God that when Christ had satisfied his utmost Demands that any of the punishment due to our Sins for which he satisfied should have lain upon him longer for that would have been no other than punishing without an Offence Now nothing is clearer in Scripture than that Death is a punishment inflicted upon us for Sin Rom 6 23. So says the Apostle The Wages of Sin is Death And in another place and 5 1â— By Sin Death entred into the World and Death passed upon all because all have sinned From all which it follows that as Christ taking upon him our Sins became thereby liable to Death so having satisfied for our Sins and thereby freed himself from the Guilt that he lay under by Imputation he was no longer liable unto Death which is one part of the punishment he underwent so that it could not have been agreeable to infinite Justice that Christ should have been holden of Death who by his undergoing of Death hath sustained the whole Load of God's infinite Wrath and Displeasure and fully satisfied for all those Sins that were imputed to him and therefore ought in Justice to be acquitted from all Penalties and consequentially from Death Fourthly Christ could not be holden of Death because of his Mediatorship It was impossible Christ should be holden of Death in respect of his Office of Mediatorship For having as our Mediatour undertaken the desperate Service of bringing sinfull and fallen Man to Life and Happiness he must of necessity not only dye but rise again from the dead without which his Death and whatever else he did or suffered for us would have been of no avail There are two Things requisite before any real or eternal Benefit can become ours First A meritorious purchase procuring the Thing it self for us Secondly An effectual Application of that Benefit to us The Purchase of Mercy was made by the Death of Christ by which a full Price was paid down to the Justice of God But the effectual Application of Mercy is by the Life and Resurrection of Christ Wherefore if Christ had only dyed and not risen again if he had not overcome Death within its own Empire and triumph'd over the Grave in its own Territories it would have been to his Disappointment and not at all to our Salvation The Loss of Christ's Life would not have procured Life for us unless as he laid it down with Freedom so he had again restored it with Power Our hope of Salvation otherwise would have been buried in the same Grave with himself but what he died to procure he lives to confer It was Ignorance of Christ's Resurrection from the Dead Luk. 24.16 19 20 21. that so stagger'd the two Disciples going to Emaus They tell Christ himself a sad Story of one Jesus of Nazareth that was condemned and crucified who while he lived among us by his Word and Works testified himself to be the true Messiah we little thought of his Dying and when he told us of his Death he likewise foretold us of his Resurrection the third Day and behold the third Day is already come and yet is there no Appearance of this Jesus Verily we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel but now our Hopes grow faint and languish in us for certainly there can be no Redemption for Israel by him who cannot redeem himself from Death There was nothing in the World did so much prejudice the Gospel and hinder its taking place in the Hearts of Heathens in the Primitive Times as this of the Cross and Death of Christ for believing that he was lifted up upon the Cross but not believing that he was raised up from the Dead they assented to their Natural Reason which herein taught them that it was Folly to expect Life from him who could not either preserve or restore his own It is true it was Folly thus to hope but that his Life applies what his Death deserv'd and our Salvation begun on the Cross is perfected on the Throne And therefore the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 15.17 our Faith in a crucified Saviour and our Obedience to him is all vain if he had not risen again from the Dead For unless he had risen from the Dead he could not have acquitted us from the Guilt of Sin because he could not have been justified himself We are justified by the Righteousness of Christ as the Apostle speaks in his Epistle to the Romans Rom 4 25 which Righteousness he wrought out for us both by his perfect Obedience to the Law and by his Submission to the Punishment of the Law But yet this Righteousness could not have availed to our Justification had he not after the Fulfilling of it risen again from the Dead because he himself had not been justified much less could we have been justified by one who could not have justified himself And therefore we read 1 Tim. 3.16 Great is the Mystery of Godliness says the Apostle God manifested in the Flesh in his Incarnation justified in the Spirit by his Resurrection seen of Angels in his Ascension Had he not been raised and quickned by the Spirit that is by the glorious Power of his Divine Nature he had not been declared just nor could he have justified us For this Declaration that Christ was just was made upon the Resurrection of his Body from the Dead by which he was set free from all those Penalties due to our Sins that were imputed to him If therefore the Justification and Salvation of Sinners was a Design laid by the infinite Wisdom of God it must needs follow that it was impossible for Christ to be kept under Death because that would have obstructed their Justification and Salvation and so would have brought a Disappointment upon the infinite Wisdom of God which was impossible to be done and therefore consequentially Christ could not be holden of Death The Application of this great Truth shall be briefly in these following Inferences Use I First then If it was impossible for Christ not to have risen from the Dead it is evident then that Christ is the true Messiah For had he been an Impostor or False Prophet it would have been so far from an Impossibility that he should not have been raised that it would have been a very Impossibility for him to have risen again for neither could he have raised himself being a mere Man neither would God have raised him being a mere Impostor and Cheat. When therefore the Jews call'd for a Sign from Christ to prove him to be the true Messiah he gives them the Sign of his Resurrection in Matth. 12.38 39. Master Matth. 12.38 39. say they we would see a Sign from thee He answered and said unto them An evil and adulterous Generation seeketh after a Sign and there shall be no Sign given to it but the Sign of the Prophet Jonas For as Jonas was three Days and three Nights in the Whale's Belly so
raised again before any Corruption or Putrefaction by ordinary Course of Nature siezed upon him Thus I have proved by these two Arguments that because of the Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature of Christ in one Person it was altogether impossible he could be holden of Death Secondly Another Argument is this It was impossible Christ should be holden of Death because of God's Veracity and the Truth of those Predictions which were before made concerning Christ in those many Types and Prophesies of the Old Testament all which God's Faithfulness stood engaged to fulfil I shall only mention that famous Prediction which St. Peter here subjoins as a Proof of the Subject I am now treating upon It was not possible Act. 2 25 27. says he that Christ should be holden of Death for God saith the Apostle as David saith concerning him Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see Corruption And this Prophesie the Apostle quotes out of the Psalmist Psal 16.10 which that it did not belong to David nor did he speak it concerning himself when he indicted that Psalm the Apostle proves Act. 2.29 30. Ver. 29 30. of this Chapter where he proves that David was dead and buried and underwent the common Lot that all other dead Bodies did putrefying and mouldering away in the Earth and therefore he was not that Holy One that should never see Corruption because that Prophecy must belong to such an one who must so taste of Death and this is clearly implied in the former Expression Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell that is in the State of the Dead for so is Hell to be understood there as I shall shew more at large Neither could it belong to any of those who before Christ were raised miraculously from the Dead and brought back out of the State of Death yet was it not in such a manner that they were not to return again to it So that if they did not in the first yet in their second Dying they saw Corruption This then could belong to none of them and therefore must of necessity belong to Christ And since the Apostle lays so much stress on this Argument give me leave a little to consider the meaning of it and how it is applicable to him And here I shall not trouble you with the various Opinions of those that have attempted to interpret these Words Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell that by this Hell into which Christ descended is meant the place of the Damned where he preached the Gospel to them freeing those that would beleive from their Pains Others think that this Hell into which Christ descended was one great Partition of it called Lymbus Patrum the Repository of the Souls of those Fathers who died in Obedience to God and in Faith to the Messias before Christ came in the Flesh And the Reason of his Descent thither was that he might release those Souls from Chains and carry them with him to Heaven so that ever since that Mansion in Hell hath been left void without any Inhabitants But this Opinion is not capable of any sufficient Proof I shall therefore give you that Interpretation and Judgment which carries with it the strongest Current both of Scripture and Reason The Word Hades that we translate Hell is very often by the Septuagint in the Old Testament used to signifie the Grave or the State of the Dead So in Gen. 44. Ishades Gen. 44 31 we translate it the Grave but it is the same Word that is used for Hell in the Text. And thus the Word is used in other places of Scripture as also in other Authors to signifie the Place and State of the Dead and of separate Souls And for the leaving the Soul of Christ in Hades or in Hell we must know that it is a thing that is not unusual in Scripture to call a Man that is dead by the Name of Soul So the Septuagint translate that place in Leviticus Levit. 21.11 They shall not be defiled with dead Souls meaning dead Carcases neither shall they go into any dead Souls the Word is dead Bodies But not to detain you any longer on this Speculation though of great use for the right understanding of this excellent place of Scripture If we take Hell for the Grave we must take the Soul for the Body Thou wilt not leave my Body in the Grave But if by Hell be here understood the State of Death that is the State of Separation of Soul and Body the Interpretation will be more easie and natural Thou wilt not leave my Soul in a State of Separation from the Body but wilt certainly unite them together again and raise me up before I shall feel Corruption Thus I have given you the Interpretation of the Prophecy of David which upon the Account of God's Truth and Veracity was to take effect in the Resurrection of our Saviour and therefore being foretold he should not see Corruption the Faithfulness of God was obliged within that time inviolably to raise him up And that is the second Reason why it was impossible Christ should be holden of Death because it was foretold of him that his Soul should not rest in Hell that is either his Body in the Grave or his Soul in a State of Separation from his Body Thirdly God's Justice would not suffer Christ to lie in the Grave Another Argument is this It was impossible Christ could be holden by Death upon the Account of God's Justice For Justice as it doth oblige to inflict Punishment upon the Guilty so also to absolve and acquit the Innocent Now though Christ knew no Sin yet was he made Sin for us that is our Sins were imputed to and charged upon him and so through a voluntary Susception and Undertaking of them he became guilty of them Hereupon Divine Justice siezed upon him as being our Surety and demanded Satisfaction from him for our Offences Now no other Satisfaction would be acceptable unto God nor commensurate to our Sins but the bearing of an infinite Load of Wrath and Vengeance which if it had been laid upon us must have been prolonged to an Eternity of Sufferings for because we are finite Creatures we cannot bear infinite Degrees of Wrath at once and therefore we must have lain under those infinite Degrees of Wrath to an infinite Duration But now Christ being God he could bear the Load of infinite Degrees of Wrath at once upon him In that one bitter Draught the whole Cup of that Fury and Wrath of God that we should have been everlastingly a drinking off by little Drops Christ drank off at once Now it is the Nature and Constitution of all Laws that when a Person by undergoing the Penalty that those Laws require hath made satisfaction for the Offence committed the Person satisfying ought to be protected as innocent It could not therefore consist with the Justice of
DISCOURSES OR SERMONS ON SEVERAL SCRIPTURES BY THE Right Reverend Father in God EZEKIEL Late Lord Bishop of LONDON-DERRY LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Christian Reader ALthough the following Sermons need no Epistle to commend them to any intelligent Reader yet Custom having made it necessary to say something for the Satisfaction of the World concerning the Posthumous Works of deceased Persons I shall therefore speak a few Words briefly The Reverend Prelate the Author of them was a Person of great Natural Parts and Excellent Learning as well as of great Piety and Charity One that adorned the Church of England whereof he was an Eminent Pillar ruling well in the Church of God and therefore deserved double Honour as the Apostle speaks And doubtless his Reward is now great in Heaven with his Lord and Master whose Service here on Earth was accounted by him as his highest Honour and that which he professed himself most ambitious of He was a Person of great Modesty and Humility having very mean and low Thoughts of himself and his own Abilities which was the Reason why the World had so little Knowledge of him from the Press having published nothing See his Vanity of the World and A Funeral Sermon c. Octavo but what he was constrained to either by the restless Importunity of Friends or the Commands of those that some Time were his Superiors But the Intendment of this Epistle being not to give the World an Account of the Life of this Excellent Person whose Praise is deservedly in the Church of God I forbear to add any thing farther concerning him hoping it will shortly be done by a more worthy Pen. And as for the following Sermons the excellent Style in which they are written and the exact Accuracy with which they are penn'd may give abundant Satisfaction unto All in the Reading of them that they are His Lordship 's own and were fairly written with his own Hand and copied out from thence since his Death by one of his nearest Relations and so transmitted unto the Press The Subject Matter of them being agreeable to the Divine Inspirations of the Holy Scriptures will speak better for themselves than the Words of any other can And that they may be very useful and profitable unto those that heard them and unto all that shall read them is the hearty and sincere Prayer of the Publisher Farewell THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK CONTAINING The Titles of the several Subjects treated of therein with the Texts of Scripture from which they are handled I. The Folly of Sinners in making a Mock at Sin from Prov. 14.19 Fools make a Mock at Sin II. True Happiness A Sermon preached at St. Lawrence Jewry from Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the Gates into the City III. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ A Sermon preached on Easter-Day from Act. 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the Pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it IV. Brotherly Admonition In several Sermons from Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him V. The Dreadfulness of God's Wrath against Sinners Explained in several Sermons from Heb. 10.30 31. For we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord. And again The Lord shall judge his People It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God â—primatur Z. Isham R.R.D. Henrico Episc Lond. a Sacris THE FOLLY OF SINNERS In Making a Mock at Sin A SERMON ON PROV XIV IX BY EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. THE FOLLY OF Sinners c. PROV 14.9 Fools make a Mock at Sin WE are not generally to expect any connexion either of Sense or Sentences in this Book of the Proverbs Other parts of Scripture are like a rich Mine where the precious Ore runs along in one continued Vein But this is like a Heap of Pearls which though they are loose and unstrung are not therefore the less excellent or valuable The Text I have now read is one of them an entire Proposition in it self without relation to or dependance upon any Context In it The Division of the Words we have these things considerable First The Character or Periphrasis of wicked and ungodly Men and they are said to be such as make a Mock at Sin Secondly Here is the Censure past upon them by the All-wise God and the wisest of Men they are Fools for so doing Fools make a Mock at Sin The Words are plain and obvious only the Phrase of making a Mock may seem subject to some ambiguity and various acceptations and indeed the Scripture useth it in divers Senses Sometimes it signifies an abusing of others by violent and leud Actions So we read that the Hebrew Servant Gen. 39.17 says Potipher's Wife came in unto me to mock me Sometimes it signifies an exposing of Men to Shame and Dishonour So the wise Man tells us Wine is a mocker Prov. 20.1 Sometimes it signifies an imposing upon the Credulity of others things that seem incredible and impossible So we read in Genesis when Lot had declared to his Sons in Law the Destruction of Sodom it is said Gen. 19.14 He seemed unto them as one that mocked Sometimes it is taken for a failing in our Promises and thereby defeating and frustrating the Expectations of others And thus Herod is said to be mocked by the wise Men Matth. 2.16 in Matth. 2.16 But none of these are at all congruous to our present purpose nor applicable to the Words of the Text. There are therefore two other acceptations of this Expression What 's meant by Mocking frequently occurring in the Holy Scriptures First This Word Mock is commonly taken for scoffing or bitter taunting at others Thus our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered the Flouts and Derisions of an insolent Rabble who set him at nought and mocked him Luk. 23.11 as St. Luke speaks Thus those blessed Martyrs and Confessors that followed his steps are said to have indured the trial of cruel Mockings Heb. 11.36 as the Apostle tells us And indeed this is the difference between a wise Reprover and a bitter Mocker that the Words of the one are like Balm both soft and sanative but the Words of the other are like sharp Swords which cut deep into the Minds of Men and commonly make them rankle into Hatred and Malice And doubtless there are very many Spirits can sooner put up an injury done them than a cutting bitter scoff because nothing expresseth so much Contempt nor shews how despicable we account them as a fleering Gibe
Secondly Mocking may be taken for slighting and making no account of looking upon things or Persons as trivial and inconsiderable And thus it is used in Job where the Horse is said to mock at fear Job 39.2 when he rusheth into the Battel and is not terrified but rather enraged by all the Horrors of War When the Quiver rattleth against him the glittering Spear and the Shield And so it is said of the Leviathan Job 41.29 Job 41.29 He laugheth at the shaking of the Spear for he esteemeth Iron as Straw and Brass as rotten Wood. Now in either of these two Senses may the Words of the Text be taken when they tell us they are Fools that make a Mock at Sin For Sin may be considered A twofold Consideration of Sin either as committed by others or as committed by our solves and it is egregious Folly to make a Mock of either so as to sport at the one or to slight the other First They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins so as to turn them into a Matter of Jest and Raillery Secondly They are Fools that make a Mock at their own Sins so as to think the Commission of them a slight and inconsiderable thing I shall very briefly speak of the First and so pass on unto the Second Particular First therefore They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins They are Fools that make a Mock at other Men's Sins so as to make them a matter of Mirth and Pastime This indeed is Sport for Devils all whose Recreation and Hellish Solace is the Sin and Wickedness of Men. The Damnation of Souls is the Sport of Hell And Thou who canst rejoice in their Joy deservest likewise to howl under their Woes and Torments We justly condemn it as a most barbarous and inhumane Custom amongst the ancient Romans who brought many selected Pairs of miserable Men into their publick Theatres only to delight the Spectators with their Blood and Death But this was an innocent Recreation in comparison of thine who takest pleasure to see thy poor Brother wounding and stabbing yea damning his precious Soul Go laugh at a wrethed Man upon the Rack or upon the Wheel Laugh at the odd distorted Postures of Epilepticks or the Convulse Motions of Dying and Expiring Men Sport thy self with their writh'd Looks and antick Shapes of Misery This is far more civil more humane more pious than to make those Sins thy Mirth which will be thy Brothers Eternal Woe and Anguish What thinkest thou Couldst thou look into Hell that place of Torment Couldst thou see there all the Engines of God's Justice and the Devil's Cruelty set on work in the eternal Torture of those who perhaps once made as light of their own Sins as thou dost of other Men's wouldst thou think this a pleasant Spectacle Wouldst thou sport and divert thy self to see how they wallow in Fire and Brimstone or how they circle and twist themselves in unquenchable Flames Certainly such a Sight as this would affect thee with a cold Horrour and a shivering Dread And how then canst thou sport thy self to see thy Brother damning himself since it would fright thee to see him damned Believe it Sirs The Sins that now abound in the World challenge our Tears and Pity We ought to mourn and repent for those who do not who will not repent for themselves It is a sad and a doleful Sight to see so many every where dishonour God disgrace their Natures and destroy their Souls to see some come reeling home disguis'd in all the brutish Shapes that Drunkenness can put upon them ready to discharge their Vomit in the Face of every one they meet Others frantick with Wrath and Rage like a Company of Mad Men Prov. 26.18 flinging about Fire-brands Arrows and Death To see such woeful Transformations and the dire Effects that Sin and Wickedness have caused in the World certainly he that can entertain himself with Mirth at these things hath not only forsworn his Religion but his Humanity and may with much more Reason make the Miseries of poor distracted People chain'd up in Bedlam to become his Sport and Pastime I know it will be here pretended that surely it can be no such great Crime to explode and hiss Sin off the Stage nay it were a proper Means to keep Men from being generally so wicked could we but make Wickedness more ridiculous in them But alas Vice is now-a-days grown too impudent to be laughed out of Countenance and those Methods of a scurrilous Mockery which some plead for as rendring Vice ridiculous have I doubt only made it the more taking and spreading and encouraged others to be the more openly sinful by teaching them to be the more wittily vile and wicked Few will be deterred from sinning when they think they shall but gratifie others by making Sport for them and stir up not their Indignation and Abhorrence but their Mirth and Laughter 'T is true we read that Elijah mock'd the Idolatrous Worshippers of Baal and his Scoffs and Taunts at them were very biting and sarcastical and cut them much deeper than they are said to cut themselves But this he did in a serious and zealous reproving of their Sins not in a jocular and sportive Merriment There are two things in Sin Impiety and Folly we may lawfully enough scorn the one while we are sure to hate and detest the other And a due Mixture of both these together Scorn and Detestation are very fit to enkindle our Zeal for God and may oftentimes be a requisite Temper for him who is to reprove confident and audacious Sinners But to laugh and sport at others Wickedness and to make the Guilt Shame of others our Mirth and Recreation is both unchristian and inhumane and we may as well laugh at their Damnation as at that which will lead them to it Thus to make a Mock at Sin is to make our very Mocks to be our Sins and argues us not only profane but foolish for this is to laugh and rejoyce at our own Stain and Dishonour and to abuse our own Nature that Nature which is common to us as well as others that Nature which were it not debased with Sin renders us but a little lower than the Angels What a fair and glorious Creature was Man before Sin debased and sullied him A Friend to his God Lord of the Creation made a little lower than the Angels being a-kin to them though of a younger House and meaner Extract adorn'd with all both natural and divine Perfections till Sin despoil'd him of his Excellency and made him who was almost equal to the Angels worse than the very Brutes that perish sottish and miserable And canst thou laugh and sport thy self at that which hath ruin'd and undone thee as well as others Thy Nature is blemish'd and corrupted as much as theirs When we look abroad in the World and observe the abominable Wickednesses
that are every where committed the Murthers Uncleannesses Blasphemies Drunkenness and all those Prodigies of Impiety that every where swarm amongst Men how by Lying Stealing Swearing Hos 4.2 and Committing Adultery they break out until Blood toucheth Blood What else see we now in all this but the woful Effects of our own corrupt Nature Here we see our selves unbowelled and discover what we our selves are at the price of other Men's Sins For as in Water Prov. 27.19 Face answereth unto Face so doth the Heart of Man to Man We have therefore more reason to lament the Sins and Miscarriages of others than to make a Sport and Mock at their Wickedness since we our selves are the very same and prone enough without the Restraining Grace of God either to imitate or exceed them Hence then Use I First Shews the Evil of tempting others to sin Consider what an accursed horrid thing it is to tempt others to sin only that thou mayest afterwards make Sport with them and raise a Scene of Mirth out of the Ruins of their Souls I wish this were not as common a Practice as it is damnable See what dreadful Woes God denounceth against such Habak 2.15 16. by the Prophet Woe unto him that giveth his Neighbour Drink that puttest thy Bottle to him and makest him drunken also that thou mayest look upon his Nakedness his Shame and Dishonour Thou art filled with Shame for Glory Drink thou also and let thy Foreskin be uncovered the Cup of the Lords Right Hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful Spewing shall be on thy Glory Hence have these Devils for that Name belongs to them who do his Work invented all those Artifices of Excess and Drunkenness to draw on others to debauch themselves and their Reason that they may have Matter to laugh at their sottish Actions and to boast how many they have made to fall under the Puissance of their Riots But certainly if there be an Hell as it is certain there is or if that Hell were not made in vain as it was not these wretched Sinners can expect nothing else but to have their Portion therein with those Devils whose industrious Factors they have been And there the Cup of God's Right Hand a Cup of pure Wrath and unmix'd Fury shall be given them and they be forced to drink it off to the very Dregs and Bottom of it spewing out Fire and Brimstone eternally Use II Secondly Shews the Wickedness of those that sin only to tempt others to sin Hence think how desperately impious wicked Wretches they are who sin only to make others Sport that buffoon themselves into Hell and purchase the Pleasing others with the dreadful Damnation of their own Souls And yet How frequent is this in the World How many are there that will neither spare God nor Heaven nor Scripture nor Religion nor common Modesty if they come but in the way of a Jest Nothing how sacred how venerable soever it be can escape them if they can but turn it into Drollery I need not mention what Tropes and Metaphors Men have found out to talk lasciviously by almost every one is perfect in that piece of Rhetorick Nor what strange monstrous Lies some will aver openly to raise either Mirth or Wonder in Company And that which is worst of all is that now the Holy Bible is become a mere Jest Book with them a Common Place for Wit and merry Discourse and the Devil again speaks Scripture out of these Men's Mouths they know no more of it than what they abuse and all their Meditations and Comments upon it are only how such and such Passages may be ingeniously perverted and turned into Burlesque to heighten the Mirth of the next profane Company they meet Impious Wretches that dare to violate the most tremendous Mysteries of Religion and expose their God to Scorn his Oracles to Contempt and their own Souls to Eternal Perdition only for a little Grinning and Sneering of a Company of vain yea mad Fools who think they commence Wits by applauding Blasphemy But these Wits as they are profane and impious so they prove themselves very Fools thus to sport themselves to death Their Laughter is rather spasmical and convulsive than joyous a Risus Sardonicus caused by Venom and Poyson They go down merrily to Hell and frolick themselves into Perdition And thus I have done with the first sort of Fools namely those that make a Sport and Mock at other Men's Sins The Second Particular is to shew They are Fools that make a Mock at their own Sins that they are Fools who make a Mock at their own Sins so as to think the Commission of them but a slight inconsiderable Matter And here I shall shew you First That wicked Men do generally account Sin a small slight Matter Secondly What it is that induceth and persuades them to account so slight of it Thirdly Their gross and inexcusable Folly for so accounting of it First That wicked Men do generally account Sin a small inconsiderable Matter may appear from these three Things I. Slight Provocations and easie Temptations Slight Temptations make some Men sin are sufficient to make them rush boldly into the Commission of Sin Any slight inconsiderable Gain and transitory fading washy Pleasure yea oftentimes a meer Gallantry and Humour of Sinning is enough to make them venture upon any Crime that the Devil or their own wicked Hearts shall suggest to them Yea those very Things for which they would scarce suffer a Hair of their Heads to be twitch'd off are yet forcible enough to persuade them to lie or swear Sins that murder and destroy their precious Souls for ever What is this but a plain Demonstration that they account Sin a mere Trifle and look upon it as a small and slight thing to offend the most high God II. It is very hard and difficult to work these Men to any true Sorrow and Compunction for their Sins Hard to work Sinners to a true Sorrow for Sin Turn the Mouth of all the terrible Threatnings that God hath denounced in his holy Word against them and let them thunder out all the Woes and Curses that are in the Magazine of God's Justice against them yet these wicked Wretches are not startled at it but still hold fast their Confidence and Boldness when they have lost their Innocency and Integrity and cannot nor will not be persuaded that God should be so angry and incensed for such small matters III. If they are at all moved with these things yet they think that a slight and formal Repentance will suffice to make amends for all They pacifie their Consciences and think they appease God also by crying him Mercy and find it as easie a matter to repent of their Sins as it is to commit them And therefore certainly these Men must needs have very slight Thoughts of Sin who can be so easily tempted to commit it and are so hard
of a sick Bed Death often surprises by sudden Casualties or by some Diseases as sudden as Casualties and there are many Ways of Dying besides Consumptions Agues and Dropsies the lingring Fore-runners of an approaching Dissolution But if God should cast thee down upon a sick Bed he may justly visit thee who hast neglected thy Soul in thy Health with such Distempers as may make thee not only unfit but such as may render thee uncapable of doing thy last kind Office for it It is Folly to expect the Admonition of Old Age Alas Eccles 12.5 the Almond-Tree doth not every where flourish and it is not one to many Thousands that lay down an Hoary Head in the Bed of the Grave Prov. 16.31 But grant thou couldst be assured of the Continuance of thy Life yet is it not egregious Folly to sin in hope of repenting when every Act of Sin will make thy Repentance the more difficult if not impossible The older thou growest still the more desperate is thy Case for thy Sins will be the more rooted and habituated in thee and thy Heart the more hardned to resist the Grace of God So that upon all Accounts thy Repentance is most uncertain and the longer thou continuest in Sin still the more unlikely and improbable And then judge thou thy self whether it be not extream Madness and Folly to make so light or no Account of Sinning because thou makest account of Repenting But 2. Suppose it were most infallibly certain that thou shalt repent Sinners great Folly to purchase the Pleasures of Sin with a bitter Repentance yet none but Fools will take up the Pleasures of Sin upon the Sorrow Anguish and Bitterness of a true and hearty Repentance Dost thou seriously consider what Repentance is It is not a transitory Wish a warm Sigh or a languishing Lord have Mercy in a Distress or on a sick Bed and yet even these cannot be without judging and condemning themselves for Fools when they sinned No but Repentance is the breaking of the Heart a rending of the very Soul in pieces The usual Preparatives to it are ghastly Fears and Terrours sharp and dreadful Convictions that will even search thy very Bowels break thy Bones and burn up thy very Marrow within thee More especially doth God deal thus terribly with veterane old confirmed Sinners making Repentance more bitter to them than to others that they may see and confess themselves Fools in indulging themselves in their Sins in hopes of repenting for them Say then when the Devil and thine own Lusts tempt thee to any Sin say If I commit this Sin either I shall repent of it or I shall not if I never repent of it as it is a hazard whether I shall or no what is there in Sin that can recompence the everlasting Pain of Damnation If I shall repent what is there in the Sin that can recompence the Anguish and Bitterness of Repentance This is such an unanswerable Dilemma that all the Craft and Subtilty of Hell can never solve And if we would but always keep this fixed in our Minds it were impossible that ever we should make slight of Sin While thou thus arguest thou arguest solidly and wisely but to say I will sin because perhaps I may repent is quite below the meanest Capacity that ever own'd the least Glimpse of Sense and Reason II. Sin will make Sinners a publick Scorn to the whole World Is it not Folly to make a Mock at that which will be sure to pay thee home and to make a publick Mock and Scorn of thee to the whole World How many have their Sins and Vices made infamous among Men They are a Shame and a Reproach to all that are but of a civil and sober Converse and as much lost to Reputation as they are to Vertue But however certainly all wicked and ungodly Men shall be made a publick Scorn and Derision to all the World both God Angels and Men God will mock at them he tells them so expresly for so the Wise Man speaks Prov 1.25 26. Because you have set at nought all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear cometh when your Fear cometh as a Desolation and your Destruction cometh like a Whirlwind All their Sins and Deeds of Wickedness shall then be exposed to the open View and Contempt of Saints and Angels who shall subscribe to the righteous Doom of their Condemnation Devils will then upbraid their Folly and triumph that they have outwitted them into the same most miserable and deplorable State with themselves Think now O Sinner How wilt thou be able to hold up thy guilty Head and thy amazed and confounded Face Whither Oh whither canst thou cause thy Shame to go when Men and Angels shall point and hiss at thee and thy Folly shall be proclaimed as loud as the last Trumpet which Heaven and Earth and all the World shall hear III. The Folly of Sinners to damn their Souls for Sin Is it not the Foolishness of Folly it self to make light of that which will for ever damn thee Art thou such an Idiot as to account Hell a Trifle and Damnation it self a slight Matter What is it then that makes thee think Sin so small and trifling a thing For Hell and Death and Eternal Wrath are certainly entail'd upon it Consider what a most cutting Reflexion it will be to thee in Hell when thou shalt for ever cry out upon and curse thy self for a wretched Fool that ever thou shouldst make slight of those Sins which would damn thee What was there in them for which thou hast forfeited Heaven and Everlasting Happiness but only a little impure brutish Pleasure And now that it is past and gone what remains of them but only the bitter Remembrances Certainly thou wilt ten thousand times and for ever call thy self an accursed Fool for so doing when it is too late to help it Be persuaded therefore now to be wise betimes for your Souls else you also will when there is no Redress curse your own Folly that hath brought upon you all those Extremities of Woe and Anguish FINIS True Happiness A SERMON PREACHED AT St LAWRENCE JEWRY June the 17th 1690. ON REVEL XXII XIV BY EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. True Happiness A SERMON PREACHED c. REV. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the Gates into the City THese Words which I have now read consist of these two Parts First A Proposition And Division of the Words Secondly A Proof of this Proposition First A Proposition in these Words that They that do God's Commandments are blessed Secondly Here is the Proof of this Proposition in these Words that They have a Right to the Tree
shall the Son of Man be three Days and three Nights in the Heart of the Earth So again when they tempted him at another time for a Sign of his being the Messiah he still instances in his powerful Resurrection from the Dead in Joh. 2.18 19. Joh. 2.18 19. The Jews answered and said unto him What Sign shewest thou unto us seeing thou doest these things Jesus answered and said unto them Destroy this Temple and in three Days I will raise it up So that still he made his Death and Resurrection to be the infallible Proof of his being the true Messiah Use II Secondly If it were necessary that Christ should rise from the Dead and that he did do so then certainly Sin is conquered for the Sting of Death and that envenom'd Weapon Death hath whereby it wounds yea kills the Sinner is Sin and as long as Death hath this Sting in it it could not have been conquer'd by any Sinner It is Sin that gives Death its Power to hold fast all those that come within its reach which since it could not do with Christ it is evident Sin is subdued by Christ who was in its Arms and Grasp but yet came safe out from it taking away the Sting and Weapon of Death with him Use III Thirdly If the Resurrection of Christ be thus necessary and hath been thus effectually accomplished we may comfortably from thence conclude the Necessity of our own Resurrection for the Head being raised the Members shall not always sleep in the Dust Christ's Mystical Body shall certainly be raised as well as his Natural Body and every Member of it shall be made for ever glorious with a glorious and triumphant Head FINIS Brotherly Admonition IN SEVERAL SERMONS ON Leviticus 19.17 By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed by J. D. for Nathanael Ranew at the Kings-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCI Brotherly Admonition IN SEVERAL SERMONS LEV. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him WAving all Prefaces and Introductions we may observe in these Words three Parts Division of the Words First A Negative Command Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart which implies in it the contrary positive Precept thou shalt love thy Brother Secondly A Direction how we should preserve our selves from this rancoured Vice of Hatred and express our more cordial Love in the best Service we can do for him Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour Thirdly A forcible Motive to excite us unto the performance of this Duty drawn from the Consideration of the great Benefit which will in likelyhood redound to him by the conscientious discharge of it By this means thou wilt not suffer Sin to lie upon him implying that if this charitable Duty of Fraternal Reproof be neglected he will still continue in his Sins his Guilt will remain upon him and thou wilt be accessory to it I shall not consider any of these Particulars by themselves but treat only of what is here chiefly intended namely the necessity of that much neglected Duty of Brotherly Reproof and Admonition And here I shall prosecute this Method with all possible Brevity and Perspicuity First Shew you what Brotherly Correption is Secondly The Difficulty of it Thirdly The Necessity of it Fourthly Lay down some Rules and Directions how it ought to be performed Fifthly Lay before you some Considerations that may be powerful Motives and Engagements to it First What Brotherly Reproof or Correption is To this I answer in brief What Brotherly Reproof is It is an Act of Love and Charity whereby we endeavor to reduce our offending Brother to Repentance and Reformation And there are two ways of doing it either by Words or Actions First Reproof is by Words By Words remonstrating to them the greatness of their Sin the Scandal they give to others either by encouraging or sadning them the Reproach they bring upon Religion and the Danger they bring upon their own Souls But if they be deaf to all these Admonitions and continue obstinate and resolv'd in their evil Courses we are then to reprove them Secondly Reproof may be by Actions By Actions That where Words have proved ineffectual we may try how Deeds can prevail Prevail I say either to deliver them or at least to deliver thine own Soul from Death And this also must be done these two ways First Reproof of Inferiors is to be by Authority If they be our Inferiours over whom we have Authority either as Magistrates or Parents or the like we ought when Admonition and Correption is fruitless to reprove them by Correction and Punishment If they will not hear they must feel Rebuke This Discipline if it be seasonably and prudently used is so far from being any Act of Cruelty that it is an Act of the greatest Kindness and Charity that can be both to them and to others To them Reproof tends to restrain fâ—â—m Sin As it may restrain them from the commission of those future Crimes to which their impurity would else imbolden them And thus to fall into the Hands of Men may be a means to keep them from falling into the Hands of God To others As it may terrify them from following the Examples of such an ones Vices by seeing the Examples of his suffering Thus the Punishment of some is made to be come the Innocence of others Secondly If Equals continue obstinate under Reproof we must withdraw Society from them If they be our Equals over whom we have no Jurisdiction nor coercive Power we are then to rebuke them if they continue obstinate after Christian Admonition by withdrawing our selves from all necessary Converse with them not so as to deny them the offices of Civility Courtesy and our charitable Assistance to promote their temporal Good but to break off all Familiarity and Intimacy with them not to make such lewd and dissolute Persons our Friends and chosen Companions Thus the Apostle charges us 2 Thess 3.6 2 Thess 3.6 We command you Brethren in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly and not after the Tradition which he received of us And this way of reproving them ought to be so managed by us that it may appear it doth not proceed from any sowr morose surly Humour disdaining or hating of their Persons but meerly from conscience of our Duty towards the Glory of God and to do an Act of Love and Charity as indeed it is both towards them and towards our selves First Towards them When you thus endeavour to shame them out of their Wickedness by discountenancing them in it So says the Apostle 2 Thess 3.14 If any Man obey not our Word note that Man and have no Company with him that he may be ashamed And indeed if a Man be not altogether profligate if he be not
Epist 22. That there are some Qui sic aliorum visiis irascuntur quasi invideant Who are so angry at other Mens Vices as if they they envied them It cannot be hoped that the Reproof of such should ever take place But when a Man of a clear and unspoted Name shall reprove the Sins and Vices of others his Rebukes carry Authority with them and if they cannot reform yet at lest must they needs daunt and silence the Offenders that they shall have nothing to reply no Subterfuges nor Evasions but they must needs be convinced that their Sins are as evil as he represents them by his own Care and Caution to be avoided Fiftly Motives for reproving our Brother The only Thing that remains is to propound to you some Motives that may quicken you to the conscientious discharge of this much neglected Duty And I shall but name some few and leave them to your consideration to be farther prest upon you And here next to the express Command of Almighty God whose Authority alone ought to prevail against all the Difficulties that we either find or fancy in the way of Obedience thereunto Consider Benefit of reproving others First the great benefit that may redound both to the Reprover and Reproved First Thou shalt hereby provide thy self a Friend that may take the same liberty to reprove thee when it shall be needful and for thy great good And it may very well be thought that the Apostle upon this Account requires us to Restore our fallen Brother Gal. 6.1 with meek Reproofs considering our selves lest we also be tempted That is that hereby we may purchase a true Friend who will be as faithful to us as we have been to him However certainly it is the best and most generous way of procuring to our selves true Love and Respect from those whom we have thus reformed Prov. 9.8 So says Solomon Rebuke a wise Man and he will love thee And in another place says he Prov. 28.23 He that Rebuketh a Man afterwards shall find more favour than be that flattereth with his Tongue Secondly Thou wilt hereby intitle thy self to that great and precious Promise Dan. 12.3 Daniel 12. That they that be wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever And to that other of the wise Man Prov. 24.25 To them that rebuke the Wicked shall be Delight and a good Blessing shall come upon them Thirdly Thou shalt increase thy own Graces and Comforts more than possibly thou couldst do by separating thy self from them Thy Graces will be more confirmed because reproving of others will ingage thee to a greater Watchfulness over thy self Thy Comforts also will be increased because a conscientious discharge of this Duty will be to thee a great Evidence of the integrity and sincerity of thy Heart First The practice of this Duty will be greatly profitable unto him that is reproved How knowest thou but it may be a means to turn him from his Iniquity and so thou shalt prevent a Multitude of Sins Jam. 5.20 and save a Soul from Death And hereby likewise we shall frustrate one of the great Designs and Artifices of the Devil which is to allure Men to Sin by the examples of those Wickednesses that pass uncheckt and uncontroul'd in the World Secondly Tit. 3.3 Consider that we our selves also were disobedient and foolish serving divers Lusts and Pleasures but were wrought upon either by publick or private Reproof And why then should not we use the same Charity towards others which God hath been pleased to make effectual towards us Thirdly Consider that the Text makes it an apparent sign of hating our Brother if we forbear justly to reprove him Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart 1 Joh. 3.15 thou shalt in any wise reprove him So that he who reproves not his Brother hates him Now he that hates his Brother is a Murderer says St. John And no Murderer hath Eternal Life Yea we are guilty of Soul-Murder which is so much the more heinous by how much the Soul is more precious than the Body Fourthly Consider that the performance of this Duty were it more universal would be the aptest and readiest means to prevent Schism and Division The grand pretence for Separation is the wickedness of many who are Church-Members Now our Saviour's Method is that such should be first reproved and admonish'd before they be cast out but it is a most preposterous and headlong Course that thousands in our Days take who cast themselves out of the Communion of the Church for the Sins of those who deserve to be cast out and rather than they will perform this ingrateful Work of Reproof choose to separate whereas if they would make use of our Saviour Christ's Advice Mat. 18.15 16. to reprove privately and in case of Obstinacy to convict publickly there would be as no need so no Pretence left for Separation but either their private Reproofs would prevail to reform or their publick Complaints and Accusations to remove Offenders Fifthly Consider that the neglect of this Duty brings the Sin and Guilt of others upon your own Souls See for this that Scripture Ephesians 5.11 Eph. 5.11 Have no Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness but rather reprove them If we reprove them not we are Partakers of their evil Deeds and deserve to be Partakers of their Torments FINIS The Dreadfulness of God's Wrath against Sinners explained IN SEVERAL SERMONS HEB. 10.30 31. For we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord and again the Lord shall judg his People It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God THere are two principal Attributes of God An Introduction which the Scripture propounds to us as the most powerful and efficacious Motives to restrain us from Sin And they are his Mercy and his Justice Mercy tho it be a soft yet is it a strong Argument to encourage us to Purity and Holiness And therefore says the Apostle Rom. 2.4 Rom. 2.4 The Goodness of God leadeth us to Repentance And certainly that Mercy that expresseth it self so ready to pardon Sin cannot but lay a mighty Obligation upon the Ingenuity of a Christian Spirit to abstain from the commission of it He that can encourage himself in Wickedness upon the consideration of the infinite Free-Grace of God doth but spurn those very Bowels that yern towards him and strike at God with his own Golden Scepter yea he tares abroad those Wounds which were at first opened for him and casts the Blood of his Saviour back again in his Face But because Ingenuity is perisht from off the Earth and Men are generally more apt to be wrought upon by Arguments drawn from Fear than Love therefore the Scripture propounds to us the consideration of the dreadful
have mention made of the Condemnatition of the Devil 1 Tim. 3.6 That is that state of Woe and Wrath to which the Devil is for ever sentenced And Damnation Mat. 23.33 How can you escape the Damnation of Hell And sometimes it is termed Judgment Heb. 10.27 Heb. 10.27 A certain fearful looking for of Judgment and Fiery Indignation And in Jude 15. Jude 15. to execute Judgment upon all the Ungodly Which denotes that their Punishment shall be inflicted upon them from God as he is a Just and Righteous Judg. And Secondly God is an Avenger as well as a Judge He is a Party concerned as having been wronged affronted and injured by their Sins And in relation to this the Punishments that God will inflict upon them are called Wrath and Fury smoaking Anger and Jealousy Deut. 29.20 Deut. 29.20 The Anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoak against that Man Also Fiery Indignation Heb. Heb. 10.27 10.27 All which we find amass'd and heaped together Zeph. Zeph. 3.8 3.8 My Determination saith God is to gather the Nations to pour upon them mine Indignation even all my fierce Anger for all the Earth shall be devoured with the Fire of my Jealousy Now all these Expressions signify to us the terribleness of that Vengeance which God will take For when the Wrath of Man only stirs him up to revenge an Injury he will be sure to do it to the very utmost extremity of all his Power And if the Revenge of a poor weak Man be so dreadful a thing how insupportable will be the Vengeance of the great God who assumes it to himself as part of his Royalty Vengeance is mine See that terrible place Nah. 1.2 Nahum 1.2 God is jealous and the Lord revengeth the Lord revengeth and is furious the Lord will take Vengeance on his Adversaries and he reserveth Wrath for his Enemies God reserveth Wrath for Sinners and keeps it up in store even that Wrath which they themselves have treasured up against the Day of Wrath. Hâ—h Now this Revenging-Wrath of God hath these two things in it that justly make it dreadful First In that Revenge always aims at Satisfaction and seeks to repair Injuries received by inflicting Punishment on the Offender This gives ease to the Party grieved and if this Revenge be commensurate to the greatness of the Offence he rests satisfied in it And therefore God speaking of himself according to the Passions and Affections of Men solaces himself in the thoughts of that Vengeance he would take upon Sinners Isa Isa 1.24 1.24 Ah I will ease me of mine Adversaries I will avenge me of mine Enemies And O think how dreadful that Revenge must needs be that shall ease the Heart of God and give him satisfaction for all the heinous Provocations that Sinners have committed against him For consider First How great and manifold our Sins and Offences have been and every act of Sin yea the least that ever we committed is an infinite Debt and carries in it an infinite Guilt because committed against an infinite Majesty For all Offences take their Measures not only from the Matter of the Act but from the Person against whom they are committed As a reviling injurious Word against our Equals will but bear an Action at Law but against the Prince it is High-Treason and punishable with Death So here the least Offence against the infinite Majesty of the great God becomes it self infinite The Guilt of it is far beyond whatsoever we can possibly conceive and yet what infinite Numbers of these infinite Sins have we committed The Psalmist tells us They are more than the Hairs of our Head Psal 40.12 Psalm 40.12 Yea we may well take in all the Sands of the Sea-shore to cast them up by Our Thoughts are incessantly in Motion they keep pace with the Moments and are continually twinkling and yet Every Imagination of the Thoughts of our Hearts is evil What Multitudes of them have been grosly wicked and impious Atheistical Blasphemous Unclean Worldly and Malicious and the best of them have been very defective and far short of that Spirituality and Heavenliness that ought to give a Tincture unto them And besides the Sins of our Thoughts how deep have our Tongues set us on the score We have talkt our selves in debt to the Justice of God and with our own Breath have been blowing up our everlasting and unquenchable Fire And add to these the numberless crowd and sum of our sinful Actions wherein we have busily imployed our selves to provoke the Holy and Jealous God to Wrath and we shall find our Sins to be doubly infinite in their own particular Guilt and Demerit And now O Sinner when an angry and furious God shall come to exact from thee a full satisfaction for all these Injuries a Satisfaction in which he may eternally rest and acquiesce such as may repair and recompence his wronged Honour think sadly with thy self how infinitely dreadful this must needs be Assure thy self God will not lose by thee but will fetch his Glory out of thee and take such a Revenge upon thee as shall as much please and content him as his infinite Mercy doth in those whom he saves and glorifies And how great then must this Vengeance be Secondly Consider how dreadful a Revenge God took on his own dear Son our Lord Jesus Christ when he came to satisfy his Justice upon him for our Sins His Wrath fell infinitely heavy upon him and the pressure of it was so intollerable that it squeezed out drops of clotted Blood from him in the Garden and that sad Cry on the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And yet First Our Lord Christ was supported under all his Sufferings by the ineffable Union of the Deity He had infinite Power for him as well as against him infinite Power to bear him up as well as to crush him In Christ's Sufferings the Power of God seem'd as it were to encounter with it self and to run contrary to it self in the same Channel And as he had the support of infinite Power in his Sufferings so likewise had he in the greatest of his Angonies the Ministry of Angels to comfort him and to refresh the Droopings and Faintings of his Humane Nature And Secondly The infinite Dignity of Christ's Person being God as well as Man might well compound for the Rigour of his Punishments and stamp such a Value upon his Humiliation that less degrees of Suffering from him might be fully satisfactory For indeed it cannot be but an infinite Punishment for an infinite Person to be punished But thou that art but a vile contemptible Creature made up of Mudd and Slime hast nothing in thy Nature wherewith to satisfy the dread Justice of God but only the eternal Destruction and Perdition of it Thou hast no Worth nor Dignity the consideration whereof might perswade the Almighty to mitigate the least of his Wrath and