most solemnly publish'd to the World 'T is therefore said the God of Peace raised him from the Dead the Act is most congruously ascribed unto God invested with that Title because his Power was exerted in that glorious Work after he was reconciled by the Blood of the Covenant Briefly Our Saviour's Victory over Death was obtained by dying his Triumph by rising again He foil'd our common Enemy in his own Territories the Grave His Death was a Counter-poison to Death it self as a bruised Scorpion is a noble Antidote against its Venom Indeed his Death is incomparably a greater Wonder than his Resurrection For 't is apparently more difficult that the Son of God who originally possesses Immortality should die than that the humane Body united to him should be raised to a glorious Life It is more conceivable that God should communicate to the humane Nature some of his Divine Perfections Impassibility and Immortality than that he should submit to our lowest Infirmities Sufferings and Death Now the Resurrection of Christ is the argument and claim of our happy Resurrection For God chose and appointed him to be the Example and Principle from whom all Divine Blessings should be derived to us Accordingly he tells his Disciples in a fore-cited Scripture Because I live ye shall live also Our Nature was rais'd in his Person and in our Nature all Believers Therefore he is called the first-fruits of them that sleep because as the first Fruits were a pledg and assurance of the following Harvest and as from the condition of the first Fruits being offered to God the whole Harvest was entitled to a Consecration so our Saviour's Resurrection to the Life of Glory is the earnest and assurance of ours He is called the first-born among the Dead and owns the Race of departed Believers as his Brethren who shall be restored to Life according to his Pattern He is the Head Believers are his Members and therefore shall have Communion with him in his Life The effect is so infallible that now they are said to be raised up together and made to sit in heavenly Places in Christ Jesus If his Victory over our Enemies had been imperfect and he had saved himself with difficulty and hazard as it were by Fire in the Apostle's expression our Redemption had not been accomplish'd But his Passion was triumphant and is it conceivable that he should leave the Saints his own by so many dear titles under the power of Death If Moses the Deliverer of Israel from the Tyranny of Pharaoh would not suffer any thing of theirs not an hoof to remain in the House of Bondage Will our great Redeemer be less perfect in his Work Shall our last Enemy always detain his Spoils our Bodies in the Grave This would reflect upon his Love and Power 'T is recorded to confirm our Hopes how early his Power was displayed in forcing the Grave to release its chained Captives And many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the Graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many What better Earnest can we have that the strength of Death is broken From what he has done to what he is able to do the Consequence is clear The Apostle tells us He will raise our vile Bodies and change them like unto his glorious Body by that Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Our Redemption will then be compleat and all the bitterness of Death past The Redemption of the Soul is accomplish'd from Sin and Misery immediately after Death but the Redemption of the Body is the last in order and reserved to crown our Felicity at the Great Day Then Death shall be swallowed up in Victory abolish'd for ever And O the joyful reunion of those dear Relatives after such a Divorce when the Body that was so long detained in the loathsome Grave shall be reformed with all glorious Perfections and be a fit Instrument for the Soul and partaker with it in consummate Blessedness and Immortality 'T is said that those that wear rich Clothing are in Kings Houses but what are all the Robes of costly Folly wherein earthly Courtiers appear to the Brightness and Beauty of the Spiritual Body wherewith the Saints shall be clothed to qualify them for the Presence of the King of Kings and to be in his House for ever But O the miserable Condition of the Wicked in that Day Death now breaks their Bodies and Souls into an irreconcileable Enmity and how sad will their Conjunction be The Soul will accuse the Body to have been Sin 's Solicitor continually tempting to Sensualities and the Body will upbraid more than ever it allured the Soul for its wicked Compliance Then the Sinner shall be an entire Sacrifice burning but never consumed Now from the assurance of a blessed Resurrection by Christ the forementioned Fear of Death is conquered in Believers If the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls into Bodies the invention of Pythagoras inspired his Disciples with that fiery vigour as to encounter the most present and apparent Dangers being fearless to part with the Life that should be restored how much more should a Christian with a holy Confidence receive Death knowing that the Life of his Body shall not be finally lost but renewed in a blessed Eternity The fourth General to be considered is the Persons that have an Interest in this blessed Priviledg This Inquiry is of infinite moment both for the awakning of the Secure who vainly presume upon their Interest in the Salvation of the Gospel and for the confirming and encouraging the Saints And we have an infallible rule of trial declared by St. John He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life All the excellent and comfortable Benefits procur'd by our Saviour are communicated only to those who are united to him Particularly with respect to the present Subject Justification that great Blessing of the Gospel the compleat Pardon of Sins that disarms Death of its Sting is not common to all that are Christians in title but is a Priviledg with a limitation There is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus vitally as their Head from whom are derived spiritual Influences and judicially as their Advocate in Judgment and such are described by this infallible Character who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The Blessedness after Death that is assured by a Voice from Heaven is with this precise restriction exclusive of all others Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them The glorious Resurrection at the last Day when the Bodies of the Saints that now rest in Hope shall be incorruptible and immortal is the consequence of Union with him Thus the Apostle declares As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made
omnipresent and that what-ever Sin is done though in the deepest and darkest recess is manifest to him have no need of Lucian's Lamp to make our Judg to be feared by us 3. The Impartiality of the Sentence will make the Justice of God conspicuous before the whole World This consists in two things 1. There will be no distinction of Persons 2. There will be a distinction of Causes in that Judgment and according to their Nature the Sentence will pass upon all 1. There will be no distinction of Persons In humane Courts the Judges sometimes extend and amplify sometimes contract or smother the Evidence and are more rigorous or favourable in their Sentence as they are biass'd towards the Persons before them But the Righteous Judg of the World is uncapable of being inclin'd to Favour or Severity upon such base Motives This is frequently declared in Scripture to possess us with his Fear If ye call upon the Father who without respect of Persons judges according to every Man's Work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear No spiritual Priviledges upon which Men are so apt to presume viz. that they are Members of the Reformed Church that they are enrich'd with excellent Gifts that they enjoy the Ordinances in their purest Administration will avail them without real Holiness in their Hearts and Lives The being united to Societies of the most glorious Profession of strictest Purity and sublime Devotion does no more prove one to be a real Saint than the being of an eminent Company of Merchants proves one to be a rich Citizen Those that bow the Knee and not the Heart in faithful Reverence that give the empty Title of Lord to Christ without the tribute of Obedience will be rejected by him Many shall say at the Day of Judgment Lord Lord we have prophesied in thy Name and done many wondrous Works Then will the Judg say I know you not Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity No degrees of Civil Greatness will be of any moment and advantage in that day Saint John testifies I saw the Dead small and great stand before God in an equal Line to receive their Trial. Kings shall then be devested of their Imperial Titles of their Crowns and Scepters and their Robes of State and only be accompanied with their Works Of this we have an undoubted Proof in that they are no more exempted from the common Law of dying than the meanest Slave Death that rugged Officer arrests them without Ceremony and summons them to appear before that Tribunal The Royal Purple could not protect Herod from being devoured by Worms The Apostle speaks indefinitely in the fore-cited Place He that does wrong shall receive for the wrong he has done and there is no respect of Persons No circumstantial Accidents can derive true worth or truly debase Persons but inherent Qualities and the Actions that flow from them and accordingly the High and Holy God will accept or disapprove them What St. Paul observes of the saving Grace of the Gospel being indifferently offer'd to all is applicable in this case He tells us There is neither Greek nor Jew Barbarian nor Scythian Bond nor Free that are preferr'd or excluded upon a Carnal account but that all may equally partake of spiritual Blessings Thus the difference of Nations will be no Priviledg or Prejudice to any in the Day of Judgment The most rude and contemptible shall have as fair and equal a Trial as the most polite and civiliz'd The ignorant Barbarians as the Learned Grecians that so much boasted of their vain Excellencies above them The Negroes in Africa as the People of Europe for they have the same Relation to God their Maker and as truly bear the impression of God stamped upon the Humane Nature in the Creation and therefore common to the whole species of Mankind An Image may be fashion'd in Ebony as well as in Ivory Briefly all Men are equally subject to his Laws and shall be equally accountable for their Actions The Rich and the Poor shall then meet together without distinction before God the Maker and Judg of them all 2. There shall be a distinction of Causes and every Man be judged according to his Works the tenour of good Works and the desert of bad The Apostle assures us That whatsoever a Man sows that shall he reap He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting The Harvest shall be according to the Seed both in kind and measure 1. Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality shall obtain eternal Life Indeed eternal Life is the Gift of infinite Bounty nay of pure Mercy and Mercy excludes Merit 'T is said of the blessed Martyrs who contended for the Truth and Purity of the Gospel to the Death that their Robes were wash'd white in the Blood of the Lamb not in their own Blood Their Right to Heaven was from the application of his Merits to them But the Reward is dispens'd from God according to the Evangelical Law not only as a magnificent Prince but as a Righteous Judg. All those to whom the Gospel promises eternal Life shall infallibly obtain it and none that the Gospel excludes Those who were sensible of their Sins and cordially forsaking them did humbly and entirely depend upon the Grace of God through the blessed Reconciler and Saviour shall be justified and glorified Then the Judg will discern between unfeigned Faith and vain Presumption and will justify the Faith of the Saints by the genuine Fruits of it the Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety of their Lives and a victorious perseverance in their Duty notwithstanding all the pleasing Temptations or Tortures to withdraw them from it Thus the Apostle expresses his humble Confidence I have fought the good Fight I have finish'd my Course henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judg will give me at that day and not only to me but to all that love his Appearance We read in the Description of the Last Judgment That the Book of Life was opened the Names of all that were written in Heaven shall then be declared that it may appear they are saved by Grace For it was his most free pleasure to select some from the common Mass of Perdition who were naturally as guilty and corrupted as others and to predestinate them to Eternal Glory and effectual persevering Grace to prepare them for it The Saints are created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that they should walk in them And the New Creation is as undeserved and entire an Effect of God's Love as the first was But 't is said That every Man was judged according to his Works For Eternal Election does not entitle a Person immediately to Heaven but according to the
your Sex and more truly Honourable than your Noble Descent and Alliance but direct my best Desires to God that your Family may be a singular and eminent Example of the Divine Favour that the fading Gloss of this World may not deceive you but your Heart may be above where your Treasure is that you may live to God and your Soul for Heaven and Eternity I am Madam Your Honour 's very humble and faithful Servant WILLIAM BATES The Bookseller's Advertisement THE Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are Subjects of that great Importance and so nearly concerns all Persons that serious Discourses publish'd upon them deserve the Reader 's best Attention and Application And that they may be of more diffusive and general Benefit it will be a proper Means that according to the Examples of some pious Persons Books treating of those solemn Arguments BE GIVEN AT FUNERALS AS A FUNERAL-LEGACY When according to the observation of the wise Preacher The Living lay to Heart their own Frailty and are more receptive of Holy Counsels to prepare for their great Change from Time to Eternity and would affect their Minds with the present Instance of Mortality much better than Wine Sweatmeats Gloves or Rings or unprofitable Talk as is too usual at such Solemnities All serious practical Books are proper for this Design which may be of any Price or Bigness And if Bound in Black with a Cypher of Mortality will be very decent And some Memorables of the Life of the Deceased if desired may be printed on a Leaf or more and bound with it Several Books so bound may be seen at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil B. A. OF DEATH HEB. 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to Bondage IN the first Chapter of this Epistle the Proofs of the Eternal Deity of Christ are produced with that evidence of Scripture-Light that only a vailed Heart obstinate Infidelity can resist The Medium which the inspired Pen-man makes use of is the comparing him with the Angels the most noble Flower of the Creation and shewing that he is infinitely dignified above them This he does by a strong connexion of Arguments First By his Title that is divinely high and peculiar to himself He is declared by the Testimony of the eternal Father to be his Son in the most proper and sublime sense begotten of him and therefore having the same essential Perfections of the Godhead in their uncreated Glory But the Angels are not dignified with this Name in any Places of Scripture where the Excellency of the Angels is in the fullest Terms expressed And that this Name is taken from his Nature is clearly proved because Adoration is due to him upon this account even from the Angels of the highest Order When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Divine Worship is a Prerogative inseparably annex'd to the Deity both upon the account of the supream Excellencies of the Nature of God and his Relation to Angels and Men as Creator and Preserver the Fountain of their Being and Happiness This without the most open defiance of his Authority cannot be given to a meer Creature and by the Command of God himself is to be performed as a Respect due to the filial Godhead The Argument proceeds from the Name to the Offices Of the Angels he saith Who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flame of Fire They are the prime Instruments of his Providence most zealous and active to accomplish his Pleasure But the Son is God not by Analogy and Deputation as Princes are nor with a limitation and diminution as Moses was made a God to Pharaoh but absolutely and really as subsisting in the Divine Nature And consequently he is the Supreme King and to him the Ensigns of Majesty divinely Royal are ascribed But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Whereas the Scepters of Earthly Kings are often unrighteously manag'd and their Thrones ruinously fall There is a further Confirmation from his Works that are divinely great and glorious wherein no Creature has any share of Efficiency The making of the World is ascribed to him Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands The Divine Attributes the peculiar Character of the Deity belong to him Eternity and Immutability The most solid parts of the visible Creation shall perish and be changed but thou remainest and art the same His Life is an intire uniform unchangeable Perfection His Glory and Felicity are in the same invariable Tenor for ever possess'd by him Lastly the Son sits in that quality at the right Hand of the Father in the Society of Empire as equal to him in Power and Honour commanding all in the visible and invisible World most easily and irresistibly tho gradually subduing his Enemies to a consummate Victory But the Angels so numerous and powerful are ministring Spirits employed for the defence and benefit of the Church From this summary account we may understand how firmly the Divinity of Christ is establish'd in the Scripture For those Passages of the Prophets that speak of the God of Israel as Creator and the sole Object of Adoration are directly referr'd to Jesus Christ. And the Name Jehovah the Majesty of which consists in its being incommunicable is attributed to him This is the Foundation upon which the whole Fabrick of the Gospel is built The Office of Mediator in the Prophetical Priestly and Regal Administration is necessarily join'd with the Divinity of his Person And the revelation of it from Heaven is as clear as the Sun is visible in the Firmament All the Difficulties in our conceiving this great Mystery of Godliness are but like the Shadows that attend the Light And all the heretical Subtilties to pervert the Sense of such plain and positive Texts are as impertinent as impious This being establish'd the Apostle proceeds to give an account of the Son of God's assuming the Humane Nature and submitting to Sufferings and Death This is a Divine Secret so miraculously strange that the Contrivance was without the Compass of the Angelical Minds and the discovery of it is only by supernatural Revelation but when revealed the account of it is so open and consentaneous to Reason as being the most congruous Means for the illustration of God's Glory in the saving lost Men that the humane Mind if not deeply corrupted with the tincture of Prejudice must consent to it as worthy of all Acceptation The substance of his reasoning is this That it was the product of the most wise merciful and righteous Counsel of God that the Saviour of Men should have Communion with them in their Nature that he might have a
Sadness to an Agony in his Soul and suffered the equal extremities of Ignominy and Torment in his Body The Favour of God was intercepted from him that it may shine upon us in that gloomy hour And all his terrible Sufferings though foreknown by his enlightned Mind could not weaken his determined Will to undergo them for us But when Peter regarded with a more tender eye his Life than our Salvation he was repell'd with indignation Unparallel'd Love no less than Divine transcending all the Instances of humane Affection The highest kind and excess of Love amongst Men is to die for another and the highest degree in that kind is to die to save an Enemy and of this our Saviour is the singular Example Love incomprehensible it passes knowledg and all understanding but his who express'd it His Love was equal to the heighth of his Glory from whence he descended and the depth of his Sufferings that he sustained in our stead By washing us from our Sins in his Blood he makes us Kings dignifies us with spiritual Soveraignty over not only defiling but disturbing Passions The freest and most confident Sinner in the World that rebels against the Divine Laws without restraint is a Slave not only under the Chains of his imperious Lusts but in that he is liable to the scourgings of Conscience when ever awaken'd and to the servile fear of Death every day But the sincere Christian has a clear and sweet Peace a blessed Tranquillity from the tormenting apprehensions and fears of Death that are the just consequents of Guilt One of the ancient Romans highly celebrates the Astronomers who discover'd the true Causes of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and freed the World from the double darkness of Ignorance and Fear for before that Discovery Men believed the obscuring of those great Lights were the fainting fits of Nature and mortal Symptoms threatning an universal Calamity But what Praise and Blessing is due to our Saviour who hath given us infallible assurance that the Death of the Righteous is not as the Heathen World imagin'd an irreparable loss of Life but a short eclipsing of this low and mean Light that is common to sensitive Creatures to be restored more excellent and permanent in Heaven where those Stars shine in the Divine Presence for ever Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This should render him infinitely precious to us and inflame our Hearts with Desires equal to our Obligations to serve him 2. Let us make it the main Business of our Lives to remove from our Souls the just Fears of Death 'T is one of the solemn Follies of the World to fear where there is no cause As if a Sentinel should mistake Gloworms in the Night for lighted Matches and give a false Alarm but 't is a worse Folly though pleasing not to fear when there is the greatest Reason to excite it And 't is so in the present Case for the most are without the Fear of Death that should make them serious in preparing for it nay to maintain their Security are as unwilling to hear Conscience declare the Wretchedness of their Condition with respect to Eternity as Ahab was the Prophet Micaiah who always foretold evil things to him 'T was the chief Design of the Philosophers by Principles of Reason to fortify themselves against all frightful Accidents and with a masculine Mind with an Heart ardent and with generous Spirits to encounter this inevitable Evil. When one of them was threatned by the Emperor Antigonus with present Death he boldly replied Threaten this to your dissolute Courtiers that are softned and melted by sensual Pleasures and easily receptive of terrible Impressions not to a Philosopher to whom Death is contemptible in any Appearance This was a piece of affected Bravery for Pagan Philosophy could never furnish them with Armor of Proof against the Dart of our last Enemy But the Gospel assuring us that Death is an Entrance into Immortality makes that to be the Reality of a Christian that was a vain boast of the Philosophers Now that we may be establish'd in that blessed Tranquillity that Death cannot discompose the following Directions are infinitely useful 1. We must give all Diligence to be in a State of Reconciliation with God The things requisit to that are as the Apostle declares Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance includes a Godly Sorrow for Sins past with a Detestation and forsaking them sincerely without Hypocrisy and entirely without Partiality in the Heart and Conversation 'T is call'd Repentance from dead Works the proper Name of our Sins that deserve Eternal Death By Repentance we return to Obedience that is due to God our Maker and Lawgiver Faith respects the Redeemer who by his Blood shed on the Cross and pleaded in Heaven reconciles God to penitent Sinners The Belief of his merciful and powerful Mediation for our Acceptance and Pardon Works by Love and constrains us to dedicate our selves in a devoted Propriety to his Glory and Service and to live according to that Dedication These two are absolutely necessary to the vital and salvifical State of a Christian. And as soon as a Person sincerely repents and believes he is justified before God and if he dies will certainly obtain eternal Glory This should be the early and most speedy Work of our Lives for the Delay of Repentance and Neglect of securing the Favour of God arms Death with more Stings and Terrors The infinite Danger of this I will unfold to awaken the Careless and Secure The Devil is a Sophister in Perfection and his ordinary and successful Artifice to elude the force of present Conviction and wrap Men in Sin and Damnation is to induce them to delay the great Work of the Soul till afterward He is not so foolish to tell them as he did our first Parents Ye shall not die for the Temptation is so palpable that it could deceive none Though the Evidence and Certainty of supernatural Truths that disturb the Security of Sinners is sometimes obscur'd by affected Doubts yet there is no Artifice that can resist the full and strong Conviction in Men that Death is inevitable Though Nature recoils from it with Abhorrence yet this sad Truth is so visible that it forces an Assent from all Those who are titular Gods the greatest Princes are not so vain as to pretend to an Exemption by Priviledg from that fatal Necessity they cannot fancy to be imbalm'd alive and that Nature may be made incorruptible by Art The Palace is as near the Grave as the Cottage therefore the Devil cherishes in Men fond hopes of a long Life As some optick Glasses deceive the Sight and make a superficial Representation in Colours on a Wall but two or three Steps distant appear a long deep Gallery Thus the Tempter by a dangerous Deceit presents to the Imagination the fatal term at a
that seals up the Damnation of Sinners is Impenitence Now he that delays the returning to his Duty shall have more cause to repent hereafter but less Will and Power for Sin repeated makes him more uncapable of Repentance and that which is Indisposition will become Averseness and Obstinacy The Heart with Difficulty changes its last End Actions may be suddenly chang'd when there is a Disability to perform them but the inward Inclinations to Sin without supernatural renewing Grace remain 'T is therefore the Subtilty of the old Serpent to make the Entrance of Sin easy for he knows that Custom is a second Nature and has a mighty Power in us Can an Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard change his Spots then may you who are accustomed to do Evil do good If Sin in its Infancy can make such Resistance that the Spirit of Grace is foil'd in his Motions to rescue the Soul from its Bondage how much more when 't is grown into a confirm'd Habit Therefore the Apostle urges so zealously To Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts lest any be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin 3. How uncertain is it whether God will accept the Addresses of such at last We are commanded Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near The Limitation implies if the Season be neglected he will hide his Face for ever Now in cases of great Moment and Hazard what Diligence what Caution should be used 1 st Consider how derogatory it is to his Majesty to offer to him the Dregs of our Age the Reliques of a licentious careless Life spent in the Works of Vanity Is this to give Glory to God Contempt provokes Superiours as much as actual Injuries How vilifying is it of his excellent Greatness that Men lavishly waste the best of their Time and Strength upon their Lusts and when through Weakness of Age or the Violence of a Disease they can no more do the Acts of Sin nor relish the Pleasures of Sin to presume that God will upon their Prayers forgive their Sins so long indulg'd and of such violent Provocations and receive them into his Kingdom as if he could not be happy without them and it were his Interest to receive them God has laid his Exceptions against such Addresses He may justly stand upon his Greatness and Honour If ye offer the Blind for a Sacrifice is it not evil And if ye offer the Lame and Sick is it not evil Offer it now to thy Governour will he be pleased with it to accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts As the Lord upbraids the Jews for their black Ingratitude in barginning for thirty pieces of Silver to have him betrayed to their Malice a goodly Price that I was prized at of them So when there is an universal Prostration of all the Powers and Faculties when the Spirits are damp'd the vital Heat is check'd and the function of the senses is obstructed then to seek to God for Mercy and to make fair Promises of Obedience he may justly reproach the Presumer a goodly time you have alotted for me Your Youth and Strength the Golden Age of Life has been wasted on your Lusts and in the Business of the World and the wretched remains you think worthy of my Acceptance 2 dly Consider what Sincerity or moral Value is in Religion that meerly proceeds from bitter Constraint 'T is a Rule in Law Falsum est eam peperisse cui mortuae filius extractus est 'T is not a natural Birth when the Child is extracted from the dead Mother 'T is not genuine Piety that is extorted by the rack whilst the Heart full of Reluctancy does not truly consent Pure Religion flows uncompell'd from Love to God 't is the Dregs that come forth with pressing 'T is observ'd of the Israelites that when God slew them they sought him and returned and enquired early after God But 't is added Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouths and they lied to him with their Tongues for their Hearts were not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant How often does Experience convince us of the Inefficacy of a Sickbed-Repentance How many that were very devout and mournful with one Foot as it were in the Grave and another in Hell and were as a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire yet when the Fear of Death is removed all the Terrors of Conscience the religious Affections that were felt and express'd by them vanish as the Morning-Dew Now converting Grace is distinguish'd by its radication and efficacy not only from the mere Pretences of those who know their own Insincerity but from the real Workings of Conscience and the imperfect Dispositions to Good that are in the Unrenewed And those Persons who with the return of Health have returned to their Sins if they had died with their religious Resolutions would have presum'd that their Repentance was unto Life and of their Interest in the Divine Mercy The Heart is deceitful above all things and above all things deceitful to it self Besides when Sinners are plunged in deep Distress when the shadow of Death sits upon their Eye-lids they may with plentiful effusions of Tears desire God to receive them to Heaven not to see and praise his adorable Excellencies not to please and glorify him for ever but as a Sanctuary from revenging Justice a Refuge from Hell And will such Prayers prevail What swells the Confidence of Sinners but unworthy Notions of God as if a forc'd and formal Confession of their Sins could deceive his all-discerning Eye and Desires merely terminated on themselves were sufficient to reconcile his offended Majesty 3. There is nothing renders Men more unworthy of Mercy than continuance in Sin upon presumption of an easy Pardon at last This is the most provoking Abuse of his Goodness and Long-suffering that should lead them unto Repentance He can in the twinkling of an eye in the beating of a Pulse cut off the Sinner 't is as easy to his Power as to will it And there is no Consideration should be so melting and moving as his Clemency We read of David that he had more than once in his power Saul his unjust and cruel Enemy yet spared him the effect of it was that Saul was softened and under such compunction of Spirit that he wept confess'd his Guilt and persecuted him no more overcome by that unexampled Love If a Man find his Enemy will he let him go Yet Men take advantage from the Goodness of God securely to despise his Laws The habitual Sinner thinks that God is so gracious such a Lover of Souls so easy to be intreated that upon his dying Prayer Lord remember me in thy Kingdom the Answer will be To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise This is the deceitful Principle upon which Men usually build their Hopes as their Actions that bear the Image of their
Minds clearly manifest Now this presumptuous Indulgence gives the deepest grain to their Sins and makes them more uncapable of Pardon Chrysostom observes that Judas was encouraged to betray his Master presuming on his Lenity Goodness Benignity which Considerations intolerably aggravated his Treason and confounded his Hopes There is a dreadful threatning against those who reject the Invitations of Grace in their Prosperity and when the righteous Judg comes to Sentence and Execution are earnest Suppliants for Mercy Because I have called and ye have refused I have stretch'd out my Hands and no Man regarded But ye have set at naught all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I will also laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear comes When your Fear comes as a Desolation and your Destruction as a Whirlwind when Distress and Anguish come upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me For they hated Knowledg and did not choose the Fear of the Lord. A doleful Case beyond all possible expression when the sinful Creature forsaken of all Comforts below addresses to Heaven for Relief and meets with Derision and Fury Scorn and Indignation The foolish Virgins careless to prepare for the Bridegroom 's Coming in vain at last discover'd their want of Oil in vain sollicited the wise Virgins for Supply in vain knock'd at the door crying Lord Lord open to us the Answer was severe and peremptory I know you not and they were for ever excluded from the Joys of Heaven 4. How incongruous is it to delay the solemn Work of Reconciliation with God till the time of Sickness This is an Affair wherein our transcendent Interest is concerned and should be performed in our most calm and sensible Condition when we are most capable of reflecting upon our Ways and making an exact trial of our selves in order to our returning to God by a holy Change of our Lives Now that the Time of Sickness is not a convenient Season for this Work is sadly evident for some Diseases are stupifying and all the Powers of the Soul are benumm'd in a dull Captivity so that the sick Man only perceives with his animal Faculties Some Diseases are tormenting and cause a great Disorder in the Soul and distract the Thoughts from considering his spiritual State When the Storm is at the highest and the Pilot so sick that he can give no Directions the Ship is left to the fury of the Winds and escapes by Miracle When there is a Tempest in the Humours of the Body and the Soul by Sympathy is so discompos'd that it cannot apply it self to prepare for its appearance before the Divine Tribunal what danger of being lost and passing from a short Agony to everlasting Torment Besides Suppose the Sickness more tolerable yet how unfit is a Person weak and languishing when Sense and Conscience are both afflicted to encounter with the cruel Enemy of Souls All that sincerely seek Peace with God must expect fierce Anger and War from Satan therefore 't is a point of necessary Wisdom whilst our Bodies and Minds are in the best order to be preparing against his Assaults 5. Consider how uncomfortable it is to delay Repentance till Age and Sickness when the Fruits of it are not so evident nor acceptable In evil days and the Approaches of Death 't is very hard to discover the Sincerity of the Heart whether Repentance proceeds from Holy Principles whether the Sorrow then express'd be Godly for Sin or meerly natural for Punishment whether the good Resolutions be the Effects of permanent Fidelity or of violent Fear that will vanish the cause being removed When the Invitations to Sin cease there may remain a secret undiscerned Love to it in the Heart which is the Centre of Corruption and Root of Apostacy The Snake that seem'd dead in the Frost revived by the Fire The inordinate Affections that seemed mortified when the sensitive Faculties were disabled to carnal Enjoyments may have inward Life and will soon be active and vigorous in the Presence of Temptations And that a Deathbed-Repentance is usually deceitful appears from hence that not one of a thousand that recover from dangerous Diseases are faithful in performing their most sacred and solemn Vows How many having the Sentence of Death in themselves and under the Terrors of the Lord have expressed the greatest Detestation of their Sins and resolved as they thought sincerely if God would spare them to reform their ways to become new Creatures exemplary in all Holy Conversation yet the Danger being over their Heats of Devotion expire as they revive and their Lusts recover Strength with their Bodies and being suppress'd only by Fear are more fierce in their Return Their Hearts were as Marble that in rainy Weather seems dissolved into Water but 't is only from the Moisture of the Air and remains as hard as ever When the Fear of Death is removed all their Promises of Reformation are ineffective as violent and void all their religious Affections vanish as the Morning-Dew Now if these Persons had died before this visible Trial and Discovery they had past into the other World with the Reputation of true Penitents deceiving others with their Prayers and Tears and liberal Promises the outward Signs of Repentance and deceived themselves by the inward Workings of an alarmed Conscience Therefore Ministers should be very circumspect in applying the Promises of Mercy to Persons in such a State for an Error in that kind has fearful Consequences A little opiate Divinity may quiet the Mind for a time but the Virtue of it will be soon spent and the Presumer perishes for ever But suppose a dying Person with true Tears and unfeigned persevering Affections returns to God Can he have a comfortable Assurance of his Sincerity Indeed the Searcher and Judg of Hearts will accept him but how doubtful and wavering are his Hopes what anxious Fears are in his Breast lest he builds upon a sandy Foundation And how dreadful is it to appear before the Tribunal of God and expect an uncertain Sentence But Sinners still please themselves in this that God has effectually called some at the last Hour and they may find the same Favour with others To this I answer 1. 'T is true we have some rare admirable Instances of God's Mercy and Grace the dying Thief and some others which shew'd 't is possible with God to abolish the most confirmed Habits in a short time and by a swift Conversion to prepare a Sinner for Heaven But these miraculous Examples are not to be drawn into Consequence for the Encouragement of any in their Sins A Prince will not endure that his free Favours should be made a Law to him and the special Privilege of some be extended to all As Thales said An old Mariner that has escap'd the various Dangers by Rocks and Storms at Sea was a new Miracle So that one
which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him And all the good Works of the Saints shall then be remembred even to the least work of Piety the giving of two Mites to the Treasury of the Temple and the least work of Charity the giving a Cup of cold Water to a Disciple upon the account of his relation unto Christ. All their secret Graces and Duties shall then be rewarded The manner of this Judicial Evidence is set forth to us in Scripture by the opening the Books congruously to proceedings in humane Judgement wherein the Information and Charge is produc'd from Writings for the conviction of the Accused Thus it was represented to St. John in a Vision I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and the Dead were judged out of the things that were written in the Books according to their Works 1. The Books of the Law and Gospel shall then be open'd in all the Injunctions and Prohibitions and our Lives compar'd with them Our Saviour told the Jews Do not think that I will accuse you to my Father there is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom you trust not the Person but the Law of Moses And he denounced against those that reject the Gospel the Word that I have spoken the same shall judg them in the last Day The Law is the exact Transcript of God's Sacred Will the natural and immutable Rule of Righteousness 't is pure forbids all Sin and enjoins universal Holiness 't is spiritual requires not only a conformity in Words and Actions but inward Sanctity in Mind and Heart for the Soul is the principal part of Man entirely open to God's Eye the Maker and Judg of it And the most enlightned Saints have but an imperfect knowledg of it here This made holy David after his meditation upon its Purity and Perfection to cry out in an Agony Who can understand his Errors cleanse thou me from secret Sins This when opened in its spiritual and comprehensive Nature by a wise and zealous Preacher darts a Light into the Conscience and discovers many secret Sins that like so many Serpents were still and quiet in the dark but upon the sudden breaking in of the Light fly upon the Sinner and torment him with their mortal Stings But when the Law-giver himself shall expound the Law in its full extent and perfection with respect to all the Duties it commands and Sins it forbids how guilty will Men appear how unable to answer one Article of a thousand charg'd upon them 2. The Omniscience of God will give most convincing Evidence of all our Works All things are naked and open to his Eyes with whom we have to do in Judgment The Psalmist declares the infinite perspicacity of his sight The Darkness hides not from thee but the Night shines as the Day As his Light and transcendent Brightness is invisible to us so our thickest Darkness is visible to him We cannot see things in the Night because it hinders the reception of the Rays that insinuate into the Eye and causes sight but the Eyes of our Judg are like a flame of Fire dispelling all Darkness From his Throne in Heaven his piercing Eye sees thro' all the concealments of Mens Sins Thou hast set our Iniquities before thee and our secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance He discovered the Sacriledg of Achan the Lie of Gehazi the Deceit of Ananias Saul's Disobedience in sparing the Amalekites devoted to Destruction had the colourable pretence of Piety and as a Sacrifice was laid on the Altar And David's Murder of Vriah was imputed to the chance of War as a sufficient excuse But though they might have deceiv'd others they could not deceive God He is intimately present with the Souls of Men that are unsearchable to the most discerning Angels of Light and knows all their most secret Designs and Desires the deepest Seeds of their Actions He alone has exact Scales to weigh the Spirits of Men all the Principles Aims and Affections that are inseparable from their Works The Pharisees in whom Pride was the first Property and Hypocrisy a second Nature could not with all their Saintly shews impose on our Saviour for he knew what was in Man He discovered their Alms to be not the effect of Charity but Ostentation and their specious Acts of Devotion to be a train to surprize some rich Prey And this Divine knowledg of Men and their Actions is in order to Judgment Thus the wise King declares Doth not he that ponders the Heart consider it and he that keepeth thy Soul doth not he know it And shall not he render to every Man according to his Works And God himself testifies I the Lord search the Heart even to give to every Man according to his Works For this reason he is said to keep a Register of Mens Sins Thus he speaks of the impure Idolatries of the Jews Behold it is written before me to signify his exact and actual knowledg I will not keep silence but will recompense even recompense into their Bosoms And at the Day of Judgment he will declare his Knowledg of their Sins before all and the most secret shall be made evident as if written in their Foreheads in the most plain and legible Characters And all the Goodness of the Saints shall then be revealed by the Judg. Their greatest Excellencies are invisible to the Eyes of Men the Sanctity of their Aims and Affections which gives Life and Value to all the Acts of Obedience their secret Duties wherein the sincerity and ardency of their Souls is most express'd are only known to God And such is the excellent humility of the Saints that the more they are enrich'd and abound with the gracious Influences of the Spirit the less they discover to the World as the Celestial Bodies when in nearest conjunction with the Sun and most fill'd with his Light are least in appearance to the Inhabitants of the Earth But there is a Book of Remembrance before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in the Day when I make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a Man spares his Son that serves him 3. The Conscience of every Man shall then be open'd and give an accusing or excusing Testimony of all things for these Acts of Conscience in the present Life have a final respect to God's Tribunal And though the Accounts are so vast there shall be an exact Agreement between the Books of God's Omniscience and of Conscience in the Day of Judgment Now indeed the Conscience of Man though never so inquisitive and diligent in examining and revising his Ways is unable to take a just account of his Sins As one that would tell the first appearing Stars in the Evening before he can reckon
forget it He threatens the secure Sinner I will reprove thee and set thy Sins in order before thine eyes How will the scornful obstinate Sinner change complexion and tremble when an Army of Sins more terrible than so many Furies shall be ranged in Battel and with fiery Darts wound his naked Soul How will the stubborn Atheist that pleases himself with vain imaginations of the Eternity of the World and the Mortality of the Soul be confounded when he feels the truth of Scripture-threatnings to his eternal Sorrow then all their Raileries will be turn'd into Lamentations 'T is not for want of Power that God spares the Wicked but because they are always in his Hands and he can make them as miserable as they are sinful when he pleases 'T is not through the neglect of Justice but for most wise and holy Reasons as shall appear in the last day when a decisive irreversible Judgment shall be pronounc'd and immediately inflicted upon them before the World When an Actor at Athens spoke with admiration of Riches as the most valuable Acquisition and of the Felicity of Rich Men the People were in an Uproar at the immorality of the Speech and were ready to chase him from the Stage But the Poet himself appeared and desired them to stop their Fury till they saw the Catastrophe the wretched end of that sordid Miser Thus we are apt to accuse the ways of God when the Wicked flourish but we should stop our tumultuous thoughts for their end will absolve Divine Providence from all undue reflections upon the account of their temporal happiness And the sound belief of this will rectify all mistaking apprehensions and clear all perplexing appearances about the Sufferings of the Righteous here Indeed if we consider the holiest Men as they are Sinners their Afflictions are so far from blemishing the Justice of God that they are the signs of his Mercy for all is a Favour on this side Hell to those that deserve it David an excellent Saint acknowledgeth the righteousness of God's Judgments with respect to himself But when the Saints suffer for a righteous Cause and as the Psalmist expresses it for thy sake are we killed all the day long and are counted as Sheep for the slaughter there is not a visible correspondency between the Providence of God in his governing the World and the unchangeable Rules of Justice that those who do evil should suffer evil and those who do well should be happy As the Apostle speaks to the persecuted Christians It is a righteous thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us Now there is a day coming when the Persecutors shall be punish'd and the Saints be rewarded for all their Sufferings and the distribution of Recompences shall be in the presence of the World for the glory of Divine Justice For the distinction that is made between Men at Death is private and particular and not sufficient for the honour of God's Government But at the last Day all Men that have lived in several successions of Ages shall appear and Justice have a solemn Process and Triumph before Angels and Men. As some excellent Piece that is to be expos'd to publick view is covered with a Traverse to prevent the disturbance in the Working and the discovery of the Work till brought to such perfection as will surprise with wonder those that see it So God is pleased to cover his Proceedings for a time but in the last Day there will be such a Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God that those who now doubt or complain of his Justice shall admire and adore it 3. The belief of this Doctrine as it vindicates Divine Providence so 't is powerful to comfort the Saints under Persecutions for Righteousness sake especially when Innocence is wounded with slanderous Darts and Calumnies are joyned with Cruelties representing them as worthy of publick Hatred It was one of the Subtile Artifices of Julian the Apostate to mingle the Images of the Heathen Gods with those of the Emperours that the doing reverence as the Christians were commanded to all together might imply a dereliction and renouncing of their Religion and their Simplicity seem Impiety or if jealous of slipping from their Profession they refused to do it they might seem to deny the Expressions of honour due to their Emperours and be reputed to suffer not as Christian Martyrs but as Rebels But the believing Consideration of God's righteous Judgment will make them despise the Censures and Reproaches of malicious Adversaries With me saith the Apostle it is a very small thing that I should be judged by Man's Judgment he that judgeth me is the Lord. The severest Censure was of no more weight compar'd with the approbation of God than the lightest Feather that flies in the Air put in the Scales against the Globe of the Earth The assurance of a righteous Cause and a righteous Judg will preserve an inward and joyful tranquillity of Soul in the midst of all the Storms of Reproach and Scandalous Imputations like the calmness of a Haven when the Sea is tempestuous without And this will fortify Believers to bear with an invincible Courage all the Violence that is offered to them for their fidelity to God All the wrongs and injuries they endure shall be redrest with infinite advantage The extreamest Evils to which they are exposed for Christ are like the Chariots of Fire sent from God not to consume but conduct Elias in triumph into the highest Heaven God will give them present Support inward Consolations and a future Crown There is an appointed day when oppressed Innocence shall obtain the noblest Victory and disgraced Godliness the most publick and highest Honour The Faith of sincere Christians shall be found to Praise and Glory They may suffer under the tyranny of Time but shall Reign in the Kingdom of Eternity The belief of this when firmly radicated in the heart is so powerful as to make them glory in the sharpest Tribulations and joyfully triumph over Satan with his perverted malignant World Cantando rumpitur Anguis But alas the Sin and a great part of the trouble of the Saints arises from their weakness of Faith and not patient waiting for the Day of the Lord. When heavy Persecutions and great Distresses are continued by the restless Adversaries they are apt through impatience and instability of mind to be full of sorrowful Complaints that God delays their particular Deliverance And as sometimes the Clock out-runs the motion of the Sun that is the true measure of Time so their hasty desires prevent the eternal Counsel of his Will that has determined the period of the Miseries of his People and of the Prosperity of the Wicked in the fittest time And that he suspends his glorious Coming to judg the World in Righteousness discourageth weaker Christians and makes them ready to faint
in the day of Adversity But the Lord is not slack in performing his Promise as Men count slackness There is not the least reason to question his Fidelity and Power or to suspect his Love and Remembrance of his People And as the Stars of Heaven enlighten the Earth but the Candles on Earth cannot enlighten the Heavens so the Wisdom of God's Counsel and Providence should direct us patiently to expect his appointed time but our glimmering Reason cannot direct him 4. The serious belief of future Judgment is the most effectual restraint from secret Sins Men are apt to encourage themselves in evil upon the account of secrecy 't is the usual tinder of Temptations If solitude and silence if the darkness of the night or any disguises may conceal their Wickedness from humane Eyes they are bold and secure as to God The Psalmist declares what is the inward principle that acts them what is the language of their hearts All the workers of Iniquity boast themselves they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it But O the brutish folly of Men to think that because they do not see God that he does not see them As if one should shut his Eyes in the face of the Sun and do some foul abominable thing thinking himself to be unseen because he sees no person How vain is the impure diligence of the Adulterer the crafty diligence of the Deceiver the sollicitous diligence of other Sinners to hide things from the Judge of all Shall not God search it out for he knows the very secrets of the heart What a confounding discovery will be made of secret Wickedness at the last day Here obscurity is the mask of Shame that conceals it from the World Or if only Children and Fools that are not capable to judg of the indecency and turpitude of Actions be Spectators Men are not touch'd with shame for foul things But then their Wickedness shall be displayed before God the holy Angels and Saints The actual belief of this would deprive Satan of one of his greatest Advantages and be a blessed Preservative from many Sins that allure the consent by the temptation of secrecy A considering Christian will reject them with indignation saying with Joseph How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God The Sins undiscovered and upunish'd by temporal Tribunals shall then receive a just recompence 5. The remembrance of that strict Judgment is the most natural and powerful remedy against sensual Temptations that so easily insinuate and engage the Hearts of Men. S. Peter reckoning up the Heathens Sins Lasciviousness Lusts excess of Wine Revellings and abominable Idolatries tells the Christians that the Gentiles thought it strange that they did not run with them to the same excess of riot As the Disciples when our Saviour walk'd upon the Waters thought he had been a Spirit judging that no real Body could tread on them without sinking thus Men are apt to think it impossible to restrain their carnal appetites when allured by pleasing Objects But the belief of the Terrors of the Lord will damp the sensual Affections when most strongly enclin'd to forbidden things and extinguish delight in Sin for Delight and Fear are inconsistent Therefore the wise Preacher gives this Counsel Rejoice O young Man in thy youth and let thy Heart chear thee in the Days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thy Heart and sight of thine Eyes but know thou for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment This will change the apprehensions of the mind and alter the taste of the appetite and make the most enticing and irresistible Lusts the objects of our greatest detestation 6. The consideration that the Son of God clothed with our Nature shall judg the World affords strong Consolation to his People and is a motive of great terror to the Wicked How comfortable is it to his People that he who loved them above his Life and was their Redeemer on the Cross shall be their Judg on the Throne He is the same Jesus Christ yesterday to day and for ever the same indulgent Saviour in the exaltation of his Glory as when under Sufferings Reproach and Shame He is described in that glorious Appearance by the conjunct Titles of his Majesty and Power The Great God and of his Compassion and Mercy Our Saviour to signify his Ability and Affection to make them happy When he comes with a heavenly Train of Angels to Judgment he will be as tender of his Servants as when he suffered for them in his humble state He that paid their Debt and seal'd their Pardon with his own Blood will certainly publish the Acquittance How is it possible he should condemn those for whom he died and who appear with the impressions of his reconciling Blood upon them How reviving is it that Christ whose Glory was the end and perfection of their Lives shall dispose their states for ever that he who esteems every act of their Charity and Kindness done to his Servants as done to himself shall dispense the blessed Reward Then the King will say to them plac'd on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World O the transports of Joy to hear those words from his Life-breathing Lips The Prophet breaks forth in an Extasy How beautiful are the feet of the Messengers of Peace those that bring glad-tidings of Salvation but how much more beautiful is the face of the Author of our Peace and Salvation O how full of Serenity and Clemency and Glory The expectation of this makes them languish with impatience for his Coming Though the Preparations of that Day are so dreadful when the Sun shall be darkned and the Moon turned into Blood and the Stars fall like leaves in Autumn yet 't is stiled a Day of Refreshment to the Saints But how dreadful will his Coming in Majesty to Judgment be to the Wicked They shall see him whom they have pierced and with bitter lamentation remember the Indignities offered to him What Excuses can they alledg why they did not believe and obey the Gospel Our Saviour revealed high Mysteries but confirm'd them with great Miracles He requir'd strict Holiness but offer'd Divine Grace to enable Men to do his Will He poured forth his Spirit upon them but their Hearts were as hard as the Rocks and as barren as the Sands Then he will reproach them for their insolent Contempt of all the Perfections of his Divine Nature and the bleeding Sufferings of his Humane Nature to reconcile them to God for their undervaluing neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and so freely and earnestly offered to them for their Obstinacy that the purple Streams that flow'd from his Crucified Body that all the Sorrows and Agonies of his Soul were not effectual Perswasives to make them forsake their Sins for their
preferring the Bramble to reign over them Satan the Destroyer of Souls and ungrateful rejecting the true Vine the blessed Saviour who by so many miraculous Mercies sollicited their Love and deserved their Service this will make the Sentence as just as terrible and the more terrible because just This will exasperate the Anguish that the Gospel shall be a savour of Death to them and the blessed Redeemer pronounce them cursed and dispatch them to everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for ever The Judgment of the Redeemer will be more heavy than that of the Creator For all the Riches of his Goodness which they despised shall be the Measure of their Guilt and Woes All the Means of Grace used for their Conversion but frustrated by their Perversness shall be charged upon their Score What Consternation will seize the Wicked when ten thousand Accusers shall rise up in Judgment against them and not one Advocate appear for their defence Satan will be ready to aggravate their Sins above his own For altho the superior Excellence of his Nature and State did heighten his Obligation and consequently his disobedience to his Creator and that he sinn'd of himself derived a Guilt upon him exceeding that of Man's original Sin who was seduced to his Ruin yet in that Justice was so quick and severe that the Angels after their Sin were immediately expell'd from their blessed Habitation no space of Repentance was allowed and no Mediator interpos'd to obtain Terms of Reconciliation with the incensed Deity their Doom was final and irrevocable but after our rebellious Sin the Son of God such was his immortal Love was willing to be mortal to redeem sinful Men and freely offer'd himself a Sacrifice to atone the divine Displeasure and a Day of Grace and Long-sufferance was granted and many compassionate Invitations were sent from Heaven to soften their stony Hearts But they neglected and despis'd the Grace of the Gospel and wilfully excluded themselves from Mercy In this respect they are more guilty than the fallen Angels and Justice will revenge the Abuse of Mercy Do they hope to soften the Judg by Submissions and Deprecations Alas he will be inflexible to all their Prayers and Tears The Lamb will be then a Lion arm'd with Terrors for their Destruction Or can they appeal to an higher Court to mitigate or reverse the Sentence No his Authority is supream and confirm'd by the immutable Oath of God Or do they think to resist the execution of the Sentence Desperate Folly The Angels notwithstanding their numbers and strength could not for a moment escape his revenging Hand The whole World of Sinners is of no more Force against his Wrath than the light Dust against a Whirlwind or dry Stubble against devouring Fire Or do they think by a stubborn Spirit to endure it Self-deceiving Wretches If the correction of his Children here tho allayed and for their amendment make their Beauty and Strength consume away as a Moth how insupportable will the Vengeance be on his obstinate Enemies Who knows the Power of his Anger Who can sound the Depths of his Displeasure 7. The Consideration of Eternal Judgment should be a powerful Incentive to prepare our selves for it The Affair is infinitely serious for it concerns our Salvation or Damnation for ever Yet the Pleasures and Business of the World fasten Men in Security and hinder the intire application of their Minds to prepare for their last Account 'T is an awful Caution of our Saviour to his Disciples Take heed lest at any time your Hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and Cares of this Life and so that Day come upon you unawares For as a Snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the Earth A dissolute voluptuous course of Life is join'd with a brutish neglect of God and the Soul and the indulging the carnal Appetite though not in such enormous Excesses as the Prophane are guilty of alienates the Minds of Men from due considering their Spiritual State and lessens the preventive Fear that makes us serious and diligent to be found of God in Peace And others are so involved in secular Business that they are not at leisure to regard the one Thing necessary their Minds are so overshaded with the Cares of the present World they cannot take a right Aspect of the World to come The Flood broke in upon the old World whilst they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage buying and selling and destroyed them all The last Fire will devour this World in the same wretched incogitancy and stupid neglect to prepare themselves for Judgment As it was in the Days of Noah so shall it be in the Days of the Son of Man 'T is a divine and solemn Warning Behold I come as a Thief in the Night blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he be found naked without the Robe of Holiness and be expos'd to confounding shame in that Day When secure and careless Sinners shall say Peace and Safety sudden destruction will come upon them as Travel upon a Woman with Child as surprisingly as irresistibly and they shall not escape But the Wise foresee the Evil and esteem it their incomparable Interest to secure the Favour of the Supream Judg. 'T is the Inference the Apostle makes from the Certainty of our appearing before the Righteous Judg Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent in this or the next Life we may be accepted of him This was his great Design his chief Care his Duty and his Glory Never did any person more ardently aspire and ambitiously endeavour for the obtaining a Kingdom than he did to secure his own Acceptance with the Lord. In order to this I will lay down the Rules of our Acceptance in that Day and conclude the Argument First Unfained Faith in the Lord Jesus is absolutely necessary that we may be accepted This is such a belief of his all-sufficient Merits and his merciful inclination to save us that the guilty and self-condemned Sinner entirely consents to the Terms of the Gospel as well as to the Priviledges of it with a reliance upon his Merits and a resolution to obey his Precepts He is a Priest on a Throne a Prince and a Saviour and so must be acknowledged and received Upon this condition his Righteousness is freely imputed to us for our Justification unto Life without which we must perish in our Sins For 1. The best Saints are guilty and deeply obnoxious to the Law and the Judgment of God is invariably according to Truth so that appearing in their Sins they will be cast for ever God's Tribunal like that of the severe Roman Judg is Reorum Scopulus a Rock that dashes in pieces all the Guilty that come to it Therefore the Psalmist so earnestly deprecates Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified And
of all but that those who have appeared zealous in Religion shall be at last rejected is contrary to universal expectation And not only the gross Hypocrite that deceives others but he that deceives himself by the external practice of holy Duties without correspondent lively Affections that prays with that coldness as if he had no desire to be heard and hears with that carelesness as if he had no desire to be sanctified by the Word and is conversant in other parts of divine Service in that slight manner as if he had no design to be saved shall by a convincing upbraiding Light see his Wickedness in dishonouring that God whom he pretended to worship and neglecting his Soul When the Upright as pure Gold shall be more radiant by the Fire the Insincere like reprobate Silver shall not endure that severe trial Thirdly The frequent discussion of Conscience and reviewing our Ways is necessary in order to our comfortable appearing before our Judg. This is a Duty of constant Revolution for while we are in Flesh the best Saints notwithstanding all their vigilance and diligence are overtaken by surprizal and sometimes overborn by strong temptations and 't is more necessary to beg for daily Pardon than for our daily Bread Under the Law if any one had by touching a dead Body contracted Uncleanness he was to wash his Clothes in the Evening and not to lie down in his Uncleanness This was typical of our Duty that we should wash away our sinful Defilements every day in the purifying Fountain of Christ's Blood that is set open for Sin and for Vncleanness And the Method of the Gospel to obtain the grant of Pardon and our comfortable Sense and the blessed Effects of it is this there must be a mournful Sight and serious Acknowledgment of our daily Sins and a judging our selves by the domestical Tribunal in our Breasts as worthy of Condemnation for though we cannot satisfy Divine Justice for the least Sin we must glorify it and with humility and fervency desire that God would graciously forgive our renewed Sins with unfeigned Resolutions and Care against them for the future Thus we are to sue out our Pardon for Sins committed every day And whereas many Errors in regard of our frailty and their fineness do slip from us we should with contrite Spirits implore the divine Majesty to cleanse us from our secret Sins such as through ignorance or inadvertency escape from our observation If we are obliged to be reconciled to an offended or offending Brother before the night and the Sun must not go down upon our Wrath much more to be reconciled to an offended God that his Displeasure may be atoned The Morning and Evening-Sacrifice was a Figure of the constant use of Christ's Merits and Mediation for us The secure neglect of renewing our Repentance for our renewed Sins deprives us of the Comforts of the Covenant and will make the thoughts of Judgment as heavy as Mountains upon the Conscience when 't is awakened out of its slumber But when the Soul's Accounts are kept clear with Heaven every day O what a blessed Rest does the penitent Believer enjoy in the Favour of God! O the divine Calm of Conscience when our Debts are cancell'd in the Book of God's Remembrance If we should be unexpectedly summoned to appear before the Judg of all the sight of our Sins will rather excite thankful Affections and joyful Praises of God for his Mercy that he hath pardoned them than fearful despairing thoughts of his Mercy that he will not pardon them And as this considering our ways leads to Repentance and is a Remedy for past Sins so 't is a powerful Preservative from Sins afterwards For as in War the greatest care is to fortify the weakest Part of a besieged Town and make it impregnable so a Christian by the experience of his infirmity and danger will be more wise and wary more circumspect and resolved against those Sins whereby he has often been foil'd to prevent the daily incursion and sudden surreption by them And according to the degrees of our Innocence we have confidence of Acceptance with God in Judgment Fourthly Let us improve with a wise and singular diligence the Talents committed to our Trust for in that day we shall be responsible for all that we have received All the Blessings we possess whether natural our Life our Faculties our Endowments our Health and Strength or Civil Honour and Dignity Riches and Reputation or Spiritual the Gospel in its Light and Power the Graces and Assistance of the Holy Ghost as they are Gifts from God's Love so they are Talents to be imployed for his Glory We are Stewards not Proprietaries for the Supream Lord does not relinquish his Right in our Blessings that we may dispose of them at our own pleasure but hath prescribed Rules for our using them in order to his Glory our own Good and the Benefit of others And 't is sad to consider that usually those who enjoy the greatest Gifts render the least Acknowledgments and the most abundant in Favours are most barren in Thankfulness Time that unvaluable Treasure that is due to God and the Soul the Price of which arises from the Work of Salvation to be done in it how is it squander'd away Conscience would blush at the serious reflection that every day so much is spent in the Business of the World or Pleasures and so little redeemed for Communion with the Holy God that as in the Prophetick Dream the lean Kine devoured the Fat so unconcerning Vanities take up that time that should be employed for our last and blessed End While Time is miserably wasted the Soul lies a bleeding to everlasting Death More particularly we shall be accountable for all the days of the Son of Man that we have seen all the special Seasons of Grace these we should improve for our Eternal Advantage to prepare us for the Divine Presence above But alas the Lord's Day that is consecrated for the immediate Service of God and should be entirely spent in it and in things that have a necessary subordination to it yet neither the enforcement of Duty nor incitations of Love prevail upon the most conscienciously to imploy it in spiritual Affairs If they afford their presence at the Publick Worship 't is thought enough and as if the rest of the Day was unsanctified Time they waste it either in Complemental Visits or Secular Business in Recreations or things impertinent to their Salvation Riches are an excellent Instrument of doing good Gold is the most precious and extensive Metal and by a marvellous Art an Ounce may be beaten out into some hundred Leaves but 't is a more happy Art by giving it to enrich our own Souls and supply the Necessities of many others But great Estates are often used to foment Mens vicious guilty Affections Pride and Sensuality and 't is called Greatness and Magnificence to waste them in sumptuous Vanities I instance
denied How will it confound those abject Wretches to be a spectacle of Abhorrence and Scorn before that Universal Glorious Confluence They would chuse rather to be covered under the Ruins of the World If we value and desire the Approbation of the King of Angels if we fear a final rejection from him to obtain the one and avoid the other we must entirely adhere to his Interest without any respect to the eyes and esteem of the perverse deceived World Sixthly A cordial beneficent Love to the Saints is a requisite Qualification of our Acceptance in the Day of Judgment Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World For I was an hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me The Union and Endearments betwixt Christ and his People are mutual and reflexive as they are extreamly tender of his Glory so he is concern'd in all that is done to them And though the Perfection of Love consists more in the Affection of the Heart than in outward Offices yet our Saviour most congruously produces in Judgment the conspicuous Effects of Love to them the supplying their Wants allaying their Sorrows owning them when obscured and deprest by Afflictions and injuriously treated by others This love of Service that is directed and exercised towards the Saints for the Image of God shining in them because they are the Children of God and Members of Christ and therefore extended to all in whom the reason of that Love appears shall be gloriously rewarded for he interprets what is done upon his Account to those who are his own by so many dear Titles as done to himself And what is more becoming his excellent Goodness than to reward the Works of Mercy with saving Mercy But those who when Christ presents himself to them in his poor distressed Members and sollicits their assistance to protect them from Injuries to refresh their Sorrows to support them in their Exigencies those that have Ability but want Affection to do them good and incompassionately neglect the suffering Saints shall be sentenc'd to be tormented with the Apostate Angels for ever What Indignity is it to the Son of God that those for whom he shed his most precious Blood should be in less value and regard with many than the Dogs and Horses maintained for their pleasure And if those on the left hand shall be condemned to eternal Fire for the coldness of their Love how terrible will the Judgment be of those that from the heat of their Enmity outragiously persecute the Servants of Christ for his sake in their Persons Estates Reputations that with a worse than barbarous inhumanity seek their ruin Is there any Sin of a more mortal Guilt The infernal Furnace is seven-fold heated for the punishing such Wickedness To conclude this Argument let us observe the Command of our Saviour To watch and pray always that we may be counted worthy to stand before the Son of Man These are Duties of universal Influence into our Lives the one prevents Carelesness the other vain Confidence in our selves and the consideration of Judgment to come is the greatest Motive to them and the first Principle of Holiness This should work more powerful in us considering the Day of Death is equivalent to the Day of Judgment to every Person for then a particular Sentence decisive and irrevocable passes that shall be publish'd at the last Day Methinks the Terrors of the Lord should engage our Souls and Senses to a continual preparation for his Coming 'T is represented so as to affect the Eye and keep it vigilant Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all Behold he comes in the Clouds and every Eye shall see him And to call the Ear and make it attentive The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with the Voice of the Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God How circumspect should we be in all our Ways since every Action shall be reviewed by our Judg St. Peter strongly infers from the dissolution of the World as a most cogent Argument that we should be exactly and universally Holy Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness But the consideration of the eternal Judgment immediately succeeding the destruction of the World O how powerful should it be upon Conscience and the Affections to regulate the whole course of our Lives with a final respect to God's Tribunal In short That which we read of the success of the Apostle's preaching to the Athenians upon the present Subject the Immortality of the Soul comprised in the Resurrection of the Body and the future Judgment is the same in all times and places And when they heard of the Resurrection of the Dead some mocked and others said We will hear thee again of this matter and others believed There are three Differences of the Hearers of this Doctrine of so great importance some deride it as an extravagant Fancy some believe it and yield up themselves entirely in obedience to it others do not absolutely reject it as the first nor accept it as the second but have a Conjecture or slight superficial Opinion of it or a speculative Assent as to a history of things that do not concern them and defer the serious consideration and applying of it to themselves And of this third sort O Grief are the most of those who are Christians in Name They delay till Death the solemn reflecting upon the final Judgment and the inevitable Consequence of it a blessed or miserable Estate for ever And whereas the Apostle who had infallible assurance of God's Love did with an holy severity and self-denial abstain from all carnal Complacencies that might hazard the never-fading Crown I keep under my Body and bring it into subjection lest by any means when I have preached to others I should be a Cast-away Yet the most live and die in a secure state without preparation to appear before the Presence of his Glory FINIS OF HEAVEN BY WILLIAM BATES D.D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1691. OF HEAVEN Psalm 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the Path of Life in thy Presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore THE Divine Wisdom and Goodness was pleased before and during the legal Dispensation by various Predictions and Types to delineate the Person of our Redeemer and the Work of Redemption to prepare the Minds of Men for his Reception at his coming into the World All the Evangelical Prophecies recorded in the Old Testament as
and measure as is proportionable to its Excellency and the Difficulties of obtaining it There may be a naked estimation and some desires of Eternal Happiness simply considered yet the Will remains incompleat and undetermined in its choice for the End in conjunction with the Means is propounded to us and the carnal Man will not consent to the Means He dislikes the Holiness of Religion and will rather forfeit Heaven than submit to such strict terms Though with Balaam in a fit of Devotion he says O that I might die the death of the Righteous and that my last End might be like his yet from Indulgence to his sensual Inclinations he will not live as the Righteous All his Wishes of true Happiness are soon strangled by the predominant love of some Vanity 'T is said of the Israelites they despised the pleasant Land not absolutely in it self for it was the Glory of all Lands abounding with things for the support and delight of Man but considering its distance a Wilderness waste and wild interposing and the Enemies to be encountred they did not think it worthy of undergoing such Hazards and Difficulties The Land of Canaan was a Type of Heaven both with respect to its pleasantness and the manner of the Israelites obtaining it Their Title to it was derived from the rich Bounty of God therefore 't is called the Land of Promise but it was to be possess'd by Conquest Thus the Celestial Canaan is the pure Gift of God but the actual enjoyment of it is obtained by victorious resistance against the Enemies of our Salvation And Carnal Men despise this pleasant Land the Promise being inseparably joined with Precepts of Duty and Obedience from which they are averse But he that chuses sincerely is joyful and vigorous in the use of means for acquiring his most desired Good Ardent Affections like Elijah's Chariot of Fire ravish the Soul above this sensible World to the place where God dwells in Glory Zeal animates his Endeavours as the Motion of the Heart diffuses the Spirits into the Arteries to convey Life to all parts of the Body One thing saith the inflamed Psalmist have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire into his Temple The sensual Man is ranging abroad for satisfaction and shoots all the Game that crosses his Eye but the Soul that has a discovering Light and feeling heat of the divine Beauty unites all its desires in God and with affection to an Extasy longs for the enjoyment of him and the endeavours are in some proportion to the desires Our Saviour tells us That from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Some previous Rays of the Sun of Righteousness appeared in his Ministry and produc'd such a holy Ardency in those Converts that with all resolution diligence and earnestness they sought to be partakers of the Blessedness revealed Lazy Desires easy Prosecutions sluggish Attempts discover that the Heart is not throughly engaged for the spiritual Eternal Good When the End is truly designed it will give Law to the Actions This is visible in Men who are wholly led by Sense how sagacious how sollicitous are they to accomplish their Ends and base Designs They try all ways either by fine dissimulation or toilsome industry to obtain their Desires No time is too much in their gainful Affairs or voluptuous Enjoyments They transform the Night to lengthen out the Day for their Profit they vail the Day to lengthen out the Night for their Ease and Pleasure But alas Heaven is only regarded by the By as if the intellectual Soul were only given to dwell with the Body on Earth the place of its Banishment and direct Affairs here below and not to lead in the way to Heaven the place of its Nativity and prepare for another World The Work of Salvation is followed with that remiss degree of Affection as if it were a slight matter whether performed or neglected These Persons carry their Conviction in their Bosoms for they are ardent and active to obtain inferior and infinitely less concerning Ends but with that cold application mind the superior nobler End of Man that it is wholly frustrate which plainly shews it was never seriously intended by them The sight of Worldly Men so active and vigilant to prosecute their low Designs should quicken us to seek with greater diligence and alacrity the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof A Carnal Wretch urged by the sting of a brutish Desire with what impatience doth he pursue the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season An ambitious Person with what an intemperate height of Passion does he chase a Feather A covetous Man how greedily does he pursue the Advantages of the present World that passes away and the Lusts thereof Ah! how do they upbraid our indifferent Desires our dull Delays and cold Endeavours when such a high Prize is set before us Who is able to conceive the ravishing Pleasure of the Soul when it first enters through the beautiful Gate of the Celestial Temple and sees the Glory of the Place and hears a Voice from the Throne Enter into thy Master's Joy to be happy with him for ever The serious belief of this will draw forth all our active Powers in the Service of God 3. The sincerity of our Heavenly Choice declares it self in the temper and frame of our Hearts with respect to all temporal Things in this World For our main and happy End being established that it consists not in secular Riches and Honours and the Pleasures of Sense but in the clear Vision of God the blessedness of the Spirit it follows that all present things are in our use so far Good or Evil and to be desired or not as they are profitable or prejudicial to our obtaining Salvation as they conduct or divert us from Heaven A wise Christian looks on temporal things not through the Glass of disordered Passions that are impetuous and impatient for what is grateful to them but with reference to his future Happiness He considers the train of Temptations that attend an exalted Condition and desires such a portion of these things as may redound to the Glory of the Giver and be improved for his own Salvation This Purity of Affections our Saviour teaches us For in his Divine Form of Prayer the true Directory of our Desires are set down in an admirable order all things we are to pray for And they respect the End or the Means The End is the primary Object of our Desires accordingly the two first Petitions concern our blessed End as it respects God and our selves We pray Hallowed be thy Name that is by the reverence and adoration of all his Subjects and Thy Kingdom come that is for the manifestation of his Eternal
and as destructive to set our chief Love and Joy that is only due to God upon the Creature And what follows in the Prophet is justly applicable to such Persons He feedeth on Ashes that not only afford no nourishment but is very hurtful to the Body a deceived Heart has turn'd him aside that he cannot deliver his Soul nor say Is there not a Lie in my right Hand Thus Carnal Men are so blinded with their Affections to these short-liv'd Pleasures that they cannot take the true liberty of judging and reflecting that they are deceived and delighted with empty Shadows that will suddenly end in disappointment and sorrow Briefly these glittering Fictions and false Joys cannot please without an Error in the Mind that shall last but a little while And if you saw a distracted Person sing and dance with a conceit that he is a Prince would you be willing to lose sober Reason for his phantastick Pleasure especially if you knew that his chearful Fit should suddenly change into a mournful or raging Madness for ever But the Blessedness above is unchangeable as God the Author and Object of it Eternal as the Soul that enjoys it And shall the World that passes away with the Lusts thereof turn our Affections from the undefiled immortal Inheritance Shall the vanishing appearance the fleeting Figure of Happiness be preferred before what is substantial and durable If a spark of true Reason of sincere Love to our Souls be left we shall count all things but dross and dung that we may gain the Kingdom of Glory Thus Eternity inlightens thus it counsels us To encourage us to seek the Kingdom of Heaven I shall propound other Motives to Consideration 1. God is very willing that Men should be saved and partake of his Glory For this end he has brought Life and Immortality to light in the Gospel The Lord Jesus the Sun of Righteousness has dispel'd the darkness of the Gentiles and the shadows of the Jews and rendred the blessed and eternal State so clear and so visible that every Eye may see it Our assurance of it is upon infallible Principles And though the excellent Glory of it is inexpressible yet 't is represented under variety of fair and lovely Types to invite our Affections Besides God makes an earnest offer of Life to us in his Word he Commands Counsels Excites Urges nay Intreats and Beseeches with infinite Tenderness that Men will accept of it Thus the Apostle declares Now then wa are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God Is it not evident then beyond the most jealous suspicion God is desirous of our Happiness Can we imagine any design any insincerity in his Words Why should Heaven court a Worm 'T is his love to Souls that expresses it self in that condescending compassionate manner to melt and overcome the perverse and hardned in Sin And as his Words so his Works are a convincing Argument of his Will His most gracious sustaining and supporting of sinful Men his innumerable Benefits conferr'd upon them in the provision of Good and preservation from Evil are for this End that by the conduct of his merciful Providence they may be led to Repentance and received into his Favour And the temporal Judgments inflicted on Sinners are medicinal in their Nature and in his design to bring them to a sight and abhorrence of Sin to prevent their final ruin if they prove mortal to any 't is from their obstinate Corruption The time allowed to those who are obnoxious to his Justice every hour is not a meer reprieve from Torment but a space of Repentance to sue out a Pardon They are spared in order to Salvation The Lord is long-suffering to usward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance But above all his other Works the giving of his Son to be a Sacrifice for Sin is an incomparable demonstration how much he delights in the Salvation of Men. Since God has been at such cost to put them into a capacity of obtaining the Kingdom of unchangeable Glory far transcending the earthly Paradise that was forfeited by Sin we have the strongest assurance that he desires their Felicity And how guilty and miserable will those Sinners be that when Christ has opened Heaven to us by his Blood refuse to enter into it When Brutus the most noble Roman propounded to a Philosopher his design to restore Rome to Liberty he replied That the action would be glorious indeed but that so many servile Spirits that tamely stoopt under Tyranny were not worthy that a Man of Vertue and Courage should hazard himself to recover that for them which they did so lightly esteem The Redemption of Mankind is without controversy the Master-piece of God's works wherein his principal Attributes appear in their excellent Glory But how astonishing is the unworthiness of Men who wretchedly neglect Salvation which the Son of God purchased by a Life full of Sorrows and a Death of infinite Sufferings Blessed Redeemer may it be spoken with the humble affectionate and thankful sense of thy dying Love why didst thou give thy self a ransom for those who are charm'd with their Misery and with the most foul Ingratitude disvalue so precious a Redemption How justly shall they be for ever deprived of it Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish 2. Consider this glorious Blessedness shall be the Portion of all that unfeignedly choose it and earnestly seek it This motive was inclosed in the first but deserves a separate Consideration And of this we have infallible assurance from the Word of God who cannot lie Godliness has the Promise of the Life to come This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation The hope of a Christian is so certain that 't is compar'd to an Anchor fastned in Heaven And besides the Fidelity of his Word God has given us Security of the Reward the Life of his Son This methinks should turn the Current of our Desires and Endeavours to Heaven For notwithstanding all our toil and sweat the labour of the Day and the watchings of the Night for the obtaining earthly things yet we many times fall short of our aims and hopes 'T was the observation of the wisest Man I returned and saw under the Sun that the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong neither yet Bread to the Wise nor yet Riches to Men of Vnderstanding nor yet Favour to Men of Skill but Time and Chance happeneth to all Indeed such is the order of Divine Providence in the World there must be different conditions of Men here some Rich others Poor some Noble others Mean some in Command others in Subjection And from hence it is also evident that neither Dignity nor Riches nor Pleasures are the Happiness of Man For 't is not becoming the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make that the last end of the
As there will be no vain-boasting in Heaven where the Reward is the Gift of pure Bounty so there will be no righteous Complaint against God in Hell where the Punishment is inflicted by powerful Justice He that voluntarily sins by consequence chuses the Punishment due to it 5. The estimation of an Offence is taken from the disposition of him that does it When 't is done with pleasure and obstinacy there is no place for Favour Now final Impenitence alone makes Sin actually and eternally damning to the Sinner Those that notwithstanding all gracious Means live continually in Rebellion against God those that impenitently die in their Sins those that desire to live here for ever that they might enjoy their sweet Sins those that are so hardned and naturalized in their Vices that if they were revived and brought again into this World of Temptations would certainly return to the Pleasures of Sin is it not righteous that their incorrigible Obstinacy should be punish'd for ever Is it not just that those who would continue under the dominion of Sin should forfeit all their claim to the Divine Mercy For if we consider them as unrepentant and irreclaimable from their Wickedness there are in them the just provocations and true causes of God's final rejection and hatred and if we consider God as revealed in his Word and Works his essential Properties Wisdom Purity Justice necessarily work upon such Objects in such a manner How zealous an Indignation did the Son of God express against the obdurate Pharisees You Serpents you Generation of Vipers how should you escape the Damnation of Hell They in despite of all his Miracles the equal Expressions of his Goodness and Power resisted his Authority blasphemed his Person and slighted his Salvation Now though other Sins are of an inferiour Nature and weaker Evidence yet Obstinacy added to them makes a Person unworthy and uncapable of Mercy From hence the Misery of the Damned is without Redemption without Hope without Allay for ever II. I shall now proceed to consider the Evidence of the Facts that is produc'd as the Reason of that Judgment The temper of Divine Justice is very observable in the particular Judgments recorded in Scripture In the first process of Justice on Earth we read that God made the enquiry of Adam Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat and by palpable Evidence convinc'd him before he condemn'd him Thus before the fiery Vengeance upon the wicked Cities the Memory of which will never be extinguish'd The Lord said to Abraham Because the Cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their Sin is grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done according to the Cry of it that is come up unto me viz. whether they were so numerously and excessively wicked if not I will know God is pleased to incarnate himself in Man's Expression to declare more sensibly to us that he never punishes with precipitation but after an equal trial of the Cause Thus we read of that profane King of Babylon Belshazzar That he was weighed in the Ballance and found wanting before he was sentenc'd to be deprived of his Kingdom and Life And the Destruction of the Antichristian State is attended with solemn Hallelujahs for the Righteousness of that Judgment And in the last Day the Righteousness of God's Proceedings shall be universally manifest and magnified 'T is therefore called the Day of the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Now in order to this the Scripture informs us that all the Works of Men shall be brought into Judgment even every secret thing whether good or evil And the Apostle saith That 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 All Sins whether secret or openly visible shall be accounted for Those Sins that have been acted in the most secret Retirement so that no Eye of Man could take cognizance of them Sins concealed from the Eye of the Day the Light of the Sun and from the Eye of the Night the Light of a Candle shall then be made manifest Nay the Sins of the Thoughts and Affections of which Satan could not accuse Men when the inward Fire of Lust or Malice is not discovered by the least smoak or sparkles by no expressions all those shall be brought to Judgment God will judg the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ. The Sins of Omission of our Duty that are so numerous from carelessness and diversions from slothfulness and delays and that now so little affect us for we are more sensible of what we do than of what we have not done the guilt of all these shall then be heavily charged on the Conscience of the Sinner I was an hungry and you gave me no Meat I was thirsty and you gave me no Drink was the Accusation of the Reprobates from the Judg himself To him who knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is a Sin The neglect of improving all the Means Advantages and Opportunities of doing or receiving Good will be a great part of that Judgment The Lord called his Servants to an account for the Talents committed to their Trust and required Profit in proportion to their Number and Worth All Sins of Commission in Youth and Age whether gross Sensuality as Lasciviousness Lusts excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings and abominable Idolatries and all excess of Riot shall be accounted for to him who is ready to judg the quick and the dead or Acts of Unrighteousness to others He that doth wrong shall receive according to the Wrong he has done And Sins of a lesser guilt for which the most are not touch'd with grief or shame shall then be produc'd in Judgment All the Sins of our Words so easily committed and not so easily observed shall then be call'd to a heavy remembrance The Judg himself tells us I say unto you that every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment And if vain Words the Signs and immediate Effects of a vain Mind shall sadly encrease our Accounts how much more all the contentious fierce and revengeful Words the detracting false contumelious and injurious Words the impure filthy and contagious Words the prophane blasphemous and impious Words that slow from the evil Treasure of the Heart O their dreadful Number and oppressing Weight And all the Aggravations and Circumstances of Mens Sins that raise their Guilt to such fearful heights shall be enumerated in order to Judgment For thus 't was foretold Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly Deeds which they have ungodly committed and all their hard Speeches
the Soul to Eternal Vengeance for the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a Season 3. Let us stedfastly believe and frequently consider that Eternal Death is the Wages of Sin that we may renounce it with the deepest Abhorrence and forsake it for ever We are assured from the Wisdom and Compassion of our Saviour that 't is a powerful Means to mortify the Inclination to sin and to induce us to prevent and resist all Temptations The subtile Tempter cannot present any Motives that to a rectified Mind will make Sin eligible Let the Scales be even and put into one all the Delights of the Senses all the Pleasures and Honours of the World that are the Elements of Carnal Felicity how light are they against the Heavenly Glory Will the Gain of the World compensate the Loss of the Soul and Salvation for ever If there were any possible comparison between deluding transient Vanities and the Happiness that is substantial and satisfying for ever the Choice would be more difficult and the Mistake less culpable but they vanish into nothing in the Comparison According to the Judgment of Sense would any one chuse the enjoyment of the most exquisite Pleasures for a Year and afterwards be content to burn in a Furnace for a Day much less to enjoy them for a Day and to burn for a Year What stupid Brutes are they who for momentany Delights incur the fiery Indignation of God for ever Try but the Finger with the Flame of a Candle you will soon discover your weakness Will the remembrance of sensual Delights allay the Torments of the Damned When Carnal Lusts are most inflamed and Objects are present Pain will extinguish all the Pleasure of the Senses And if actual Enjoyment cannot afford Delight when the Body is under a Disease will the Reflections upon past Pleasures in the Fancy and Memory refresh the Damned in their extream Torments No the remembrance will infinitely increase their Anguish that for such seeming and short Pleasures they brought upon themselves Misery intolerable without Ease or End O that Men would strip Sin of its disguises and wash off its flattering Colours and look into its odious Nature and to the consequential Evils of it in the next World O that they would consider they hang by slender Strings a little Breath that expires every Minute over the bottomless Pit and that within a little while nothing will remain of the Pleasures of Sin but the undying Worm and the ever-living Flames This would be a means to raise and preserve in them an invincible Resolution and Reluctancy against all temptations to sin and provoke God But how hardly are Men induced to exercise their Minds on this terrible Object They think least of Hell who have most reason to consider it To this I must add that the meer fear of Hell and the judicial impression upon Conscience from it is not sufficient to convert Men to God For that servile Affection though it may stop a Temptation and hinder the eruption of a Lust into the gross Act yet does not renew the Nature and make Men Holy and Heavenly There may be a respective dislike of Sin with a direct Affection to it Besides that Religion that is the meer Effect of Fear will be according to the Nature of its Principle with resistance and trouble wavering and inconstant for tormenting Fear is repugnant to the humane Nature and will be expelled if possible In short the fear of Hell may be only a natural Affection that recoils from what is painful to Sense Therefore 't is the great Design of the Gospel by the fear of Hell as a powerful Preparative to make way for the Love of God who offers Pardon and Indempnity to all returning Sinners and for the Hope of Heaven the blessed Reward promised to them No Offers of Mercy will prevail to make Sinners to yield themselves till they are storm'd by the Terrors of the Lord. But when the fear of Hell has made a Breach Divine Grace enters and takes possession As the Virtue of the Loadstone when encompass'd and arm'd with Iron is increas'd and draws a far greater weight than when 't is naked and single thus the Attractives of Heaven are more powerful to move the Hearts of Men when enforced from the Terrors of Hell Now the Love of God and the Hope of Heaven are spiritual Affections and the Obedience that flows from them is voluntary from the intire consent of the Soul and persevering Lastly From the consideration of the Punishment determin'd for Sin we may understand how dear our Engagements are to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Rector and Judg of the World would not release the Guilty without a Ransom nor the Surety without Satisfaction and the Son of God most willingly and compassionately gave his precious Blood the Price of our Redemption He obtain'd the Spirit of Holiness to illuminate our Minds to incline our Wills to sanctify our Affections without whose Omnipotent Grace neither the Hopes or Fears of things Spiritual and Future would ever have cleansed and changed our Hearts and Lives We are naturally as senseless as the Dead as to what concerns our everlasting Peace blind and brutish and without fear should plunge our selves into Destruction if the Spirit of Power and of a sound Mind did not quicken us and direct us in the way to everlasting Life O that we might feel our dear Obligations to him who has delivered us from the Wrath to come and purchast for us a Felicity perfect and without end I would not lessen and disparage one Divine Work to advance and extol another but 't is a Truth that shines with its own Light and is declar'd by our Saviour that our Redemption from Hell to Heaven is a more excellent Benefit than our Creation in as much as our Well-being is better than our Being and eternal Misery is infinitely worse than mere not being Our Saviour speaks of Judas It had been better for him if he had never been born How engaging is the Love of Christ who rais'd us from the Bottom of Hell to the Bosom of God the Seat of Happiness If his Perfections were not most amiable and attractive yet that he died for us should make him the Object of our most ardent Affections To those who believe he is precious to those who have felt their undone Condition and that by his Merits and Mediation are restor'd to the Favour of God that are freed from tormenting Fears and revived with the sweetest Hopes he is and will be eminently and eternally precious Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be to Him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever FINIS Books writ by William Bates D. D. and sold by B. Aylmer THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God
are glorified in that great and blessed Work In Octavo Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the Future State To which is now added The Divinity of the Christian Religion proved by the Evidence of Reason and Divine Revelation for the Cure of Infidelity the Hectick Evil of the Times In Octavo The Soveraign and Final Happiness of Man with the effectual Means to obtain it Also the Joys of Heaven and Torments of Hell are discoursed of In Octavo Several Sermons upon Death and Eternal Judgment In Octavo The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied in several Discourses In Octavo The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons upon Prov. 1.17 In Octavo The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. In Octavo A Funeral Sermon preached upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton who deceased October 18 1677. To which is now added the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached In Octavo The Sure Trial of Uprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. In Octavo A Description of the Blessed Place and State of the Saints above in a Discourse on John 14.2 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The Way to the highest Honour on John 12.26 Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22.12 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Ashurst ADVERTISEMENT NEwly printed The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New With Annotations and Parallel Scriptures To which is annex'd The Harmony of the Gospels As also The Reduction of the Jewish Weights Coins and Measures to our English Standards And a Table of the Promises in Scripture By Samuel Clark Minister of the Gospel Printed in Folio of a very fair Letter the like never before in one Volume Printed for Brabazon Aylmer in Cornhill Ver. 4 5. Ver. 6. Deut. 6.13 10.20 Ver. 7. Ver. 8. Ver. 10. Ver. 13. Ver. 14. Psal. 97.9 Chap. 2.11 Psal. 78.49 Rom. 5.12 Anima volens perdidit vivere nolens ergo perdat vivificare Rom. 6.23 Hac lege intraverant ut exiirent Senec. Heb. 9.27 Eccles. 1.4 Gen. 2.17 1 Sam. 26.10 Psal. 89.4 Eccles. 8.8 Isa. 38. Isa. 38.11 Dies moritur in noctem tenebrisusquequaque sepelitur funestatur mundi honor omnis substantia denigratur sordent silent stupent cuncta ubique justitium est Tertul. de Resurrec Car. Talia agentem atque meditantem mors praevenit Sueton. Psal. 49.16 17. * As our Divine Poet expresses it The brags of Life are but a nine days wonder And after Death the Fumes that spring From private Bodies make as big a Thunder As those that rise from a huge King Herbert 2 Kings 9.37 Isa. 14.11 Heb. 9.27 Acts 24.25 Heb. 10.31 Praestat semel mori quam semper timere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.7 Eccles. 11.7 Prov. 29. Job 36.21 Rev. 21. Nullum malum sine effugio Senec. Timor fugam perdidit 1 Sam. 28. Dan. 5.1 2 3 4. Amos 6.3 4. Aelian 2 Cor. 5.11 Heb. 11. 1 Tim. 2.6 1 Pet. 1. 〈…〉 〈…〉 1 Cor. 15. Gal. 3. Isa. 53. Heb. 12. 1 Cor. 10.33 Rev. 2. 1 Thess. 4.14 Annon longe gloriosius fuit quandoquidem totum pro nobis agebatur ut non modo passio corporis sed etiam cordis affectio pro nobis faceret Et quos vivificabat mors nihilominus trepidatio robustos moestitia laetos taedium alacres turbatio quietos facecet desolatio consolatos Bern. Serm. 1. de S. Andr. Isa. 57.1 2. Luke 2. John 6.48 †Dies iste quem tu tanquam supremum reformidas aeterni natalis est Senec. Job 14.1 Tempus angustatur ad vitam dilatatur ad miseriam * Omnes homines aut sunt penitus caro nihil habent spiritus ii sunt infideles sine regeneratione Aut sunt tantum spiritus sine carne Ii sunt sancti qui jam in Coelo aeterna fruuntur pace sine pugna Aut sunt partim spiritus partim caro Ii sunt omnes renati per Spiritum Sanctum in Christo. Aug. cont Jul. 1 Cor. 13. 1 John 3. Rom. 8. ‖ Poterat autem Christus etiam hoc donare credentibus ut nec istius experiâ—entur corporis mortem sed si hoc fecisset carni quaedam foelicitas adderetur minueretur fidei fortitudo Quid enim magnum erat vivendo eos non mâ—â—i qui crederent se non morituros Quanto est majus quanto fortius quanto laudabilius ita credere ut se speret moriturus sine fine victurum Aug. de pecc Mort. Lib. 2. Exercitia nobis sunt non funera dant animo fortitudinis gloriam Contemptu mortis praeparant ad coronam Cypr. de Mortal * Nomen terrae in igni reliquit Tertul. Rom. 1.11 Acts 2.24 Rom. 4. Heb. 13. * Qui sibi ipse pulcherrimum medicamentum Celsus Ephes. 2.6 Exod. 10.26 Mat. 27.52 53. Phil. 3.1 Rom. 8.23 1 Cor. 15. 1 Cor. 15. Mark 9. †Foelices errore suo quos ille timorum Maximus haud urget leti metus inde ruendi In ferrrum mens prona viris animaeque capaces Mortis ignavum rediturae parcere vitae Lucan 1 John 5.12 Rom. 8.1 Revel 1 Cor. 15.22 1 Cor. 6.17 John 6.36 2 Kings 4.34 Gal. 2.20 John 15.26 Rom. 1.4 Rom. 8.9 Rom. 8.11 2 Cor. 5.17 Revel 1. Macti ingenio este Coeli interpretes rerumque naturae capaces Argumenti repertores quo Deos hominesque vinxistis Plin. lib. 2. * Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Atque metus mortis inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus Virgil. Acts 20.21 Heb. 6.1 2 Cor. 5.14 Athen. Heb 2.7 8. Quis enim satis explicet verbis quantum mali sit non obedire tanto potestatis imperio tanto tenenti supplicio Nemo ergo sibi promittat quod evangelium non promittit Aug. Jer. 13.16 Psal 78.34 36. Rom. 2. 1 Sam. 26.21 Prov. 1. Matth. 25. Male cum his agitur quibus necessitas incumbit belli morbi Vâ—g ‖ Quod alicui gratiosè conceditur trahi non debet ab aliis in exemplum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Vix dici potest quantos haec inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. †Tull. Tully ‖ Miserrimum morbi genus in quo aeger siti aquae metu cruciatur quorum spes in angusto est Cels. John 17. Haec enim est infoelicitas hominum propter quae peccant Morientes hic dimittunt ipsa peccata secum portant Aug. Stemus expeditae ad omnem vim nihil habentes quod relinquere timeamus Retinacula ista sunt spei nostrae De cult Foem Josh. 3.16 Ad instar montis intumescentis apparebant procul 1 John 1.3 Heb. 11.1 2 Cor. 5.1 Epist.