be with him which in it self considered was earnest agreeable to his earnest expectation or stretching forth of the hand in looking as that word denoteth in the 20. verse of this Chapter To depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be dissolved according to others or to die as the Apopostle had said in the 21. verse To die is gain The Apostle seemeth to strain himself for a word that he might set forth so gainful a death as he is speaking of which sometimes he calleth a dissolving of this earthy tabernacle and an unclothing 2 Cor. 5.1.4 Peter styles it a putting off of this tabernacle The spirit of God in the Holy penmen of the Scriptures hath set forth the death of the Saints by pleasant and alluring expressions as to sleep to be changed to be gathered to the Fathers and in this place to depart And to be with Christ Paul was in Christ alwayes by grace and Christ revealed in him by the spirit of illumination he was a follower of Christ by conformity and obedience and came behinde none of of the other Apostles in his labour and sufferings for him and as he desir'd to be found in Christ so to depart and to be with him that he might immediately enjoy him and enter into the joy of his Lord and Master unto whom he had been faithful in his ministry and Apostleship The state of happiness is often set forth in Scripture by this phrase of being with Christ and being with the Lord Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Rom. 6.8 Now if we be dead with Christ we believe we shall also live with him And 1 Thes 4.17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall ever be with the Lord. Which is far better * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or very much better that is in regard of himself it is better to die then to live though in regard of the Church for him to abide in the flesh it was better and more needful for them as in the following verse And in regard of himself and his glory with Christ it must needs be far better if we consider as Paul did that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which should be the reward of his light afflictions as he so them esteem'd comparatively 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is beyond expression * Christus caelum non patiuntur hyperbolem And therefore our translation rendereth it a farre more exceeding as Paul here styles it far better Having thus opened the words of the Text I shall lay down one Proposition only from these words of the Apostle and handle that as suitable to this present occasion and solemnity Doct. That it is the desireable and peculiar priviledge of the Saints to be brought immediately to Christ by their departure hence by death In the managing of this doctrine or proposition I shall endeavour to shew and clear these three general Heads the handling whereof will take in the substance and essential parts of the whole Text it self First What is that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the souls of the Saints departed immediately unto Christ Secondly what is it or what may be understood by this phrase to be with Christ Thirdly how doth the death of the Saints bring them immediately to Christ at their departure and in what manner doth the Soul depart to Christ First What it that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the Souls of the Saints departed immediately to Christ 1. Negatively Every death or the death of every man doth not bring him or his soul to Christ It is not death barely and in it self considered as it is a privation of life by the dissolution of nature and parting asunder of soul and body Otherwise what were the priviledge of Paul which here he so greatly desired more then of Judas the Traitor but that Judas went not to Christ but to his own place is evident Acts 1.25 The godly and the wicked die alike in respect of natural dissolution Eccl. 2.26 How dieth the wise man as the fool As there is no visible distinction or marke of difference between the Godly and the wicked by the external things of providence in the course of their lives but all things fall out a like to all men that no man might know love or hatred by what is before him but by what is within him and upon his heart so neither can the righteous be discerned from the reprobates by any visible character of the outward manner of their departure and dissolution And this will appear in the several kinds of death both are subject unto in the course of providence as also in the outward circumstances thereof The godly and wicked may both die of the same disease and distemper of body as feaver consumption dropsie yea the most painful diseases as the gout and the stone and also of the most noy some and uncomfortable distempers as the small pox and the plague it self of which Hezekiah was sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 Again they may both die by a violent hand Stephen was stoned to death as well as Achan They may both also die by the same occasion and sudden providences as those upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them Luke 13.4 Which did not argue that they were greater sinners then others Moreover they may both die in the full number of their days and a wicked man may live to be an hundred years old and be accursed Isai 65.20 And though wicked men sometimes through the just judgement of God doe not live out halfe their dayes yet the godly may die in their youth and strength and the Lord in mercy take them away from the evil to come Isa 57.1 Lastly they may die alike in regard of the present peace and calm or trouble and disturbance of spirit a godly man may want assurance upon a death bed and a wicked may goe out of the world like a Lamb with peace and presumption and a quiet dissolution Psal 73.4 There are no bands in their death 2. But positively That death which bringeth the Soul to Christ at the time of departure out of this life is to be considered in relation to the state and condition of the person in death as holy righteous and godly So that it is the quality of the person dying that makes him happy in his death whose death is his gain and his departure to be with Christ To this the Scriptures bear clear and rich testimonie Prov. 14.32 The righteous hath hope in his end Ps 37.37 The godly man is marked with this priviledge Marke the perfect man behold the upright the end of that man is
peace Balaam 's wish strongly confirmeth it Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his And to add no more quotations in so plain a case Paul in my Text appropriateth this priviledge to himself and such as he was real Christians true Saints and unfeigned believers I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ and to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Therefore look what we are living such we are dying Death is but the term of life and changeth not the state of the person but the degree of that state Grace must be wrought here but perfected hereafter in glory which is grace consummate and if no grace here no glory hereafter for as the tree falleth so it lieth But if I should draw the curtaines that are about these dying Saints and consider how they die that come to Christ by death I would propose it unto you briefly in two or three expressions for the discovery of it and your information in it according to the Scripture The Godly die in the faith of Christ believing in him and all the promises of God which in him are yea and amen Heb. 11.13 These all died in faith not having received the promises they die in the interest of Christ and they are Christs in death as well as life Rom. 14.8 Whether we live we live to the Lord and whether we dye we dye to the Lord whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords Yea they die in union with Christ Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord Rev. 14.13 This is that death and the death of such as these are is that departure whereof Paul speaketh in my Text and how desirable it is beyond this present life it self will further appear by the several and sutable acceptations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original which we translate to depart in which word as an alablaster box the Apostle hath inclosed precious spikenard to annoint the Saints against their funeral by which we shall understand the gainful advantage of death to the godly as it looketh back to this present life as the terminus a quo or the bounds from which they depart First the word is used to loosen the cables of a ship solvere rudentes a metaphor taken from mariners who sail from one Banke or Port unto another it importeth a flitting or sailing from the state of this present life to our heavenly country Afflictions in the Scriptures are compared to waters and the world is a troublesome sea to the Saints over which they sail through many stormes till they come to shore For through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14.22 Many are the afflictions of the righteous and in the world ye shall have tribulation saith Christ to his Disciples John 16. last And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus saith Paul shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 But the death of the Saints is the end of their sorrowes and if we suffer with Christ we shall be glorified together Rom. 8.18 Then all tears shall be wiped from their eyes and sorrow and mourning shall flee away when they shall arrive at the land of promise the Cape of good hope Heaven is the Saints fair haven it is called the bosome of Abraham Luk. 16.23 Which Gregory Nyssen expounds to be like a bay or bosome of the Sea into which a godly man sayling from hence putteth in his soul as a haven free from danger and tempest where it shall receive the fulness of all good things Secondly The word is translated reverti to return Believers are sent forth to labour in this world and they are Christs factors upon earth for the advancement of his glory and kingdom and the heavenly gain of their own eternal happiness They trade for heaven by which their conversations are said to be in heaven Phil. 3.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our City life or commerce or our conversation is in heaven whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ to come They are citizens of heaven but they trade from home in a far countrey as merchants seeking the pearl of great price Mat. 13.44 Which having found they returned home richly laden with the treasure of the Gospel Death is the souls return to God Eccles 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it Job saith he shall return thither Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Greek Scholies expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto God How joyful is the return of the Saints to their heavenly home and their happy rest after their laborious travail and restless pains in the works of their salvation attended with all the fruits of holiness and righteousness as an evidence of their faith and testimony of their obedience Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the spirit for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Rev. 14.13 As the wagons which Joseph sent for his Father Jacob and his houshold brought them to the land of Goshen and to the full plenty of Joseph's provision so death bringeth the Saints to their joyful rest and to Christ their heavenly Joseph Death is the unharnessing of the Saints at their final return to their full peace and everlasting inheritance * Solvunti◠sarcina vincula Thirdly the word is applyed sometimes to the loosing of the cords of a tent * Solvere sunos tobernaculorum Beleivers in this life and while they are in the body dwell as in tents and tabernacles in an unsetled and changeable estate as pilgrims and strangers having no continuing City and therefore often remove their tents like the Patriarchs of old Heb 11.9 10. Where the Apostle speaking of Abraham saith that by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange countrey dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a City which had foundations whose builder and maker is God Al the faithful are heirs of eternal promises how mean and contemptible soever they seem in the eyes of the world as a gazing-stock unto them among whom they sojourn for a time As they are not of the world so they have little favour and respect from it for therefore the world hateth them John 15.19 No wonder therefore the people of God have alwayes accounted themselves strangers here Psal 119.19 I am a stranger in the earth saith David hide not thy commandements from me And Peter writing to the Jews 1 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you saith he as pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the Soul How welcome then is that dissolution that looseneth the cords of those tents and pulleth
his usual benedictory salutation first he declareth his thankfulness unto God for their spiritual estate and continuance in the fellowship of the Gospel unto the 5th verse Secondly his confidence in God for the perfecting of the work of grace begun as he was perswaded through charity to judge in them all by their future and final perseverance unto the eighth verse Thirdly his prayer for their increase and abounding in fruitfulness unto the 11. verse Then from the 12. to the 18. verse he laboureth to satisfie them concerning the consequent events of his present sufferings that they were rather for the furtherance then hinderance of the Gospel which he proveth by two arguments First because the cause of his sufferings which was the preaching of Christ the Saviour of the world was hereby made known and divulged both in Nero's Pallace and in the neighbouring Cities Secondly because by his sufferings many of the brethren were made more bold to preach the Gospel and notwithstanding there were some that preached Christ out of envy and strife thinking thereby to add to his afflictions yet he was so far from being troubled at it that he rejoyced because Christ was the more preached In the 19. verse the Apostle discovereth the gracious and sweet frame and temper of his own heart under his sufferings in the firm confidence he had that all things should work together for his good and turn to his salvation as the return and fruit of their prayers and through the supply of the spirit of God unto him that he might hold out under his tryals according to his earnest expectation and hope that through his stedfastness and boldness both in life and death Christ might be magnified in his body whereof he giveth this reason verse 21. For to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain That is if I live I shall honour Christ by my life and if I dye I shall honour him by my death and that death shall be my gain according to his confidence before expressed that it should turn to his salvation But in case he should live he should have fruit of his labour or it were not worth the while to live for to live is Christ that is he should preach Christ which would be the gain of others as his death would be his own Now in these thoughts Paul is at a stand what to choose or desire whether to live or dye for being a Prisoner at Rome for Christ's sake and the Gospel he might expect as well to dye as to live and being as it were indifferent to either he debates the case and controversie in his own heart according to the words of my Text I am in a straight betwixt two c. In which words we have three distinct parts First Aequilibrium animi the even ballance of Pauls mind in respect of life and death For I am in a straight betwixt two Secondly Inclinatio affectionum the inclination of his affections and desire Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ Thirdly Status vel determinatio judicii The determination of the controversie and the discovery of his judgement upon mature deliberation in the last words of the Text Which is far better Before I lay down the intended Doctrine or Proposition from this Scripture I will briefly explain the terms of the Text to justifie the clearness of the doctrinal deduction from the Text. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am in a straight betwixt two I am straigthly held on both sides So Beza translateth it or I am pressed of two according to the vulgar Latine S. Paul presenteth unto himself life and death two different objects of his choice and election and both sub ratione boni appearing unto him to be really good for him but which of these to close withal and pitch upon he knoweth not Not that it was in his power to live or to die but if the Lord should give him his free liberty to chuse either he was at a stand in his present thoughts which way he had best incline himself as the case was now with him being an Apostle of Christ and now imprisoned for him whether it were absolutely better upon all accounts and all things considered for him to die by a violent hand or to be enlarged as a further instrument for the promoting and propating of the Gospel in the world As it was Davids case when he was to chuse one of those three judgements proposed unto him 2 Sam. 24.13 14. Shall seven years famine come in thy land or wilt thou flye three moneths before thine enemies while they pursue thee or that there be three dayes pestilence in thy Land And David said unto Gad I am in a great straight let us fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and not into the hand of man This was his straight in respect of evils and he chose well for he chose the least in all circumstances for the time the nature and the immediate inflictor of the evil or judgement But Pauls straight was in respect of good objects to be chosen and which of the two were the best was his present controversie whether to depart and be with Christ or to live and abide still in the dy to preach him both would be for the honour of Christ but the former would be his own gain the latter the gain of the Church and his own private interest was the less unto him because if he lived it was but the deferring of his heavenly reward and his affections sometimes were so strong that though it was impossible yet he could have wished a total deprivation thereof for the Jews sake Rom. 9.3 I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh Love desireth impossibilities By all this it appears how great the Apostle's straight was betwixt living and dying as a needle hanging between two loadstones of equal force and power †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having a desire or greatly desiring that is in respect of his own happiness and his great love and delight in Christ for whom he was now in a suffering condition to depart that he might be with him The word in the original signifieth a vehement desire or an ardent and hot desire and it is observable that he doth not barely say he did desire but having a desire which Beza translateth to contend in desire * Plus est animo ferri contendere quam simpliciter cupere Beza in locum answerable to that expression of our Saviour Christ Luke 22.15 With desire have I desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer So that in these words we may consider Paul looking solely upon Christ and his immediate presence waving all former considerations whereby this fervent desire was limited and himself straightned So that Pauls natural if I may so call it desire and inclination was towards the Lord and to
soul It is dreadful to consider what a mass and mountainous bigness the sins of a poor carnal wretch arise unto if we lay them together his original sin actual sins sins of omission and commission his secret sins and open and scandalous sins his whole life hath been a trade of sin and whatsoever proceedeth from him is sin the ploughing of the wicked is sin and his prayer is turned into sin And to his own sins personally committed we may add his other mens sins either occasioned countenanced or allowed Now multiply these by their particulars and individuals and measure all by their sinful circumstances and then judge of the guilt of every sinful ma that dieth in unbelief and without pardoning grace through the bloud of Christ Secondly The conscience of every wicked man is awakened immediately after death and dissolution to a continual sense of the guilt of all his sins Natural conscience in carnal men is for the most part peaceable silent in this present life delight custome in sin hardning the heart and searing the conscience which they labour to keep asleep by diverting the thoughts to worldly objects or to satisfie by a formal profession attended with some outward performances But as soon as ever the soul of an unregenerate person is separate from the body this lyon awaketh sleepeth no more the faculties of the soul being alwayes in act and exercise in a separate state whereby his sins shall be alwayes before him and set in order before his eyes upon which his conscience shall reflect continually without diversion or intermission Then the sins you have laboured to forget and cast out of mind shall be brought to remembrance and ye shall ever behold them for which conscience shall charge and accuse you and in the fresh remembrance of them you shall lye down self-condemned for ever This is the worm that never dieth Mark 9 48. But shall gnaw your hearts to eternity Thirdly Hereupon the soul of a wicked man shall tremble at the sight and presence of God That the soul of every man and consequently of the wicked shall see and approach the powerful and immediate presence of God in his Divine nature and essence upon their dissolution is apparent in that the spirit of man is said to go upward Eccles 3.21 And to return to God who gave it Chap. 12.7 As also by the particular judgement immediately consequent upon death whereby God appearing to conscience decideth and determineth the eternal state and condition of every soul preparative to the last and glorious appearing of Christ at the great and terrible day who shall then judge the whole world and the soul and body together For it is appointed unto men once to ye and after this the judgement Heb. 9.27 Which may include this particular judgement after death whereof we are speaking as well as the last and general judgement yet some restrain it to the particular only But in what manner the soul of a wicked man shall see God take in a few words Death being the unclothing and putting off off the earthly house of the body the soul remaineth naked in respect of that clothing which nakedness of the separate souls of the Saints is covered and clothed upon with the glory of their house in heaven 2 Cor. 5.3 In which state of nakedness wherein the souls of the wicked abide the soul must needs be quickly and powerfully apprehensive of God and of any impression and influence of God upon it as the body being naked of its clothing is tenderly sensible of heat or cold and any thing that approacheth unto it For the foul being separate from the body receiveth its object no more through the senses of the body but in an immediate way of discovery of them We know also that the Lord doth sometimes immediately wound the spirit of man while it is in the body by letting fall the drops of wrath upon it and thereby tormenteth it which David calleth the rebukes of God Ps 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Moreover if the soul being a spirit and separate from the body can converse with spirits as the Saints with Angels and the damned with Devils much more with God the Father of spirits who can discover himself unto them as he pleaseth But take heed of mistaking here for though a gracious and and sanctified soul reconciled unto God hath to do with him as a father in the apprehension of his love through which it hath comfort and joy in communion with him yet it is not so with the sinful soul of that than that dieth in his sins which apprehendeth God only as he appeareth to it in wrath and displeasure for without holiness no man shall see the Lord that is with peace and comfort Heb. 12.14 Now consider ye that forget God can ye see and behold the wrath of his countenance doe ye not tremble in your very thoughts of him Surely the presence of an angry God will make every guilty soul to fear and tremble at his feet when they shall be brought before him by his Serjeant Death The apprehension of guilt and of God together made Adam and Eve to run behind the Trees for fear when they heard the voice of God in the garden Gen. 3.8 Moses though a Favourite yet when he saw the appearance of God in the thundrings and lightnings and earthquakes the smoke and fire heard the sound of the trumpet upon Mount Sinai he said I exceedingly fear â—nd quake Heb. 12.21 When Elijah apprehended God was in the still small voice he wrapped his face in his mantle â—nd went out and stood in the entring of the â—ave 1 Kings 19.13 When Job came to see God with his eyes he abhorred himself in dust and ashes Job 42.6 The judgements of God made holy Davids flesh to tremble Psal 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee I am afraid of thy judgements The glorious vision which Isaiah saw how did it work upon that holy Prophet Isaiah 6.5 When he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and cryed woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King â—he Lord of Hosts And if these Saints so eminent for grace and holiness have trembled at the presence of God manifested unto them in love and mercy how shall the unner and ungodly stand in his sight Doest thou beleive there is a God If not thou shalt see and beleive but remember that the Devils beleive and tremble Fourthly The soul of a wicked man thus trembling before God the holiness of God breaketh forth in wrath upon the soul to punish torment it For the soul appearing before God in the guilt of all its sins which are the greatest contrariety opposition against the holy nature of God who
blasphemy whereby the soul requoi leth a-against God through anguish thereof By this we may conceive how exquisite the torments of the wicked will be hereafter the soul eternally sinning and continually adding fresh oyl to the flames of wrath for sin kindleth wrath and wrath kindleth hell and hell kindleth sin and sin again wrath and so for ever This is the work and action between an infinite God and a poor unhappy soul to eternity God punishing the soul sinning and the soul sinning God punishing in which torments the body shall partake with the soulafter its resurrection being united again made so far capable to endure its torments as not to be dissolved or destroyed by the extremity and eternity of them Thus sinful and wretched man shall be ever dying weeping yelling howling and sinning under the intollerable pangs of the second death Rev. 21.8 The fearful and unbeleiving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Repent therefore and beleive the Gospel turn from your sins and forsake your wayes that ye may escape this judgement of God for now is the day of salvation through the forbearance of God who would have have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth From this Text and Doctrine we may be again informed upon what grounds the people of God may desire their dissolution How desireable a priviledge the departure of the Saints is hath been already opened but for further direction in it I shall here make up the banks to keep these desires in their right channel which otherwise are ready to break out into unlimited and unlawfull currents Therefore to satisfie this case of conscience concerning the desire of death let every precious soul consider these following Propositions First It is altogether unwarrantable for beleivers to desire dissolution out of meer passion under the forest trouble affliction or tryal It is usual for carnal men upon discontent to wish they might dye who also under the burthensomness of corporal distempers often desire a release from their present paines not knowing or considering that thereby they shall immediately fall from their beds into hell This also is incident to the Godly through infirmity whose passions in this case are not excusable Thus it was with that holy Prophet Elijah when he was forc'd to flee from the rage and persecution of Jezebel who threatned to take away his life 1 Kings 19.34 And when he saw that he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba and left his servant there but he himself went a dayes journey into the wilderness and came and sate down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said it is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am no better then my Fathers Elijah's passion under this persecution being now alone tired and weary probably with his journey as well as assaulted and troubled with slavish fear was the ground of this his request and supplication Now if we compare with this story the expression of S. James presenting Elias as an example of the prevalency of prayer we may judge that this passion was an infirmity in this Prophet James 5.17 Elias was a man subject to passion as we are and he prayed c. The like instance we have of Job who through passion gratified Satan so far under his temptation as to curse the day of his birth and also through vexation of spirit under his afflictions to wish and long for his grave Job 3.20 21 22. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life unto the bitter in soul which long for death and it cometh not and dig for it more then for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave Take also the Prophet Jonah for an example hereof who after he had preached destruction to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord and saw not the execution thereof according to his prophecy was discontent at the patience and repentings of God towards that City and besought the Lord he might dye Jonah 4.3 Therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye then to live for which the Lord checketh him in the next verse dost thou well to be angry And in the 9 and 10. verses When the Gourd was withered and the Wind and Sun beat upon him that he fainted he wished he might dye again and passionately replies to Gods second rebuke of him I do well to be angry even unto the death Secondly Every Christian looking upon death as a priviledge and means to bring him to Christ ought no further to desireit then with submission to the will of God and a willing subjection to his work and service in his generation To hasten death by unlawful meanes is no less then self murther as hath been already proved and hereby the desire thereof is in some measure limited preservation of life by all lawful means being a duty incumbent upon all Our times and seasons life and death are in the hands only of God the wise disposer of all things for the good of them that love him between whose will and ours there ought to be a perfect conformity in relation to all changes and dispensations Christ escaped from the Jews when they often sought to kill him because his hour was not yet come but then he refused not but accepted that bitter cup which his Father gave him to drink When Job had recovered himself from under the power of his passion he besought the Lord to appoint him a set time and he would wait Job 14.14 All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come We must not run home before we have done our worke but mind our worke as well as our reward God hath appointed a particular service for every beleiver in his generation which he should labour to finish with David before he falleth asleep Acts 13.16 For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep Saint Paul declaring to Timothy the near approach of his dissolution and departure forgetteth not to mention the finishing of his work in the Gospel 2 Tim. 4.6 7. I am now ready to be offered up and my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith But till it was finished he was willing to abide in the flesh notwithstanding his great desire to depart and to be with Christ as in the words following my Text. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you And having this confidence I know I shall abide and continue with you for your furtherance and joy of faith Thirdly This being minded it is lawful and warrantable for a
THE SOULS ASCENSION IN THE STATE OF SEPARATION Summarily delivered in a Sermon preached at Shenly in the County of Hertford the 21. of November 1660. at the Funeral Solemnities of Mrs Mary Jessop late wife of William Jessop Esq and since enlarged and publish'd for common benefit By ISAAC LOEFFS M.A. Eccles 3.21 Who knoweth the Spirit of Man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the Earth London Printed for N. Ranew and J. Robinson at the Angel in Jewen-street 1670 TO My ever honoured Uncle WILLIAM JESSOP ESQUIRE SIR MY natural modesty and backwardness to appear in publick together with the difficulty of obtaining the Press have detained this short Treatise so long from you that you may well judge it unseasonable now to be presented unto you Yet considering the duty of that relation wherein I stand unto you through your late dear Yoak-Fellow whose death was the occasion of this Discourse and the obligation that is upon me by so many favours and undeserved kindnesses received from you as also the benefit which possibly may accrue to others from so serious a Subject I have ventured it abroad into the world under the protection of your Name how weakly so-ever managed and liable to the censures of this scrupulous Age. However I may hope that as Funeral Sermons above others have an advantage upon Auditors by their sad occasion so this also may affect the impartial Reader by the weight of its Arguments And although it was first intended and promised you for a private present and an acknowledgment of that due respect and unfeigned love which I do and shall ever bear to your self and your Relations yet I presume it will not be the less accepted because others are now made equal sharers in it And my confidence herein is the more strengthned by the consideration of that publick spirit which you have manifested at all times by your willing and unwearied pains in the service of your Generation wherein your integrity and faithfulness have so eminently appeared that your name is known and honoured throughout the Nation But this above all is your Crown that in all your publick employments you have not sought your self and the advancement of your Family so much as the honour of God the interest of his people and the enlargement of the Gospel by your high esteem of and the encouragement you have given unto the Faithful Ministers of it among whom I have been an unworthy Labourer And blessed be the Lord who hath made his Grace to abound towards you by his assisting and supporting presence in all your paines and travels whereby you have been enabled so chearfully to undergo the burden of your hard services who hath also blessed your careful and conscientious endeavours for the promoting of Godliness in your Family and among your near Relations One fruit whereof I cannot but mention for your unspeakable comfort concerning your dear Relation taken from you being present at her dissolution who about to close her eyes from her mourning Children and Friends and all the visible things of this life did sensibly joyfully and openly acknowledge and declare her assured and known interest in Christ unto whom she immediately departed Now the Lord supply all your wants and be your reward and the blessing of your off-Spring And if this poor present may add any thing of spiritual benefit and advantage to your own soul the souls of your relations or any others it will be the rejoycing of From my study at Shenly in the County of Hertford Oct. 20. 1669. Your unworthy Kinsman and Servant in the Gospel ISAAC LOEFFS THe Reader is desired to correct these following mistakes which escaped the Press by reason of the Authors absence PAge 2. Line 27. for walk read reach P. 5. l. 12. leave out not P. 9. l. 13. f. hand 1. head P. 10. l. 3. f. alwayes r. already P. 22. l. 8. f. live r. evil P. 26. l. 5. f. Luther 1. Augustine T. 43. l. 16. f. strange r. strong p. 120. l. 9. f. medicinal r. mystical P. 125. l. 2. f. Christ r. God P. 129. l. 2. blot out in Scriptures THE SOVLS ASCENSION In the State of SEPARATION PHILLIP 1.24 For I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better MAN being in honour abideth not or lodgeth not all night therein saith David Psal 49.12 But becomes like the Beasts that perish for that which befalleth the Sons of men befalleth Beasts as the one dieth so dieth the other so that a man hath no preheminence above a Beast saith Solomon Eccl. 3.19 Nevertheless though he dieth like the Beast yet his Spirit retaining the immortality of its essence returneth not to corruption with his body but is capable of a state after death and dissolution according as the infinite wisdom of his Creator doth dispose thereof in a way of justice or mercy * For the spirit returneth to God who gave it Chap. 12 7. And because most men are so irrational and foolish as either through ignorance of their own nature and being to deny the immortality of their souls or through delusion and presumption to conclude the certainty of their future felicity judging all things by sense and the present dispensations of external and common providence therefore it shall be my present design in handling this Text to give unto you a private prospect through the gate of death towards the mountaines and valleys of eternal happiness and misery by presenting unto you the secret and hidden way of the spirit and soul of man in its sudden flight and motion at the time and in the state of separation from the corporeal and fleshy part which falls from it towards its earthly center And forasmuch as the dissolution of nature doth not only divide the two essential parts of soul and body but also the common rode of this temporal life into two distinct paths towards the greatest different states of everlasting joy or sorrow I shall labour to walk both in this subject the first in the doctrinal part because it is the proper and plain scope of the Text and the other in the Application by way of consequence and deduction For which end and purpose it will be necessary for me first to bring you to the Text by the preceeding parts of the Chapter and the occasion of this Epistle to which it hath relation and then by the Text to the matter intended The occasion of Paul's writing this Epistle to the Church at Philippi was an honourable Present the Church had sent unto him being then a prisoner in Rome by the hands of Epaphroditus their pastor by way of charity to supply his present necessities By whom having understood the state and condition of that Church and being affected with so great an expression of their love unto him he returned this sweet Letter and Spiritual Epistle And in this first Chapter after
up their tabernacles for 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if the carthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens when the Sons of God the heires of promise shall no more have moveable dwellings but abiding mansions and that in their Fathers house John 14.2 3. In my Fathers house saith Christ to his Disciples comforting of them are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many mansions I goe to prepare a place for you that where I am there ye may be also Lastly the word is also expounded to be delivered Liberari So Beza maketh it the same in signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or from this mortal body Or as Diodate paraphraseth upon that Text O that I were but out of this animal and terrestrial life during which sin doth dwell in me and through it I am yet under the necessity of dying and that I were transported into the liberty of the glory of Gods children in the life of happiness St. Paul saw a law in his members warring against the law of his mind and leading him captive unto the law of sin and death in the foregoing verse under which bondage he groaned for deliverance and for the obtaining of it looked upon death as the only means conducible The Saints are subject to sin while they are in he body because sin receiveth its power from the corruption of nature not wholly mortified in this life therefore called the law in the members and the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 Our members that are upon earth Col. 3.5 And the lusts of the flesh Gal 5.24 But the death of the Saints is the death of their sins whereby they put off the whole body of sin O happy death that brings the old man of sin to his grave and the new man in grace to his glory and perfection when the Soul shall be no more tempted unto sin no more troubled with sin but perfectly freed from all motions lusts and inclinations to that which is evil by departing hence unto Christ Secondly What is it to be with Christ unto whom the Saints are brought by their departing hence by death That none of the Fathers and Saints of the Old Testament were in heaven before Christs Ascension is but a Popish fiction and delusion contrary to the plain sence and express doctrine of the Scriptures as may appear to name no more in those two remarkable instances of Enoch and Elijah Gen. 5.24 And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him And of Elijah 2 Kings 2.11 And Elijah went up into heaven by a whirlwind But the question may be made which I shall briefly answer how these Patriarchs and Saints could be with Christ when Christ was not yet incarnate neither ascended into heaven For the Solution of this question I shall only assert and briefly prove that though Christ was not in heaven before his incarnation in his humane nature yet he was there with the Godly departed and they with him in his Divine nature For the Divine nature of Christ being one with the Godhead of the Father and the Spirit as it was coessential so it was coeternal In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God John 1.1 And when Christ was on earch he speaketh of himself as being at the same time also in Heaven which must be understood of his Divine nature John 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father hath declared him So also John 3.13 No man hath of cended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven And when he was to leave the world in his prayer for himself his Disciples and all believers he thus petitioneth his Father John 17.5 And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was But in what manner the Divine nature of Christ did put off its glory during the time of his exinanition and humiliation upon earth I shall not take upon me to inquire much less to clear so great a Mystery when being equal with God he took upon him the form of a servant having laid by his glory as to the use of it in the mystery of our salvation as learned Beza noteth * Hâ autem gloriâ quod ad usum illius ottinet in salutis no strae mysterio quodam modo sese abdicaverat filius in servi formâ durante suae illius exinonitionis spatio Beza in Johan 17. verse 5. But being out of all question that Christ is now in Heaven in his divine and humane nature and in both glorified I return to shew you the Saints priviledge of being with Christ and what it is to be with him at the terminus ad quem of the Souls motion in the state of Separation First to be with Christ is to be in the place where Christ is or to be locally present with Christ And that Christ is personally and locally in Heaven I will not seem to suspect your faith by being numerous in Scripture quotations Acts. 1.11 The Angels say to the Disciples Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him goe up into Heaven And Peter telleth the Jews Acts 3. 21. That the Heavens must receive him until the time of the restitution of all things Stephen saw him in Heaven when he was suffering for him Acts 7.56 Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God And the Apostle Paul layeth it down as an infallible truth to all beleivers Col. 3.1 If ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Now Christ hath told us that where he is there we shall be also John 14.2 And if any man will serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be John 12.26 Now is it not a desirable as well as a peculiar priviledge to be with Christ Christian wast thou ne're affected in reading the Evangelical story of Christ with the singular priviledge which the Disciples of our Lord had in their immediate attendance upon him and continuance with him to hear and see what they saw and heard and to be his bosom friends and familiar companions and didst thou not wish in thy heart that it might have been thy happy lot to have been one of them How much more comfortable and glorious will it be to be with him in Heaven The presence of Christ on earth was a joyful presence to the Disciples for while the Bridegroome was with
the drop is swallowed up in the ocean and the small dust in the huge mountaine so shall the short moment of this present life be forgotten when the bright morning of eternal joy shall break upon your souls and the righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father This is that life and immortality which is brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 Wherfore gird up the loynes of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ unto whom ye are hastening waiting for the day of your departing hence that ye may be with Christ which is far better Thirdly How doth the death of the Saints bring them immediatly to Christ a their departure in what manner doth the soul depart The Apostle joyneth his departing and being with Christ together by a small copulative particle as if the soul were as soon with Christ after dissolution as we can speak so short a word even in the next moment which is the third general head to be handled In the explaining whereof I shall take it for granted that the soul is immortal and dyeth not with the body but immediately appeareth before God according to the apprehension of St. Paul in my text who therefore desired to depart that he might be with Christ For were not the soul immortal and that in Pauls perfect judgement it had been far better for him to have lived then dyed for to him to live was Christ but in case he had dyed he could not have been with Christ according to his desire had not his soul survived his body Therefore subscribing to the judgement of so great an Apostle I shall wave the needless controversie and proceed to the explication of this last question in hand the truth and manner whereof will appear in these following demonstrations I. Demonst First the Souls of the Saints are spiritually and inseparably united unto Christ He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 The spirit of Christ dwelleth in beleivers and though the body be dead or mortall because of sin yet the spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8.10 11. The spirit of Christ in the soul is a principle of eternal life by conjunction of the soul with Christ whereby we are quickned together with him through which both our spiritual and eternal life is secured the union of the soul with Christ being inviolable Therefore our life is said to be hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 * Cum Christ in Deo est exira periculum esse Calv. and is out of all danger of ever being separated for who or what shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. latter end I am perswaded saith Paul neither life nor death c. As the hypostatical union of the Godhead and humanity of Christ could not be separated by his death so neither the mystical and spiritual union between Christ and the soul by the death of the Saints For he is the head of his body the Church whereof every true believer is a living member unto whom they are so really spiritually and immediately united that no state condition or power whatsoever can sever or dis-joyn them And though every unfruitful branch may and shall be taken away and cut off from Christ the true vine by final Apostasie Ecclesiastical censure or the judicial sentence that shall pass upon every hypocrite when God shall require and take away his soul every true and living branch shall abide in him for ever through the skill and care of the Father the great husbandman And if we consider the relation which Christ standeth in to all the Saints of a husband to his spouse contracted together by an everlasting covenant betrothed in loving kindness and faithfulness and joyned together by the eternal spirit of grace through which they enjoy the sweet embraces and mutual expressions of their conjugal union and affections how can it be imagined that the Spouse of Christ or any particular Christians should by their dissolution be deprived of so near a relation and firm union for the soul being a spirit and uncapable of suffering the least alteration in its essence by the death of the body from which it is only separated as the life thereof it must of necessity retaine and still possess its spiritual beauty and all supernatural and heavenly priviledges in and with Christ whereof it is far more capable and that more fully and perfectly to receive being separate then in the present body II. Demonstr Secondly the souls of believers are by a natural force and necessity detained from their desired presence with Christ while they are present in the body and thus the death of the Saints bringeth them to Christ by releasing their souls from the tyes and bonds of an absented estate Therefore are we alwayes confident saith the Apostle knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 8. The body is the Saints natural home wherein by a natural necessity they are kept absent from Christ and yet a forced absence in regard of their desires to be with him and to change their bodily home for an eternal house The Philosophers called the body animae carcerem pistrinum the prison and gaol of the soul if so how welcome should death be to the righteous that setteth this prisoner free and enlargeth the souls confinement But how the soul being set at liberty and delivered from the natural bond and relation to the body is immediately present with Christ I shall explain with what clearness and brevity I can for the making good of this second Demonstration First the soul and body in the Godly as in all other men are joyned together by the God of nature in the creation of them as essential parts of one person the humane nature consisting of body and soul which God himself breathed into the humane and organical body and whereby man became a living soul Gen. 2.7 It is also a received maxime in natural science that in the propagation of the humane nature the soul of man is immediately created and that not out of the body but in the body into which it is infused in the very creation of it and so one man is said to beget another not that he doth generate the soul but the body and the union of both God concurring as the first and universal cause with the secondary and particular causes in their natural acts and motions Which union of the soul and body being natural as of two essential parts of the whole though the soul being a spirit hath a subsistence being separate from the body by dissolution yet it is but a separate part and remaineth as a part during the time and
as he is the head of the body the corner stone of the building the rock of their strength the fountain of all fulness and their everlasting rest and peace But to conclude this second Demonstration As natural things tend to their center by a direct motion so the souls of all believers are directed in their motion to Christ at dissolution by the Ministery of Angels as in the Parable of Lazarus Luke 16.22 And it came to pass that the beggar dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abraham 's bosome Whether the soul be carried by Angels only by conducting it in its motion as we are said to carry a friend to an unknown place by directing in the way or whether by assistance in the motion and defence they being mighty in power it is not much material to determine since the soul moving according to the motion of its Angelical guides and companions is in an instant brought unto Christ its desired end and rest III. Demonst Thirdly All the Saints stand in near and unchangeable relations unto Christ through regeneration and spiritual adoption unto God the full comfort and priviledge whereof they cannot enjoy while they are present in the body So that though death parteth the nearest friends and dearest relations on earth yet it bringeth heavenly and spiritual relations together The force of relation is very strong relations being of the least entity but the strongest efficacy witness the strong affections and cords of love whereby persons naturally related are tyed to each other What bowels have Parents towards their Children and Children again unto them What indeared affections between loving yoke-fellowes And how strong is the bond of brotherly love All which long after and endeavour the mutual presence each of other Such are the relations and much more powerful between Christ and every beleiver Not only God himself but Christ is their Father and they his children Isa 9.6 His Name shall be called the everlasting Father the Prince of peace He is their Husband and they his Spouse 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a chast Virgin unto Christ He is their Brother and they his Brethren unto whom they are conformed Rom. 8.29 That he might be the first-born among many brethren Many other relations are mentioned in the Scriptures between them he is their King and they his Subjects their Captain and they his Souldiers their Friend and they his Favourites their Lord and Master and they his Servants and their Shepherd and they his Flock And what engagements and affections soever there are in any or all these relations in the Bond of nature there is much more in Christ and the Saints through the God of Grace and the powerful efficacy of the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in them But yet being absent from each other while beleivers are present in the body they desire to depart that they may be with him And what a joyful greeting there is in heaven at the meeting of them let the Angels of heaven declare who are eye witnesses thereof Welcome then that day and hour when the messenger of death shall call and bring the children to their Fathers house their Spouse to her Beloved and the Sons of God to the first begotten When the loyall Subjects of Christ shall be crowned and the spiritual Souldiers receive the price of their reward when the true friends of Christ shall enjoy their Redeemer who loved them to the death and the faithful Servants shall enter into the joy of their Lord when the sheep shall return to their Shepherd who hath given unto them eternal life that they should never perish IV. Demonstr Fourthly the greatest promises made to beleivers in the covenant of Grace are of the life to come which they cannot inherit till they depart and are with Christ Thus Godliness is profitable to all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 2 Tim. 4.8 The Saints are heires of great and precious promises which are summed up in that general promise of eternal life 1 John 2.21 This is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life Which promise and all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ the Mediator of the Covenant established upon better promises Through which though the heires of promise have strong consolation in regard of the immutability of God and his counsel and oath wherein it is impossible that he should lye yet most of them are yet in hope and not in hand and therefore through patience they wait for them till they come to Christ the heir of all things with whom they are joynt-heires bearing up their hearts in the mean time with the hope set before them Heb. 6.19 20. Which hope we have saith the Apostle as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the veil whither the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an High-Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Thus beleivers wait in hope for what they see not and receive not in this present life as the Patriarchs Heb. 11.13 Who dyed in the faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and imbraced them and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth Therefore beloved be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6.12 For ye have need of patience saith the same Apostle that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise Heb. 10.36 Which promise is no other then the Crown of life and righteousness which Christ the righteous Judge shall give unto all those that love his appearing Thus we have shewed you though in a weak measure the glorious priviledge of the Godly in their death in that their death bringeth them immediately unto Christ according to my Text For I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better I am come at length to the Application of this Doctrine and Subject and that I may be profitable to all and divide the word of God so as to give every one his portion I shall weild this Text as a two-edged Sword striking both wayes to the godly and ungodly to Saints and sinners to beleivers and unbeleivers Use I. First it may serve to inform us from hence of the sad miserable and woful state of every carnal sinful and Christless soul that shall dye in such a condition It were happy for wicked men if they might never dye but for ever enjoy the mean portion of creature comforts which they have in this world though they are infinitely short of the glory and happiness of the Godly with Christ in heaven But to have your portion here and that for so short a season as the time of this present life onely how inconsiderable is it
to the eternity of the Saints felicity with Christ and the eternity of your own misery in Hell torments Therefore Christ in the parable bringeth in Abraham thus speaking to the rich man in Hell Luke 16.25 Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented The Prophet David also praying for deliverance from his enemies describeth them by their temporal blessings Psal 17.13 14. Deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword from men which are thy hand O Lord from the men of the world which have their portion in this life Let not therefore the people of God envy the prosperity of the wicked for they have but the crumbs and broken meat that your heavenly Father giveth to strangers and enemies yea to Doggs for so the Scripture calleth the wicked Rev. 22.15 Without are Doggs and Sorcerers and Whore-mongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whatever loveth and maketh a lye And let the fear of death bridle and restrain the rage and riot of all prophane persons considering how soon your present joyes shall be at an end and your endless sorrowes commence when God shall lay your honour in the dust and require your souls from you Why tremble ye not at the sight of an inclosed corpse and the open grave before your eyes Ye also shall surely dye O ye covetous worldlings wretched drunkards prophane swearers unclean adulterers ye proud and gaudy vanities put your heads into the dust and stretch forth your hands and feel those cold and dry skulls and bones and lay it to heart before ye lye down in sorrow And for the awakening of your sleepy consciences who look and see no further then to what is obvious to your senses like a brutish people and a generation of sottish and foolish men give me leave to deal faithfully with you according to my present design in shewing you what is on t'other side the Grave and the deplorable estate of every carnal heart in death as soon as the soul hath taken its leave of its sinful body and house of clay First Every wicked and ungodly soul is miserable in death in that it is deprived of the happiness of heaven and the glory thereof in the presence of Christ for as it is the Saints priviledge in death to depart unto Christ so on the contrary it is part of every sinners punishment to depart from him Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye that work iniquity How will your hopes perish and your hearts break when ye shall find heaven gate shut upon you and Christ himself deny your knocking 's and intreaties with I know you not Matth. 25.12 Be not deceived any longer but know that neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. And such are some of you Friends what think ye of perishing and being banished from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power when ye shall weep and gnash your teeth because ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and your selves shut out Luke 13.28 Ye shall see indeed the righteous whom ye have despised and persecuted and reproached solacing themselves in their full plenty and rejoycing in their everlasting inheritance all the treasures of heaven being opened unto them but ye shall not be able to passe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or great gulf of separation that is and shall be fixed between them and you so as to approach their presence or to partake of their joyes Augustine moveth a question why the rich man could see Lazarus in Abrahams bosome and Lazarus could not see the rich man in hell and he giveth this answer to it because he that is in the darke may see him that is in the light but he that is in the light cannot see him that is in the dark Heaven is a place of light through the presence of the glory of God and of Christ the Son of righteousness wherein all the righteous shall shine as the Sun and therefore called the inheritance of the Saints in light Acts 26.18 But the state of the wicked shall be darkness and blackness of darkness a total deprivation of the light of the countenance of God and the comfortable presence thereof from which they shall be driven into the remotest distance of place and condition and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outer darkness Mat. 25.30 Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And though this be the greatest loss imaginable yet it is the least of your woe in regard of the torments ye shall suffer in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone And so I proceed from the punishment of loss to the punishment of sense and torment Secondly Every wicked man shall be miserable in his death in respect of the state of his soul which death shall bring it unto without Christ And the state of a damned soul after death and the manner of a sinful soul entring into condemnation and torment after dissolution may somewhat be discerned by these following steps and degrees In opening whereof I shall wholly wave the question about the place of hell and torment as a nicety rather then a necessary Subject for serious Auditors First Every wicked and unbeleiving person dieth in the guilt of all his sins unpardoned Remission of sins is a priviledge peculiar to beleivers through faith in Christ Jesus faith being the condition of the promise and the application of the death and righteousness of Christ for justification Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus But he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not beleived in the Name of the only begotten Son of God John 3.18 So that unbelief leaveth the soul under the guilt of sin and sealeth up the final condemnation thereof Whereupon Christ telleth the unbelieving Jews that they should die in their sins John 8.21 24. Then said Jesus again unto them I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall dye in your sins whither I go ye cannot come I said therefore unto you that ye shall dye in your sins for if ye beleive not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins A wicked man carryeth all his sins to the grave with him which for number are as the hairs of his head and for nature damnable and defiling he dieth clothed and clogged with sin and the guilt of all his sins that ever he committed in thought word or deed cleave to his
discover and act all manner of vexation fretfulness reluctancy and opposition under the anguish of its hopeless condition And this may be demonstrated if one consider the nature of a carnal heart and spirit and the tendency thereof which doth naturally end in this degree of sin 1. There is a natural enmity in every carnal soul against God which remaineth for ever in it where grace doth not subdue and mortifie it The carnal mind is enmity to God Rom. 8.7 And it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be So that this enmity is discovered in this life by acts of sin and wicked workes done by carnal men against the holy and righteous will of God and consequently abiding in the soul after death it will in like manner manifest it self to eternity the Soul being wholly void of all sanctifying and renewing grace Secondly This enmity will more fully act after dissolution by the total withdrawing of the spirit of God whereby in this life it was limited and restrained God setteth bounds to carnal men in this life to keep the world in some degree of peace for the more quiet habitation of his people without which their lives on earth would be altogether disquiet and uncomfortable through the rage and fury of the wicked But in hell there is not so much as restraining grace to dam up the fountain of corruption from breaking out and flowing forth in its full strength and liberty Thirdly the greatest sufferings whatsoever have no power to suppress or destroy corruption and carnal enmity as in themselves considered It is a sanctified affliction through the love of God that purgeth and taketh away sin from his children who by his chastisements are made partakers of his holiness But the torments of hell are the execution of the fierce wrath of God wherein there is not the mixture of one dram of love God intending the destruction and not the salvation of the soul in taking vengeance upon it So that the sinful habits and habitual enmity of the soul are increased and blown up to the highest degree of malice by despair under eternal punishment Fourthly To this we may also add that to be given up to sin is one of the greatest Judgements of God and therefore may be a part of or at least an adjunct to the torments of the damned God sometimes punisheth sin with sin by hardning the heart for its hardness and searing the conscience for its senselessness and giving up to believe a lye for not receiving the love of the truth as also he gave up those Idolaters who imprisoned the natural light and knowledge of God to uncleanness vile affections and a reprobate mind Rom. 1. Now the highest degree of sin God giveth up a carnal man unto in this life is the sin against the holy Ghost which is to sin with malice and to doe despight unto the spirit of grace Heb. 10.29 When a reprobate heart shall grow to that hardness in sin as to sin under conviction and to revenge it self upon God and the spirit of God by committing sin upon the account of sin or because it is sin otherwise it cannot be a wilful sinning after receiving of the knowledge of the truth This being the highest degree of sin upon earth the formality whereof is malice and revenge we may easily be perswaded to believe that hell is full thereof where this malice is more stirred up by despair under these torments then it can be in this life and where the souls of the wicked vent their malice against God by blaspheming and cursing him to his face which is the proper discovery of it as desperate malefactors sometimes in their torments curse both Judge and Executioner And foâ— the proof of this I shall only argue thâ— the case from two or three Scripture instances First of Job whom Satan supposed to be but a hypocrite and temptâ—… God to afflict him with this confidence that he should curse him to his face Joâ— 1.11 The Devil well knew what over whelming afflictions would work upon carnal and sinful heart even to curse Goâ— to his face and had not Jobs sinceritâ— through the power of God upheld anâ— preserved him the Devil had had his design and Job had cursed God as well aâ— the day of his birth Another is of thosâ— wicked ones of whom the Prophet â—…saiah speaketh Isai 8.21 And thâ—â— shall pass through it hardly bestead anâ— hungry and it shall come to pass that wheâ—… they shall be hungry they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God anâ— look upward Whence it appeareth thaâ— when God upon earth punisheth a people for their wickedness with some extream calamity under which they despair looking upwards and seeing no help the wickedness of their hearts will through madness and malice break out into cursing of their King and their God whether true of false Which appeareth yet more clearly in the prophesie of the powring forth of the vials of the wrath of God upon the Antichristian party in several plagues and punishments for their final ruine and overthrow Rev. 16.9 And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory And verse 11. They blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their paines and their sores and repented not of their deeds Likewise verse the last They blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great Much more will a sinful soul blaspheme in hell where despair is the torment of those torments Which Christ himself seemeth to put out of all question speaking of the sufferings of hell when he saith There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Math. 8.12 and 13.42 50. That is against God through fretfulness and malice for so the phrase of gnashing the teeth is taken in other Scriptures Psal 37.12 The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth So the Jews did upon Stephen Acts. 7.54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth So that as the Saints in heaven bless God with Praises and Hallelujahs so the damned in hell howl under pain and curse him and thus in hell sin shall be perfected as well as grace in heaven every wicked and graceless soul shall sin under suffering while it is suffering for sin Lastly Hereupon the wrath of God is further provoked and heightned by the actual sin of a wicked and desperate soul under its torments So that to make this everlasting punishment of a damned soul in hell unspeakable miserable the sufferings thereof are not only eternal as they are the just reward of sin committed in this life against an infinite God whose justice can never be fully satisfied but by the eternity of the punishment but they are also for ever increased and renewed by enraging provocations of malice and
sin not for the patience of God to every carnal soul persisting in rebellion and disobedience is but a present suspension of eternal wrath which may suddenly break forth and begin in temporal judgements upon them And take heed of interpreting the silence of God to be his allowance of sin for because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to doe evil Eccle. 8.11 Whereas if the Lord should execute his wrath immediately upon every profane person in the act of sin what fear would surprise your hearts who would swear a profane oath if he were sure to dye as soon as the word is out of his mouth who would commit adultery if he were to be thrust through with a sword in the act of his uncleanness who would steal his neighbours goods if he were perswaded he should be immediately stoned to death what drunkard would venture upon excess if he apprehended every immoderate draught to be so much deadly poyson to destroy him Or who would exalt himself against God and his people if he beleived that the earth would presently open her mouth and swallow him up quick And is the wrath of God less fearfull because through patience it is deferred in the execution of justice and recompense upon ungodly men For ye are not only by nature the children of wrath but because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.6 Therefore let no man deceive himself with vain confidence and presumption as if God had said in vain that he will render to every man according to his deedes Vnto them that are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Rom. 2.8 9. O that ye would set the Lord before your eyes and his consuming displeasure when ye are venturing upon any act of folly and iniquity possibly this might restrain corruption and check your violent lusts ready to break out into practise and actual commission What are the damned suffering in hell for the same sins that ye are committing daily Bethink your selves how ye shall endure those torments or rather that ye may escape them labour to foresee them and present them to the face of your stout and head-strong corruptions When the temptation is before you the place present and the company of evil workers ready to joyn with you in any unlawful and sinful enterprise or design remember that hell is kindled and the flames thereof ascend for ever Is not a fiery furnace hot enough or a bottomless pit deep enough to terrifie your senseless spirits Or can ye endure to be ever burning in that furnace and ever falling in that piâ— Our Saviour tells those that offend his little ones Matth. 18.6 That it were better a milstone were hanged about their necks and they cast into the bottom of the sea Were there any hope for such to arise from perishing under the mighty waters And is there not much more weight in the infinite wrath of an omnipotent God to sink you down to the nethermost hell and to keep you under the foaming billowes and raging and roaring waves of the Lake of burning brimstone O that ye would consider this ye that forget God least he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Venture not the day of Gods displeasure and provoke no longer omnipotency to appear against you least the roaring lion seize upon the prey and say not peace and safety for sudden destruction shall come upon the wicked as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape Cease your mocking ye that scoffe at the threatnings of God that say let him make speed and hasten his worke that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy one of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it Isai 5.19 How soon the Lord may come in wrath and judgment upon you ye know not and all that spend their dayes in vanity shall goe downto the grave in a moment How soon doth the cloud arise which at length covereth the whole heavens and the ratling thunders make you tremble and the white flashings of lightning turn you into darke holes to hide your heads how fair a morning had the wicked Sodomites when the Sun arose so gloriously upon their City and by and by a showr of fire and brimstone turned all into ashes And how did the security of the old world deceive them when they took no warning by Noah the preacher of righteousness nor by the building of the Arke until the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened and the deluge came the flouds increasing and covering the tops of all mountaines so that their was no help in their distress but all perished together in those swelling waters Gen. 7. latter end And dare ye still scoffe at the messengers of the Lord saying where is the promise of his coming Are not the heavens and the earth kept in store and reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men And this day of the Lord will come also as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up The Lord is not slack concerning his coming but is long suffering to you-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Therefore seeing that all these things shall be dissolved when heaven and earth shall be in flames what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness 2 Pet. 3.9 10 11. Thirdly Then labour to get an interest in Christ before ye die What rich provision hath God made for immortal souls in sending the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to suffer under the imputation of sin that he might reconcile the disobedient and rebellious hearts of men unto himself And how often hath this Gospel been preached among you That God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever should beleive in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 Therefore we are embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God How willing is Christ to save your souls and to redeem you from wrath to come Oh let not your unbeleif frustrate the grace of God thereby depriving your selves of the benefit thereof so freely offered and fully revealed unto you Is not the golden Scepter of grace held forth and the royal Standard set up and proclamation made to sinners to turn and live How will ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation O ungrateful