Christian account Death among his Gains for it is the Hand of Death that draws the Curtain and lets him in to see God face to face in Heaven that Palace of inestimable Pleasure and Delight where the strongest Beams of Glory shall beat fully upon our Faces and where we shall be made strong enough to bear them Neither doth Death bring any detriment to our Bodies since they shall be new moulded at the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.53 when this Mortal shall put on Immortality and this Corruptible put on Incorruption when these dull Lumps shall become impassible as the Angels subtle as a Ray of Light bright as the Sun nimble as Lightning Who is there that hath hopes of Heaven that would have this Law of Death reversed Who would be confined to live always a wretched Life here on Earth that Sin and Sorrow share between them A holy Soul cannot but long and be impatient in breathing forth Desires after the kind Office of Death to deliver it into so great and incomprehensible a Glory crying out earnestly with the Apostle Phil. 1.21 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Now of what great concernment this Subject of Man's Mortality is Of what concernment the thoughts of Death are God by his Providence since I last spake in this Place hath sadly evinced and by a near Instance hath confirmed what I then Preached unto you of the Frailty and Uncertainty of this present Life Happy were it for us if either Sermons or Examples might awaken us to a serious Consideration that we our selves also must shortly die and it may be as suddenly Are we not all subjected to the same Attack Hath not God's Hands kneaded our Bodies out of the same clay and may not his Fingers crumble them again into the same dust Certainly the Cords of our Tabernacles may be as easily unloosed and cut asunder as theirs I have read of a great Emperour that to engrave upon himself the deeper Apprehensions of his own Frailty and Mortality caused his own Funerals to be solemniz'd while he was yet living laying himself down in his Tomb weeping over himself as his own Mourner If there were any advantage in this to prepare him to die at last really by dying thus first in an Emblem we may almost daily have the same There 's not a Funeral of any of our Relations or Acquaintance that we are called to give our Attendance upon but by serious and solemn Reflections upon our selves we may make it our own and if by beholding others nailed up in their Coffins laid down in their cold Graves covered over with Earth that they may become a Feast for Worms if now we reckon our selves among the number of them we shall not be very much mistaken for this is only but a few days to anticipate what shall shortly be our state and condition This Advantage we our selves may make of the Death of others to look upon it as a resemblance at least of our own What is the Language of every Grave we see open its mouth to receive into it the dead Body of some Neighbour or Acquaintance but only this That we also are mortal and perishing There 's not a broken Skull or a rotten Bone that lies scattered about the Grave but hath Death and Mortality written upon them and call loudly upon us to prepare our selves to take up our Abode in the same darkness and corruption with them and if upon every such sad occasion we do not make a particular Application thereof unto our own selves we not only lose our Friend's Lives but their very Deaths also And yet in this Affair that might be of great advantage to us we are exceeding faulty for the reflections we make on the death of others are usually very impertinent and make no lasting impressions upon us When Death comes and mows down our Acquaintance and Relations round about us the Reflection that we usually make is more upon the Loss that we have sustained by their Death than upon the Example they are thereby made to us of our own Frailty and Mortality and thereby as God by his Providence hath deprived us of the Comfort we had in their Lives so we deprive our selves of the Instruction and Benefit we might have by their Death Or if some extraordinary Circumstance that appears in the Death of others strikes us into serious Thoughts of our own yet usually they are but short-liv'd and fleeting for a while it may be we think of humane frailty and the mutability of our present State but these Thoughts soon wear off and we return to the same Vanity and wretched Security as before for such dying Meditations of Death are usually very unprofitable It is with most men as it is with a Flock of Sheep that graze fearlesly till the Shepherd rusheth in among them and lays hold of one of them for the Slaughter and this presently frights them making them leave their Food and run scattering about the Field but no sooner is the Tumult over but they flock together again and feed as securely without Thoughts of death or danger as before So truly is it with most men when either the report is spread abroad that such or such a person is dead and it may be suddenly by some sudden and unexpected stroke or when they are called to visit some dying Person where they behold departing Pangs distorted Eyes quivering Limbs wan and ghastly Corpse the Image of Death in all its lively terrours if they have any Remainders of natural Tenderness it must needs strike them into Pensiveness to think that one day this must be their own Case and that therefore it behoves them to be in continual preparation for this last and dreadful Change But no sooner is the Dead interr'd and the Grave fill'd up again but all these sage and serious Thoughts vanish and they return to the same excess of Sin and Pleasure as before This is the brutish Folly and Sottishness of most men But Oh why should not men always keep alive vigorous thoughts and meditations of Death Are they not always alike mortal Are they not as much subject to the Arrest of Death at other times as when they see Examples of Mortality before their Eyes The Law stands still in force unrepealed in Heaven That it is appointed unto all Men once to die Indeed it fares with such as these as ordinarily it doth with Malefactors that fear not the Penalty of the Law till they see it executed upon others Let us therefore act rationally as Men and as long as we are in danger be kept by that danger prepared to entertain that which we know is irreversibly appointed unto us But now besides this general Appointment of God That all shall die there is a particular Appointment that reacheth to every particular Circumstance of Man's Death the time when the manner how we shall die These are unalterably determined in God's
Whoremonger or an Adulterer or a Murtherer These Sins make a Man a Scorn and a Reproach to all that pretend to Civility But now there are other Sins that are inward and spiritual Sins that are indeed more sinful though less scandalous such as Vnbelief Hypocrisie Hardness of Heart Slighting and Rejecting of Christ Resisting the Holy Ghost and the like Now herein lies the great mistake of the World in estimating of Sin At the naming of the former we are ready to tremble and so indeed we ought and not only so but we ought to shun and avoid those that are guilty of them as Monsters of Men. But now we have no such abhorrency against the latter if the Life be free from gross Enormities we look upon Vnbelief and Impenitency but as small and trivial sins Now those Sins that we thus slight are incomparably the greatest and the vilest Sins Murther Adultery Blasphemy and the rest of those crying Impieties could not damn the Soul were it not for Vnbelief and Impenitency It is not the Swearer or the Drunkard that perish but it is the Vnbeliever He that believes not is condemned already John 3.18 And so hating of God and a secret scorning and despising of Holiness and the Ways of God these are Sins that do not defile and pollute the outward Man and many doubtless are guilty of them that are of a fair and civil Life and Conversation and yet these are Sins that may out-vie with the most horrid Sins for the hottest and lowest place in Hell We see then what small heed is to be given to the Judgment of the World concerning small Sins Those that the World counts little Sins may be great and heinous in the sight of God for God judgeth not as Man judgeth he is a Spirit and therefore spiritual Sins and Provocations such as Inordinacy in the Thoughts Desires and Affections these are Sins possibly that are more heinous in God's Sight than more carnal and grosser Sins are Damnation for little Sins will be most into lerable damnation Seventhly and lastly Consider this Damnation for little Sins will be most aggravated and most intolerable Damnation Oh will it not be a most cutting Consideration to the Soul in Hell when it shall think here I lie and fry for ever in unquenchable Flames for the gratifying of my self in that which I call'd little Sins Fool that ever I was that I should account any Sin little that would bring to this place of Torment There 's another of my fellow-wretched Sinners between whom and me there was as much difference as there was between me and a true Saint He prophane and daringly wicked I honest and civil and yet for allowing my self in those Sins to which the World encouraged me and called little Sins the same Hell that holds him shall hold me for ever Oh the dreadful Severity of God! Oh wretched Folly and Madness of mine Oh insufferable Torments and Anguish Believe â—t thus will those that are damned for small and little Sins reflect upon their former Lives such will be their dismal Reflections and such will be yours also expect no other if being warned of the great Evil that there is in little Sins you will yet persist in them without Repenâ—ance And thus I have done with the Doctrinal Part of the Text I now come to make some Application of it Vse 1 And the First Use shall be by way of Corollary If so be that little Sins have in them so much danger and guilt as hath been demonstrated to you what shall we then think of great and notorious Impieties If Sands will sink a Man so deep into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone how deep then will their Hell be that are plunged into it with Talents of Lead bound upon their Souls Whilst I have been setting forth the Aggravations of the great Evil that there is in little Sins possibly some prophane Spirit or other may thus argue if little Sins be so dangerous and damning then since it is utterly impossible to keep our selves free from all Sins whatever what need I scruple the greatest Sin more than the least I am stated down under a necessity of sinning and I am told that the rate that every Sin will stand me in is eternal Death the least is not less and the greatest is no more It is but ridiculous Folly for a Malefactor nicely to shun the Dirt and pick out the cleaner â—ath when he is going to Execution â—nd so it is but a Folly for me to go the â—raiter and severer way to Hell and â—herefore since there is no difference beâ—ween Sins in the end but all alike lead â—own to the same Destruction I will put â—o difference between them in my praâ—tice But let such presumptuous Sinâ—ers know First That All Mens sins are not equal as all Mens Sins are not â—ual here so neither shall all Mens Torâ—ents he equal hereafter Some shall be â—aten with fewer others with more â—ripes some shall be chastised with â—hips others with Scorpions The Eâ—rnal Furnace shall be heated seven â—mes hotter for some than for others â—nd for whom is the greater wrath preâ—red but for the greatest Sinners In â—e blackest and hottest place in Hell â—ere is chained the great Devil that â—rch Rebel against God and after him â— ranked whole Clusters of damned â—irits each according to their several â—grees both of Sin and Torment He â—at suffers the least suffers no less than Hell but yet he is in a condition to be envied at by those whose daring and desperate Wickednesses have brought upon them far heavier and sorer vengeance these shall have cause to envy the state of little Sinners even as they do envy the state of glorified Saints in Heaven Do not therefore conclude that because the wages of the least sin is Death therefore the wages of the greatest Sin is no more nor no worse For though in a natural Death there is no being dead a little yet in the spiritual and eternal Death there are degrees As the Civiâ— Man was a Saint here on Earth in comparison of the Lewd and Debauched Sinner so shall he be happy hereafter in comparison of his Torments Let such therefore seriously consider how sad and infinitely wretched their Condition musâ— needs be since that no less than Damnation it self shall be judged a Happiness compared with what they shall suffer and what Wrath they shall lie under to Eternity In committing great sins we avoid not less sins Secondly Consider In the commissioâ— of great Sins you do not avoid the commission of less Sins but only add to thâ— guilt of them and to that Damnation that will follow upon them It is true if a meer Civil Man whose highest Attainments are but some commendable external Vertues if he could change the guilt of all the little Sins that he hath committed in his whole Life for the single guilt of some great and heinous Sin though I pretend
observe these following particulars First Consider this that we and all Mankind were in Adam not only as in our common Parent from whom we received our Being but as in our Common Head Surety and Representative from whom we were to receive either our well or our ill Being he was the Head of the Covenant both he and we were Parties in the Covenant he obeying we obeyed and he sinning we transgressed what he did as in this publick capacity was not alone his Personal Act but it was ours also Now what Right Adam had to Indent for his Posterity and to oblige them to the Terms of the Covenant I have long since opened to you on another occasion and I shall therefore pass it by now Secondly The Threatning annexed to the Covenant of Works was Death In the Day thou Eatest thereof says God thou shalt surely Die Gen. 2.17 Now there is a Threefold Death that by the violation of this Command Man was subject unto A Temporal Death onsisting in the Miseries of this Life and at last a separation of the Soul from the Body An Eternal Death consisting in the everlasting separation of the Soul from God and a Spiritual Death consisting in the loss and separation of God's Image from the Soul And upon Adam's Sin this Threefold Death was Threatned namely Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Of these Three the Spirituaâ— Death was presently inflicted upon Man's Fall consisting in the separation of the Image of God from the Soul Man waâ— immediately deprived of that Holiness and perfect Righteousness wherein the Image of God did consist Then Thirdly Observe No Action can be Holy that doth not flow from the Image of God in the Soul as from its principle Every Action is sinful that hath not the Glory of God for its end now no Action can have the Glory of God for its end that hath not the Image oâ— God for its principle and therefore Man being despoiled of this Image of God there is no Action of any Man in the state of Nature but what is sinful and corrupt And hence it is that in Regeneration God again stamps his Image upon the Soul not indeed so perfectly as at Man's first Creation but yet in such a degree as doth thorough Grace enable him to Act Holily and in some measure according to the will of God Fourthly Though Man be despoiled of the Image of God and cannot Act Holily yet he is a busie and active Creature and must and will be still acting he hath an active Nature and he hath active Faculties still left him though the Image of God that should make those Actions Holy is justly taken from him And here at last we have traced out the true cause of that strong propension that there is in all Men unto Sin While the Soul enjoyed the Image of God it sought especially to do all in reference unto God but now that it hath lost that Image it cannot any longer raise up its Actions to a suitableness to the Will of God and therefore now it sinks them and seeks only to please its own Carnal Desires and Appetite Take the whole resolution of it in Two or Three Words The Nature of the Soul makes it prone and inclined to Act for it is a busie active Creature and if it Acts it must Sin because it hath not the Image of God to raise its Actions to a Holy and Divine conformity to the Will of God and therefore now to be prone to act is to be prone to sin and this is the true ground of that strong Propension that is in all Men to that which is evil and sinful Quest But You will say if this proneness to sin be from the loss of God's Image how comes it to pass that those who are renewed again according to the Image of God do still complain of this strong proneness and propension to sin Answ To this I answer that those of fallen Mankind to whom God is pleased to restore his Image in regeneration accordingly as this Image is more or less perfect so is this proneness to sin more or less strong but because the best are but in part renewed therefore this sinful proneness is but in part destroyed in the best Grace weakens it but Grace doth not quite remove it and therefore the holiest Christian hath and shall have as long as he lives in this World ' cause to complain with the Apostle Romans 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind there is a carnal sensual inclination in him strongly swaying him to sin contrary to the bent and inclination of his renewed part and therefore he shall have cause still to cry out with the Apostle Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death because the Image of God is but in part restored in him therefore there is partly also an inclination in him to sin Yea but you will say possibly this inclination in the best Christians may be to smaller and lesser sins Object but it cannot be thought that a Child of God who is renewed again according to the Image of God should have a strong proneness and inclination to those foul sins that the wicked of the World lie in To this I answer Answ the most that Grace doth in the best of God's Children in this life is to weaken and lessen that natural propension that is in a Child of God to every sin but not to destroy that Propension to any one sin at all no not to the foulest and vilest sins The Old Man in this life never loseth one limb though it be weakned and consuming away in his whole body Take a Child of God that before his Conversion had a strong Propension to any sin suppose what sin you will though never so foul and horrid the same Propension still remains It is not indeed so violent and raging as it was but there it is it is abated and overcome by Grace but still there is the same proneness to sin it may be a Christian is not so sensible of this Propension to sin not so frequently as formerly he hath but yet the experience of the best sometimes can inform them that even to the worst sins and most horrid temptations they find a faction and party in their hearts to promote them and it is as much work as Grace can do to subdue and quell these great sins I now come to enquire into the grounds and reasons why God should suffer this proneness to sin to continue in his dearest Saints and Children after their Conversion and Regeneration possibly some may think it would have been far more conducible to God's glory as well as their own peace and comfort if God had at once at their first Conversion utterly destroyed all the seeds and remainders of corruption in them and at first made them as perfectly holy as they shall be at last hereby God would not have been so
them there we see our own heart unbowell'd and there we can discern what our selves are at the cost of other mens Sins What says the Wise man in Prov. 27 19 As in water face answereth unto face so doth the heart of a man to a man It was the proud Pharisee's boast Lord I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or a this Publican as it is in Luke 18. Yes believe it you and I and all yea the best of us all we are even as others are the vilest Sinners are the truest Glasses to represent to our view what our Hearts are their wickedness gives in a true Inventory of what lies locked up in our Breasts there we have the same Vipers knotting and sprawling within that crawl forth in others Lives there is Rancour and Malice and Hatred and Slaughters and Adulteries and the whole Spawn of all those black Sins that have made Men either infamous in Story or mighty in Torment and that we have not yet out-sinned all the Copies that ever were set us that we have not yet discovered some new unknown wickedness to the World is not because our inclination to Sin or our stock of Corruption fails us but because God's Grace either preventing or renewing fails not Where then is the Christian that hath not cause to go mourning to his Grave can you blame him to see him sad and disconsolate when he hath no less Reason for it than a Heart brim-full of Sin Certainly that Man neither loves God nor his own Soul that can hear that there is in him such a violent propension to injure the one and ruine the other without exclaiming with the Prophet Woe is me for I am undone because I am a Man of an unclean heart and of polluted Lips It is but just yea it is all the reason in the World that while our hearts continue to be fountains of Sin our heads should continue to be fountains of Tears That Proneness that is in God's Children to Sin should make them long for Heaven Thirdly Is there in the best a strong proneness to the worst Sins what cause have we then to long and breath after Heaven For not till then shall we be free from it In-dwelling Sin hath taken a Lease of our Souls and holds them by our own Lives it will be in us to the last gasp and as the Heart is the last that dies so also is that Corruption that lodgeth in it but yet die it must and die it shall And this is the comfort of a Child of God that though he brought Sin with him into the World yet he shall not carry it with him out of the World God hath so wisely ordered and appointed it that as Death came in by Sin so also shall Sin it self be destroyed by Death As Worms when they creep into their holes leave their Slime and their Dirt behind them Why truly so is it with a Christian when he dies he leaves all his Slime all his Filth and Corruption at the mouth of the Grave and his Soul gets free from that Clog and mounts up into the bosom of God and there alone is it that it shall no more strive and struggle against sinful Propensions and Inclinations there shall it be eternally fixed and confirmed not only in Glory but in Holiness also we shall there be out of the reach of Satan's Temptations We read indeed that sometimes the Devil appears before God as an Accuser but we never read that he comes there as a Tempter we shall no more feel the first risings and steamings up of Corruption there no more shall we cast kind glances upon our Sins nor have hovering Thoughts towards them O blessed Necessity when the Soul shall be tied up to one all-satisfying Good when it shall have as natural a proneness and ardour to delight in God as to love it self and to delight in its own happiness And who then would desire to linger any longer here below and to spin out his wretched Life wherein Sin and Sorrow shall have the greatest share here the best of us are in perpetual Combates and Quarrels betwixt Sin and Geace the one will not yield and the other cannot Corruption that compells one way and Grace commands another Haste therefore O Christian out of this Scuffle make haste to Heaven and there the controversie will be for ever decided there shalt thou no more live in fear of new sins nor yet in sorrow for old sins but all sorrow and sighing shall flee away all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and all Sin shall be rooted out of our hearts and we shall be perfectly holy even as the Angels themselves are A Proneness in us to Sin should make us â—â—â—ful to avoid occasions of Sin Lastly Is there such a strong proneness in the best to the worst Sins this then should teach us carefully to avoid all Temptations to Sin and whatever may be an occasion to draw forth that Corruption that lies latent within us Wherefore is it that one Petition of those few that Christ taught his Disciples was that God would not lead them into Temptation but because he knew there is in all of us sinful Natures that do too too well correspond with Temptations And he knew that if we were brought into Temptations it is very seldom that we are brought off from them without Sin Were we as free from inherent Sin as Adam was at first or were we confirmed in Grace as the Saints in Heaven now are we might then repell all Temptations with ease and therefore our Saviour whose Nature was spotless by an extraordinary conception and whose Holiness was secure to him by an unspeakable Union of the Godhead he tells us in John 4.13 The Prince of this World came and found nothing in him The Devil came to tempt him but because he found nothing in him therefore he could fasten nothing upon him no Temptation could enter because there was no Corruption to receive it and therefore when he tempted Christ he only cast fiery darts against an impenetrable Rock a Rock that will beat them back again into his own face but our Corruptions have made us combustible Matter that there is scarce a Dart thrown at us in vain when he tempts us it is but like the casting of Fire into Tinder that presently catcheth our Hearts kindle upon the least Spark that falls like a Vessel that is brim-full of Water upon the least jogg runs over Were we but true to our selves though the Devil might knock by his Temptations yet he could never burst open the everlasting Doors of our Hearts by force or violence but alas we our selves are not all of one heart and one mind Satan hath got a strong party within us that as soon as he knocks opens to him and entertains him and hence is it that many times small Temptations and very petty occasions draw forth great Corruptions as
but God by his Providence so orders it that Merchants pass by that way and to them they sell him There are I believe but few men who if they will examine back their Lives cannot produce many Instances both of the Devil's Policy in fitting them with occasions and opportunities of Sin and of God's Providence causing some emergent Affairs some unexpected Action to interpose and hinder them from those Sins that they purposed Providence prevents Sin by removing the Object Lastly God sometimes keeps men from Sin by removing the Object against which they intended to commit it Thus when Herod intended to put Peter to death the next morning that very night God sends an Angel and makes his escape and so prevents that Sin and so truly in all Aâ—es God hides away his Children from the fury of ungodly men There are doubtless many other various and mysterious Providences whereby God hinders the Sins of Men but these are the most common and most remarkable ways by shortning their Lives by lessening their Power by raising up another Power to oppose them by diverting another way and by removing the Objects of their Sins The next Thing is to shew you how God hinders the commission of Sin in a way of Grace but I shall leave this till another time and make some Application of what hath now been spoken And First then See here the sad and woful Estate of wicked men whom Grace doth not change but only Providence restrain A mere restraint from Sin when the Heart continues fully set and bent upon it must needs cause torment and vexation their own Corruptions urge them forward but God's Providence that meets them and crosses them at every turn and that disappointment that they meet with when they fully resolve upon Sin causes great vexation of Spirit as God will torment them hereafter for their Sins so he torments them here by keeping them from their Sins All the wicked in the world are strangely hampered by God's Providence as so many Bulls in a Net that though they struggle yet they cannot possibly break through and by their strugling they only vex and weary themselves God doth as it were give up the hearts of wicked men to the Devil only he ties their hands let them intend and imagine as much Evil and Mischief as they can yea as much as Hell can inspire into them yet none of these shall execute any of it otherwise than as God permits them Now if there be any real pleasure in Sin it is in the execution of it that which men take in plotting and contriving of it is merely the delight of a Dream and Fancy and herein lies the exceeding wretchedness of wicked men that though Providence almightily hinders them in the execution of Sin yet Justice will justly punish their intention and plotting of it Secondly This should teach us to adore and magnnfie this Sin-preventing Providence of God Our Lives our Estates yea whatever is dear precious to us hitherto have been secured to us only by his powerful hand which hath curb'd in the unruly Lusts of men and kept them from breaking forth into violence and blood and rapine Should God slack the Reins should he throw them upon the necks of ungodly men how would Uproars and Confusions Murders and Slaughters overspread the face of the whole Earth and make the World a Hell above ground Redemption and Providence are two wonderful Works of God by the one he pardons Sin that is committed and by the other he prevents Sin lest it be committed both of them are Contrivances of infinite Wisdom and both of them are unsearchable and past finding out and therefore we ought to ascribe the Glory of both unto God that hath laid both the Design of Redemption and of Providence for Man's Good and for Man's Salvation Thirdly If at any time we can recall to mind as indeed who is there that cannot that God hath thus by his Providence prevented us from the commission of Sin how should this oblige us thankfully to own this Mercy of God to us May not all of us say had not God taken away our power had he not taken away the Objects of our Lusts had he not diverted us some other way we had now been deeply engaged in those Sins that the merciful Providence of God hath diverted us from He it was that hedged up the broad way with Thorns that so he might turn us into the narrow way that leads unto eternal Life and Happiness Fourthly Hath God's Providence so many Ways and Methods to hinder the Commission of Sin why then we may be assured that he will never permit it but when it shall redound to his own Praise and Glory It is an excellent Saying of S. Austin He that is most good will never suffer evil unless he were also most wise whereby he is able to bring good out of evil And therefore when we see wicked men let alone to accomplish their hellish designs we may then quiet our selves with this God knows how to make his own advantage out of their wickedness he knows how from such Dung and Filth to reap a most fruitful Crop of Glory to himself The Rage of Man says the Psalmist thou wilt restrain and the residue thereof shall turn to thy praise that wickedness which God doth not restrain he will make redound to his own Praise and Glory Fourthly and lastly This may establish our hearts in peace when we see the wickedness of Men most raging and violent why they cannot sin unless God gives them a power as Christ told Pilate Thou hast no power over me in John 19.10 except it be given thee from above And certainly that God that gives them a power to sin still keeps a power in his own hands to limit them in their Sins and when their Lusts are most unruly he can say to them hitherto shall ye go and here shall your proud Waves be stayed He stints them and bounds them and he also can totally restrain them when he pleaseth and when it shall be most for his own Praise and Glory Now as God doth thus keep Men back from the commission of Presumptuous Sins by a strong hand of Providence So sometimes he doth by his Grace and this Grace is either meerly restraining or else it is sanctifying and renewing both of them are of very great force and efficacy by the one he holds Men back from Sin and by the other he turns them against Sin You have doubtless heard much concerning Sanctifying and Restraining Grace but yet that your Notions and Apprehensions of them may be more clear and distinct I shall give you the difference that there is betwixt these two in several particulars How restraining renewing Grace do differ they differ in their Subject they differ in their Essence and in their manner of Operation First In their Subject They differ in respect of their subject Restraining Grace is but common and it
serious and pensive to think this is but the Pattern of what must befall themselves and that all this must shortly be acted upon them that they now see done unto others But since this Day presents us with no such Solemnity some perhaps may wonder that I have chosen this Text and Subject of Mortality to treat upon Indeed Custom hath made it almost improper to preach of Death without a Funeral and to speak to Men of their last End and Dissolution without setting before their Eyes an Example of it Look well therefore one upon another what are we all as it were but so many Corpses so many Spectacles of Mortality rather to be numbred among the Dead than among the Living every Day and Hour wears away part of our Lives and so much of them as is already spent so far are we already dead and buried This present moment is the longest measure of our Lives what is past is dead to us and what is to come is not yet born how soon God may put a final Period to our present state how few times more our Pulses may beat and this busie Breath in our Nostrils return to us again we know not so frail and so uncertain are our Lives that this may be truly a Funeral Sermon to some one of us before the close of it Since then we are all of us thus subject to the stroke of Death it can never be unseasonable to warn you that you be not surprized and taken by it unprovided In the Words now read you have the great Statute-Law of Heaven that Law that God hath passed upon all the Chil-of Men and that is That it is appointed to them once to die Now that I may make way to press upon you the serious consideration of your own Mortality let me briefly mark out some things that tend to the Explication of the Words And First In that the Proposition is laid down in the Text indefinitely It is appointed unto men it is that which is equivalent to an Universal and reacheth to all men It is appointed to all men once to die We read of two only in the whole Book of God that were exempted by an extraordinary Grace and peculiar Priviledge from this great Law of Dying and they were Enoch and Elias Of Enoch it is said Gen. 5.24 That he walked with God and he was not for God took him And of Elias it is said 2 Kin 2.11 That he went up by a Whirlwind into Heaven The great God after a strange and unusual manner tackt their temporal and eternal Life together making their Time run it self into Eternity without any period or interruption The Apostle also tells us 1 Cor. 15.51 52. That all shall not die to wit at the last Day at the last appearing of Jesus Christ there shall be a World full of Persons that shall not taste of Death All shall not die but all shall be changed in a moment in the twinckling of an Eye These are exempted and being excepted it is certain all the Generations of Men from the first Creation to the last Consummation of all things are all appointed by God unto Death Secondly All must die once All must die once but Believers do not die the second Death There is frequent mention made in Scripture of the first and second Death The first Death is the separation of the Soul from the Body The second Death is the separation of the Soul from God As the Union of the Soul and Body is the Life of Man so the Union of God with the Soul is the Life of the Soul Now Believers do not die this second Death Rev. 20.8 for on such as the Apostle speaks the second Death hath no power They are still united unto God after an unconceivable and ineffable manner As when Christ lay in the Grave though his Soul was truly separated from his Body yet both Soul and Body were hypostatically united to the Godhead so also though the natural Union between a Believer's Soul and Body be dissolved by Death yet both Soul and Body continue mystically united unto Christ even in their separation one from another It is not therefore this second but the first Death that all are appointed unto The Hand of Death must untie those secret and sweet Bands those vital Knots that fasten Soul and Body together must fall asunder one day in every Man All Men must die because Death is the punishment of Sin Thirdly It is appointed unto every Man to undergo this first Death It is decreed and ordained by God and that not upon the Account of any natural Necessity but for the Punishment of Sin The Apostle tells us plainly That by Sin Death entred into the World Death therefore is not so much a Debt due to Nature as a Debt due to the avenging Justice of God for though Man at first was created in pure Nature yet was he also created in a deathless State and Death siezeth upon us not as we are Men but as we are Sinners liable to the Curse of the Covenant of Works containing in it that Threatning In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die It is true Adam even before he sinned had in him the contemperation of the same contrary Qualities that we now have and so at least had also the remote Principles of Death but yet it is probable that he was created with such a Priviledge that he might by his own Will sway and over-rule the Jars and Discords of his elementary constitution and continue himself in Life as long as he should continue himself in Obedience however whether it was so or otherwise yet certain it is that Death came into the World as the punishment of Sin So then it is not primarily Man's Nature but Man's Sin and the Curse of the Law taking hold of him that brought in this necessity of dying Sin is not only the Sting but the Cause of Death and it gives it not only its Terrour but it s very Being also And therefore it is somewhat remarkable that among all the Creatures in the World Man only is termed Mortal most certain it is that other Creatures decay and perish as well as he yet among all perishing things Man only hath that wretched denomination of being Mortal and there is good reason for it since he alone of all perishing things being created immortal voluntarily subjected himself unto Death and by his own Fault brought upon himself that Name of Mortal as a Brand of perpetual Infamy And thus now I come to the Subject that I intend to insist upon and that is The Unavoidableness and Certainty of Death To go about to prove this were to lose so much time every one grants he must die All other Questions about Man are answered by Peradventures If it be demanded Whether such an Embryo shall see the Light What 's the Answer but perhaps it shall perhaps it shall not If it be
born and it be asked Whether it shall live and grow up to Age Why perhaps so perhaps otherwise If it grow up to Age and Enquiry be made Shall it be rich or shall it be poor honourable or despised learned or ignorant What 's the Answer Only perhaps it shall perhaps not But if it be asked Whether it shall die The Answer now is Yes it is certain without any Peradventure there is no doubt at all of this It is appointed by God for Men once to die And therefore though Physicians have written Books of preserving of Health yet never any wrote Books of avoiding of Death We need no other proof of Man's Mortality but only to search into the Records of the Grave there lie Rich and Poor Strong and Weak Wise and Foolish Holy and Prophane the Rubbish of ten thousand Generations heaped one upon another and this Truth that all must die written indelibly in their Dust That therefore that I shall do shall be in an Applicatory Way to make some Reflections upon the brutish Stupidity of Men who though they know themselves Mortal yet thrust from themselves the Thoughts of Death and neglect due Preparations for it Men live in the World as if they were arbitrary of their own Time as if they should never die and come to Judgment Oh the beastly Sottishness of Men who though they see Multitudes cut down daily by the hand of Death round about them yet they live carelesly and presumptuously as if they were priviledged Persons and Death durst not touch them Should we make Enquiry into the Causes of this gross Stupidity and Sottishness perhaps we should find it to proceed from some of these following Reasons why men put off the thoughts of Death Because they are drown'd in the affairs of the World First The generality of men are so immers'd and drowned in the Affairs and pleasures of Life that all serious thoughts of Death and preparations for it are swallowed up and devoured by them Their minds are taken up about other things and their time spent upon other matters like an heap of Ants that busily toil to gather in their Provision not regarding the foot that is ready to tread upon them so is it with most men they are taken up with impertinencies and vain things One contrives how he may melt away his days in Luxury and Pleasure and with variety of invented Delights imp the wings of time that in their apprehensions makes but slow hast that so their days and hours may roll away the faster these are such Prodigals of their time and lavish it away at that rate as if their stock would last as long as Eternity it self Some are busily climbing up the sleep ascent of Honour and Dignity and are so taken up in seeking after promotions and new Titles that they forget their old stile of mortal creatures Others are plotting with the Fool in the Gospel how they may grow rich and lay up goods for themselves for many years as they fansie when yet they know not but God may take away their Souls from them this very night and what then remains to them of all that they have thus greedily scraped together O vain and foolish men are these the things you set your hearts upon must the World drink up all your thoughts and Death that shortly will snatch you from all your enjoyments here below be forgotten by you Secondly Men put off their preparation for Death because they look upon it as a far off Men put off the thoughts of Death and their preparations for it because they generally look upon it as a far off This is the greatest sottishness in the World and yet most men are too guilty of it Those that are young and in the prime of their Days if it be askt them what they think of Death they will readily Answer that they think they ought of right and course to live till they are aged And they that are aged will tell you their weaknesses and decays are not so many or so great but they may well weather away a few more years Those that are healthful and strong think surely they need not prepare for dying till God by some sickness sends them a summons and those whom God is pleased to vouchsafe a summons by Sickness and Distempers alas they think that it is yet possible for them to escape from them again And thus all are ready to thrust Death from them and to put the Evil Day a far off And though God hath told out to them but a few days or hours yet they liberally and bountifully reckon upon Years and Ages as if their time were not in God's hands but their own It is a true saying that usually the hopes of a long Life is the Cause of an Evil Life Suppose now that every one of us knew for a certainty that our lives must run out with the Glass that is before us that at the end of the hour God would strike us all dead upon the place should we not all of us have more lively apprehensions of Death and Eternity than ever yet we have had should we not pour out our Souls before God requires them from us in holy Affections and fervent Prayers should we give scope to the gaddings of our Thoughts and the vanity of our Hearts should we think of such a vain Pleasure or such a worldly Employment if God now from Heaven should speak audibly to us and bid us give an account of our Stewardship for we must be no longer Stewards no certainly it is impossible that men should thus behave themselves And why Sirs is it not so with you always for ought you know that Film and Bubble that holds your Lives may be now a breaking your Graves may be ready to be digging and the last Sand in your Glass may be now a running however certain it is it cannot be long before it will be so with all of us Did we but seriously consider by what small pins this frame of Man is tacked together it would appear to us to be no less than a Miracle that we live one day yea one hour to an end Thirdly The thoughts of Death being terible makes men put off their preparation for it Men generally put off the thoughts of Death and their preparation for it because of those frightful terrors and that insupportable dread that such apprehensions bring with them Death is that which above all things Humane Nature most abhors Oh! to think of the separation of those near and dear companions the Soul and Body of the debasement dishonour and horrour of the Grave that there we must lie in a Bed of stench and rottenness under a coverlet of Worms crawling upon us consuming and mouldring away to dust in oblivion and forgetfulness Oh! these are too sad and Melancholy Thoughts for the Jovial World to entertain and dwell upon But though the consideration of these things are very unwelcome yea
very dismal unto the minds of sinners yet is there far worse behind then all this still and that which carries in it far greater terrour and amazement and that is the sin that deserves Death and the Hell that follows it for as the Apostle says 1 Cor. 15.56 the sting of Death is sin And it s no wonder that Men who are conscious to themselves of condemning guilt dare not think of standing before the dreadful Tribunal of God and Death now is God's Serjeant to Arrest them and to bring them thither they cannot bear the thoughts of Eternal Vengeance and prepared Torments to be for ever inflicted on them by the Almighty Power of an incensed God and therefore it is no wonder that they put far from them the thoughts of Death because their Consciences tell them that that Day whensoever it comes will be to them an Evil Day Many more Reasons might be given of this brutishness of men in putting off the thoughts of Death and preparations for it but these shall suffice The next thing that I shall do shall be to lay down some Considerations that may fore-arm Christians against the Fears and Terrours of Death Considerations to arm men against the fears of Death and make them willing to submit unto this law of Dying unto which God hath subjected all men And First The soul is immortal and parting with this it enters into a better life If the Soul be immortal as certainly it is and that parting from this it enters upon a better Life than this we may well then be contented to Die upon that account No man says a Roman Author thinks Death is much to be avoided since Immortality follows Death I am very sensible how hard a task it is to perswade men to be willing to Die but yet let me ask you if you are believers for in this I speak only unto such what is there in Death that is so terrible to you I know it is monstrous and full of horrour if we consider nothing but the Corruption of the Flesh the gastly paleness the stiff cold and grim visage the distorted Eyes and trembling Limbs of Dying Persons And afterwards think of the stench and filthiness of the Grave and lastly the dissipation of the visible part of Man All these Considerations make Death very terrible and full of horrour to us But now he that shall consider after all this his spiritual invisible part what can he see in Death that is not very desirable to him the Body rests from its labours and the Soul enjoys its reward in Heaven If you are hereby taken away from conversing with men yet the Soul is elevated to an acquaintance with Angels that is still alive in its own Nature the Soul lives for ever being placed above the common Arrests of Death We find to this purpose after that God had tryed the patience of Job by the loss of all his substance and afterwards of all his Children also he restores to him double whatever he had taken from him Job 42. â—0 so we read in the Holy Story the Lord gave unto Job twice as much as he had before Now whereas at first Job had three thousand Camels God restores to him six thousand whereas before he had seven thousand Sheep God restores to him fourteen thousand and so of all the rest double the number of what he lost But when God comes to recompence to him the loss of his Children which doubtless were of far greater value than all the rest whereas he had seven Sons and three Daughters God restores to him the same number again not double in these as he did in all the rest And wherefore did God double his Camels his Sheep and his Oxen and not his Children why the Reason was because his Children were not so dead as were his Camels and the rest of his brute Creatures their Souls remain'd Immortal and Entire still after Death So that God in giving Job seven Sons and three Daughters did double them notwithstanding though he gave him no more than he had at first So here though we Die yet Death doth us no injury our better part survives and if we are Believers it survives in such unconceivable Joys as that all the pleasures of the World are but Misery and Wretchedness compared to them A Christian's Hope cannot be accomplished but by dying Secondly The whole Life of a Christian is founded upon a Hope that cannot be accomplished but by dying And if so that Mans Mistake must needs be inexcusable who abhors that which alone can bring him to the possession of his Hopes and Desires Christians what is it that you hope for Is it not to arrive at Glory with an innumerable Host of Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to see God and to rejoyce in him at a nearer hand than you now do here below to be for ever blessed in the close Embraces of the sovereign Good And what other way is there of obtaining this but only by dying Death is now made to us an In-let to Glory the very Gate to Heaven It is therefore unreasonable to fear that which is the only way to obtain that we hope for Death is a quiet sleep Thirdly This Death though so much dreaded is no other than a quiet Sleep So the Scripture often represents it to us under the Notion of Sleep Them that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him Sleep is the natural resemblance of Death Sleep and Death are very near a-kin When we are asleep we see not we hear not all our Senses are lock'd up from the enjoyment of any worldly Delights we take no comfort in our Friends in our Riches or Estates all these are cancell'd out of our Minds and what more doth Death do than cancel these things out of Men's Memories And yet the weary Labourer lays himself down with contentment to take his Sleep until the Morning and why may not we also lay down our selves with the same peace and contentment in our Graves to take our Rest and Sleep until the Morning of the Resurrection Indeed the Sleep of Death is different from natural Sleep since that deprives us of natural Light but this Sleep of Death brings us to the vision of true inaccessible Light What then is there in death that we should stand in dread of it Why should that be feared by those for whom the sting of it is already taken out Such may safely take this Serpent into their bosoms for though it hiss at them yet it cannot wound or hurt them nay instead of wounding them it is reconciled to them and become one of their party The Apostle therefore reckoning up the Inventory of a Christian reckons this among them 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Life or Death all is yours And in another place he tells us Phil. 1.21 That to him to live was Christ and to die was Gain And well may a
secret Counsel To speak a little briefly to this God appoints the time of Man's life Dan. 5.23 First God hath punctually and exactly determined the time of our Death to a very moment The great God in whose hands our Lives our Breath and all our Ways are he turns up our Glass and puts such a measure of Sand into it and no more it is he that prefixes it to run to such a length of Time and then determines it shall run no longer It is he who is Lord of all Time that writes our Names upon so many Days and Hours as we shall live as upon so many Leaves of his Book and it is impossible for us to live one Day or Hour that hath not our Name written upon it by him from all Eternity It is God that sets every one the Bounds of their living as well as the Bounds of their habitations Acts 17.26 beyond which they shall not be able to pass The Embryo that dies before ever it sees the Light fills up its appointed time by God as well as he that lives to decrepit old Age. And therefore though the Scripture and we use to say Such or such an one is taken away in the midst of his days yet simply in it self considered that is impossible the whole Tale of days that God hath appointed to every one must be fulfilled and that to a very moment according as the number of them is set down by God from all eternity Such Expressions as these denote no more than either that God cuts them off in the full strength and vigour of their years when yet they might according to the course of Nature and humane probability have lived longer or else comparing the shortness of their Lives with the length of others God seems to break it off in the very midst before he had finished his Work I shall not enter into a Dispute whether the Term of Life be fixed or moveable Methinks Job hath fully stated and determined the Question Job 7.1 Is there not says he an appointed time to Man upon Earth Are not his days also like the days of an Hireling Now an Hireling hath a time of Service prefixed which when it is expired he is discharged from his Labour God hath sent all Men into the World as so many Hirelings and as soon as these days are expired he takes them from their labour to their reward Are not my days as the days of an Hireling So Job speaks also in another Chapter concerning Man His days are determined Job 14.5 the number of his Months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass What can be more punctual and particular It is true however that though God hath thus numbred out our days and set us our bounds yet we may well say That whoever dies might have lived longer had they made use of the right Means As Martha said unto our Saviour Luke 11.21 Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died So may we say If such and such Means had been used and such Remedies applied this or that Person had not died but withal we must observe also that that God who hath prefixed to every one his Term of Life hath also ordained in his own Counsel and Purpose that those Means that are proper to prolong Life beyond that Term should through some unavoidable mistake or mishap either not be known or not used This therefore may be of great support unto us as against all inordinate Fears of our own Death so against all inordinate grief and sorrow for the Death of others to consider that all our Times are in God's hands he measures out every day to us and as he hath appointed bounds to us beyond which we shall not pass so also hath he appointed that we shall certainly reach unto those bounds His all wise Providence disposeth of the meanest and smallest Concernments of our Lives and therefore much more of our Lives themselves and if a Hair of our Heads cannot much less shall not we our selves fall to the ground without our Heavenly Father Secondly As God hath appointed the exact critical Hour so also the particular Manner of our Death It is he that appoints whether it shall be sudden or foreseen by Diseases or by Casualty whether the Thred of our Life shall be snapt in pieces by some unexpected Accident or worn and fretted away by some tedious and lingring Consumption or burnt asunder by some fiery Fever In whatever manner or shape Death may appear to us is a Secret known only unto God but this we know that it is always his Serjeant and wears his Livery and all the Circumstances of our Death are of God's appointment as well as our Death it self And in whatever shape it shall appear to us if we diligently endeavour by a holy Life to prepare our selves for it it shall not be frightful or terrible to us Now to make some Practical Improvement of this And Vse 1 First If God thus unalterably appoints to us our last period if he hath thus appointed us to Die if all men are concluded under that irrevocable Law let this then serve to convince us of the gross and notorious folly of setting our Affections eagerly upon this present World a World that we must shortly leave behind us Death within a very little while will most certainly pluck us from it and it will prove a violent rending to us if our Affections are inordinately set upon any thing here below It was a strange and perverse use also that the Ancient Heathens made of the necessity of dying when in their Feasts their custom was to bring in the resemblance of an Anatomy to their Guests thereby to excite them to Mirth and Voluptuousness whilst they should relish such delights as were then before them because shortly they must be as much dust and bones as what they saw 1 Cor. 15.32 Like those the Apostle makes mention of who said let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die But how much better use doth the same Apostle teach us to make of this when in the same Epistle he tells us but this I say Brethren the time is short Why what then why says he it remains therefore that they that have Wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away Death one would think should beat down the price of the World in every wise man's esteem Why should we lay out our affections upon those things from which we may be ravisht in a moment Both they and we perish in the using of them they are dying comforts and we must die also that enjoy them Oh! what Folly then is it to toil and wear away our
Lives in pursuing such vain things from which we may be snatcht before we can cast another look at them Sowre Death will soon convince us that all is but vanity and vexation of spirit that we here set our eyes and hearts upon And therefore Vse 2 Secondly Seeing by the appointment of God we must all shortly die let us be perswaded to be always in a readiness and preparation for it Our Souls are Immortal and must live for ever and when our Bodies die and fall into the Dust they immediately enter into an Estate that is for ever unalterable Directions to prepare for Death Now here I shall only lay down a few directions and so conclude First Wean your Hearts from an inordinate love of the World Get hearts weaned from the World Death must and will pluck you from it and oh it will be a violent rending if your affections be glewed to it Consider that all things in this present World are fading and perishing but your precious Souls are ever living and Immortal be not therefore unequally yoaked joyn not your ever-living Souls to dying comforts This is a tyranny worse than that which was Exercised by those of old who tied living Bodies to dead Carkasses Oh! what a sad parting hour will it be to thee when thou shalt go into another World and leave behind thee all that thou countest good in this how wilt thou protract and linger and wishly look back again upon all those precious vanities and dear nothings and follies that here thou placedst thy happiness and contentment in But now when the heart sets loose from all these things with what satisfaction shall we be able to Die accounting what we lose by Death to be no great matter because what we gain thereby will be infinitely more to our advantage Secondly Repentance must not be deferred upon hopes of long Life Would you be prepared for Death beware then that you do not defer your Repentance one day or hour longer upon any presumption of the continuance of your Life Death depends not upon the warning of a sickness God doth not always afford it but sometimes he doth execution before he Shoots off his warning Piece why may it not be so with you however it is possible your sickness may be such as may render you uncapable of doing your last good Office for your Soul But if it should be otherwise yet this I am sure of it is the unfittest time in all your Life to be then casting up your Accounts when you should be giving of them up to have your Evidences for Heaven then to clear up to your Souls when you should produce and shew them for your support and comfort Live every day as if it were your last Thirdly Live every day so as if every day were your last and dying day and the very next day allotted to you unto Eternity if it be not so it is more than any of us know and since we have no assurance of one day or hour longer it is but Reason and Wisdom to look upon every day as that which may prove our very last Be constant in the exercise of a holy life Fourthly Be constant in the Exercise of a Holy Life and always doing of that that you would be content Christ should find you doing when he comes to Summon you before his Bar. Think with thy self if thou wer 't now upon thy sick Bed and hadst received the Sentence of Death and sawest thy Friends stand mourning round about thee but cannot help thee what would be thy thoughts and thy discourse then Why let the same thoughts and the same discourse fill up every day and hour of thy Life for thou knowest not whether now this moment thou art not as near Death as if thy Friends and Relations yea and thy Physicians also dispaired of thy Life and had given thee over for Dead Fifthly and Lastly Get an assurance of a better Life Labour to get an assurance of a better Life and this will prepare you for a temporal Death When you and all things in the World must take leave of one another and part forever than to have the sense of the Love of God of an interest in Jesus Christ and the sight and view of your own Graces these will bear up your Heart in a dying hour these things are Immortal as your Souls are and will enter into Heaven with you and abide there with you to Eternity O whom will it not comfort to think that Death will change his Bottle into a Spring though here our Water sometimes fails us yet in Heaven whither we are going we shall bath our selves in an infinite Ocean of Delights lying at the breasts of an infinite Fountain of Life and Sweetness Whoever hath such an assurance as this is cannot but welcome Death embracing it not only with contentment but with Delight And while the Soul is strugling and striving to unclasp it self and to get loose from the Body it cannot but say with Holy Longings and Pantings Come Lord Jesus come quickly THE GREAT EVIL and DANGER OF Little Sins IN FOUR SERMONS ON St. MATTH V. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break any one of these least Cammandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven By EZEKIEL HOPKINS late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed by E. H. for NATHANAEL RANEW at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. THE GREAT EVIL and DANGER OF LITTLE SINS FROM St. MATTH V. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break any one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven AMongst those many Points that our Saviour handles in this his Sermon on the Mount An Introduction one is the Stability and Permanency of the Moral Law the Obligation of which he affirms to be as perpetual as Heaven and Earth Verse 18. Verily verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled This Assertion Christ lays down in opposition to the common and corrupt Doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees the Jewish Teachers who by their Traditions sought to make void the Law of God Now says Christ unless they can remove the Earth and rowl up the Heavens and carry the World without the World it is but a vain Attempt for it is decreed in Heaven That till Heaven and Earth pass not a tittle of the Law shall fail but all shall be fulfilled As it is in this lower World notwithstanding it is maintained by a continual flux and vicissitude by the perpetual change of one being into another one corrupting and another rising up in a new form and shape out of its Ruines and yet not the least dust of Matter is or can be consumed but the same Matter and the same Quantity still continues which were at first created
not to know the size or quantity of wrath that every Sin deserves yet possibly his eternal punishment might be hereby somewhat diminished But this is the Misery of great and presumptuous Sinners that they stand guilty of as many little sins as they do that perish under the guilt of no other but little sins Where do you see a Person that is given up to vile Abominations but he lives also in a constant course and practice of lesser Sins The Drunkard the unclean Person and the rest of them are they not always sinful in their Thoughts frothy and vain in their Discourses And is it nothing to you that you incur Damnation by little Sins unless you can advance your own destruction unless you can promote your selves to be next of all in torments to the Devil himself by your greater Provocations and Impieties As you see in Rivers the natural course of them tends to the Sea but the Tide joyning with them makes the Current run thâ— swifter and the more forcibly so is it witâ— Sin little sins are the natural stream oâ— a Man's Life that do of themselves tenâ— Hell-ward and are of themselves enough to carry the Soul down silently and calmly to destruction but wheâ— greater and grosser sins join with them they make a violent Tide that hurrie the Soul away with a more swift anâ— rampant motion down to Hell thaâ— little sins would or could do of themselves Therefore when you hear hoâ— much evil there is in little sins presume not to think there is nothing more in great sins yes certainly God is more provoked by them your own Consciences are more wounded by them Hell iâ— more inflamed by them and your own Souls are more widened and capacitated by these great sins to receive fuller and larger Vials of God's wrath than they would be by the commission of lesser sins only We may take an estimate in what proportion God's dealings with Sinners will be when he comes to punish them by observing how he deals with them when he comes to convince and humble them the sober Sinner feels no such Pangs and Throes usually in the New Birth but God deals with him in a more mitigated and gentle manner but when at any time he humbles a notorious blustering Sinner usually his Method is even to break his Bones and scorch up his Marrow and that he may save him from a Hell hereafter he creates a very Hell in his Conscience here Now as it is usually thus â—n Conviction so is it always thus in Condemnation of which Convictions are but as it were the Type and Resemblance When God comes to execute his Wrath and Vengeance upon Sinners for their Sins his Hand shall be very heavy and sore upon Civilized Sinners Oh but the bold daring presumptuous Sinner him he will press down and break in pieces with all his might He that suffers the least shall yet lie under intolerable Wrath but where then unless in the flaming depth of the Bottom of Hell will the infamous and prophane Sinner appear Vse 2 Secondly Another use we may make of this Doctrine is this Is there so great an Evil and Danger in little Sins Then here behold a woful Ship-wrack of all the Hopes and of all the Confidences of Formalists and Self-Justitiaries that hope to appear before God upon the account of their own Innocency and Harmlesness Hence learn that a quiet civil honest Life free from gross and scandalous Impieties is no good Plea or Title for Heaven yet truly this is that alone that the generality especially of the Ignorant relie upon their Lives are harmless their Dealings upright none can justly challenge them that they have done them any wrong were they presently to appear before God's Judgment-seat they know nothing by themselves that deserves Eternal Death therefore if God save any Persons in the World sure they are in the number of them But is it so indeed What do you know nothing by your selves Had you never so much as a Thought in you that stept awry Did you never lodge a Thought in you that had in it the least Vanity Impertinency or Frivolousness Have you never uttered a Word that did so much as lispe against the Holy Law of God Will you dare to tell God you never yet flid an Action that Innocency it self would be ashamed to own Have your Lives in every part been as strict and holy as the Law of God commands them to be if not it is in vain to plead for Heaven that your Conversations have been honest civil and harmless or that you have been Religious and maintained a constant Course of holy Duties and good Works I would not here be mistaken by any as if I were preaching against Morality or condemning Civility and common Honesty No by no means they are excellent things and the practice of them very commendable and I heartily wish there were more of them to be found in the Lives of those that call themselves Christians But if this be all you can say for your selves believe it the guilt but of one of your least Sins will out-weigh all these and you and all this your Righteousness must sink down together into Hell If this be all Men have to plead for Happiness a civil fair and honest Conversation This may be and yet Men may indulge themselves in little Sins which will most certainly ruine and destroy them Vse 3 Thirdly If there be so great evil and danger in little Sins hence learn whaâ— absolute need we stand in of Christ noâ— only those among us whose Lives anâ— openly gross and scandalous but eveâ— those who are most circumspect and most careful in their Walkings Though you do not wallow and roll your selve in the common Filth and Pollutions oâ— the World yet is it not possible but thaâ— our Garments should be sometimes spotted An absolute and perfect State is rather to be wished for than enjoy'd in this Life The utmost that we can attain to here is not to commit great Sins nor to allow our selves in little Sins when thorough daily Infirmity we do commit them Why now these little Sins that the best of God's Servants daily and hourly slip into cannot be pardon'd without the Blood of a great and mighty Saviour It is the same precious Blood of Jesus Christ that satisfied Divine Justice for the Incest of Lot for the Drunkenness of Noah for the Adultery and Murder of David and for the Perjury of Peter that must satisfie it also for thy vain Thoughts and for thy Foolish and idle Words if ever thou art saved For without Blood there is no remission Heb. 9.22 Heb 9.22 Acts 26.18 And without remission there is no salvation Acts 26.18 The same Blood that is a Propitiation and Atonement for the greatest Sins of the Saints now in Heaven many whereof possibly have been as great as ever were committed on Earth the same Blood of Atonement must take from thee the Guilt
much less therefore can we do any thing that may deserve it All that we can do is either sinful or holy if what we do be sinful it only encreaseth our Debts If it be holy it must proceed from God's free Grace that enables us to do it and certainly it is free Grace to pardon us upon the doing of that which free Grace only enables us to do Far be it from us to affirm as the Papists do that good Works are meritorious of pardon what are our Prayers our Sighs our Tears yea what are our Lives and our Bloud it self should we shed it for Christ All this cannot make one blot in God's Remembrance-Book Yea it were fitter and more becoming the infinite Bounty of God to give Pardon and Heaven freely than to set them to sale for such inconsiderable things as these are Heaven needed not to have been so needlesly prodigal and lavishing as to have sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the World to lead a miserable Life and die a cursed Death had it been possible for Man to have bought off his own guilt and to have quitted Scores with God by a lower price than what Christ himself could do or suffer And so much for the Resolution of the first Question God's pardoning Grace though it be purchased in respect of Christ yet is it absolutely free in respect of any merit of ours The Second Question is Whether the Grace of God be so free as to require no Conditions on our part Of gifts some are bestowed absolutely without any terms of Agreement And some are Conditional upon the performance of such Stipulations and Conditions without which they shall not be bestowed of which sort is this Grace of God Sanctifying Grace is given absolutely I Answer First The Sanctifying and Regenerating Grace of God whereby the great Change is wrought upon our Hearts in our first Conversion and turning unto God is given absolutely and depends not upon the performance of any Conditions Indeed we are commanded to make use of means for the getting true and saving Grace wrought in us but these means are not Conditions for the obtaining of that Grace For the Nature of Conditions are such that the benefits which depend upon them are never bestowed but where the Conditions are first performed And therefore we call Faith and Repentance Conditions of Eternal Life because eternal Life is never confer'd upon any who did not first believe and repent But now certain it is God hath converted some without the use of ordinary means as St. Paul and the Thief on the Cross Therefore though we are commanded to use the means yet the use of Means and Ordinances cannot be called Conditions of our Regeneration And indeed if any thing could be supposed a Condition of obtaining Grace it must either be a work of Nature or a work of Grace Now a work of Grace it cannot be till Grace be wrought and to go about to make a work of Nature a Condition of Grace it is to go about to revive that old Errour of the Pelagians for which they stand Anathematized in Count Pallestine many Years since Sanctifying Grace is given freely excepted from any Conditions though not excepted from the use of means Secondly Justifying and pardoning Grace though it be free yet is it limited to the performance of certain Conditions without which God never bestows it upon any and they are two Faith and Repentance And these Graces God bestows upon whom he pleaseth without any foregoing Conditions Faith in Christ it is the freest gift that ever God bestowed upon any except that Christ on whom we believe But pardon of sin is restrained to Faith and Repentance as the Conditions of it nor is it ever obtained without them These two things the Scripture doth abundantly confirm to us Whoever believeth on him shall obtain remission of sins Acts 10.43 Repent that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3.19 Whoever believes on him there Faith is made the Condition of Pardon Repent that your sins may be blotted out there Repentance is made the Condition of Pardon These two particulars correspond with the two-fold Covenant of Grace God made with Man His absolute Covenant wherein he promiseth the first Converting Grace this Covenant now is independent from any Conditions a Copy of which we have in Ezek. 36.26 A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will cause you to walk in my Statutes and you shall keep my Judgments and do them And then there is God's Conditional Covenant of Grace wherein he promiseth Salvation only upon the foregoing Conditions of Faith and Repentance this we have Mark 16.16 He that believeth shall be saved Thus I have stated the great Question concerning the free Grace of God The first Sanctifying Grace of God is so free as to exclude all Conditions but the Justifying and Pardoning Grace of God is limited to the Conditions of Faith and Repentance and both Sanctifying and Justifying Grace are freely bestowed without any Merit of ours but not without respect to the Merit of the Lord Jesus Christ who hath purchased them at the highest rate even with his own most precious Bloud In the next place I shall endeavour to set before you some particulars wherein the Glory of God's free Grace in pardoning sin may be more illustrated that it may appear God assumes to himself this as the greatest honour to be a sin-pardoning God And First This highly commends the freeness of pardoning Grace in that God decreed to bestow it without any Request or Entreaties of ours There was no Rhetorick moved him besides the Yearnings of his own Bowels This was a Gracious Resolution sprung up spontaneously in the Heart of God from all eternity He saw thee wallowing in thy Bloud long before thou wert in thy Being and this time it was a time of Love even a time before all times What Friend could'st thou then make in Heaven What Intercessour hadst thou then when there was nothing but God When this design of Love was laid there was neither Prayers nor Tongues to utter them Yea Christ himself though now he intercedes for the Application of Pardon did not then intercede for the Decree of Pardon he could not then urge his Bloud and Merits as Motives for God to take up thoughts of forgiving us for had not God done so before Christ had never shed his Bloud nor wrought out Salvation for us What Arguments What Advocates did then perswade him Truly the only Argument was our Misery and the only Advocate was his own Mercy and not Jesus Christ God pardons sin when he is able to destroy sinners Secondly God pardons sin when yet he is infinitely able to destroy the sinner and this greatly advanceth the Riches and freeness of his Grace The same breath that pronounceth a sinner Absolved might have pronounced him Damned The Angels that fell could not stand before the power and
force of his Wrath but like a mighty Torrent it swept them all into Perdition How much less then could we stand before him God could have blown away every sinner in the World as so much loose Dust into Hell It had been easie for his Power and Justice if he had so pleased to have triumph'd in the Destruction of all Mankind but only that he intended a higher and more noble Victory even that his Mercy should triumph and prevail over his Justice in the pardoning and saving of sinners Thirdly God pardons tho he might gain Renown as on the Damned God pardons sin though he might gain to himself a great Renown as he hath on the Damned God might have written thy Name in Hell as he hath written theirs and might have set thee up a flaming Monument and inscribed on thee Victory and Conquest to the Glory of his Everlasting Vengeance Both Books were open before him both the Book of Life and of Death and the Contents of both shall be rehearsed to his infinite Glory at the last Day Now what was it dictated thy Name to him that guided his Hand to write thee down rather in the Book of Life than in the Book of Death that set thee down a Saint and not a Sinner Pardon'd and not Condemn'd What moved him to do all this for thee Why truly the only Answer that God gives and which is the only Answer that can be given is the same which Pilate gives concerning our Saviour What I have written I have written Fourthly Consider the paucity and smallness of the number of those that are pardon'd Professours of Christianity are calculated by some to possess not above the sixth part of the known World and if among them we make a proportionable abatement for those that are professed Idolaters for the grosly ignorant for the prophane and the Hypocritical Certainly there will be but a small Flock remaining unto Jesus Christ here and there one pick't and cull'd out of the Multitudes of the World like the Olive berries the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of left on the top of the uppermost Branches when the Devil hath shaken down all the rest into Hell Now is it not infinite Mercy that thou should'st be found among these Gleanings after Harvest that thou shoul'dst be one of these few God might have left thee to perish upon the same Reason that he left others but he gathered thee out of all Nations Kindreds and Languages of the Earth to make thee a Vessel of Mercy for himself Indeed thou canst never enough admire the peculiar Love of God to thee herein till the last Day when thou shalt see the small number of those that are saved standing on the Right Hand of Christ compared with the vast numbers of those that perish standing at the Left Hand of Christ and seest thy self among the small number of those that are saved Fifthly This also commends the freeness of pardoning Grace that whereas the fallen Angels themselves were absolutely excepted out of God's Act of Indemnity and Oblivion yet fallen Man is again restored unto his Favour Them God hath reserved in chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day us he hath brought into glorious Light and Liberty Our sins are blotted out of the Book of God's Remembrance whereas their Names are blotted out of the Muster-Roll of God's Heavenly Host Now here there are four things that dâ— greatly advance the Glory of free Grace First Their Natures were more excellent than ours Secondly Their Services would have been much more perfect than ours Thirdly Their Sins were fewer thaâ— ours are And Fourthly Their Pardon might have been procured at as cheap a rate and at a little Expence as ours And yet not them but us God hath chosen to be Vessels oâ— his Mercy First Their Natures were more excellent than ours They were glorious Spirits the top and cream of the Creation we Clods of Earth the Lees and Dregâ— of Nature our Souls the only part by which we claim Kin to Angels even they are of a younger House and of a more Ignoble Extract how are they debased by being confined to these Lumps of Flesh which with much adoe they make a shift to drag with them up and down the Earth rather as Fetters of their Bondage than Instruments of their Service nay so low sunk are we in this slime of matter that we have not Excellency enough so much as to conceive what a pure Heavenly Orient Substance a Spirit is And yet such as we are Dust and Filth hath God gathered up into his own Bosome though he hath disbanded whole Legions of Angels and sent them down into Hell In these Natures of ours hath the Son of God Revealed or rather hid himself Even he who thought it no Robbery to be equal with God thought it no scorn to become lower than Angels He took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Secondly Their Services would have been more perfect upon their restoration than ours can be Indeed when we arrive at Heaven our Services our Love our Joy and our Praises shall then attain to a perfection exclusive of all sinful defects But even then must we give Place to the Angels as in our Beings so in our Actings also Had God restored them and given them a Pardon Heaven would more have resounded with the Shouts and Hallelujahs of one fallen Angel than it can now with a whole Consort of glorified Saints They would have burnt much more ardently in Love who now must burn much more fiercely in Torments They would much more mightily and sweetly have sung forth the Praises of God their Redeemer who now curse and blaspheme him more bitterly And as far have out-stript a Saint in the work of Heaven as they shall do a sinner in the Punishment of Hell And yet free Grace passeth by them and elects and chuseth narrower Hearts to conceive and feebler Tongues to utter the Praises of their Redeemer whose Praises ought therefore to be the more because he chuseth not them that may give him the most Thirdly Consider this their sins were fewer then ours are We cannot exactly determine what their sins were only the Apostle gives us a hint that it was Pride gave them their fall 1 Tim. 3.6 Not a Novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil Whether it was Pride in that they affected to be God or in that they scorn'd to be Guardians and Ministring Spirits unto Man or in that they refused to become subject unto the Son of God who was shortly to become Man the Schools boldly enough dispute but no Man can determine but whatever it was this is certain God was speedy in the execution of wrath upon them tumbling them all down headlong into Hell upon their first Rebellion The time of their standing in their Primitive State is conceived to be very short for their Creation though the Socinians