the Psalmist A moral Principle may induce one to abstain from many Sins and to perform many praise-worthy things in conformity to Reason But this is neither sanctifying nor saving for it only prunes Sin as if it were a good Plant and does not root it up it compounds with it and does not destroy it There may be still an impure indulgence to the secret lustings of the Heart notwithstanding the restraint upon their Exercise And many Duties may be done on lower motives without a divine respect to the Commands and Glory of God But renewing Grace subjects the Soul to the whole Royalty of the Law uniformly inclines it to express Obedience to all its Precepts because they are pure and derived from the eternal Spring of Purity It mortifies Concupiscence and quickens to every good Work from a Principle of Love to God and in this is distinguisht from the most refined unregenerate Morality In short there may be a superficial tincture of Religion from common Grace a transient Esteem vanishing Affections and earnest Endeavours for a time after Spiritual Things and yet a Person remain in a state of unregeneracy But renewing Grace is a permanent solid Principle that makes a Man partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is intirely the work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of nothing to produce this great and regular World And although there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the human Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sence in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in produceing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sin'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensible necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant markt in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial among them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind
Man to declare the Truth and Strength of his love to God by despising all Temptations when they are most inviting and he is most receptive of them But alas how many neglect their Duty and defer their Happiness They think it too soon to live for Heaven before the evil days come wherein they shall have no Pleasure when they cannot Sin and fondly presume they can Repent The infinite danger of this I will briefly lay open The Devil is a Sophister in perfection and his ordinary and successful Artifice to elude the force of present conviction and wrap Men in Sin and Damnation is to induce them to delay the great work of the Soul till afterwards He is not so foolish to tell them as he did our first Parents ye shall not die for the Temptation is so palpable that it could deceive none Though the evidence and certainty of supernatural Truths that disturb the security of Sinners is sometimes obscur'd by affected doubts yet there is no artifice that can resist the full and strong conviction in Mankind That Death is inevitable Though Nature recoils from it with abhorrence yet this sad Truth is so visible that it forces an assent from all Those who are titular Gods are not so vain as to pretend to an exemption by privilege from that fatal necessity not to fancy that they may be imbalm'd alive and Nature made incorruptible by Art The Pallace is as near the Grave as the Cottage Therefore the Devil cherishes in Men fond hopes of long Life As some Optick Glasses deceive the sight and make a superficial representation in Colours on a Wall but two or three steps distance appear a long deep Gallery Thus the Tempter by a dangerous artifice presents to the imagination the fatal term at a great distance and since he cannot weaken the certainty of Death in Mens Belief he removes the Image of it out of their Memories to lessen the impression that it is capable to make on their Spirits They dare not venture to die as they live careless of Salvation and unprepared for their accounts with God therefore to suspend the workings of Conscience by a seeming compliance the Tempter insinuates there will be a long interval between the present time and the last hour that shall decide their state for ever that it will be a convenient season to prepare for the other World when they have done with this as if Repentance were best at last when there are no Temptations and therefore no danger of retracting it And the Heart of Man is a great Flatterer very subtile to deceive and ruin him with vain resolutions of a devout retirement and becoming seriously Religious hereafter and thus by an easy permission he gratifies the present desires of the Flesh and goes in a Circuit from one Vanity to another till Death surprise the Presumer 'T is very applicable to this purpose what is related of Alcaeus the Poet who from every season of the Year took Arguments to give a new title to his intemperance The Spring requir'd liberal drinking in sign of Joy for the renovation of Nature The Summer to temper the heat and refresh our draught 'T was due to Autumn as dedicated to the Vintage and Winter requir'd it to expel the Cold that would congeal the Blood and Spirits Thus he pleaded for the allowance of his Excess And thus Men in the several Ages of Life which are correspondent to the seasons of the Year have some Excuses to delay Repentance and give some colour to their contumacy in neglecting Salvation The Vanity of Childhood the Pleasures of Youth the Business of Middle Age the Infirmities of old Age are plausible pretences to put off the seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof Now to excite us to a present choice and pursuit of eternal Happiness Let us consider 1. This Life is the only season allowed us for preparation in order to Immortallity As we improve or neglect it we shall be for ever 'T is observ'd concerning the Straights where the Sea is but a few miles broad yet from thence it pours it self into the vast Ocean that extends to both the Indies So this Life that is confin'd within the straits of Time issues it self into a boundless Eternity of Good or Evil. From a few years well or ill spent here tam immensa soeculorum vastitas panditur Millions of Ages follow of Happiness or Misery If Men now set their affections on things above and earnestly seek them they shall joyfully ascend to the Inheritance of the Saints in Light for the preparation for Happiness is here the perfection of it hereafter But if they are carnally minded and the main design of their lives be to enjoy the present World when the parting hour is come and Death shall make a separation between them and it their Misery is irrecoverable as the Grave Indeed if we had two lives in succession allowed us for tryal and having err'd in our choice of Happiness in the first might correct our errour in a second Life there were some pretence for security but since immediately after Death a private judgment passes upon the Soul without appeal to a more favourable Tribunal since then the errour is unpardonable for ever there is no stupidity equals the present neglect of Salvation 2. Let us consider the desperate uncertainties upon which Men build their Hopes of a future Repentance and Divine Acceptance 1. Men are flattered with the Presumption of long Life But what is more uncertain 'T is the Wisdom and Goodness of God to keep concealed in his own Counsels the time of our sojourning here for if Men though liable to Death every hour and therefore should be under a just fear lest it surprise them unprepared yet against so strong a curb run with that exorbitant vehemence after the Vanities of the World how much more licentious would they be if secur'd from sudden Death But none can promise to himself one day Death comes not according to the order of Nature but the Divine Decree How many in the flower of their Youth and Strength thought themselves at as great a distance from Death as the East is from the West when there was but a step between them and Death between them and Hell The Lamp suddenly expires by a blast of Wind when there is plenty of Oil to feed it The rich Man pleas'd himself with designs of sensual enjoyments for many Years yet did not see the dawning of the next Morning Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee This Sentence is now pronounc'd in Heaven against thousands that are alive this day conversant in the Vanities and Businesses of the World Eating and Drinking Playing and Trading and all unconcerned as to Dying yet shall breath their last before to Morrow and their unwilling Souls be rent from the embraces of the Body In various manners Men die suddenly from inward and outward causes An Apoplexy
him for ever The most conspicuous difference of Men in this World is that of the Victorious over the Vanquisht prostrate at his Feet But Death makes them equal Then the wretched Captive shall upbraid the proud Conqueror Art thou become weak as we art thou become like us 'T is no wonder then that the wise Preacher despises all the States of the present Life as Vanity For the Fabric cannot be more solid than the Foundation nor the Accident more real than the Being on which it depends On every side Death is in our view and the Shadow of it approaching darkens our brightest Days 'T is no wonder then that he equals the Fool with the Wise. For all that Wisdom that is confin'd to mortal things dies with them Nay he confounds Man with the Beast One thing befals them as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one Breath so that Man has no preeminence above them While we regard him only with the Eye of Sence what shall we see in his Life but Folly mixt with Anxieties and Cares and what in his Death but wasted Spirits the Springs of Motion disordered and at last the living Frame dissolved into the Earth from whence it came But if we consider the Soul that carries in it the clear marks of its Original from God by the same reason that every thing shall be reunited to its Principle that shall return to God that gave it and remain for ever The Felicity therefore to which it naturally aspires must be parallel to its duration From these Considerations 't is above all doubt that Man was designed by his Maker for a higher End than the enjoyment of the present World 2. The consummate Happiness of Man is in his Communion with God For God is a Spiritual Good suitable to the Nature of his better and divine part and communicates Himself to the Spiritual Faculties the Understanding and Will the principles of Man's eminent Operations and most capable of enjoying Felicity God is an infinite Good and can so fully appease all the rational Appetites that nothing is wanting to his entire Blessedness God is an unchangeable Good not to be lost with this Life but may be securely enjoyed to Eternity In the Knowledg and Love in the Imitation and Enjoyment of his Excellencies the highest elevation and compleat satisfaction of the rational Nature consists As Man by applying himself to unworthy things is degraded into a lower Order and his Thoughts and Affections that are Spiritual in respect of their Principles are Sensual and Perishing in respect of their Object so when the noble Faculties are exercised in a perfect manner on their Soveraign Good he is advanc't to an equality of Perfection and Joy with the Angels The more refined Heathens had a glimpse of this Happiness some streaks of it run through their Philosophy But till God was pleased to reveal it the World sat in Darkness and slept securely in the shadow of Death unconcerned for an invisible future Felicity 'T is necessary therefore to inquire into his Word what that blessed State is wherein the final Happiness of Man consists CHAP. II. The clear Revelation of Man's final Happiness by the Gospel 'T is set forth by sensible Representations to make it more intelligible It includes an exemption from all Evils sinful and penal The concurrence of all positive Excellencies to intire Blessedness The Body shall be raised in Glory The Soul shall be made perfect The Vnderstanding shall clearly contemplate the most excellent Objects The Will be inflamed with the perfect Love of God The highest Satisfaction arises from Vnion with God by Knowledg and Love The full Joy of Heaven shall be perpetual 'T Is the peculiar honour of the Gospel that by it Life and Immortality are brought to Light 'T was not wholly concealed from Men that only saw the Creator in his visible Works 'T was more fully discovered by the Law but with incomparable more Clearness by the Gospel The Nature of it is now revealed 'T is a pure and holy Felicity in everlasting Communion with the blessed God The subject of it is the intire Man for this End the Body shall be awakened out of its dead sleep and quickned to an Immortal Life The place is the highest Heavens fram'd by the Divine Hand for the seat of his Majesty the Kingdom of his Love wherein the glorious Communications of himself are to his Favourites The causes of it are the infinite Mercy of God and the meritorious Obedience of his Son in Man's Nature The Means whereby 't is obtained are a lively purifying Faith that unites us to Christ and entitles us to an Inheritance purchased by his most precious Blood And to confirm our Hopes of this Supernatural Happiness Our Saviour exhibited a perfect example of this in himself rising from the Grave crown'd with Immortality and in the presence of his Apostles ascending to Heaven where he sits at the right Hand of God the Head of the Church from whom Glory will descend to his Members To make this supernatural Blessedness more easy and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For while the Soul is cloath'd with Flesh Fancy has such a Dominion that we can conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material Things 'T is therefore set forth by a Feast and a Kingdom to signify the Joy and Glory of that State But to prevent all gross conceits it tells us that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of hunger and thirst nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those Appetites The Objects of the most noble Senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mix'd with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile that glorious State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Blessed are represented plac'd on Thrones with Crowns on their Heads sometimes cloathed in White with Palms in their Hands sometimes singing Songs of triumph to Him that sits on the Throne and to their Saviour But the reality of this Blessedness infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors Heaven is lessened by Comparisons from earthly things The Apostle who was dignifi'd with the revelation of the Successes that shall happen to the Church till Time shall be no more tells us It does not appear what we shall be in Eternity The things that God has prepar'd for those that love him are far more above the highest ascent of our Thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a great Prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has always liv'd in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the poverty of our Understandings But so much we know that is able to sweeten all the bitterness and render insipid all the sweetness of this World
This will appear by considering that whatever is requisite to constitute the perfect Blessedness of Man is fully enjoy'd in the Divine Presence 1. An exemption from all evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness The sentence of wise Solon is true in another sense than he intended DicÃque beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet No Man can be named happy whilst in this valley of Tears But upon the entrance into Heaven all those evils that by their number variety or weight disquiet and oppress us are at an end Sin of all Evils the most hateful shall be abolisht and all Temptations that surround us and endanger our innocence shall cease Here the best Men lament the weakness of the flesh and sometimes the violent assaults of spiritual Enemies St. Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful Complaint O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death And when harrass'd with the buffets of Satan renews his most earnest addresses to God to be freed from them Here our Purity is not absolute we must be always cleansing our selves from the reliques of that deep defilement that cleaves to our nature Here our peace is preserv'd with the Sword in our hand by a continual Warfare against Satan and the World But in Heaven no ignorance darkens the Mind no passions rebel against the sanctified Will no inherent pollution remains The Church is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And all Temptations that war against the Soul shall then cease The Tempter was cast out of Heaven and none of his poison'd Arrows can reach that Purified Company Glorious Liberty here ardently desir'd but fully enjoyed by the Sons of God above And as Sin so all the penal consequences of it are quite taken away The present Life is an incurable disease and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that Death is desir'd as a remedy and accepted as a benefit And though the Saints have reviving Cordials yet their joys are mixt with sorrows nay caused by sorrows The tears of Repentance are their sweetest refreshment Here the living Stones are cut and wounded and made fit by Sufferings for a Temple unto God in the New Jerusalem But as in the building of Solomon's Temple the noise of a Hammer was not heard for all the parts were fram'd before with that exact design and correspondence that they firmly combin'd together They were hew'n in another place and nothing remain'd but the putting them one upon another in the Temple and then as sacred they were inviolable So God the wise Architect having prepar'd the Saints here by many cutting Afflictions places them in the Eternal Building where no voice of Sorrow is heard Of the innumerable Company above is there any Eye that weeps any Breast that sighs any Tongue that complains or appearance of Grief The Heavenly State is called Life as only worthy of that Title There is no infirmity of Body no Poverty no Disgrace no Treachery of Friends no Persecution of Enemies There is no more Death nor Sorrow nor Crying nor shall there be any more Pain for former things are past away God will wipe away all Tears from the Eyes of his People Their Salvation is compleat in all degrees Pure Joy is the Priviledg of Heaven unmixed Sorrows the punishment of Hell A concurrence of all positive Excellencies is requisite to Blessedness And these are to be considered with respect to the entire Man 1. The Body shall be awak'd out of its dead sleep and quickned into a glorious immortal Life The Soul and Body are the essential parts of Man and though the inequality be great in their operations that respect Holiness yet their concourse is necessary Good Actions are design'd by the Counsel and Resolution of the Spirit but perform'd by the Ministry of the Flesh. Every Grace expresses it self in visible actions by the Body In the sorrows of Repentance it supplies tears in Fastings its appetites are restrain'd in Thanksgivings the Tongue breaks forth into the joyful praises of God All the victories over sensible pleasure and pain are obtain'd by the Soul in conjunction with the Body Now 't is most becoming the Divine Goodness not to deal so differently that the Soul should be everlastingly happy and the Body lost in forgetfulness the one glorified in Heaven the other remain in the dust From their first setting out in the World to the Grave they ran the same Race and shall enjoy the same Reward Here the Body is the Consort of the Soul in obedience and sufferings hereafter in fruition When the Crown of Purity or Palm of Martyrdom shall be given by the great Judg in the view of all they shall both partake in the honour Of this we have an earnest in the Resurrection of Christ in his true Body who is the first fruits of them that sleep He shall change our vile Bodies that they may be fashioned like to his glorious Body according to the working of his Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself A substantial unfading Glory will shine in them infinitely above the perishing Pride of this World that is but in appearance like the false colours painted on the feathers of a Dove by reflection of the Light which presently vanish when it changeth its posture or the Light is withdrawn Indeed what can be more glorious than to be conform'd to the Humanity of Christ the seat of all Beauty and Perfection This Conformity shall be the work of his own hands And when Omnipotence interposes nothing is difficult The raising the Body to an unchangeable state of Glory is as easy to the Divine Power as the forming it at first in the Womb. As the Sun labours no more in the Mines in the forming Gold and Silver the most precious and durable Metals than in the production of a poor short-liv'd Flower II. The Soul shall have perfection and satisfaction in all its Faculties 1. The Understanding shall clearly see the most excellent Objects Now we know but in part The naked beauty of Divine Things is vail'd and of impossible discovery And the weakness of the mind is not proportionable to their dazling brightness But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away In that enlightned state the glorious manifestation of the objects shall as much exceed the clearest revealing of them here as the Sun in its full lustre one beam of Light strain'd through a crevice in the Wall And the Understanding shall be prepar'd to take a full view of them Therefore the Apostle compares the several Periods of the Church in respect of the degrees of Knowledg to the several Ages of this Life When I was a Child I spake as a Child I understood as a Child I thought as a Child but when I became a Man I put away childish things In Children the organs either from an excess of moisture or
I will give as a King Thus God in the dispensing his Favours does not respect the meanness of our Persons or Services but gives to us as a God And the clearest Notion of the Deity is that he is a Being infinite in all Perfections therefore all-sufficient and most willing to make his Creatures compleatly happy 4. If a Creature perfectly Holy that never sinn'd is uncapable to merit any thing from God much less can those who are born in a sinful State and guilty of innumerable actual Transgressions pretend to deserve any Reward for their Works This were presumption inspir'd by prodigious Vanity For 1. By his most free Grace they are restored in conversion to that Spiritual Power by which they serve him The Chaos was not a deader Lump before the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters than the best of Men were before the vital influences of the Spirit wrought upon them And for this they are so deeply obliged to God that if a thousand times more for his Glory were perform'd yet they cannot discharge what they owe. 2. The continuance and increase of the powerful supplies of Grace to the Saints who even since their holy calling by many lapses have justly deserved that God should withdraw his grieved Spirit are new Obligations to Thankfulness and the more Grace the less Merit 3. The best Works of Men are imperfect allayed with the mixtures of Infirmities and not of full weight in the Divine Ballance If God should strictly examin our Righteousness 't will be found neither pure nor perfect in his Eyes and without Favour and Indulgence would be rejected And that which wants Pardon cannot deserve Praise and Glory He shews Mercy to thousands that love him and keep his Commandments If Obedience were meritorious it were strict justice to reward them The Apostle prays for Onesiphorus who had exposed himself to great danger for his love to the Gospel The Lord grant he may find Mercy in that day The Divine Mercy gives the Crown of Life to the Faithful in the day of eternal Recompenses II. The meritorious Cause of our obtaining Heaven is the Obedience of Jesus Christ comprehending all that he did and suffered to reconcile God to us From him as the eternal Word we have all benefits in the order of Nature for all things were made by him and for him as the incarnate Word all good things in the order of Grace What we enjoy in Time and expect in Eternity is by him To shew what influence his Mediation has to make us happy we must consider 1. Man by his Rebellion justly forfeited his Happiness and the Law exacts precisely the forfeiture Pure Justice requires the Crime should be punisht according to its Quality much less will it suffer the guilty to enjoy the favour of God For Sin is not to be considered as an Offence and Injury to a private Person but the violation of a Law and a disturbance in the order of Government so that to preserve the honour of governing Justice an equivalent reparation was necessary Till Sin was expiated by a proper Sacrifice the Divine Goodness was a sealed Spring and its blessed effects restrain'd from the guilty Creature Now the Son of God in our assumed Nature offered up himself a Sacrifice in our stead to satisfy Divine Justice and removed the Bar that Mercy might be glorified in our Salvation The Apostle gives this account of it We have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Christ by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vaile that is to say his Flesh. 2. Such were the most precious Merits of his Obedience that it was not only sufficient to free the guilty contaminated race of Mankind from Hell but to purchase for them the Kingdom of Heaven If we consider his Human Nature all Graces were born with him as Rays with the Sun and shin'd in the whole course of his Life in the excellence of perfection And the dignity of his divine Person derived an immense value to all he perform'd as Mediator One act of his Obedience was more honourable to God than all the Lives of the Saints the Deaths of the Martyrs and the Service of the Angels God was more pleased in the Obedience of his Beloved Son than he was provok't by the Rebellion of his Servants Therefore as the just recompence of it he constituted him to be Universal Head of the Church supream Judg of the World invested him with Divine Glory and with Power to communicate it to his faithful Servants He is the Prince of Life In short it is as much upon the account of Christ's Sufferings that we are glorified as that we are forgiven The Wounds he received in his Body the Characters of Ignominy and Footsteps of Death are the Fountains of our Glory His Abasement is the cause of our Exaltation If it be said this seems to lessen the freeness of this Gift The answer is clear This was due to Christ but undeserved by us Besides the appointing his Son to be our Mediator in the way of our ransom was the most glorious work of his Goodness 2. The means of our obtaining Heaven are to be considered Though the Divine Goodness be free in its Acts and there can be nothing in the Creature of Merit or Inducement to prevail upon God in the nature of a cause yet he requires qualifications in all those who shall enjoy that blessed unchangeable Kingdom The Apostle expresly declares 'T is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth Mercy But we must distinguish the Effects of this Mercy which are dispensed in that order the Gospel lays down The first Mercy is the powerful calling the Sinner from his corrupt and wretched State a second Mercy is the pardoning his Sins the last and most eminent is the glorifying him in Heaven Now 't is clear that in this place the shewing of Mercy signifies the preventing Grace of God in Conversion for in the 18 th verse 't is said God shews Mercy to whom he will and whom he will he hardens Where 't is evident that shewing Mercy is oppos'd not to condemning but to hardning and consequently the intent of the Words is this That Divine Grace overcomes the Rebellious Will softens the stiff and stubborn Heart and makes it pliant to Obedience This flows from his pure good Will and Pleasure without the least motive from the inclinations or endeavours of sinful Men. But the other Effects of God's Mercy require Conditions in the Subjects that receive them for he pardons only penitent Believers and glorifies none but persevering Saints To make this clear 't is worthy of Observation The Gospel has several Denominations 'T is called a Law a Covenant and a Testament 'T is called the Law of Faith and the Law of the Spiritual Life As a Law it signifies a new Right that God has most freely establisht in
an Imposthume a Flux of Rhume stopping Respiration kills the Body without any presaging signs of Death As if the Roof and all the Chambers should fall within the House whiles the Walls are standing And how many unforseen Accidents and therefore inevitable put a sudden period to Life Is it not then the truest Wisdom to be early in our work for Heaven when the season is certainly short and uncertainly continued and the omission is irreparable Therefore the Gospel represents the coming of our Judg under different images of surprisal of a Thief that by the favour of the Night breaks into the House of a Master that returns from abroad unexpected to call his Servants to an account Of a Bridegroom that makes his Nuptial entrance at an unthought of hour when the wise and foolish Virgins were asleep Conscience was slumbred in the Good and stupified in the Bad to keep us always vigilant and prepared for that hour that is the end of Time and beginning of Eternity 2. Suppose Life be continued yet Sinners can have no rational hopes that they shall sincerely repent For 1. Saving Repentance is the Gift of God And is it likely that those who have been insensible of the loud and earnest calls of the Word that have been inflexible to the gracious methods of Providence leading them to repentance should at last obtain converting Grace The gales of the Spirit are very transient and blow where he pleases and can it be expected that those who have wilfully and often resisted his pure Motions should by an exuberant Favour receive afterwards more powerful Grace to overrule their stubborn Wills and make them obedient Our Saviour tells us To him that hath shall be given but to him that neglects the improving spiritual Treasures that which he hath shall be taken away There are special seasons of Grace as the passing of Christ in the way where the blind men sate which neglected are irrecoverably lost God has threatned that his Spirit shall not always strive with rebellious Sinners and then their state is remediless This may be the case of many even in this Life who are insensible of their Misery As Consumptive Persons decline by degrees lose their Appetite Colour and Strength till at last they are hopeless so the withdrawings of the Spirit are gradual his motions are not so frequent nor strong and upon the continued provocations of Sinners finally leaves them under that most fearful doom He that is filthy let him be filthy still He that is unrighteous let him be unrighteous still and thus punishes them on this side Hell as he does the damned by giving them over to Sin Nothing therefore is more dangerous than the usual excuses for the delays of Repentance 'T is written as with a Sun beam that God will graciously pardon repenting Sinners but 't is no where promised that he will give repentance to those who securely break his Laws upon a corrupt confidence they will repent at last 'T is a bloody adventure to indulge their carnal Affections as if they had infallible assurance the word of God confirm'd by his Oath that they should not dye in an impenitent state 2. Supposing the Holy Spirit be not totally withdrawn yet by every days continuance in an evil course the Heart is more hardened against the impressions of Grace and more incapable of returning to God 'T is therefore the subtilty of the old Serpent to make the entrance of Sin easy for he knows that after sometime it will plead a right by prescription and with difficulty be ejected Custom is a second Nature and has a mighty power either in that which is good or evil Can the Aethiopian change his Skin can the Leopard change his spots then may you who are accustomed to do evil do good If Sin in its infancy can make such resistance that the Spirit of Grace is foil'd in his Motions to rescue the Soul from its bondage how much more when 't is grown into a confirm'd habit Therefore the Apostle urges so emphatically to day while it is called to day hear the voice of God lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin 3. How uncertain is it whether God will accept the Addresses of such at last We are commanded to seek the Lord while he maybe found and to call upon him while he is near The limitation implies if the season be neglected he will hide his Face for ever Now in cases of great moment and hazard what diligence what caution should be used 1. How derogatory is it to his Majesty to offer to him the dregs of our Age the reliques of a licentious careless Life spent in the works of Vanity Is this to give Glory to God Contempt provokes Superiors as much as actual Injuries And how vilifying is it of his excellent Greatness that Men lavishly wast the best of their time upon their Lusts and the World and when through weakness of Age or the violence of a Disease they can no more relish the pleasures of Sin then only to seek his favour and presume upon it as if he could not be happy without them and it were his interest to receive them If ye offer the blind for a Sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and the sick is it not evil Offer it now to thy Governour will he be pleased with thee to accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts 2. Consider what Sincerity or moral Value is in Religion that meerly proceeds from bitter constraint 'T is a rule in Law falsum est eam peperisse cui mortuae Filius extractus est 'T is not a natural Birth when the Child is extracted from the dead Mother 'T is not Genuine Piety that is only extorted by the Rack whilst the Heart full of aversion and reluctancy does not truly consent Pure Religion flows uncompell'd from love to God 'T is the Dreggs that come forth with pressing 'T is observed of the Israelites that when God slew them they sought him and returned and enquired early after God But 't is added Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouths and they lied to him with their Tongues for their Hearts were not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant When Sinners are plunged in deep distress when the shadow of Death sits upon their Eye-lids they may with plentiful effusions of Prayers and Tears desire God to receive them to Heaven not to serve him there not to enjoy the Divine Presence but as a Sanctuary from revenging Justice as a Refuge from Hell And will such Desires prevail what swells the Confidence of Sinners but unworthy Notions of God as if a forc'd and formal Expression to him were sufficient to reconcile his offended Majesty 3. There is nothing renders Men more unworthy of Mercy than continuance in Sin upon presumption of an easy Pardon at last This is the most common deceitful Principle upon which they build their Hopes
Law to him and the special Priviledg of some be extended to all As Thales said an old Mariner that has escapt the various dangers of the Seas was a new Miracle so that one who has lived an obstinate Sinner dyes a penitent Believer is very rare and extraordinary What our Saviour said concerning the Salvation of rich Men is justly applicable in this case that it was as easy for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle as for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This so astonisht the Apostles that they cryed who then can be saved To mitigate the difficulty he remembers them of the Divine Omnipotence All things are possible with God Thus for one that has been fitting himself for Hell and hardened in a constant course of Sin to be at last suddenly prepared and received into the pure and glorious Society above is possible but possible only as Miracles are by the efficacy of infinite Power and we cannot reasonably expect such Miracles And are Heaven and Hell such trivial things as to be left to an uncertainty Are not Men concerned in an other manner in the Affairs of the World How careful to prevent the sentence of Death of Imprisonment or Banishment How diligent to obtain some temporal Advantage yet how neglectful in things of the highest importance It may be says the secure Wretch God will give me Repentance at last as he did to others Remember you speak of the Soul and dare you hang the weight of an immortal Soul upon a naked possibility of receiving Grace What reasonable Person would neglect a Disease that may prove deadly and rely on extream Remedies And can you be guilty of such a cruel indifference such a desperate carelessness as to leave eternal Salvation or Damnation to a peradventure 2. Consider how many thousands have dyed in their Sins that cherisht fallacious hopes of repenting at last Diagoras the Atheist that denied a governing Providence of things in this lower World the Sphere of mutability when one for his conviction shewed him in the Temple of Neptune many votive Tables containing the grateful acknowledgments of those who by addresses to the Gods in dangerous Storms had arrived safe at their Port and askt him Whether he had observed those numerous testimonies for divine Providence he replied I see them but how many have invocated Neptune yet perisht in the Ocean and never came to pay their Vows for Deliverance 'T was impiety in him to argue so against God's disposing Providence but it may justly be said to those who neglect their present Duty presuming upon some Examples of his Glorious Goodness in those who were converted and saved in their approaches to Death how many have finally miscarried in shooting that Gulph to one that has arrived safe at Heaven How many when Sick hope either by the vigour of Nature or the virtue of Remedies to overcome their Disease and never see Death till they feel it and delay Repentance till their time is irrecoverably gone How many are blinded with vain presumptions to the last that God is reconciled to them and a false Tranquillity is more terrible than the storms of a troubled Spirit for those who hope upon deceitful grounds are in the most hopeless state neglecting what is requisite in order to Salvation And thus innumerable pass in a cloud of Ignorance to the Kingdom of Darkness And how many who have lived in a deluding Dream sensual and secure yet at the last when by some sharp affliction or the present fear of divine Judgment Conscience is awakened and looks into the depth of their Guilt fall into the other extream and dye despairing The Devil makes his advantage of the timerous Conscience as well as of the Obdurate Solitude is his Scene as well as the noisy Theatre and by contrary ways either presumption or despair brings Sinners to the same end He changes his methods according to their Dispositions the Tempter turns Accuser and then such who had a dim-sight of Sin before have an overquick sight of it and are swallowed up in an abyss of Confusion The condition of such is extreamly miserable 'T is observed of those who are bit with a mad Dog that being tormented with thirst yet so fearful of Water that the sight of it sometimes causes sudden Convulsions and Death their Cure is extream difficult if not impossible This is a significant emblem of a despairing Soul For when the inraged Conscience bites to the quick the Sinner fill'd with estuations and terrors ardently thirsts for Pardon yet fearfully forsakes his own Mercies What ever is propounded to encourage Faith in the Divine Promises he turns to justify his Infidelity Represent to him the infinite Mercies of God the unvaluable Merits of Christ sufficient to redeem the lost World it hightens his despair because he has perversly abused those Mercies and neglected those Merits The most precious Promises in the Gospel are killing terrours to him as the sweet Title of Friend wherewith our Saviour received Judas when he betrayed him was the most stinging reproach of his perfidious Villany Thus it appears how dangerous it is to delay our Repentance and Reconciliation with God till Sickness and a Death-Bed when the remembrance or forgetfulness of Sin the sence or security of Conscience may be equally destructive I would not from what has been said discourage any who have lived in a course of Sin from earnest seeking to God for his Mercy in their last hours Even then they are not utterly destitute of hope The Gospel sets forth the Mercy of God to returning Sinners in various forms and expressions of incomparable Tenderness When the lost Sheep was recovered there was Joy as if a Treasure had been found The Prodigal had wasted his Estate in Lust and Luxury and by a harsh reduction came to himself reflected with shame upon his Folly and Rebellion and the sence of his Misery not a more ingenuous or noble principle at first compell'd him to go to his Father to try what his Affection would do And it was not a vain Presumption for he found the effects of his compassionate Love When he was a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him And the Sun said Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son But the Father said to his Servants Bring out the best Robe and put a Ring on his Finger and Shoes on his Feet and bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found The design of Christ was to represent his heavenly Father in that Parable and to wounded Spirits that feel the intolerable weight of Sin the Mercy and mildness of the Gospel is to be shown God is rich in Mercy to
that makes them grow the faster And that a Mercy so ready to pardon did not produce in them a correspondent affection of grateful obedient Love but by the most unworthy provocations they pluckt down the Vengeance due to obstinate Rebels will so enrage the Damned against themselves that they will be less miserable by the Misery they suffer than by the conviction of their torn Minds that they were the sole Causes of it What Repentings will be kindled within them for the stupid neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and earnestly offered to them What a fiery addition to their Torment that when God was so willing to save them they were so willful to be Damned They will never forgive themselves that for the short and mean Pleasures of Sense which if enjoyed a thousand years cannot recompence the loss of Heaven nor requite the pains of Hell for an Hour they must be deprived of the one and suffer the other for ever 4. The Sorrow and Rage will be increased by Dispair for when the wretched Sinner sees the Evil is peremptory and no Outlet of Hope he abandons himself to the violence of Sorrow and by cruel Thoughts wounds the Heart more than the fiercest Furies in Hell can This Misery that flows from dispair shall be more fully opened under the distinct consideration of the Eternity of Hell And as from Dispair the condemned Creature turns Enemy to himself so to God 'T is said of the Worshippers of the Image of the Beast that they gnawed their Tongues for Pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains The Torment and Blasphemies of those impenitent Idolaters are a representation of the state of the Damned where the just and dreadful Wrath of God upon Men and the impious Rage of Men against God is in the highest degrees For when the guilty Sufferers are so weak that they neither by Patience can sustain their Torments nor by Strength resist the Power that inflicts them yet are wicked and stubborn they are irritated by their Misery and foam out Blasphemies against the righteous Judg. They hate God with a direct Enmity and are always under his invincible tormenting Power Hatred takes pleasure in Revenge either real or imaginary The Damned Wretches were they as Omnipotent to Effect as they are malicious to Desire would dethrone God and destroy his Being But he is infinitely above the transports of their Fury All their rancorous cursed imprecations are reflexively pernicious to themselves like Arrows shot up against the Sun that fall down upon their Heads that shot them Now what more inrages a stubborn malicious Spirit than to be utterly unable to reach and hurt an irreconcileable Enemy the object of its habitual detestation Briefly as the blessed Spirits are in Heaven and Heaven is in them by those holy and joyful Affections that are always exercised in the Divine Presence so the Damned are in Hell and Hell is in them by those fierce and miserable Passions that continually prey upon them 4. The Eternity of their Misery makes it above all other Considerations intollerable Our Saviour repeats it thrice in the space of a few Verses to terrify those who spare some favourite Corruption that in Hell their Worm dies not and the Fire is never quenched God will never reverse his Sentence and they shall never change their State How willingly would carnal Men raze the Word Eternal out of the Scriptures but to their grief they find it joined with the Felicity of Heaven and the Torments of Hell The second Death has all the terrible qualities of the first but not the ease and end it brings to Misery All the Tears of those forlorn Wretches shall never quench one spark of the Fire Where are the delicious Fair the Musick the Purple and all the carnal Delights of the rich Man they are all changed into a contrary state of Misery and that state is fixt for ever From his vanishing Paradise he descended into an everlasting Hell In this the Vengeance of God is infinitely more heavy than the most terrible execution from Men. Human Justice and Power can inflict but one Death that will be soon dispatcht upon a Malefactor worthy to suffer a hundred Deaths if he be condemned to the Fire they cannot make him live and die together to burn and not be consumed But God will so far support the Damned in their Torments that they shall always have Strength to feel though no Strength to endure them Those extream Torments which would extinguish the present Life in a Moment shall be suffered for ever This Consideration infinitely aggravates the Misery For the lost Soul rackt with the fearful Contemplation of what it must suffer for ever feels as it were at once all the Evils that shall torment it in its whole duration The perpetuity of the Misery is always felt by prevision This is as the cruel breaking of the Bones upon the Wheel when the Soul is tormented by the foresight of Misery that without allays shall continue in the circulation of Eternal Ages To make this more sensible let us consider that pain makes the Mind observant of the passing of the hours In Pleasures Time with a quick and silent motion insensibly slides away but in Troubles the Hours are tedious in violent pains we reckon the minutes as long 'T is observable how passionately the afflicted Psalmist complains Will the Lord cast off for ever Will he be favourable no more Doth his Promise fail for evermore Hath he forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies In what various pathetic forms does he express the same Affection Though he had assurance that the gracious God would not be always severe yet his anguish forc'd from him complaints as if the moment of his Trouble were an Eternity But what strains of Sorrow are among the Damned who besides the present sence of their Misery have always in their Thoughts the vast Eternity wherein they must suffer it When three terrible Evils were propounded to David's choice pining Famine for three years or bloody War for three Months or devouring Pestilence for three days he chose the shortest though in it self the heaviest Evil. Many sad Days must pass under the other Judgments where Death by anticipation in such variety of Shapes would be presented to the Mind that the lingring expectation of it would afflict more than the sudden stroke whereas the fury of the Pestilence would be soon over But the Damned have not this relief but shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever How earnestly do they seek for Death but cannot find it what a favour would they esteem it to be annihilated For certainly if when the Evils in the present State are so multiplyed that no Comfort is left or so violent that the afflicted Person cannot enjoy them and refresh his sorrowful Spirit Death is chosen rather than Life it cannot be imagined that in the