pours out his Spirit upon our Seed and his Blessing upon our Off-spring whereby they may spring up as among the Grass as Willows by the Water-courses The Law directs to no means for the Expiation of Guilt but peremptorily and dogmatically denounceth Death to all Offenders The Soul that sins shall die But the Gospel delivers us from this terrible Sentence of the Law and allows a Renovation of the Sinner by Repentance to which the plenary Pardon of Sin is assured Wash ye Is 1.16 17 18. make ye clean says God by his Evangelical Prophet put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well and though your Sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as wool God indeed will not pardon those who flatter themselves in their Sins but they who confess and forsake them shall find Mercy The Law exacts absolute perfect uninterrupted Obedience and for the least Omission or accusing Act past an irrevocable Doom upon the Offender Cursed is the man that continues not in a things written in the Law to do them But the Gospel mitigates and allays this Strictness and Severity calls only for sincere and persevering though imperfect Obedience and propounds such merciful Conditions to the guilty that upon the performance of them they may plead their Pardon seal'd with the Blood of their Redeemer to be sav'd and crown'd in the Day of Judgment And thus whereas the Law worketh nothing but Wrath being as terrible in its Injunctions as 't was at first in its Promulgation the Kingdom of Heaven the Gospel of Peace addresseth it self to us after another manner It speaks to us in a still small Voice the whole Tenour of it you see running in this gentle strain Sin no more Repent and be converted Come to Christ and be refresh'd and find Rest unto your Souls The Grace of God I say which bringeth Salvation doth thus appear teaching us that if the time past of our Lives shall suffice us to have wrought the Will of the Gentiles and we will now in good earnest renounce all our ungodly and worldly Lusts and take care for the time to come faithfully to discharge our Duty to God our Neighbour and Ourselves to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Sin shall not have Dominion over us God having oblig'd himself by express Promise that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but that in all our Temptations he will make a way for us to escape that we may be able to bear them So that though Sin is not entirely destroy'd that being the Privilege of Angels and Souls freed from the Fetters of Mortality yet as St. Paul speaks of its Effect Death it has lost its Sting and is only instrumental to the Advancement of the Glory of God who upon our sincere and hearty Repentance and Reformation of our Lives will pardon all our past Offences though never so many and great in themselves and for those daily Failures those Sins of Infirmity those Lapses of Humane Nature which the Best of Men must more or less be subject to as long as they lie under the Disadvantages of Mortality will put them all upon the Score of the Cross 5. The Greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ appears in that he has deliver'd us from that Ignorance and Darkness which the whole World lay in at his Coming Both Jews and Gentiles I confess had some Notices or Conception◠of a Future State but then they were so miserably intricate and obscure so confus'd and uncertain that they were very little better than none at all Those most Thinking and Learned Pagans the Pythagoreans and Platonists after the most diligent Search and Enquiry into these Matters could never advance beyond a Probability all their fine Harangues and rapturous Discourses upon the Immortality of the Soul being Indications rather of their good Wishes than Demonstrations of its Reality Aristotle not only wavers and fluctuates in his Opinion but also Problematically disputes against it though it must be confess'd that in his Book De Animâ he stiles her without any scruple Eternal and Immortal But the Stoicks are as Dogmatical in this Point as in any other Sometimes indeed they talk like Abstracted Beings or pure Intelligences with the noblest Flights of Rhetorick and Fancy decyphering the Exalted Happiness of the Soul when she is entirely loosned from the Clogs of Matter and freely roves up and down in the pure unmixed Regions of Light and Glory But then as though they had lain all this while in a Trance and had only been entertained with the fantastick illusive Representations of a sportive Imagination they for the most part peremptorily determine That Death is not only the Separation of the Soul from the Body but the utter Dissolution likewise or Dissipation of both there being no more after the Death of a Man than was before his Birth viz. Emptiness Insensibility and Darkness Nay when in their abstracted Humours they vouchsafe to allow her a Subsistence without the Body 't is only till the next Universal Conflagration when she and all Created Beings must End and Die together Nor indeed was the Confession of that great Master of Morality Socrates himself much better for concluding his gallant and most excellent Apology before the Areopagites with some glorious
Olive-branches in its hands to offer them Peace to set them at perfect Liberty from the Bondage of Corruption the Servitude and Thraldom of their mortal Bodies They know their happy Souls will be immediately convey'd by Angels into the Presence of their Savior and by him presented to his Father without Spot or Wrinkle invested with his Righteousness compleat in his Holiness and prepar'd and qualified for an Everlasting Communion with him in Glory That they are the Reward of his Sufferings the precious and dear Purchase of his Blood and therefore that they shall be joyfully received into Heaven by him who will then see the glorious Effects of the Travail of his Soul and be satisfied That the Angels who rejoyc'd at their Conversion will much more do so at their Glorification and the Church of the First-born who have before them entred into Glory have a new Accession of Joy to see them safely arriv'd at the same undefil'd and immortal Inheritance These things I say thus duly considered must needs inspire them with Courage and Alacrity and enable them chearfully to lay down their Bodies that they may ascend to the Seat of Blessedness this happy Society above that inspires mutual Endearments and Joys for evermore I am sure 't was thus with the Primitive Christians S. Paul with the most earnest Affections and passionate Zeal desir'd to depart hence to leave the transitory dissatisfying Pleasures of this Life to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ and the Martyrs with all imaginable Boldness and Gallantry encountred Death that interpos'd between them and Glory They as willingly left their Bodies as Elias let fall his Mantle to ascend into Heaven Some indeed of these excellent Persons as ‖ Hom. 8. S. Chrysostom tells us went to Death with many Appearances of Fear When they heard the wild Beasts roar they were struck with Horror At the sight of the Executioners and the Instruments of Torture they were pale and trembling The Flesh seem'd to cry out O! Let this Cup pass from me But these alas were but the little ineffectual Struglings of innocent Nature which though weak and faint follow'd the Spirit and corrected its own Desire with Not my Will but thine be done As the Moon in Eclipse though obscure goes on in a Regular Course as when 't is full of Light by the Reflection of the Sun so these Christian Heroes though as it were forsaken and depriv'd of the kind Influences of the Spirit the bright Beams and Irradiations of Divine Comfort persever'd notwithstanding in their Regular Motion the resolute and undaunted Profession of the Truth No Torments could force them to renounce their Saviour no Terrors of Death to warp from the Profession of their Faith but the Consideration of that eternal weight of Glory which after a short night of Sorrow and Heaviness they should receive in the Inheritance of the Saints in Light enabled them at length to overcome their Fears and in spight of all the Reluctancy of Nature to keep the Command of God and the Faith of Jesus Thus the Stars fall down from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Angels that excell'd in Strength and Knowledge kept not their state of Purity and Glory but are shamefully sunk down into Corruption and Misery but these humble Believers though weak and encompass'd with many Difficulties were preserved by the Blood of Jesus from destructive Evil from the Fear of the First and the Power of the Second Death passing undauntedly through the Dominions of the King of Terrors to their Fathers Kingdom where with all the Company of Holy Angels and Beatified Souls they now lie infolded in the Circles of Peace and Joy expecting the Consummation of Blessedness the Redemption of their Bodies in the joyful and glorious Morning of the Resurrection Which brings me to my Seventh and Last Particular which is to shew the Greatness of the Salvation wrought for us by Christ in that he has not only merited the Salvation of our Souls but the Redemption likewise or the Resurrection of our Bodies 7. Of all the Christian Doctrines this was ever esteemed the most incredible and has accordingly in all Ages met with the greatest Opposition The Learned Heathens generally look'd upon the Body as the Prison the Dungeon and Sepulchre of the Soul and therefore do not stick to affirm That for a separated Soul to return into a Body is to undergo a second Death Nay that famous Rabbin Ben Maimon was of the same Perswasion it being a known Aphorism of his in his Great Work That in the World to come or state of consummate Happiness there shall be nothing but pure Incorporeity This engag'd them to employ all their Learning and Parts to represent this Doctrine as a monstrous and ridiculous Paradox not fit to be embrac'd by any of the genuine Sons of Wisdom and Learning Accordingly we find St. Paul was counted mad by Festus and but a Babler at best by the great Wits at Athens for venturing to preach to them Jesus and his Resurrection and it chiefly stomachs the Heathen in Minutius Felix that the Christians should peremptorily assert the Resurrection of the Body which every Eye saw to be subject to Corruption and yet at the same time threaten Ruin and Destruction to the Heavenly Bodies which the generality of Philosophers acknowledg'd incorruptible Nay some Christians themselves have not been very careful to answer us fairly in this matter Photius tells us of Synesius that for his great Parts and singular Abilities he was made a Bishop before he believ'd this Article and the Socinians Anabaptists and some other Sectaries seem to be no great Favourers of it at this day But what if these Men believe not Shall their Unbelief make the Faith of God of none effect God forbid Yea let God be true as the Apostle speaks though every Man a Lyar. He then that is Truth it self who therefore can neither deceive nor be deceived has told us that the hour is coming in the which all that are in the ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 5.28 Grave shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation And now my pious Brethren how joyful and pleasant a thing is this to hear of the Restitution of our lost Parts the Renovation of our corrupted and putrefy'd Bodies that they shall not be devour'd in the Jaws of Death and the Grave but restor'd to us again all Fair and Beautiful and Glorious Sin indeed removes us all into the Retirements of the Grave and securely locks us up for a time in the Iron Embraces of the King of Terrors It dismantles us of all our Strength and Beauty and dooms us to dwell for ever in those dark Houses of Forgetfulness and Corruption We lie in the Grave like Sheep helpless and fast bound in the Chains and Fetters of
8.5 Apostle observes that are called Gods yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Celestial and Soveraign Gods according to the ‖ Vid. Jamblich de Myst Aegypt sect 5. c. 17. M. Osyr sub finem dissertationis primae Platonists who never interest themselves in the Affairs of Mankind and Many subordinate and inferiour Lords or Daemons whose Office as you have heard is to be Agents and Mediator between the Gods and Men Yet shall no Man spoil me through this absurd Philosophy and vain Deceit which is only after the Tradition of Men after the weak and beggarly Rudiments of the World and not after Christ For to us Christians says the same * 1 Cor. 8.6 and 1 Tim. 2.5 Apostle there is but one soveraign God the Lord of Heaven and Earth and but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus This Himself confirms in that Dialogue between Him and the Angels recorded by the Prophet Who is this say they in Rapture and Amazement that cometh from Edom Isa 63. with died garments from Bozrah This that is glorious in his Apparel travelling in the Greatness of his Strength I that speak in Righteousness answers our Lord Mighty to save But wherefore they humbly ask again art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat I have trodden the wine-press alone says our Lord and of the People there was none with me I alone am mighty to save and besides me there is no Saviour Good luck then have thou with thine Honour O Lord Ride on because of the Word of Truth of Meekness and of Righteousness and thy Right-Hand shall teach thee terrible things Terrible things indeed for the Kings Enemies who would have other Lords besides Thee to rule over them But gracious and comfortable things for thy Servants the Sheep of thy Pasture who know thy Voice and therefore come to thee who alone canst give Ease to our Troubled Spirits being that Lamb of God which takest away the Sins of the whole World And so I come to the third thing observable in the Text viz. the Persons invited who are All Penitent Sinners in general All ye that labour and are heavy laden All ye that sigh and groan and are bow'd down and ready to sink under the grievous burthen of your sins 3. There is no Person no Time no Rank or Quality whatsoever that is excepted God would have all Men come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd says the * 1 Tim. 2.4 Apostle there 's the Universality of the Persons And the Time the †Ezek. 18.27 Prophet tells us is as universal 't is not now and then only but whensoever a wicked man turneth away from the wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Accordingly we find God in the 1st of Isa calling to all Sinners in general without any Distinction of Circumstances Ages or Conditions to come and be reconcil'd to him Wash ye make ye clean says he put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well and then tho' neither the Out-goings of the Morning nor of the Evening have prais'd me but from the Height of your Youth to the Declensions of Old Age you have been taken and led Captive by your Sins at their will I will do them all away Tho' they be as Scarlet they shall be white like Snow tho' they be red like Crimson they shall be as wool And again in the third of Jeremiah he with Infinite Tenderness and Affection courts his People to come to him tho' they had most frequently revolted and infinitely offended his Divine Majesty They say if a Man put away his Wife and she be joyn'd to another Man she shall not return to her former Husband any more But thou hast played the harlot with many Lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. Thus Absolute and Universal are the Promises and Invitations God makes to Sinners Thus solemnly and pathetically does he declare as you saw more at large in my First General Head his Good-will towards them that he desires not the death of any of them all but had rather they would every one of them from the Least to the Greatest turn from their evil ways and Live And yet we meet with some Persons in the World whose Ears are entirely stopped against this gracious and ravishing Voice of the Heavenly Charmer The Suggestions of Satan or the Unhappiness of an ill Constitution of Body or the unwarrantable Assertions of some ill-natur'd surly and melancholy Pseudo-Prophets or possibly all these three together have plung'd their tender Spirits in the profoundest Depth of Amazement and Despair They think they have committed a Sin unto Death the Sin against the Holy Ghost and therefore that Salvation belongs not to them but that tho' at present in different Mansions they are reserv'd as well as the Devils for Everlasting Chains of Darkness at the Judgment of the Great Day The Case of these Persons is sad and lamentable and such as calls for our Prayers our Sorrow and our utmost Assistance And indeed for their Sakes I first made Choice of my Text tho' the second thing observable in it hath hitherto interrupted my Prosecution of this Matter Have Patience therefore now I pray whilst for the Ease of such afflicted Souls and to prevent through God's Blessing such dangerous Mistakes in others I insist upon this Point Now the Sin against the Holy Ghost is generally thought to be irremissible and our Saviour's Words seem to assert as much All manner of Sin and Blasphemy * Matt. 12.31 32. says he shall be forgiven unto Men but Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the son of Man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come And again in †Chap. 3. v. 28 29. St. Mark Verily I say unto you All Sins shall be forgiven unto the Sons of Men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but is obnoxious to the Sentence of Eternal Damnation And yet S. Chrysostom among the Ancients and ‖ In Matt. 12. Maldonat ‖ In Matt. 12. Grotius ‖ In Matt. 12. Hammond and * Great Exampl pag. 201. Taylor amongst the Moderns are so charitable as to think that this Expression shall not be forgiven is to be Understood with a Qualification Impossibility in Scripture sometimes denoting no more than an extream Difficulty Thus our Lord expressly * Mark 10. declares that 't is easier for a camel to go through the Eye of a Needle which is absolutely impossible than for a rich Man to enter
Reflections upon the inestimable Happiness of Good Men in the other World he in the very last Words dash'd all with an open undisguis'd Acknowledgment of his remaining Doubts and Jealousies Sub finem Apol. apud Platonem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Could I be assur'd says he a little before of the Reality of this Blessed State I would gladly die a thousand times over to enjoy it But now my Judges the time of my Departure is come 'T is your Lot to live and mine to die which of these two is the Better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a thing utterly unknown to any but God alone In short Dicaearchus Democritus Epicurus and their Followers as constantly as positively declare That there is no Subsistence of the Soul after this Life but that when the Body returns to Dust she immediately relapseth into the bottomless Abyss of Annihilation and Darkness And then for the Jews at the time of our Saviour's Coming they stood much upon the same Level For though from the Translation of Enoch and Elias and the Death of their Patriarchs who never inherited the Promises of Temporal Felicity and particularly that of Moses which their Rabbins are pleas'd to call The Kiss of God's Mouth intimating thereby that he breathed out his Soul by the Force and Energy of Contemplation without those Pains and Convulsions which are the usual Concomitants of the Death of other Men resolving himself into the Embraces of his Maker From the positive and express Words of Job which however some Modern Commentators are pleas'd to understand them are I conceive with S. Hierom and the Ancients as plain and clear a Confession of the Resurrection as any that have been made since the Promulgation of the Gospel From the glorious Confession of that excellent Woman and her seven Children in the Maccabees who all refus'd Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection and from those many Promises of Eternal Life scatter'd up and down in the Book of Psalms and other Writings of the Old Testament Though I say from all these one might reasonably expect the Jews should have had some fuller and clearer Knowledge of the State after Death yet being no part of that Covenant which if strictly considered as made with that People at Mount Sinai was founded only upon Temporal Promises Peace Long Life Plenty and Prosperity in their own Land they had generally no other Effect than that they were believ'd to be the Reward of Men of Heroick and Extraordinary Piety Nay their unaccountable Blindness and Unattention to the Faith and Manners of their Fathers who did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same Spiritual Drink as we Christians do occasion'd so many Cavils and Disputes amongst them that the Sadduces peremptorily deny'd it not only decrying the Resurrection of the Dead but affirming likewise with the foremention'd Epicureans that the Souls of Men did perish together with the Body And tho' the Pharisees on the contrary confess'd it yet their Notions of it as Josephus himself * Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 2. who was one of them tells us were no better than those of Fairy-Land or Elysian Dreams Delicious Dwellings flowery Fields Crystalline Rivers and beautious Trees of Gold under whose delightful shade they should play and toy away a whole Eternity with fair and amorous Virgins was the utmost Heaven they could or car'd to imagine and therefore the Sadduces so often foil'd and buffled them with that Argument of the Woman and her seven Husbands which they thought to be so conclusive that but with different Success they attack'd likewise with it our Saviour himself But now the Veil is taken off by Christ and we behold the Glory of the Lord with open Face For this says the Apostle is the Promise that he has promis'd us even Eternal Life A Life not of sensual and brutish Pleasures not a Paradise of all Filthiness and Debauchery whereby the Epileptick Impostor has likewise impos'd upon his Followers but a Life of perfect Purity and Holiness a Life of immaterial spiritual abstracted Joys of chaste and rational Delights where our Nature shall be entirely conform'd to the Divine made like to God and we enjoy an endless and uninterrupted Communion with our Maker This he has promis'd and of this he has given us Assurance all the Assurance the thing is capable of in that he has not only rais'd himself from the Dead but call'd likewise some of our Brethren already out of the Grave and taken them up with him in their glorious Bodies to enter before-hand upon the Possession of this promis'd Inheritance So that we may boldly say with the Apostle We know for certain and are fully assured that if this earthly house of our Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Thus has the Sun of Righteousness dispell'd all those Clouds of Ignorance and Darkness which overspread the whole World at his Rising and brought Life and Immortality to perfect Light thro' the Gospel Which must certainly be acknowledg'd to be a very great Salvation if we consider in the next place that he has hereby rescu'd us from that base and slavish Fear of Death by reason of which we had otherwise been all our life-time subject to Bondage 6. Now how unwelcome soever Death must be to those Men to whom 't is therefore all Terror before because all Darkness behind who are therefore dismay'd at his Approach because they know not the Consequences of this King of Terrors 't is impossible that Person should immoderately fear Death who considers that 't is only a Passage from this Wilderness to the true Canaan the Rest above that flows with Milk and Honey with Innocence and Happiness for ever who knows that the Death of the Saints is not total but that as in the Ceremony of Purification from Leprosie one Bird was kill'd the other let fly into the open Air the mysterious Shadow of the Lepers being restor'd to a state of Liberty so when the Body dies and returns to the Earth the Spirit is freed from the Clogs of Mortality and returns with Songs of Joy and Triumph in its mouth to the Object of its Happiness the God that gave it Nay the faithful Christians the true Lovers of Jesus who have tasted the Goodness of the Lord and long consider'd and well weighed the incomparable Difference between the mean imperfect frail Felicities of this present World and the substantial solid immutable Glories of that which is to come must certainly cry out with the inflamed * Cant. 1.4 Spouse Draw us and we will run after thee O! loosen our Affections from this World that we may readily ascend to thee Their longing Souls will renew the passionate Sighs of the Exil'd Prophet O when shall we come and appear before the presence of God! How welcome must Death be to them when it comes as it were with
a Prison before the Tribunal of Christ and hear the just Sentence of Eternal Death more solemnly pronounc'd against them before the General Assembly of the Saints and Angels This I say is the deplorable and undone Condition of the Apostate Angels Their Fall is irrecoverable their Sin irremissible and the Decree that is gone out against them irreversible But Man tho' a Being of a much lower Class and an Apostate too finds Favour and Mercy at the hands of his God He vouchsafes him the liberty of Second Thoughts and if we will but be obedient and hearken promiseth an entire Renovation of his Corrupted Nature by the abundant and powerful Communications of his most Holy Spirit Nay so desirous is he of this happy Change that he long prostitutes his Patience as I shall instantly shew more at large to Mens wanton Humours in Expectation of it is contented to lay aside his amazing Glories and seems to divest and strip himself of all his Attributes save that of Mercy His All-seeing Eye graciously overlooks our manifold Sins and Wickednesses and as tho' he saw them not continues to shine upon us with its reviving Brightness His Justice gives way to his Forbearance and Long-suffering and when it takes place 't is so temper'd and qualify'd that in the midst of Judgment he always remembers Mercy Mercy is his Favourite his darling Excellence that lovely and amiable Attribute which is over all his Works and in which we are sure his Soul takes most Delight and Complacency 'T was by this Name he in the Presence and Assembly of his invincible Holy Ones upon Mount Sinai most solemnly proclaim'd himself to his Servant Moses The Lord Exod. 34.6 says he the Lord God merciful and gracious Nay tho' he is the God of all Truth and therefore can no more deceive than be deceived yet as though it had been a small thing thus to have proclaim'd himself before Men and Angels he has likewise in a gracious and wonderful Condescension to the Infirmities of his Creatures and that the broken and contrite Spirit might have the surest Word of Promise that could possibly be given it vouchsaf'd even to interpose his Oath and as solemnly to swear the same thing As I live saith the Lord God Ezek. 33.11 I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel What tender what compassionate Strains are these 'T is as if he had said Since there is no Being so great as my self by my self I have sworn that as sure as I am God that eternal and faithful Being with whom is no Variableness or Shadow of Turning I desire not the Death of any Sinner but had rather ten thousand times over that you would all from the least to the greatest hear my Voice in this Accepted Time this day of Salvation and repent and be sav'd For now do I freely offer you my Grace which I most passionately beseech and intreat you to accept and to return and live Turn ye then turn ye unto me for why will ye die Why will ye weary me out with your continued Provocations Why will ye constrain me by your unworthy and most wretched Abuses of my Grace your insufferable Grievings of my Spirit at length to depart from you and to leave you to die in your Sins Is Eternal Death so desirable a thing Is Heaven and my Glory so despicable and vile Why then let me ask you again since you have my free Grace to enable you to Return nay since 't is far easier for you to be saved than to be damned why why will ye die O house of Israel Thus does our Heavenly Father by the most solemn Protestations demonstrate his Everlasting Love and Kindness to Mankind And how exactly do all his Dispensations correspond with these his gracious Declarations With what Patience I say and Forbearance does he deal even with the greatest of Sinners How affectionately intreat them to fly into the Harbour and to secure themselves by a timely Reformation from the Wrath which is to come Such various Ways and Methods does he contrive to bring them to Repentance so earnestly beg and sollicite them to accept in time the Terms of Salvation that one would think 't was his own not their Interest that Men should be sav'd He always like a generous Enemy declares Sinners his just Anger and Displeasure and excites them before it be too late to prepare to Meet him and with Weapons which will most certainly prevail viz. Prayers and Tears to disarm his Justice Thus when within the small compass of about two thousand years his gracious and marvellous Works of Creation and Providence were so far from being prais'd and had in Honour that all Flesh had degenerated from this great End of its Creation and most shamefully corrupted its way upon the Earth tho' he was griev'd to speak after the manner of Men at the very Heart and it repented him that he had made Man yet he could not immediately withdraw his Hand and let him fall into Ruine but mercifully prolong'd the day of Vengeance and gave his sinful Creatures time and space for Repentance He resolv'd indeed that the Spirits which he had made should not Eternally remain in their Bodies as Slaves and Vassals to those Instruments of Unrighteousness but that if Men repented not he would open the Windows of Heaven and break up the Fountains of the great Deep and bring in a Flood upon them that should sweep them all away But before he can do this Noah a Preacher of Righteousness must daily assure them of their Danger and he waits their Repentance a hundred and twenty Years Thus too tho' the Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were very grievous and cryed loud and the Cry of them ascended up into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth yet could not they prevail with him to let loose his Thunder to overwhelm them with a swift and deserv'd Destruction but on the contrary to prevent if possible their Ruine he by his good Providence so order'd and dispos'd things that Lot a holy and pious Person living amongst them should first lay before them their prodigious Impieties and warn them to prevent the heavy Judgments due to them by a speedy Repentance And when notwithstanding all this they sinned yet more and forc'd his Holy Spirit to forsake them utterly by their intolerable Fornications yet would not his Goodness then give him leave to execute upon them the Fierceness of his Indignation but still stay'd his hand and engag'd him to be gracious As though 't was possible for him to be deceiv'd it induc'd him to make a further Enquiry to go down and see whether they had indeed done altogether according to the Cry of it which was come unto him Nay tho' their Sins and Provocations were so many and so great yet so much
Land where Death reigns for ever and ever Is this I say thy case Why do not any longer despond but throw away thy Garments thy Sins that encompass thee about and rise up for thy Saviour calls thee Behold the Wise Men rise up at his Call they acknowledge his gracious Summons and hastily come away from a far Country and therefore are kindly receiv'd tho' their * Vid. Justin M. Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. pag. 304. Orig. cont Cels lib. 1. p. 45 46. Witchcrafts and Idolatries are so many The humble Shepherd likewise obey the Heavenly Vision as soon as the Angels are gone to Heaven they leave their feeble Flocks and tender Lambs and therefore are graciously admitted to the Presence and Adoration of the great Shepherd of their Souls The Star out of Jacob is risen upon thee also and and if thou wilt follow its Light 't will conduct thee to the Mansions of thy Lord and Saviour The Glory of the Lord too is ready to shine round about thee the abundant Visitations of his Grace from Heaven will if thou art willing dispell the uncomfortable Darkness of the Night all the black Clouds of Melancholy and Despair and enlighten thy Understanding and actuate all thy Faculties till at length they happily bring thee to Bethlehem to the Presence and Embraces of the Holy Jesus Come then I say thou sinking despairing Soul unto thy Saviour Come to him by Faith and Repentance and he will by no means cast thee off Come to him and he will most tenderly receive thee The Bowels of his Compassion will immediatelâ— move towards thee and he will gently take thee by the hand and guide thee into the way that leads to Sion 'T was his Meat and Drink when he liv'd amongst us to proclaim Liberty to the Captives to loosen those whom Sin and Satan has bound to bind up the Broken-hearted to give Medicines to heal their Sicknesses and to preach the acceptable Year of the Lord. And tho' now he is gone to Heaven yet he has not left thee comfortless He is abstracted from thee as to his bodily Presence but his Divine Spirit and Grace still attend and wait upon thee Not all the Glories of Heaven the Allelujahs of the Angels and the triumphant Songs of the Saints can make him forget thee but the same Tenderness of Spirit the same Mercy and Loving-kindness which he had upon Earth he now in the mid'st of all his Glories still retains for thee in Heaven We have not such an High-Priest says the Apostle as cannot be touch'd with the feeling of our Infirmities but who having been tempted himself is able to succour them that are tempted He sits in those glorious Mansions at the Right hand of the Father to make intercession for us His Merits continually plead the Pardon of Repenting Sinners at the Throne of Grace and he is able and willing to save all them to the uttermost that come unto God by him Nay 't is his Glory his Joy and Crown to forgive Sins 'T is the reward of his Sufferings the Recompence of his Agonies to Save Sinners This he so ardently desires and thirsts after that he breaks not the bruised Reed nor quencheth the smoaking Flax but still more and more softens and mollifies the relenting Heart 'till he sends forth Judgment unto Victory He cannot be always chiding neither keepeth he is Anger for ever but tho' he cause Grief yet will he have Compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies Thus when Ephraim turn'd and repented when he smote upon his Thigh and was asham'd for the reproachful Sins of his Youth how tenderly how affectionately does his Maker deal with him Is Ephraim * Jer. 31.20 says he my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child that is Ephraim is indeed my dear Son he is a most pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. In the same manner when Zion deeply sensible of her Sins grew disconsolate and said within her self The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me he earnestly protests to her that his Heart was more tender of her than the Heart of any Parent could be of the Child of Infant of her own Womb. Can a Woman * Isa 49.15 says she forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb Tea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands Nay farther is so pleas'd at the Return of a Sinner that he assures us there is Joy in Heaven over such a One yea more Joy among the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth than over Ninety and Nine Just Persons who need no Repentance When a lost Sheep of the house of Israel is found when it is rescu'd out of the Jaws of Death and of Hell Snatch'd out of the Paw of that roaring Lion who continually goes about seeking whom he may devour and safely brought back into the Fold of the great Shepherd the Lord Christ Jesus These Blessed Spirits are no sooner acquainted with it but they take into their hands their instruments of Musick and in the highest Strains of Seraphick Joy contulate his Return The Vallies to speak after the Excellent Bishop Taylor are no sooner fill'd with Benediction and a fruitful Shower from Heaven but these Mountains leap with Joy even the Joy of Conquerours This he has sensibly represented to us in the Parable of the Prodigal Luke 15. He had most grievously transgress'd his Duty in every point both to God and Man When his indulgent Father upon his Request had kindly Divided his Living between Him and his Brother expecting you may be sure no small Comfort and Satisfaction from the joynt Welfare and Happiness of his dutiful Children this ungrateful and inhumane Wretch not many days after gathers all together and gets him away into a far Country where forgetful of his most tender Father forgetful of his sorrowful Relations forgetful of his most gracious God he lies wallowing in the Mire of all Fifthiness and Debauchery mispending his precious hours in the Conversation and Caresses of shameless prostitute abominable Strumpets and wasting all his Substance in a most profligate brutish and riotous way of living Yet no sooner does his Father spy him returning home with a penitent Confession in his Mouth but notwithstanding his great Unworthiness his Bowels are mov'd towards him yea he becomes impatient cannot expect his near Approach but his Joy and Affection give him wings Whilst he is yet a great way off he runs he flies to meet him has not Patience to stay for his humble Confession but immediately in an Extasie of Joy falls upon his Neck forgives and kisses him The best Robe the fattest Calf Musick and Dancing all the Expressions of the most solemn and extraordinary Joy