to dye sooner being prest with Arguments on both sides If I consult my self and my own good it is doubtless better for me to dye and enter presently into Happiness But then if I consult your Convenience it were better I should live longer in the World to be serviceable unto your Edification Now I think it is evident that if the Apostle could have supposed that his Soul should have slept after death and not presently have enter'd into the fruition of Bliss there could have been no strait in the case nor any dispute but that it was better to live still in the World to continue in the Comforts of a good Conscience and of doing good to others rather than to be in a constant sleep or in a sensless state of stupidity and inactivity From all which Places of Scripture it is most plain that the Souls of good Men do not sleep after their separation from the Body as some among us fancy but are immediately received into Bliss as Lazarus was into Abrahams Bosom and the Thief here in the Text into Paradise Vse And we learn from hence the Reason why the Primitive Christians did celebrate their Funerals with Joy and Feasting We use to rejoyce at the Happiness of our Friends in this World and they much more at their happiness in a better They did not therefore as we do now hang their Houses and Churches with Mourning but as Prudentius tells us with White the Emblem of Ioy For they looked upon the day of their Deaths as their Birth-day to an Eternal life and their going out of this World as an entrance upon the incomprehensible Happiness of a better And indeed we shall find they had Cause enough to rejoyce if we consider the greatness of the Happiness they were possess'd of and this I told you was exprest in the Text by these two things 1st They shall be with Christ. 2dly They shall be in Paradise 1st The Godly after death are said to be with Christ. Now how great is the Happiness which lies couched in these Words We cannot be with Christ but we must be with all the Saints and Angels of Heaven Nay farther we must enjoy the sweet and ravishing Communion of all the Persons of the Ever Blessed Trinity And sure such Company cannot but enhaunce the happiness of Heaven Society is ordinarily styled Sal vitae the Salt of Life without this the Life of Man would be most unsavoury and unpleasant We know God said at the Creation of the World It is not good for Man to be alone It seems Paradise it self would have been a Valley of Bacha little less than a Comfortless Solitude without the refreshments of Society That therefore nothing may be wanting to compleat the happiness of the Paradise above St. Paul Heb. 12. 22. gives us a large Catalogue of that Glorious Company we shall converse with in Heaven We shall come saith he to the General Assembly of the First born to the Spirits of Iust Men made Perfect to an innumerable Company of Angels and to God the Iudge of all and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant From which place it is most plain that we cannot be with Christ but we must also be with God with Angels and with the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Now such Glorious Company cannot but make the Happiness of Paradise exceeding great as will appear more at large by considering in particular what it is to be First With all the Saints of Heaven Secondly What it is to be with the Angels And Thirdly What it is to be with God and Christ. 1st Let us enquire what it is to be with all the Saints of Heaven and how the happiness of Paradise is inhaunced by such Glorious Company It is the unhappiness of the Godly here below that with Daniel they are forced sometimes to dwell in the same Den with Lions or else converse as St. Paul did at Ephesus with Men that did more truly deserve the name of Beasts How was righteous Lot vexed daily with the filthy Conversation of the Sodomites How does David mourn that he was forced to dwell in Mesech and sojourn in the Tents of Kedar The good Man whilst he lives in this World has his Eyes daily bloodshot with Murders his Ears unhallowed with Oaths and Blasphemies his Nostrils offended with the Drunkards Vomits and his Memory made too often the Cabinet of vain frothy or obscene Discourses so that with good Lucullus in Tully he frequently desires his Memory were worse or that he could learn the Art of Oblivion But in Heaven the Godly shall be free from all such vile and troublesom Company Here there will be no Murderers no Whoremongers no Drunkards no Dogs to molest them Rev. 22. 15. In the Heavenly Canaan there will be no Canaanites to be pricks in their Eyes and Thorns in their Sides But they shall converse for ever with all the Saints of Heaven and live in the general Assembly of the First-born Now what it is thus to live with all the Saints of Heaven I shall shew you more distinctly in these following Particulars 1st The Godly shall know all the Blessed Saints that are in Heaven It is a wonder it should be disputed by any Divines whether the Saints in Glory shall know one another But sure there can be little comfort in Society where there is not a particular Knowledge and a familiar Acquaintance St. Austin therefore tells us In Caelo a singulis omnes ab omnibus singuli cognoscentur In Heaven saith he all Men shall be known of every Man and every Man shall be known of all Men. It is reported of Luther that being reasonable well the night before he died he sate at Table with his Friends and the matter of their Discourse hapned to be Whether they should know one another in Heaven Whether the Father should know his Child a Husband his Wife and a Friend his Friend Luther resolv'd the point in the Affirmative and gave this Reason among others for it Adam saith he knew Eve as soon as he saw her and be sure our Knowledge in the Heavenly Paradise shall be much greater than his was in the Earthly Paradise none will be stranggers there but every Glorified Saint shall know all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all the Servants of God We find Mat. 17. 4. Peter Iames and Iohn who were allowed to see Christs Transfiguration knew Moses and Elias whom they had never seen before how much more shall we being fully illuminated and perfectly Glorified in Heaven know exactly all the blessed Ones tho' never acquainted with them upon Earth This therefore is one part of the Happiness of the Godly in Heaven they shall see Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of God as our Saviour speaks Luke 13. 28. They shall know all those Worthies and Heroes that have gone to Heaven before or shall come thither after them but this is not all For 2ly We
Text for it seems he believed Christ to have been both able and willing to save him which is in effect to own him for a Mediatour Hence we find him making solemn and earnest Addresses to him for Mercy Lord saith he remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom One would think these Circumstances which I have mention'd namely his deep Sense of his Sins his humble Confession of them his Charity to the Soul of his Fellow Thief and his strange and prodigious Faith I say one would think these Circumstances so wonderful and so extraordinary that they were sufficient of themselves to evidence the sincerity of his Repentance how short soever it was and yet by way of Overplus we have the Testimony of our Saviour himself concerning it This day saith our Saviour thou shalt be with me in Paradise Sure that Repentance must be sincere and perfect which enters into Heaven passeth into Paradise and makes so notorious a Thief all on a sudden so fit a Companion for the Holy Jesus And now let us enquire what matter of Comfort here can be for the bold Daring Sinners of the Times Have they any reason to expect such a lively vigorous and extraordinary Faith Or is it possible they should be so well assured of the sincerity of their Repentance The Age of Miracles did expire long ago and God having abundantly confirmed the Truths of the Gospel by mighty Signs and Wonders did resolve to leave the succeeding Ages of the Church to the ordinary Means of Grace How then can we expect at the Hour of Death to find such a wonderful Faith wrought in those profligate Wretches who have all their Life time despised Gods Ministers quenched all the Motions of his Holy Spirit trampled on the Blood of the New Covenant and shamefully abused all the ordinary Methods and Dispensations of the Gospel And as we cannot expect to find in the Clinicks of the Age such a prodigious and extraordinary Faith as was in this penitent Thief so neither is it possible they should be so well assur'd of the sincerity of their Repentance as he was I am willing to be as Charitable to these Penitents as the Salvation of their Souls will allow me to be And therefore let us suppose such Presumptuous sinners to be deeply sensible of their sins and willing to Confess them Let us suppose them sending for their Debauch'd Companions to remind them of Eternity and the great danger of delaying their Repentance Nay farther let us suppose them watering their Couches with their Tears and making most solemn Protestations of better Obedience if God should restore them to their former Health Supposing all this be done by the Clinicks of the Age is it possible for a Minister to afford them a Cordial or any solid Comfort from this Example of the Text For my part I must declare that I think it impossible We may hope well in the Judgment of Charity but to give them any such Assurance as this penitent Thief is beyond the power and skill of the wisest Minister for the Heart is deceitful above all things and since Ministers are not Omniscious as our Saviour was they cannot pass an infallible Judgment upon the sincerity of such a late Repentance When Esau had lost his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage did not he shed as hearty and unfeigned Tears as these supposed Penitents can do and yet it is said found no place for Repentance Did not Iudas run to the Scribes and Pharisees Did he not confess publickly that he had betrayed the Innocent Blood Nay did he not throw down the Thirty peices of Silver And sure if he had not been in earnest such a Covetous Wretch would never have parted with his Mony and yet we know his Repentance was not right Alas the Horrours of Conscience and the ghastly Apparitions of Death will force men to do many things which God will not accept of because they proceed from fear of Punishment and not from the Love of him Nay let me add yet farther that sad Experience has set its Seal to this Observation That many such Penitents who have made the most solemn Protestations of better Obedience in the time of their Sickness when God has restored them in Mercy to their former Health they have with the Dog return'd to their Vomits and with the Sow to their wallowings in the Mire Thus you see that Repentance of the Thief in the Text was so remarkable so wonderful so extraordinary in all the parts of it as will afford little solid Comfort to repenting Sinners at the Hour of Death 4ly This Repentance of the Thief will be found yet farther extraordinary and such as can afford little Comfort to the Clinicks of the Age if we consider those great and extraordinary Temptations he had to grapple with Christ was now in his worst Estate in the very lowest degree of his Humiliation there was no Beauty no Form no Comeliness in him that he should be desired The Chief Priests the Scribes and the Elders mocked him all that passed by reviled him wagging their Heads Of his own Disciples some denied him and all of them shamefully and most ungratefully forsook him This poor penitent Thief was the only Confessor he had And what Inducements had he at this time to own him He could expect no Wordly Advantages all that he could promise himself was only this that as he was now Crucified as a Malefactor only so for such his Confession his Torments would have been enhanced and he persecuted as a Martyr And can now the Clinicks of the Age shew us any such extraordinary Repentance Is Christ now under the same Circumstances of Pain and Ignominy that he was then Do not all our Creeds tell us that he is now at the Right Hand of God That He is made the Head of all things both in Heaven and in Earth And will it be any such heroick Act of Faith now to seek unto such a Glorious and Triumphant Saviour Sure there is a vast difference between the case of the Thief and the case of the presumptuous Sinners The Thief had no inducements to fly to Christ for succour and these have none to fly to but their Saviour There is therefore but little solid comfort for such Penitents in the Example of the Text. 5ly The case of the Thief will yet further be found extraordinary if we consider the time when he obtained Mercy it was no ordinary time but a time when God was shewing a publick Act of Grace and Mercy to the World God at this time was giving his own Son out of great love to Mankind And therefore it might seem proper and well becoming so solemn a time that there should be some Monument of this Infinite Mercy It may possibly deserve your serious observation that God Almighty did always something extraordinary to grace the several Passages of our Saviours Mediatorship We know at his Nativity a Glorious Star shone in the Air
Repentance They know it is as possible for a Camel with his great Bunch upon his Back to pass through the Eye of a Needle as for an impenitent Sinner made gross with the sins of many years to enter in at the strait Gate of Heaven but yet with Felix they put off their Repentance to a more Convenient Season They think they shall have time enough to repent when sickness calls upon them to pay their last debt to Nature Indeed few men love their sins so well as that they are willing to be damned for them And therefore however they live they earnestly desire they may die like Christians with Balaam they wish their death may be like the Death of the Righteous and resolve not to go out of this World in an impenitent State But yet at present they think they are not at leisure to prepare for such a death as this Alas they are now young and healthful their Pulse beats evenly and their Blood moves briskly they have not the least Symptom of any Distemper to make them fear the approaches of Death and therefore as yet they fancy they may safely delay their Repentance they fancy it will be time enough to begin to live well when they shall be allowed to live no longer The great Enemy of Mankind hath not in all his Magazine a more deadly Engine for the destruction of Souls So great so fatal are the dangers which attend such practises that Trembling is fitter than Words to express them however the madness and folly of them will in some measure appear in these following considerations 1st The madness and folly of putting off Repentance to the time of Sickness or the hour of Death will appear if we seriously consider the uncertainty of Death We cannot saith Solomon boast our selves of to morrow we cannot command the next fleeting minute Death lurks in every corner and waits for us in every Place There is not a crumb of Bread we eat nor a drop of Liquor that we drink but if it goes a little a-wry Physitians tell us may be our ruin Histories afford us a thousand instances of sudden death Manlius Torquatus died whilst he was at Supper Cn. Bebius asking the hour of the day met with his last hour two of the Rom Emperors stept into their Graves even whilst they were putting on their Shoes C. Servilius died whilst he was standing in the Market M. Terentius whilst he was a Writing and to name but one more and that out of our own Chronicles Mr. H. Morris died at a game of Tennis Thus uncertain is the time of Death and therefore their madness is both great and certain who procrastinate their Repentance till the hour of Death We know not how soon this may come we know not how suddenly it may surprize us Were not Zimri and Cosbi smitten in the very Act of their Uncleanness Were not Ammon and Belshazzar taken in the midst of their drunken Cups Corah and his factious Crew were swept away in their Rebellion And to name no more the Covetous Fool in the Gospel received his Summons to another World even when he was singing a requiem to his Soul in this saying Soul take thine Ease thou hast Goods laid up for many Years What folly then will it be to put off Repentance till the time of Sickness or the hour of Death But since Men are of this Humour let us for once take them at their words and try if they will repent one day at least before they die This they profess they are willing to do because they know their Salvation depends upon it But if in truth they are in earnest if they are unfeignedly resolved to Repent one day before they die they must begin the Work this very day for what know they but this may be their last day Sure they have not made a Covenant with Death or an Agreement with Hell Sure it is not in their Power to dispose of Times and Seasons Their Breath is in the Hands of God and not in their own Hear what Solomon saith Eccles. 9. 12. Man knoweth not his time as the Fishes that are caught in an evil Net and as the Birds are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil time when it cometh suddenly upon them If therefore men have any real kindness for their Souls they will not run the hazard of an uncertain futurity they will rather think it reasonable to follow our Saviours advice Mat. 25. 13. Watch for ye do not know the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh 2ly A late Repentance will further be found a thing full of danger if not in some sort impossible if we consider that the time of Sickness or the hour of Death is a very improper and unseasonable time for Repentance If Men be not surprized by sudden Death or snatcht away in wrath before the Pots perceive the Thorns as the Psalmist phrases it yet how often are they seiz'd on by such kind of Diseases as render their Repentance a thing impossible Seneca speaks of a Morbus insanabilis qui animo afficiat mentem concutiat such a violent Distemper as either deprives Men wholly of their Reason or else disturbs the use of their Understandings And tho' he speaks but of one in the singular number yet Physitians tell of many in their Books such as the Coma the Lethargy the Carus the Appoplexy the Catoche Catalepsiis Erisipylas Phrenzy Mania and several others Now has any presumptuous Sinner a protection from Heaven against these drowsie stupifyed Distempers such as will deprive him of his Reason and consequently incapacitate him for any works of Piety and Religion but supose the sinner should escape such Diseases as these do not other Diseases render the time of Death a most improper season for the work of Repentance Let but such a presumptuous Sinner sometimes bestow a visit on his sick Friends and Nieghbours and then let him judge whether the time of sickness be a fit time to perform such a difficult and important work as Repentance is May he not now see how troubled and disturbed their thoughts are How uneasie and disturbed their Minds How strangely doth their Reason and Understanding decay How fast their Memories and Senses fail them whilst their Bodies groan under great anguish and extremity of Pain And is this think ye a proper time to prepare for Eternity is so much Weakness able to wrestle with Principalities and Powers Is he who cannot help himself fit to encounter sin at its greatest strength and work in himself all the pious habits of the contrary Vertues We do not ordinarily account them wise Men who leave their Worldly Affairs to be settled at this time What stupendious folly then will it be to leave all our Spiritual Concerns matters of everlasting Moment and Importance to be transacted at our dying hour The best of Men are so indisposed in the time of sickness that they are
Resolution Now tho' all this do abundantly shew a late Death-bed Repentance to be a thing most dangerous and in some sort impossible and yet seeing this is a Subject of most serious importance 5ly I will in the Fifth place add one Consideration more which will shew it yet to be more dangerous and in some sort impossible And pray let it be Consider'd that the Day of Grace may be lost before the Day of Death come Sure it is not possible that such sinners should repent without the assistance of God's Grace and yet before their death they may sin to such an height as to forfeit this assistance of God's Grace It is the vain fancy of such presumptuous sinners that the Day of Grace and the Day of Life run parallel and that as long as the one lasts the other will last too and therefore they encourage themselves in their wickedness thinking they shall have time enough to repent when they come to dye But if this Fancy of theirs be vain the delaying of Repentance till the Hour of Death must needs be a thing most dangerous and in some sort impossible Now it is very plain from Scripture that God has set bounds to his Patience and limits to his Mercy Tho' he bears very much with sinners and waits a long time to be gracious yet he has told us expresly Gen. 6. 3. My Spirit shall not always strive with Men We find in the following Verse that God allowed the Anti-Deluvians or Old World a long Day of Grace he promised to bear with them 120 Years now during this time he sent unto them Noah a Preacher of Righteousness Besides those Admonitions and frequent Calls the Holy Man gave them to repent his very building the Ark was a constant daily Sermon to them but when they would not hearken unto this Preacher but scoffed at his Discourses God did not tarry for the time of their death but with a dreadful Deluge swept them all away In Luc. 19. 41 42. we find our Saviour weeping over Ierusalem and declaring their wretched Condition in such like doleful Accents as these O that thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy Day the things which belong unto thy Peace but now are they hid from thine Eyes It seems the Day of Grace has an Evening before the Night of Death approaches The things of Peace were hid from the Eyes of Ierusalem before they were closed by the Hand of Death To this we may add what we read in Prov. 1. 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me There is a certain measure of Iniquity God is said in Scripture to allow Sinners to fill up and when this Measure is full they may call upon him in vain they may seek him early and late but he will not hear them And as is it thus plain from these Texts that the Day of Grace may be lost before the Day of Death so the same Truth may be evidenced by sundry Scripture Examples God allowed Cain a Day of Grace and during the Time of this Day Cain tho' he sinned again and again yet he heard nothing but this Still Voice if thou dost well shalt not thou be accepted but if thou dost ill Sin lieth at the door But when all the Means of Grace were lost upon him when notwithstanding the frequent Admonitions of his Father and solemn Remembrances of Heaven he added sin to sin till at last he fill'd up the Measure of his Iniquity by murdering Righteous Abel His season of Grace was then gone and God tells him in plain terms that he was then accursed from the Earth Now this hapned unto him some hundreds of years before his death Another Instance we have in Esau whom the Apostle styles a Prophane Person He was an idle unprofitable Fellow one who spent too much of his time in Gaming and impertinent Recreations and to all his other sins he added the felling of his Birthright on which were entailed all the Blessings of Heaven and this indeed shewed him to be a Prophane Person with a witness one that preferr'd his Sports and Recreations before God and his Religion Now this great sin fill'd up the Measure of his Iniquity so that his Day of Grace expir'd some 50 years before his death as Divines compute And tho' now he endeavour'd to regain his Birth-right tho' he sought the Blessing earnestly and with Tears yet he was rejected there was no place found for Repentance Heb. 12. 17. I shall add but one Instance more and it shall be the Example of wicked Saul God had striven with Saul many ways and many times He had given him Riches and Honours yea all the Glories of a Kingdom and which were more than all the gifts of his Spirit but when Saul multiplied his Transgressions and notwithstanding such signal Tokens of his Favour rebelled against the Lord God then cast him off yea he sent an Evil Spirit to torment him and would no longer hearken to his Cries as he sadly confesses to the Witch of Endor Now this Rejection hapned 36 years before he died according to Iosephus's Chronology Thus God does withdraw the Assistance of his Spirit from sinners long before they dye In their Life time he delivers them up to a Spirit of slumber and of giddiness He hardens their Hearts and sears their Consciences and gives them over to a Reprobate sense And since these things are so it will be too late for the Clinicks of the Age to Repent when they come to dye If they will obstinately go on in a Course of wickedness and multiply their Transgressions till the measure of their Iniquity be full then they are beyond the possibility of Salvation they have then forfeited the Assistance of God's Grace without which it is impossible they should repent It will therefore be safe for sinners to follow St. Pauls Advice To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts As the Prophets Exhorts Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Let not this present Discourse this present Opportunity be lost upon you for as the Apostle speaks Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation Begin this very moment to resolve against thy sins come this day to the Holy Sacrament and there vow and swear that thou wilt hereafter keep all Gods Righteous Iudgments I shall conclude all with the excellent Advice of the Son of Sirach Say not God's Mercy is great and he will be pacified for the multitude of thy Sins For Mercy and Wrath is with him he is mighty to forgive and to pour out Displeasure and as his Mercy is great so are his Corrections also Therefore make no long tarrying to turn to the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddenly shall the Wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed Humble thy self
would have done with the young Children he answered boldly that all above seven years old should have been murdered with their Parents the rest should have lived but they were to be branded in the Forehead with the Letter L. signifying Lutheran and so be reserved for perpetual Bondage These and many other Specimens have they given of their Cruelty but this days Conspiracy seems to exceed them all For had this Hellish Plot obtained its desired end the Metropolis of our Nation had become a flaming Aetna our Church and State been turned into a Chaos our Court into a Golgotha and our whole Island into an Aceldama or Field of Blood Here is more than Assyrian Rage and Fury now at least we see the Rages of the Text such as we may well call the Wrath of Man the Wrath of Adam of the worst the wickedest of Men For let Men pretend what they will there is nothing of Religion nothing of Christ in such Wrath as this for he would not suffer his Disciples to call for Fire from Heaven to destroy a little Village of the Samaritans whereas these Heathen Catholicks these Bloody Barbarous Papists would have fetched Fire I cannot say from Heaven but at least from Hell to have destroyed one of the greatest Cities in the World but the remainder of wrath God did restrain Which brings me to the second thing proposed namely Secondly That God by his good Providence does over-rule and govern the Wrath and Rage of Wicked Men so as may be for his own Glory and his Peoples Good As for the Wicked they are far from proposing such ends this proud Assyrian in the Text did not in the least design the Glory of God or the Good of his People as the Prophet Esay tells us Chap. 10. 7. He meant not so neither did his Heart think so but it was in his Heart to destroy and to cut off Nations not a few His Head and Heart were full of devices how to satisfie his Ambition and raise his Empire on the ruins of other Nations but God's Providence over-ruled his Ambitious Rage and made the Wrath of this Assyrian to praise him But for the fuller opening this part of the Text we will consider First How God makes the Wrath of Man to praise him Secondly Whom he makes to praise him First Let us inquire how God makes the Wrath of Man to praise him Now he doth this several ways 1st By diverting their Power and their Rage otherwise than they first intended The Wise Man tells us That the Hearts of Kings are in the Hands of God he turneth them whithersoever he will Prov. 21. 1. Thus Nazianzen reports of Iulian the Apostate that when he had designed the utter ruin of the Christians God cut him out work elsewhere and made it necessary for him to go first against the Persians by whom he was overthrown So this Sennacherib in the Text you 'l find Esay 10. 5. called but the Rod of God's Anger and the Staff of his Indignation to denote that the greatest of Men are but a kind of Instruments in the Hand of God's Providence and must expect the direction of a Superiour Cause Hence it is very observable that when this proud Assyrian had bent his Rage against Hezekiah it was diverted by Tirhakah the King of Aethiopia waging War against him as you may read 2 Kings 19. 9. And it is easie to parrallel this out of the late History of the Reformation For in the Reign of Queen Mary Gardiner and other Papists endeavoured to destroy the Lady Elizabeth on whom alone under God the hopes of the Reformation did depend K. Philip did interceed for her and preserved her out of interest of State God putting it into his Heart to fancy that if she were put out of the way and he should have no Issue from Queen Mary which he very much feared then the Queen of Scotland who was to be married to the Dauphine would succeed and make too great an accession to the French Crown 2ly God makes the Wrath of Man to praise him sometimes by suffering it to proceed so far till nothing but a Divine Power an immediate Arm of the Almighty can deliver God does not always blast the designs of the Wicked in the Bud or crush their Enterprizes in the Shell but frequently suffers them to come to the Birth and his chosen People to fall into great extremity thus the tale of Bricks was doubled before Moses was sent Thus Haman was allowed to go so far as even to erect the Gallows for Mordecai Thus Pharaoh was allowed to pursue Israel not only to the Banks but even into the midst of the Red Sea that by destroying him there the Right Hand of the Lord might become more Glorious in Power And were we not delivered in such a sort this day Were not all the Instruments of Death made ready Were not the Barrels lodg'd the Train laid the Match burning and the time well-nigh expired before the Lord made bare his Arm and pluckt his People as so many Brands out of the Fire 3ly God does sometimes make the Wrath of Man to praise him by infatuating the Counsels of his Churches Enemies thus he is said to have made the Princes of Zoan Fools and the wise Counsellors of Pharaoh to become brutish Isaiah 19. 11. Thus he Countermined the politick Advice of Achitophel and made that great Oracle appear according to his Name in Hebrew which signifies the Brother or Cousin-german to a Fool. A like instance of of God's Providence was that which happned in the Reign of Queen Mary for when She first fell into that kind of Dropsie which Physicians call the Mola the wisest of her Friends and Physicians were so far infatuated as to conclude her to be with Child by this means all Physick was forbid till her Distemper grew Desperate and that great Obstacle of the Reformation was happily removed 4ly God does sometimes make the Wrath of Man to praise him by making wonderful discoveries of their most secret Plots and closest Conspiracies Thus strangely did he discover Hamans bloody Plot against the Iews and that of the Iews against St. Paul But surely the Goodness of God was never seen more eminently in the discovery of any Plot than it was this day for the subtilty of the Serpent did never appear more than in the managing of this Conspiracy We know it was laid in the very Bosom of Hell hammer'd in the Devils Forge nurst up in a dark Vault We know also that the Traytors bound themselves by the Holy Sacrament and the strictest Oaths of Secresie not to discover it But yet how wonderfully did God discover it For did not the Lord cause one of the Conspirators notwithstanding he had taken three solemn Oaths to conceal the Plot to reveal it by Writing verifying that of the Wise Man in his Ecclesiastes That which has Wings shall tell the Matter Nay further was it not the over-ruling Providence of God
infelici fraude posuit If saith this Father we respect his Opportunities for attaining Faith his Repentance was not late but early he took the very first season As soon as ever he descried Christ and Religion he readily embraced them He did not wretchedly cheat himself of the Remedies of his miserable condition he did not adjourn the use of them to a late uncertain Futurity which seldom or never succeeds well Let now the bold Presumptuous sinners of our Times compare themselves if they please with the Example of the Text Let them see if they can extract any Comfort or Encouragement from hence Will they say indeed that they never had any Call to Repentance Will they pretend that there was never offer'd them any Opportunity to be acquainted with Christ Alas how oft has Christ been Crucified before their Eyes in the Ministry of the Word How oft have they seen him in the Sacrament bleeding for their sins Have they not had Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept Have they not had private and publick Admonitions How many National Judgments and Calamities have call'd aloud for their Humiliation How many publick Mercies and Deliverances have invited them to the Duty Sure then they cannot draw a parallel between their own Case and the Case of the Thief They cannot at the Hour of Death expect any Comfort or Consolation from his Example 2dly Consider how remarkable how wonderful how extraordinary the Repentance of this Thief was As Jewels contain vast Riches in a little room so his short Life of Penitency had a whole Age of Repentance in it Tho' his Repentance had but a little time to breath in yet how busie how active how vigorous was it in all the great and important parts of hearty Mortification 1. We may view here in the Text his deep sense and humble acknowledgment of his former sins We suffer justly saith he to the other Thief we receive no more than the due rewards of our former Deeds Magnum enim poenitentiae signum in poena sua acquiescere It is a great sign of true Repentance saith Grotius patiently to bear the Punishment which is inflicted or for the Malefactor to approve of his own Condemnation Confession is called by the Father the Vomit of the Soul it shews Sin to be bitter to us when we cast it up by such open Acknowledgments And now I pray what Comfort is there in this Example for such Presumptuous sinners amongst us who put off their Repentance to the time of Sickness How rarely do we find in them such a deep sense of their Sins and a serious Humiliation for them How lame are their Confessions and for the most part but General Ministers when they come to Visit them in their Sickness are forced to transgress the bounds of Modesty before they can extort a slender acknowledgment of their Faults Tho' they have sinned in an impudent manner and never were ashamed to dishonour God and affront their Saviour yet now they are unwilling to take shame to themselves but desire their sins may be buried with them in the same Grave Thus the Clinicks of the Age do generally fall short of the Example in the Text as to this part of Repentance But 2dly Let us Consider that this honest Penitent Thief was not only sensible of his sin and willing to make an open Confession of it but he shewed great Charity to his fellow Thief and labour'd to bring him to an hearty Humiliation for his Transgressions See how his Compassion to his Soul displays it self in his passionate Expostulation with him What saith he dost thou not fear God Is this a time for thee to revile this Innocent Person who has done nothing amiss It would better become thee to reflect upon thy former Life to call thy past Sins to remembrance and spend that little Breath which is left thee in suing for a Pardon at the Throne of Grace Sure thine Heart must be harder than an Adamant if Death that King of Terrours has no Darts that can pierce it What saith he dost thou not at such a time as this fear God Thus great thus remarkable was his Charity to the Soul of his Fellow-Thief But alas how cold is that Charity which the Clinicks of the Age express for the Souls of others Tho' they have been all their life time Factors for Hell and saved the Devil the labour of Tempting men to sin Tho' they have delighted formerly in putting the Bottle to their Neighbours mouth and even gloried when they have been able to drink them into Brutes Tho' they have enticed them to all sorts of Lusts and made them bear a share in all their Debaucheries yet in their sickness how seldom do they send for their boon Companions How seldom do they endeavour to rid their Souls of the guilt of other Mens sins If their Brethren in Iniquity come at any time unsent for and have so much Civility as to Visit them in their sickness how frothy at least how unseasonable is their Discourse When do we hear them reminding them of their former Debaucheries telling them the danger of them and by ghostly Admonitions labouring to draw them out of the snare of the Devil And since they are so unlike this penitent Thief in their Charity for the Souls of others they have little reason to encourage themselves by his Example But 3dly Consider farther what a strong prodigious Faith did live and act in this penitent Thief when he was a dying We find in the Text he believed Christ to have been a Iust Person even when he was numbred among Transgressors He pronounces that our Saviour had done nothing amiss notwithstanding the great Sanhedrim had pronounc'd him worthy of Death yea the Death of the Cross and fit to be hanged between two Thieves This was a strange prodigious Faith indeed And yet did it exert more prodigious Acts than these for he farther believed that Christ had a Kingdom and that a Kingdom of another World and therefore he saith to our Saviour at the point of Death Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom What a strong prodigious Faith was here The wisest of the Iews dreamt of nothing so much as a Temporal Kingdom yea his own Disciples were deficient in this great Article of their Faith They are for sitting at his Right hand and at his Left hand in some worldly Empire Nay after Christ had given several Checks to their misguided Ambition we find them still harping on this string and at the very time of his Ascension putting this foolish Question to him Lord Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom unto Israel Act. 1. 6. But this penitent Thief desires no Earthly Glories he begs not to sit at his Right hand or at his Left but Lord saith he remember me after Death when thou comest into thy Kingdom These are strange and wonderful Acts of his Faith and yet not all that are here recorded in the
before thou be sick and in the time of Sins shew Repentance Let nothing hinder to pay thy Vows in due time and defer not till Death to be justified The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. SERMON VIII Luke xxiv 43. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise THE Occasion of which Words we may easily learn from the Context We find Ver. 33. that our Blessed Saviour was Crucified betwixt two Theives or Malefactors Tho' he was without Sin yet as the Apostles speaks he appeared in the likeness of sinful Flesh and as the Prophet Esay tells us was numbred with the Transgressors Chap. 53. 12. Now one of these Malefactors begins to rail on our Saviour saying If thou be the Christ save thy self and us vers 39. It is an Argument of desperate Wickedness to insult over such as are in Misery it is no less than to defie Almighty God who is the Protector of such as are in misery and uses to avenge their quarrel And therefore the other Malefactor rebukes him ver 40. saying Dost not thou fear God especially since thou art in the same Condemnation Such as are in Prosperity do ordinarily forget God but in time of Adversity most men will consider When they are approaching towards the Gates of Death they are then generally serious the Thoughts of another World and the prospect of a Future State usually strikes an awe into their Souls But this Thief is so desperately wicked that even on the Cross and when Death was near at hand he despises God and reviles our Saviour But the other Thief gives ample demonstrations of his sincere Repentance and Faith in the Messiah For he does not only rebuke his Fellow Thief and endeavours his Conversion but he also acknowledges his Fault aud patiently submits to the Punishment as a just reward of his evil deeds ver 41. If such scandalous persons that are amongst us would when they are upon their Death-beds thus take shame to themselves by a free Confession of their Faults If they would send for such persons whom in the time of their Health they have endeavour'd to debauch either by their Example or Counsel and acquaint them with the danger of Sin and the bitterness they then find in it they would give the World much better demonstrations of their sincere Repentance and much surer grounds to hope their Eternal welfare And as this poor Thief gives such ample demonstrations of his sincere Repentance so he gives also very good proof of a true and stedfast Faith in Christ for ver 42. he says unto Christ Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom Ye see he believes Christ to be the Lord and to have a Kingdom tho' not in this World which was more than Christ's own Disciples did Nay farther he owns Christ upon the Cross and when in the lowest degree of his state of Humiliation even when all the Iews were mocking and persecuting him yea when his own Disciples forsook him and St. Peter one of the Chiefest had deny'd him thrice Nay farther yet how wonderful was his Humility He only desires that Christ would remember him in his Kingdom He does not presume to ask that he might sit on Christ's Right hand or on his Left in his Kingdom but only that he would remember him A true penitent humble Soul will think the least degree of Mercy great enough or too great for him I have the rather noted all this because too many encourage themselves in their Wickedness by the Example of this poor Thief They think they may live as they list and yet be saved if they repent on a Sick-bed and at the Hour of Death But how rare is it that God does give such Presumptuous sinners so much Grace in the time of their Sickness How seldom do they give such ample demonstrations of their Faith Humility and sincere Repentance Now what Answer doth Christ return to this honest Thief The Text will give you a fair account of this Then said Iesus unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise In which Words we have a fair description of the happiness of pious Souls after they are departed from this wretched Body I shall consider the Words in the same order that they lye And First They assure us That pious Souls are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their departure from the Body To Day saith Christ. Secondly They do farther assure us of the greatness of this Happiness they shall be with Christ and they shall be in Paradise To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise First These Words assure us that pious Souls are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their depature from the Body There are a sort of Men in the World they call Psychoparruychites who hold that the Soul after its departure from the Body sleeps all the while till the General Resurrection and consequently is neither in a state of Ioy nor Misery till the Day of Iudgment when it shall be reunited united to the Body and sent with it either to Heaven or Hell But it is plain from the Text that the Souls of Good men are immediately after their departure from the Body admitted to the actual possession of Eternal happiness For Christ does here promise this honest Thief that he should be that very day with him in Paradise Paradise is a place of Joy and Bliss and to be with Christ is to be in a state of Happiness Now in such a place and in such a state was the Thief to be that very day So Act. 7. 56. St. Stephen saw the Heavens open'd and the Son of Man standing on the Right hand of God He knew the Heavens were open'd for him and that Christ stood there ready to receive him into Glory and therefore he prays ver 59. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit So again 2 Cor. 5. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. It seems the pious Soul as soon as it is absent from the Body it is present with the Lord and consequently in a state of Bliss and Glory Again Revel 14. 13. I heard a Voice from Heaven saying Write blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Ye see here the Godly are said to be blessed as soon as they dye and not only to rest but also to receive the reward of their good Works I shall add but one Text more which you 'l find Phil. 1. 21 22. I am in a strait betwixt two saith St. Paul having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you As much as if the Apostle should have said I cannot tell whether I should desire to live longer or