Therefore surely it 's Gain to die for a Godly Man 7ly Further It 's Gain in this respect When they receive immediately they shall receive all United in one and all together They shall have such Influence from Christ as hath all Good united in one Beam of Excellency and so receive it all together As now a Man may take the Quintesence of several Herbs there 's this Herb hath this Virtue another another and a third a third but now if you Still all these Herbs together you will have the Virtue and Quintesence of all in one Drop So Christ here scatters His Excellencies one in one Creature another in another but when we come to enjoy Him immediately then we shall have all in one because all His Excellencies whatsoever is united in one in Him Eighthly Further all our Good shall be in continal Act. Here we have a great deal of Good in the Habit but now when we come to have this Immediate communion with Christ there all our Graces shall be Acted continually The Sun you know how it doth Act the Earth whatsoever there is in the Earth it draws it forth and makes it flourish So the Presence of the Sun of Righteousness Oh how Gloriously will it Act all our Graces In Numb 17. 7. We read of Aarons Rod it Blossom'd And the Text saith It Blossom'd before the Lord. When the Souls of the Saints shall be before the Lord and be in the Presence of the Lord Christ O they shall Blossom and Flourish and all their Graces shall Flourish in a most Glorious manner Ninthly And then lastly We shall enjoy what is in Christ without any Intermission What 's the reason of any Intermission here But something that comes between Christ and our Souls But now when there shall be nothing between Christ and the Soul then there will be no Intermission That Sweetness and Comfort thou hast in communion with Christ at any time thou shalt have it at all times And how good is that O saith many a Soul could I have but the communion with Christ at all times as I have at some times O that would be comfortable Now when the Soul hath Immediate communion with Christ it shall have it at all times What 's the reason of Ecclipses It is the Interposition between the Moon and the Sun or some Interposition between the Sun and us So our Ecclipses of the Light that we have from Christ it is some Interposition Take away the Interposition and then there will be no Intermission Now put all these together and is it not Gain to Die and to be with Christ Now by way of Use It is Gain thus to be with Christ Hence then If it be Gain for one that doth so much Service for Christ as Paul did surely than those that are Believers and are made little Use of in any Service for Christ they will get by their Death Paul was a Man that one would wonder how the Churches could spare him he did so much for Christ and yet Paul would get by Death If thou beest a Believer thou shalt have thy Immediate communion with Christ as Paul had Alas here while thou Livest thou hast but little communion between Christ and thee and doest Him but little Service in the World Then why should you so much desire to Live in the World that have nothing to Countervail the Trouble that you have and the Sin that is committed in the World O surely it will be gain for you Secondly Hence it follows That it is a Self-denial to a Believer to be willing to Live here in the World You will say If it be so much Gain why should any be so desirous to Live It 's this first Nature will have its work though in their Judgments they are convinc't that it 's better to be with Christ yet the Body will be working and the Affections will follow the Body very much Further Though they be convinc't that it is Gain yet God lays a Tie upon them to preserve their Lives as long as they can here in this World in Obedience to God They do desire to avoid Dangers and Preserve their Lives It is not for them to be where it is best for them to be but to be where God would have them to be and therefore God doth charge them to seek to Preserve their Lives and to go on till He Himself shall Dissolve the Body and Soul It 's God that is the Lord of our Life and as God gave us our Lives so it is He that must take them away and not any Body else But yet I say there is some Self-denial in it We must look upon our selves here as in a very Low and Mean condition in comparison of what we hope to be within a while after Therefore observe this one Note Those that do believe the Gain of Death they had need Labour what they can to countervail the Forbearance of the Gain by somewhat or other If a Man hath a great Gain and it comes not in his present Possession he thinks What shall I have for my Forbearance You will say What is it that any Believer can have in lieu of his Forbearance of that Gain Truly the most Excellent thing is this that he may do Christ Service while he Lives Now then Is that the main thing O learn from hence to be of as much use in your Lives as possibly you can for you have nothing else to speak of in Forbearance of that great Gain Why Lord I expect to enjoy Thee for ever before long but thou art pleased to Prolong my Life here for a while in the mean time I meet with many Temptations and Troubles and Vexations and much Sin I have But yet Lord thou knowest it 's my desire to Honour Thee and Serve Thee and through Thy Mercy I am some way or other Serviceable to Thee in the Place where Thou hast set me and Lord this is the thing contents me while I am absent from Thee Thirdly Hence we see the great Difference that there is between the death of a Believer and the death of a Wicked Man I shewed you I remember in the death of an Ungodly Man when the siery Serpent comes with his Sting and takes him in his Natural Estate Death is not Gain to such a one O no death takes away all his Gain But now death is the greatest Gain to the Saints That 's an excellent Scripture you have in 1 Cor. 3. the latter end Whether Paul or Appollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or Things present or Things to come all is yours In Christ Death comes to be made yours Death is part of the Possession of the Saints O the difference between the death of the Saints and the death of Wicked and Ungodly Men Do but put two Men a Wicked Man and a Godly Man lying both together upon their Death-Beds you must take a wicked Man that hath an enlightned
to it Why lest he be angry lest the Son of God be angry The anger of the Son of God is a dreadful anger the Anger of God the Father is dreadful and yet the Anger of the Son of God in some respect is more dreadful as the Anger of the Holy Ghost is most dreadful of all because the Scripture saith The sin against him can never be forgiven And next Kiss the Son and that because there is so much Mercy in the Son therefore if he be rejected his anger is so much the more dreadful And lest you perish in the mid-way that is when you hope to live many years to have many more Merry-meetings with your Companions and do not think your selves to be nigh to perishing saith the Text In the mid way the Lord comes upon such when they least think of it The Lord comes upon many and cuts them off in the middle of their years This Consideration no question it was in part that caused Saint Paul when the Lord Christ was Revealed to him that he dared not put off a day no saith the Text Gal. 1. 15 16. When it pleased God who seperated me from my Mothers Womb and called me by his Grace to reveal his Son in me that I might Preach him among the Heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood immediately as soon as ever God was pleased to reveal Christ to me or in me I did not confer with flesh and blood that is I dar'd not so much as Reason about the difficulty of the way or what I should suffer if I took this course I dar'd not go to my Company and take their Advice and Counsel No saith he but as soon as ever the Lord was pleased to reveal Christ in me I presently went about the Work and so in the 26th of the Acts where he tells the story of his Conversion speaking of Gods revealing himself to him in that glorious way of a Vision Whereupon O King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision the very first Vision I presently submitted to Paul he fell down and said Lord what wilt thou have me to do upon the first manifestation of Christ unto him O do you take heed that you be not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision perhaps together with the Ministry of the Word the Lord may grant to some of your Souls a Vision that is he may come with his Spirit and shew some of the Glory of his Son to you O be not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision but immediately yield to it and confer not with flesh and blood O but you will say this is hard you come at first and say Peace to us but this is very severe to tell us how quick the Lord is But Observe it It is but severity to those that put off Mercy then if you love Mercy so well what need you fear this Severity But further Know that upon your receiving of the Gospel the Lord will be as quick with you in wayes of Mercy as he is in Judgments to those that do reject it You will say How quick will the Lord be in the wayes of his Mercy Thus quick that upon thy receiving the Gospel and Believing the very first instant of thy receiving it thou shalt be delivered from all thy sin the guilt of all thy sin thou shalt be made as clear from the guilt of sin as the Child that is new born and more clear a great deal How quick is God now Yea thou shalt be made as clear from the guilt of all thy great sins that thou hast committed I say as clear from the guilt of them as the Saints are in Heaven and this at the first moment of thy Entertaining of Jesus Christ thou shalt be as clear as Abraham Isaac and Jacob thou shalt be equal with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the point of thy Justification yea in regard of any guilt of sin thou shalt be as unspotted before the Lord as the Saints are in Heaven O the Lord is willing to be quick with you in wayes of Mercy Now then consider of both Here we set Life and Death before you we know it is not in Mens power indeed but we know God doth use to Bless his Ministry so as to convey power by his Ministry God is quick both wayes upon Entertaining he is quick in wayes of Mercy presently to clear the Soul from all those horrible Wicked Sins that thou hast been guilty of and if thou shalt reject it then thou may'st fear that the Lord will be quick with thee another way O consider what hath been said in this Point and in this Text and the Lord give you understanding FINIS Doct. Appl. Obs Exhort His house being visited it was thought he was Dead Doctr. Doctr. Appl. Vse Doct. 2. Doct. 3. Reas 1. Appl. Doct. 2 Doct. Appl. Doct. 2 Appl. Doct. 3. Reas Doct. Doct. Doct. 1 2. 3. Appl. Doct. Appl.
before the great God to answer for all unto the Infinite Justice and this the Gospel would have delivered you from had you entertained it Doth it return from you Why then you stand before the Lord under the sentence of Condemnation a Condemned Creature even to Eternal Death and this the Gospel would have freed you from Doth the Gospel return again Why then you stand a Child of Wrath before the great God under all the Viols of his Infinite Wrath ready every moment for ought thou knowest to be poured out upon thee and this the Gospel would have freed thee from Doth the Gospel go away from thee Why then thou standest under the Curse of the Law and all those dreadful Threatnings that are Written in the Book of God they are all thy Portion and this the Gospel would have freed thee from Is the Gospel returned from thee Then thou standest before God as an Enemy unto him he looks upon thee as one that is an Enemy to him and thou canst expect no other but to be dealt withal as an Enemy to have God in all his Attributes to come out against thee to have all his Creatures to come out against thee to Avenge Gods Quarrel upon thee and this the Gospel would have freed thee from And so we might further name Infinite Evils no peace to the wicked no peace to those who are so Wicked as to reject the glorious Gospel and therefore thy Case is Dreadful Secondly If the Blessing of the Gospel be returned from thee then know thou hast lost the most Happy opportunity of good that ever Creature had Never can a Creature be made capable of a Happier opportunity of good than the Creature hath when Jesus Christ comes to be preached to it Here 's the most Blessed opportunity of good I say that a Creature can have to have Jesus Christ come to be offered to him Now when the Gospel is returned thou hast lost this opportunity of Mercy the tender of Salvation that 's worth ten thousand thousand Worlds such an opportunity as the Devils and Damned in Hell would give 10000 Worlds to have it and yet that is come to thee and is gone and lost and therefore it is a sad thing for the Blessing of the Gospel to return Thirdly If it doth Return from thee thou dost not know whether it will ever return back again upon thee whether ever it will come any more When God offers Grace and it is rejected many times he doth cause the Offer to pass away and it never comes more again Thou mayest perhaps lye hereafter in the distress of thy Conscience and think of former dayes that thou hadst and cry out O that I had such dayes again O that I had Jesus Christ preached to me again as I had at such a time O that I had such stirrings of the Spirit of God as I had at such a time but now no Friend Time was when thou hadst them and thou didst reject them and therefore they are gone and thousands of Worlds will not purchase them again I do not now speak only of taking away the Ministery of it but of the Blessing of the Gospel perhaps thou mayst live under the Ministery of it and yet the Blessing of the Gospel may be returned Fourthly If the Gospel come and return with the Blessing of it thou art now in a far worse condition than any Heathen whatsoever a Heathen is not in so sad a condition Some times you will speak in way of Indignation What do you think me a Heathen a Turk Thou art in a worse case than any Heathen whatsoever because they never had the offer of Jesus Christ and the course of Mercy hath never come to them but to thee and left thee there 's hope before God makes a tryal as it were before Mercy hath as it were her turn upon the Creature that it may belong to Gods Election but now when Mercy hath had her turn and left the Soul then it is a sad condition it hath not done so to the Heathens and therefore it is worse with thee than with the Heathens in that regard Yea Fifthly Hence follows that there is the greatest Judgment except being sent to Hell it self immediatly as a punishment of the greatest Sin that ever Creature committed but only the unpardonable Sin the Sin against the Holy Ghost For God to take away the Gospel from us the Blessing of it to return it is the greatest Judgment that can befall a man in this World except God should send him quick to Hell presently A greater Judgment than if thy House were fired or thy Body diseased and tormented that were no such Judgment as this and this is the fruit of the greatest sin the sin of the rejection of the Gospel except the sin against the Holy Ghost Now that Man or Woman is in a sad condition that hath the greatest Judgment that God can inflict in this World but only that one Excepted I say this is an exceeding sad condition Fifthly Yea further Then it is to be feared lest Christ should dye in vain as for thee though Christ hath come into the World and shed his Blood to save Souls yet all should be in vain as for thee O this Thought will pierce thy heart one day if it doth not now for the present the very thought that there should be so great Salvation and I not be made partaker of it it is a Soul-wounding Thought Yea and Lastly Hereafter it shall be to thy extream Torment when thou shalt see others that have embrac'd the Gospel and Sav'd Eternally and thou thy self cast out I heard the same Sermon that Converted such and such a one and they are now Saved in Heaven for ever O I was at the same Sermon and rejecting of it am now cast down here to be sweltering under the wrath of God Will not these be sad thoughts another day If not your peace shall return and you see the dreadful Fruit of the returning of Peace Wherefore then a word by way of Application For indeed the Point it self is enough to strike our Consciences The very naming of these things and the opening of them hath power to stir and awaken the Heart and therefore I will only say thus much Learn to know that when you come to hear the preaching of the Gospel you do not come to a matter of Indifferency it being no great matter whether you received it or received it not Many people they come to hear Sermons and look upon them as a very indifferent matter whether their Hearts be taken with what they hear or no whether they yield and submit to what they hear or not but learn to know that it is not a matter of Indifferency I may well make use of that Speech of Moses to the people in Deut. 32. 46 47. And he said unto them set your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you this day which ye
nothing to have the Gospel taken from them yet when that is taken from you know that the Kingdom of God is taken from you that place in Mat. 21. 43. is very remarkable O this is one of the dreadfullest Threats therefore say I unto you The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof When you have the preaching of the Gospel in the clearness if it among you know that you have the Kingdom of God among you Now God doth require that you should bring forth the fruits thereof therefore examine your own Hearts what fruits of the Kingdom of God are in my Life in my Family Why the Kingdom of God is among us that 's the meaning of Christ's and Johns preaching Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand that is now comes the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel and he calls people to Repent upon this Ground O Repent and Turn from your sins Why for the Revelation of Jesus Christ is come among you I say to you in this place therefore Repent Repent now for the Lord is coming to Open the Kingdom of Heaven and to Reveal the Grace of Christ and the Glorious things of Eternal Life to you and therefore if you should please your selves rather in sporting upon the Lords Day and going to Ale-Houses and Wicked places rather than Attending upon the Word why the Lord may take away this Gospel and so take away the Kingdom of Heaven from you and the taking that from you it is but a fore-runner to the depriving of you from the Everlasting Kingdom that the Saints shall have to all Eternity And know there is no Dallying with God for when thou comest to the Offer of Mercy in Christ saith Christ either come in or not Christ calls for your Answer quickly Though the Lord be very patient towards men that never yet understood the Offering of the Gospel of Christ but if they come once to have Christ preached to them they must not expect the like patience When John began to preach Christ you know what he said Now is the Axe lay'd to the root of the Tree And why now more than before Because now the Kingdom of Heaven is to be preached to them and now Every Tree that bringeth not forth good Fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the Fire Perhaps they have gone this Thirty or Forty Years and there was no Hewing of them down but now the Axe is lay'd to the root of the Tree You know that of Christ to his Apostles go your wayes and preach saith he He that Believes shall be Saved and he that Believes not shall be damned there is no more ado either Believe and be Saved or Believe not and be Damned there is quick work and indeed that 's a Point that I would very gladly have been upon even the Consideration of the Quick Work of God upon those Souls that shall reject the Ministry of the Gospel Sermon VI. Luke 10. 6. If not it shall return to you again THere are Two Points more remaining which is to be the Subject of this Excercise The First is this That those that are not the Sons of Peace what is means you have had already opened that do not imbrace the Ministry of the Gospel they shall have no Blessing from the peace of the Gospel they shall not be partakers of the good of the Gospel Secondly That God is very quick with those that do not embrace his Gospel Go and say peace if there be a Son of peace well and good they shall have peace if not It shall return saith Christ From the manner of the phrase that note was raised That God doth use to be very quick with those that do not embrace the Gospel I shall be very short in the Former of these two because I would gladly have a little more time in the Latter Those who entertain not the Gospel they shall not have the Blessing of it I shall not need to go far for another Scripture which is indeed a very dreadful one to this purpose Luke 14. 14. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my Cup. We have there a Parable A certain man made a great Supper and bade many The meaning is this It is to set out God the Fathers preparing of his Son and of these Blessed Dainties at the Marriage of his Son The scope of it is to shew the excellent things of the Gospel that they are no other but the Dainties that are prepared by the great King of Heaven at the Marriage of his Son The Scope of it is to shew the excellent things of the Gospel that they are no other but the Dainties that are prepared by the great King of Heaven at the Marriage of his Son unto Souls unto Believers Well there are sent his Ministers they are the Servants of this King they are sent to Invite to this Marriage to Invite men to partake of the Blessed things of the Gospel Upon this Invitation we see that generally it was rejected One saith he hath bought a Farm another a Yoak of Oxen and another hath Marryed a Wife c. and the Ministers they come in and give this account to God Lord we have according to thy Command invited them to come in to partake take of the good things of the Gospel but these are their Excuses their hearts are set upon other things Now mark their doom in ver 24. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my Supper That is do they thus reject it and slight it and disregard it I say to you I profess it that there 's not one of them shall make such a slight account of that Blessed Gospel of mine and the glorious things contained therein not one of them that shall taste of my Supper Only one Text more in Rom. 2. 8. But unto them which are contentious and do not obey the truth that must needs be meant of the truth of the Gospel but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Those who are set upon their evil wayes and will not obey the truth you see what their Doom is The first is privative That they shall not taste of the Supper the other is Positive Wrath and indignation and anguish shall be upon them You will say That this shall return What then What great Evil wil follow upon this what most dreadful Evils Why first The very want and privation of the Infinite good that the Gospel tenders to thee is evil enough and the remaining under all those Evils that the Gospel would have delivered thee from that 's evil enough as thus What doth the Gospel return and the Blessing from you why then you remain under the guilt of all your Sins and stand charged