the objects only of a subordinate fear or hope when the fear of man comes in competition with the fear of God it is wise counsel which the Prophet Isaiah gives Say ye not A confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say A confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord God of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread and he shall be for a sanctuary 8 Isai. 12 13 14. There is a vast difference between the power of God and men which is our Saviour's reason why we should fear God more than men Be not afraid of them who can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but I will forewarn ye whom ye shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him 12 Luke 4 5. But whatever power men may have to hurt while they live they can do us no hurt when they are dead and their lives are so very uncertain that we may be quickly eased of those fears The same may be said with respect to hope and confidence in men though their word and promise were always sacred yet their lives are uncertain Their breath goeth forth they return to the earth in that very day their thoughts perish all the good and all the evil they intended to do But happy is he that hath the God of Iacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is who keepeth truth for ever 146 Psal. 5. 6. 6. For a conclusion of this Argument I shall briefly vindicate the wisdom and goodness of God in concealing from us the time of our Death This we are very apt to complain of that our lives are so very uncertain that we know not to day but that we may die to morrow and we would be mighty glad to meet with any one who could certainly inform us in this matter how long we are to live but if we think a little better of it we shall be of another mind For 1. though I presume many of you would be glad to know that you shall certainly live twenty or thirty or forty years longer yet would it be any comfort to know that you must die to morrow or some few months or a year or two hence which may be your case for ought you know and this I believe you are not very desirous to know for how would this chill your blood and spirits how would it overcast all the pleasures and comforts of life You would spend your days like men under the sentence of Death while the execution is suspended Did all men who must die young certainly know it it would destroy the industry and improvements of half Mankind which would half destroy the World or be an insupportable mischief to Humane Societies For what man who knows that he must die at twenty or five and twenty a little sooner or later would trouble himself with ingenious or gainful Arts or concern himself any more with this World than just to live so long in it and yet how necessary is the service of such men in the World what great things do they many times do and what great improvements do they make how pleasant and diverting is their conversation while it is innocent how do they enjoy themselves and give life and spirit to the graver Age how thin would our Schools our Shops our Universities and all places of Education be did they know how little time many of them were to live in the World for would such men concern themselves to learn the Arts of living who must die as soon as they have learnt them Would any Father be at a great expence in educating his Child only that he might die with a little Latine and Greek Logick and Philosophy No half the World must be divided into Cloysters and Nunneries and Nurseries for the Grave Well you 'll say suppose that and is not this an advantage above all the inconveniencies you can think of to secure the salvation of so many thousands who are now eternally ruined by youthful Lusts and Vanities but would spend their days in Piety and Devotion and make the next World their only care if they knew how little while they were to live here Right I grant this might be a good way to correct the heat and extravagancies of Youth and so it would be to shew them Heaven and Hell but God does not think fit to do either because it offers too much force and violence to mens minds it is no trial of their vertue of their reverence for God of their conquests and victory over this World by the power of Faith but makes Religion a matter of necessity not of choice now God will force and drive no man to Heaven the Gospel-Dispensation is the trial and discipline of ingenuous Spirits and if the certain hopes and fears of another World and the uncertainty of our living here will not conquer these flattering temptations and make men seriously religious as those who must certainly die and go into another World and they know not how soon God will not try whether the certain knowledge of the time of their death will make them religious That they may die young and that thousands do so is reason enough to engage young men to expect death and prepare for it if they will venture they must take their chance and not say they had no warning of dying young if they eternally miscarry by their wilful delays And besides this God expects our youthful service and obedience though we were to live on till old Age that we may die young is not the proper much less the only reason why we should remember our Creator in the days of our youth but because God has a right to our youthful strength and vigour and if this will not oblige us to an early Piety we must not expect that God will set death in our view to fright and terrifie us as if the only design God had in requiring our obedience was not that we might live like reasonable Creatures to the glory of their Maker and Redeemer but that we might repent of our sins time enough to escape Hell. God is so merciful as to accept of returning Prodigals but does not think fit to encourage us in Sin by giving us notice when we shall die and when it is time to think of repentance 2dly Though I doubt not but that it would be a great pleasure to you to know that you shall live till old Age yet consider a little with yourselves and then tell me whether you yourselves can judge it wise and fitting for God to let you know this I observed to you before what danger there is in flattering ourselves with the hopes of long life that it is apt to make us too fond of this World when we expect to live
have no reason to think this any great hurt Nay indeed if we consider things aright the Divine Goodness has improved the Fall of Adam to the raising of Mankind to a more happy and perfect state for though Paradise where God placed Adam in Innocence was a happier state of life than this World freed from all the disorders of a mortal Body and from all the necessary cares and troubles of this Life yet you 'll all grant that Heaven is a happier place than an earthly Paradise and therefore it is more for our happiness to be translated from Earth to Heaven than to have lived always in an earthly Paradise You will all grant that the state of good men when they go out of these Bodies before the Resurrection is a happier life than Paradise was for it is to be with Christ as St. Paul tells us which is far better 1. Phil. 23. And when our Bodies rise again from the Dead you will grant they will be more glorious Bodies than Adam's was in Innocence For the first man was of the earth earthy but the second man is the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. Adam had an earthly mortal Body tho' it should have been immortal by Grace but at the Resurrection our Bodies shall be fashioned like unto Christ's most glorious Body The righteous shall shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of the Father that as we have born the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15 49. So that our Redemption by Christ has infinitely the advantage of Adam's Fall and we have no reason to complain That by man came death since by man also came the resurrection of the dead That St. Paul might well magnifie the Grace of God in our Redemption by Christ above his Justice and Severity in punshing Adam's Sin with Death 5. Rom. 15 16 17. But not as the offence so also is the free gift For if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Iesus Christ hath abounded unto many And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one man's offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ. Where the Apostle magnifies the Grace of God upon a fourfold account 1. That Death was the just Reward of Sin it came by the offence of one and was an act of Justice in God whereas our Redemption by Christ is the Gift of Grace the free Gift which we had no just claim to 2. That by Christ we are not only delivered from the effects of Adam's Sin but from the guilt of our own For though the judgement was by one to condemnation the free gift is of many offences unto justification 3. That though we die in Adam we are not barely made alive again in Christ but shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ which is a much happier Life than what we lost in Adam 4. That as we die by one man's offence so we live by one too By the righteousness of one the free gift comes upon all men unto justification of life We have no reason to complain that the Sin of Adam is imputed to us to Death if the Righteousness of Christ purchase for us eternal Life The first was a necessary consequence of Adam's losing Paradise the second is wholly owing to the Grace of God. Thus we see what it is that makes us mortal God did not make Death he created us in a happy and immortal state but by man sin entred into the world and death by sin What ever aversion then we have to Death should beget in us a greater horrour of Sin which did not only at first make us mortal but is to this day both the cause of Death and the Sting of it No degree indeed of Vertue now can preserve us from dying but yet Vertue may prolong our lives and make them happy while sin very often hastens us to the Grave and cuts us off in the very midst of our days An intemperate and lustful man destroys the most vigorous constitution of Body dies of a Feavour or a Dropsie of Rottenness and Consumptions others fall a Sacrifice to private Revenge or publick Justice or a Divine Vengeance for the wicked shall not live out half their days However setting aside some little natural aversions which are more easily conquered and Death were a very innocent harmless nay desirable thing did not Sin give a sting to it and terrifie us with the thoughts of that Judgment which is to follow quarrel not then at the Divine Justice in appointing Death God is very good as well as just in it but vent all your indignation against Sin pull out this sting of Death and then you will see nothing but smiles and charms in it then it is nothing but putting off these mortal Bodies to reassume them again with all the advantages of an immortal Youth It is certain indeed we must die this is appointed for us and the very certainty of our death will teach us that Wisdom which may help us to regain a better Immortality then we have lost SECT II. How to improve this Consideration that we must certainly Die. FOr 1. if it be certain that we must Die this should teach us frequently to think of Death to keep it always in our eye and view For why should we cast off the thoughts of that which will certainly come especially when it is so necessary to the good government of our lives to remember that we must die If we must die I think it concerns us to take care that we may die happily and that depends upon our living well and nothing has such a powerful influence upon the good government of our lives as the thoughts of Death I have already shewed you what Wisdom Death will teach us but no man will learn this who does not consider what it is to die and no man will practise it who does not often remember that he must die but he that lives under a constant sence of Death has a perpetual Antidote against the Follies and Vanities of this World and a perpetual Spur to Vertue When such a man finds his desires after this World enlarge beyond not onely the wants but the conveniencies of Nature Thou Fool says he to himself what is the meaning of all this what kindles this insatiable thirst of Riches why must there be no end of adding House to House and Field to Field is this World thy home is this thy abiding City dost thou hope to take up an eternal Rest here Vain man thou must shortly remove thy dwelling and then whose shall all these things be Death will shortly close thy eyes
the most miserable Thanks be to God it is not always so but when it is it would be too great a temptation for humane Nature to live some hundred years in a state of Persecution as they might if they and the persecuting Prince should live so long Nay such a long life as these men talk of would greatly weaken the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel which are all absent and unseen things to be expected in the other World but if the next World were so many hundred years off both the Promises and Threatnings of it would lose their effect upon the generality of Mankind Nay it might be thought very hard upon good men who are taught by the Gospel of Christ to live above this World and to have a very mean opinion of and a great indifferency to all the delights of it to live so many hundred years in it not so much to enjoy it as to despise it and to contend with it And it is not less hard for men who are transported with the ravishing hopes and expectations of a better life whose hearts and conversations are already in Heaven to be kept so long out of it This is a severe trial of their patience for hope when it is so long delayed is a very troublesome and uneasie passion and though few men long to die yet a great many good men do very impatiently long to be in Heaven and can be contented whenever God pleases to submit to dying though with some natural reluctancy that they may get to Heaven In short this life is long enough for a Race for a Warfare for a Pilgrimage it is long enough to fight and contend with this World and all the Temptations of it it is long enough to know this World to discover the Vanity of it and to live above it it is long enough by the Grace of God to purge and refine our minds and to prepare ourselves to live for ever in God's presence and when we are in any measure prepared for Heaven and possessed with great and passionate desires of it we shall think it a great deal too long to be kept out of it SECT III. What use to make of the fixt Term of Humane Life 2. LEt us consider what wise use is to be made of this and here are two things distinctly to be considered 1. That the general Term of humane Life is fixt and determined by God. 2. That this common Term and Period of Life at the utmost extent of it is but very short 1. That the general Term of humane Life is fixt and determined by God and this is capable of very wise improvements For 1. When we know that we cannot live above threescore or fourscore years or some few years over or under we should not extend our hopes and expectations and designs beyond this term 2. We should frequently count our days and observe how our lives wast and draw near to Eternity 3. When this Period draws nigh and Death comes within view it more especially concerns us to apply ourselves to a more serious and solemn preparation for Death 1. We should not extend our hopes and expectations and designs beyond this term which God has fixt for the conclusion of our lives We should not live as if we were immortal Creatures who are never to die for if God have set bounds to our lives it is absurd for us to expect to live any longer unless we hope to alter the Decrees of Heaven And yet it is more absurd if it be possible to extend our hopes and desires our projects and designs for this World beyond the term of our living here for how unreasonable is it for us to trouble ourselves about this World longer then we are like to continue in it and yet if this were observed it would ease us of a great deal of labour and care and deliver the World from those great troubles and disorders which the designs and projects for future Ages create Men might see some end of their Labours and of their Cares of increasing Riches and adding House to House and Field to Field did they stint their desires with their lives did they consider how long they were to live and what is a sufficient and necessary provision for their continuance here whereas now the generality of Mankind drudge on to the last moment they have to live and still heap up riches till they know no end of them as if their lives and their enjoyment of them were to have no end neither The only tolerable Excuse that can be made for this is the care of Posterity to leave a liberal provision for Children that they may live happily after us But this indeed is rather an Excuse than a Reason for thus we see it is when there is no such reason for it when men have no Children to provide for nor it may be any Relations for whom they are much concerned on when they have a sufficient provision for all their Children to encourage their Industry and Vertue though not to maintain them in Idleness and Vice which no wise and good Father would desire nay it may be when they have no other Heir to an over-grown Estate but either a Daughter whose fortune may make her a rich Prey as is too often seen or a prodigal Son who is ruined already by the expectation of so great a Fortune and will quickly be even with his Fortune and ruine that when he has it A competent provision for Children is a just reason to continue our industry though we have enough for our selves as long as we live but to make them rich and great is not The Piety and Charity of Parents which entails a Blessing upon their Posterity and an industrious and vertuous Education of Children is a better Inheritance for them than a great Estate But men who are so intent to the very last upon encreasing their Estates seldom do it for any other reason but to satisfie their own insatiable thirst which is to hoard up riches for a time when they can't enjoy them to provide for their living in this World a much longer time than they know they can possibly live in it This is much greater folly than the man in the Parable was guilty of whose Ground brought forth plentifully and he pulled down his Barns and built greater and said to his soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry He was so wise as to know when he had enough and when it was fit to retire and take his ease Yet God said unto him Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose shall all these things be which thou hast provided 12 Luke 16 c. Thus how big are most men with projects and designs which there is little hope should ever take effect while they live especially aspiring Monarchs and busie Politicians who draw the scheme and frame their design
worth the obedience and service of a few years how difficult soever that were 4hly If our lives are so very short at their utmost extent the sinful pleasures of this World can be no great temptation when compared with an Eternity of Happiness or Misery Those sensual pleasures which men are so fond of and for the sake of which they break the Laws of God and provoke his Justice forfeit immortal Life and expose themselves to all the Miseries and Sufferings of an eternal Death can last no longer than we live in this World and how little a while is that When we put off these Bodies all bodily pleasures perish with them nay indeed as our bodies die and decay by degrees before they tumble into the Grave so do our pleasures sensibly decay too As short as our lives are men may out-live some of their most beloved Vices and therefore how luscious soever they may be such short and dying Pleasures ought not to come in competition with eternal Happiness or Mifery what ever things are in their own nature the value of them increases or diminishes according to the length or shortness of their enjoyment that which will last our lives and make them easy and comfortable is to be prefered by wise men before the most ravishing enjoyments of a day and a happiness which will out-last our lives and reach to eternity is to be preferred before the perishing enjoyments of a short life unless men can think it better to be happy for threescore years than for ever nay unless men think the enjoyments of threescore years a sufficient recompence for eternal want and misery 5hly The shortness of our lives are a sufficient answer to all these arguments against Providence taken from the Prosperity of bad Men and the Miseries and Afflictions of the good for both of them are so short that they are nothing in the account of Eternity Were this life to be considered by it self without any relation to a future State the difficulty would be greater but not vâ—ry great because a short happiness or a short misery chequered and intermixt as all the happiness and miseries of this life are is not very considerable nor were it worth the while either to make objections against Providence or to answer them if Death put an end to us Bad men who make these Objections against Providence are very well contented to take the World as they find it so they may have it without a Providence which is a sign that it is not their dislike of this World though many times they suffer as much in it as good men do which makes them quarrel at Providence but the dread and fear of another World and this proves that they think this World a very tolerable place whether there be a Providence or not And if so short a life as this is be but tolerable it is a sufficient justification of Providence that this life is well enough for its continuance a very mixt and imperfect state indeed but very short too such a state as bad men themselves would like very well without another World after it and such a state as good men like very well with another Life to follow It is not a spight at humane life which makes them reject a Providence as any one would guess who hears them object their own Prosperity and the Calamities of good men as arguments against Providence both which they like very well and whatever there may be in these Objections supposing there were no other life after this yet when they all vanish at the very naming of another life where good Men shall be rewarded and the Wicked punished it is ridiculous to prove that there is no other life after this because rewards and punishments are not dispensed with that exact Justice in this life as we might suppose God would observe if there were no other life To prove that there is no other life after this because good and bad men do not receive their just rewards in this life is an Argument which becomes the wit and understanding of an Atheist for they must first take it for granted that there is no Providence before this argument can prove any thing for if there be a Providence then the prosperity of bad Men and the sufferings of the good is a much better argument that there is another life after this where rewards and punishments shall be more equally distributed Thus when they dispute against Providence from the Prosperity of bad men and the Calamities of the good before this can prove any thing they must take it for granted that there is no other life after this where good Men shall be rewarded and the wicked punished for if there be it is easie enough to justifie the Providence of God as to the present prosperity of bad men and the sufferings of the good So that they must of necessity dispute in a circle as the Papists do between the Church and the Scriptures when they either prove that there is no Providence or no Life after this from the unequal rewards and punishments of bad and good Men in this World For in effect they prove that there is no Providence because there is no life after this or that there is no life after this because there is no Providence for the prosperity of bad Men and the sufferings of the good proves neâ—â—her of them unless you take the other for granted and if you will prove them both by this Medium you must take them both for granted by turns and that is the easier and safer way to take them for granted without exposing themselves to the scorn of wise men by such kind of proofs But yet though this were no Objection against the being of another World and a Providence yet had the prosperity of bad Men and the calamities of the good continued some hundred years it had been a greater difficulty and a greater temptation than now it is The prosperity of the Wicked is a much less objection when it is so easily answered as the Psalmist does Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be yea thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be 37 Psal. 10. When the very same persons who have been the Spectators and Witnesses of his prosperous Villanies live to see a quick and sudden end of him I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found 35 36 And this is enough also to support the spirits of good men For this cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 16 17. SECT V. The time and manner and circumstances of every particular Man's Death is not determined
lives wast and the other World grows near so we should recover a more lively sence of it yet we find it quite otherwise When men have been used to think the next World a great way off they will never think it near till it comes and when they have been used to think of the other World without any passion or concernment for it it is almost an impossible thing to give any quickness and passion to such thoughts for when any thoughts and the passion that properly belongs to such thoughts have been a great while separated it is a hard thing to unite them again to begin to think of that with passion and concern which we have been used for thirty or forty years to think of without any concernment 3. Another dangerous effect of flattering ourselves with long life is that it encourages men to sin with the vain hopes and resolutions of repenting before they die When men are convinced that if they live and die in sin they must be miserable for ever as I believe most profest Christians are as I am sure all must be who believe the Gospel of our Saviour there is no other possible way to ward off this blow and to sin securely under such Convictions but by resolving to repent and to make their peace with God before they die They flatter themselves they have a great while yet to live Judgment is a great way off and therefore they may indulge themselves a while and enjoy the sweets of sin and gratifie their youthful inclinations and learn the Vanity of the World by experience as their Forefathers have done before them and then they will grow as wise and grave and declaim against the Follies and Vanities of Youth and be as penitent and as devout and religious as any of them all Whoever considers the uncertainty of Humane Life if he should hear men talk at this rate would either conclude that they were mad or merrily disposed but could never guess that they were in their wits and in good earnest too but if he will allow men to be in their wits who can promise themselves long life when they see every day how uncertain life is and if we will not allow such men to be in their wits above two thirds of the World are mad this gives a plain account how men may resolve to sin while they are young and to repent when they are old for it is only the flattering hopes of long life that can encourage men in a course of sin Men indeed who do not promise themselves long life may commit a particular sin and resolve to repent of it as soon as they have done which are a more modest sort of Sinners of which more presently but I speak now of those and too many such there are who resolve to take their fill of this World while youth and strength and health last and to grow sober and religious when they grow old the consequent of which is that they resolve to be damned unless they live till they are old or till they grow weary of their sins and learn more wisdom by age and experience Now I shall not insist at present upon the hazard such men run of not living till the time comes which they have allotted for their repentance which belongs to another Argument but onely what a dangerous thing it is to be tempted to a custom and habit of sinning by the hope of long life and of time enough to repent in for there is not a greater Cheat in the World that men put upon themselves than to indulge themselves in all manner of Wickednesses to contract strong and powerful habits of Vice with a resolution to repent of their sins and to forsake them before they die The experience of the World sufficiently proves how vain this is for though some such men may live while they are old how seldom is it seen that they repent of their youthful Debaucheries when they grow old They still retain their love and affection for those sins which they can commit no longer and repent of nothing but that they are grown old and cannot be so wicked as they were when they were young And is there any reason in the World to expect it should be otherwise Do we not know what the power of habit and custom is how the love of sin increases with the repeated commission of it and is the spending our youthful strength and vigour in sin likely to dispose and prepare us to be sincere Penitents when we grow old Do we not see that a custom of sinning in some men destroys the modesty of humane Nature in others all sence of God and of Religion or of the natural differences of good and evil Some men sin on till they despise repentance others till they think repentance is too late so that though men were sure that they should live long enough to grow wiser and to repent and reform the sins and extravagances of youth yet no man who enters upon a wicked course of life has any reason to expect that he shall ever repent and therefore it is extreamly dangerous to flatter ourselves into a habit and custom of sinning with the hopes and expectations that we shall live to repent of our sins and if this be dangerous it must be very dangerous to flatter ourselves with the hopes of long life which is the great temptation to men to sin on and to delay their repentance till old age 2. Since the time of our Death is so unknown and uncertain to us we ought always to live in expectation of it to be so far from promising ourselves long life that we should not promise ourselves a day And the reason for it is plain and necessary because we are not sure of a day This you 'll say is hard indeed to live always in expectation of dying which is no better then dying every day or enduring the repeated fears and terrors of Death every day which is the most uncomfortable part of dying at this rate we never live but instead of dying once as God has appointed we are always a dying nay this indeed is a fine saying but signifies nothing for no man does it nor can do it though we may die every day we see that men live on forty fifty threescore years and therefore though we know that our lives are uncertain yet no man can think every day that he shall die to day This is very true and therefore to live always in expectation of dying does not signifie a belief that we shall die to day but only that we may which answers the objection against the uncomfortableness of it for such an expectation as this has nothing of dread and terror in it but only prudence and caution Men may live very comfortably and enjoy all the innocent pleasures of life with these thoughts about them to expect Death every day is like expecting Thieves every night which does not disturb our rest but
only makes us lock and bar our Doors and provide for our own defence thus to expect Death is not to live under the perpetual fears of dying but to live as a wise man would do who knows not that he must but that he may die to day That is to be always prepared for Death not to defer our repentance and return to God one moment not to commit any wilful sin least Death should surprize us in it not to be slothful and negligent but to be always imployed in our Master's business according to our Saviour's counsel 12 Luke 35 c. Let your loyns be girded about and your lamps burning and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching And this know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched and not suffered his house to be broken through Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not This our Saviour also warns us of in the Parable of the wise and foolish Virgins 25 Mat. while the Bridegroom tarried they all slept but the wise Virgins they presently arose and trimmed their Lamps and went in with him to the Marriage and the door was shut the foolish Virgins had no Oyl and their Lamps were gone out and while they went to buy Oyl they were shut out and could afterwards procure no admission Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh This is the danger of a sudden Death and the reason why our Church prays against it for were we always in a preparation to die with our Lamps trimmed and burning like Virgins who expect the Bridegroom to die then without notice without fear and apprehension without the melancholy solemnities of dying were a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most desirable way of dying but the danger of a sudden Death is that men are surprized in their sins and hurried away to Judgment before their accounts are ready that they are snatched out of this World before they have made any provision for the next and the only way to prevent this is to be always upon our watch always in expectation of Death and always prepared for it Some men think themselves very safe if after an age of Sin and Vanity they have but so much notice of Death as to ask God's pardon upon a sick Bed to confess and bewail the wickedness of their past lives to die in horrors and agonies of mind which they call repentance but indeed are nothing else but the sad presages of an awakened Conscience distracted with its own guilt and the terrible expectations of vengeance But though this be a very comfortless way of dying and I fear generally very hopeless too yet no man can promise himself so much as this who does not live in a constant expectation of Death We may be cut off by a sudden stroke or seized with distraction or stupidness that if only asking God pardon before we die would save our Souls we could not do it And this is the case of so many Sinners that it should be a warning to all men who know not when nor how or in what manner they must die ought to be ready prepared against all accidents and surprizing events 3. Since the time of our Death is so very uncertain it concerns us to improve our present time because no time is ours but what is present I observed before that the shortness of our lives though we were to live to the utmost extent of them threescore and ten or fourscore years was a sufficient reason to lose none of our time but to improve it to the best and wisest purposes and the surest way to lose none of our time is to improve the present time and there is a plain necessary reason why we should do that because our lives are uncertain and therefore no time is ours but what is present The time past was ours but that is gone and we can never recal it nor live it over again if we have spent it well we shall find it ours still in our account but it is no longer our time to live and act in the time to come may be ours and it may not because we know not whether we shall live to it and therefore we cannot reckon upon it the time present is ours and that is the only time that is ours and therefore if we will improve our time we must improve our present time we must live to day and not put off living till to morrow All Mankind are sensible of the necessity and prudence of this in all other matters excepting the concernments of their Souls An Epicurean Sensualist is for the present gratification of his lusts Vive hodie is his Motto Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die Men who are intent upon increasing Riches and advancing their Fortune and Honors are for taking the present time and opportunity to do it Indeed setting aside the consideration of the uncertainty of our lives there are some things which a wise man will not delay or put off to another time when he has opportunity to do it at present What is necessary to be done he will do as soon as he can the very first moment that it becomes necessary if opportunity serves What is necessary every day he will not put off from one day to another but will do it every day as eating and drinking and sleeping are What he resolves to do and may as well do at present and is as fit to be done at present as at any other time he will do at present What may suffer by delays he will do the first time he can do it What is proper for some peculiar times and seasons he will do when those times and seasons come as the Husbandman observes the seasons for sowing and reaping the Tradesman his Markets and Fairs What is of present use and convenience to him what he takes great pleasure in or what he mightily longs for and desires he will by no means delay but is for doing it present Now all these are very weighty reasons why we should take care of our Souls repent of our Sins live in the practise of all Christian Graces and Vertues and do all the good we can at present but much more when we consider that our lives are so uncertain that we may have no other time to do any thing of this in but what is present For 1. is any thing of more absolute necessity than the Salvation of our Souls This is that one thing needful the Salvation of our Souls is needful as a necessary end and the practise of true Religion needful as subservient to that end If to escape eternal
so long in it that it weakens the hopes and fears of the next World by removing it at too great a distance from us that it encourages men to live in sin because they have time enough before them to indulge their Lusts and to repent of their Sins and make their Peace with God before they die and if the uncertain hopes of this undoes so many men what would the certain knowledge of it do Those who are too wise and considerate to be imposed on by such uncertain hopes might be conquered by the certain knowledge of a long life This would take off all restraints from men and give free scope to their vicious inclinations when they know that how wicked soever they were they should not die before their time was come and could never be surpiz'd by Death since they certainly knew when it will come which destroys one great motive to Obedience that Sin shall shorten Mens lives and that Vertue and Piety shall prolong them That the wicked shall not live out half their days that the fear of the Lord prolongeth days but the years of the wicked shall be shortned 10 Prov. 27. Such promises and threatnings as these must be struck out of the Bible should God let all men know the time of their death Nay this would frustrate the methods and designs of Providence for the reclaiming Sinners some times publick Calamities Plague and Famine and Sword alarum a wicked World and summon Men to repentance sometimes a dangerous fit of Sickness awakens Men into a sence of their sins and works in them a true and lasting repentance but all this would be ineffectual did Men know the time of their death and that such publick Judgments or threatning Sickness should not kill them The uncertainty of our Lives is a great motive to constant Watchfulness to an early and persevering Piety but to know when we shall die could serve no good end but would encrease the wickedness of Mankind which is too great already which is a sufficient Vindication of the Wisdom of God in leaving the time of Death unknown and uncertain to us SECT VII That we must Die but once or that Death translates us to an unchangable State with the Improvement of it THe last thing to be consider'd is That we must die but once It is appointed for men once to die There are some exceptions from this Rule as there are from dying that as Enoch and Elias did not die so some have been raised again from the Dead to live in this World and such men died twice But this is a certain Rule in general That as all men must die once so they must die but once which needs no other proof but the daily experience and observation of Mankind But that which I intend by it is this That once dying determines our state and condition for ever when we put off these mortal Bodies we must not return into them again to act over a new part in this World and to correct the errours and miscarriages of our former lives Death translates us to an immutable and unchangeable state that in this sence what the wise man tells us is true If the tree fall towards the south or toward the north in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be 11 Eccles. 3. This is a consideration of very great moment and deserves to be more particularly explain'd which I shall do in these following Propositions 1. That this life is the only state of trial and probation for Eternity And therefore 2. Death when ever it comes as it puts a final period to this life that we die once for all and must never live again as we do now in this World so it puts a final end to our work too that our day of grace and time of working for another World ends with this life And 3dly As a necessary consequence of both these once dying puts us into an immutable and unchangeable state 1. That this life only is our state of trial and probation for Eternity whatever is to be done by us to obtain the favour of God and a blessed Immortality must be done in this life I observed before that this life is wholly in order to the next that the great the only necessary business we have to do in this World is to fit and prepare ourselves to live for ever in GOD's presence To finish the work GOD has given us to do that we may receive the reward of good and faithful Servants to enter into our Master's rest I now add that the only time we have to do this in is while we live in this World This is evident from what S. Paul tells us That we must all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5. 10. Now if we must be judged and receive our final sentence according to what we have done in the body then our only time of trial and working is while we live in these Bodies for the future Judgment relates only to what is done in the Body The Gospel of Christ is the Rule whereby we must be judged even that Gospel which St. Paul preached 2 Rom. 16. and all the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel concern the government of our Conversation in this World and therefore if we be judged by the Gospel we must be judged only for what we have done in this World. This life throughout the Scripture is represented as the time of working as a Race a Warfare a labouring in the Vineyard the other World as a place of Recompence of Rewards or punishments and if there be such a relation between this World and the next as between fighting and conquering and receiving the Crown as between running a race and obtaining a prize as between the work and the reward then we must fight and conquer run our race and finish our work in this World if we expect the Rewards of the next Many of those Graces and Vertues which our Saviour has promised to reward with eternal Life can be exercised only in this World Faith and Hope are peculiar only to this Life while the other World is absent and unseen And these are the great Principles and Graces of the Christian Life to believe what we do not see and to live and act upon the hopes of future Rewards the government of our bodily appetites and passions by the rules of Temperance Sobriety and Chastity necessarily supposes that we have Bodies and bodily Appetites and Passions to govern and therefore these Vertues can be exercised only while we live in these Bodies which solicite and tempt us to sensual Excesses To live above this World to despise the tempting Glories of it is a Vertue only while we live in it and are tempted by it to have our Conversation in Heaven which is the most divine temper of Mind is
Heaven Nothing but the hopes and fears of the next World can enforce these Duties on us and this justifies the wisdom and goodness of God in making the present exercise of these Vertues necessary to our future Rewards I shall only add that whatever complaints bad Men may make that their future Happiness or Misery depends upon the government and conduct of their Lives in this World I am sure all Mankind would have had great reason to complain if it had been otherwise For how miserable must it have made us to have certainly known that we must be eternally happy or eternally miserable in the next World and not to have as certainly known how to escape the Miseries and obtain the Hapâ—iness of it And how could that be possibly known if the trial of it had been reserved for an unknown state What a terrible thing had it been to die could no Man have been sure what would have become of him in the next World as no Man could have been upon this supposal for how can any Man know what his reward shall be when he is so far from having done his work that he knows not what he is to do till he comes into the next World. But now since we shall be rewarded according to what we have done in this Body every Man certainly knows what will make him happy or miserable in the next World and it is his own fault if he do not live so as to secure immortal Life and what a blessed state is this to have so joyful a prospect beyond the Grave and to put off these Bodies with the certain hopes of a glorious Resurrection This I think is sufficient to vindicate the wisdom and goodness of God in making this present Life a state of trial and probation for the happiness of the next But to proceed 2. If this Life only be our state of trial and probation for Eternity then Death as it puts a final period to this Life so it puts a final end to our work too our day of Grace and time of Working for another World ends with this Life We shall easily apprehend the necessity of this if we remember that Death which is the punishment of Sin is not meerly the death of the Body but that state of Misery to which Death translates Sinners and therefore if we die while we are in a state of Sin under the Curse and under the power of Death there is no Redemption for us because the Justice of God has already seiz'd us the Sentence is already executed and that is too late to obtain a Pardon for in this case Death answers to our casting into Prison from whence we shall never come forth till we have paid the uttermost Farthing as our Saviour represents it 5 Matt. 25 26 for indeed Sin is the death of the Soul and those who are under the power of Sin are in a state of Death and if they die before they have a principle of a new Life in them they fall under the power of Death that is into that state of Misery and Punishment which is appointed for such dead Souls and therefore our redemption from Death by Christ is begun in our dying to Sin and walking in newness of Life which is our conformity to the Death and the Resurrection of Christ 6 Rom. 4. This is to be dead to sin and to be alive to GOD as Christ is and if we die with Christ we shall rise with him also into immortal Life which is begun in this World and will be perfected in the next which is the sum of St. Paul's argument v. 6 7 8 9 10 11. thus he tells us 8 Rom. 10 11. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness That is our Bodies are mortal and must die by an irreversible Sentence which God pronounc'd against Adam when he had sinned but the Soul and Spirit has a new principle of Life a principle of Righteousness and Holiness by which it lives to God and therefore cannot fall into a state of Death when the Body dies But if the spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you That is when the divine Spirit has quicken'd our Souls and raised them into a new Life though our Bodies must die yet the same divine Spirit will raise them up also into immortal Life This is the plain account of the matter If Death arrests us while we are in a state of Sin and Death we must die for ever but if our Souls are alive to God by a principle of Grace and Holiness before our Bodies die they must live for ever A dead Soul must die with its Body that is sink into a state of Misery which is the death and the loss of the Soul a living Soul survives the Body in a state of Bliss and Happiness and shall receive its Body again glorious and immortal at the Resurrection of the Just but this change of state must be made while we live in these Bodies a dead Soul cannot revive in the other World nor a living Soul die there and therefore this Life is the day of God's Grace and Patience the next World is the place of Judgment And the reason St. Peter gives why God is not hasty in executing judgment but is long suffering to us ward is because he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 5. Hence the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts them Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works forty years Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said They do alway err in their hearts and they have not known my ways So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest There is some dispute what is meant by to day whether it be the day of this Life or such a fixt and determin'd day and season of Grace as may end long before this Life The example of the Israelites of whom God swear in his wrath that they should die in the Wilderness and never enter into his Rest that is into the Land of Canaan seems to incline it to the latter sence for this sentence That they should not enter into his Rest was pronounc'd against them long before they died for which reason they wandered forty Years in the Wilderness till all that Generation of Men were dead and if we are concern'd in this example then we also may provoke God to such a degree that he may pronounce the final sentence on us That we shall never enter into Heaven long before we leave this World Our day of Grace may
have a shorter period than our Lives and we may wander about in this World as the Israelites did in the Wilderness under an irreversible doom and sentence And the scope of the Apostle's argument seems to require this sence which is to engage them to a speedy repentance To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts But why to day is it because our Lives are uncertain and we may die before to morrow No but lest we provoke GOD to swear in his wrath that we shall not enter into his rest All Men know that if they die in a state of Sin they must be miserable for ever and this is a reason to repent before they die But the Apostle seems to argue farther that by their delays and repeated provocations they may tempt God to shorten their day of Grace and pronounce an irrevocable Sentence on them which leaves no place for Repentance which else where he inforces from the example of Esau who sold his Birth-right 12 Heb. 15 16 17. v. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be desiled Lest there be any fornicator or prophane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right For ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears The stating of this matter may be thought a Digression from my present Design but indeed it is not for if by to day be meant the whole time of this Life that proves that Death puts a final period to our day of Grace and if any shorter period than this Life be meant by it it proves it much stronger for if our sentence be passed before we die it will not be revoked after death But the stating this Question is a matter of so great consequence to us that if it were a Digression it were very pardonable for many devout Minds when they are disturbed and clouded with melancholy are afflied with such thoughts as these That their day of Grace is past that God has sworn in his wrath that they shall not enter into his Rest and therefore their repentance and tears will be as fruitless as Esau's were which could not obtain the Blessing Now for the resolving this Question I shall say these three things 1. That the Day of Grace according to the terms of the Gospel is commensurate with our Lives 2. That notwithstanding this Men may shorten their own Day of Grace and God may in wrath and justice confirm the Sentence 3. That the reasons for lengthning the Day of Grace together with our Lives do not extend to the other World and therefore Death must put a final period to it 1. That the Day of Grace according to the Terms of the Gospel is commensurate with our Lives and there needs no other proof of this but that the promise of Pardon and Forgiveness is made to all true Penitents without any limitation of time Whoever believes in Christ and repents of his sins he shall be saved this is the Doctrine of the Gospel And if this be true then it is certain that at what time soever a Sinner sincerely repenteth of his sins he shall be saved for otherwise some true and sincere Penitents if they repent too late after the day of Grace is expired shall be damned and then it is not true that all sincere Penitents shall be saved I know but one Objection against this from the example of Esau who having sold his Birth-right when afterwards he would have inherited the blessing was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought it carefully with tears It seems then that Esau repented too late and so may we his repentance would not be accepted And if we are concerned in this example as the Apostle intimates we are then we may repent of our sins when it is too late and lose the Blessing as Esau did But this Objection is founded on a mistake of Esau's case the Repentance here mentioned is not Esau's Repentance but Isaac's that is when Isaac had blessed Iacob Esau with all his tears and importunity could not make him recal it i. e. Isaac would not repent of the blessing he had given to Iacob I have blessed him yea and he shall be blessed 27 Gen. 33. Esau's case then was not that his Repentance came too late to be accepted but that he could not obtain the Blessing after he had sold his Birth-right to which the Blessing was annexed Now to apply this to the state of Christians that which answers to Esau's Birth-right is their right and title to future Glory being made the Sons of God by baptismal Regeneration and Faith in Christ to sell this Birth-right is to part with our hopes of Heaven for the pleasures or riches or honours of this World as Esau sold his Birth-right for one morsel of Meat that is as the Apostle speaks to fail of the grace of God either through Unbelief which he calls the root of bitterness a renouncing the Faith of Christ and returning to Iudaism or Pagan Idolatries or by an impure and wicked Life Lest there be any fornicater or prophane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right i. e. who despises the hopes of Heaven for the sinful pleasures and transient enjoyments of this World Men who thus fail of the grace of God and finally do so as Esau finally sold his Birth-right when our heavenly Father comes to give his Blessing those great rewards he has promised in his Gospel how importunate soever they shall then be for a Blessing as Esau was who sought it carefully with tears they shall find no place for repentance God will not alter his purposes and decrees for their sakes Our Saviour has given us a plain Comment on this 7 Mat. 21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many will say unto me at that day that is the Day of Judgment when the Blessing is to be given Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works Here is Esau's Importunity for the Blessing And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity They were profane Esau's who had sold their Birth-right for a morsel of Meat and now they found no place for Repentance our Lord will not be perswaded by all their importunities to alter his Sentence But depart from me ye that work iniquity This example then of Esau does not concern our present case it does not prove that a wicked Man who hath spent the greatest part of his Life in sin and folly shall not be accepted and rewarded by
of the Israelites in the Wilderness of whom God swear that they should not enter into his rest as appears from the application he himself makes of it 3 Heb. 12 13. Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God But exhort one another daily while it is called To day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin This is a plain account of that great Question concerning the length of the Day of Grace Men may out-live the time of Repentance may so harden themselves in sin as to make their Repentance morally impossible but they cannot out-live the Mercies of God to true Penitents This is reason enough to discourage Men from delaying their Repentance and indulging themselves in a vicious course of Life Lest they should be hardned by the deceitfulness of sin and should be forsaken by God but it is no reason to discourage true Penitents from trusting in the Mercy of God how late soever their Repentance be for while we live in this World the door of Grace and Mercy is not shut against true Penitents 3. But yet the reasons of lengthning the Day of Grace and Mercy do not reach beyond this Life This sufficiently appears from what I have already said and for a further confirmation of it I shall add but this one comprehensive Reason viz. That the Grace of the Gospel is confined to the Church on Earth and therefore this Life is the only time to obtain the remission of our Sins and a title to future Glory We shall be finally absolved from all our Sins and rewarded with eternal Life at the Day of Judgment but we must sue out our Pardon and make our Calling and Election sure in this World. The Gospel of Christ which is the Gospel of Grace and contains the promises of Pardon and immortal Life is preached only to Men on Earth and concerns none else For this reason Christ became Man cloathed with flesh and blood as we are that he might be the Saviour of Mankind which he need not have done had not their Salvation been to be wrought in this World for could they have been saved in the next his Grace might have met them soon enough there and therefore at the birth of our Saviour the Angels sang Glory be to God in the highest on earth peace good will towards men 2 Luke 14. The Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross as all Iewish Sacrifices which were Types of the Sacrifice of the Cross were was offered for the expiation of the Sins of living Men or at least considered as living not of the dead He carried his blood into Heaven as the High-Priest did the blood of the Sacrifice into the Holy of Holies there to make expiation and to interceed for us but this Intercession though made in Heaven relates only to Men on Earth as his Sacrifice did The earthly Tabernacle was a Type of the Church on Earth and that only and the Worshippers in it was expiated by Sacrifices There are two Sacraments whereby the Grace of the Gospel is applied to us and which are the ordinary means of Salvation Baptism and the Lord's Supper and they are confined to the Church on Earth and if they have not their effect here they cannot have it in the next World These unite us to Christ as Members of his Body and then the holy Spirit which animates the Body of Christ takes possession of us renews and sanctifies us but if we prove dead and barren Branches in this spiritual Vine if the Censures of the Church do not cut us off from the Body of Christ Death will and then we can never be re-united to him nor saved by him in the next World. Faith in Christ and Repentance from dead Works are the great Gospel-terms of Pardon and Salvation and these are confined to this World there may be something like them in the next World such a Faith as makes the Devils tremble such a Repentance as is nothing else but despairing Agonies and a hopeless and tormenting Remorse but such a Faith as purifies the heart as conquers this present World as brings forth the fruits of Righteousness such a Repentance as reforms our Lives as undoes all our past Sins as redresses the Injuries we have done to our Neighbours and the Scandal we have given to the World such a Faith and such a Repentance which alone are the true Christian Graces of Faith and Repentance are proper only for this Life and can be exercised only in this Life while we have this World to conquer and the Flesh to subdue to the Spirit while we can restore our ill-gotten Riches and set a visible Example of Piety and Vertue From hence it is very evident that no Man who dies in a state of Sin and Impenitence can be saved by Christ and by the Grace of the Gospel in the next World for the whole ministration of Gospel-grace is confined to this Life and if they cannot be saved by Christ I know no other Name whereby they can be saved And thus Death puts an end to all the flattering hopes of Sinners 3. Now if this Life be our only state of trial and probation for Eternity if Death puts a final end to our Day of Grace and time of Working then Death must translate us to an immutable and unchangeable state By this I do not mean that as soon as we go out of these Bodies our Souls will immediately be as happy or miserable as ever they shall be the perfect rewards of good Men are reserved for the Day of Judgment as the final punishments of bad Men are when our Lord shall say to those on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world And to them on the left hand Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels 25 Mat. 34 41. But though the Happiness or Miseries of the next World may increase yet the state can never alter that is if we die in a state of Grace and Favour with God we shall always continue so if we die in a state of Sin under the wrath and displeasure of God there is no altering our state in the other World we must abide under his wrath for ever This is the necessary consequence of what I have already said which all aimed at this point that once dying puts us into an immutable and unchangeable state and therefore I shall wave any further proof of this and only desire you seriously to consider of it 1. Now first since Death puts an end to our Day of Grace and determines our final State for ever and this Death comes but once all Men must confess of what mighty consequence it is to die well that Death find us well disposed and well prepared for another World. Men use their utmost prudence and caution in doing that which can be
done but once for their whole lives especially if the happiness of their whole lives depends on it for no errour can be corrected in what is to be done but once and certainly we have much more reason to prepare to die once which translates us to an immutable state of Happiness or Misery This ought to be the work and business of our whole lives to prepare for Death which comes but once but that once is for Eternity What unpardonable folly is it for any Man to be surprized by Death to fall into the Grave without thinking of it To commit a mistake which may be retrieved again to be guilty of some neglect and inadvertency when the hurt we suffer by it may be repair'd by future diligence and caution is much more excusable because it is not so fatal and irreparable a folly In this case experience may teach wisdom and wisdom is a good purchase though we may pay dear for it but a wise Man will use great caution in making an experiment which if it fail will cost him his life because that can never be tried a second time and experience is of no use in such things as can be done but once And this is the case of dying we can die but once and if we miscarry that once we are undone for ever And what considering Man would make such dangerous experiments as Sinnres do every day when their Souls are the price of the experiment Who would try how long Death will delay its coming how long he may sin on safely without thinking of Death or Judgment whether Death will give him timely notice to repent or whether God will give him grace to repent if it does Who would venture the infinite hazards of a Death-bed-repentance whether after a long life of sin and wickedness a few distracted confused and almost despairing sighs and groans will carry him to Heaven If such bold Adventurers as these when they have discovered their mistake and folly could return back into this World and live over their lives again the hazard were not so great but this is an experiment not to be twice made If they sin on till they harden themselves in sin and are forsaken of the Grace of God if Death comes long before they expected and cut them off by surprize and without warning if their dying and despairing Agonies and Horrours should not prove a true godly Sorrow not that repentance to salvation never to be repented of they are lost to Eternity And what wise Man would expose his Soul to such a hazard as this Who would not take care to make his Calling and Election sure before Death comes and in a matter of such infinite concernment wherein one miscarriage is irreparable to prevent danger at a distance 2dly We hence learn how necessary it is for those who begin well to persevere unto the end It is the conclusion of our lives which determines our future state as God expresly tells us by his Prophet Ezekiel 18 Ezek. 21 24. If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die all his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all the righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die And throughout the New Testament the reward is promised only to those who continue to the end And what I have now discoursed gives a plain account of this for our whole life is a state of trial and probation and if we leave off before our work be done if we stop or run backwards before we come to the end of our race we must lose our reward our crown the Christian Life is a state of Warfare and we know the last Battel gives the final Conquest and this cannot be otherwise because what comes last undoes what went before when a wicked Man turns from his wickedness and does good God in infinite Mercy thro' the Merits and Mediation of Christ will forgive his sins because he has put them away from him and undone them by repentance and a new life when a righteous Man turns from his righteousness and does wickedly his righteousness shall be forgotten because he has renounced it and parted with it and is a righteous Man no longer Now when God comes to judge the World he will judge Men as he then finds them he will not inquire what they have been but what they are he will not condemn a righteous Man because he has been wicked nor justifie a wicked Man because he has been righteous for this would be to punish the Righteous and to reward the Wicked Such as we are when we die such we shall continue for ever and therefore it is the last scene of our lives which determines our future state And should not this make us very jealous and watchful over ourselves To take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living GOD. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of GOD lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled lest after we have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ we are again entangled therein and overcome and it happen to us according to the true proverb The dog is turned to his vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire This as the same Apostle tells us makes our latter end worse than the beginning for it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us Let those consider this who have been blessed with a religious Education and trained up in the exercises of Piety and Vertue who have preserved themselves from the pollutions of youthful Lusts and spent their vigorous age in the service of God Can you be contented to lose all these hopeful beginnings to lose all your triumphs and victories over the World and the Flesh When you have out-rid all the storms and hurricanes of a tempting World for so many Years will you suffer yourselves to be shipwracked in the Haven When you are come within view of the promised Land will you suffer your hearts then to fail you will you then murmur and rebel against God and die in the Wilderness There has been a very warm Dispute about the Perseverance of Saints Whether those who are once in a state of Grace shall always continue so I will not undertake
Apostles this state of Penitence in some cases was continued many years in other cases such Sinners were never reconciled till the hour of death Now if they had thought as many among us now do that sorrow for Sin and the vows of Obedience do immediately obtain our Pardon from God for sins committed after Baptism it is not imaginable why they should have imposed such a long and severe Discipline on Penitents If they believed God had forgiven them why should not the Church forgive them and receive them them to her Communion again upon their promises of amendment without such a long trial of their reformation But it is evident they thought sins after Baptism not forgiven without actual reformation and therefore would not receive them to Communion again without a tried and visible reformation of their Lives We know what Disputes there were about this matter in the Primitive Church the ancient Discipline allowed but of one Repentance after Baptism and some would not allow of that in the case of Adultery Murder and Idolatry but denied the Authority of the Church to receive such Sinners to Communion again this was the pretence of Novatus's Schism and Tertullian after he turn'd Montanist said many bitter things against the Catholicks upon this argument which seemed to question the validity of Repentance it self after Baptism though it did reform Mens lives but though this was a great deal too much and did both lessen the Grace of the Gospel and the Authority which Christ had given to his Church yet it is evident that all this time they were very far from thinking that some dying Sorrows or dying Vows after a wicked Life would carry Men to Heaven and the Judgment of those first and purest Ages of the Church ought at least to make Men afraid of relying on such a Death-bed Repentance as they thought very ineffectual to save Sinners CHAP. IV. Concerning the Fear of Death and the Remedies against it DEath is commonly and very truly called the King of Terrors as being the most formidable thing to Humane Nature the love of Life and the natural principle of Self-preservation begets in all Men a natural Aversion against Death and this is the natural Fear of Dying this is very much encreased by a great fondness and passion for this World which makes such Men especially while they are happy and prosperous very unwilling to leave it and this is still encreased by a sence of Guilt and the fear of Punishment in the next World All these are of a distinct nature and require sutable Remedies and therefore I shall distinctly consider them I. The natural Fear of Death results from Self-preservation and the love of our own being for light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun 11 Eccles. 7. All Men love Life and the necessary consequence of that is to fear Death though this is rather a natural Instinct than the effect of Reason and Discourse There are great and wise Reasons why God should imprint this Aversion to Death on Humane Nature because it obliges us to take care of ourselves and to avoid every thing which will destroy or shorten our lives this in many cases is a great principle of Vertue as it preserves us from all fatal and destructive Vices it is a great Instrument of Government and makes Men afraid of committing such Villanies as the Laws of their Country have made capital and therefore since the natural Fear of Death is of such great advantage to us we must be contented with it though it makes the thoughts of dying a little uneasie especially if we consider that when this natural Fear of Death is not encreased by other causes of which more presently it may be conquered or allayed by Reason and wise Consideration for this is not so strong an Aversion but it may be conquered the miseries and calamities of this Life very often reconcile Men to Death and make them passionately desire it Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life to the bitter in soul which long for death but it cometh not and digg for it more then for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave 3 Job 20 21 22. My soul chuseth strangling and death rather than life I loath it I would not live alway let me alone for my days are vanity 7 Job 15 16. And if the sence of present Sufferings can conquer the fears of Death there is no doubt but the hope of immortal Life may do it also for the fear of Death is not an original and primitive Passion but results from the love of ourselves from the love of life and our own being and therefore when we can separate the fear of Death from Self-love it is easily conquered when Men are sensible that life is no kindness to them but only serves to prolong their misery they are so far from being afraid of Death that they court it and were they as thoroughly convinc'd that when they die Death will translate them to a more happy Life it would be as easie a thing to put off these Bodies as to change their Cloaths or to leave an old and ruinous House for a more beautiful and convenient Habitation If we set aside the natural Aversion and inquire into the reasons of this natural Fear of Death we can think of but these two Either Men are afraid that when they die they shall cease to be or at least they know not what they shall be and are unwilling to exchange this present life which they like very well for they know not what But now both these reasons of Fear are taken away by the Revelation of the Gospel which has brought Life and Immortality to light and when the reasons of our Fear are gone such an unaccountable Aversion and Reluctancy to Death signifies little more than to make us patient of living rather than unwilling to die for a Man who has such a new glorious World such a happy immortal Life in his view could not very contentedly delay his removal thither were not Death in the way which he naturally startles at and draws back from though his reason sees nothing frightful or terrible in it The plain and short account then of this matter is this We must not expect wholly to conquer our natural Aversion to Death St. Paul himself did not desire to be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 3 4. Were there not some remaining aversions to Death mixed with our hopes and desires of Immortality Martyrdom itself excepting the patient enduring the shame and the torments of it would be no Vertue but though this natural aversion to Death cannot be wholly conquered it may be extreamly lessened and brought next to nothing by the certain belief and expectation of a glorious Immortality and therefore the only way to arm ourselves against these natural fears of
or the constant and uniform practice of an universal Righteousness And a great many such Signs have been invented which like strong Opiates asswage their pain and smart till their Consciences awake when it is too late in the next World. For all this is Cheat and Delusion as St. Iohn assures us Little children Let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous He that committeth sin is of the devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil Whosoever is born of GOD doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of GOD. In this the children of GOD are manifest and the children of the devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of GOD neither he that loveth not his brother This is the only sure Evidence for Heaven and therefore every Sin Men commit makes their state doubtful and this must fill them with perplexities and fears Men may cheat themselves with vain hopes and imaginations when they come to die but nothing can be a solid foundation for Peace and Security but an Universal Righteousness The CONCLUSION FOr the Conclusion of this Discourse I shall only observe in a few words that it must be the business of our whole Lives to prepare for Death Our Accounts must be always ready because we know not how soon we may be called to give an account of our Stewardship we must be always upon our Watch as not knowing at what hour our Lord will come A good Man who has taken care all his life to please God has little more to do when he sees Death approaching than to take leave of his Friends to bless his Children to support and comfort himself with the hopes of immortal Life and a glorious Resurrection and to resign up his Spirit into the hands of God and of his Saviour His Lamp is full of Oyl and always burning tho' it may need a little trimming when the Bridegroom comes some new acts of Faith and Hope and such devout Passions as are proper to be exercised at our leaving the World and going to God but when the Bridegroom is at the Door it is too late with the foolish Virgins to buy Oyl for our Lamps unless we be ready when the Bridegroom comes to enter in with him to the Marriage the Door will be shut against us Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh Some Men talk of preparing for Death as if it were a thing that could be done in two or three days and that the proper time of doing it were a little before they die but I know no other Preparation for Death but living well and thus we must every day prepare for Death and then we shall be well prepared when Death comes that is we shall be able to give a good account of our Lives and of the improvement of our Talents and he who can do this is well prepared to die and to go to Judgment but he who has spent all his days wickedly whatever care he may take when he comes to die to prepare himself for it it is certain he can never prepare a good Account of his past Life and all his other Preparations are little worth The END ADVERTISEMENT A Preservative against Popery in two Parts With a Vindication in Answer to the Cavils of Lewis Sabran a Jesuit By William Sherlock D. D. Master of the Temple Printed for W. Rogers 2. Heb. 14 15. See 5 Prov. 22 23. 7. 22 23 26 27. 3 Heb. 12. 12 Heb. 15. 2 Pet. 2. 20 21 22. 12 Heb. 14. 2 Rom. 6 7 8 9 10. 6 Gal. 7 8. 20 Mat. 1 c. 15 Luk. 11 c. 1 Rom. 18. 1 Cor. 6 9 10. 7 Mat. 21. 18 Mat. 21 22. 2 Acts 38 41. 3 Rom. 20 21 22 24. 5 Rom. 1. 2 Eph. 8 9. 5 Gal. 2 3. Ibid. 2 Rom. 13 25 26 27 28 29. 8 Rom. 4. 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. 7 Heb. 25. 1 John 3. 20 21. 1 John 3. 7 8 9 10. 25 Mat. 1 c.