afraid lest the belief of those terrible Truths should enter into their Breasts therefore are utterly careless of what may convince them of their danger and will not foresee what they shall certainly suffer This is obstinate and the most incurable Infidelity An instance whereof we have in the Pharisees who rejected our Saviour Though all the Characters of the Messiah were conspicuous in his Person though his Doctrines were confirmed by Miracles yet they would not yeild up themselves to that omnipotent conviction so strong were their carnal prejudices against his humble State and holy Doctrines That reproach is more justly due to Infidels under the Gospel than to Israel in the Prophet Who is blind as my Servant The Heathens who are blind from their Birth and have only some glimmering apprehensions that Eternity succeeds Time are less culpable than those who have infinitely more reason to believe it and yet believe it less The Plea for them will be a terrible Accusation against such Unbelievers If a blind Person falls it moves compassion but if one voluntarily shuts his Eyes against the Sun and refuses the direction of the Light and falls from a Precipice his Ruin is the just consequence of his Folly Simple Ignorance excuses as to the degrees of the Fault but affected wilful Ignorance now Reason and Revelation with united Beams give so clear a prospect into the Eternal World aggravates the Guilt and Sentence of such Unbelievers 'T is in vain to offer Arguments to convince them for they are as deaf as Adders to the wisest Instructions till Sense extort a belief from them They have hardned their Hearts and Faces against all Reproofs and by an open contempt of Scripture-Threatnings are past reclaiming There are many degrees of Sins many steps in the descent to Hell but the lowest and nearest the Gates of that infernal Prison is the scornful derision of God's terrible preparations for the Wicked hereafter Besides the most who are Believers in Title are Infidels in Heart Our Saviour tells the Jews who pretended the highest Veneration to the Writings of Moses That if they had believed Moses they would have believed him for Moses wrote of him If Men did seriously believe such an excellent Reward as the Gospel propounds would it be a cold unpersuasive motive to them The depravation of the Will argues a correspondent defect in the Mind though not absolute total Infidelity yet such a weakness and wavering in the Assent that when Temptations are present and urgent and it comes to actual choice Sense prevails over Faith This will be clear by Universal Experience in temporal things The probable hope of Gain will make those who are greedy of Gold prodigal of their Lives and venture through tempestuous Seas to accomplish their Desires And if the belief were equal would not Men do or suffer as much for obtaining what is infinitely more valuable A firm Assent would produce adherence and Faith in the Promises Fidelity in obeying the Commands of Christ. Tertullian proprounds it as a powerful incentive to the Martyrs Quis ergo non libentissimè tantum pro vero habeat erogare quantum alii pro falso Who would not joyfully sacrifice Life and all it sindearments to obtain true Blessedness which others do for the vain Appearance of it On the contrary the fear of a present destructive Evil will controul the most eager Appetites 'T is recorded that when the Army of Israel were in pursuit of the Philistins Saul to compleat his Victory forbad upon pain of Death that any should taste Food till the Sun was down In the chase of their Enemies they past through a Wood abounding with Honey yet notwithstanding their Hunger and Faintness and the easy Provision before them no Man so much as tasted it for the People feared the King's Oath And did Men truly believe and fear the Law of God threatning Hell for Sin would they dare to commit it though invited by pleasant Temptations Nay not only a strong fear but the meer suspicion of great danger will restrain the most vehement desires of Nature What Person though inflamed with Thirst would drink a Glass of cool Liquor if he suspected that deadly Poison were mixt with it And if Men were persuaded that Sin is attended with Death would they drink in Iniquity like Water The Devils themselves are not able to conquer the Fear of Judgment to come they believe and tremble Therefore when it is not active upon the Conscience it is either because Men do not believe the thing it self or that Holiness is necessary to prepare for it Indeed even in true Believers the apprehension of Eternal Things has such great allays that temporal things are over-valued and over-feared A strong Faith in the Truth and Power of God would make the glorious World so sure and near in our Thoughts that with indifferent Affections we should receive good or evil things here rejoice as if we rejoiced not and mourn as if we mourned not Our Lives would be so regular and pure as if the Judg were to come the next hour as if the Sun did now begin to be darkned and the Trumpet of the Arch-angel were sounding and the noise of the dissolving World were universally heard Infidelity deads the Impression and suppresses the reigning Power of Eternal Things in our Hearts In short Men are heavenly or earthly in their Choice and Conversation as they are directed by the sincere Light of Faith or misled by the false beams of Sense CHAP. IX Consideration is requisite in order to a wise Choice How it must be managed that it may be effectual It must be serious frequent and with application to the Soul Motives to it The true Causes why Carnal Men are averse from it THE second thing requisite in order to a wise Choice is Consideration For as by Faith the virtue of the Reward is diffused through all the Faculties and the Powers of the World to come are felt in the Soul so by consideration Faith is exercised and becomes effectual This unites and reinforces the beams of Eternal Truth and inflames the Affections As the Psalmist expresses himself My Heart was hot within me while I was musing the Fire burned Heaven is a Felicity so glorious and attractive that if duly considered no Man can possibly refuse it and Hell is a Misery so extream and fearful that if seriously laid to Heart none can possibly choose it The last End is to be conceived under the notion of an infinite Good without the least mixture of Evil to which the human Will has a natural tendency The liberty of indifference is with respect to some particular good Things which may be variously represented so as to cause inclination or aversion That Men who believe Eternal Life is the Reward of Holiness yet with a careless inadvertency pass over their Duty and that Eternal Death is the Wages of Sin yet securely continue in it is more wonderful than to see
lapst and miserable was in his view he chose some to be Vessels of Mercy and by priviledg separated them from the rest that finally perish Now what induc't him to place a singular Love on the Elect There was nothing in them to incline his Compassion being equally guilty and depraved with the rest of the Progeny of Adam This difference therefore is to be resolved into his unaccountable and adorable Will as the sole cause of it Thus God declares it to be his glorious Prerogative I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion And this is no unjust acceptance of Persons For as a Benefactor he may dispense his own Favors as he pleases A Gift from meer and arbitrary Bounty may be bestowed on some and not on others without injustice But there are other actions of God for which there is an evident reason in Men on whom they are terminated Thus as the supreme Judg without respect of Persons he will judg and reward every Man according to his Works The Evangelical Law as was toucht on before is the rule of eternal Judgment and gives a right from the gracious Promise of God to all penitent Believers in the Kingdom of Heaven and excludes all impenitent Infidels Divine Justice will illustriously appear then in distinguishing Believers from Unbelievers by their Works the proper Fruits either of Faith or Infidelity All the thick Clouds of Disgraces Calumnies Persecutions that often oppress the most sincere Christians here shall not then darken their Holiness and all the specious appearances of Piety which the most artificial Hypocrites make use of to deceive others shall not conceal their Wickedness And accordingly the one shall be absolved and glorified the others condemned and punisht for ever In short without violation of his own righteous establishment in the Gospel God cannot receive the unholy into his Glory 3. Besides the Legal Bar that excludes unsanctified Persons from the beatifick vision of God there is a moral incapacity Suppose that Justice should allow Omnipotence to translate such a Sinner to Heaven would the Place make him happy Can two incongruous Natures delight in one another The happiness of Sense is by an impression of Pleasure from a suitable Object The happiness of intellectual Beings arises from an entire conformity of dispositions So that unless God recede from his Holiness which is absolutely impossible or Man be purified and changed into his likeness there can be no sweet Communion between them Our Saviour assigns this Reason of the necessity of Regeneration in order to our admission into Heaven That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit According to the quality of the Principle such is what proceeds from it The Flesh is a corrupt Principle and accordingly the Natural Man is wholly carnal in his propensions operations and end The Disease is turn'd into his Constitution He is dead to the Spiritual Life to the actions and enjoyments that are proper to it Nay there is in him a surviving Principle of Enmity to that Life not only a mortal coldness to God but a stiff aversation from him a perpetual resistance and impatience of the Divine Presence that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments The Exercises of Heaven would be as the Torments of Hell to him while in the midst of those pure Joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest Lees of Sensuality And therefore till this contrariety so deep and predomanant in an unholy Person be removed 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy God with satisfaction As it was necessary that God should become like Man on Earth to purchase that Felicity for him so Man must be like God in Heaven before he can possess it Holiness alone prepares Men for Celestial Happiness that is against the corruption and above the perfection of meer Nature CHAP. IV. Faith in the Redemer is required of all that will obtain Salvation The choice of Supernatural Happiness previous to our obtaining it The choice must be sincere early and constant The sincerity of the Heavenly Choice declared by its Qualities and Effects I Shall now proceed to consider more particularly what is requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven 1. Faith in the Redeemer is absolutely required of all that will partake of the Salvation purchased by him God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have Eternal Life This is the Spirit and Substance of the Gospel therefore I will briefly unfold it The Son of God having assumed the human Nature and performed what was necessary for the expiation of Sin the Father was so pleased with his Obedience that from his lowest State he rais'd him to Divine Glory and gave him supream Authority and all-sufficient Power to communicate that Glory to others Thus our Saviour declares Thou hast given him i. e. the Son power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And he exhorts the People Labour for that Meat that endures unto Eternal Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed Now this glorious Life is not given to all but only to those who are united to him As Adam the principle of the carnal corrupt Nature derives Guilt and Death to all his Progeny so Jesus Christ who is opposed to him the Head and Prince of the renewed State communicates Life and Glory to his People The Apostle expresses it As in Adam all dye his natural Descendants are involv'd in his Condemnation even so in Christ shall all be made alive that is all that are spiritually united to him shall partake of his glorious Resurrection And St. John tells us He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life The having the Son upon which our right to Eternal Life depends is believing in him Faith has a principal Efficiency in receiving Christ therefore 't is exprest by that Act But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God and consequently Heirs of Glory to as many as believed on his Name And Christ is said to dwell in our Hearts by Faith This is not a meer assent to the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning the Dignity of his Person that he is in so high and glorious a Relation of being the Eternal Son of God and the infinite value of his Merits whereby he is able to save all that come unto God by him and his merciful compassionate Nature to embrace returning Sinners and the excellency of the benefits purchased by him but such a Belief as sways the Will and Affections to receive him upon God's terms for our Salvation Faith is seated in the whole Soul in the Mind and
sound and perfect Health that being the End of his Art He that seeks for Honour or Riches is not content with a mediocrity of Success but drives on his Affairs to the full period of his Desires An ardent Lover of Learning with a noble jealousy strives to excel others in Knowledg In short no Man designs and longs for a thing as his Happiness but will use all diligence to gain the present and full Possession of it Therefore it cannot be imagined that any Person sincerely propounds the injoyment of Heaven as his End but Love will make him fervent and industrious to be as Heavenly as is possible here He will strive by blessed and glorious Gradations to ascend to the perfection of his aims and desires to be holy as God is holy in all manner of Conversation to be pure as Christ is pure We have an admirable instance of this in St Paul who declares Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus His Progress was great yet that did not make him slack in the prosecution of his End He laboured to attain the President of our Saviour to feel the Power of his Death and Life to apprehend Christ intirely and perfectly as Christ had apprehended him He was very diligent to improve the Divine Image in his Heart and Life From hence we may discover the vanity of their Hopes that are of luke-warm Affections in Religion the abhorr'd character of Laodicea who esteem it a prudent Principle as convenient for their carnal ease and interest not to be earnest in following Holiness Vices in mediocrity are tolerable with them only the excess is condemned They content themselves with a mediocrity in Religion and are presumptuous and secure as the Church that said I am rich and have need of nothing They boast as if they had found out the temperate Region between the burning Line and the frozen Pole They account all that is above their degrees in Religion to be furious or indiscreet Zeal and all below to be dead cold Profaneness They censure those for Hypocrisy or unnecessary Strictness who are visibly better and stand upon proud comparisons with those who are visibly worse And thus set off themselves by taxing others But how easily do Men deceive and damn themselves Can we have too much of Heaven upon the Earth Can we become too like God when a perfect conformity to him is our Duty and Felicity Indeed Moral Vertue consists in a Mediocrity not of the habitual Quality but of the Affections and Actions between the vicious extremities Fortitude consists in the mean between Cowardise and rash Boldness but how much the more confirm'd the couragious Habit is so much the more a Man excells in that Virtue Liberality consists between an indiscreet Profuseness and sordid Avarice Patience between a soft Delicacy and stupid Insensibility Thus Philosophic Virtue glories in its Beauty as pure and intire between two vicious Deformities And the Religion of many is Paganism drest up in a Christian Fashion But this mediocrity only belongs to inferiour Vertues that respect things of created limited goodness and is determined according to the worth of their Nature But divine Graces respect an object supreamly Good and their perfection consists in their most excellent degrees and the most intense Affections and Operations that are leading to it Faith in its Obedience Hope in its Assurance Love in its Ardour can never exceed When the Object is Infinite a mediocrity is vicious Humility can never descend too low nor Love ascend too high for reflecting upon our natural and moral Imperfections that we were raised from nothing that we are defiled and debased with Sin we cannot have too low thoughts of our selves And since God the Soveraign Being infinite in Perfections and infinitely amiable is the Object no bounds or measure must be set to our Affections but with all our united Powers all the Heart and with all the Soul and with all the Mind and with all the Strength we must love him and please him and endeavour to be beloved of him There are others will acknowledg their defects and tell you they do not pretend to eminent Sanctity to the Graces of the Apostles and Martyrs nor aspire to their degrees in Glory they are content with a lower place in Heaven and less strict Religion is sufficient for their purpose This deceit is strengthned by Popery that enervates and dissolves many of our Saviour's Precepts by teaching they are not Laws obliging all Christans to Obedience that will attain to eternal Life but Counsels of Perfection if they are not done 't is no Sin and the performance of them meritoriously intitles to a richer Crown And though Men by impure Indulgencies please their sensual Affections yet by tasting Purgatory in the way they may come to Heaven on easier terms than a universal respect to God's Commands and an equal care to observe them But Death will confute all these feeble wretched Pretences for though the Saints above shine with an unequal brightness as the Stars differ in Glory yet none are there but Saints And those who do not mourn under their Imperfections and unfeinedly desire and endeavour to be better were never really good The sloathful Servant that did not waste but neglect to improve his Talent was cast into outer darkness There are different degrees of punishments in Hell but the least miserable there are miserable for ever In short 't is a perfect contradiction a Prodigy for any Man to think he is sincere in his Choice and prepar'd in his Affections for the pure glorious Felicity in Heaven that does not labour to cleanse himself from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the fear of God CHAP. V. The Choice of Heaven must be early The Pretences of Mens delaying Repentance The infinite danger of it Secondly THe choice of Eternal Felicity must be early in the prime of our days The rule of our Duty and Reason binds us to remember our Creatour in our Youth to pay to him the first fruits of our Time and Strength When we are surrounded with inticing Objects and the Sense are entire and most capable to enjoy them when the electing Powers are it their vigour then 't is just we should live to God obey him as our Law-giver and prefer the fruition of him in Heaven the reward of Obedience before as the pleasures of Vanity 'T is very honourable and pleasing to God to give the Heart to him when the Flesh and the World strongly solicit to withdraw it 'T is a high endearment of the Soâ— to him when his excellencies are prevalent in the Esteem and Affections above all the charms of the Creatures And 't is an unspeakable satisfaction to the Spirit of a
Christians the convictions of a future State are not so clear and strong as to govern their Hearts and Lives How many of eminent intellectual Faculties are stupid as to their great Interest and spend themselves about Trifles and are equally tractable to Eternal Ruine as the Ox to the Slaughter He that is destitute of the illuminating Grace of the Spirit is blind and cannot see afar off Now by the Analogy between the corporal and the intellectual Faculties we may understand in some measure how the Mind is illuminated by the Spirit of God For as to the act of Seeing two things are requisite 1. External Light in the Air without which the Colours Figures and Beauties of Objects are not visible to the sharpest Eye but lie obscur'd under impenitrable Darkness 2. Internal Light in the Eye in which the visive Power consists if this be extinguish'd the clearest Light of Heaven is of no use for the discovery of Things Thus the Understanding is enabled to see Spiritual Things 1. By the revelation of the Object in this respect Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel Till that bright discovery was made of Eternal Blessedness it was above the desires and hopes of sinful Man Coelum homo nec optare poterat ex ignorantia nec sperare ex propriae miseriae conscientia 2. By the inward inlightning from the Spirit of Wisdom that removes the Ignorance Prejudice and Inadvertency of the Mind which as Scales darkned its Sight and disposes it to perceive the verity and excellency of spiritual and future Things though not with comprehensive evidence yet with that assurance that no doubtfulness or suspence remains concerning them 'T is observable that Faith is exprest in Scripture by Prudence Wisdom and Knowledg whereby a Man knows the grounds and motives of his Judgment and Actions And Sin is called Folly For as when the understanding Faculty either from the indisposedness of the Organs as in Idiots or from the disorder of Fancy by the inflammation of the Humours as in distracted Persons cannot weigh and compare and therefore makes a perverse judgment of things so the carnal Mind by not due measuring and pondering judges falsly of Spiritual Things If something no bigger than the Hand were put before the Eye it would intercept the Sight of the Heavens and he that not considering the properties of things near and distant should conclude that piece to be bigger than the Heavens were justly reputed a Fool. And the Folly of carnal Men is more gross who prefer things present to Sense before what is future and of everlasting consequence to the Soul But there are some actions which if done by a Natural would be counted Folly yet being done by those who in the reputation of the World are Wise are esteemed Prudent but they are the most deplorable Folly Now as the restoring the Laesum principium the broken Mind to its sound State whereby 't is able to consider discern and conclude of things according to their Nature such is the action of God's Spirit upon the corrupt Mind clarifying and enlightning it so that it receives full conviction by the clearest marks of divine Authority shining in the Gospel of the Truth of all the great and precious Promises therein contained and causing it by a steddy application of the Thoughts to see the vast difference between what is Temporal and Eternal how despicably light all the Vanities of this World are found when put in the Ballance against the infinite inestimable Happiness of the next In short the renewed Mind knows Spiritual Things according to their Nature and Qualities believes esteems and determins that they are of Eternal moment and absolutely necessary for the Happiness of Man And as when the natural Faculty of seeing is perish'd 't is irreparable by human Skill and without a Miracle can never be restored so the intellectual Faculty when darkned by sinful Lusts without the renewing power of the Spirit can never know Spiritual Things as they ought to be known Therefore as the blind Men in the Gospel who dispair'd of help from the Physicians hearing of the miraculous Power of Christ importunately begg'd his healing Mercy so let us pray to the Light and Saviour of the World but in a more noble and higher Sense Lord that we may receive our sight Let us with the most zealous Affections call upon the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory that he would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him the Eyes of our understanding being inlightned that we may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints 2. The efficacious Influence of the Holy Spirit is requisite to change the Will that with a free and full consent it may desire and prosecute the Spiritual Eternal Good Without this the conviction of the Mind is not powerful enough to convert the Soul from the love of the World to choose Heaven There may be an inlightned Conscience without a renewed Heart Though the Judgment assents that God is the Supream Good yet till the Heart be circumcised the sensuality of the Affections taken away divine Love that directs the Life to God as our blessed End can never possess it Suppose that Men had a sensible and strong assurance of the Eternal State hereafter if all those who lived godly in a visible manner ascended with Elias to Heaven and if all who continued in their Sins visibly descended into Hell as Corah and his Company were swallowed up alive by the Earth before the Israelites if Men could hear the joyful Exultations of the Saints above their high Praises of God and hear the desperate Crys and deep Complaints of the Damned if one according to the desire of the rich Man were sent from Hell and with his Fiery Tongue should preach a Sermon of those Torments not describing them at a distance but by a sensible demonstration in himself yet this alone were not sufficient to draw off their Hearts from the deceitful Happiness of this World and fasten them on the perfect and Eternal Happiness in the next Indeed they could not then indulge their Lusts so securely but they would be Strangers to the Life of God such an inveterate alienation of Heart is in Men from real Holiness Till the sanctifying Spirit by a directive persuasive Light that represents the Truth and Goodness of Spiritual Things transforms the Soul and makes it Spiritual in its Valuations and Affections 't is inwardly averse from Grace and Glory The Lord direct our Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS * Beatitudo est bonorum omnium complexio secretis omnibus malis Cicer. †Quicquid illis congesseris non finis erit cupiditatum sed gradus Sen. ‖ Nullum
Law to him and the special Priviledg of some be extended to all As Thales said an old Mariner that has escapt the various dangers of the Seas was a new Miracle so that one who has lived an obstinate Sinner dyes a penitent Believer is very rare and extraordinary What our Saviour said concerning the Salvation of rich Men is justly applicable in this case that it was as easy for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle as for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This so astonisht the Apostles that they cryed who then can be saved To mitigate the difficulty he remembers them of the Divine Omnipotence All things are possible with God Thus for one that has been fitting himself for Hell and hardened in a constant course of Sin to be at last suddenly prepared and received into the pure and glorious Society above is possible but possible only as Miracles are by the efficacy of infinite Power and we cannot reasonably expect such Miracles And are Heaven and Hell such trivial things as to be left to an uncertainty Are not Men concerned in an other manner in the Affairs of the World How careful to prevent the sentence of Death of Imprisonment or Banishment How diligent to obtain some temporal Advantage yet how neglectful in things of the highest importance It may be says the secure Wretch God will give me Repentance at last as he did to others Remember you speak of the Soul and dare you hang the weight of an immortal Soul upon a naked possibility of receiving Grace What reasonable Person would neglect a Disease that may prove deadly and rely on extream Remedies And can you be guilty of such a cruel indifference such a desperate carelessness as to leave eternal Salvation or Damnation to a peradventure 2. Consider how many thousands have dyed in their Sins that cherisht fallacious hopes of repenting at last Diagoras the Atheist that denied a governing Providence of things in this lower World the Sphere of mutability when one for his conviction shewed him in the Temple of Neptune many votive Tables containing the grateful acknowledgments of those who by addresses to the Gods in dangerous Storms had arrived safe at their Port and askt him Whether he had observed those numerous testimonies for divine Providence he replied I see them but how many have invocated Neptune yet perisht in the Ocean and never came to pay their Vows for Deliverance 'T was impiety in him to argue so against God's disposing Providence but it may justly be said to those who neglect their present Duty presuming upon some Examples of his Glorious Goodness in those who were converted and saved in their approaches to Death how many have finally miscarried in shooting that Gulph to one that has arrived safe at Heaven How many when Sick hope either by the vigour of Nature or the virtue of Remedies to overcome their Disease and never see Death till they feel it and delay Repentance till their time is irrecoverably gone How many are blinded with vain presumptions to the last that God is reconciled to them and a false Tranquillity is more terrible than the storms of a troubled Spirit for those who hope upon deceitful grounds are in the most hopeless state neglecting what is requisite in order to Salvation And thus innumerable pass in a cloud of Ignorance to the Kingdom of Darkness And how many who have lived in a deluding Dream sensual and secure yet at the last when by some sharp affliction or the present fear of divine Judgment Conscience is awakened and looks into the depth of their Guilt fall into the other extream and dye despairing The Devil makes his advantage of the timerous Conscience as well as of the Obdurate Solitude is his Scene as well as the noisy Theatre and by contrary ways either presumption or despair brings Sinners to the same end He changes his methods according to their Dispositions the Tempter turns Accuser and then such who had a dim-sight of Sin before have an overquick sight of it and are swallowed up in an abyss of Confusion The condition of such is extreamly miserable 'T is observed of those who are bit with a mad Dog that being tormented with thirst yet so fearful of Water that the sight of it sometimes causes sudden Convulsions and Death their Cure is extream difficult if not impossible This is a significant emblem of a despairing Soul For when the inraged Conscience bites to the quick the Sinner fill'd with estuations and terrors ardently thirsts for Pardon yet fearfully forsakes his own Mercies What ever is propounded to encourage Faith in the Divine Promises he turns to justify his Infidelity Represent to him the infinite Mercies of God the unvaluable Merits of Christ sufficient to redeem the lost World it hightens his despair because he has perversly abused those Mercies and neglected those Merits The most precious Promises in the Gospel are killing terrours to him as the sweet Title of Friend wherewith our Saviour received Judas when he betrayed him was the most stinging reproach of his perfidious Villany Thus it appears how dangerous it is to delay our Repentance and Reconciliation with God till Sickness and a Death-Bed when the remembrance or forgetfulness of Sin the sence or security of Conscience may be equally destructive I would not from what has been said discourage any who have lived in a course of Sin from earnest seeking to God for his Mercy in their last hours Even then they are not utterly destitute of hope The Gospel sets forth the Mercy of God to returning Sinners in various forms and expressions of incomparable Tenderness When the lost Sheep was recovered there was Joy as if a Treasure had been found The Prodigal had wasted his Estate in Lust and Luxury and by a harsh reduction came to himself reflected with shame upon his Folly and Rebellion and the sence of his Misery not a more ingenuous or noble principle at first compell'd him to go to his Father to try what his Affection would do And it was not a vain Presumption for he found the effects of his compassionate Love When he was a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him And the Sun said Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son But the Father said to his Servants Bring out the best Robe and put a Ring on his Finger and Shoes on his Feet and bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found The design of Christ was to represent his heavenly Father in that Parable and to wounded Spirits that feel the intolerable weight of Sin the Mercy and mildness of the Gospel is to be shown God is rich in Mercy to
advantage frequently to sequester our selves from the World to redeem Time from secular Affairs for the recollecting of our Thoughts and their solemn exercise upon the Eternal World Sense that reveals natural things darkens spiritual How can the Thoughts be fixt on invisible things so distant from Sense if always conversant with secular Objects that draw them down In the silence of the Night a small Voice is more distinctly heard and a little distant Light more clearly seen so when the Soul is withdrawn from the noisy throng of the World and outward things are darkned the Voice of Conscience is better heard and the Light of Heaven more perfectly received 3. Consideration of Eternal Things must be with present Application to the Soul 'T is not the meer conviction of the Mind but the decree of the Will that turns Men from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Heart is very deceitful and by variety of shifts and palliations is disposed to irresolutions and delays in spiritual Concernments How often does the miserable Sinner contend with himself and while Conscience urges him to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Affections draw down to the Earth the carnal part prevailing over the rational he overcomes and is overcome he is convinced and condemned by his own Mind Till Consideration issues in this that with setled Judgment and Affections the Soul determines for God and Heaven 't is without profit Therefore in the managing this Duty 't is our Wisdom not to be curious and inquisitive after subtile Conceptions and exalted Notions of the future State that little confer to the making the Heart better but to think seriously on what is plain and evident and most useful to produce a present lasting Change It were egregious Folly in a Man that for the use of his Garden should with great labour fetch Water from distant Fountains and neglect that which springs up in his own Ground That Meditation is profitable which produces not new Thoughts but holy and firm resolutions of obeying God in order to the full enjoying of him for ever To persuade us to the serious practice of this Duty there are many enforcements Is any Man so foolish so regardless of his convenience to purchase a House wherein he must live all his Days and will not first see whether it will be convenient and secure for his Habitation Shall we not then consider Heaven the Mansion of Blessedness and Hell the Seat of Misery and Horror for according as we chuse here we shall be in the one or other place for ever I shall in a particular Chapter endeavour to represent something of the inexpressible Misery of the Wicked hereafter and shew how congruous and powerful the Thoughts of it are to restrain Men from Sin but at present shall briefly excite to the Meditation of the Heavenly Glory as the most noble delightful and fruitful work of the Soul whiles confin'd to the Body of Flesh. 'T is the most exalted exercise of the Mind the purest converse with God the Flower of consecrated Reason 'T is most like the Life of glorified Spirits above who are in continual contemplation of the Divine Excellencies and 't is most raised above the Life of carnal Men that are sunk into sensuality and brutishness 'T is the most joyful Life in that it sheds abroad in the Soul delights that neither satiate nor corrupt nor weaken the Faculties as the delights of Sense do but afford perfection as well as pleasure 'T is the most profitable Life As in those parts of the Earth where the beams of the Sun are strongly reflected precious Metals and Jewels are produc'd wherein the refulgent resemblance of that bright Planet appears so the lively and vigorous exercise of the Thoughts upon the heavenly Glory will produce Heavenly Affections heavenly Discourses and a heavenly shining Conversation This will make us live like the blessed Society above imitating their Innocence and Purity their joyful entire and constant Obedience to God This confirms the holy Soul in its Choice with an invincible efficacy against the Temptations and Lusts of the World The serious considering Believer is filled with ravishing Wonder of the Glory that shall be revealed and looks down with Contempt upon the Earth and all that has the Name of Felicity here All the Invitations nay Terrors of the World are as unable to check his pursuit of his blessed End as the Breath of an Infant to stop the high flight of an Eagle But how rare and disused a Duty is this How hardly are Men induc'd to set about it Business and Pleasures are powerful Diversions Some pretend Business as a just cause but in vain for the one thing necessary challenges our principal Thoughts and Care Besides there are intervals of Leisure and the Thoughts are always streaming and often run waste which directed aright would be very fruitful to the Soul The true cause of this neglect is from the inward temper of Men. Carnal Pleasures alienate the Mind and make it unfit for the deep serious actings of the Thoughts upon Eternal Things I have said of Laughter thou art mad it makes the Mind light and vain and desultory As a distracted Person by every motion of Fancy flys from one thing to another without coherence The Heart fill'd with cloudy Cares and smoaky Fires with Thoughts and Desires about worldly Things is unprepar'd for such a clear calm and sedate Work A Carnal Person can taste no sweetness feel no relish in the Meditation of Heaven nor any spiritual Duty 'T is as if one should take some delicious Fruit into his Mouth a Peach or the like without breaking the Skin it would be rather a trouble than pleasant Nay the Gospel expresly declaring that without Holiness no Man shall see God those who by vicious Affections are ingaged in any sinful way being conscious of their guilt and unpreparedness and that while such they are under a peremptory exclusion from celestial Glory cannot endure the thoughts of Heaven The Divine Presence is their Torment and the serious Consideration of it is to bring them before God's holy and just Tribunal to accuse and condemn them CHAP. X. The Objects of Consideration specified The End of Man's Creation considered The Things of the World and Heaven that solicit our Choice considered in their Quality and Duration I Shall next proceed to a more particular view of those Objects from whence Consideration derives vigour for the inclining of the Will to a right Choice and for regulating the Life 1. Consider the End for which Man was designed in his Creation why endued with rational and noble Powers of Soul and plac'd by the Soveraign Maker in the highest rank of so numerous and various Natures that fill the Universe Is it to raise an Estate to shine in Pomp to enjoy sensual Pleasures for a little while and after the fatal term to be no more for ever Was he sent into the World upon as mean a Business
their Breasts be transparent to the Eyes of all How will they be ashamed of their foul and permanent Deformity in the Light of that glorious Presence How will they be astonisht to appear in all their Pollutions before that bright and immense Theatre How will they be confounded to stand in all their Guilt before that sublime and severe Tribunal How will they endure the upbraidings for all the Sins which they have so wickedly committed and the derision for the punishment they so deservedly suffer The holy Judg will laugh at their Calamity and mock when their fear comes The Righteous also shall see and shall laugh at them Lo these are the Men that made not God their Portion but perishing Vanities that prefer'd sweet Folly before severe Wisdom The Devils will reproach them for that scornful advantage they had over them that as Children are seduc'd for things of Lustre to part with real Treasures so they were easily persuaded for the Trifles of Time to exchange Eternal Happiness Whither will they cause their Shame to go Those black Sinners that here never change colour for their Filthiness that hardned by custom in Sin are impenetrable to Shame as the brute Beasts that are absolutely destitute of reason nay that have not only overcome all tenderness but glory in their Shame shall glow at the manifestation of their sordid Lusts their vile Servilities and be covered with Confusion and the sence of it shall be revived in their Minds for ever 2. To open Shame is joined the greatest inward Sorrow This Passion when violent penetrates the Soul in all its Faculties and fastens it to the afflicting Object When it dwells in the Bosom it gives an easy entrance to what ever cherishes and increases it and rejects what might asswage and lessen the sence of the Evil. The most pleasant things do not excite desire or joy but exasperate Grief Like those Animals that convert the best nourishment into their own Poison so deep Sorrow receives mournful impressions from all things and turns the sweetest Comforts of Life into Wormwood and Gall. The causes of Sorrow are either the loss of some valued Good or the sence of some present Evil. And the Sorrow is more violent as the Cause is great in it self and in the apprehension and tenderness of the Sufferers Now both these Causes with all the heavy Circumstances that can multiply and aggravate Sorrow meet in Hell the Centre of Misery The loss is inconceivably great If Cain when banisht from the Society of the Saints where God was publickly worshipt and by spiritual Revelations and visible Apparitions graciously made himself known cry'd out in anguish of Soul My punishment is greater than I can bear from thy Face shall I be hid and I shall be a Fugitive upon the Earth how intolerable will be the final separation from his glorious and joyful Presence 'T is often seen how tenderly and impatiently the human Spirit resents the loss of a dear Relation Jacob for the supposed Death of Joseph was so overcome with Grief that when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him he refused to be comforted and said I will go down to the Grave unto my Son mourning This is a Sin and a punishment 'T is establisht by the righteous and unchangeable Decree of God that every inordinate Affection in Man should be his own Tormentor But if the loss of a poor frail Creature for a short time be so afflicting how insupportable will be the Sorrow for the loss of an infinite Eternal Good It may be a carnal Wretch may think comfortably of this now whilst he lives in Pleasures but in the next World he shall be totally deprived of all things that please his voluptuous Senses and shall understand what a misery it is to lose the favour and enjoyment of the blessed God Our Saviour told the Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth the Symptoms of extreme Sorrow when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out The sight of that blessed Company entring into the sacred Mansions of Light will make the loss of Heaven infinitely more discernable and terrible to the Wicked who shall be cast into outer Darkness and for ever be deprived of Communion with God and his Saints With the loss of the most excellent Good the suffering of the most afflicting painful Evil is join'd The Sentence is Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire And if an imaginary Sorrow conceived in the Mind without a real external Cause as in Melancholly Persons when gross Vapours darken and corrupt the brightness and purity of the Spirits that are requisite for its chearful Operations is often so oppressing that Nature sinks under it how insupportable will the Sorrow of condemned Sinners be under the impression and sence of God's Almighty and avenging Hand when it shall fully appear how pure and holy he is in his Anger for Sin how just and dreadful in punishing Sinners It may be the indulgent Sinner may lessen his fear of Hell by fancying the number of Sufferers will asswage the sence of their Misery But this is a foolish mistake For the number of Sufferers shall be so far from affording any relief that the Misery is aggravated by the Company and Communication of the Miserable Every one is surrounded with Sorrows and by the sights of Woe about him feels the universal Grief The weeping and wailing the cries and dolorous expressions of all the Damned increases the torment and vexation of every one As when the Wind conspires with the Flame 't is more fierce and spreading 3. The Concomitant of Sorrow will be Fury and Rage against themselves as the true causes of their Misery For God will make such a discovery of his righteous Judgment that not only the Saints shall glorify his Justice in the condemnation of the Wicked but they shall be so convinc'd of it as not to be able to charge their Judg with any defect of Mercy or excess of Rigour in his proceedings against them As the Man in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast when taxt for his presumptuous intrusion without a Wedding Garment how camest thou in hither was speechless so they will find no plea for their Justification and Defence but must receive the eternal Doom with Silence and Confusion Then Conscience shall revive the bitter remembrance of all the methods of divine Mercy for their Salvation that were ineffectual by their Contempt and Obstinacy All the compassionate calls of his Word with the holy Motions of the Spirit were like the sowing of Seed in the Stony Ground that took no root and never came to perfection All his terrible Threatnings were but as Thunder to the Deaf or Lightning to the Blind that little affects them the bounty of his Providence design'd to lead them to Repentance had the same effect as the Showers of Heaven upon Briers and Thorns