condemn or absolve Bad Men indeed are very much afraid of their own Consciences because they reprove and condemn them and threaten them with Hell-fire and therefore they fly from their Consciences will not hear them and will not suffer them to speak but what do they get by this but to drop securely and quietly into Hell and then Conscience will speak and never be silent more If they will not hear their Consciences now they must hear their Judge at the last Day Though Conscience be never so severe in its reproofs and censures they are the reproofs of a Friend the Judgment of Conscience is only to warn us of the Judgment of God to warn us to fly from the Wrath to come and would Men hearken to their own Consciences it would give check to them and reform their Lives if we would patiently hear Conscience threaten us with Hell-fire it would be the most effectual means to prevent our falling into it But what is the Joy and Triumph of a good Conscience which speaks Peace to us and gives us a secure hope in God which gives us the joyful prospect of Eternal Rewads of a Crown and a Kingdom of those Rivers of Pleasures which are at God's right hand When with St. Paul we can say I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which God the righteous Iudge will give me at that day 2 Tim. 4.7 8. This is a happy state indeed a plerophory and full assurance of hope which makes good Men impatiently long for the Day of Judgment to be put into the possession of so great a happiness and there is no way to have this but from the Testimony of our own Consciences The Holy Spirit indeed does give Testimony to good Men and fill them with joys unspeakable and full of glory but then the spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God 8 Rom. 16. Unless our Consciences give testimony to us the Holy Spirit never does all pretences to the Testimony of the Spirit without this are cheats and delusions and Conscience will never give this testimony to us without a tried and experienced Vertue till the Flesh be subdued to the Spirit till our Minds are refined and purified and our Conversations adorned with all Divine and Heavenly Graces Every new conquest we gain over this World every new degree of strength and vigour in serving God our increase in Charity and all good Works will add new degrees to our hope our Consciences will give the more ample testimony to us and that gives us greater confidence towards God which will make us joyfully expect that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. The END BOOKS Published by the Reverend Dr. SHERLOCK Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties AN Answer to a Discourse Entituled Papists Protesting against Protestant Popery Second Edition 4 o An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Differences between the Representer and the Answerer 4 o A Sermon at the Funeral of the Reverend Benjamin Calamy D. D. 4 o A Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church-Unity and Catholick-Communion from the Charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome 4 o A Preservative against Popery Being some plain Directions to unlearned Protestants how to Dispute with Romish Priests First Part. Fifth Edition 4 o A Second Part of the Preservative against Popery Second Edition 4 o A Vindication of Both Parts of the Preservative against Popery in Answeâ— to the Cavils of Lewis Sabran Jesuit 4 o A Discourse concerning the Nature Unity and Communion of the Catholick Church First Part. 4 o A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London on Sunday Novemb. 4. 1688. 4 o A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Holy and Ever-Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God Occasioned by the Brief Notes on the Creed of St. Athanasius and the Brief History of the Unitarians or Soâ—iâ—ians and containing an Answer to both The Second Edition 4 o The Case of the Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers stated and resolved according to Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England with a more particular Respect to the Oath lately enjoyned of Allegiaâ—ce to their present Majesties King William and Queen Mary Sixth Edition 4 o A Vindication of the Case of Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers In Reply to an Answer to a late Pamphlet Entituled Obedience and Submission to the present Government demonstrated from Bishop Overal ' s Convocation-â—ook with a Postscript in Answer to Dr. Sherlock ' s Case of Allegiance 4 o A Practical Discourse concerning Death The Fifth Edition 8 o A Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment 8 o Printed for W. Rogers Books lately Printed for Will. Rogers A Sermon Preached at White-Hall before the Queen on the Monthly-Fast-Day September 16th 1691. 4 o A Persuasive to Frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Eighth Edition 12 o Both by the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury A Sermon Preached on the 28th of Iune at St. Andrew's Holbourn By the Right Reverend Father in God Iohn Lord Bishop of Norwich 4 o A Sermon Preached on the 28th of Iune at St. Mary it Bow on Sunday the fifth of Iuly 1691 at the Consecration of the Most Reverend Father in God Iohn Lord Archbishop of Yoâ—k and the Right Reverend Fathers in God Iohn Lord Bishop of Norwich Richard Lord Bishop of Peterborough and Edward Lord Bishop of Gloucester By Ioshua Clark Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father In God the Bishop of Norwich 4 o The Necessity of Serious Consideration and Speedy Repentance as the only way to be safe both living and dying By Clement Elis Rector of Kirkby in Nottingham-shire 8 o Reflections upon two Books one Entituled The Case of Allegiance to a King in Possession The other An Answer to Dr. Sherlock ' s Case of Allegiance to Soveraign Powers in Possession on those parts especially wherein the Author endeavours to shew his Opinion to be agreeable to the Laws of this Land In a Letter to a Friend 4 o In the Press The Folly of Atheism demonstrated to the Capacity of the most unlearned Reader By Clement Elis Rector of Kirkby in Notting-hamshire 8 o 9 Heb. 27. 1 Tim. 6.3 Practical Discourse of Death Ch. 2. Sect. 1. 2 Pet. 3.5 6. 22 Matth. 30. 49 Ier. 18. 25 Iob. 6. 80 Psal. 17. 146 Psal. 3. 2 Ezek. 1. 3 Phil. â—2â— 13 Mat. 43. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Rom. 1. 3 Rom. 20 21 22 24 25. 4 Rom. 5 Rom. 1. 2 Eph. 8 9. 3 Tit. 5. 2 Rom. 6. 2 Cor. 5.10 7 Mat. 21.22 23. 1 Rom. 18. 2 Rom. 8 9. 2 Titus 11 12. 6 Ron 23. 10 Act. 34 35. 2 Cor. 8.12 2 Cor. 5.14 Nimquam vir magnus sine Divino afflatu 119 Psalm 5 10 14 18 19 27 28 34 35 36 37. 51 Psal. 10 12. P. 415. 2 Tit. 13.
own Consciences nor hearken to the Importunities of their Friends nor be perswaded to consider what the probable end of all their Actions will be both in this World and in the next These are all unthinking unconsidering Sinners but you will all confess that these Men do not live as if they were to be judged and therefore if we believe that we shall be judged none of us ought to live thus we ought to consider well before-hand what we do that we may be able to give a reasonable account of it when we have done it for if we must give a reason of our Actions when we have done them we ought to know a reason for them before we do them and therefore we must accustom our Minds to a grave and serious consideration of things to live by Reason not by Humour and Fancy not by the Impetus and Fury of Passion which is a very ill Counsellor much less to pursue our Lusts with an affected and resolved Ignorance and Blindness for all this will not prevent our being judged but will make us very unable to give a good account of ourselves when we are 2. As we must act with great Consideration so we must make it the standing Principle and Rule of our Lives never to do any thing but what we can give a good account of either what we know is our Duty or at least what we are satisfied is very lawful and innocent to be done for if we do those things which we cannot account for for which our own Minds condemn us how can we appear with any hope and confidence at the Tribunal of God When Men transgress a known Duty they are Self-condemned and God need not judge them but only execute the Sentence and Judgement of their own Conscience To believe that God will judge us and yet to venture upon such Actions for which our own Consciences condemn us and for which we know God will as certainly condemn us as our own Consciences do is folly and distraction since we must be judged our great care and concernment should be that when we are judged we may not be condemned and the most effectual way to prevent this is to do nothing which our Conscience condemns It is possible indeed that Men who sin wilfully against a known Duty may recover themselves by Repentance and obtain Mercy through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ but it does not become any Man who believes a Judgement to sin that grace may abound these hopes very often deceive Men and will always do so till they come to this Resolution Never to violate a known Duty to provoke the Justice or to exercise the Patience and Forbearance of GOD. There is no other way to escape the Condemnation of the last Judgment but by a resolved Obedience to the Divine Laws and therefore if we believe we shall be judged nothing can be more necessary nor more becoming then to make this the constant Rule of our Actions Never to do any thing for which we know God will condemn us nothing but what can we account for and then we shall be prepared for Judgment whenever it comes 3. It becomes those who must be judged to judge themselves and to take a frequent and impartial account of their own Lives and Actions This is no more then every Steward does who casts up his Books and adjusts his Accounts himself before he presents them to his Lord. The truth is it is impossible for any Man who knows he shall be judged not to be very solicitous to know what his Judgment shall be and this every Man may in a great measure know who impartially examines his own Conscience for so St. Iohn tells us If our heart or conscience condemn us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things but if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards GOD 1 John 3.20 21. So that if our Lives have been innocent and vertuous and such as a well-inform'd Conscience approves this will give infinite Peace and Satisfaction to us and fill us with Divine Joys with a Plerophory of Hope and Assurance but if we should not find things so well though upon such a strict Examination our Consciences should be very quarrelsome and uneasie and threaten the Vengeance of God against us yet it is much more desirable to hear our Consciences chide and condemn us than to hear our final Sentence from the mouth of our Judge Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels The Judgment of Conscience is not final for Conscience is rather our Monitor than our Judge it tells us what will be if we do not take care to prevent it not what certainly is and shall be and therefore we have this advantage by the Rebukes and Censures of Conscience to know what is amiss and what we must correct and amend Nay a frequent Examination of our selves would keep a perpetual Watch and Guard upon our Lives After our greatest care and caution a great many things will be hastily done and said which we cannot reconcile with the Rules of Prudence and Decency and strict Vertue but he who frequently calls himself to an account and observes all these Defects which it may be other Men are never sensible of will attain an habitual Caution and Watchfulness and improve into great Exactness of Conversation and all the Graces and Beauties of Vertue Some of the Philosophers thought it a very good Rule to call themselves to an account every night for what they had done that day which would make us reverence ourselves and our own Consciences but there is much more reason to do so when we remember that God observes all our Actions and will judge us for them The Judgment of our Consciences as I observed to you before is a Natural Presage of God's Judgment for there is no other reason why our Consciences should judge us but that God will and then the reason is very strong also that if God will judge us we ought to judge ourselves for this is the proper Office and Ministry of Conscience in subordination to the Judgment of God II. Let us keep our Eye perpetually on a Future Judgment for the Direction and Government of our Lives for this will furnish us with such Principles of Action as cannot be so well learnt any other way 1. As first it teaches us above all things to take care to approve ourselves to God which is the only Principle of true Religion and universal Obedience Nothing is an Act of Religion but as it respects God and is referred wholly to him to perform all the Acts of Worship though with never so great Pomp and Ceremony and external Appearances of Devotion to do never so many good Actions to be seen and to be praised by Men or to serve some Secular Interest by it is not Religion but such Men if they meet with what they expected have their Reward all that
too to the Church of Rome that ever was invented 2. This utterly overthrows the Worship of Saints in the Church of Rome at least of all Saints who were not Martyrs for Saint-worship is founded on this Belief that these Saints when they die are received into Heaven into the immediate Presence of God and therefore can there powerfully intercede for us but if these Saints are not yet received into Heaven nor shall be till the Resurrection which was the Faith of the Primitive Christians and seems very agreeable to the Doctrine of theGospel as I have now shewn you then there is an end of the Worship and Interâ—ession of Saints 2 dly This Doctrine neither discourages Vertue nor encourages Vice I cannot indeed say but that Heaven is a much happier place then Paradise and therefore it is more desirable for good Men when they die to go directly to Heaven then to Paradise but yet it is a sufficient encouragement to the exercise of the most perfect Vertues that as soon as we die we shall be carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom or into Paradise a place of perfect Ease and Rest and as perfect Happiness as can be enjoyed out of Heaven such a Paradise where holy Souls dwell Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Confessors with Heaven at the end of it is a sufficient an abundant Reward for all the most difficult and laborious Services of this Life that Heaven is not yet is no greater Discouragement then that we shall not rise from the Dead till the Day of Judgment that we shall not have our Bodies again till they are awakened by the last Trumpet Bodies which will be bright and glorious as the Sun which will rise with eternal Youth and Strength and Beauty this is a much greater Happiness then to live either in Paradise or in Heaven without our Bodies but this we must stay for and so we may for Heaven and we may be very well contented to wait for Heaven and for the Resurrection of our Bodies in Paradise when we are as happy as Paradise can make us we may very patiently expect the full Completion of our Happiness in the Resurrection of our Bodies and our Admission into the highest Heavens to the immediate Throne and Presence of God Thus though Hell is a place of the most perfect Torment and Misery for it is the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and therefore it is much more formidable for Sinners to drop immediately into Hell when they die then to suffer any other State of Punishment between Death and Judgment yet he is a very unreasonable Man who does not think the Day of Judgment time enough to be condemned to Hell and who does not think it Misery enough to fall under the Power of evil Spirits in the mean time If God thinks this Punishment enough methinks Sinners should and those who cannot fear Hell at the distance of the Day of Judgment will not fear Hell tho' it were no farther off than Death those who are not afraid of being tormented as Dives was when they go out of these Bodies will not fear Hell though we allow Hell to be a State of more perfect Misery I am sure Dives thought those Torments so great that they were sufficient to have made his Brethren true Penitents had they known what they must suffer for their Sins as soon as they die and those who will not allow that bad Men are immediately condemned to Hell as soon as they die yet must allow that they may be tormented as Dives was In short if wicked Men do not drop into Hell as soon as they die yet they shall be condemned to Hell at the Day of Judgment and in the intermediate State between Death and Judgment shall suffer all those unknown Miseries which are prepared for wicked Souls till the Day of Judgment and those who will not be perswaded by this will live and die in their Sins though you could convince them that they shall drop into Hell as soon as they die SECT II. That the Day of Iudgment is appointed HAving thus considered the State between Death and Judgment let us now more strictly consider the Time of Judgment and here are several things to be observed and explained I. That the Day of Judgment is appointed He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world II. That this is a General Day for the Judgment of the whole World III. That this Day of Judgment will be at the End of the World I. That the Day of Judgment is appointed He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world This is a matter of pure Revelation and can be known no other way for though we have great evidence from Reason that God will judge the World yet to appoint a Day is a free Act of God's Wisdom and Counsel and this must be learnt from Revelation and we cannot have a more express Revelation for any thing than we have for this for St. Paul tells us in plain words that God hath appointed a Day to Judge the World and our Saviour in express words several time refers to this Day as appointed and determined by God In that day many shal say unto me Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name which refers to some certain Day 7 Matth. 22. And the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice 5 John 28. And of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven but my Father only 24 Matth. 36. Which plainly signifies that the Day is determined and fixed because God knows when it shall be that is he knows when he has appointed it and if it were not appointed it had been no great wonder that neither Men nor Angels know it Now this Consideration that God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World is not without its Use For 1 st This proves the Certainty of a Future Judgement that the Day of Judgement is appointed For we cannot think thaâ— God would appoint a Day to judge the World unless he absolutely resolved to judge it 2 ly This answers the Objection against a Future Judgment from the long Delays of it This St. Peter tells us would be a great Objection in the last Days or towards the end of the World 2 Pet. 3.3 4. Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation That is consider how old the World now is and how long Mankind have been frightned with the Fears of Judgment many Ages and successive Generations have lived in expectation of it but it is not yet nor any more signs of it then when the World was first made and since it has been so long expected to no purpose it is time to despise
if an ordinary Judge of Assize be lookt on with so much Reverence and Awe what is the Glory and Majesty of an Universal Judge How will all the World fall and bow and tremble before him who with the Word of his Mouth can sentence them to Eternal Life or Death This is his Father's glory for he is the Natural Lord and Judge of the World and from him he receives this Authority to Judge the World The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father 5 John 22 23. To this Glory he is now advanced and we must now Obey and Reverence and Adore him as our Judge but it will give a visible Majesty to him when he thus comes in the Glory of his Father when the astonishing Glory of his Person is still made more Glorious and Majestick by the Authority of a Judge But his Retinue is very glorious also and adds to the Terror and Majesty of his Appearance for he shall come attended with Myriads of holy Angels bright and glorious Beings who incircle his Person and are the Witnesses and Ministers of his Justice We know a splended Retinue adds greatly to the Glory of a Prince or Judge a Multitude has something great and awful in it especially when this Multitude are all his Dependants Servants and Ministers and more still when every one of this Multitude are most excellent and glorious Creatures the Beauty and Perfection of the Creation whose single Glories we cannot now bear the sight of without great Apprehension and Amazement and what a mighty Prince is he who comes attended with the whole Host of Heaven who leave their heavenly Mansions to wait upon their Lord and to adorn his Triumphs But this glorious Retinue of Angels is not meerly for Pomp and State but they are the Ministers of his Justice and therefore are called his mighty Angels or the Angels of his Power 2 Thess. 1.8 And what a powerful Judge is he who has all the Powers of Heaven attending him to execute his Vengeance on Men and Devils This glorious Judge shall at the last Day come down from Heaven for thither he ascended after his Resurrection from the Dead and there he must continue till he comes to Judge the World but then the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God 2 Thess. 4.16 I see no reason why this should not be understood literally of an audible Voice and Shouting and an audible sound of the last Trumpet to summon all Mankind to Judgment for this makes the Appearance more solemn and awful and thus God descended on Mount Sinai when he gave the Law With thundrings and lightnings and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the camp trembled 19 Exod. 16. And if he gave the Law with the sound of a Trumpet why not Judge the World with it too This Shout is the shouting of the holy Angels begun by the Voice of the Archangel in their descent with Christ and signifies what such Shoutings do among Men either great Joy and Exultation or Alacrity and Courage thus Men shout for joy when any thing happens which highly pleases them thus Souldiers shout when the Signal is given for Battle Thus when our Lord shall say Come ye holy Angels go down with me to Judge the World they will shout for joy that that day is come which will put a final end to the Kingdom of Darkness when the Devil and his Angels and all wicked Men shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and good Men rewarded and crowned and received into the immediate Presence of God in Heaven For this is matter of Joy to all holy Angels to see the final Conquest of all the Enemies of CHRIST'S Kingdom to see the Triumphs of Justice to see all Impiety and Wickedness shamed condemned and punished and the World cleansed from the Pollutions of it to see their numbers encreased by the advancement of good Men into Heaven who will now be united to their Company and joyn with them in singing Halelujahs to Him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for if there be Joy in Heaven at the Repentance of one Sinner what Exultation and Acclamations will there be to see the whole number of GOD'S Elect raised again with glorious Bodies and receive that Kingdom which was prepared for them before the Foundations of the World When our Lord shall say Come ye holy Angels and be the Ministers of my Justice and execute my Vengeance upon a wicked World upon the Devil and all bad Men and gather together mine Elect from the four Corners of the Earth with what Shoutings will they receive their Commission with what Alacrity and Courage will they execute it for so our Saviour himself represents it that the Angels are not meerly Attendants of State but his Officers and Ministers whom he employs in Judging the World thus he expounds the Parable of the Tares 13 Mat. 41 42 43. He that soweth good seed is the Son of man The field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tares are the children of the wicked one The enemy that sowed them iâ— the devil the harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the angels As therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire so shall it be in the end of the World The Son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather forth out of his kingdom all things that offeâ—â— and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be â—â—iling and gnashing of teeth Then shall the righteous shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father And thus he expounds the Parable of the Net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind Which when it was full they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels and the bad they cast away So shall it be at the end of the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth v. 47 48 49 50. What is meant by the trump of God with which Christ descends from Heaven is hard to say only thus much we know that it is such a Trumpet at the sound of which the Dead shall rise as St. Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 15.51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed And therefore this last Trump seems to be what our Saviour calls the Voice of the Son of
whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead 17 Acts 30 31. While Men were ignorant of the other World or had only some uncertain Reports of it mixed with fabulous Stories to increase and nourish Superstition their wickedness was very pitiable and shall meet with a more favourable Judgment but we can now pretend Ignorance no longer and therefore now God commands us to repent Upon this Principle it is that our Saviour upbraided those cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Iudgment than for you And thou Capernaum who art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down to hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee 11 Mat. 20 21 22 23. Those mighty Works our Saviour wrought in these Cities were such powerful Convictions as rendred their Infidelity inexcusable and that aggravated their Condemnation And for the same reason our Saviour threatens that unbelieving Generation who saw all his mighty Works and heard his admirable Wisdom which was so much beyond whatever was seen or heard before The men of Niniveh shall rise in judgment against this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Ionas and behold a greater than Ionas is here The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here 12 Luke 41 42. The greater the Preacher is the greater Works he does and the greater Evidence he gives of his Divine Authority still the guilt and condemnation proportionably increases and then the Infidelity of those who live in a Christian Nation and the Wickedness of professed Believers who have so much greater certainty of the Rewards and Punishments of the next World than either Chorazin or Bethsaida or Capernaum then had exceeds them all and their Punishments will proportionably exceed Thus the Gospel has fully acquainted us with the whole Dispensation of Grace in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life 3 John 16. That Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 2 Tit. 14. That he has made atonement for our sins by his Blood That herein God hath commended his love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that when we were yet enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son 5 Rom. 8.10 And we know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 8 9. Here is a new Scene of Grace and Love opened which the World was unacquainted with before which presents us with new Arguments and lays new Obligations on us to serve God Arguments and Obligations so endearing so powerful that one would think Human Nature could not resist them could not get loose from them If we will not reverence the Authority of God yet how can we resist his Love If it be not enough to entitle God to our Service that he made us shall we deny his Purchase too When he has bought us with a price the inestimable Blood of his own Son Ought not the love of Christ to constrain us Could he do any thing more for us than redeem us from Death and Hell Could he redeem us at a dearer rate than with his own Blood When he could get nothing by it but the pleasure and satisfaction of making us happy and the glory of being the Saviour of Sinners It is a reproach to Humane Nature to think that such Love as this should not convert the World and subdue Mankind to the Obedience of God It is plain this gives God a greater Right to us than meer Creation and therefore gives every sin of Christians a double guilt if Heathens sinned against their Maker Christians sin against their Maker and their Saviour too And to sin against Love against suffering redeeming forgiving saving Love is a very different thing from sinning against Authority We may call it folly or madness to disobey our Soveraign Lord who can and will punish our Disobedience but to abuse to affront to grieve Love is not the sin of Men though too many Men are guilty of it but of a diabolical Nature I have nothing to say of it but that it is the greatest provocation in the World and all Men think so and thus much worse the sins of Christians are than the sins of Heathens But the Love of God and the Grace of Christ are not the only motives and arguments which our Redemption by the Death of Christ furnishes us with but there are a great many other and such powerful ones as must greatly aggravate our guilt to sin against them There is not a greater preservation against sin than to have a just sense of the Evil of it and a thorough Conviction of God's irreconcileable hatred and displeasure against it and that he will certainly punish it Now indeed Nature does in some measure teach this the Reason of Mankind condemns it Modesty preserves us from some sins Natural Aversions from others till both the Modesty and Aversions of Nature are conquered by a Custom of sinning but then on the other hand the inclinations of Flesh and Blood very strongly tempt us to some sins which are very grateful to Flesh and Blood and to other sins to gain opportunities to gratifie those inclâ—â—ations and when Men taste the sweets of sin and find the present advantages of it this bribes their Reason to speak more favourably of it and to attribute the shame and aversions of Nature to Education and Popular mistakes Thus though men have a natural Sense of God's displeasure against sin and natural Conscience threatens the Judgments of God against sinners yet the experience of the World tells us that most Men flatter themselves that God may be appeased and reconciled to them without forsaking their sins not only the Heathens but even Iews themselves thought this might be done by their sacrifices and the other external rites and ceremonies of their Religion as appears from the frequent complaints of