safely trust the worth of their Souls and the weight of Eternity with him who has said he will never leave them nor forsake them Besides the Promise of a Reward to the obedient Children of God is secur'd not only by his Fidelity but the declar'd Equity of his Proceedings in his final Judgment 'T is a Regality invested in the Crown of Heaven to dispense Rewards Whoever comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him His Being and rewarding Bounty are the Foundations of Religion 'T is true such is the Distance between God and the Creature and the eternal Obligations of it to God that it can challenge nothing from God as due to its Merit Justice unqualified with Bounty and Clemency owes nothing to the most excellent Obedience of the Creature tho innocent But since the Fall our best Works are defective and defiled and want Pardon and our heaviest Sufferings are but light in the Ballance against the exceeding Weight of Glory But the Apostle tells the Thessalonians It is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to them who trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us Consider them in the Comparison 'T is becoming his governing Justice to punish the unrighteous Persecutors and reward his faithful Servants who suffer for his Glory Now the present Life is the Day for our Work as our Saviour saith I must do the Work of him that sent me while 't is called to Day And at Death the Spirit returns to God that gave it in order to Judgment either fatal or favourable according to the tenor of Mens good Works and the desert of their bad The Promise is to them who by patient continuance in wel-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality they shall obtain eternal Life Our Saviour encourages his suffering Servants Be faithful to the Death and I will give you the Crown of Life The compleat Reward is reserved to the great Day of universal Recompences when the Sons of God by Regeneration shall be the Sons of a glorious Resurrection But the righteous Judg will give a present Reward at the end of the Day to all that with unfainting Perseverance have perform'd his Work Our Saviour tells us that all who wrought in the Vineyard receiv'd their Rewards in the last Hour of the Day The Parallel is instructive that when the Night of Death comes the Reward will be dispens'd There is a Law recorded concerning the paying Wages to those who were hir'd that it should be in the end of the Day that it should not be detain'd all Night with thee until the Morning The Allusion is very congruous that God will fulfil his own Law to his Sons that serve him The Reward shall not abide with him the long dark Interval the Night wherein their Bodies sleep in the Grave till the Morning of the Resurrection Our Saviour promised the dying Penitent To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The End of our Faith is immediately attended with the Salvation of the Soul The Labour of Faith being finish'd is productive of the beatifick Vision in the State of Light and Glory The Sum is That the Children of God who have by constant Conversation sincerely endeavoured to please and glorify him may with an entire Resignation commit their Souls to his Hands as if an Angel were sent from Heaven to them in their dying Agonies with the comfortable Message that they should presently be with God 3. The Divine Power in conjunction with Love and Truth is the Foundation of our secure dependance upon God in our last Hours This Consideration is absolutely necessary for our sure Trust For Love without Power is ineffectual and Power without Love of no comfortable Advantage to us The Apostle gives this reason of his chearful and couragious Sufferings in the Service of God For I know in whom I have believed and am perswaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him till that Day His Faith respected the Promises of God concerning his Salvation which are infinitely sure the Divine Power being alsufficient to fulfil them The precious Depositum that is committed to his dear Care he can and will preserve inviolate The Father of sincere Believers is the Lord of Heaven and Earth who by his Word without the least strain of his Power made the World and preserves it from falling into Confusion 'T is the Essence of Faith to assure us of God's Almighty Mercy to all that have the true Characters of his Children that are qualified for his Salvation Our Redeemer joins the two Relations of our Father and our God the gracious and the glorious Relation are inseparable Now the Love of our heavenly Father engages the Power of our God that we shall want nothing to secure our Happiness that is within the object of Omnipotence I shall insist no further upon the Consideration of the Divine Power because it will return under some of the following Heads of Discourse II. The Blessedness of this Privilege is to be unfolded This will appear by considering First What is the Depositum the Thing that is intrusted in God's Hands Secondly What is implied in his receiving of it In answer to the first 'T is the Soul the more excellent and immortal Part of Man that is commended to God's keeping 1. ' T is our more excellent Part in its Nature and Capacity Man is a compounded Creature of a Body and a Soul the Body in its Original and Resolution is Earth the Soul is of a divine Descent a spiritual Substance and in the Nobility and Perfections of its Nature but a little lower than the Angels 't is the vile Body but the precious Soul In its Capacity it incomparably excels the Body for the Body lives moves in the low Region of the Senses that are common with the Worms of the Earth but the Soul in its Understanding and Desires is capable of Communion with the blessed God of Grace and Glory From hence it is that the whole World can't make one Man happy for the Ingredients of true and compleat Happiness are the Perfection and Satisfaction of the Soul The Apostle tells us The less is blessed of the greater Can the World bring Perfection to Man that is so incomparably short of his Imperfection Our Saviour assures us the Gain of the whole World cannot recompense the Loss of one Soul There is a vast Circuit in our Desires and all the Lines terminate in the Centre of Blessedness Can the World give sincere Satisfaction to them Solomon who was as rich and high as the World could make him has left an everlasting Testimony of the Vanity of transient Things from his experimental Observation and the Direction of the Holy Spirit So he begins and ends his Sermon Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity so vain and vexing that we shall not only be weary of them
to set it off than refined Gold wants Paint to add Lustre and Value to it I shall not speak of his Parentage and his first Years but I must not omit a Testimony I receiv'd concerning his early Piety His Father said with Tears of Joy to a Friend my Son Richard I hope was sanctified from the Womb for when he was a little Boy in Coats if he heard other Children in play speak profane Words he would reprove them to the Wonder of those that heard him He had not the Advantage of Academical Education but by the Divine Blessing upon his rare Dexterity and Diligence his Sacred Knowledge was in that Degree of Eminence as few in the University ever arrive to Not long after his Entrance into the Ministry the Civil War began and the Times rain'd Blood so long till the languishing State of the Kingdom was almost desperate and incurable How far he was concern'd as a Chaplain in the Parliament's Army he has publisht an Account and the reasons of it After the War he was fixt at Kederminster There his Ministry by the Divine Influence was of admirable Efficacy The Harvest answer'd the Seed that was sowed Before his coming the Place was like a Piece of dry and barren Earth onely Ignorance and Profaneness as Natives of the Soil were rise among them but by the Blessing of Heaven upon his Labour and Cultivating the Face of Paradise appear'd there in all the Fruits of Righteousness Many were translated from the state of polluted Nature to the state of Grace and many were advanc'd to higher degrees of Holiness The bad were chang'd to good and the good to better Conversion is the Excellent Work of Divine Grace the Efficacy of the Means is from the Supreme Mover But God usually makes those Ministers successfull in that Blessed Work whose principal Design and Delight is to glorifie him in the saving of Souls This was the reigning Affection in his Heart and he was extraordinarily qualified to obtain his End His Prayers were an Effusion of the most lively melting Expressions and his intimate ardent Affections to God from the abundance of his Heart his Lips spake His Soul took Wing for Heaven and rapt up the Souls of others with him Never did I see or hear a holy Minister address himself to God with more Reverence and Humility with respect to his glorious Greatness never with more Zeal and Fervency correspondent to the infinite Moment of his requests nor with more Filial Affiance in the Divine Mercy In his Sermons there was a rare Union of Arguments and Motives to convince the Mind and gain the Heart All the Fountains of Reason and Perswasion were open to his discerning Eye There was no resisting the Force of his Discourses without denying Reason and Divine Revelation He had a marvellous Felicity and Copiousness in speaking There was a noble Negligence in his Stile for his great Mind could not stoop to the affected Eloquence of Words he despis'd flashy Oratory but his Expressions were clear and powerful so convincing the Understanding so entring into the Soul so engaging the Affections that those were as deaf as Adders who were not charm'd by so wise a Charmer He was animated with the Holy Spirit and breath'd Celestial Fire to inspire Heat and Life into dead Sinners and to melt the obdurate in their frozen Tombs Methinks I still hear him speak those powerfull Words A Wretch that is condemn'd to dy to Morrow cannot forget it And yet poor Sinners that continually are uncertain to live an Hour and certain speedily to see the Majesty of the Lord to their unconceivable Joy or Terror as sure as they now live on Earth can forget these things for which they have their memory and which one would think should drown the matters of this World as the report of a Canon does a Whisper or as the Sun obscures the poorest Glo-worm O wonderfull stupidity of an unrenewed Soul O wonderfull folly and distractedness of the ungodly That ever Men can forget I say again that they can forget Eternal joy Eternal Woe and the Eternal God and the place of their Eternal unchangeable Abodes when they stand even at the door and there is but the thin Vail of Flesh between them and that amazing sight that Eternal gulph and they are daily dying and stepping in Besides his wonderfull diligence in Catechizing the particular Families under his Charge was exceeding usefull to plant Religion in them Personal instruction and application of Divine Truths has an excellent advantage and efficacy to insinuate and infuse Religion into the Minds and Hearts of Men and by the Conversion of Parents and Masters to reform whole Families that are under their immediate direction and government While he was at Kederminster he wrote and publisht that accomplisht Model of an Evangelical Minister styled Gildas Salvianus or the Reform'd Pastor In that book he clears beyond all cavil That the Duty of Ministers is not confin'd to their Study and the Pulpit but that they should make use of opportunities to instruct Families within their Care as 't is said by the Apostle that he had kept back nothing from his Hearers that was profitable but had taught them publickly and from house to house The Idea of a faithfull Minister delineated in that book was a Copy taken from the Life from his own zealous Example His unwearied industry to do good to his Flock was answer'd by Correspondent Love and Thankfulness He was an Angel in their Esteem He would often speak with great Complacence of their dear Affections and a little before his Death said He believ'd they were more Expressive of kindness to him than the Christian Converts were to the Apostle Paul by what appears in his Writings While he remain'd at Kederminster his Illustrious Worth was not shaded in a Corner but dispers'd its Beams and Influence round the Countrey By his Counsel and Excitation the Ministers in Worcestershire Episcopal Presbyterian and Congregational were united that by their Studies Labours and Advice the Doctrine and Practise of Religion the Truths and Holiness of the Gospel might be preserved in all the Churches committed to their Charge This Association was of excellent use the ends of Church-government were obtain'd by it and it was a leading Example to the Ministers of other Counties Mr. Baxter was not above his Brethren Ministers by a Superiour Title or any secular advantage but by his divine endowments and separate excellencies his extraordinary wisdom zeal and fidelity he was the Soul of that Happy Society He continued among his beloved people till the year 1660. then he came to London A while after the King's Restoration there were many Endeavours us'd in order to an Agreement between the Episcopal and Presbyterian Ministers For this end several of the Bishops elect and of the Ministers were call'd to attend the King at Worcester-House there was read to them a Declaration drawn up with great wisdom and moderation by the
State He reconciled things in Earth and in Heaven but not things in Hell The Golden Scepter is extended to none there the Holy Spirit strives with none they are without the Reserves of Mercy The Guilt of Sin remains in its full Obligation the Pollution of Sin in its deepest Die and the Punishment of Sin in its Extremity for ever O what Folly is it or rather Frenzy not to provide for our Souls in their greatest Exigence Common Reason instructs us knowing our own Weakness to commit our Treasure to the custody of our Friends which we cannot otherwise keep from our Enemies especially to such a Friend as can and will preserve it for our Use and Advantage The Soul is our Jewel above all Price 't is our Wisdom to secure it out of all danger Let us therefore commit it to the safe and sure Hands of our Heavenly Father otherwise we cannot preserve it from the infernal Spirits the Robbers and Murderers of Souls The wise Preacher denounces a fearful Evil Wo be to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up In all the Senses of falling Death is the greatest Fall the High the Honourable the Rich fall from all their State and Men of all Degrees are forsaken of all their carnal Comforts and Supports If then the solitary Soul has not a God to receive support and comfort it how woful is its Condition Methinks the apprehension of this should strike a Terror so deep into the Hearts of Men that they should be restless till they have secur'd a Retreat for their departing Souls For this end let us according to the earnest Advice of St. Peter be diligent that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless The Lord Jesus is the only Peace-maker of the righteous and holy God to Sinners The Judg of this World is flaming with Wrath and terrible in Vengeance to Sinners that appear before his Tribunal out of Christ. We shall for ever be excluded from his blessed Communion without the Mediator restore us to his Favour Our Reconciliation only is by Redemption in his Blood The Chastisement of our Peace was upon him He is the Lord our Righteousness by whom alone we can stand in Judgment God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself There is now an Act of Oblivion offer'd in the Gospel to all that come to God by him We have sure Salvation in his Name But we must with consenting Wills close with him as our Lord and Life The first Gospel preach'd by the Angel after his coming into the World declares There was born in the City of David a Saviour Christ the Lord. We must not separate between Christ the Saviour and Christ the Lord between his Salvation and his Dominion God indispensably requires we should resign our selves to his Son as our King and rely upon him as our Priest to atone his Displeasure If we thus receive him he will restore us to the Favour and Peace of God establisht in an everlasting Covenant How tenderly and compassionately does the great God invite Sinners to re-enter into his Favour to acquaint our selves with him and to be at peace His Embassadours in his Name and in Christ's stead beseech them to be reconciled to God But their perverse Spirits would have God reconciled to them that they might be exempt from Punishment but are unwilling to be reconciled to him to part with their Lusts. In short reconciliation with God necessarily infers defiance with Sin Ye that love the Lord hate Evil. If Men do not cease their Rebellion there is no shadow of hope to obtain the Divine Favour Do ye provoke the Lord to Jealousie are you stronger than he Jealousie is the most sensible and severe Affection As 't is with a Town taken by storm all that are found in Arms are without Mercy cut off so all that at Death are found with the weapons of unrighteousness their unrepented unforsaken Sins about them must expect Judgment without Mercy Lastly Let the Children of God be encouraged with Peace and Joy to commend their Souls to him Let rebellious Sinners tremble with deadly Fear upon the brink of Eternity but let the Saints with a lively Hope enter into the Divine World If Men possess their Treasure with Joy and Jealousie and guard it with vigilant Care will not God preserve his dearest Treasure the Souls of his Children committed to his Trust Can Love forsake can Truth deceive can Almighty Power fail Will a Father a heavenly Father be without Bowels to his own Off-spring No he cannot deny himself he is readiest to relieve when they are in distress Old Simeon is a leading Example to Believers after he had embraced Christ in his Armes how earnestly did he desire his Dissolution Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation St. Stephen in the midst of a showr of Stones with a blessed Tranquillity makes his dying Prayer Lord Jesus receive my Spirit If the Fears of humble Souls arise in that hour because they have not the Conspicuous marks of God's Children the Graces of the Spirit in that degree of Eminency as some Saints have had Let them consider there are different Ages among the Children of God some are in a state of Infancy and Infirmity others are more Confirm'd but the relation is the same in all and gives an interest in his promised Mercy The weakness of their Faith cannot frustrate God's faithfulness 'T is the Sincerity not the Strength of Grace that is requisite to Salvation If Faith be shaking as a bruised reed and but kindling as the smoaking flax it shall be victorious O that these powerfull Comforts may encourage dying Christians to commend their Souls with Ardency and Assurance to God their Father and Felicity I have now finisht my Discourse upon the Text and shall apply my self to speak of the other Subject the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter that Excellent Instrument of Divine Grace to recover and restore so many revolted Souls to God out of the Empire of his Enemy or in the Apostles Language to translate them from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son I am sensible that in speaking of him I shall be under a double Disadvantage For those who perfectly knew him will be apt to think my Account of him to be short and defective an imperfect Shadow of his resplendent Vertues others who were unacquainted with his extraordinary Worth will from Ignorance or Envy be inclin'd to think his just Praises to be undue and excessive Indeed if Love could make me eloquent I should use all the most lively and graceful Colours of Language to â—dorn his Memory but this Consideration relieves me in the Consciousness of my Disability that a plain Narrative of what Mr. Baxter was and did will bee a most noble Eulogy and that his substantial Piety no more needs artificial Oratory