tempt thee to evil seduce conquer and triumph over thee if they can then shrink and faint hide thy head and deny thy Master in the Storms of Persecution those bloudy Showres and prove a base cowardly Deserter if thou canst then let those fiercer ruder Winds of Hell those turbulent Euroclydons shipwrack thy Faith if they can there is no danger surely if thy Anchor-hold be sure and stedfast Heb. 6.19 fastned within the Veil In all the Instances of Duty in all the Turns of Providence in all the Occurrences of humane Life in all the Temptations either of the World or the Flesh or the Devil always remember there is a Day of Judgment coming when wicked men shall be punished and good men shall be rewarded then thou shalt have thy reward though thou tarriest long for it a reward that will abundantly compensate all thy trouble all thy labour all thy love all thy service and sufferings for thy Lord and Master a reward that will be infinitely satisfactory and Glorious that infinitely exceeds all the Honours and Glories and Names of Happiness in this lower World which Earthly Crowns and Scepters cannot purchase nor the United Power of Earth and Hell rob or deprive thee of which Devils will envy thee and wicked men wish for as well as be amazed at who shall stand trembling at the dreadful Barr Wisd 5.1 c. whilst thou art exulting on the Throne who will stand ashamed in their poverty and nakedness whilst thy brighter Glories and Royal Robes are putting on beholding with horrour what is done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour O terrible and yet O comfortable glorious Day A Day indeed of gloominess and blackness of horrour and astonishment a Day of Terrour and the blackest grief and the deepest sorrow to the Enemies but a Day of comfort and joy a Day of mirth and gladness to the Friends of Christ A Day of refreshing as St Peter calls it Acts 3.19 When the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 'T will be truly a time of refreshing refreshing to the weary tired Traveller when he comes to sit down at rest the Christian that was burden'd and weary and heavy-laden with corruption and sin who shall then have a true intire and perfect rest refreshing to the buffetted tempted afflicted Saint refreshing to the weather-beaten Cant. 1.6 Luke 21.28 sun-burn'd afflicted Church of Christ A Day of Redemption as our Saviour styles it full and compleat Redemption Redemption from all sin and temptation and misery full Redemption from sorrow and tears and suffering when sorrow shall be no more and all tears shall be wip'd away So the Spirit assures us in the Revelation speaking of the Immunities of that Blessed State Rev. 21.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain Fourthly and Lastly Is there such infallible certainty of Judgment to come Is there a Day of Judgment coming when we must all appear before Jesus Christ the Judge both of the quick and dead O then let us make preparation for it which it concerns us all to do and that speedily and here I might give you these following Directions which I shall but name 1. Get your Accounts ready Look into your selves and examine your state how it stands between God and your Souls that you may not be surpriz'd when you shall be summon'd to appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ. 2. Do nothing now which you dare not account for then which you would not then hear of 3. Buy and put on your Wedding-Garments Rev. 3.17 Mat. 22.11 12. 25.1 c. and get your Lamps trim'd and furnish'd with Oil to meet the Bridegroom 4. Make Christ who is the Judge your Friend And that must be done First By keeping his Commandments especially those which are more peculiarly his those Laws which have their immediate Institution and Sanction in the Gospel particularly that of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Which they that despise and contemn and neglect may sadly remember and consider that 't is his Ordinance who will be their Judge Secondly By obliging his Friends And how that is to be done he himself intimates St Matth. 25.35 c. 5. Matth. 25.13 Be always upon your Watch. 6. Add to Watching Prayer This is our Lord's Advice St Mark 13.33 Take ye heed watch and pray for ye know not when the time is I will conclude all with St Peter's Exhortation which he makes from this very Doctrine of the final Judgment 2 Pet. 3.11 12. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved i. e. seeing that this World and all things here below shall have an End and Christ shall come to Judgment what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God and ver 14. Wherefore Beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless FINIS
or forbear to cry out Fire at Midnight or make an Alarm to give notice or Thieves and Robbers lest he awake or disturb the secure sleeping man who is in danger And what shall the Watchmen of Israel who ex Officio are bound to give notice of and help to quench the spiritual Flames hold their peace and be silent Shall we see men all in Flames expos'd to the devouring Fire the Fire of Lusts burning within them evidenc'd by the Flames of Vices without the Flames of wrath and Divine Vengeance over them and the Flames of Hell underneath them into which they are ready to drop every moment Shall we see this and be silent and not cry out and endeavour to quench the Flames and pluck them out of the Burnings and save them from that consuming Fire Shall we see them upon the Precipice of destruction just falling headlong into ruine and not stretch out a hand to save them Shall we see Thieves and Murderers the Devil and his Agents breaking in upon Souls and not give them notice of it and run to their assistance You ought therefore Brethren to put a candid construction on the severest Lectures from the Pulpit to take the sharpest Reproofs the most bitter Invectives against Sin the most earnest and passionate Adjurations as instances of compassion and love to your Souls and faithfulness to him that sent us Believe it 't is the sin we hate while we reprove but yet love the Sinner Phil. 1.15 And though some perhaps may preach Christ out of envy as the Apostle speaks and others for the sake of the Bag with Judas yet I doubt not there are many who have higher Ends and aims viz. God's Glory and the salvation of Souls who can truly say with the Apostle here Knowing therefore the Terrour of the Lord we perswade men I will shut up this with that wholesome Advice of St James and St Peter concerning hearing and receiving of the Word preached Jam. 1.19 20 21. Wherefore my beloved Brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls To which let me add that of St Peter 1 Pet. 2.1 2. Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings as new-born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby But here may some say If all this is true that there is a future State a Day of Judgment coming such a Terrour of the Lord to be reveal'd hereafter Ministers do well to be so earnestly and passionately concern'd for the Souls of men to cry aloud and spare not to tell them of their Sins and warn them to flee from the wrath to come but are you sure you are not under a mistake that you do not erre in the Foundation Are you sure there is such a future Judgment as you speak of What evidence or assurance have you of the certainty of it This I shall answer and therein I hope give you satisfaction in the next Particular which I am to speak to viz. to shew you II. The infallible certainty of the future Judgment Now the certainty of a future Judgment after Death is declar'd and evidenc'd to the World by a threefold voice The Voice of Scripture the Voice of Conscience and the Voice of God's Justice First The Voice of Scripture The Jews had a confident Tradition amongst them That blessed Enoch who was translated to Heaven had left two Pillars as sacred to Posterity wherein were fairly engraven those two great Prophecies one of the first Desolation of and Judgment upon the World by water not many years before which came God remov'd him as a Jewel to an heavenly Cabinet that his eyes might not see it The second Prophecy in a Pillar of Stone of the Dissolution of the World by Fire against the final Judgment The latter Prophecy concerning the final Judgment is warranted by Scripture Jude 14 15. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute vengeance upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him There is nothing that the holy Scripture is more plain and positive in than asserting a Day of Judgment Death and Judgment are the Twin-Sisters of the same Womb of Decree Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after that the Judgment The sad certainty of Judgment closeth up that Ironical Expression of the Wise man or rather a wiser than He in reproof of wanton youthful Sinners Eccles 9.11 Rejoice O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment Our Saviour does often very positively and expresly mention a Day of Judgment as we may see in all the four Evangelists And the Apostles are often beating upon this Argument It were endless to enumerate Particulars So positive is the Scripture in this Point that it observes to us that the very Day is appointed and the Judge named Acts 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead There are three Days have an Emphatical Note set upon them the Day of Creation the Day of Redemption and the Day of Judgment 1. The Day of Creation which open'd the Door of Time 2. The Day of Redemption which is call'd Gal. 4.4 The Fullness of Time 3. The Day of Judgment This shall shut out Time and usher in Eternity And this Day is Emphatically call'd The Day of the Lord 1 Thess 5.2 Phil. 2.16 Jude 6. Joel 2.31 Eph. 4.30 the Day of Christ and the great Day and the great and terrible Day of the Lord and the Day of Vengeance and the Day of Redemption and the Day of refreshing That 's the first Evidence of the certainty of the future Judgment the Voice of Scripture The Second is Secondly The Voice of Conscience and that both natural and enlightned 1. Natural Conscience which is affrighted at the hearing of a Judgment to come Felix trembled at it Acts 24.25 And as he reasoned of righteousness and temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled As St Paul preached to him of righteousness and temperance his guilty Conscience reflected on all his past acts of injustice and intemperance and when he heard of the Grand Audit the dreadful Judgment
least catching at part of a Sentence or a piece of a Period not minding the Scope or Coherence whereby 't is possible to make foul work with the fairest discourse that proceeds from the Pulpit for endeavouring to retrieve the credit of my reputation and stop the mouth of a flying Slander which getting upon the wings of Fame that swift and often lying Messenger as the Poet observes Fama Malum quo non aliud velocius ullum Mobilitate viget viresque acquirit eundo need not be bid to make speed to carry its message through the World Report say they in the Prophet Jer. 20.10 and we will report And though I need not I confess which some may retort upon me stand upon the Punctilioes of Honour or value my self much on that account being perhaps as little in the eyes of the world as I desire to be in mine own yet were I ten times less than I am rather than tamely sit down under the black cloud of so unjust a scandal and severe an Imputation neither is it inconsistent with Christianity or the meekness of the Dove so to resolve the crime here insinuated being not strictly a carnal sin as Drunkenness Adultery c. the reproach whereof how unjust soever I could more easily have born as my Saviour did before me but Spiritual and Diabolical viz. to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities which a little warm Breath and brisk Air would easily blow off I had rather I say die than live it being determined long ago Praestat penitus emori quà m per dedecus vivere I will detain the Reader no longer than to tell him that I thought sit for the common good to publish my whole Discourse on this Subject excepting only the Illustrations of some Particulars relating to the third Head of Discourse p. 20 21. which I was forc'd to omit lest these Papers should swell too big though no more was strictly necessary for my Vindication than from p. 1. to p. 18. as aforesaid that it might not be imperfect in which the Argument is weighty how weak soever the management be and a mighty Perswasive to a virtuous and good Life And if the production of it in the World though by an Evil Cause has any good Effect towards the furthering of any ones Salvation and the promoting of his spiritual and eternal Good I have my End who desire to live no longer in the World than I may be sineerely serviceable to God the King and my Countrey M. B. 2 COR. v. 11. the former Part. Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men THE Apostle in this and the former Chapter professeth his Christian integrity with the constancy of it and that upon a double Motive viz. the expectance of Immortal Glory and the General Judgment Of the former he speaks in the Close of the fourth Chapter and the Beginning of this And as this Motive was before his eye so that of Judgment to come ver 10. For we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Which last Motive or Argument he lays down by way of Position or Doctrine and in the Words of my Text draws his Inference from it by way of Application to others Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Knowing i. e. being assured of the certainty of Judgment to come which he calls The terrour of the Lord being the cause of terrour We i. e. I and the rest of the Apostles and Ministers of Christ do perswade men i. e. press and excite and stir up and exhort them to their Christian Duties to Gospel-Piety and Obedience So that the Remark or Observation which naturally ariseth from the Words is this viz. That the pressing and perswading men to Gospel-Piety and Obedience by the Apostles and Ministers of Christ Observ is grounded upon no less Motive than the infallible certainty and severity and dreadfulness of the future Judgment In speaking to which I shall endeavour to do these four things I. Clear the Point as to its Inference II. Shew you the infallible certainty of a future Judgment after this Life III. Enquire into the severity and dreadfulness of it styled here The terrour of the Lord and then IV. and Lastly Make Improvement of all by Application I. I shall first of all endeavour to clear the Point as to its Inference and shew you That no less Motive than this viz. The infallible certainty and severity and dreadfulness of the future Judgment could put the Apostles and Ministers of Christ upon the so earnest pressing and perswading men to Gospel-Piety and Obedience And this will appear by considering what other Motive could have any probability to prevail with them 1. Could they be prevailed with to tell the World of a Terrour that they should never feel and themselves did not believe and thereupon to press Gospel-Piety and Obedience and that only as an Engine of State-Policy to keep men in awe and Obedience to their Governours and preserve Civil Peace as some Prophane Men would have it If so why then were they not more in esteem with Rulers and Princes with the Great and Noble why were they the Mark of their malice and envy of their rage and fury if they were hired as their Politick Servants and did them such great and acceptable service Again 2. Was it Honour they had in their eye Why then were they the Object of the World's contempt and scorn scoft at and derided having tryal of cruel mockings reviled defamed and accounted the filth of the World and the off-scowring of all things 1 Cor. 4.13 3. Was it Profit that was the Motive Surely no For then our Saviour and his Apostles and Ministers would have had a greater interest in the World then they would have had full Chests and Barns to boast of as well as others But 't is notorious how great a degree of poverty did await them Christ himself not having a house wherein to put his head no Lands or revenues to give him the title of rich or great And his Apostles following him left their gainful Trades and were not much richer than their Master Yea may it not be truly observ'd to this day that the employment of a Minister is none of those direct Courses to Wealth and Riches whereas other Arts and Employments can raise an Estate and advance a Family they who wait at the Altar with their Dependents for the most part live in meaner circumstances Not but that God has a Blessing for the Posterity and Sons of the Clergy as well as others many of them arriving to eminent degrees of Greatness and Wealth in the World but then that owes it self not always so immediately to their Fathers encouragement and Estate in the World but to their own through God's Blessing upon those Employments and gainful Trades wherein they were