sin not for the patience of God to every carnal soul persisting in rebellion and disobedience is but a present suspension of eternal wrath which may suddenly break forth and begin in temporal judgements upon them And take heed of interpreting the silence of God to be his allowance of sin for because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to doe evil Eccle. 8.11 Whereas if the Lord should execute his wrath immediately upon every profane person in the act of sin what fear would surprise your hearts who would swear a profane oath if he were sure to dye as soon as the word is out of his mouth who would commit adultery if he were to be thrust through with a sword in the act of his uncleanness who would steal his neighbours goods if he were perswaded he should be immediately stoned to death what drunkard would venture upon excess if he apprehended every immoderate draught to be so much deadly poyson to destroy him Or who would exalt himself against God and his people if he beleived that the earth would presently open her mouth and swallow him up quick And is the wrath of God less fearfull because through patience it is deferred in the execution of justice and recompense upon ungodly men For ye are not only by nature the children of wrath but because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.6 Therefore let no man deceive himself with vain confidence and presumption as if God had said in vain that he will render to every man according to his deedes Vnto them that are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Rom. 2.8 9. O that ye would set the Lord before your eyes and his consuming displeasure when ye are venturing upon any act of folly and iniquity possibly this might restrain corruption and check your violent lusts ready to break out into practise and actual commission What are the damned suffering in hell for the same sins that ye are committing daily Bethink your selves how ye shall endure those torments or rather that ye may escape them labour to foresee them and present them to the face of your stout and head-strong corruptions When the temptation is before you the place present and the company of evil workers ready to joyn with you in any unlawful and sinful enterprise or design remember that hell is kindled and the flames thereof ascend for ever Is not a fiery furnace hot enough or a bottomless pit deep enough to terrifie your senseless spirits Or can ye endure to be ever burning in that furnace and ever falling in that piâ— Our Saviour tells those that offend his little ones Matth. 18.6 That it were better a milstone were hanged about their necks and they cast into the bottom of the sea Were there any hope for such to arise from perishing under the mighty waters And is there not much more weight in the infinite wrath of an omnipotent God to sink you down to the nethermost hell and to keep you under the foaming billowes and raging and roaring waves of the Lake of burning brimstone O that ye would consider this ye that forget God least he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Venture not the day of Gods displeasure and provoke no longer omnipotency to appear against you least the roaring lion seize upon the prey and say not peace and safety for sudden destruction shall come upon the wicked as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape Cease your mocking ye that scoffe at the threatnings of God that say let him make speed and hasten his worke that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy one of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it Isai 5.19 How soon the Lord may come in wrath and judgment upon you ye know not and all that spend their dayes in vanity shall goe downto the grave in a moment How soon doth the cloud arise which at length covereth the whole heavens and the ratling thunders make you tremble and the white flashings of lightning turn you into darke holes to hide your heads how fair a morning had the wicked Sodomites when the Sun arose so gloriously upon their City and by and by a showr of fire and brimstone turned all into ashes And how did the security of the old world deceive them when they took no warning by Noah the preacher of righteousness nor by the building of the Arke until the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened and the deluge came the flouds increasing and covering the tops of all mountaines so that their was no help in their distress but all perished together in those swelling waters Gen. 7. latter end And dare ye still scoffe at the messengers of the Lord saying where is the promise of his coming Are not the heavens and the earth kept in store and reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men And this day of the Lord will come also as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up The Lord is not slack concerning his coming but is long suffering to you-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Therefore seeing that all these things shall be dissolved when heaven and earth shall be in flames what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness 2 Pet. 3.9 10 11. Thirdly Then labour to get an interest in Christ before ye die What rich provision hath God made for immortal souls in sending the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to suffer under the imputation of sin that he might reconcile the disobedient and rebellious hearts of men unto himself And how often hath this Gospel been preached among you That God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever should beleive in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 Therefore we are embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God How willing is Christ to save your souls and to redeem you from wrath to come Oh let not your unbeleif frustrate the grace of God thereby depriving your selves of the benefit thereof so freely offered and fully revealed unto you Is not the golden Scepter of grace held forth and the royal Standard set up and proclamation made to sinners to turn and live How will ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation O ungrateful
blasphemy whereby the soul requoi leth a-against God through anguish thereof By this we may conceive how exquisite the torments of the wicked will be hereafter the soul eternally sinning and continually adding fresh oyl to the flames of wrath for sin kindleth wrath and wrath kindleth hell and hell kindleth sin and sin again wrath and so for ever This is the work and action between an infinite God and a poor unhappy soul to eternity God punishing the soul sinning and the soul sinning God punishing in which torments the body shall partake with the soulafter its resurrection being united again made so far capable to endure its torments as not to be dissolved or destroyed by the extremity and eternity of them Thus sinful and wretched man shall be ever dying weeping yelling howling and sinning under the intollerable pangs of the second death Rev. 21.8 The fearful and unbeleiving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Repent therefore and beleive the Gospel turn from your sins and forsake your wayes that ye may escape this judgement of God for now is the day of salvation through the forbearance of God who would have have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth From this Text and Doctrine we may be again informed upon what grounds the people of God may desire their dissolution How desireable a priviledge the departure of the Saints is hath been already opened but for further direction in it I shall here make up the banks to keep these desires in their right channel which otherwise are ready to break out into unlimited and unlawfull currents Therefore to satisfie this case of conscience concerning the desire of death let every precious soul consider these following Propositions First It is altogether unwarrantable for beleivers to desire dissolution out of meer passion under the forest trouble affliction or tryal It is usual for carnal men upon discontent to wish they might dye who also under the burthensomness of corporal distempers often desire a release from their present paines not knowing or considering that thereby they shall immediately fall from their beds into hell This also is incident to the Godly through infirmity whose passions in this case are not excusable Thus it was with that holy Prophet Elijah when he was forc'd to flee from the rage and persecution of Jezebel who threatned to take away his life 1 Kings 19.34 And when he saw that he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba and left his servant there but he himself went a dayes journey into the wilderness and came and sate down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said it is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am no better then my Fathers Elijah's passion under this persecution being now alone tired and weary probably with his journey as well as assaulted and troubled with slavish fear was the ground of this his request and supplication Now if we compare with this story the expression of S. James presenting Elias as an example of the prevalency of prayer we may judge that this passion was an infirmity in this Prophet James 5.17 Elias was a man subject to passion as we are and he prayed c. The like instance we have of Job who through passion gratified Satan so far under his temptation as to curse the day of his birth and also through vexation of spirit under his afflictions to wish and long for his grave Job 3.20 21 22. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life unto the bitter in soul which long for death and it cometh not and dig for it more then for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave Take also the Prophet Jonah for an example hereof who after he had preached destruction to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord and saw not the execution thereof according to his prophecy was discontent at the patience and repentings of God towards that City and besought the Lord he might dye Jonah 4.3 Therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye then to live for which the Lord checketh him in the next verse dost thou well to be angry And in the 9 and 10. verses When the Gourd was withered and the Wind and Sun beat upon him that he fainted he wished he might dye again and passionately replies to Gods second rebuke of him I do well to be angry even unto the death Secondly Every Christian looking upon death as a priviledge and means to bring him to Christ ought no further to desireit then with submission to the will of God and a willing subjection to his work and service in his generation To hasten death by unlawful meanes is no less then self murther as hath been already proved and hereby the desire thereof is in some measure limited preservation of life by all lawful means being a duty incumbent upon all Our times and seasons life and death are in the hands only of God the wise disposer of all things for the good of them that love him between whose will and ours there ought to be a perfect conformity in relation to all changes and dispensations Christ escaped from the Jews when they often sought to kill him because his hour was not yet come but then he refused not but accepted that bitter cup which his Father gave him to drink When Job had recovered himself from under the power of his passion he besought the Lord to appoint him a set time and he would wait Job 14.14 All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come We must not run home before we have done our worke but mind our worke as well as our reward God hath appointed a particular service for every beleiver in his generation which he should labour to finish with David before he falleth asleep Acts 13.16 For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep Saint Paul declaring to Timothy the near approach of his dissolution and departure forgetteth not to mention the finishing of his work in the Gospel 2 Tim. 4.6 7. I am now ready to be offered up and my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith But till it was finished he was willing to abide in the flesh notwithstanding his great desire to depart and to be with Christ as in the words following my Text. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you And having this confidence I know I shall abide and continue with you for your furtherance and joy of faith Thirdly This being minded it is lawful and warrantable for a
his usual benedictory salutation first he declareth his thankfulness unto God for their spiritual estate and continuance in the fellowship of the Gospel unto the 5th verse Secondly his confidence in God for the perfecting of the work of grace begun as he was perswaded through charity to judge in them all by their future and final perseverance unto the eighth verse Thirdly his prayer for their increase and abounding in fruitfulness unto the 11. verse Then from the 12. to the 18. verse he laboureth to satisfie them concerning the consequent events of his present sufferings that they were rather for the furtherance then hinderance of the Gospel which he proveth by two arguments First because the cause of his sufferings which was the preaching of Christ the Saviour of the world was hereby made known and divulged both in Nero's Pallace and in the neighbouring Cities Secondly because by his sufferings many of the brethren were made more bold to preach the Gospel and notwithstanding there were some that preached Christ out of envy and strife thinking thereby to add to his afflictions yet he was so far from being troubled at it that he rejoyced because Christ was the more preached In the 19. verse the Apostle discovereth the gracious and sweet frame and temper of his own heart under his sufferings in the firm confidence he had that all things should work together for his good and turn to his salvation as the return and fruit of their prayers and through the supply of the spirit of God unto him that he might hold out under his tryals according to his earnest expectation and hope that through his stedfastness and boldness both in life and death Christ might be magnified in his body whereof he giveth this reason verse 21. For to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain That is if I live I shall honour Christ by my life and if I dye I shall honour him by my death and that death shall be my gain according to his confidence before expressed that it should turn to his salvation But in case he should live he should have fruit of his labour or it were not worth the while to live for to live is Christ that is he should preach Christ which would be the gain of others as his death would be his own Now in these thoughts Paul is at a stand what to choose or desire whether to live or dye for being a Prisoner at Rome for Christ's sake and the Gospel he might expect as well to dye as to live and being as it were indifferent to either he debates the case and controversie in his own heart according to the words of my Text I am in a straight betwixt two c. In which words we have three distinct parts First Aequilibrium animi the even ballance of Pauls mind in respect of life and death For I am in a straight betwixt two Secondly Inclinatio affectionum the inclination of his affections and desire Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ Thirdly Status vel determinatio judicii The determination of the controversie and the discovery of his judgement upon mature deliberation in the last words of the Text Which is far better Before I lay down the intended Doctrine or Proposition from this Scripture I will briefly explain the terms of the Text to justifie the clearness of the doctrinal deduction from the Text. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am in a straight betwixt two I am straigthly held on both sides So Beza translateth it or I am pressed of two according to the vulgar Latine S. Paul presenteth unto himself life and death two different objects of his choice and election and both sub ratione boni appearing unto him to be really good for him but which of these to close withal and pitch upon he knoweth not Not that it was in his power to live or to die but if the Lord should give him his free liberty to chuse either he was at a stand in his present thoughts which way he had best incline himself as the case was now with him being an Apostle of Christ and now imprisoned for him whether it were absolutely better upon all accounts and all things considered for him to die by a violent hand or to be enlarged as a further instrument for the promoting and propating of the Gospel in the world As it was Davids case when he was to chuse one of those three judgements proposed unto him 2 Sam. 24.13 14. Shall seven years famine come in thy land or wilt thou flye three moneths before thine enemies while they pursue thee or that there be three dayes pestilence in thy Land And David said unto Gad I am in a great straight let us fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and not into the hand of man This was his straight in respect of evils and he chose well for he chose the least in all circumstances for the time the nature and the immediate inflictor of the evil or judgement But Pauls straight was in respect of good objects to be chosen and which of the two were the best was his present controversie whether to depart and be with Christ or to live and abide still in the dy to preach him both would be for the honour of Christ but the former would be his own gain the latter the gain of the Church and his own private interest was the less unto him because if he lived it was but the deferring of his heavenly reward and his affections sometimes were so strong that though it was impossible yet he could have wished a total deprivation thereof for the Jews sake Rom. 9.3 I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh Love desireth impossibilities By all this it appears how great the Apostle's straight was betwixt living and dying as a needle hanging between two loadstones of equal force and power †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having a desire or greatly desiring that is in respect of his own happiness and his great love and delight in Christ for whom he was now in a suffering condition to depart that he might be with him The word in the original signifieth a vehement desire or an ardent and hot desire and it is observable that he doth not barely say he did desire but having a desire which Beza translateth to contend in desire * Plus est animo ferri contendere quam simpliciter cupere Beza in locum answerable to that expression of our Saviour Christ Luke 22.15 With desire have I desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer So that in these words we may consider Paul looking solely upon Christ and his immediate presence waving all former considerations whereby this fervent desire was limited and himself straightned So that Pauls natural if I may so call it desire and inclination was towards the Lord and to
be with him which in it self considered was earnest agreeable to his earnest expectation or stretching forth of the hand in looking as that word denoteth in the 20. verse of this Chapter To depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be dissolved according to others or to die as the Apopostle had said in the 21. verse To die is gain The Apostle seemeth to strain himself for a word that he might set forth so gainful a death as he is speaking of which sometimes he calleth a dissolving of this earthy tabernacle and an unclothing 2 Cor. 5.1.4 Peter styles it a putting off of this tabernacle The spirit of God in the Holy penmen of the Scriptures hath set forth the death of the Saints by pleasant and alluring expressions as to sleep to be changed to be gathered to the Fathers and in this place to depart And to be with Christ Paul was in Christ alwayes by grace and Christ revealed in him by the spirit of illumination he was a follower of Christ by conformity and obedience and came behinde none of of the other Apostles in his labour and sufferings for him and as he desir'd to be found in Christ so to depart and to be with him that he might immediately enjoy him and enter into the joy of his Lord and Master unto whom he had been faithful in his ministry and Apostleship The state of happiness is often set forth in Scripture by this phrase of being with Christ and being with the Lord Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Rom. 6.8 Now if we be dead with Christ we believe we shall also live with him And 1 Thes 4.17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall ever be with the Lord. Which is far better * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or very much better that is in regard of himself it is better to die then to live though in regard of the Church for him to abide in the flesh it was better and more needful for them as in the following verse And in regard of himself and his glory with Christ it must needs be far better if we consider as Paul did that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which should be the reward of his light afflictions as he so them esteem'd comparatively 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is beyond expression * Christus caelum non patiuntur hyperbolem And therefore our translation rendereth it a farre more exceeding as Paul here styles it far better Having thus opened the words of the Text I shall lay down one Proposition only from these words of the Apostle and handle that as suitable to this present occasion and solemnity Doct. That it is the desireable and peculiar priviledge of the Saints to be brought immediately to Christ by their departure hence by death In the managing of this doctrine or proposition I shall endeavour to shew and clear these three general Heads the handling whereof will take in the substance and essential parts of the whole Text it self First What is that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the souls of the Saints departed immediately unto Christ Secondly what is it or what may be understood by this phrase to be with Christ Thirdly how doth the death of the Saints bring them immediately to Christ at their departure and in what manner doth the Soul depart to Christ First What it that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the Souls of the Saints departed immediately to Christ 1. Negatively Every death or the death of every man doth not bring him or his soul to Christ It is not death barely and in it self considered as it is a privation of life by the dissolution of nature and parting asunder of soul and body Otherwise what were the priviledge of Paul which here he so greatly desired more then of Judas the Traitor but that Judas went not to Christ but to his own place is evident Acts 1.25 The godly and the wicked die alike in respect of natural dissolution Eccl. 2.26 How dieth the wise man as the fool As there is no visible distinction or marke of difference between the Godly and the wicked by the external things of providence in the course of their lives but all things fall out a like to all men that no man might know love or hatred by what is before him but by what is within him and upon his heart so neither can the righteous be discerned from the reprobates by any visible character of the outward manner of their departure and dissolution And this will appear in the several kinds of death both are subject unto in the course of providence as also in the outward circumstances thereof The godly and wicked may both die of the same disease and distemper of body as feaver consumption dropsie yea the most painful diseases as the gout and the stone and also of the most noy some and uncomfortable distempers as the small pox and the plague it self of which Hezekiah was sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 Again they may both die by a violent hand Stephen was stoned to death as well as Achan They may both also die by the same occasion and sudden providences as those upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them Luke 13.4 Which did not argue that they were greater sinners then others Moreover they may both die in the full number of their days and a wicked man may live to be an hundred years old and be accursed Isai 65.20 And though wicked men sometimes through the just judgement of God doe not live out halfe their dayes yet the godly may die in their youth and strength and the Lord in mercy take them away from the evil to come Isa 57.1 Lastly they may die alike in regard of the present peace and calm or trouble and disturbance of spirit a godly man may want assurance upon a death bed and a wicked may goe out of the world like a Lamb with peace and presumption and a quiet dissolution Psal 73.4 There are no bands in their death 2. But positively That death which bringeth the Soul to Christ at the time of departure out of this life is to be considered in relation to the state and condition of the person in death as holy righteous and godly So that it is the quality of the person dying that makes him happy in his death whose death is his gain and his departure to be with Christ To this the Scriptures bear clear and rich testimonie Prov. 14.32 The righteous hath hope in his end Ps 37.37 The godly man is marked with this priviledge Marke the perfect man behold the upright the end of that man is
peace Balaam 's wish strongly confirmeth it Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his And to add no more quotations in so plain a case Paul in my Text appropriateth this priviledge to himself and such as he was real Christians true Saints and unfeigned believers I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ and to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Therefore look what we are living such we are dying Death is but the term of life and changeth not the state of the person but the degree of that state Grace must be wrought here but perfected hereafter in glory which is grace consummate and if no grace here no glory hereafter for as the tree falleth so it lieth But if I should draw the curtaines that are about these dying Saints and consider how they die that come to Christ by death I would propose it unto you briefly in two or three expressions for the discovery of it and your information in it according to the Scripture The Godly die in the faith of Christ believing in him and all the promises of God which in him are yea and amen Heb. 11.13 These all died in faith not having received the promises they die in the interest of Christ and they are Christs in death as well as life Rom. 14.8 Whether we live we live to the Lord and whether we dye we dye to the Lord whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords Yea they die in union with Christ Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord Rev. 14.13 This is that death and the death of such as these are is that departure whereof Paul speaketh in my Text and how desirable it is beyond this present life it self will further appear by the several and sutable acceptations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original which we translate to depart in which word as an alablaster box the Apostle hath inclosed precious spikenard to annoint the Saints against their funeral by which we shall understand the gainful advantage of death to the godly as it looketh back to this present life as the terminus a quo or the bounds from which they depart First the word is used to loosen the cables of a ship solvere rudentes a metaphor taken from mariners who sail from one Banke or Port unto another it importeth a flitting or sailing from the state of this present life to our heavenly country Afflictions in the Scriptures are compared to waters and the world is a troublesome sea to the Saints over which they sail through many stormes till they come to shore For through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14.22 Many are the afflictions of the righteous and in the world ye shall have tribulation saith Christ to his Disciples John 16. last And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus saith Paul shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 But the death of the Saints is the end of their sorrowes and if we suffer with Christ we shall be glorified together Rom. 8.18 Then all tears shall be wiped from their eyes and sorrow and mourning shall flee away when they shall arrive at the land of promise the Cape of good hope Heaven is the Saints fair haven it is called the bosome of Abraham Luk. 16.23 Which Gregory Nyssen expounds to be like a bay or bosome of the Sea into which a godly man sayling from hence putteth in his soul as a haven free from danger and tempest where it shall receive the fulness of all good things Secondly The word is translated reverti to return Believers are sent forth to labour in this world and they are Christs factors upon earth for the advancement of his glory and kingdom and the heavenly gain of their own eternal happiness They trade for heaven by which their conversations are said to be in heaven Phil. 3.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our City life or commerce or our conversation is in heaven whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ to come They are citizens of heaven but they trade from home in a far countrey as merchants seeking the pearl of great price Mat. 13.44 Which having found they returned home richly laden with the treasure of the Gospel Death is the souls return to God Eccles 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it Job saith he shall return thither Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Greek Scholies expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto God How joyful is the return of the Saints to their heavenly home and their happy rest after their laborious travail and restless pains in the works of their salvation attended with all the fruits of holiness and righteousness as an evidence of their faith and testimony of their obedience Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the spirit for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Rev. 14.13 As the wagons which Joseph sent for his Father Jacob and his houshold brought them to the land of Goshen and to the full plenty of Joseph's provision so death bringeth the Saints to their joyful rest and to Christ their heavenly Joseph Death is the unharnessing of the Saints at their final return to their full peace and everlasting inheritance * Solvunti◠sarcina vincula Thirdly the word is applyed sometimes to the loosing of the cords of a tent * Solvere sunos tobernaculorum Beleivers in this life and while they are in the body dwell as in tents and tabernacles in an unsetled and changeable estate as pilgrims and strangers having no continuing City and therefore often remove their tents like the Patriarchs of old Heb 11.9 10. Where the Apostle speaking of Abraham saith that by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange countrey dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a City which had foundations whose builder and maker is God Al the faithful are heirs of eternal promises how mean and contemptible soever they seem in the eyes of the world as a gazing-stock unto them among whom they sojourn for a time As they are not of the world so they have little favour and respect from it for therefore the world hateth them John 15.19 No wonder therefore the people of God have alwayes accounted themselves strangers here Psal 119.19 I am a stranger in the earth saith David hide not thy commandements from me And Peter writing to the Jews 1 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you saith he as pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the Soul How welcome then is that dissolution that looseneth the cords of those tents and pulleth
cannot but glorifie himself vindicate his holiness the justice of God in the execution of his infinite unsatiable displeasure can no longer be suspended but stirreth up his fury as fire to prey upon the soul Thus fitted for destruction The day of patience is now over wherein the Lord waited upon this soul in the ministery of the Gospel in the use of all means to gain it in wooing it by tenders of grace mercy warning it by foretelling this present misery What fair opportunities rich advantages hath all wicked ungodly wretches to prevent this condemnation and to escape the wrath of God while the glorious Gospel of the great God is preaching to them wherein grace is upon the knee and mercy stretcheth forth her hands Christ standeth knocking at their hard hearts and his messengers cry aloud to their deaf ears No wonder therefore if now patience abused turn into fury mercy slighted stir up indignation and contempt of favour heighten displeasure and hereby wrath is treasured up against the day of wrath Rom. 2.4 5. Or despisest thou the richer of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God God is a consuming fire to all such dry and combustible souls seizing upon them as straw and stubble in their approach unto him like Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not Lev. 10.2 And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. O that the sinners in Zion were afraid and that fear might surprise the hypocrites Consider who among you shall dwell with the devouring fire and who among you shall dwell with everlasting burnings The wrath of the Lord is the lake of fire and brimstone of which the Scripture so often speaketh this is hell it self wherein God himself is the tormentor who by his wrath kindleth those unquencheable flames Isa 30.33 For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he bath made it deep and large the pile thereof is much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone kindleth it In this Scripture the Lord denounceth hell to King Sennacherib in describing whereof the Prophet alludeth to the fires in the valley of Hinnon wherein those Idolaters burned their children in sacrifice to Moloch and that the parents might not hear the cry of their children they beat up their taâ—rets or drummes and from the name of Toph or drum the place was called Tophet So in hell there shall be no pitty or compassion of God to the cryes of burning souls And this is the punishment of old ordained not only for Sennacherib but all the ungodly which is said to be deep and large As the dimensions of Gods love to his people in heaven are highth length depth and breadth in all which love passeth knowledge so are the dimensions of his wrath to the damned in hell which we are not able to conceive the heat whereof is intollerable as of a fire made with much wood and eternal through the stream of wrath for ever flowing forth from God the fountaine of wrath to the wicked the hot breath of whose mouth kindleth and bloweth up the everlasting flames of their endless sorrow and torments Fifthly the soul under this consuming wrath of God lyeth down in everlasting despair of ever being released or in the least measure releived or eased Eternity in torments maketh them unsupportable though in themselves they were not so heavy and burthensome how much more intollerable will that punishment be that is both in nature as well as duration so insufferable And if the paines of wrath but for one hour in hell cannot be recompensed with all the wealth of the world who would venture the eternity thereof for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season The damned in hell apprehend the endlessness of their torments by the immortality of the soul the demerit of sin and the unchangeableness of God from whom they suffer If the soul could be consumed or annihilated by its torments if sin could be expiated by any measure of sufferings or if God could repent or be moved to compassion there might be hope in hell but all these are impossible For God changeth not guilt diminisheth not the soul wasteth not therefore the worm never dieth and the fire is never quenched Mark 9.48 And to seal up this bottomless pit upon such miserable souls we may add that if there might be any help in this case either Christ must suffer once more to expiate Gospel disobedience as he suffered for legal or time must be called back again for these tormented ones to enjoy once more the Gospel which they refused But neither of these can be imagined Christ will no more leave the bosom of his Father and his glory having offered one sacrifice for ever and being set down at the right hand of God from hence expecting that all his enemies should become his footstool Heb. 10.12 13. For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries verses 26 27. And who can call time again that is past If God should bring the Sun back upon the dial by a contrary motion through all those minutes of time it hath gone from the beginning of the creation and of its motion in the firmament time would still goe forward by the Suns going backward and it would measure succeeding time by its retrograde motion So that to call time again that is past is one of those impossibilities which God himself cannot doe because it implyeth a contradiction Therefore this shall aggravate the misery of the soul under the wrath of God that the sufferings are easeless endless and helpless wherein the wicked shall bewail their lost seasons never to be regained and their precious time never to be redeemed Despair is written upon the gate of hell whence there is no returning Omnia te adversum spectantia no prints appearing of the feet of any that have come from thence Sixthly the Soul of a wicked man thus desparing under the implacable wrath of God shall stir up it self against God through malice and despite in sin to curse and blaspheme him to his face For the soul being an immortal spirit cannot be only passive but active under its intollerable sufferings the object whereof being God and sin and punishment or God punishing it for sin and all the acts of the soul being purely evil and sinful without the least mixture of good the soul must of necessity be so far from an humble acknowledgement confession and godly sorrow as to
comfortable and chearful estate endeavoureth what he can to disturbe them though he cannot destroy them besides the weighty and burthensome afflictions where withall many gracious hearts are sometimes ready to be overwhelmed had they not secret supports under their oppressing tryals To these and to all Christians the Apostles exhortation is to rejoyce in the Lord Phil. 3.1 And to rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and again to rejoyce Chap. 4. verse 4. who layeth it down as a character of the true spiritual circumcision to rejoyce in Christ Jesus as well as to worship God in the spirit Phil. 3.3 Joy is a fruit of the spirit as much as love faith and other graces among which it is numbred Gal. 5.22 And it is essential to the kingdom of heaven and the state of grace in the soul which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.17 How then should all that are justified by faith and have peace with God through Christ Jesus rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God by Christ and in Christ himself the hope of glory Who is there among all the people of the Lord that is not ashamed to say he doth not love Christ and doth not so far at least testifie his faith as to declare his desires to beleive in him Beloved doe ye love the Lord and beleive in him and can ye not also rejoyce in him Oh that I could say of all beleivers as Peter of the beleiving Jews and the greatness of their joy in the incorruptible inheritance and in Christ 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love and in whom though now ye see him not yet beleiving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Chear up your spirits and lift up your heads and hearts ye drooping Christians for your departure unto Christ is at hand and your salvation is nearer then when ye first beleived And ye that are rich in faith and heires of the kingdom look unto the hope set before you and endure a little shame here yea glory in your tribulations and rejoyce in your sufferings for your redemption draweth nigh Know ye not in whom ye have beleived who is able to keep what ye have committed to his charge and to save you to the uttermost And rejoyce that ye are made partakers not only of the sufferings of Christ but of his glory who is ready to receive you into his bosom and to give you possession of a glorious inheritance prepared reserved and secured unto you having made you sons and heires and appointed you to be Kings and Priests unto Christ and his Father Secondly for the furtherance â—nd help of your joy in the Lord make your calling and election sure For hereby an entrance shall be administred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.10 11. It is an uncomfortable state for a Christian to hang between heaven and hell and in a moving ballance betwixt hope and fear therefore we ought to give diligence in the searching our hearts and examining our hopes that our evidences may be clear and our hopes lively through the assurance of hope and understanding Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 They that beleive have the evidence and witness in themselves the spirit it self bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God Rom. 8.16 But we must not expect the witness of the spirit of God without the preceeding witness of our own spirits whereby our evidences are first signed and afterwards sealed by the spirit of promise For hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit 1 John 4.13 Unto which knowledge we attain by our reflexion upon the fruits of the spirit within us as an earnest of the purchased possession for us So that our evidence ariseth and appeareth by a diligent scrutiny and inquisition into the work and principles of grace within us and that by bringing the word to the heart and judging the heart by the word by comparing truths with experiences and experiences with truths from which premises the enlightened and sanctified conscience draweth the sweet conclusion of life and peace And were we not too much strangers to our selves and guilty of neglect and careless presumption in the matter of our assurance we might raise our comforts to a higher pitch and maintain a better grounded joy and confidence then we doe who are ready to content our selves with naked desires weak and staggering hopes or at most with a questionable probability of our salvation yea how many professors are there who by the difficulty of the work of gaining assurance either discourage and cool their affections to it or else by a conceit of an impossibility thereof voluntarily and totally neglect it But ye Beloved build not your hopes and comforts upon slight and shallow foundations but stirre up your selves and by all unwearied paines resolve to clear and ballance your accounts for eternity especially making your calling sure and your evidence sound concerning the truth of conversion and regeneration This will be the strongest hold under Christ's protection in the time of temptation to retire unto and to preserve and releive your hearts and hopes when Satan shall beat you out of all other Forts and outworkes of defence and confidence cause you to retreat to your main-guard of conversion evidence To this end call to mind the birth day of grace wherein you suffered the pangs and throws of the new birth and recount the experiences of Gods first love to you and your first love to Christ How discernable was your change when God turned you from dismal darkness to his marvellous light and raised you from the jawes of death and hell unto the joyes of heaven and salvation when he comforted you in your despair and anointed you with joy and gladness in the time of your sorrow and mourning when your imprisoned and confined hearts were enlarged and the Devil bound up from torturing holding you captive under his tyrannical and malilicious power when the day of light and understanding dawned in your hearts and the glorious Sun of righteousness arose with healing to your wounds and health to your souls But take heed of satisfying your selves with this that you have been converted to the Lord but for the strengthening of your confidence in him and clearing your interest in his love bring forth of the treasury of your hearts things new as well as old for the more testimonies the stronger evidence anst the surer comfort Therefore trace the foot-steps of Christ's spiritual and powerful dispensations towards your souls in the process and continued course of mercy and his preventing assisting and supporting grace and reveiw the pillars and monuments you have set up in your hearts for remembrance of special kindness and remarkable
such fruitful seasons Nevertheless lift up the hands that hang down the feeble knees up and be doing the worke of the Lord shall prosper in your hands gird up the loynes of your minds and so run that ye may attain being swift to hear not slothful in business fervent in spirit continuing instant in prayer that God would fulfill in you all the good pleaof his goodness and the work of faith with power Fifthly That ye may better redeem the present time of grace and mercy exercise your hope with all sobriety in the use of temporal comforts and enjoyments Take heed of surfeiting your selves with the sweetness of creature delights lest your hearts should say it is good to be here and you sit down ready to take your lot on this side of heaven But be sober and hope unto the end for the grace and salvation that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 Ye that are the children of the day watch and be sober and with Paul whose example is imitable in this case labour to beat down your bodies and to bring them into subjection that ye be not cast away 1 Cor. 9.21 It is better to starve lust then by pampering the body to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Therefore study contentment in a mean condition in this world having but food and rayment to supply the bare necessities of this present life A little will serve for your passage though all the world should not content you for your portion because ye are heirs of precious promises and of a rich and glorious inheritance whereof ye shall shortly take possession in the life that is to come and in the enjoyment of God himself in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Wherefore if by Christ the world be crucifyed unto you and you unto the world and ye overcome the world by the victory of faith live above the vanity and emptiness of fading and withering comforts and look not at the fashion of the world which passeth away but use the world as if ye used it not because all these things perish in the using dye in the hand and the beauty thereof corrupteth and vanisheth while your eyes are set upon them And let your moderation be known to all men in respect of your care and contention for the things of this life for the Lord is at hand who if you cast your burthens upon him will sustaine you for he careth for you Content your selves to live at his allowance in your minority and think not hardship unsutable to your present state whereas if you were full ye might forget the Lord and less mind your home and your Fathers house But if the Lord hath enlarged your present estate upon earth content not your selves in being rich unless you are rich towards God and deny your selves in what is in your power to use and possess that ye may doe good in your generation and lay up for your selves a good foundation against the time to come Direct VI. Sixthly For the maintaining of a holy sobriety of spirit act faith upon eternal promises and the unseen glory of heaven Nothing doth more support and bear up the hearts of the Saints then to live by faith and to look over the pale of time to the things which are eternal This will make afflictions light suffering easie the world contemptible and the hardest labour and work for Christ and the Gospel comfortable While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 While faith feedeth upon the promises of life and glory and eyeth the great reward of happiness and perfection the soul fainteth not under its burden neither is discouraged at the greatest difficulties in the way of its hopes but becometh more lively and undaunted in contending with opposition that it may break through and passe to the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Yea how fully is the soul satisfyed in beholding the incomprehensible riches of eternity that when it is taken up with the thoughts and meditations thereof it is ready to forget that it is still in the body as being transported above the sphear of sensitive objects This made David cease to envy the prosperity of the wicked when his heart was raised to a sight of God in the Sanctuary which so ravished his soul that he brake out into that expression Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee And this will ween your affections desires from earthly contentments did ye often by faith visit your heavenly mansions and keep your thoughts upon Christ and his preparations for you which the eye hath not seen nor the ear heard neither hath the heart conceived and yet not beyond the reach of faith as it is the evidence of things not seen Seventhly and lastly Labour after a complying heart with the will of God under every dispensation of providence towards you in this earthly tabernacle Be willing to live or dye to doe or suffer following every call of God whose infinite wisdom disposeth of your conditions and whose gracious power is present to assist and streng then Acknowledge the Lord in all your wayes and he shall direct your paths and commit your way to him and he shall give you the desire of your hearts Take heed of self-will and sinful will in opposition to the will of Christ but lye prostrate at his feet with a holy and an humble resignation of your selves to his will and pleasure And let nothing move or terrifie you neither count your lives dear unto you that ye may finish your course with joy Be contented with any condition which the Lord shall allot unto you in your present pilgrimage and travails homeward and let the consideration of your approaching ascension unto Christ in the highest heavens sweeten every bitter cup which providence shall put into your hands lighten every burden which God shall lay upon you knowing that your sufferings are only temporal but your joyes will be eternal and that ye have all your evil here but your good things are to come O forget not that your treasure is in heaven and where your treasure is there let your hearts be also that for the joy that is set before you ye may endure every cross and despise the shame of all your sufferings for Christ counting the sufferings of this present life not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in you when ye shall depart hence unâ—o Christ which is far better Not only better then the present straights troubles tribulations and afflictions which attend the Gospel the profession of Christ and the state of Grace but better then the best and most honourable and comfortable condition which the Saints of God have ever enjoyed or can expect to partake of while the foundations of the earth remain Which I shall only add by way of motive to what hath been said by way of counsel that to depart and be with Christ is far better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in comparison with the three degrees o excellency attainable in this earthly state First it is better then life and all the comforts of life which the world can afford in pleasure profit or honour For all these things are short and uncertain and at least but created delights and creature enjoyments which Saint John describeth by the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life 1 John 2.15 And laboureth to take off our affections from them by an argument drawn from the love of God And if the loving kindness of God to his people here be better then life it self Psal 63.3 How much more the fulness of his love communicated without measure in the life that is eternal Secondly it is better then all the service which the Saints can doe for God and Christ in their most perfect obedience here below Yea though we could say with Saint Paul to us to live is Christ yet to dye and be with Christ were gain and far better and though in keeping of his commandements there be great reward and the godly have great peace therein yet their happiness hereafter shall be the crown of their holiness here and their reward with Christ shall exceed all their labour and worke for him Lastly It is better then the most uninterrupted fellowship the Saints are capable of with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in their nearest and most spiritual approaches in the purest ordinances or most heavenly meditations and that by how much the immediate and glorious presence of Christ God himself in heaven surpasseth the clearest discovery manifestations of God to his chosen and precious faithful people upon earth Therefore leâ— all the Sons of God wait with joy for the day of their ascension when they shall depart unto Christ who is ascended far above all things that he might fill all things And that your hearts may be filled with joy and that ye faint not implore his spiritual presence with his love-sick Spouse Cant. 2. last Vntill the day break and the shaddowes flee away turne my Beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountaines of Bether FINIS