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A46713
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A sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich, March 8th, 1695/6 being the second Sunday in Lent / by John Jeffery ...
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Jeffery, John, 1647-1720.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing J521; ESTC R1811
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12,473
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30
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Guilt and Condemnation strive in Vain to Raise themselves unto Divine Glories dazle the Eyes and confound the Minds of the Guilty while the same Glories Transport the Hearts and Constitute the Blessedness of the Righteous But through all that Confusion the Sinner lifts up his Desires unto Rest and Bliss The divine Purity and the Image of a Holy God which is upon the Souls and Lives of those who are Happy is so contrary to the Sinner's Inclination and Temper that the Sufferings of Hell cannot make a wicked Spirit unfeignedly desire the Holiness of Heaven But there is another Notion under which the perishing Sinner considers Heaven and that is merely as a place of Rest and Ease There is Rest and Ease which in general every one Desires and without advancing one Thought further wicked Men Wish for that Rest and Ease 'T is manifest if they do think that the Ease and Rest of Heaven is inseparable from and the Effect of the Similitude and Enjoyment of God and for a wicked Spirit to Consider this is Torment But stopping short of that Reflexion Indolency of Body Tull. de fin l. 2. Tuse Qu. l. 3. §. 38. and Tranquility of Mind are what an Epicurean would desire for his Happiness and without considering from whence that Ease and Joy must come Sinners Wish this may be their Portion for ever While it was in their Power to secure the Rest and Joy of Heaven they sought their Pleasure from Sense and Sin and when the Means and Causes of that Pleasure fail the Desires of that Pleasure continue though the Sinner know not how to procure it But wicked men are a Contradiction to themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut vit Crass and their Wickedness has made them so They desire Rest in the midst of Perturbation and Joy in the Operation of the Causes of Sorrow But who can avoid those Desires when he even feels that the perfection of Happiness or the extremity of Misery must instantly befall him such Distress and Perplexity does a Man's Wickedness bring him unto because the Consequences of his Sin are contrary to the strongest Instinct of his Nature The wicked Man knows what the Hope of the Righteous is in his Death Prov. 14.32 and what must be his own portion at his last End The wicked also desires on his own behalf that he might die the Death and that his last End might be like unto that of the Righteous Thus wicked Men desire they may at last have the Reward of the Righteous without being Righteous They desire to escape that Misery which their Sin has made necessary and they desire to obtain that Happiness which their Sins have made impossible So inconsistent are the Choices and the Wishes of bad Men that while they chuse Death in chusing Sin they desire to obtain Life and Happiness notwithstanding that Choice They would be happy and yet refuse that without which no Man can be happy they would not be miserable and yet make themselves such as cannot be otherwise All this is done by sinfull Men i. e. by those who are endowed with Reason and Foresight and can be astonished at infinitely less Absurdities in other matters They can decry and wonder at the Folly of those who desire to be Rich and practise what is impoverishing who desire to be honoured and do what is infamous What Infatuation then is it for the same Men obstinately to chuse the necessary causes of Misery and as obstinately to wish for the Enjoyment of Happiness Remember this and bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors consider and shew your selves Men. Such palpable Contradiction there is between the Desires and the Choices of Sinners through the whole Course of their Lives and the frequent Admonitions of God and Men concerning this must needs prove at last one of the most afflicting Remembrances that is possible This will exasperate the Torments of Hell to call to mind That all his days the Sinner did with equal Passionateness chuse Destruction and wish for Salvation Thus the Desires which are in Wicked Men of the Portion of the Righteous have a respect to what is to come and so wicked Men wish at last That they might escape the Misery due unto Sin and that they might obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience 2ly The Desire of this Portion by wicked Men has a Respect to what is past and so wicked Men shall wish 1. That they had refused the Sin they chose And 2. That they had chosen the Duty they refused 1. Wicked Men shall wish at last that they had refused the Sin they chose At the time of their Account and at all other times in which wicked Men are considerate and have their final State in distinct View they wish with the utmost Impatience that they had refused the Sin they chose because so they had refused Death Deut. 30.15 19. in refusing Sin which is the meritorious Cause of Death Life and Death were set before them in this World and then they made their Choice which they must abide by for ever They had indeed a Liberty while they lived here of Retractation they might have corrected the Choice which was bad by making one that was good Those Sinners who had chosen Sin and Death had a Liberty and were under an Obligation to repent and to chuse Life and live But that Liberty did not continue longer than the time of their Probation this Life and this Liberty ended together When this time is at an end that Choice which was made in it must be stood to and there is no correcting that Choice after Death * Math. 25.11 12 13. I had almost said nor at it †Distulet in seram commissa piacula mortem Virg. Aen. 1.6 But altho' a Sinner has spent all that time in which he should have avoided his foolish and pernicious Choices or at least should have corrected them yet he cannot avoid at last repenting that he has chosen so ill for himself and wishing without end and without Patience that he had refused the Sin he chose because in so doing he had also refused that Death he suffers The perishing Sinner has not only his Choice of Sin to repent of Prov. 1.24 c. but also his Obstinacy in chusing it and that no consideration could withhold him from making of and persisting in that Choice Yea which is a special Aggravation of his Fault and Folly he did in this Life often repent in that Kind though not in that Degree in which he shall repent at last He who in the Hour of Death and in that Eternity which is after it repents wishing he had never chosen Sin shall then remember that those Wishes are not the first he made of this kind that he did before this wish he had never done such things as he perishes for The last and the endless Repentings of a Sinner in Hell will be aggravated
Duty he has violated But in vain and to their Torment do wicked Men Wish they might Obtain that Happiness or Avoid that Misery That they had Forsaken their Sin or Performed their Duty 3ly The Desires which wicked Men shall have at last of the Portion of the Righteous has then respect to what is present for They shall then Wish 1. That they were not the Sinners they are And 2. That they were the Righteous persons they are not 1. They shall Wish at last that they were not the Sinners they are The meaning of this Wish is That they were not under such Guilt as they have contracted and that they were not so Viciously inclined as they are By their past Sins which they have not Repented of they are consigned to the Misery they fear and by their prevailing sinfull Disposition they are uncapable of the Happiness which the Righteous enjoy Under that Guilt and with that Temper Sinners appear before God who knows what they are and what they have done And the same Appearance every Sinner at certain Seasons hath unto Himself When a Sinner has as Balaam when he spake the words of the Text had a distinct Prospect and affecting Representation of the last things then his Conscience awakens and shows him to himself in all the odious Characters that a Sinner shall appear at the Judgment-Seat of God He then considers what He is and that God does and will account him such an one as he is But the Sinner who considers this knows that Wickedness is abominable in the sight of God and that He who has committed Wickedness and not Repented of it is abominable unto God for it How shall I says the Sinner when he becomes sensible what it is to be such a Sinner How shall I appear before God Psal 1.5 How shall I stand in Judgment And what can such an One as I expect from Him Hab. 1.13 1 Pet. 4.18 who is a God of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity Where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear And such a frighted Conscience will be apt to suggest That 't is altogether uncertain whether the Person shall have Time or Heart to Repent and That for ought he knows He must in the same Condition that his Soul now is receive his final Doom What Perplexity must a wicked Man be in when he has these Thoughts abiding vigorously upon his Spirit and what manner of person shall he then wish he were Sure he will Wish he were such an one as God will forgive That he were not guilty of such heinous Sins That he were freed from that vicious Disposition That he had the Character and Heart of a Penitent that so he might hope for Mercy But if a Sinner can be thus Distressed by his guilty Conscience when he is in Health and Safety and Confidence of Life What must be his Case What the Workings of his Mind when he is upon a Bed of Sickness and Death When he is Departed into the other World and when he shall be Awakened out of the Sleep of the Grave by the Voice of the Arch-Angel and the Trump of God Then he will Wish with all the Vehemency that is possible and with such Confusions as no man can now imagine that he were not the Sinner he is He shall wish this and wish it in vain for he cannot by all the Wishes that are possible become other than he is Those Wishes can make no alteration in the State of his Soul and those Means which were provided in order to the Conversion of a Sinner now are not The Time in which that Change should have been made is gone is gone for ever The despairing Soul of a wicked Man shall cry out in Agonies more violent and insupportable than those of Death O that I were not among the Enemies of God! this accursed and forlorn Society to which I belong O that I could now be changed into another Man and that I were as contrary to what I am as is possible But he that shall utter such Wishes shall know that he must be judged according to what has been done by him in the Body in time past 2 Cor. 5.10 and that he is now such an one as his past wicked Life has made him to be What he now is does depend upon what he has formerly done And the Character of a wicked Man is That he is one who has lived wickedly and never so repented as to live otherwise This is the Quality of a Sinner and this is no more to be put off by any Wishes that can be made or any Action that can be done by him at last than he can make that not to have been done which was done or make that to have been done which was not done All the Consternation and Exclamation that a Man is capable of can make no Alteration in the State of his Accounts which is drawn up according to what is past Yet cannot Sinners see what the final condition of such will be without wishing in the most passionate manner that they were not what they are that they were not the Sinners they are 2. Wicked Men shall at last wish they were those Righteous Persons they are not When Sinners appear to themselves what they are and appear unto the Judge who knows them more perfectly than they can know themselves they do also see others 1 Joh. 3.20 who are contrary to them in their Lives and Characters They know who they are and what manner of Persons they are whom they scorned and hated whom they maligned and persecuted and they know what the Reason was of their Ill-will against them and their Contempt of them They lived among such as were Righteous such as minded the things of a better World and sought their Satisfaction from the Hopes of Heaven and their Communion with God they employed the greatest part of their Care and Time in impressing upon their Souls and Lives the Image of God that so they might be fitted by the Likeness of God for the Enjoyment of him They chose the exercise and the Company of those who studied divine Wisdom and practised divine Vertue They kept themselves unspotted of the World Jam. 1.27 1 Joh. 2.16.1 Pet. 4.4 and would not for the sake of carnal Pleasure or earthly Riches or secular Honour adventure upon those wicked Courses that others took By this the Righteous were distinguished from the wicked and became contrary to them For this they were hated by the Wicked and shut out of their Friendships and Affections The characters of Holiness that appeared upon their Speech and Conversation did manifest what manner of Persons they were and fuch Persons Sinners had in Abomination By the same Marks which formerly Sinners knew and distinguished the Righteous as the Objects of their Malice they shall at last remember them with Emulation wishing themselves were such as these once despised and persecuted righteous Men are Sinners shall wish