soul It is dreadful to consider what a mass and mountainous bigness the sins of a poor carnal wretch arise unto if we lay them together his original sin actual sins sins of omission and commission his secret sins and open and scandalous sins his whole life hath been a trade of sin and whatsoever proceedeth from him is sin the ploughing of the wicked is sin and his prayer is turned into sin And to his own sins personally committed we may add his other mens sins either occasioned countenanced or allowed Now multiply these by their particulars and individuals and measure all by their sinful circumstances and then judge of the guilt of every sinful ma that dieth in unbelief and without pardoning grace through the bloud of Christ Secondly The conscience of every wicked man is awakened immediately after death and dissolution to a continual sense of the guilt of all his sins Natural conscience in carnal men is for the most part peaceable silent in this present life delight custome in sin hardning the heart and searing the conscience which they labour to keep asleep by diverting the thoughts to worldly objects or to satisfie by a formal profession attended with some outward performances But as soon as ever the soul of an unregenerate person is separate from the body this lyon awaketh sleepeth no more the faculties of the soul being alwayes in act and exercise in a separate state whereby his sins shall be alwayes before him and set in order before his eyes upon which his conscience shall reflect continually without diversion or intermission Then the sins you have laboured to forget and cast out of mind shall be brought to remembrance and ye shall ever behold them for which conscience shall charge and accuse you and in the fresh remembrance of them you shall lye down self-condemned for ever This is the worm that never dieth Mark 9 48. But shall gnaw your hearts to eternity Thirdly Hereupon the soul of a wicked man shall tremble at the sight and presence of God That the soul of every man and consequently of the wicked shall see and approach the powerful and immediate presence of God in his Divine nature and essence upon their dissolution is apparent in that the spirit of man is said to go upward Eccles 3.21 And to return to God who gave it Chap. 12.7 As also by the particular judgement immediately consequent upon death whereby God appearing to conscience decideth and determineth the eternal state and condition of every soul preparative to the last and glorious appearing of Christ at the great and terrible day who shall then judge the whole world and the soul and body together For it is appointed unto men once to ye and after this the judgement Heb. 9.27 Which may include this particular judgement after death whereof we are speaking as well as the last and general judgement yet some restrain it to the particular only But in what manner the soul of a wicked man shall see God take in a few words Death being the unclothing and putting off off the earthly house of the body the soul remaineth naked in respect of that clothing which nakedness of the separate souls of the Saints is covered and clothed upon with the glory of their house in heaven 2 Cor. 5.3 In which state of nakedness wherein the souls of the wicked abide the soul must needs be quickly and powerfully apprehensive of God and of any impression and influence of God upon it as the body being naked of its clothing is tenderly sensible of heat or cold and any thing that approacheth unto it For the foul being separate from the body receiveth its object no more through the senses of the body but in an immediate way of discovery of them We know also that the Lord doth sometimes immediately wound the spirit of man while it is in the body by letting fall the drops of wrath upon it and thereby tormenteth it which David calleth the rebukes of God Ps 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Moreover if the soul being a spirit and separate from the body can converse with spirits as the Saints with Angels and the damned with Devils much more with God the Father of spirits who can discover himself unto them as he pleaseth But take heed of mistaking here for though a gracious and and sanctified soul reconciled unto God hath to do with him as a father in the apprehension of his love through which it hath comfort and joy in communion with him yet it is not so with the sinful soul of that than that dieth in his sins which apprehendeth God only as he appeareth to it in wrath and displeasure for without holiness no man shall see the Lord that is with peace and comfort Heb. 12.14 Now consider ye that forget God can ye see and behold the wrath of his countenance doe ye not tremble in your very thoughts of him Surely the presence of an angry God will make every guilty soul to fear and tremble at his feet when they shall be brought before him by his Serjeant Death The apprehension of guilt and of God together made Adam and Eve to run behind the Trees for fear when they heard the voice of God in the garden Gen. 3.8 Moses though a Favourite yet when he saw the appearance of God in the thundrings and lightnings and earthquakes the smoke and fire heard the sound of the trumpet upon Mount Sinai he said I exceedingly fear â—nd quake Heb. 12.21 When Elijah apprehended God was in the still small voice he wrapped his face in his mantle â—nd went out and stood in the entring of the â—ave 1 Kings 19.13 When Job came to see God with his eyes he abhorred himself in dust and ashes Job 42.6 The judgements of God made holy Davids flesh to tremble Psal 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee I am afraid of thy judgements The glorious vision which Isaiah saw how did it work upon that holy Prophet Isaiah 6.5 When he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and cryed woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King â—he Lord of Hosts And if these Saints so eminent for grace and holiness have trembled at the presence of God manifested unto them in love and mercy how shall the unner and ungodly stand in his sight Doest thou beleive there is a God If not thou shalt see and beleive but remember that the Devils beleive and tremble Fourthly The soul of a wicked man thus trembling before God the holiness of God breaketh forth in wrath upon the soul to punish torment it For the soul appearing before God in the guilt of all its sins which are the greatest contrariety opposition against the holy nature of God who
be with him which in it self considered was earnest agreeable to his earnest expectation or stretching forth of the hand in looking as that word denoteth in the 20. verse of this Chapter To depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be dissolved according to others or to die as the Apopostle had said in the 21. verse To die is gain The Apostle seemeth to strain himself for a word that he might set forth so gainful a death as he is speaking of which sometimes he calleth a dissolving of this earthy tabernacle and an unclothing 2 Cor. 5.1.4 Peter styles it a putting off of this tabernacle The spirit of God in the Holy penmen of the Scriptures hath set forth the death of the Saints by pleasant and alluring expressions as to sleep to be changed to be gathered to the Fathers and in this place to depart And to be with Christ Paul was in Christ alwayes by grace and Christ revealed in him by the spirit of illumination he was a follower of Christ by conformity and obedience and came behinde none of of the other Apostles in his labour and sufferings for him and as he desir'd to be found in Christ so to depart and to be with him that he might immediately enjoy him and enter into the joy of his Lord and Master unto whom he had been faithful in his ministry and Apostleship The state of happiness is often set forth in Scripture by this phrase of being with Christ and being with the Lord Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Rom. 6.8 Now if we be dead with Christ we believe we shall also live with him And 1 Thes 4.17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall ever be with the Lord. Which is far better * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or very much better that is in regard of himself it is better to die then to live though in regard of the Church for him to abide in the flesh it was better and more needful for them as in the following verse And in regard of himself and his glory with Christ it must needs be far better if we consider as Paul did that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which should be the reward of his light afflictions as he so them esteem'd comparatively 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is beyond expression * Christus caelum non patiuntur hyperbolem And therefore our translation rendereth it a farre more exceeding as Paul here styles it far better Having thus opened the words of the Text I shall lay down one Proposition only from these words of the Apostle and handle that as suitable to this present occasion and solemnity Doct. That it is the desireable and peculiar priviledge of the Saints to be brought immediately to Christ by their departure hence by death In the managing of this doctrine or proposition I shall endeavour to shew and clear these three general Heads the handling whereof will take in the substance and essential parts of the whole Text it self First What is that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the souls of the Saints departed immediately unto Christ Secondly what is it or what may be understood by this phrase to be with Christ Thirdly how doth the death of the Saints bring them immediately to Christ at their departure and in what manner doth the Soul depart to Christ First What it that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the Souls of the Saints departed immediately to Christ 1. Negatively Every death or the death of every man doth not bring him or his soul to Christ It is not death barely and in it self considered as it is a privation of life by the dissolution of nature and parting asunder of soul and body Otherwise what were the priviledge of Paul which here he so greatly desired more then of Judas the Traitor but that Judas went not to Christ but to his own place is evident Acts 1.25 The godly and the wicked die alike in respect of natural dissolution Eccl. 2.26 How dieth the wise man as the fool As there is no visible distinction or marke of difference between the Godly and the wicked by the external things of providence in the course of their lives but all things fall out a like to all men that no man might know love or hatred by what is before him but by what is within him and upon his heart so neither can the righteous be discerned from the reprobates by any visible character of the outward manner of their departure and dissolution And this will appear in the several kinds of death both are subject unto in the course of providence as also in the outward circumstances thereof The godly and wicked may both die of the same disease and distemper of body as feaver consumption dropsie yea the most painful diseases as the gout and the stone and also of the most noy some and uncomfortable distempers as the small pox and the plague it self of which Hezekiah was sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 Again they may both die by a violent hand Stephen was stoned to death as well as Achan They may both also die by the same occasion and sudden providences as those upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them Luke 13.4 Which did not argue that they were greater sinners then others Moreover they may both die in the full number of their days and a wicked man may live to be an hundred years old and be accursed Isai 65.20 And though wicked men sometimes through the just judgement of God doe not live out halfe their dayes yet the godly may die in their youth and strength and the Lord in mercy take them away from the evil to come Isa 57.1 Lastly they may die alike in regard of the present peace and calm or trouble and disturbance of spirit a godly man may want assurance upon a death bed and a wicked may goe out of the world like a Lamb with peace and presumption and a quiet dissolution Psal 73.4 There are no bands in their death 2. But positively That death which bringeth the Soul to Christ at the time of departure out of this life is to be considered in relation to the state and condition of the person in death as holy righteous and godly So that it is the quality of the person dying that makes him happy in his death whose death is his gain and his departure to be with Christ To this the Scriptures bear clear and rich testimonie Prov. 14.32 The righteous hath hope in his end Ps 37.37 The godly man is marked with this priviledge Marke the perfect man behold the upright the end of that man is
cannot but glorifie himself vindicate his holiness the justice of God in the execution of his infinite unsatiable displeasure can no longer be suspended but stirreth up his fury as fire to prey upon the soul Thus fitted for destruction The day of patience is now over wherein the Lord waited upon this soul in the ministery of the Gospel in the use of all means to gain it in wooing it by tenders of grace mercy warning it by foretelling this present misery What fair opportunities rich advantages hath all wicked ungodly wretches to prevent this condemnation and to escape the wrath of God while the glorious Gospel of the great God is preaching to them wherein grace is upon the knee and mercy stretcheth forth her hands Christ standeth knocking at their hard hearts and his messengers cry aloud to their deaf ears No wonder therefore if now patience abused turn into fury mercy slighted stir up indignation and contempt of favour heighten displeasure and hereby wrath is treasured up against the day of wrath Rom. 2.4 5. Or despisest thou the richer of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God God is a consuming fire to all such dry and combustible souls seizing upon them as straw and stubble in their approach unto him like Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not Lev. 10.2 And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. O that the sinners in Zion were afraid and that fear might surprise the hypocrites Consider who among you shall dwell with the devouring fire and who among you shall dwell with everlasting burnings The wrath of the Lord is the lake of fire and brimstone of which the Scripture so often speaketh this is hell it self wherein God himself is the tormentor who by his wrath kindleth those unquencheable flames Isa 30.33 For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he bath made it deep and large the pile thereof is much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone kindleth it In this Scripture the Lord denounceth hell to King Sennacherib in describing whereof the Prophet alludeth to the fires in the valley of Hinnon wherein those Idolaters burned their children in sacrifice to Moloch and that the parents might not hear the cry of their children they beat up their taâ—rets or drummes and from the name of Toph or drum the place was called Tophet So in hell there shall be no pitty or compassion of God to the cryes of burning souls And this is the punishment of old ordained not only for Sennacherib but all the ungodly which is said to be deep and large As the dimensions of Gods love to his people in heaven are highth length depth and breadth in all which love passeth knowledge so are the dimensions of his wrath to the damned in hell which we are not able to conceive the heat whereof is intollerable as of a fire made with much wood and eternal through the stream of wrath for ever flowing forth from God the fountaine of wrath to the wicked the hot breath of whose mouth kindleth and bloweth up the everlasting flames of their endless sorrow and torments Fifthly the soul under this consuming wrath of God lyeth down in everlasting despair of ever being released or in the least measure releived or eased Eternity in torments maketh them unsupportable though in themselves they were not so heavy and burthensome how much more intollerable will that punishment be that is both in nature as well as duration so insufferable And if the paines of wrath but for one hour in hell cannot be recompensed with all the wealth of the world who would venture the eternity thereof for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season The damned in hell apprehend the endlessness of their torments by the immortality of the soul the demerit of sin and the unchangeableness of God from whom they suffer If the soul could be consumed or annihilated by its torments if sin could be expiated by any measure of sufferings or if God could repent or be moved to compassion there might be hope in hell but all these are impossible For God changeth not guilt diminisheth not the soul wasteth not therefore the worm never dieth and the fire is never quenched Mark 9.48 And to seal up this bottomless pit upon such miserable souls we may add that if there might be any help in this case either Christ must suffer once more to expiate Gospel disobedience as he suffered for legal or time must be called back again for these tormented ones to enjoy once more the Gospel which they refused But neither of these can be imagined Christ will no more leave the bosom of his Father and his glory having offered one sacrifice for ever and being set down at the right hand of God from hence expecting that all his enemies should become his footstool Heb. 10.12 13. For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries verses 26 27. And who can call time again that is past If God should bring the Sun back upon the dial by a contrary motion through all those minutes of time it hath gone from the beginning of the creation and of its motion in the firmament time would still goe forward by the Suns going backward and it would measure succeeding time by its retrograde motion So that to call time again that is past is one of those impossibilities which God himself cannot doe because it implyeth a contradiction Therefore this shall aggravate the misery of the soul under the wrath of God that the sufferings are easeless endless and helpless wherein the wicked shall bewail their lost seasons never to be regained and their precious time never to be redeemed Despair is written upon the gate of hell whence there is no returning Omnia te adversum spectantia no prints appearing of the feet of any that have come from thence Sixthly the Soul of a wicked man thus desparing under the implacable wrath of God shall stir up it self against God through malice and despite in sin to curse and blaspheme him to his face For the soul being an immortal spirit cannot be only passive but active under its intollerable sufferings the object whereof being God and sin and punishment or God punishing it for sin and all the acts of the soul being purely evil and sinful without the least mixture of good the soul must of necessity be so far from an humble acknowledgement confession and godly sorrow as to
sin not for the patience of God to every carnal soul persisting in rebellion and disobedience is but a present suspension of eternal wrath which may suddenly break forth and begin in temporal judgements upon them And take heed of interpreting the silence of God to be his allowance of sin for because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to doe evil Eccle. 8.11 Whereas if the Lord should execute his wrath immediately upon every profane person in the act of sin what fear would surprise your hearts who would swear a profane oath if he were sure to dye as soon as the word is out of his mouth who would commit adultery if he were to be thrust through with a sword in the act of his uncleanness who would steal his neighbours goods if he were perswaded he should be immediately stoned to death what drunkard would venture upon excess if he apprehended every immoderate draught to be so much deadly poyson to destroy him Or who would exalt himself against God and his people if he beleived that the earth would presently open her mouth and swallow him up quick And is the wrath of God less fearfull because through patience it is deferred in the execution of justice and recompense upon ungodly men For ye are not only by nature the children of wrath but because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.6 Therefore let no man deceive himself with vain confidence and presumption as if God had said in vain that he will render to every man according to his deedes Vnto them that are contentious and obey not the truth 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 Rom. 2.8 9. O that ye would set the Lord before your eyes and his consuming displeasure when ye are venturing upon any act of folly and iniquity possibly this might restrain corruption and check your violent lusts ready to break out into practise and actual commission What are the damned suffering in hell for the same sins that ye are committing daily Bethink your selves how ye shall endure those torments or rather that ye may escape them labour to foresee them and present them to the face of your stout and head-strong corruptions When the temptation is before you the place present and the company of evil workers ready to joyn with you in any unlawful and sinful enterprise or design remember that hell is kindled and the flames thereof ascend for ever Is not a fiery furnace hot enough or a bottomless pit deep enough to terrifie your senseless spirits Or can ye endure to be ever burning in that furnace and ever falling in that piâ— Our Saviour tells those that offend his little ones Matth. 18.6 That it were better a milstone were hanged about their necks and they cast into the bottom of the sea Were there any hope for such to arise from perishing under the mighty waters And is there not much more weight in the infinite wrath of an omnipotent God to sink you down to the nethermost hell and to keep you under the foaming billowes and raging and roaring waves of the Lake of burning brimstone O that ye would consider this ye that forget God least he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Venture not the day of Gods displeasure and provoke no longer omnipotency to appear against you least the roaring lion seize upon the prey and say not peace and safety for sudden destruction shall come upon the wicked as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape Cease your mocking ye that scoffe at the threatnings of God that say let him make speed and hasten his worke that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy one of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it Isai 5.19 How soon the Lord may come in wrath and judgment upon you ye know not and all that spend their dayes in vanity shall goe downto the grave in a moment How soon doth the cloud arise which at length covereth the whole heavens and the ratling thunders make you tremble and the white flashings of lightning turn you into darke holes to hide your heads how fair a morning had the wicked Sodomites when the Sun arose so gloriously upon their City and by and by a showr of fire and brimstone turned all into ashes And how did the security of the old world deceive them when they took no warning by Noah the preacher of righteousness nor by the building of the Arke until the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened and the deluge came the flouds increasing and covering the tops of all mountaines so that their was no help in their distress but all perished together in those swelling waters Gen. 7. latter end And dare ye still scoffe at the messengers of the Lord saying where is the promise of his coming Are not the heavens and the earth kept in store and reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men And this day of the Lord will come also as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up The Lord is not slack concerning his coming but is long suffering to you-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Therefore seeing that all these things shall be dissolved when heaven and earth shall be in flames what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness 2 Pet. 3.9 10 11. Thirdly Then labour to get an interest in Christ before ye die What rich provision hath God made for immortal souls in sending the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to suffer under the imputation of sin that he might reconcile the disobedient and rebellious hearts of men unto himself And how often hath this Gospel been preached among you That God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever should beleive in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 Therefore we are embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God How willing is Christ to save your souls and to redeem you from wrath to come Oh let not your unbeleif frustrate the grace of God thereby depriving your selves of the benefit thereof so freely offered and fully revealed unto you Is not the golden Scepter of grace held forth and the royal Standard set up and proclamation made to sinners to turn and live How will ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation O ungrateful