for if there be no after reckoning there is then no danger at all But this thought if it be rightly entertained will be a strong curb to sin and a sharp spur to duty inasmuch as it must needs lead mens thoughts forward to such meditations as these There is certainly a future Judgment in which I am personally concerned I am Gods Creature and am placed under the Rule of his special Government and interested in the Sanctions of his Holy Law I am now a probationer for that day and all that I am doing in this world hath a reference unto that and must come under the strict examen of it Every thought of mine heart every word of my mouth and every deed that I do will then be called over and tryed whether it be conformable to or dissonant from the Rule by the which I must be either acquitted or condemned and so exact will that scrutiny be that not so much as one idle word shall escape it Math. 12. 36. Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of Judgment I am under the watchful eye of an all-seeing God who keeps an exact account of all my thoughts words and deeds and will certainly in that day bring them into open light and set them in order before me For God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing Eccl. 12. 14. I must dy ere long and there is no possible avoidance of it and then to the Judgment I must whether I will or no and it will be utterly in vain for me to tire the Rocks and Mountains to hide me from the presence of the great God or secure me from making my appearance before his Judgment seat There will need no witness then to be produced to prove any of the matters that shall be alledged against me since mine own Conscience is an exact register of all things and will be more than a thousand witnesses I am all the time that I am living in this world laying up treasures for eternity and those either of happiness or of misery which shall be righteously distributed to me according as I have been laying in in this time I have a righteous Judge unto whom I must give up my accounts with whom there is no respect of persons and a vain thing it is to hope to bribe him but according as my true state upon the most exact enquiry shall be found so will he take order about me and pass the sentence either of absolution or condemnation upon me Now what a check would such reflections as these are throughly believed and fixedly entertained give to the mad youngster in the midst of all his frolicks and mar all the mirth of his greedy lusts turning it into bitterness God therefore offers such a memento as this is to these Eccl. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God wiâ—l bring thee into Judgment Yea how would it put every one of us upon greater wariness to our selves and make a deep impression of that advice upon our hearts Eph. 5. 15. See that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time How would it put us upon pondering our way and living by rule and make us afraid of rash precipitant rushing into any action I am sure that Job tells us that he was awed by such a thought aâ— this and upon it to look well to himself lest at any time he should expose himself to the danger of not being able to hold up his head when he should be called to a râ—ckoning Job 3. 1. 14. What then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him 2. And what an amazing thought must it needs be to them that are at the point of death except they have made their peace with God As for those indeed who have through grace obtained a pardon acceptance unto life through the New-Covenant this thought must needs afford to them all preciousness and desirableness though still the very nature of the thing will carry in it an holy awe on their hearts But as for all others how can they aâ— such an hour look upon it without horror Truly the uncertainty of death and the certainty of the following Judgment and Reckoning he must then be called to is enough constantly to fill the sinner with consternation for that he hath reason every moment to be afraid of the arrest though careless men put away the thoughts of this on presumption that the vision is for many days to come But when he perceives that he hath but a very few days or hours to stay death now stares him in the face shews him its Warrant and tells him he must be gone there is no hope of a longer reprieve what a tumult will it raise in him and what pungent thoughts must it needs fill him withal can he but reflect and say my working time is now done my day in which I have been laying up for another world is over and I am now ready to pass into an amazing Eternity and what an unconceivable change will it make with me what little hope have I that this Change is like to be unto me for the better and not for the worse I have indeed been hard at work in my little time and pursued my buisiness with great eagerness but what manner of work is it that I have been doing I have been laying up of vast treasures but where is it they are stored I am now going to appear before my Judge my naked soul must in a very little while be brought before his Tribunal and he will certainly recompence me without all partiality according to what I have done in the body whether it be good or evil If the life I have led in this world hath been wicked how can I expect that my latter end should be peace There is an Heaven and an Hell before me one whereof will receive me as soon as I depart but into which of these am I like to pass the Judge will certainly appoint me to one or the other of them Oh! where shall this Immortal Soul of mine lodge when it shall be called out of this mortal body shall be required at mine hands Have I any good reason to think that it shall be received by the blessed Angles and lodged in Abrahams Bosome or rather fall into the hands of rageful Devils and be hurried to endless torments What manner of life is it that I have been leading in the World Which way is it that I have been going Have I chosen that narrow way that leads unto life which there are but a few that find or have I not rejected it and gone in the broad way that leads to destruction
them all suitable directions and the greatest imaginable encouragements to help them in it and these are afforded to such as are in the Covenant with him Psal 147. 19 20. he sheweth his word to Jacob his statutes and judgments to Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation Impenitence in the former of these is a note of inexcusable folly and so it is charged on their foolish minds Rom. 1. 21. how much more then may it be imputed to the latter and their folly be reputed the Paroxism of madness inasmuch as they have a price in their hands and have not an heart to make use of it and whence is that but because they are fools according to Prov. 17. 16. Wherefore is there a price in the hands of a fool to get wisdom seeing he hath no heart to it they have life and death set before them and they chuse death they have the way to escape the Wrath of God and obtain Eternal Life and regard it not they are told whither their sinful courses do lead and where they will end and yet they will take no warnings but run wilfully and violently on to their own destruction like that fool Prov. 7. 22 23. he goeth after her straitway as the ox goeth to the slaughter and as a fool to the correction of the Stocks till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hacteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life they are invited and entreated to be reconciled unto God and to put away their sins by repentance and they mind it not but stop their ears and harden their hearts turn their backs they have a day of visitation in which the things of their peace are set before them and do not know it they see others of their fellow sinners cut off by Gods awful Judgments and it makes no impression upon them yea they themselves are brought to sorrow and shame and still they will not be reclaimed and were not madness in their heart could they do so Prop. II. That therefore such Sinners shall not stand in the sight of God Could that Philistian Prince say 1 Sam. 21. 14 15. the man is mad wherefore then have ye brought him to me have I need of mad men c. and will not God declare as much concerning these yea he hath said it Text. Here two things 1. That no such as these shall stand in Gods sight That this is so our Text fully asserts and many other parallel Scriptures confirm All that lies before us at present is to consider what is implied in this The words are a threatning and indeed a very awful one as will presently appear Here then let it be observed that the expression may reser either to the time present or that which is to come 1. With respect to the time present and then it intends that God will cut short their lives and hurry them out of the World before they should have died according to the ordinary course of nature hence we read Psal 55. 23. bloody and deeeitful men shall not live out hals their days and Eccles 7 17. be not wicked overmuch why shouldst thou dy before the time It is a common favour which God allows to men as he sees meet to spare them and let them fill up their number of dayes whereas such fools have reason to expect to be debarred of this priviledge and posted away before hand But I insist not here though this also affords matter of awful consideration 2. With respect to the time to come and then to stand in Gods sight intends to enjoy his special favour and love and we have this infelicity expounded in Isa 27. 11 and there are two seasons wherein they shall be debarred of this favour 1. In the day of Judgment In some sense all must stand before him then i. e. all shall be cited to make their personal appearance before God and receive their doom but by standing then we are to understand their being acquitted and accepted and acknowledged by him as his Redeemed these only are said to stand then whereas these fools shall fall before the Judge they shall be utterly disclaimed by him he will say to them Depart I know you not Mat. 7. 23. they shall be condemned and have a sentence of death pronounced on them Mat. 25. 41. Depart ye cursed and in this respect it is said Psal 1. 5. the uugodly shall not stand in the Judgment 2. In the Eternal Kingdom into which the righteous shall be received and partake in the Everlasting Vision of God these shall then be excluded Mat. 8. 12. The Children of 〈◊〉 Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness We observed that the word signifies A Settled Condition Heaven is the Godly mans Inheritance and when he comes there he shall settle to remove no more but there is no settlement for these but an everlasting exclusion from the presence of God which is a punishment ordained for them 2 Thes 1. 9. they shall never have one look of pitty or compassion from God any more for ever 2. That the reason of this is because they are such fools this will appear if we consider 1. That all men are foolish in their Natural Estate it is bred in and born with them it is the Wise mans observation in Prov. 22. 15. foolishness is bound up in the heart of a Child and we have it more distinctly set forth in Psal 58. 3 4 5. The wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies Ignorance of God and alienation from him is rooted in the hearts of all the posterity of sinful Adam and the Apostle giveth us a true account how it is with every natural man before regenerating Grace hath renewed him Eph. 4. 18. having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart 2. That yet there are a great many of these that shall stand in Gods sight God hath not left this foolish and sinful race without all hope The Doctrine before us is not to drive the wretched children of men to despair There have been such as have added to their natural folly prodigious wickednesses whereby they have expressed the height of their madness who yet notwithstanding have been made partakers in this grace to be heavens favourites and taken near unto God and entituled to all the Glories of his Kingdom what saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Neither Fornicators c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were some of you but ye are washed c. and he puts himself in the number in that declaration of his Tit. 3. 3. for we our selves also were sometime foolish disobedient deceived serving of divers lusts and pleasures c. 3. That in order to this they must be made wise Though God saves such as have been foolish yet he
doth not save them in their folly but from it God hates sin and it is his holy and pure nature that is displayed in his so doing as Hab. 1. 13. thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity There must therefore be a change wrought in them they must be cured of this distemper in order to their obtaining of this priviledge though God be Gracious yet he is Holy and will not baulk this Holiness of his but display it in the application of his grace to sinful men There must therefore a work of Sanctification pass upon them in which Sin must be subdued and grace must be implanted in them 4. That God offers this wisdom to all that live under the Gospel and invites them to seek to him for it Herein God shews his good will to such in that he hath told them wherein the true wisdom consists Job 28. 28. to man he saith the fear of God that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding and hath pointed them to know where it is treasured viz. in Christ Col. 2. 13. in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom knowledge bids them come to him for it and encourageth them so to do Jam. 1. 5. if any of you lack wisdom let him ask it of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him yea and expostulates with sinners about their refusing of it as one that is grieved Prov. 1. 22. how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and ye scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge 5. Hence it is by their impenitency that Sinners procure this to themselves If they would have hearkened to Gods voice and received instruction it had not been so but because they have hardened their hearts against all Counsel and would not receive his reproofs though he followed them with repeated cries and calls and tried all courses with them unto wonderful long suffering he therefore puts them out of his sight and they shall fall before his judgment hitherto therefore God reduceth the reason and lays the charge on which the threatning is built Prov. 1. 24 c. because I have called and ye refused c. I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh c. Prop. III. That this will render them extreamly miserable The Psalmist is here setting forth the miserable state of Impenitent Sinners and the summe of all infelicity is contained in this very thing Observe therefore 1. That it is a woful infelicity for a Sinner to be every day exposed to destruction to have the Wrath of God continually impending over him to be in the state mentioned Psal 7. 11. God is angry with the wicked every day to have the Arm of Divine Vengeance up with the glittering Sword of revenging Justice ready to give him the deadly stroak to have nothing before him but a fearful expectation of fiery indignation which shall devour him when it lights upon him in the fulness of his strength and folly to fall upon him and send him down to the pit of endless misery such is the condition of impenitent sinners at the best read at leisure Job 18. 5. to end and you shall find it there astonishingly described and see 1 Thes 5. 3. when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 2. Their condition must needs be fearful who shall fall before God in the judgment who shall not be able to stand when they shall appear before him in the great and terrible day It is a dreadful thing to stand at an Humane Bar and to have sentence of death pronounced upon one by the Judge it fills the by standers with consternation and what horror hath seized such as have been under it What shrieks and cries have they uttered what will it then be when the Judge of all the Earth shall say to the man as Mat. 21. 41. Depart thou cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Which Sentence will be immediately followed with as terrible an Execution and yet such is the portion of Impenitent Sinners 3. That to lose the sight and favour of God for ever is the quintessence of everlasting miseries what saith the Psalmist Psal 30. 5. in thy favour is life 63. 3. thy loving kindness is better than life 16. ult in thy presence is fulness of joys and the Apostle thought he had backed his Exhortation with a most potent argument in Heb. 12. 14. follow after Holiness without which no man shall see God in his light only can we see light and there is nothing but outer darkness out of it he that loseth God loseth all there is nothing but destruction that accompanieth this exclusion Hos 9. 12. Wo to them when I depart from them they fall under Gods indignation and we are told Psal 11. 6. upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup how miserable then must these forlorn creatures needs be USE I. Learn hence the grievous folly of those that embolden themselves in sin on presumption of Gods mercy The truth is the foolishness of Impenitency in nothing appears more than in the arguings by which men strengthen themselves in it and among these I know none more amazing than the delusion of a falsE hope in mercy notwithstanding men persist in iniquity and refuse to return this is that which God complains of Psal 50. 21. these things thou hast done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self And the Prophet urgeth it on them Jer. 7. 9 10. Will you steal murder commit adultery c. and come and stand c. and say we are delivered to do all these abominations As if God had no other way to shew himself merciful but by saving sinners in their sins whereas we are told that Christs great design is to save them from their sins Matth. 1. 21. Hence we have God using that Sarcasm Isa 27. 4. Fury is not in me who would set the briars and thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burn them together and drawing up that sentence verse 11. It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour But men forget that God hath a revenging Justice to glorify in the Obstinate as well as Mercy on the Penitent and whiles men thus nourish a vain hope to gratify their own lusts they lose the Opportunity of mercy and lay up treasures of wrath than which what madness can be more pernicious USE II. Let it then be a word of warning and terrour to Impenitent Sinners under the Gospel I know none that carries more of dread
What saith he Psal 76. 7. Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry He is an holy God he hates and is resolved signally to testify his displeasure at sin and wo to those that must be made the monuments of that displeasure of his better had it been for them if they had never been born He is a Just God and he will not suffer the righteousness of his Law to fail and if bold sinners will thrust themselves upon the swords point they shall feel the smart of it to their confusion He is a True God and faithful to his threatnings as well as to his promises and if he hath said that the foolish shall not stand in his sight let all impenitent sinners look to themselves for they shall find that the Strength of Israel is not a man that he should ly or a son of man that he should repent 4. Let the consideration of all this make you hastly and in earnest to fly to God for his Spirit and Grace to make you wise This is the right improvement that sinners ought to make of the Terrours of the Lord it should make them afraid of the wrath of God and put them into trembling at the apprehension of their danger and by this fear to be stimulated to an uneasiness and restlessness in their present condition and cause them to cry aloud to God for his pitty and help and by his Holy Spirit to work in them that great Change by which they may be turned from folly to wisdom from darkness to his marvailous light from sin to God And let the dread of such a misery as this separation will certainly produce be a spur to quicken you to make no more delays lest whiles you dispise the mercy offered and trifle away a precious day of Grace which you enjoy you pull down vengeance on your own heads be put beyond hope for ever 5. And to make you the more earnest look on and take warning by every awful monument of Gods dispeasure on this account There are those Judgments of his in the World which he designs to be exemplary for the rousing up of secure sinners and terrifying of them under the apprehension of his Holiness therein displayed When any are left by God to themselves and by their own naughtiness run themselves upon the sword of civil Justice and must be cut off by it God would have all Israel to hear and fear and do no more so presumptuously Such an one we have now in the Providence of God set before us and the Lord give us all the Grace to learn by it and let young ones in a special manner and more peculiarly such as are in their sins and leading a course possibly as vile and abominable as that was which led her into this snare take warning from this and let it be a solemn admonition to you let her History be your Caution lest God be provoked to make you an History too And now let me direct my speech to her but let all sinners in the Congregation take warning by it and not look upon themselves unconcerned Let me then say unto you that your own sin hath found you out and God hath made you a Spectacle to the world of his righteous indignation Your life is forfeited as to man you are made a Curse and may not be suffered to live but must be Cut off lest otherwise the Judgments of God should fall upon the land But still there is hope in Israel concerning this thing with regard to your poor immortal Soul though you must flee to the pit and no man may stay you yet Sovereign Grace can say of you as Job 33 24. Deliver her from going down to the pit I have found a ransom only know and be assured that if ever you be Saved you must be Converted and in order to your being Converted you must be Humbled And for your help I have five things to advise you about and do you look up unto God that you may be enabled solemnly to entertain them 1. Think what an egregious fool you have been if ever God shew you mercy he will imprint this thought on your heart very deep Remember then you were born and brought up in a Land of Uprightness in the Valley of Vision where Christ and Salvation by him hath been published You were admitted in your Childhood to partake in the priviledges of the Gospel Covenant have been by Baptism Sealed to the Service of God and devoted to be for him and no other You have doubtless had many private warnings and counsels given you by your Parents and Kindred and Godly Neighbours You have fat under the clear Dispensations of the Word of God in which you have been many a time over told of your sinful courses and the certain destruction that they would lead you to if you held on in them and been solemnly advised to break off your sins by repentance and all arguments have been used with you to perswade you of the necessity and happiness of your so doing You have seen and heard of the falls of others and of the misery which they brought themselves into thereby You have been your self left by God to fall into scandalous sins and warned thereby to beware and not to go on lest some worse thing should befal you and yet how have you despised instruction scorned reproofs and more desperately resolved in your own ways and courses until the holy God was provoked to leave you up to your self and withhold his restraining grace from you and so suffer you by your unaccountable madnels to lay your self open to the Sword of Justice and you must now dye as one that would not be instructed and you may well reflect on that expostulation and think that you hear God so saying to you Jer. 2. 17. hast thou not procured this to thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way Cry out then bitterly of this your own foolishness 2. Be convinced of the amazing danger which you have exposed your self to by your fearful hardness of heart and tremble to think that this hardness that you are under the power of may be Judicial I am sure it is so sometimes in Gods lighteous judgment with such as God hath spoken to used many endeavours with but they would not receive his advice affected hardness is very often punished in this liâ—e with inflicted hardness as Psal 81. 11 12. my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels and what more fearful plague can befal any soul on this side of Hell Had not your heart been dreadful hardned would you not have taken warning by the first fall which God left you to to have avoided evermore exposing of your self to such another nay would it
in which the multitude of mankind are travelling what Guilt is it that I have been contracting to my self by transgressing of Gods Law and exposing my self to the curse of it how many horrid and amazing sins do there stare me in the face sins which I have committed against light against conscience against mercy and patience against counsels and warnings against the strivings of the Spirit of God and what hope have I that these sins are forgiven and shall not be laid to my charge what grounds have I to think that my person is accepted with God and what is the foundation on which my hopes are built have I truly and cordially repented of these sins of mine or rather hardned mine heart against all calls and counsels into impenitence have I really forsaken these sins never to have to do with them more or do I not hold them fast and refuse to let them go Have I gotten into Christ by a true and living faith Have I made my Judge mine Advocate and my friend or have I not despised all his offers of Grace and Mercy and resisted his Spirit who strove with me and thereby horribly aggravated my Guilt provoked him to take Vengeance on me How shall I appear before this Great and Terrible God must I in that condition be haled to his Judgment Seat is there nothing to be done yet for my safety that I may not fall under his terrible indignation but may meet him with comfort must I dy and be judged and condemned and damned for ever Happy yea thrice happy are they that can say as he 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me at that day But as for me what shall I do I had chosen this text for a most solemn occasion which had been designed for this day which in pity to an Immortal Soul and to give Opportunity of a farther space for repentance is deferred God grant it to obtain the desired end But I hope with his blessing it may prove a seasonable subject both to the miserable object and to the whole Congregation I shall therefore offer at a brief Application of it USE 1. For Information in three particulars 1. Learn we hence the folly and madness which the generality of man-kind do labour of Are all men riding post to their dissolution and must they thence pass unto Judgment we must then certainly conclude that the workers of iniquity have no understanding If we take a due observation of the Lives and Conversations which the most of the Children of men are leading we may plainly read thus much in them viz. That they either believe that they shall never dy or at the least that they have no thoughts or expectations of ever being called to an after reckoning Doth the Covetous worlding who lays out all his thoughts and industry in laying up his treasures on earth and making of that his only care that by heaping up wealth and providing himself with abundance of the good things of this life he may have encouragment to sing that requiem to his Soul Luk. 12. 19. Soul thou hast goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry Doth he believe that he shall ever be parted from his possessions and he made to go to the generation of his fathers never to see light Doth the Profligate Voluptuary who seek no farther than to immerge himself in carnal pleasures spending of his time among vain and lewd Companions in drinking and gaming and wanton dalliances always making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof ever affect his heart with the thought or belief of the days of darkness which shall be many Doth the Profane Swearer that is every day rending of Gods blessed name with horrid Oaths and Cuâ—ses the wicked Sabbath breaker who on design takes holy time for his most gratefull Opportunity of acting his greatest debaucheries the Licentious Young person who despiseth his Parents â—ejects all their faithful counsels and warnings rebelliously and resolutely breaks away from under the yoke of Family Government and gives the reins to his youthful lusts the Fornicator and Adulterer who with greatest greediness drinks his stollen waters eats his bread in secret the thief who watcheth for the twilight for the black and dark night to commit his outrages in do these a great many more that might here have been brought into the number believe that their sins are written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond and that for all these things God will shortly call them to a severe account Do careless sinners who trifle away a day of grace without regard to their Souls and Eternity who live contented in their state of Unregeneracy and take no heed to make their peace with God or seek to secure an interest in Christ and that Salvation which is wrought out by him by giving all diligence to make their calling and election sure expect shortly to be called to a reckoning for their Talents received be doomed accordingly certainly no. And doth not the truth now under consideration say that all these labour of madness in their hearts whiles they live 2. Here we see one great reason why there is so much horrid wickedness committed in the World the root of it indeed is in that Original Sin which the hearts of all men are by nature full of and is a fountain that is always sending forth its bitter streams and he was never rightly acquainted with his own naughtiness who is not led by the observation of his actual prevarication to the source from which all do derive However there are those restraints under which the Corruption that is within men is held back from breaking forth into prodigious Enormities which is none of the least of these favours which God indulgeth the children of men withal but for which all humane Soâ—ieties must disband and one and not the least of these is the dâ—ead of an after reckoning imprinted on the Consciences of men by which they are kept in awe when therefore this chain with which God ties men up and sets bounds to their violence is taken off and men are insensible of any impressions from it what will not their impetuous lusts make them dare to do It is the Psalmists observation in Psal 36. 1. The transgression of the wicked saith in my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes and did men think of or believe the terrors of the Lord they would surely make them afraid were the expectation of a fuâ—ure judgment and a strict reckoning then to be taken of men of all that ever they have done realities to them they would not dare to do as they do Would the bold Sinner dare to run himself upon the point of the sword of revenging
Justice if he knew that it is for his life Would the miserable children of men dare Heaven with their impious blasphemies and all manner of bruitish abominations if they believed that there is a great and holy God who will bring them before his bar and punish them with everlasting destruction for these things No there is a root of Atheism in the bottom of all this Psal 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God And they that entertain arguings in their minds to put them on calling in question the being and perfections of God will certainly on the same Topicks conclude that there can be no Judgment The Prophet therefore is given to understand what it was that nourished the daring abominations of those Jews Ezek. 9. 9. The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great and the city is full of blood and the land full of perverseness for they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not And they that are arrived to entertaining of such sentiments as these are no better than Atheists 3. This truth tells us who they be that are the truly and only wise men not those that have the worlds verdict for such and are cryed up among men on this account not they who have that Character upon them Jer. 4. 22. They are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge All the skill that men have attained unto by which they out-do others in being able to get and keep the world all the wit which men exercise in carrying on their courses of iniquity with greatest secrecy and security will be found one day to have been nothing better than madness whiles they have looked no farther nor laid in any provision for the time to come and every such man hath the doom already declared against him that in the end he shall be a fool He he is the only wise man who believing the reports of a future account looking upon himself to be deeply concerned in it makes it his great study business to be providing for it and what ever be the changes that go over him in this world to secure peace in his latter end to study how he may and endeavour that he may make the Judge his friend Attourney to get a sure claim to the promises of the everlasting Covenant and all the mercies that are laid up in them to get now a sealed pardon of all his sins that none of them may rise up against him in that day and a Justification unto life This is the man who shall stand in the Judgment when all others shall fall this is the man who may look death in the face without dread and entertain joyful thoughts of that great Judgment which may make all other faces to gather paleness hearts to be filled with astonishment and horrour this is he who can look with an eye of faith on his appearance before God upon every warning that is given him of the approach of it can say Amen even so come Lord Jesus Who shall pass through death to be Judged and being there accepted before God and his cause found good shall pass from thence with comfort and be settled in the eternal Kingdom and live in the fulness of those joys that are in Gods prescnce And when the last Trumpet shall sound he knows now that his Redeemer is coming to give him perfect Salvation in both Soul body whiles they that had so little consideration as to neglect the things of their peace in the day of it having laid out and lost all their thoughts endeavours upon perishing things shall howl and lament bitterly when the Judge shall shut them out of his presence Chamber and thrust them down into the bottomless pit where shall be nothing but wailing and gnashing of Teeth USE II. Let this Doctrine be a watch word for sinners I am sure that it carries just matter of terrour in it to all such as are open to the Temptations of sin ready inconsiderately to entertain them I am sure that Paul made use of this very thing as his monitor to keep him close to his work and make him faithful in the discharge of it 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. We must all appear c. knowing therefore the terrours of the Lord we perswade men Let us then be always bearing this in mind and using of it as a potent argument on our hearts to excite us to be very careful fearful lest we should fall into the neglect of duty by reason of the discouragements which encounter in the way of it or run our selves into the Commission of any sin through the allurements which may be offered to us from the men or the things of the world Whatsoever arguments flesh and blood wicked men or Satan may at any time urge upon us to intice us in to sins of Omission or Commission let us be sure to weigh them in the ballance of the Sanctuary against this great consideration I must very shortly appear before God and be called to answer for this then and what an account shall I give to him ask will it bear the tryal of that day of revelation will it then have the approbation of the Judge or if it will not will the benefit which I shall gain by it in the gratification of carnal concupiscence make reparation for the damage which I shall sustain by the sentence of Condemnation that will then pass upon me for it and the fearful miseries which I shall undergo in the execution of that sentence and if not think what an ineffable infatuation it will be to give place to it When you are urged hard and find your selves beginning to give consent and address your selves to the Commission of any sin think seriously if the hand of Gods anger should now â—all upon me and cut me off and hasten me to the Judgment how shall I appear before this dreadful God what good might such thoughts as these do if reallized USE III. Let it be for a word of Warning to us all to be very careful in making ready to dye well whiles others are only solicitous in providing that they may rub through live according to their hearts desire in this woâ—ld let us be perswaded to be peculiarly thoughtful and practically so that when we come to dy we may make a good end And I know no argument that carries more of pungency in it to stimulate us hereunto than the Truth in hand if it be entertained with a one solemnity Let us then gather up our thoughts fix them frequently here Think I am going to the Judgment think who is to be Judge that no other than the all knowing heart-fearching holy righteous and Almighty God Think what will be the matter of the Judgment even all that I have been and done to a thought the most secret abomination that ever I was guilty of Think
what is the Rule according to which all will proceed and that will be the exact Law of Justice unless I am under Grace and so delivered from the Dominion of it Think what shall be the happiness of those that shall then stand and receive the sentence of absolution and what will be the woful infelicity of those that must â—all Think how sin hath exposed us all to condemnation where our only hope and help is even in Jesus Christ who alone can deliver us from the wrath to come Think now is the time for us to seek and secure a part in him by getting into him by a living faith it will be too late for this when death hath delivered us up to the Judgment Think what a fearful thing it will be then to be mistaken to go out of this life with hope that will prove a a spiders web to lean on an expectation that will fail and break under us Think if I make not the more hast it may be too late I stand on the very edge and brink of eternity the Judge is at the door Am I ready for it if not shall I dare to dally in an affair of such infinite concernment one moment will it not expose me to unconceivable hazard and when we see any such as have despised Gods Grace and run themselves desperately into self-destroying sins and are now ready to be posted away to their fearful account let any such Object before us put a suitable solemnity into our hearts and make us reflect and say I may go away as soon as or before such an one and am I in a better readiness have I done any thing more to lay in for a comfortable trial and let this drive you to him who is the God of all Grace to ask of him with the most intense importunity to work you up unto a meetnaess for this Appearance And now give me leave to add one word of advice to the poor Condemned Creature who is under a Sentence of Death Who if God had not put more pitty into the hearts of her pious compassionate Judges than she had for her own Soul had now been hearing the last Sermon that ever should have been Preached in her ears and the Lord grant that this respite given you may turn to the account of your Salvation else know it it will add a fearful Item to your astonishing account Oh that I might now have had the occasion and encouragement to have spoken a consolatory word to a broken heart wounded to death under the Arrows of the Almighty and sensible of her miserable condition humbly asking after the hopes of Salvation the Lord knows how my heart would have rejoyced might it have been so But since it must be otherwise I pray God that his Terrors may make you afraid and drive you yet before all hopes of mercy be past and gone in deepest sense of your own unworthiness to take Sanctuary in the Blood of Christ where only how much soever you have despised it you can obtain safety Your Humane Judge hath told you that you must Dy and that very quickly and you have no hope that this Sentence will be reversed But I am now to Cite you in the name of God to a more dreadful Judgment upon that as soon as ever you are dead you must be called to it and what preparation have you made what have you been doing in order to it alas a fearful deal you are but a young Creature but ah an old sinner grown ripe and must be cut down before you have seen twenty years in this world What a fearful Indictment hath the All-seeing God ready drawn up against you what uncountable bloody Items is it filled up withal I have already given you the most solemn advice in the name of God about these things on the last Sabbath and all the encouragement to seek for a pardon which the Word of God affords and many of Gods faithful Servants have been in publick or private or both solemn and serious in their applications to you and what do you now mean to do are you resolved to harden your neck till you be remedilesly destroyed will you add Impenitency to Iniquity trample on the precious Blood of Christ that hath been and is offered to you do you think to plead with God as you have done with men that you are guilty of Murder only according to mans Law and not â—is Shall the all-knowing God so be put off do you hope thy your lies which men have detected you of not only before but at your Trial and since your Condemnation will shelter you from the Vengeance of that God who is a Witness and â—ath said Rev. 21. 8. That all Liars shall have their part in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone Do you think that your abominable Whoredom committed in the Prison under the apprehension of being quickly to be thrust out of the World as an Execration will help forward your repentance or make your account more easie is this the provision that you are making for your standing before God let all that hear me this day take notice and tremble and learn by this amazing instance what sin persisted in under calls and counsels warnings will expose them to how righteous a thing it is with God to leave them up to a feared conscience Who would not be instructed Well I know that the blood of Christ can wash away this guilt too and the Soveraign Grace of God can yet discover it self and my hearts desire and prayer to God in this behalf continually is that it may be so and let every soul that is affected with the misery of this poor Creature lift up a prayer in this regard But know it that if you appear before your Judge under the guilt of these Crimson and Scarlet Sins a few days more will fix you in Eternal Miseries and because you have despised mercy in the day of it you shall have Judgment without mercy and can your heart endure to be made the Subject of Gods Fiery Indignation and feel the Impressions of his Fury in Everlasting Burnings Hasten then the Avenger of Blood is just ready to give you the fatal stroak and if you do not with all speed get into the City of Refâ—uge you are gone for ever The Lord give you an ear to hear and heart to consider lest this word also rise up in the Judgment against you and encrease your Eternal Flames FINIS