Thus the Carnal Mind is apt with some colour to traduce the Righteousness of God's Government But it will be clearly vindicated by considering 1. The Law supposes Man in a state of integrity furnish'd with sufficient Power to comply with every Precept though free to fall from his Duty and Happiness To command absolute Impossibilities is tyrannical and utterly inconsistent with the Nature of the Blessed God 2. The first Man wilfully transgress'd the Law and lost his Holiness And Nature being poison'd in the Fountain is corrupt in all the descendants from him Mankind was justly degraded in rebellious Adam and is destitute of spiritual Strength to perform all that the Law requires 3. This disability is vicious and culpable and can be no pretence against the Rights of the Law-giver A natural disability from the want of requisite Faculties is a just excuse 'T is no Fault that a Man cannot stop the Sun as Joshua did nor calm a Tempest as our Saviour did by his Word But the disability that arises from a depraved disposition renders a Person more guilty And this is the present Case The Will of Man is disobedient and perverse and as soon as it can exercise Election chooses Evil and by custom in Sin becomes more hardened and obstinate And from hence the Prophet charges the contumacious Jews Behold their Ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken Were they uncapable of hearing the Divine Commands No but the Word of the Lord was to them a Reproach they had no delight in it And our Saviour upbraids the Pharisees How can ye believe which receive Honour one of another and seek not the Honour that comes from God only They were in high reputation for their Holiness which made it impossible for them in an humble penitent manner to submit to our Saviour In short the primary end of the Law was the Happiness of Man in the performance of his Duty and his first Sin and consequent Impotence to fulfil it was by his own fault As the Obliquity of a Line cannot be ascrib'd to the strait Rule but to the Error of the Hand that draws it And from hence 't is clear that if God should with a terrible exactness require of Men unsinning Obedience upon the pain of Damnation he could not be tax'd with Unrighteousness 2. But God has been pleased to mitigate and allay the Severity of the Law by the Gospel so that although the least breach of it makes a Person an Offender and obnoxious to Judgment yet the Law of Faith propounds such merciful Conditions to the Guilty that upon the performance of them they may plead their Pardon seal'd with the Blood of their Redeemer and shall be saved and crown'd in the Day of Judgment We are commanded so to speak and do as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty Thus the Gospel is stiled in that it frees the Conscience though not from the Obedience yet from the Terrors and Condemnation of the Law for there was not the least signification of Mercy by it But in the Gospel the Grace of God most illustriously appears 1. In that when our Innocence was lost there may be a renovation of the Sinner by Repentance to which the plenary Pardon of Sin is assured Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes Cease to do evil and learn to do well saith the Lord and though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be white like Wooll God will not pardon those who forgive and flatter themselves in their Sins but those who confess and forsake them shall find Mercy 2. Sincerity of Obedience is accepted where Perfection is wanting When a Person with consent of Heart and serious Endeavours strives to obey the holy Will of God without the exception of any known Duty or the indulgence of any Sin God will spare him as a Father spares his Son that serves him 'T is not so much the Matter as the Allowance that makes Sin deadly Where there is guile in the Heart it will be severely imputed 'T is not according to some particular Acts of Sin but the Tenor of the Life that the state of Men will be decided 3. Unfeigned Faith in the Lord Jesus that is such a belief of the Truth and Goodness of his Promises as induces us to receive him as our Prince and Saviour as purifies the Conscience the Heart and Life will free us from Hell and entitle us to Heaven according to the Covenant of Grace In short the final Resolution of a Man's Trial and Case will be this either he has performed the gracious Conditions of the Gospel and he shall be saved or rejected them and he shall be damned If it be objected that the Terms of Evangelical Justification though in themselves comparatively easy yet are of impossible performance to Men in their natural sinful State The Answer is clear 1. That although the natural Man be dead in Sin without spiritual strength to resolve and perform his Duty and holy heat of desires to it and nothing is alive in him but his corrupt Passions that are like Worms generated in a Carcass yet by the Grace that is offered in the Gospel he may be enabled to perform the Conditions of it for in this the Gospel excels the Law the Law discovers Sin but affords no degrees of supernatural Power to subdue it and directs to no Means for the expiation of its Guilt As the Fire in the Bush discovered the Thorns without consuming them But the sanctifying Spirit the true Spring of Life and Power is the concomitant of the Gospel as St. Peter declares With the preaching of the Gospel the Holy Ghost was sent down from Heaven And the Spirit by illuminating preventing and exciting-Grace assists Men to repent and believe and is promised in rich and liberal Supplies to all that humbly and ardently pray for it This our Saviour assures to us by a most tender and endearing Comparison If ye that are evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask it 2. From hence it follows that 't is from the perverseness of the Will and the love of Sin that Men do not obey the Gospel For the Holy Spirit never withdraws his gracious assistance till resisted grieved and quenched by them It will be no excuse that Divine Grace is not conferr'd in the same eminent degree upon some as upon others that are converted for the Impenitent shall not be condemned for want of that singular powerful Grace that was the Priviledg of the Elect but for receiving in vain that measure of common Grace that they had If he that received one Talent had faithfully improved it he had been rewarded with more but upon the slothful and ingrateful neglect of his Duty he was
Death and Judgment sting them by fits and make them uneasy The flashes of Conscience like moments of Lightning startle them but they relapse into their habitual stupidity And the account of it will be clear by considering the following Particulars 1. Men are apt to flatter themselves with the hopes of long Life and look upon Death at a great distance Tho there be a dying disposition in the youngest and strongest Persons though we live in a World of Casualties and Death lie in ambush to surprize us every day yet we are secure because Evils affect us according to their apprehended nearness A petty Constable that is troublesom and vexatious is more fear'd by his Neighbours than the Grand Signior with all his Executioners As remote Objects though of vast bigness are lessen'd to our sight so through the supposed interval of many years Death is look'd on with a diminution of its Terror But when Death presents it self before Men ready to dispatch them how formidable is its appearance Saul though renowned for his Valour yet when he understood by Revelation that to morrow he and his Sons should be in the state of the Dead there was no strength in him but he fell straitway all along on the Earth struck through with fear before he was wounded by the Arrows of the Philistines Belshazzar in the midst of his luxury and jolity attended with a thousand Lords and his Herd of Concubines inflam'd with Wine and therefore less capable of fear yet upon the sight of the fatal Hand writing on the Wall a few unknown Characters which his guilty Conscience before the Prophet Daniel came interpreted to be the Sentence of present Death how fearfully was his Countenance changed pale as a Carcass How suddenly did his Blood congeal and his warmest quickest Spirits die in his Heart His whole Body was seized by such a vehement trembling that his Joints were loosed and his knees smote one against another This is a representation of those who bid defiance to Death at a distance but when the fatal Hour is come and they hear the Sentence decreed against them God has numbred thy days and finish'd them thou art weighed in the ballance all thy Words and Actions thy Thoughts and Affections and art found wanting and thy Soul shall be divided from thy Body the one sent to Hell to suffer the undying Worm of Conscience the other to the Grave to be a Prey to the Worms of Corruption how are they overcome with horror 2. The continual succession of the Pleasures and Business of the World divert the Mind from the attentive strong contemplation of Death and the Consequences of it Pensive Thoughts are unwelcome and we studiously endeavour to cancel the memory of such things as afflict us 'T is said of the Wicked that God is not in all their Thoughts The consideration of the holy Inspector and Judg of their Actions is tormenting therefore they fill their Minds with earthly Imaginations to exclude the Divine Presence We read of those who to put far away the evil Day chaunted to the sound of the Viol and drank Wine in Bowls They are rock'd asleep with the motion of phantastick Vanities And Sleep takes away Fear but gives no safety 'T is recorded of Marius that after his Overthrow by Sylla he was always in consternation as if he heard the sound of the Trumpets and the noise of the victorious Army pursuing him And his Fears were no longer quiet than whilst charm'd with Wine and Sleep he therefore was continually drunk that he might forget himself his Enemy and his Danger Thus Men make a pitiful shift to forget their latter End and whilst they are following either secular Affairs or sensual Pleasures are unconcerned for what is to be hereafter But this Diversion will shortly be at an end for in their languishing hours when the wasted Body fails the carnal Mind and sensual Desires fail the Man then Conscience that spoke with a low Voice before is loud and terrible and like the rigid Exactor in the Parable that took his Debtor by the throat requires them to pay what they owe. 3. Some are so hardned in Infidelity that the Powers of the World to come make no Impression on their Hearts They mind but little and are less affected with invisible things They fortify themselves with gross Thoughts that the Spirit of Man vanishes with his Breath that Death is the end of this Life and not the beginning of another and feed without Fear Place one in the midst of destructive Evils but unseen or not believed and he is as fearless as a blind Person walking on the brink of a deep Pit Indeed there are none less disturbed with the Terrors of Death than the eminently Good or the extremely Bad for the one sort have a blessed Hope that Death will be to them an entrance into Life and live like the Angels with a Joy unspeakable and glorious The others are as sensual and secure as the Beasts that perish having extinguish'd the fear of eternal future Evils which is the proper passion of Reason The Apostle declares That knowing the Terror of the Lord we perswade Men to be reconcil'd to him before the Season of Mercy be expired But those who have suppress'd the natural Notions of Eternal Judgment as they think it beneath their Wisdom to be perswaded by the Promises of Heaven so beneath their Courage to be terrified with the Threatnings of Hell and triumph over the Ruines of Conscience But though wicked Infidels slight the Threatnings they shall not escape the Vengeance of God We read of Noah That being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear he prepared an Ark for the saving of his House His Fear was the native issue of his Faith But the profane World in whom Sense was predominant that despised the Oracle and trembled at no Judgments but what were acting on the visible Stage they ate and drank married and were given in marriage till swept away by the unfeared Inundation We read that Lot being certified by an embassy of Angels that a Deluge of Fire would in a few hours pour down from Heaven upon Sodom he most earnestly sollicited his Sons-in-Law Arise depart out of this Place for the Lord will destroy this City but they entertained his compassionate Advice with derision he seemed to them as one that mocked and were surprised by those fearful Flames that dispatch'd them from a Temporal Hell to that which is Eternal Thus 't was prophesied That in the last days there shall come Scoffers walking after their own Lusts and saying Where is the Promise of his coming But let them blaspheme and scorn the most sacred and terrible Truths let them perpetuate their excess of Riot and wild Mirth while they live Death will come and Judgment as sure as Death III. I now come to shew how the Death of Christ frees us from the tormenting fear of Death
Sadness to an Agony in his Soul and suffered the equal extremities of Ignominy and Torment in his Body The Favour of God was intercepted from him that it may shine upon us in that gloomy hour And all his terrible Sufferings though foreknown by his enlightned Mind could not weaken his determined Will to undergo them for us But when Peter regarded with a more tender eye his Life than our Salvation he was repell'd with indignation Unparallel'd Love no less than Divine transcending all the Instances of humane Affection The highest kind and excess of Love amongst Men is to die for another and the highest degree in that kind is to die to save an Enemy and of this our Saviour is the singular Example Love incomprehensible it passes knowledg and all understanding but his who express'd it His Love was equal to the heighth of his Glory from whence he descended and the depth of his Sufferings that he sustained in our stead By washing us from our Sins in his Blood he makes us Kings dignifies us with spiritual Soveraignty over not only defiling but disturbing Passions The freest and most confident Sinner in the World that rebels against the Divine Laws without restraint is a Slave not only under the Chains of his imperious Lusts but in that he is liable to the scourgings of Conscience when ever awaken'd and to the servile fear of Death every day But the sincere Christian has a clear and sweet Peace a blessed Tranquillity from the tormenting apprehensions and fears of Death that are the just consequents of Guilt One of the ancient Romans highly celebrates the Astronomers who discover'd the true Causes of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and freed the World from the double darkness of Ignorance and Fear for before that Discovery Men believed the obscuring of those great Lights were the fainting fits of Nature and mortal Symptoms threatning an universal Calamity But what Praise and Blessing is due to our Saviour who hath given us infallible assurance that the Death of the Righteous is not as the Heathen World imagin'd an irreparable loss of Life but a short eclipsing of this low and mean Light that is common to sensitive Creatures to be restored more excellent and permanent in Heaven where those Stars shine in the Divine Presence for ever Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This should render him infinitely precious to us and inflame our Hearts with Desires equal to our Obligations to serve him 2. Let us make it the main Business of our Lives to remove from our Souls the just Fears of Death 'T is one of the solemn Follies of the World to fear where there is no cause As if a Sentinel should mistake Gloworms in the Night for lighted Matches and give a false Alarm but 't is a worse Folly though pleasing not to fear when there is the greatest Reason to excite it And 't is so in the present Case for the most are without the Fear of Death that should make them serious in preparing for it nay to maintain their Security are as unwilling to hear Conscience declare the Wretchedness of their Condition with respect to Eternity as Ahab was the Prophet Micaiah who always foretold evil things to him 'T was the chief Design of the Philosophers by Principles of Reason to fortify themselves against all frightful Accidents and with a masculine Mind with an Heart ardent and with generous Spirits to encounter this inevitable Evil. When one of them was threatned by the Emperor Antigonus with present Death he boldly replied Threaten this to your dissolute Courtiers that are softned and melted by sensual Pleasures and easily receptive of terrible Impressions not to a Philosopher to whom Death is contemptible in any Appearance This was a piece of affected Bravery for Pagan Philosophy could never furnish them with Armor of Proof against the Dart of our last Enemy But the Gospel assuring us that Death is an Entrance into Immortality makes that to be the Reality of a Christian that was a vain boast of the Philosophers Now that we may be establish'd in that blessed Tranquillity that Death cannot discompose the following Directions are infinitely useful 1. We must give all Diligence to be in a State of Reconciliation with God The things requisit to that are as the Apostle declares Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance includes a Godly Sorrow for Sins past with a Detestation and forsaking them sincerely without Hypocrisy and entirely without Partiality in the Heart and Conversation 'T is call'd Repentance from dead Works the proper Name of our Sins that deserve Eternal Death By Repentance we return to Obedience that is due to God our Maker and Lawgiver Faith respects the Redeemer who by his Blood shed on the Cross and pleaded in Heaven reconciles God to penitent Sinners The Belief of his merciful and powerful Mediation for our Acceptance and Pardon Works by Love and constrains us to dedicate our selves in a devoted Propriety to his Glory and Service and to live according to that Dedication These two are absolutely necessary to the vital and salvifical State of a Christian. And as soon as a Person sincerely repents and believes he is justified before God and if he dies will certainly obtain eternal Glory This should be the early and most speedy Work of our Lives for the Delay of Repentance and Neglect of securing the Favour of God arms Death with more Stings and Terrors The infinite Danger of this I will unfold to awaken the Careless and Secure The Devil is a Sophister in Perfection and his ordinary and successful Artifice to elude the force of present Conviction and wrap Men in Sin and Damnation is to induce them to delay the great Work of the Soul till afterward He is not so foolish to tell them as he did our first Parents Ye shall not die for the Temptation is so palpable that it could deceive none Though the Evidence and Certainty of supernatural Truths that disturb the Security of Sinners is sometimes obscur'd by affected Doubts yet there is no Artifice that can resist the full and strong Conviction in Men that Death is inevitable Though Nature recoils from it with Abhorrence yet this sad Truth is so visible that it forces an Assent from all Those who are titular Gods the greatest Princes are not so vain as to pretend to an Exemption by Priviledg from that fatal Necessity they cannot fancy to be imbalm'd alive and that Nature may be made incorruptible by Art The Palace is as near the Grave as the Cottage therefore the Devil cherishes in Men fond hopes of a long Life As some optick Glasses deceive the Sight and make a superficial Representation in Colours on a Wall but two or three Steps distant appear a long deep Gallery Thus the Tempter by a dangerous Deceit presents to the Imagination the fatal term at a
that seals up the Damnation of Sinners is Impenitence Now he that delays the returning to his Duty shall have more cause to repent hereafter but less Will and Power for Sin repeated makes him more uncapable of Repentance and that which is Indisposition will become Averseness and Obstinacy The Heart with Difficulty changes its last End Actions may be suddenly chang'd when there is a Disability to perform them but the inward Inclinations to Sin without supernatural renewing Grace remain 'T is therefore the Subtilty of the old Serpent to make the Entrance of Sin easy for he knows that Custom is a second Nature and has a mighty Power in us Can an Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard change his Spots then may you who are accustomed to do Evil do good If Sin in its Infancy can make such Resistance that the Spirit of Grace is foil'd in his Motions to rescue the Soul from its Bondage how much more when 't is grown into a confirm'd Habit Therefore the Apostle urges so zealously To Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts lest any be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin 3. How uncertain is it whether God will accept the Addresses of such at last We are commanded Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near The Limitation implies if the Season be neglected he will hide his Face for ever Now in cases of great Moment and Hazard what Diligence what Caution should be used 1 st Consider how derogatory it is to his Majesty to offer to him the Dregs of our Age the Reliques of a licentious careless Life spent in the Works of Vanity Is this to give Glory to God Contempt provokes Superiours as much as actual Injuries How vilifying is it of his excellent Greatness that Men lavishly waste the best of their Time and Strength upon their Lusts and when through Weakness of Age or the Violence of a Disease they can no more do the Acts of Sin nor relish the Pleasures of Sin to presume that God will upon their Prayers forgive their Sins so long indulg'd and of such violent Provocations and receive them into his Kingdom as if he could not be happy without them and it were his Interest to receive them God has laid his Exceptions against such Addresses He may justly stand upon his Greatness and Honour If ye offer the Blind for a Sacrifice is it not evil And if ye offer the Lame and Sick is it not evil Offer it now to thy Governour will he be pleased with it to accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts As the Lord upbraids the Jews for their black Ingratitude in barginning for thirty pieces of Silver to have him betrayed to their Malice a goodly Price that I was prized at of them So when there is an universal Prostration of all the Powers and Faculties when the Spirits are damp'd the vital Heat is check'd and the function of the senses is obstructed then to seek to God for Mercy and to make fair Promises of Obedience he may justly reproach the Presumer a goodly time you have alotted for me Your Youth and Strength the Golden Age of Life has been wasted on your Lusts and in the Business of the World and the wretched remains you think worthy of my Acceptance 2 dly Consider what Sincerity or moral Value is in Religion that meerly proceeds from bitter Constraint 'T is a Rule in Law Falsum est eam peperisse cui mortuae filius extractus est 'T is not a natural Birth when the Child is extracted from the dead Mother 'T is not genuine Piety that is extorted by the rack whilst the Heart full of Reluctancy does not truly consent Pure Religion flows uncompell'd from Love to God 't is the Dregs that come forth with pressing 'T is observ'd of the Israelites that when God slew them they sought him and returned and enquired early after God But 't is added Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouths and they lied to him with their Tongues for their Hearts were not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant How often does Experience convince us of the Inefficacy of a Sickbed-Repentance How many that were very devout and mournful with one Foot as it were in the Grave and another in Hell and were as a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire yet when the Fear of Death is removed all the Terrors of Conscience the religious Affections that were felt and express'd by them vanish as the Morning-Dew Now converting Grace is distinguish'd by its radication and efficacy not only from the mere Pretences of those who know their own Insincerity but from the real Workings of Conscience and the imperfect Dispositions to Good that are in the Unrenewed And those Persons who with the return of Health have returned to their Sins if they had died with their religious Resolutions would have presum'd that their Repentance was unto Life and of their Interest in the Divine Mercy The Heart is deceitful above all things and above all things deceitful to it self Besides when Sinners are plunged in deep Distress when the shadow of Death sits upon their Eye-lids they may with plentiful effusions of Tears desire God to receive them to Heaven not to see and praise his adorable Excellencies not to please and glorify him for ever but as a Sanctuary from revenging Justice a Refuge from Hell And will such Prayers prevail What swells the Confidence of Sinners but unworthy Notions of God as if a forc'd and formal Confession of their Sins could deceive his all-discerning Eye and Desires merely terminated on themselves were sufficient to reconcile his offended Majesty 3. There is nothing renders Men more unworthy of Mercy than continuance in Sin upon presumption of an easy Pardon at last This is the most provoking Abuse of his Goodness and Long-suffering that should lead them unto Repentance He can in the twinkling of an eye in the beating of a Pulse cut off the Sinner 't is as easy to his Power as to will it And there is no Consideration should be so melting and moving as his Clemency We read of David that he had more than once in his power Saul his unjust and cruel Enemy yet spared him the effect of it was that Saul was softened and under such compunction of Spirit that he wept confess'd his Guilt and persecuted him no more overcome by that unexampled Love If a Man find his Enemy will he let him go Yet Men take advantage from the Goodness of God securely to despise his Laws The habitual Sinner thinks that God is so gracious such a Lover of Souls so easy to be intreated that upon his dying Prayer Lord remember me in thy Kingdom the Answer will be To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise This is the deceitful Principle upon which Men usually build their Hopes as their Actions that bear the Image of their
them others appear and confound his Memory with their number so when Conscience is seriously intent in reflecting upon it self before it can reckon up the Sins committed against one Command innumerable others appear This made the Psalmist upon the survey of his Actions break forth in amazement and perplexity Mine Iniquities are more than the Hairs upon my Head therefore my Heart fails me But it will be one of the Miracles of that Day to enlarge the view of Conscience to all their Sins Now the Records of Conscience are often obliterated and the Sins written therein are forgotten but then they shall appear in so clear an impression that the Wicked shall be inexcusable to themselves and Conscience subscribes their Condemnation And O the formidable Spectacle when Conscience enlightned by a Beam from Heaven shall present to a Sinner in one view the Sins of his whole Life Now Conscience is a Notary in every Man's Bosom and though 't is not always vocal yet writes down their Actions The Sin of Judah is written with a Pen of Iron and with a point of a Diamond 't is graven upon the Tables of the Heart But then it shall be compell'd to give a full Charge against the Guilty Of this we have an infallible Presage in this World when Conscience turns the Point against the Breast of a Sinner and enforces the Tongue by a secret instigation to accuse the Person And this Information of Conscience at the last will make the Sinner speechless for the Book of Accounts with Divine Justice was always in his own keeping and whatever is recorded there was written with his own Hand And how will those hardned Sinners that now kick against the Pricks of Conscience be able to repel its strong and quick Accusations before that terrible Tribunal 4. Other numerous Witnesses will appear to finish the process of that Day Not as if God that knows all things wants Information but for the publick Conviction of the Wicked Satan will then bring in a bloody Charge against them Such is his Malignity that he is a Complainer of God to Man and by calumniating the Blessed Creator seduc'd our first Parents and he is the Accuser of Men to God He is stiled the Accuser of the Brethren before God day and night Sometimes falsly as when he taxed Job that his Piety was mercenary and often truly to provoke the Divine Displeasure But though his Charge be just against them as Sinners yet as Penitent Sinners they are absolved by the Judg upon the Throne of Grace This we have represented to the Prophet Zechary Joshua the High Priest a Type of the Church standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him for that was the place of Accusers But Christ the Blessed Reconciler interposed And the Lord said to Satan The Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee But he will principally act the part of an Accuser at the last Judgment This is intimated in that fearful Imprecation Let Satan stand at his right hand when he is judged let him be condemned He is now an active watchful Spirit whose Diligence is equal to his Malice and by glittering Snares or violent Temptations draws Men to Sin But then he will be their most bitter Accuser not from zeal of Justice but pure Malignity Then he will aggravate their Crimes by the most killing Circumstances though in accusing them he endites himself their Sins being usually done by his sollicitations And the Wicked themselves will accuse one another In this World Fellow-sinners usually conceal one anothers Wickedness restrain'd by their own obnoxiousness But then all that have been jointly engaged in the commission of Sin will impeach each other The voluptuous Sinners that have excited one another to Lust or Luxury Come let us take our fill of Love till the Morning Come I will fetch Wine and we will fill our selves with strong Drink for to morrow shall be as to day and much more abundant All the charming Companions and Associates will with fierceness charge one another And the malicious cruel Sinners that say Come let us lay wait for Blood let us swallow them up quick as the Grave will then like enraged Furies fly upon one another In all Sins of Combination the inferiour Instruments will accuse their Directors for their pernicious Counsel and the Directors will accuse the Instruments for their wicked Compliance And all the holy Servants of God who by their Instructions Counsels Admonitions Examples have endeavoured to make the World better especially those who by their Place and Relation were more concerned and more zealously and compassionately urged and perswaded those under their Care to reform their Lives and save their Souls will give a heavy Testimony against them Indeed the very Presence of the Saints will upbraid the Wicked for their resisting all the warming melting Intreaties all the grave and serious Reproofs all the tender earnest Expostulations that were ineffectual by the hardness of their Hearts Briefly the Scripture attributes to the Signs and Circumstances of Mens Sins a vocal Evidence against them Thus the Prophet speaking of the House built by Rapine and Extortion The Stones of the Wall cry and the Beams answer them and with concurrent Testimony accuse the unrighteous Builder And St. James declares That the Wages of the Hireling kept back by Fraud cry against the Oppressor And the Rust of Gold and Silver treasured up is a Witness against the Covetous And this by the recognition of Conscience will be a Memorial against them hereafter To what the Scripture speaks of this kind of Evidence of Mens Sins I shall add a useful Representation fram'd by a Heathen to signify that Wickedness how secretly soever committed shall be brought to light in Judgment He tells us That the Soul of a very guilty Wretch was after Death arraigned before one of the severe Judges below And at his Trial because his atrocious Crimes were done in secret he stood upon his defence denying all The Judg commanded his Lamp to be produc'd that was an Eye-witness of his Wickedness The Lamp appear'd and being demanded what it knew of him answered with a sigh Would I had been conscious of nothing for even now the remembrance of his Villanies makes me to tremble I wish my Light had been extinguished that the Oil that maintained had quench'd it But I burnt with disdain and cast about some Sparks to fire his impure Bed and was grieved that my little Flame was so weak as not to consume it I said within my self If the Sun saw these Villanies it would be eclips'd and leave the World in Darkness But I now perceive why I was constrain'd to give Light to him that being a secret Spy of his Uncleanness his Thefts and Cruelties I might reveal them But we that are enlightned by Faith and know that God is
the Apostle tho' a transcendent Saint devests himself of his own Righteousness that he may be entirely covered with the Righteousness of Christ and renounces all things that he may be found in him as his Surety in that Day of Accounts and obtain Pardon by vertue of his Satisfaction for Sin We cannot perfectly obey the Commands nor appease the Displeasure of God but the expiatory Sacrifice of Christ propitiats the Divine Justice This alone can make us stand in Judgment before the fiery Law and the fiery Tribunal and the Judg who is a consuming Fire to all the Guilty that appear in their Sins before him The Blood of the Mediator has sprinkled the Throne of God in Heaven and our Consciences being sprinkl'd with it by an unfeigned Faith we may appear before God the Judg of all with an humble confidence and enter into the Holy of Holies the Celestial Sanctuary with joy 2. Not only the pardon of our Sins but the acceptance and rewarding of our Services with eternal Glory is upon the account of our Saviour's compleat Righteousness There are defilements in the Persons and defects in the works of the Saints Their most holy and fervent Prayers are perfum'd by the Incense of his Intercession and so become grateful to God Our best Vertues are mix'd and shadowed with Imperfections but in him all Graces were conspicuous in their consummate degrees Our Obedience supposing it perfect is of no desert When we have done all we are unprofitable Servants but his Obedience was infinitely meritorious by the union of the Deity with his humane Nature and is the foundation of the excellent Reward Not that his Merits derive a value to our Works to make them worthy of eternal Glory as some noble Mineral infused into Water that is in it self without taste or efficacy gives it a medicinal tincture and Virtue for this is impossible since the infinite Dignity of his Person and his most perfect habitual actual Holiness that are the fountains and reasons of his Merits are incommunicable to our Persons and Works But the active and passive Obedience of Christ is so satisfactory and meritorious that God is pleased graciously to reward with the Crown of Life the mean Services of those who are by a lively and purifying Faith united to him Secondly Sincere Obedience that is an uniform and entire respect to all the Commands of God will alone be accepted in that day for his Authority runs through all and binds them on the Conscience David had this Testimony from God himself that he was a Man after his own Heart that fulfilled all his Will And St. John refers the decision of our state to this If our Hearts condemn us of any allowed Sin of omission or commission much more God will who is greater than our Hearts and knows all things But if the illuminated tender Conscience doth not condemn us of insincerity we have confidence towards God that he will spare and accept us notwithstanding our Frailties and give free and safe access into his Presence The lives of many are chequer'd with a strange disparity they are restrain'd from some Sins of apparent odiousness but indulgent to others they are strict in some Duties but loose and slack in others as if they hoped by way of commutation to be accepted of God to expiate their Delinquencies in one kind by supererrogating in another Some are painted Pharisees in the duties of the first Table very exact in the formalities of outward Devotions but gross Publicans in the duties of the second careless of Justice and Equity and Charity to Men Others are in appearance strictly moral in the discharge of their duties to Men and negligent of their Obligations to God But partial Obedience can never endure the trial of Conscience much less of God For what is the weak light of our Minds to the pure Eyes of his Glory It will make us liable to inward rebuke now and to open confusion at the last St. Paul's rejoycing was from the Testimony of his Conscience that in simplicity and godly Sincerity he had his Conversation in the World and as he expresses it in another place it was his daily Exercise to have a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men. Tho our conquest of Sin be not compleat yet our resolution and endeavours must be to mortify it in every kind Tho our Obedience has not the perfection of Degrees we must be equally regarding the Divine Law If there be any secret-favour'd Sin either of Omission or Commission it will render our Petitions unacceptable at the Throne of Grace and our Persons at the Throne of Judgment If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer The Law requires the performance of our Duty without abatement or denounceth the Penalty without allay or mitigation The Gospel has not relax'd the strictness of the Law as 't is the Rule of Life but as it was the condition of obtaining Life Sincere Obedience is accepted by that gracious Covenant where the Legal Perfection is wanting but that is indispensably required of all I may illustrate this by a Passage of Alexander the Great who being desirous to learn Geometry applied himself to a skilful Instructer in it But his warlike Disposition made him more capable to conquer than to measure the Earth so that tired with the first Propositions he desir'd his Master to make the Scheme more clear and plain and easy to him To whom the Master replied that the Theorems of that Science were equally difficult to all and requir'd the same attention of Mind to understand them Thus the Gospel of Mercy requires of all sincere Sanctification and serious endeavours to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and without this none shall be exempted from Condemnation To the sincerity of Obedience I shall add a more restrained Notion of it as respecting Religion The Duties of Piety consist of an outward and inward part and the one without the other is but as a Carcass without a quickning Soul Now there will be an exquisite Anatomy of the Heart in that Judgment a discovery of all the Principles and Motives by which Men were acted and then he that is a Saint inwardly in the Spirit who with pure Aims and holy Affections hath served God shall have praise of him And those who have us'd God to injoy the World that have assumed pretences of Piety for secular Ends shall be reproved This will be a cause of wonder in that day that many who are highly esteemed by Men as excellent Saints shall be an abomination to God That in the broad way to Hell thousands go thither is sad beyond expression but not strange at all but that in the Path of Heaven any should descend to Hell is astonishing That those who live without God in the World in the prophane neglect of his Worship in a dissolute disorderly course should fall under Condemnation is believed
difference between what is Temporal and Eternal how despicably light all the Vanities of this World are found when put in the Ballance against the infinite inestimable Happiness of the next In short the renewed Mind knows Spiritual Things according to their Nature and Qualities believes esteems and determines that they are of eternal Moment and absolutely necessary for the Happiness of Man And as when the natural Faculty of seeing is perish'd 't is irreparable by human Skill and without a Miracle can never be restored so the intellectual Faculty when darkned by sinful Lusts without the renewing power of the Spirit can never know Spiritual Things as they ought to be known Therefore as the blind Men in the Gospel who dispair'd of help from the Physicians hearing of the miraculous Power of Christ importunately begg'd his healing Mercy so let us pray to the Light and Saviour of the World but in a more noble and higher Sense Lord that we may receive our sight Let us with the most zealous Affections call upon the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory that he would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him the Eyes of our understanding being inlightned that we may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints 2. The efficacious Influence of the Holy Spirit is requisite to change the Will that with a free and full consent it may desire and prosecute the Spiritual Eternal Good Without this the conviction of the Mind is not powerful enough to convert the Soul from the love of the World to choose Heaven There may be an inlightned Conscience without a renewed Heart Though the Judgment assents that God is the Supream Good yet till the Heart be circumcised the sensuality of the Affections taken away divine Love that directs the Life to God as our blessed End can never possess it Suppose that Men had a sensible and strong assurance of the Eternal State hereafter if all those who lived godly in a visible manner ascended with Elias to Heaven and if all who continued in their Sins visibly descended into Hell as Corah and his Company were swallowed up alive by the Earth before the Israelites if Men could hear the joyful Exultations of the Saints above their high Praises of God and hear the desperate Crys and deep Complaints of the Damned if one according to the desire of the rich Man were sent from Hell and with his Fiery Tongue should relate what he had seen and suffer'd and exhibit a sensible demonstration in himself of those Torments yet this alone were not sufficient to draw off their Hearts from the deceitful Happiness of this World and fasten them on the perfect and Eternal Happiness in the next Indeed they could not then indulge their Lusts so securely but they would be Strangers to the Life of God such an inveterate alienation of Heart is in Men from real Holiness Till the sanctifying Spirit by a directive persuasive Light that represents the Truth and Goodness of Spiritual Things transforms the Soul and makes it Spiritual in its Valuations and Affections 't is inwardly averse from Grace and Glory The Lord direct our Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS OF HELL BY WILLIAM BATES D.D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1691. OF HELL Mark 9.48 Where their Worm dieth not and the Fire is not quenched THE Words are the repetition of a powerful Motive by our Blessed Saviour to deter Men from indulging Temptations to sin how grateful or useful soever to them If thy Hand offend thee cut it off if thy Foot offend thee cut it off if thy Eye offend thee pluck it out All the Occasions whereby Sin insinuates it self and inflames our Inclinations whether it bribes us with Profit or allures by Pleasure must be immediately cut off and for ever separated from us This Counsel seems very severe to the natural Man who freely converses with Temptations To do Violence to himself and tear his beloved Lusts from his Bosom the Carnal Nature will not consent to Our Saviour therefore urges such Arguments as may move the Understanding and Affections may strike Sense and Conscience For it is better to enter into Life maimed than having two Hands to go into Hell where the Fire never shall be quenched Hope and Fear are the most active Passions The Hope of Heaven is motive enough to induce a true Believer to despise and reject all the Advantages and Pleasures of Sin that are but for a Season and the fear of an Everlasting Hell is strong enough to controul the vicious Appetites Reason determines that when a Gangreen that is deadly and spreading has seiz'd upon a Member presently to cut off an affected Arm or Leg to save the rest how much more reasonable and necessary is it to part with the most charming and favourite Sin to preserve the Soul from Eternal Death 'T is observable our Saviour inculcates three times that Men may take notice of it with terror Where the Worm never dies and the Fire is never quenched A Worm gnawing upon the Bowels that are of the most tender and quick sense Fire that causes the most vehement pain are fearful Representations to typify the Torments of the Damned And that the Worm is undying and the Fire unquenchable infinitely aggravates their Punishment The Proposition is this That the punishment of those who will retain their pleasant or profitable Sins shall be extream and eternal In the handling of this Point I will 1. Discourse of the Extremity of the Punishment 2. Of the Eternity of it 1. Of the Extremity of it Before the particular Description of the Pains of the Damned I shall observe in general That the full Representation of Hell is beyond all humane Expression nay our most fearful Thoughts cannot equal the Horror of it Who knows the Power of thine Anger What are the prepared Plagues by infinite Justice and Almighty Wrath for obstinate Sinners It is impossible for the most guilty and trembling Conscience to inlarge its sad apprehensions according to the degrees of that Misery The Lord will shew forth his Wrath and make his Power known in the Vessels fitted for Destruction None can tell what God can do and what Man shall suffer when made capable to endure such Torments for ever as now would presently consume him As the Glory of Heaven cannot be fully understood till enjoyed so the Torments of Hell cannot be comprehended till felt But we may have some discovery of those unknown Terrors by the following Considerations 1. The most heavy Judgments of God upon Sinners here are light and tolerable in Comparison of the Punishment of Sinners in the next