Israel over Jordan but to come up to Mount Nebo and to Dye Deut. 33. God plainly sent to Hezekiah to set His House in Order and to Dye against which Prohibition that it might be under as it were an Arrest of Judgment He so earnestly Prayed It is therefore to be duly considered That for the Display of the Judgment and Indignation of God against sin and because of the present State of the Saints under a Remaining Body of Sin and so of Death and in the present State of this World full of Sin and Evil and of so many of the Children of Adam Children of Death even of the Second Death In the Wisdom and Holiness of God It was by the Counsel of the Father and the Son that Death should continue and have the Face of a Judgment and of a Legal Prohibition to continue in the Service of God any longer on Earth Till the Kingdom of Christ the Kingdom of Redemption should bring in a State of the Living Saints then Remaining being chang'd and not to Dye 2. Jesus Christ our Lord Because the Children were Partakers of Flesh and Blood He took part of the same that through Death He might subdue Him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil and Deliver them who all their Life were subject to Bondage by reason of the Fear of Death and now therefore Death came upon Him with the Violence and Terror of a Judgment from which He was taken and from Prison Esa 53. 8. By the Mighty Power of his Resurrection It becomes all His to submit then to the Face of a Judgment in Dying that they may be conform'd to their Captain and from the First Born Heb. 2. 14. Obj. It may be Objected against this necessity of Dying How were those two Enoch and Elias exempted from that sentence of the Righteous and Holy Law that is stretched out so upon all seeing sin had extended it self on them as well as on others Answ The Death of Jesus Christ stood as a Full Ransom and Price of Redemption from the very first promise so that it is not indeed a Point of Justice or of the Truth of God That Believers in Jesus Christ are served as I may so speak with a Prohibition by Death but a Wise and Holy Dispensation of Government with Relation to the Servants of God in the present World where therefore in that wise Government God thinks fit there might be such an exemption from the General Statute of Dying or Prohibition by Death as of Enoch and Elijah and many more Examples of such Exemptions there might have been if He had seen Good having received such full satisfaction to his Law and to his Justice and He hath it in reserve an Universal Exemption at the Kingdom of Christ the Kingdom of Redemption when the Apostle says We shall not all dye but we shall all be changed and he prefaces before it Behold I shew you a mystery And I am much perswaded and even assured These two were Types of the Living Remaining caught up to meet the Lord in the Air 1 Cor. 15. He delivers up the Kingdom to God even the Father and hath put down all Rule Authority and the last Enemy and cast it into the Lake Rev. 20. ult When the Gentle Hand of Power shall Transpose the Saints as the Great Prophet Enoch of the Lord coming with Ten Thousand of his Saints and the Living Remaining changed and the Flames of Fire upon All Enemies shall convey them as in Elijahs Chariot to Heaven 3. The Judiciary part of Death is absolutely removed For the Sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 12. So that Death is to Saints a sleeping in Jesus a Resting from Labours an entring into Rest a becoming present with the Lord A being with Christ a being in Paradise a being clothed upon with our House from Heaven And to shew It was not a Deadly stroke Before the Pronunciation of that Universal Prohibition of continuing here Dust thou Art and to Dust thou shalt Return Death was more gently express'd and with assurance of Victory The Womans Seed shall break the Serpents Head but the Serpent shall only Bruise the Heel of the Womans Seed Applic. I will now by way of Applicatory Review close the whole How fit this Context of the Apostle is to a Discourse with Relation to the Death of one or more of the Servants of God appears by the Apostles Preface to it I am even now as it were already as in Conformity to my Great Lord Offered and Sacrificed as a Martyr and the Time of my Dissolution is at Hand and so He goes on I have Fought c. As if He Preached his own Funeral Sermon while Living and a Great one it is but it hath its Principal sense in Christ and in God as appears in the following Part of the Chapter v. 17. wherein we have this Great acknowledgment that in his Fighting the Good Fight and Finishing his Course the Lord stood with Him strengthened Him that by Him the Preaching might be Fully known and the Gentiles hear and the Lord Delivered Him out of the Mouth of the Lyon the Lord would deliver Him from every Evil Work and preserve Him unto His Heavenly Kingdom and to Him he ascribes the Glory of All for Ever And He Includes all Saints Even all who Love the appearing of Jesus Christ this High Elogium or Speech of Praise else I must acknowledge I have no Opinion of the Large Encomiums or Praisings used in Funeral Sermons observing the Grand Exemplar of them Gods Gracious Remembrance of Moses John 1. Moses my Servant is Dead and no more and yet that Fixed so Dashing a Character of Honour upon Him that He is remembred by it to the Last Rev. 15. They Sang the Song of Moses the Servant of God and of the Lamb But this of the Apostle Joyned with that of Heb. 7. 23. Gives me such a History of the Life and Death of Saints That I cannot but Recommend it to all the Servants of Christ as the most excellent Rule of Life and as the Ground of the most Consolatory Hope in Death and that the very Discourse of it may be upon the Deceased Christian Friend a Memorial of Honour And so I most Humbly Recommend it to the Relations of all the Friends of the so many lately Removed Servants of God and of this Particular one the occasion of whose Death it is Published through Him who though the Eternal Liver as the Son of God without Beginning or End of Days yet in our Nature Became Dead for our sakes but behold He is Alive for Evermore Even so have all his Servants Reason to say Even so Amen And He hath the. Keys of Hell and Death Let Him Lay His Hand on his Servants of God in this Discourse and Bless it to Them and to his Servants of all States and Conditions saying unto them Fear not And to Him be Glory for Ever FINIS
received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved By Truth is meant Eph. 1. 13. Rom. 1. 18. the saving Truth of the Gospel which is called the Word of Truth There is a Truth natural which the Heathens had and detained in Unrighteousness which brought Gods Wrath down from Heaven upon them There is a supernatural Truth from divine Revelation This is here meant the Abuse of which Truth highly provokes God to give up men judicially to the Delusions of Sin and the Devil and at last as the just Event and Effect of their rejecting the truth and believing Lies are damned These Wretches that receive not the Love of the truth are first punished with spiritual Judgments and then with eternal ones they are first blinded here judicially and then as the just Reward of their rejecting Christ the truth as it is in Jesus they are damn'd Having divided and opened the Text I shall lay down this one general Proposition viz. Doct. That God by Christ in just Judgment gives over such as are enemies to his Gospel to the Delusions of the Devil and their own Hearts to be hardned and blinded while others in Mercy are enlightned and converted by it That Gospel which makes the way of Salvation by Christ clear and evident to many souls who are in darkness and sit as in the shadow of Death to others thro' their Ignorance Prejudice and Malice and the righteous Judgment of God for their Perverseness and Infidelity proves a means to blind and harden their Hearts That Word and Gospel which to some is a Savour of Life unto Life to others thro' their Pride and Unbelief is a Savour of Death 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. unto Death In this sense these words agree with what was prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah He shall be for a sanctuary Isaiah 8. 14 15. speaking of Christ but for a stone of stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the Houses of Israel For a Gin and for a Snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken snared Luke 2. 34. and taken And with the words of good old Simeon to Mary the Mother of our Lord This Child is set says he for the Fall and Rising again of many in Israel and for a sign to be spoken against By the Fall and Rising again is here meant undoubtedly the Salvation and Damnation of many Christ will be the occasion of many Peoples Damnation even of all that reject him and his precious Gospel and believe not in him As Christ is the Cause of many Peoples Salvation even of all that believe and shall be saved Acts 4. 12. for there is no other Name by which men can be saved but by his So he is the Cause of their Damnation eventually and accedentually who oppose his Gospel and believes not in him for he that believeth not shall be damned This is the thing which Mark 16. 16. Christ tells us of in my Text and is spoken of by Paul Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of Offence whosoever believeth Rom. 9. 33. on him shall not be ashamed nor confounded For the opening of this weighty Point I shall first shew you what those sins are which provoke God and Christ to such a-degree as to blind and harden men by that means by which others are enlightened and softned Secondly Lay down some Conclusions for the better clearing up this great Truth Thirdly shew you how this stands with the Holiness and Goodness of God to give Men up to Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart to believe Lies that as Paul saith 2 Thes 2. 10 11. they may be damned Fourthly Then I shall sum up the whole with some practical Application O Lord God the Father of the Spirits of all Flesh help thy poor sinful Dust the meanest of all employed in thy Vineyard Give him thy holy Spirit and Wisdom from above to manage this great Point for thy Glory the good of Souls O! let him not darken Counsel by words without Knowledge but be led into all truth and cause it to shine transparently to the Convincing of the erroneous World the Conversion of sinners and the est ablishing thy Children in their most holy Faith c. for Jesus Christ's sake to whom with thy Self and eternal Spirit of Truth be Honour and Glory for ever Amen First I shall shew you what those sins are which provoke God to such a high degree as to give men over to Blindness under the Gospel Would you know what those sins are that provoke God to blind and harden many by the Word I 'll tell you in general They are sins against Knowledge and Light 1st Sins against the Light of Nature There are such sins which Paul speaks of that are of a provoking Nature and highly displeasing Rom. 1. 21 22. unto God When they knew God that is by the Light of Nature for the Light of the Word they had not as for his Judgements and his Statutes says the Psalmist they have not known them they glorified him Ps 147. 20. not as God but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Hearts were darkened These Heathens had the Light of Nature which was sufficient to let ' em know that there was a God and that He was not like a Man or a Beast or a creeping thing as they foolishly imagined for that which might be known of God is manifest Ver. 29. Ver. 20. in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen What is seen Even his eternal Power and Godhead But how is this seen and understood Why by the things that are made So that they are without Excuse the Heavens declare Gods Psal 19. 1 2. Ver. 23. Glory and the Firmament shews his handy Work Now this Light they abused and misimproved they changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and four footed Beasts thus they became vain in their own Imaginations For which cause God gave Ver. 24. them up to uncleanness thro' the Lusts of their own Hearts yea he gave them up to vile Affections and to a reprobate Mind or Ver. 26. to a mind void of Judgment to do those things which are not convenient Now if sins against the Light of Nature be of such an aggravating Nature as to provoke God to give up Persons to blindness of Mind What will sins against the Light of the Gospel do the greater the Light is that persons sin against the greater must their Sin be and the more provoking in the Sight of God Which brings me to the Second thing Namely sins against the Light of the Gospel these are great sin and provoke God highly to Anger to reject Christ and his Gospel and not receive the
heavy Judgement the more it is upon a man the less he feels it and the further he is from a possibility of repenting truly and believing in Christ for Salvation he must needs run head-long to evil and to Hell whom the Devil drives But Some may ask me what they must do Quest to escape this Judgement of being blinded and hardned by the Word Answer First When ever you hear the Word preached hear it with Reverence and Attention Keep thy Foot when thou goest to Eccles. 5. 1 2. Psal 119. 11. the house of God be reverent in his Presence and hear the word with due Attention as it is the word of God Let it not go in at one Ear and out of the other but hide it in your hearts that you may not sin against God 2dly Meditate upon the Grace of God in Christ to poor sinners think dayly on the freeness fulness and riches of it If the serious Thoughts of Grace and Love to undone Sinners will not melt you and constrain you to leave your sins and love Christ who have loved you to the Death I know not what will The prodigal Son when he thought of the fulness of Bread that was in his Fathers House then he resolved to return home and fell down at his Fathers Feet and said Father I have sinned Luk. 15. 18 19. against Heaven and before thee and am not worthy to be called thy Son Nothing like Grace and Love to constrain melt and humble the Sinner Oh! Think much on God's Love and Grace But lastly For I must not enlarge pray earnestly to God for a soft and tender heart plead his Covenant Promise who hath said That he will take away the Heart of Stone and Ezek 36. 26. give a heart of Flesh Oh! Pray that every Sermon may soften your Heart and melt it Gal. 4. 2. down into godly Sorrow Many cry God damn me but there 's few in good earnest Pray for Grace and for a tender Heart Oh! 1. Thes. 5. 17. Luk. 18. 1. 6. Turn the word preached into Prayer and say Lord make this and every word of 〈◊〉 a good word unto my Soul I shall add do more but leave what hath been said to the Blessing of the GREAT GOD. SOLIDEO GLORIA FINIS ERRATA Pray Courteous Reader mend with your Pen these following Faults PAge 7. line 32. for Sword read Fear In the same Page for Temption read Temptation Page 13. line 23. for Means read Meant Page 9. line 3. for Judiciously read Judicially Page 15. line 32. for Promulging read Promulgation Page 38. line 3. for Ways read Voice Page 39. line 10. for Pleasures read Pleasure In the same for To read Into A FUNERAL SERMON 2 Tim. iv Verse vii viii I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day And not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing SOlomon the Wise tells us To every thing there is a Season and a Time a Time to be Born and a Time to Die a Time to Mourn and a Time to Rejoyce Eccles 3. 1. c. I doubt not All the Godly and the Serious and Sensible here present will readily acknowledge with me That this is a Time to Mourn But will it not look like the adventuring on a Paradox to affirm to you That it is also a Time to Rejoyce A Time it is indeed to Mourn for the loss of so dear a Relation and so Pious and Christian a Friend But are we not Christians as well as Men And while Nature seeles sighs nay sinks at the dismal Loss of Friends or Relations Grace should triumph over Nature and Faith over Sense While we are bemoaning their loss we should be Rejoycing in the Crown and Glory of Saints of which number she was we have so great Reason to be assured Our Deceased Friend was one of their Number who by their Holy Conversation give a plain and sensible demonstration of the Power of the Principles of our Holy Profession both by their Life and their Death For Words have not that Energy and Force that Action and Conversation hath a shining Life and a triumphant Death perswade beyond all the Power of Argument or charms of Rethoric And concerning the not only unblameableness but Piousness of her Life for whose Death we now Mourn it was so well known to all that knew her that she hath therein a better Character than I can give her for modesty of Stile and Reserves of Expression become me when I consider the Modesty and Humility of her Deportment through the whole of her Life I come therefore now to the Text I have proposed to Discourse upon The whole Text is drawn in Figures borowed from the Olimpic Games well known in the Times and Places in which the Apostle wrote Games appointed for all the activities of Persons prepared by Frame and Constitution of Body Vigour of Mind and Inclination and strictly Disciplined Dieted and Exercised thereunto Such an allusion is at other times made use of by the Apostle as 1 Cor. 9. 24. And being Sanctified by the Divine Spirit is most elegant and expressive of holy Senses In this Place The Apostle of the Gentiles gives us under these Emblems a threefold Character of himself and then sets out the Prize 1. His Encountring and Combating all the Temptations of Satan within and of the World without wherein he Fought not as one that beateth the Air but at sharps as they say with great effect for Offence and Defence as those Combatants alluded to used to do 2. He who received the Prize Finished his Course Therein he alludes to those who Run in a Race that they might Obtain He Ran not as in certainly He Ran the whole Course of Doing and Suffering and of his Ministry and Apostleship the whole Race set before him to the very Mark 3. He kept the Faith the great Faith of the Gospel in union to the Crucified Jesus which was the scandal of the Jews and Gentiles even the Cross of Christ and the Obedience of Faith in all the Holiness Mortification to the World and the Lusts of it within and without and doth extend to all kinds of Suffering Heavenlyness of Mind and Conversation Hereby he behaved himself as a mighty Champion that by no means would let go his Hold or Deposium the Pearl of great Prize or surrender it to the violence against it And so he leads us to the second Part of this great Text under the same allusion The Crown or the Prize not the Corruptible Crown of those Games but the Incorruptible to which the Apostle refers a Man is not Crowned except he strive Lawfully and herein he thus expresses himself Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Righteous Lord shall give me Before I begin
the Hearts of all to whom He Preached For speaking of the Preaching of the Gospel He saith The Weapons of our Warfare are mighty So with the open professed Oppositions to the Truth of Christ in his Redemption To the Jews a Scandal as it it was contrary to all the Revelation of God in the Old Testament and to the Gentiles Foolishness as if it had no Agreement with the Reason Learning and Wit of Men of Understanding and Accomplishment 1 Cor. 1. 23. 4. He had to Fight with the Powers of Darkness Spiritual Wickednesses in high Places as every Christian hath For as He says we War not That is not principally against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers the Rulers of the Darkness of this World And for the maintaining this Fight He had the same necessity with all Saints To take to himself the whole Armor of God that he might stand in the evil day and having drne all to stand Eph. 6. 10. 5. All the Persecutors and their cruelty like the Beasts of Ephesus in what Sense soever taken He had to Fight with wherein He suffered as an evil doer and was Killed all the Day long But in all He was more than a conqueror through him who Loved him 6. He had to Fight with Guilt Death and the Grave the Wrath to come and with all the unbelief of his own Heart But he over came by the continual Application He made to the Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus who Loved him and gave himself for him in whom he desired to be Found So that he Ran up to that assurance to make that challenge who shall lay any thing to my â—harge as one of Gods Elect to be assured â—hat neither Life nor Death Things present nor Things to come should be able to separate him from the Love of Christ and so he could Sing that Triumphant Song Oh Death where is thy Sting Oh Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin the Strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord as in the case of the Body of Sin and Death All he places still in Christ and thus we see on all accounts The Apostle Fought a good Fight and through Christ had the Prospect of a High and Noble End of the VVar that is of Victory Head 2. I come then to the Second Point of the Apostles Triumphing Declaration of his own State in Christ I have finished my course That we may rightly apprehend Here are two things to be understood by it I. The General course of a Christian State in its own Motion Action Conversation from the Time of Conversion unto the very Hour of Death This was one thing the Apostle understood by his course for God having drawn out the Line of Life as he hath seen fit for every one of his Servants Their course of Christian Action is by him drawn out proportionable So that there is no part to be unadorn'd Something of Publick Private Secret Unholy Action is to be applyed to every part of it There must be a Running to obtain It is called therefore Running the Race that is set before us Looking to Jesus to shew in whose strength the whole Race is run So It is expressed concerning David by his serving his Generation according to the will of God and of Johns fulfilling his course as a Servant of God in a Holy Conversation besides his Ministerial service How many great concernments hath every Christian to look to His Implantation into Christ Renovation New Creation The In-dwelling of the Spirit the Graces and Fruits of it His Living walking in the Spirit The work of Faith with Power Sorrow after God working Repentance to Salvation never to be Repented of The constraining Love of Christ the living to him the dying Dayly Converse with the Word of God Hearing Reading Meditation Holy Discourse Prayer Thanksgiving Self-denyal Sufferings being made meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light All these with much more set before us in Scripture shew us what the Race of a Christian is what his course is Now to find our Heart engag'd herein with all earnestness Pressing forward to reach the mark by the utmost stretch and extending our selves to it is what the Apostle speaks of himself He had run on in this Christian course on this Line to very near the End of his Line of Life and it is a Glorious Review of a sincere much more of an Eminent Christian while he can behold Christ the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and End of All All the Haltings the Falls False-steps the many Lingerings made up Answered and Attoned for by the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy sett before Him ran the whole course the Father Lin'd out to Him Doing always the things pleasing in his sight Who set every step according to his Obediential Love to the Father and thefore went forth to his Death with highest Resolution Let us Arise saith he and John 14. 31. Go hence He endured the Cross despised the shame and is set down on the right hand of the Majesty on High And thus his servants follow his steps and so we have reason to hope of this his Servant that she was swift she Finished her course she Finished the course she was sett in though a more private and retired one before she was Prohibited as the true sense of that word we Translate Not suffered signifies Heb. 7. 21. To continue any longer therein 2. There is yet a higher and more exalted sense of the Apostle Finishing his course not a more substantial or Fundamental sense For that is indeed the Fundamental All the redeemed of Christ in and by him running their course and so entring into their Masters Joy but there was also in all times a more Publick and high sphere of Action Into which God hath been pleased to raise some of his servants and there hath not been a higher then the Ministry of the Gospel and most particularly the Apostolick and to this undoubtedly the Apostle had regard when he here saith I have Finished my course For herein the Apostle had a Line given to him and a measure the measure of the Line which he would not stretch himself nor into other Mens Labours but according the Rule or Line prescribed him by God 2 Cor. 10. 13 c. And this was so abundant that he Laboured more abundanily then any other 1 Cor. 15. 10. He was the Apostle of the Gentiles Ministring the Gospel of God so to them that the offering up of the Gentiles might be a Sacrifice Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ being sanctified by the Holy Spirit which was indeed a high sphere of Christian Gospel-Activity and whereof he saith He might Glory And the Line was so every way enlarged that he Preached the Gospel round about from Jerusalem to Illyricum Rom. 15. 16 c. He did fully or Fulfil to
made like Him was under no Limitation of Service in the History we have of Him Jacobs Patriarchal Line reach'd even to Moses and there ceased Moses Faithful in All his House Run that whole and very Great Line of Service in the Wilderness but was so Limited He must by no means enter into Canaan but must Dye in the Borders And Joshuah must enter upon his Course and having settled the People of Israel in Canaan and after the Lord had given them rest round about He Finished his course Then came on the Days of the Judges and their course with Samuel reached with the Intervention of Saul unto David who served his Generation according to the Will of God And so the Line came down to John Baptist Fulfilfilling his course as a Forerunner and so to our Lord Jesus who walked as He said in his course here on Earth though as the Son an Eternal Priest this Day and to Morrow and the Third Day should be perfected Then the course of the Apostles and the Witnesses under a most Definitive Line as hath been said This therefore gives great satisfaction in the Term of Life Calls for Great self-Resignation and to have our Eye Fixed on the Great End of Life the Line of Faith and Service It is true There is a Line allowed to Evil Men in their Wickedness and in their Enjoyments of their Lusts and Pleasures of this World and they cannot exceed it But this is not of the present consideration But it is most necessary here to remember That the Lowest and Meanest even the Infant Servants of God have their Line and Service and the Just Times of it Fixed by God even as their Reward because it is wholly the Reward of Free Grace It is in the essence of the Reward equal as hath been argued 2. The Time of the Servants of God is therefore Defined and Limited That it may be seen God hath no need of this or that Servant or Generation of Servants but that He hath successive Servants or Generations of Servants and He is so Far off being in want of them That He can allow them no longer Time how Eminent how Excellent soever then He hath appointed and resolved with Himself and of Free Grace as their Honour and Priviledge chosen them unto 3. The Servants of God are many That they may reach through and unto the Time of his Kingdom And each must have His Time and each must therefore of those who go before give way to those who are to follow after and so every one is Limited to his own Time For though it may be thought They might be together The Wise God having appointed Times more Dark and more Glorious How many of his Servants are proportion'd to each He sees and knows and so Limits accordingly There was one Noah and no more in the Old World One Elijah only in view in that so Fowl Apostacy of the Ten Tribes And when the Light is clearest and most High It must not be clear Light till his Kingdom The General Assembly cannot be before so each Time hath such and such Numbers of Stars which He telleth the Number of and calleth them All by their Names and knoweth what Lustre of Rays and Beams each and together shall cast There is a Counterpoizing consideration of Wicked Men in the World and the Darkness and Fire of Hell they spread But that is not within the present purpose 4. There is a Gracious Pleasure of God There should such Numbers of his Servants be all along from Age to Age with Jesus Christ their Lord Philip. 1. Dissolved from Body and with Him in Spirit Absent from the Body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 1 c. And in their House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens And that our God may come and All His Saints with Him Zech. 14. He cometh with Ten Thousand of his Saints as the Armies of Heaven on white Horses Bodys of the Resurrection washed in the Blood of Jesus in fine Linnen clean and white Rev. 19. 14. To shew This hath been all along from the former Times of the World There is a Reception in Heaven Styled Abrahams Bosome A Jerusalem above the Mother of us All that shall come down from Heaven Gal. 4. With all its Children Rev. 21. There is the State of the Spirits of Just Men Heb. 12. Who shall be made perfect in Bodys made like to his Glorious Body Phil. 3. ult There must be therefore a Limitation of their Time of Service here below That they may be taken within the Veil and made acquainted with the Glory that is to be Revealed And the Apostle Intimates These Dead in Christ shall have some precedency For the Dead in Christ shall not be prevented by the Living Remaining as we Translate but shall not be so much as overtaken according to the true force of the Original we shall not attain or come equal with those asleep 1 Thes c. 4. v. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nullo Modo Assequemur Now in all such Particularities God is pleas'd to be at Liberty in dealing with His own Servants The essential Glory the Crown of Righteousness the Crown of Life the Crown of Glory being alike sure to all And so I have open'd the second Point propos'd The Limitation of the Time of the Servants of God continuing in His Service here on Earth I come to the Point 3d. 3. That the Limitation of their Time is made known to them in the manner of a severe and angry Process in the way of what we Call a Prohibition the proper sense of what we Translate not saffered Heb. 7. 23. And this is a Point worthy to be enquired into for the removing the fears of Death and for the Consolation of Saints in Death 1. It must then be Acknowledg'd that the outward Face and appearance of Death bears the Resemblance of a Judgment and of that Denunciation In the Day thou Eatest thou shalt Dye Dust thou Art and to Dust thou shalt return It comes as a King of Terrors Flesh and Blood is ready to be affrighted at it Life is naturally Dear even to the Servants of God who desire not to be uncloathed They desire to continue in the Service of God here but when they are raised by Higher Considerations of being present with the Lord Clothed upon with their House from Heaven they even desire to be Dissolved And it cannot be denyed That God doth in the Dying of his Servants bear a Regard to that Justice and Truth of His Word That when Sin came in Death came in and passed upon All because All have sinned Rom. 5. 12. Wheu the Servants of God therefore are warm and zealous and lively in His Service Often there comes a Prohibition Thou mayest no longer continue in my Service here like the command to Moses to anoint Eleazar and to strip Aaron of his Priestly Garments who was presently to Dye A Prohibition to Moses to carry
be not found at last Rejecters of Christ and his Gospel For remember that the Judgements inflicted others God means to you Who so despiseth the Word let him Prov. 13. 13. be who he will and as great as he will shall be destroyed it is not said they may but they shall be destroyed 3dly Because no ungodly Men in the Reas 3 World can be sure for the time to come that they shall not fall upon him What Assurance have you O Sinners who live in sin and despise the Word that you who think you see and boast of your Knowledge shall not be blinded and turned into Hell as Psalm 9. 17. Mat. 24. 48. to the end others for their Disobedience and Unbelief are Doth not the word of the holy God say that all the wicked shall be turned into Hell and are you sure this shall not be your Portion Were these wretches in my Text blinded for their Unbelief and despising dear Jesus and his precious word And are you sure Sinners that this Judgment will not fall upon you if you thus continue to sin and reject the Grace of the Gospel Have many for their sins as a just Judgement from God been blinded and damned by the Word which have been a means thro' Grace to save others Oh! Coâ—â—â—er this you that forget God lest he tear Psal 50. 21 22 Prov. 29. 1 2. you in Pieces and there be none to deliver you Remember what the word saith that he who is often reproved and yet hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy But 4dly It is thus because the Judgements Reas 4 in this Life are typical to wicked men Of what if they die in Unbelief and Rebellion against Christ and his word shall be their Portion in the next Despair to a wicked man is a typical Hell for Hell is a Place of eternal despair and so all other Punishments and Judgements here are but little Hells Let Sinners tremble at this who are Rejecters of Christ and take unjustly Offence at his word Oh! You wretches consider Mat. 13. 21. this that any fearful Judgements that fall upon others for their sins may fall up on you and that God is as well displeased with your sins as with those that he has plagued and sent to Hell this our blessed Lord Jesus tells you is a truth Think ye says Christ That they upon whom the Luke 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Tower of Siloam fell and slew them that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem Were there none in that City to be parallelled with them for their sins I tell you except ye repent you shall all likewise perish It is no matter what Sinners they were if you do not repent and leave your sins you shall all perish as well as they But so much for the fifth Proposition 6thly God by Christ is just and righteous Prop. 6. in this dispensation of his in causing some to see and others by the same means to be hardened and made blind None shall have ought to say against him at the Last day but all then shall be made to say Righteous art Jer. 12. 1. thou O Lord. Christ will have enough to lay to the Charge of wicked Men for their rejecting of Him and the tenders of his Grace to them in and by his Word But their Mouths shall then be all stopp'd muzzled for none shall enter into Judgment with God nor have Mat. 22. 12. any thing to say for themselves nor against God Some now say that God will not turn them that he has reprobated them to Hell and if they pine away in their Sins how con they help it Thus many quarrel with God here but no such complaints shall Ez. 33. 10 11. be heard against God at the Last day for then all sinners shall see that their Damnation is Just and so shall clear God and forever Condemn themselves One will say when in Hell God is Just in sending of me hither for by my sins I have deserved to come to this place of Torments Another will say my Pride hath brought me hither another my Swearing and Prodigality a third my Unbelief and rejecting of Christ and his Word has sunk me into this abyss of misery Oh! What complaints will sinners make against themselves How will they reiterate again and again those good Sermons and wholesome Instructions they have heard and misimprov'd here on earth each one will say How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised reproof and have not Obey'd the ways of Prov. 4. 11 12 13 14. my Teachers nor Inclined my Ear to them that Instructed me The Lord will every one then say is Just and Righteous in sending me here to this place of endless and easless Misery For by my sins I have deserved it a Thousand times over Thus much for the Propositions I shall now 3dly shew you how this stands with the Holyness and Kindness of God to 3d. Head 2 Thes 2. 10 u. give Men up to Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart to believe Lyes that as the Apostle says they may be damned This I must confess sounds harsh at the first and seems to be Inconsistent with that goodness and kindness that God hath expressed in his Word to sinner But I hope anon you will see clearly that in these tremendous dispensations God is both Good and Just Before I speak directly to this case I shall premise two things that will give you great Light in this matter First that God in all his dispensations of Grace and Providence acts in a way of Soveraignty Prem 1. like himself as not being bound to his Creatures He hath Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardneth Why doth God write some Names in Rom. 9. 18. the Book of Life and leave out others Why doth he save some and Condemn others at last Why are some Enlightned and others Blinded by the same Word Why doth not God Accompany it with the Efficacy of his Spirit in some as well as in others What beloved will you resolve these things into but the Soveraign Will and Pleasure of God Who giveth no Account of his matters Job 33. 13. unto any Why are some Rich and others Poor some Noble and others Ignoble some Strong and Healthy and others Sickly and Weakly c. Why it is the Will and Pleasures of God it should be so God giveth Grace when and to whom he pleases as well as other things Why doth not God mould the Heart to a Gospel frame when he fills the Ear with a Gospel sound Why are not all Converted by the Word as well as some Why doth God strike off the Chains from some and tear off the Veil from the Heart while he leaves others in Slavery and Egyptian darkness Why do some ly under the bands of Death while others are raised to spiritual
Life There is no reason for these things but the Soveraign Will of the Great God who worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. 2. 13. of his own good pleasure Secondly tho' God Blinds some and causeth Prem 2. others to See Save some and Condemn others soften some by the word and hardens others by it yet he is Just and Righteous Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Yea surely he that is all righteousness cannot Act contrary to himself tho' God doth terrible things in the way of his providence yet he doth them all in Righteousness He is righteous Psal 65. 5. in all his Ways and holy in all his Works Ps 145. 17. both in his Works of Judgement as well as Mercy He that Acts in a way of Soveraignty remember it always Acts in a way of perfect Righteousness and Equity Who can charge God with sin and say that he is not Just and Righteous in what he doth Oh! be sure that in all things you acknowledge God to be Just tho' you understand not well the reason of things done by him Remember tho' you may want a reason for Gods dealings in the World yet he hath alwayes a reason for what he doth and that is his Will which is the Rule of Perfection and the supream Reason He worketh all things according to the Councel of his own Will that Eph. 1. â—â— 12. Mat. 11. 25. 26. the Mysteries of the Gospel are revealed to Babes and hid from the Wise and Learned ones of the Age is from Gods Will who Acteth Righteously in all he doth Inquire not then into the reason of Gods Will but submit your selves to it Say not why are some softned and others hardned some elected and others reprobated some saved and others damned Remember that God is Good and Just tho' the manner of God's dealings may sometimes be hidden yet it never is nor can be unjust If God reprobate sinners it is because it agreeth with their deservings and if he elects the sinful it is because it agrees with his goodness So that be sure you retain this as a great Truth that God is Righteous in all he doth Let God be true says the Apostle but every man a Lyar. Having thus premised these two things I shall now come to the point and shew you how this stands with the holiness and kindness of God c. That I may clear and open this to you we must first consider what God doth in the tremendous dispensations of blinding some by that means by which others in Mercy are made to see this I shall speak to these two ways viz. 1st By way of Negation 2dly Affirmation 1st I shall speak to it Negatively and shew you what God doth not In these 3 things First when God is said to blind or harden any he doth not Infuse any malice into their James 1. 44. 18. Hearts To assert this were to make God the Author of sin which he is not He is the Author of all Good and of his own Judgements but not of sin for he tempteth no man to Evil. The Papists and the Arminians brand us with this falsly of making God the Author of sin which we abhor All that we say is this that the Holy God is the Author of all his own Judgements When God judicially blinds or hardens any he doth not put nor excite malice in them Sin is the abominable Jer. 44. 18. thing that God hates therefore he cannot be the Author of it 2dly This blinding c. is not by the patience of God only in sparing to punish sinners for their sins In this sense wicked men are said to blind and harden themselves in the abuse of Gods long suffering and patience Paul tells us of some who thro' the hardness of their Hearts despised the goodness and Rom. 2. 4 5. long forbearance of God which leadeth to Repentance and so they treasured up Wrath against the day of Wrath and the revelation of the Righteous Judgement of God God in this sense beloved is not said to blind any but as sinners are said to blind and harden themselves by his Patience and Goodness to Eccles. 8. 11. them Some sin because Grace abounds and are the more sinful because God is kind to them and patient with them But 3dly This blinding c. is not by bear permission only as some think and assert God blinds and hardens that is he permiteth and suffereth sinners to be hardened sayeth some c. 'T is true there is Gods permission in this dispensation but you must know that there is more than that in this action Permission in the sense of some Men doth suppose God either to be idle and negligent or against his will to suffer things to be done in the World To assert this is to cast upon the Great God First an imputation of negligence or indulgence as Old Eli permitted his Sons to sin that is Indulged them in their sins But who dare be so bold as to charge God with Negligence or Indulgence who is alwayes Ruling and Over-ruling all things in the World for his own Glory His Throne is Psal 103. 9. prepared in the Heavens and his Kingdom Ruleth over all But 2dly Of impotency in permitting things which he cannot hinder If God beloved only barely permitteth this then it is either by way of Indulgence or for want of Power to prevent it but it is not from either of these therefore there is more than God bare permission in it Beloved God is said Seven or eight times over to harden Pharoahs heart and it is observable that the words which the Scripture maketh use of to signify Gods Exod. 4. 21. 7. 3. 10. 3. penal action in blinding sinners are such as cannot be expounded by a bare permission or dissertion only God in these tremendous dispensations acting as a Judge by way of punishment must Act not meerly privitively but positively And I prove it this way namely that an Insliction of Punishment always argues a positive Judgement of God he Acteth as a Judge in it and therefore must do something positively We need not be over solicitous and curious to examin the manner how God Acteth for whither we be able or not able to open the manner c. God is Just and Righteous in it Wheu God giveth persons over to vile affections and a reprobate mind as Acts of Punishment he doth it always by a Just tho' it be by a secret providence so that tho' his ways are sometimes in the Deep that we cannot well search them out yet they are never unjust Thus you see in short that God doth more than permit this c. for he is the Author of his own Judgements Paul tells us speaking of the Jews that God hath given them the Spirit of slumber Rom. II. 7 8 10 11. not as it is a sin but as it is a