are infinitely beyond the racks and torments of the body It hath sometimes happened that the horrour of despair hath seized upon mens minds for some notorious crimes in this life which hath given no rest either to body or mind but the violence of the inward pains have forced them to put an end to this miserable life as in the case of Iudas But if the expectation of future misery be so dreadful what must the enduring of it be Of all the ways of dying we can hardly imagine any more painful or full of horrour than that of sacrificing their Children to Molock was among the Canaanites and Children of Amon where the Children were put into the body of a Brass Image and a fire made under it which by degrees with lamentable shrieks and cryings roasted them to death yet this above all others in the New Testament is chosen as the fittest representation of the miseries of another world and thence the very name of Gehenna is taken But as the joys of heaven will far surpass all the pleasure which the mind of a good man hath in this life so will the torments of Hell as much exceed the greatest miseries of this world But in the most exquisite pains of the body there is that satisfaction still left that death will at last put an end to them but that is a farther discovery of the unspeakable folly of losing the soul for the sake of this world that 3. The happiness of this world can last but for a little time but the misery of the soul will have no end Suppose a man had all the world at his command and enjoyed as much satisfaction in it as it was possible for humane nature to have yet the very thoughts of dying and leaving all in a short time must needs make his happiness seem much less considerable to him And every wise man would provide most for that State wherein he is sure to continue longest The shortness of life makes the pleasures of it less desireable and the miseries less dreadful but an endless State makes every thing of moment which belongs to it Where there is variety and liberty of change there is no necessity of any long deliberation before-hand but for that which is to continue always the same the greatest consideration is needful because the very continuance of some things is apt to bring weariness and satiety with it If a man were bound for his whole life-time to converse only with one person without so much as seeing any other he would desire time and use his best judgment in the choice of him If one were bound to lie in the same posture without any motion but for a month together how would he imploy his wits before-hand to make it as easie and tolerable as might be Thus solicitous and careful would men be for any thing that was to continue the same although but for a short time here But what are those things to the endless duration of a soul in a misery that is a perpetual destruction and everlasting death always intolerable and yet must always be endured A misery that must last when time it self shall be no more and the utmost periods we can imagine fall infinitely short of the continuance of it O the unfathomable Abyss of Eternity how are our imaginations lost in the conceptions of it But what will it then be to be swallowed up in an Abyss of misery and eternity together And I do not know how such an eternal State of misery could have been represented in Scripture in words more Emphatical than it is not only by everlasting fire and everlasting destruction but by a worm that never dies and a fire that never goes out and the very same expressions are used concerning the eternal State of the blessed and the damned so that if there were any reason to question the one there would be the same to question the other also 4. The loss of this world may be abundantly recompenced but the loss of the Soul can never be For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul If a man runs the hazard of losing all that is valuable or desirable in this world for the sake of his Soul heaven and eternal happiness will make him infinite amends for it He will have no cause to repent of his bargain that parts with his share in this evil world for the joys and glories that are above They who have done this in the resolution of their minds have before-hand had so great satisfaction in it that they have gloried in tribulations and rejoyced in hopes of the glory of God they have upon casting up their accounts found that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed because the afflictions they meet with here are but light and momentany but that which they expected in recompence for them was an exceeding and an eternal weight of Glory O blessed change what life can be so desirable as the parting with it is on such terms as these It was the hopes of this glorious recompence which inspired so many Martyrs to adventure for Heaven with so much courage patience and constancy in the primitive times of the Christian Church How do they look down from Heaven and despise all the vanities of this World in comparison with what they enjoy And if they are sensible of what is done on earth with what pity do they behold us miserable creatures that for the sake of the honours pleasures or riches of this World venture the loss of all which they enjoy and thereby of their Souls too Which is a loss so great that no recompence can ever be made for it no price of redemption can ever be accepted for the delivery of it For even the Son of God himself who laid down his life for the redemption of Souls shall then come from heaven with flaming fire to take vengeance on all those who so much despise the blood he hath shed for them the warnings he hath given to them the Spirit he hath promised them the reward he is ready to bestow upon them as in spight of all to cast away those precious and immortal Souls which he hath so dearly bought with his own blood Methinks the consideration of these things might serve to awaken our security to cure our stupidity to check our immoderate love of this world and inflame our desires of a better Wherein can we shew our selves men more than by having the greatest regard to that which makes us men which is our souls Wherein can we shew our selves Christians better than by abstaining from all those hurtful lusts which war against our souls and doing those things which tend to make them happy We are all walking upon the shore of eternity and for all that we know the next tide may sweep us away shall we only sport and play or gather cockle-shells and lay them in
to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders c. Wherein we have all the satisfaction which the minds of reasonable men could desire as to these things It might be justly expected that the messenger of so great news to the World should be no mean and ordinary person neither was he for the honour was as great in the person who brought it as the importance was in the thing it self No less than the Eternal Son of God came down from the Bosom of his Father to rectifie the mistakes of Mankind and not only to shew them the way to be happy but by the most powerful arguments to perswade them to be so Nay we find all the three persons of the Trinity here engaged in the great work of mans salvation it was first spoken by our Lord God also bearing them witness and that with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that not only the first revelation was from God but the testimony to confirm that it was so was from him too there being never so clear an attestation of any divine truths as was of the Gospel From whence it follows that the foundation whereon our Faith stands is nothing short of a divine testimony which God gave to the truth of that revelation of his will so vain are the cavils of those who say we have nothing but meer probabilities for our Faith and do interpret that manner of proof which matters of fact are capable of in a sense derogatory to the firmness of our Christian Faith As tho' we made the Spirit of God a Paraclete or Advocate in the worst sense which might as well plead a bad as a good cause No we acknowledge that God himself did bear witness to that doctrine deliver'd by our Lord and that in a moâ—t signal and effectual manner for the conviction of the world by those demonâ—â—rations of a divine power which accompanied the first Preachers of salvation by the Gospel of Christ. So that here the Apostle briefly and clearly resolves our Faith if you ask Why we believe that great salvation which the Gospel ofâ—ers the anâ—wer is Because it was declared by our Lord who neither could nor woulâ— deceive us if it be asked How we know that this was delivered by our Lord he answers because this was the constant Doctrine of all his Disciples of those who constantly heard him and conversed with him But if you ask again how can we know that their testimony was infallible since they were but men he then resolves all into that that God bare witness to them by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost And those persons whom these arguments will not convince none other will Who are we that should not think that sufficient which God himself thought so who are we that dare question the certainty of that which hath had the Broad Seal of Heaven to attest it Can any thing make it surer than God himself hath done and can there be any other way more effectual for that end than those demonstrations of a divine power and presence which the Apostles were acted by Those that cavil at this way of proof would have done so at any other if God had made choice of it and those who will cavil at any thing are resolved to be convinced by nothing and such are not fit to be discoursed with 4. Here are the most prevailing motives to perswade them to accept of these offers of salvation There are two passions which are the great hinges of Government viz. mens Hopes and Fears and therefore all Laws have had their sanctions suitable to these two in Rewards and Punishments now there was never any reward which gave greater encouragement to hope never any punishment which made fear more reasonable than those are which the Gospel proposes Will ever that man be good whom the hopes of Heaven will not make so or will ever that man leave his sins whom the fears of Hell will not make to do it What other arguments can we imagine should ever have that power and influence on mankind which these may be reasonably supposed to have Would you have God alter the methods of his Providence and give his rewards and punishments in this life but if so what exercise would there be of the patience forbearance and goodness of God towards wicked men must he do it as soon as ever men sin then he would never try whether they would repent and grow better or must he stay till they have come to such a height of sin then no persons would have cause to fear him but such who are arrived at that pitch of wickedness but how then should he punish them must it be by continuing their lives and making them miserable but let them live and they will sin yet further must it be by utterly destroying them that to persons who might have time to sin the mean while supposing annihilation were all to be fear'd would never have power enough to deter men from the height of their wickedness So that nothing but the misery of a life to come can be of force enough to make men fear God and regard themselves and this is that which the Gospel threatens to those that neglect their salvation which it sometimes calls everlasting fire sometimes the Worm that never dies sometimes the wrath to come sometimes everlasting destruction all enough to fill the minds of men with horror at the apprehension and what then will the undergoing it do Thence our Saviour reasonably bids men not fear them that can only kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus the Gospel suggests the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and as it doth that so it presents likewise the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good which is no less than a happiness that is easier to hope to enjoy than to comprehend a happiness infinitely above the most ambitious hopes and glories of this world wherein greatness is added to glory weight to greatness and eternity to them all therefore call'd a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Wherein the Joys shall be full and constant the perception clear and undisturbed the fruition with continual delight and continual desire Where there shall be no fears to disquiet no enemies to allarm no dangers to conquer nothing shall then be but an uninterrupted peace an unexpressible Joy and pleasures for evermore And what could be ever imagined more satisfactory to minds tired out with the vanities of this world than such a repose as that is What more agreeable to the minds and desires of good men than to be eased of this clog of flesh and to spend eternity with the fountain of all
this done by persons who had not received the Promise Heb. 11.39 And could there be a greater disparagement to the clearness of that light we enjoy above them if we only grew fainter by it And therefore in the beginning of this Chapter he encourages them by that army of Martyrs which had gone before them by that Cloud of witnesses which did both direct and refresh them that they would lay aside every thing which was apt to oppress or dishearten them but especially their sinful fears which they were so easily betray'd by and so run with patience the race that was set before them v. 1. But saith he if none of these will prevail with you there is an example yet behind that ought above all others to heighten your courage and that is of the Captain of your salvation the author and finisher of your faith under whom you serve and from whom you expect your reward and as Caesar once said to his Souldiers when he saw them ready to retreat out of the field Videte quem quo loco Imperatorem deserturi estis Remember what kind of General you forsake and in what place you leave him one whom you have vow'd your lives and your service to one who hath thought nothing too dear which was to be done for your good one that will be ready to reward the least service you can do for him one that is ready to assist you to the utmost in what you undertake one that hath already undergone far more for your sakes than ever you can do for his therefore Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds In which words we have represented to us the unparallel'd example of courage and patience under sufferings in our Lord and Saviour and the great influence that it ought to have on all those who are call'd by his Name that they would not dishonour so excellent a pattern of enduring sufferings by weakness or dejection of mind Christianity is a Religion which above all others does arm men against all the contingencies and miseries of the life of man yea it makes them serviceable to the most advantageous purposes that the greatest blessings can be designed for It raises the minds of men higher than barely to consider the common condition of humane nature the unavoidableness of such things which are out of our own power and the unreasonableness of tormenting our selves about the things which are so and that most mens conditions in the world as to their contentment depends more upon their minds than their outward circumstances though these are things very fit for us as men to consider and make use of yet they dot not reach to that height which the consideration of a life to come and the tendency of all our sufferings here to the inhancement of our future glory may raise us to Especially considering not only the weight of the arguments in themselves but the force they receive from the example of him who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God By which mighty instance we find that the sufferings of this life are so far from being inconsistent with the joys of another that he who is the Captain of salvation was made perfect through sufferings and therefore none of his followers have cause to be dejected under them But that we may the better understand the force of this argument we shall consider 1. What those things were which he endured 2. From whom he suffer'd them it was the contradiction of sinners against himself 3. In what way and manner he underwent them 4. For what ends he did it And when we have considered these we shall see the influence this example of Christ's sufferings ought to have upon our constancy and patience which will be the most useful improvement of it to us 1. What those things were which Christ endured which are here comprehended under those words the contradiction of sinners It is agreed by the best Expositors both Greek and Latin that under this phrase of the contradictioâ— of sinners the whole History of our Saviour's sufferings is comprehended All the injuries reproaches false accusations all the cruelties indignities and violence which were offer'd him from the time of his publick appearance to his expiring upon the Cross being undergone by him by the malice of unreasonable men may be call'd the contradiction of sinners For the sense of this word extends as well to actions as words and the sum of all that which our Saviour suffer'd from them may be reduced under these heads 1. The ill entertainment of his Doctrine 2. The disparagement of his Miracles 3. The violence offer'd to his Person 1. The ill entertainment of his Doctrine which must needs seem very strange to those who do not consider what a difficult access the clearest reason hath to the minds of such who are governed by interest and prejudice Though all the the Prophesies concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him though the expectations of the people were great at that time concerning the appearance of him that was to redeem his people tho' all the characters of time place and person did fully agree to what was foretold by the Prophets though his Doctrine were as becoming the Son of God to reveal as the sons of men to receive though the unspotted innocency of his life was so great as made him weary of his own that betray'd him yet because he came not with the pomp and splendor which they expected they despise his Person revile his Doctrine persecute his Followers and contrive his ruin What could have been imagined more probable than that the Iewish Nation which had waited long in expectation of the Messias coming should have welcom'd his approach with the greatest joy and receiv'd the Message he brought with a kindness only short of that which he shewed in coming among them Was it nothing to be eased of that heavy burden of the Ceremonial Law which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear and that God was willing to exchange the chargeable and troublesome service of the Temple for the more reasonable and spiritual Worship of himself Was it nothing to have the Promises of a Land which now groaned under the weight of its oppressions turned into those of an eternal state of bliss and immortality and to change the Lamps of the Temple for the glorious appearance of the Son of Righteousness Was it nothing to have an offer of Peace and Reconciliation with God made them after they had suffer'd so much under the fury of his displeasure Was a meer temporal deliverance by some mighty Conquerour from the subjection they were in to the Roman Power so much more valuable a thing than an eternal redemption from the powers of Hell and the Grave Are the pomps and vanities of this