A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich MARCH 8th 1695 6. BEING The Second Sunday in Lent By JOHN JEFFERY Arch-Deacon of Norwich and Minister of St. Peter of Mancroft 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thuc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen contra Cels L. 8. LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1696. To the Right Worshipfull Augustine Briggs Esquire Mayor of the City of NORWICH SIR I Cannot express a truer or greater Regard to You in compliance with whose Desires this Discourse is made Publick than agreeably to the Subject of it to Wish and Pray that You may be effectually prevailed upon thereby seriously to fore-think what Your Last Wishes shall be and to make Your Present Resolutions accordingly viz. To live the Life of the Righteous and then You shall Die the Death of the Righteous and Your last End shall be like his This I do most heartily Wish and Pray for on behalf of You and of all those for whose Souls I am more especially concerned for I am in the best and highest Sense Your Faithfull Servant John Jeffery Numb XXIII 10. Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end he like his IN these Words we have the very good Wish of a very bad Man and upon a very remarkable Occasion The Man was Balaam Numb 22.23 24 25. One of as ill a character almost as any that is mention'd in the Holy Scriptures The Wish is That he might die the death of the Righteous and that his last end might be like his In which Wish it is implyed That the Portion of the Wicked is not fit to be desired but that the Portion of the Righteous is such as even those men who are most contrary would desire This Wish Balaam made upon a very remarkable Occasion viz. When he consider'd the last Result and Consequence of things when he had a distinct Prospect of the final State of Men. 'T was Balaam that said this the man whose eyes are open or whose Eyes once were shut but now are open he said this who heard the words of God Numb 24.3 4. which saw the Vision of the Almighty falling into a Trance but having his eyes open God represented unto Balaam the final State of the Righteous and it appear'd so desireable to him that altho' he was one of the worst of Men and most hated the Righteous yet he brake forth into these Expressions Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his The Truth contain'd in which words is this That there is a Portion which wicked men necessarily desire but the Righteous only can enjoy And The Desire of this Portion by wicked Men has a Threefold Respect 1st To what is to come 2ly To what is past 3ly To what is present With respect to what is to come wicked Men shall wish That they might escape the Misery due unto Sin and that they might obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience With Respect to what is past wicked men shall wish they had chosen the Duty they refused and that they had refused the Sin they chose With Respect to what is present wicked Men shall wish That they were not the Sinners they are and that they were the Righteous which they are not 1st Wicked Men shall wish with Respect to what is to come 1. That they might escape the Misery due unto Sin And 2. That they might obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience 1. Wicked Men shall wish they might escape the Misery due unto Sin and in that sence Die the Death of the Righteous and that their last End might be like his When wicked Men have before them the Appearance of their End they must needs behold such things in it as are most amazing and terrible to them And such an Appearance of the Last things there will be unto wicked Men when ever they are constrained to consider Such constraint is sometimes upon them while they are in Health and Safety as often as God by over ruling the Vanity of their Minds makes them serious I need not show by what means God does this 't is sufficient to my present purpose that this is sometimes done and that when it is done wicked Men have the most uncomfortable Prospect of things before their eyes And when their natural Death and last End draws near then the Object is more distinctly viewed and more seriously considered Then Men perceive what the Desert and what the Punishment of Sin is and then they remember they have committed such Sins But no Man can be willing to have his Portion in Misery or to suffer what he is conscious he has deserved Men naturally and necessarily hate Torment and Perdition and 't is not any Man 's direct choice Isa 33.14 that he be miserable No Man can be Indifferent to it or Unconcerned at it The Sinner's Guilt consigns them to Misery and the onely way to escape that Misery is by the Pardon of their Sins 'T is Pardon alone that can deliver them from the approaching Perdition and therefore that Pardon is the matter of their most importunate Desires Lord have Mercy on us is their Petition and the meaning of it is Lev. 16.28 that they may not come into the place of Torment This every departing Soul will most ardently Desire nor can He avoid desiring it with the utmost Vehemence that is possible Desires stronger than Death will then harrass the guilty Mind and those Desires are therefore an extream Vexation because at the same time they are Violent Unavoidable and Vain The same wicked Man who most passionately desires to escape Misery knows he cannot and the Unnatural desire of what is utterly impossible is tormenting But such Desires there are in every dying Sinner who is not so dead in Sin as to be totally without any sense of his Danger Beyond the Grave deep as the bottomless Abyss is that Region where miserable Souls abide the Wrath of God (a) Miserrimus omnes Admonet magnâ testatur voce per umbras Dicite Justitiam moniti non temnere Divos Virg. Aen. l. 6. Inclusi poenam expectant and into that the drooping Thoughts of a dying Sinner do descend and by his dire Imagination Ranges in that vast Ocean of Darkness Despair and Horror (b) Quae scelerum facies The departing Spirit must needs Reluctate and Shrink back with the utmost Uneasiness of Nature when it feels it self dropping into that remediless Condition The Spirit struggles in Wishes contrary to its Doom and suffers the Violence of invincible Necessity and is dragged thereby against all the reluctating Endeavours that are possible 2. Wicked Men shall wish they might Obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience The Attainment of that Happiness and Ascent unto the glorious Regions of the Blessed is that which those Minds that are depressed with
Guilt and Condemnation strive in Vain to Raise themselves unto Divine Glories dazle the Eyes and confound the Minds of the Guilty while the same Glories Transport the Hearts and Constitute the Blessedness of the Righteous But through all that Confusion the Sinner lifts up his Desires unto Rest and Bliss The divine Purity and the Image of a Holy God which is upon the Souls and Lives of those who are Happy is so contrary to the Sinner's Inclination and Temper that the Sufferings of Hell cannot make a wicked Spirit unfeignedly desire the Holiness of Heaven But there is another Notion under which the perishing Sinner considers Heaven and that is merely as a place of Rest and Ease There is Rest and Ease which in general every one Desires and without advancing one Thought further wicked Men Wish for that Rest and Ease 'T is manifest if they do think that the Ease and Rest of Heaven is inseparable from and the Effect of the Similitude and Enjoyment of God and for a wicked Spirit to Consider this is Torment But stopping short of that Reflexion Indolency of Body Tull. de fin l. 2. Tuse Qu. l. 3. §. 38. and Tranquility of Mind are what an Epicurean would desire for his Happiness and without considering from whence that Ease and Joy must come Sinners Wish this may be their Portion for ever While it was in their Power to secure the Rest and Joy of Heaven they sought their Pleasure from Sense and Sin and when the Means and Causes of that Pleasure fail the Desires of that Pleasure continue though the Sinner know not how to procure it But wicked men are a Contradiction to themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut vit Crass and their Wickedness has made them so They desire Rest in the midst of Perturbation and Joy in the Operation of the Causes of Sorrow But who can avoid those Desires when he even feels that the perfection of Happiness or the extremity of Misery must instantly befall him such Distress and Perplexity does a Man's Wickedness bring him unto because the Consequences of his Sin are contrary to the strongest Instinct of his Nature The wicked Man knows what the Hope of the Righteous is in his Death Prov. 14.32 and what must be his own portion at his last End The wicked also desires on his own behalf that he might die the Death and that his last End might be like unto that of the Righteous Thus wicked Men desire they may at last have the Reward of the Righteous without being Righteous They desire to escape that Misery which their Sin has made necessary and they desire to obtain that Happiness which their Sins have made impossible So inconsistent are the Choices and the Wishes of bad Men that while they chuse Death in chusing Sin they desire to obtain Life and Happiness notwithstanding that Choice They would be happy and yet refuse that without which no Man can be happy they would not be miserable and yet make themselves such as cannot be otherwise All this is done by sinfull Men i. e. by those who are endowed with Reason and Foresight and can be astonished at infinitely less Absurdities in other matters They can decry and wonder at the Folly of those who desire to be Rich and practise what is impoverishing who desire to be honoured and do what is infamous What Infatuation then is it for the same Men obstinately to chuse the necessary causes of Misery and as obstinately to wish for the Enjoyment of Happiness Remember this and bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors consider and shew your selves Men. Such palpable Contradiction there is between the Desires and the Choices of Sinners through the whole Course of their Lives and the frequent Admonitions of God and Men concerning this must needs prove at last one of the most afflicting Remembrances that is possible This will exasperate the Torments of Hell to call to mind That all his days the Sinner did with equal Passionateness chuse Destruction and wish for Salvation Thus the Desires which are in Wicked Men of the Portion of the Righteous have a respect to what is to come and so wicked Men wish at last That they might escape the Misery due unto Sin and that they might obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience 2ly The Desire of this Portion by wicked Men has a Respect to what is past and so wicked Men shall wish 1. That they had refused the Sin they chose And 2. That they had chosen the Duty they refused 1. Wicked Men shall wish at last that they had refused the Sin they chose At the time of their Account and at all other times in which wicked Men are considerate and have their final State in distinct View they wish with the utmost Impatience that they had refused the Sin they chose because so they had refused Death Deut. 30.15 19. in refusing Sin which is the meritorious Cause of Death Life and Death were set before them in this World and then they made their Choice which they must abide by for ever They had indeed a Liberty while they lived here of Retractation they might have corrected the Choice which was bad by making one that was good Those Sinners who had chosen Sin and Death had a Liberty and were under an Obligation to repent and to chuse Life and live But that Liberty did not continue longer than the time of their Probation this Life and this Liberty ended together When this time is at an end that Choice which was made in it must be stood to and there is no correcting that Choice after Death * Math. 25.11 12 13. I had almost said nor at it †Distulet in seram commissa piacula mortem Virg. Aen. 1.6 But altho' a Sinner has spent all that time in which he should have avoided his foolish and pernicious Choices or at least should have corrected them yet he cannot avoid at last repenting that he has chosen so ill for himself and wishing without end and without Patience that he had refused the Sin he chose because in so doing he had also refused that Death he suffers The perishing Sinner has not only his Choice of Sin to repent of Prov. 1.24 c. but also his Obstinacy in chusing it and that no consideration could withhold him from making of and persisting in that Choice Yea which is a special Aggravation of his Fault and Folly he did in this Life often repent in that Kind though not in that Degree in which he shall repent at last He who in the Hour of Death and in that Eternity which is after it repents wishing he had never chosen Sin shall then remember that those Wishes are not the first he made of this kind that he did before this wish he had never done such things as he perishes for The last and the endless Repentings of a Sinner in Hell will be aggravated
then at Death and Judgment that they themselves had been as much rejected and injured as the Righteous were so they might at the great and terrible day of the Lord stand before the divine Tribunal with that Advantage which the Righteous do But as the Righteous shall then have their Character and Distinction according to what they did in the Body So the Sinner who did not those things but the contrary cannot with all his Out-crys and Importunities make himself such an one as the Righteous are He cannot put on so much of the Similitude of the Righteous as once was done in Hypocrisie He is not a righteous Person and he cannot make a shew of such an one he cannot then personate a religious Man If he should pretend to it in any term whatsoever he would be discovered he cannot place himself among the Righteous or expect to pass for such an one He cannot mingle with the Saints or come into the Assembly of those Ps 1.5 whose Company he shunn'd while he was on Earth Nay he cannot then act the part of a Dissembler he cannot pretend to that Reverence of God and love of good Men which the Hypocrite used to do and which perhaps himself has sometimes done in the course of his past Life Thus shall wicked Men wish at last and in vain that they were not what they are and that they were what they are not what they cannot for ever be We see what that good is which wicked Men desire but the Righteous onely can enjoy viz. The Character and the Reward of the Righteous Religion is the Foundation of Happiness and Happiness is the Perfection of Religion That Religion and that Happiness wicked Men shall desire at last and when they have a distinct View of the last things wishing they had lived that Religion and that they might enjoy that Happiness But the Righteous are they alone who have lived religiously in this World and the Righteous are they alone who can live happily for ever Summum bonum This is that great Good which wicked Men necessarily and unavoidably desire but the Righteous only can enjoy From this Truth we may reprove the Wicked encourage the Righteous and admonish all Men. 1. From this Truth we may reprove the Wicked because by this it is manifest their Wickedness is inexcusable and their Hopes are vain There is a notorious Contradiction between their Lives and their Desires while they wish for the Happiness of the Righteous and chuse what renders them uncapable of it Lu. 19.22 They shall be judged out of their own Mouths and their own Hearts shall condemn them 2. By this Truth the Righteous are approved and encouraged in their Duty and their Expectation because they live according to the Constitution of Things and the Declaration of God They live as the Consciences of the Wicked tell them they ought to live and as they shall wish at last they had lived The Righteousness of the Righteous is approved by all true Wisdom and those who calumniate the religious are reproached by their own Hearts for so doing 3. This Truth may be of use to admonish all Men to live the Life of the Righteous and that their early Beginning be like his Eccl. 12.1 and then they shall die the Death of the Righteous and their last End shall be like his too And since this will at last be the most serious wish of all Men since those who hated the Life of the Righteous will wish they might die the Death of the Righteous and that their last End may be like his what can be more proper for the Conclusion of this Discourse than that wish of Moses O that they were wise that they understood this Prometheus Epimetheus Dent. 32.29 that they would consider their latter End If Men were but so kind to themselves and so provident for Eternity as before the great day of Decision comes now while they are preparing for it to place themselves by a suitable exercise of Faith in those circumstances in which they must stand at the last Day and then look upon themselves as they are at the time of such Representation did a wicked Man who knows the Transgressions of his Life and that feels the Remorse of his Consoience did he suppose himself laid upon a Bed of Sickness and Death and view his Circumstances as they will at last be if he dies such an one as he now is did he suppose his Soul separating from the Body and departing into the secret and invisible Society of the Dead did he suppose the last Trump sounding and himself among the rest of Mankind awakened out of the sleep of Death by that dreadfull Alarm did he represent to himself the great and universal Assembly standing together upon the face of the trembling Earth and beholding the Son of God descending from Heaven in the Glory of his Father and his Holy Angels did he suppose the Judgment-Seat placed and the Son of God set down upon it the Books opened that of the Law of God and Gospel of Christ that of Mens Lives and Consciences and the Dead ready to be judged according to the Things written in those Books did he consider the Distinction and Separation of Good from Bad the one placed at the Right Hand Matth. 25.33 Dextra quae ditis magni sub moenia tenditâ— Hac iter Elysium nobis at laeva malorum Exercet poenas ad impia Tartara miâ—â—â—â— Virg Aen. 1.6 and the other at the Left Hand of the Glorious Judge did he hearken to the Sentence that will then be passed upon each Man according to his Deeds and view by Faith the Execution of that Sentence looking upon the Wicked as falling headlong into the Bottomless Pit and looking upon the Righteous ascending their Thrones of Glory I say did wicked Men often and seriously represent these important Truths unto themselves did they thus consider their latter End what Effect would that Consideration have upon them Thus to do would be their Wisdom for thus it will be with them at last and by a due and timely considering they may prevent the worst Things being their Portion If Men did consider they would say with the greatest Seriousness Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his And knowing such a Wish cannot be verified merely by vehement Desires and passionate Expressions they might at one time or other be perswaded by such Considerations to live the Life of the Righteous and if they did so They should also die the Death of the Righteous and their last End should be like his that would be their Everlasting Portion They should then Quo fatâ— trahunt Virtus secura sequetur Luc. 1.2 not only make their Wishes but also have what they wished they should at their great Extremity be received into the Joy of their Lord. FINIS
by his Remembrance that he often so repented upon Earth He shall at the same instant cry out O that I had never done such Sins and shall then also call to mind that he had so expressed himself in his Repentings upon Earth Had he while he was on Earth from the time that he made such Wishes with stinging Remorse That he had never been in such Company in which he committed his Sin that he had never seen the Face of such an one by whom he was persuaded to sin that he had rather have lost any Good or suffered any Evil at the time than been Guilty of such Wickedness Had he I say then been constant to those wise and necessary Reflections he had thence forward refused Sin And if he had done so he would have remembred those Repentings with Joy But whereas he was so far convinced of his Sin and so apprehensive of the Consequences of it while he lived as to wish sometimes in great Agonies of Mind that he had never done it And afterward perhaps under the Uneasiness of remembring how he repented again chose the same Sin these Repentings and these Wishes he that is wicked shall never be able to forget in Eternity and never be able without Torment to remember Prov. 5.11 12 13. Certain 't is no Sinner can avoid wishing in Hell that he had never committed those Sins which brought him thither We know now that it must be thus then Rom. 6.21 why should we now chuse that which we shall even wish with the utmost Passion we had never refused Consider this when any Temptation offers it self and make a stand till this consideration be well weighed That if I chuse this Sin for this Pleasure or Profit I shall often before I die and at Death if I have my Senses and Understanding and in Eternity as long as I have a Being wish I had never done it 2. Wicked Men shall at last wish they had chosen that Duty they refused and wish they had chosen it whatever had befallen them or could have befallen them for so doing Here the Suffering of Persecution or Reproach from Sinners the missing that Benefit which Sin could procure and the undergoing that Trouble which Duty did imply or might occasion was the Reason why they did not repent and obey the Commandments of God Sinners were unwilling to deny their vicious Inclinations or their vicious Company were unwilling to be at the Trouble which Repentance and Mortification would bring with them and therefore they would not chuse their Duty Deut. 32.47 though in so doing they had chosen Life Sinners chuse notwithstanding at the same time to lose any good or to suffer any evil to preserve their Natural Lives Yea they did this when they were uncertain whether such Losses and Sufferings would preserve their Lives or no when it might so happen that by those very Endeavours to preserve Life they might lose it The desires of natural Life are so natural that any thing shall be chosen for the sake of it Job 2.4 Skin for Skin yea all that a Man hath will he give for his Life Yea a Sinner would to save his natural Life do much of that Duty which is necessary to eternal Life Let it be manifest to him who is most Intemperate that there is Poison in the Wine and he will not tast it Let it be certain that a violent stroke will cut off his Life that seizeth upon what is his Neighbours and the most covetous Person will not touch it But no Oath to confirm a Threatning no Anger to incite an Enemy to the Execution of it no Sword drawn and Hand stretched forth for that purpose make Death so certain as does the Wrath of God declared from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men. Rom. 1.18 This Declaration of God is often and expressly repeated in his Word is continually preach'd and proclaim'd by his Ministers We see this in the Holy Scriptures we hear it with our Ears and why should not our Hearts be affected with this And our Lives govern'd by it A Man stands over us with the Wrath of an Enemy and with the Instruments of Death and says Do this or die and we do it nor dare we do otherwise But God says with a Voice more terrible than that of Thunder on Mount Sinai I am Jehovah thy God thou shalt do so or so or thou shalt not do this or that And we are insensible Isa 51.12 and follow the Imaginations of our own Hearts But we shall not be able to maintain this Stupidity for ever we shall not be able to avoid the most dreadfull Reflections on what we have done that are possible We shall when our Hearts are convinced by the Word of God or by the Flames of Hell wish with the utmost Regret and Horror that we had never stood out one moment against the Calls and Commands of God that we had never in one particular refused to obey him All those considerations that prevailed with us in the day of Temptation to omit if not to contemn our necessary Duty will be remembred with Abomination That which we feared or that which we desired and through those Passions violated our Duty and neglected our Salvation shall be called to Mind with unspeakable Remorse The Sinner shall wonder at himself and reproach himself 2 Cor. 7.11 and be ready to take Vengeance upon himself that he was so little regardfull of God in whose hands our Breath is and whose are all our ways The Sinner Job 12.11 who stands upon the Brink of Eternity or who is plunged into that vast Ocean shall remember how very small Portions of his time those were which he spent in the Service of his God and in Care for his Soul and shall Wish in vain Amos 8.5 that time could return that he had the Day of Grace in his Power again that so he might with those Thoughts that now swallow him up improve the Opportunities of performing his Duty and Working out his Salvation But Time cannot be set back nothing will then be possible but direfull Remembrances of Time mis-spent Heb. 3.8 15. 4.7 and as direfull Reflections upon its being irrecoverable That Work which is undone then must be undone for ever And who can call to mind how unpracticably and how perniciously he has lived to himself Heb. 2.3 neglecting the great Salvation without unexpressible Horror This will be the Case of every Sinner at the last who shall then Wish he had ever refused that Sin he chose and ever chosen that Duty he refused Thus we see what the Wishes of Sinners are in the day of their Extremity and Sensibleness whether They look forward on what is to come of the Happiness of the Righteous or the Misery of the Wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl or whether He looks backward upon what is past the Sin he has committed or the