unknown Happiness of those Joys which now we have such imperfect conceptions of 2. Nor is it on the other hand any encouragement to bad men that the Miseries of the other World are unknown for it is known that God has threatned very terrible Punishments against bad men and that what these punishments are is unknown makes them a great deal more formidable for who knows the power of God's wrath who knows how miserable God can make bad men This makes it a sensless thing for men to harden themselves against the Fears of the other World because they know not what it is And how then can they tell though they could bear up under all known Miseries but that there may be such Punishments as they cannot bear That they are unknown argues that they are something more terrible than they are aquainted with in this World they are represented indeed by the most dreadful and terrible things by Lakes of Fire and Brimstone Blackness of Darkness the Worm that never dieth and the Fire that never goeth out But bad men think this cannot be true in a literal sence that there can be no Fire to burn Souls and torment them eternally Now suppose it were so yet if they believe these Threatnings they must believe that some terrible thing is signified by everlasting Burnings and if Fire and Brimstone serve only for Metaphors to describe these Torments by what will the real Sufferings of the Damned be for the Spirit of God does not use to describe things by such Metaphors as are greater than the things themselves And therefore let no bad man encourage himself in Sin because he does not know what the punishments of the other World are This should possess us with the greater awe and dread of them since every thing in the other World not only the Happiness but the Miseries of it will prove greater not less than we expect CHAP. II. Concerning the Certainty of our Death HAving thus shewed you under what Notions we are to consider Death and what Wisdom we should learn from them I proceed to the second thing the Certainty of Death It is appointed to men once to die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it remains it is reserved and as it were laid up for them I believe no man will desire a proof of this which he sees with his eyes one Generation succeeds another and those who live longest at last yeild to the fatal Stroke There were two men indeed Enoch and Elias who did not die as Death signifies the separation of Soul and Body but were translated to Heaven without dying but this is the general Law for Mankind from which none are excepted but those whom God by his Soveraign Authority and for wise Reasons thinks fit to except which have been but two since the Creation and will be no more till Christ comes to Judge the World For then St. Paul tells us those who are alive at Christ's second coming shall not die but shall be changed 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed This is such a Change as is equivalent to Death it puts us in the same state with those who are dead and at the last Judgment rise again SECT I. A Vindication of the Iustice and Goodness of GOD in appointing Death for all Men. BUt before I shew you what use to make of this Consideration that we must all certainly Die let us examine how Mankind comes to be Mortal This was no dispute among the Heathens for it was no great wonder that an earthly Body should die and dissolve again into dust it would be a much greater wonder to see a Body of Flesh and Blood preserved in perpetual youth and vigour without any decays of Nature without being sick or growing old But this is a question among us or if it may not be called a question yet it is what deserves our consideration since we learn from the History of Moses that as frail and brittle as these earthly Tabernacles are yet if Man had not sinned he had not died When God created Man and placed him in Paradise he forbad him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die 2. Gen. 16 17. And when notwithstanding this threatning our first Parents had eat of it God confirms and ratifies the Sentence Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return 3. Gen. 19. What this Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was is as great a mystery to us as what the Tree of Life was for we understand neither of them which makes some men who would not be thought to be ignorant of any thing to flie to Allegorical Sences but though I would be glad to know this if I could yet I must be contented to leave it a Mystery as I find it That which we are concerned in is that this Sentence of Death and Mortality which was pronounced on Adam fell on all his Posterity As St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. That by man came death and in Adam all die And this he does not only assert but prove 5. Rom. 12 13 14. Wherefore by man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned for until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law nevertheless death reigned from Adam till Moses even over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trangressions The design of all which is to prove that men die or are mortal not for their own sins but for the sin of Adam Which the Apostle proves by this argument because tho' all men as well as Adam have sinned yet till the giving the Law of Moses there was no Law which threatned Death against Sin but only that Law given to Adam in Paradise which no man else ever did or ever could transgress but he Now sin is not imputed where there is no law That is it is not imputed to any man to death before there is any Law which threatens death against it That no man can be reckoned to die for those sins which no Law punishes with death Upon what account then says the Apostle could those men die who lived between Adam and Moses before the Law was given which threatens death And yet die they all did even those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression who had neither eaten the forbidden Fruit nor sinned against any other express Law threatning death This could be for no other sin but Adam's he
the greatest Sinners to Baptism and justifying them by the Blood of Christ and what the Gospel requires of baptized Christians to continue in this justified State In the first case nothing is required but Faith and Repentance upon which account we are so frequently said to be justified by faith not by the deeds of the law to be justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus to be saved by grace thro' faith not of works least any man should boast And I believe upon inquiry it will be found that Justification by Faith always relates to this Baptismal Justification when by Baptism we are received into Covenant with God and into a justified State only for the sake of Christ and through Faith in his Blood which one thing well considered would put an end to most of the Disputes about Justification and about Faith and Works which I cannot explain now but shall only observe that the constant opposition between Justification by the Faith of Christ and Justification by Circumcision and the Works of the Law to the observation of which they were obliged by Circumcision is a manifest proof that Justification by Faith is our Justification by the Faith of Christ in Baptism which is our admission into the Christian Church makes us the Members of Christ and the Children of God which is a state of Grace and Justification as Circumcision formerly made them God's peculiar People in Covenant with him which is the Justification of Circumcision and Justification by Faith and Justification by Circumcision would not be duly opposed if they did not relate to the same kind of Justification that is that Justification which is the immediate effect of our being in Covenant with God. But now when we are justified by a general Repentance and Faith in Christ at Baptism we also vow a conformity to the Death of Christ by dying to sin and walking in newness of life that is we vow an universal Obedience to all the Laws of Righteousness which the Gospel requires of us as Circumcision made them debtors to the whole law which is the reason why the Works of the Law and that Evangelical Righteousness which the Faith of Christ requires of us are so often opposed in this Dispute the one the Righteousness of the Law or of Works the other the Righteousness of Faith and therefore as Circumcision could not justifie those who transgressed the Law no more will Faith justifie those who disobey the Gospel but the righteousness of the law must be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Now the necessary consequence of this is that meer Sorrow for Sin and the meer Vows and Resolutions of Obedience without actual Holiness and Obedience of Life according to the terms and conditions of the Gospel will not save a baptized Christian for meer Sorrow for Sin and Vows of Obedience will be accepted only in Baptism but when we are baptized we must put our Vows in execution or we fall from our Baptismal Grace and Justification and therefore when we relapse into Sin after Baptism no Repentance will be accepted but that which actually reforms our lives for Baptismal Grace is not ordinarily repeated no more than we can repeat our Baptism This I take to be the true meaning of that very difficult place 6 Heb. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of GOD and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of GOD afresh and put him to open shame This severe passage occasioned some dispute about the Canonical Authority of this Epistle for it was thought that the Apostle here excluded all Men from the benefit of Repentance who fell into sin again after Baptism but it is certain this is not the Apostle's meaning nor do the words import any such Doctrine but his meaning is either that Men who have been baptized and thoroughly instructed in the Christian Religion may sin themselves into an impossibility of Repentance which is the most ordinary interpretation of the words and which sence I gave before of them and is in part the true sence though I think not the whole or that Men after Baptism may fall into such a state as nothing can deliver them out of but Baptismal Grace and Regeneration and since Baptism cannot be repeated the state of such Men is hopeless and desperate according to the terms of the Gospel however God may deal with them by a Soveraign and Prerogative Grace for tho' we can expect and rely on no other Grace but what God has promised in his Gospel yet God does not absolutely confine himself nor must we confine his Grace and this he tells us is the case of all Apostates from the Christian Faith The understanding of this is necessary to my present purpose and therefore I shall briefly explain it 1. That the Apostle here speaks of persons who were baptized is plain from the words Those who were once enlightned the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are those who have been once baptized for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the ancient Writers signifies Baptism as Iustin Martyr himself tells us in his second Apology that Baptism is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Illumination because their minds are enlightned by it and being once enlightned plainly refers it to Baptism which can be administred but once and what follows proves this to be the meaning of it and have tasted of the heavenly gift that is saith St. Chrysostom received remission of Sins in Baptism and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost the Holy Spirit being given at Baptism and have tasted of the good word of GOD been instructed in the Doctrines of the Gospel which in the Apostolick Age immediately followed Baptism for Men were then admitted to Baptism immediately upon their profession of Repentance and Faith in Christ and were afterwards instructed in the Christian Religion and the powers of the world to come that is those miraculous Gifts and Powers which were bestowed on the Apostles for a confirmation of the Faith of Christ and which most Christians did in some degree or other partake of in Baptism This is a plain Description of Baptism with the effects and consequents of it 2. That he speaks of such as after Baptism totally Apostatize from the Faith of Christ is as plain for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who fall away From what from their Christian Profession which they made at their Baptism that is who renounce the Faith of Christ and turn Iews or Heathens again for these Men crucify to themselves the Son of GOD afresh and put him to open shame that is they declare him to be an Impostor
sinned and brought Death into the World and thus Death passed upon all men for his sin notwithstanding they themselves were Sinners for tho' they were Sinners yet that they died was not owing to their own sins because they had not sinned against any Law which threatned death but to the sin of Adam and therefore in a proper sence in Adam all die Now this is thought very hard that the sin of Adam should bring death upon all his Posterity that one man sinned and all men must die and therefore I suppose no man will think it improper to my present Argument to give you such an account of this matter as will evidently justifie the Wisdom and Goodness as well as the Justice of GOD in it I. In the first place then I observe that an immortal Life in this World is not the original Right of earthly Creatures but was wholly owing to the Grace and Favour of God. I call that an original Right which is founded in the Nature of things for otherwise properly speaking no Creatures have any right either to being or to subsistance which is a continuance in being It is the Goodness and the Power of God which both made the World and upholds and sustains all things in being And therefore Plato confesses that the inferiour Gods those immortal Spirits which he thought worthy of Divine Honours were both made by the Supreme God and did subsist by his Will for He who made all things can annihilate them again when he pleases and therefore their Subsistence is as much owing to the Divine Goodness as their Creation But yet there is a great difference between the natural gift and bounty of God and what is supernatural or above the nature of things What God makes by nature immortal so that it has no principles of Mortality in its constitution Immortality may be said to be its natural Right because it is by nature immortal as Spirits and the Souls of Men are And in this case it would be thought very hard that a whole race of immortal Beings should be made mortal for the sin of one which would be to deprive them of their natural Right to Immortality without their own fault But when any Creature is immortal not by Nature but by supernatural Grace God may bestow this supernatural Immortality upon what conditions he pleases and take the forfeiture of it when he sees fit and this was the case of Man in Innocence His Body was not by Nature immortal for a Body made of Dust will naturally resolve into Dust again and therefore without a supernatural power an earthly Body must die for which reason God provided a remedy against Mortality the Tree of Life which he planted in Paradise and without which man could not be immortal so that Mortality was a necessary consequence of his losing Paradise for when he was banished from the Tree of Life he could have no Remedy nor Preservative against Death Now I suppose no man will question but God might very justly turn Adam out of Paradise for his disobedience and then he must die and all his Posterity die in him for he being by Nature mortal must beget mortal Children and having forfeited the Tree of Life he and his Posterity who are all shut out of Paradise with him must necessarily die Which takes nothing from them to which any man had a right for no man had a natural right to Paradise or the Tree of Life but only leaves them to those Laws of Mortality to which an earthly Creature is naturally subject God had promised Paradise and the Tree of Life to no man but to Adam himself whom he created and placed in Paradise and therefore he took nothing away from any man but from Adam when he thrust him out of Paradise Children indeed must follow the condition of their Parents had Adam preserved his right to the Tree of Life we had enjoyed it too but he forfeiting it we lost it in him and in him die We lost I say not any thing that we had a right to but such a supernatural Priviledge as we might have had had he preserved his Innocence and this is a sufficient Vindication of the Justice of God in it He has done us no injury we are by nature mortal Creatures and he leaves us in that mortal state and to withdraw favours upon a reasonable provocation is neither hard nor unjust II. For we must consider farther when Sin was once entred into the World an immortal Life here became impossible without a constant series of Miracles Adam had sinned and thereby corrupted his own nature and therefore must necessarily propagate a corrupt nature to his Posterity His earthly Passions were broke loose he now knew good and evil and therefore was in the hands of his own counsel to refuse or choose the good or evil and when the Animal Life was once awakned in him there was no great dispute which way his affections would incline To be sure it is evident enough in his Posterity whose boisterous passions act such Tragedies in the World. Now suppose in a state of Innocence that the Tree of Life would have preserved men immortal when no man would injure himself nor another when there was no danger from wild Beasts or an intemperate Air or poisonous Herbs yet I suppose no man will say but that even in Paradise itself could we suppose any such thing Adam might have been devoured by a Beast or killed with a Stab at the Heart or had there been any Poison there it would have killed him had he eaten or drunk it or else he had another kind of Body in Paradise than we have now for I am sure that these things would kill us Consider then how impossible it is that in this fallen and apostate State God should preserve Man immortal without working Miracles every minute Mens passions are now very unruly and they fall out with one another and will kill one another if they can of which the World had a very early example in Gain who slew his Brother Abel and all those Murders and bloody Wars since that day put this matter out of doubt Now this can never be prevented unless God should make our Bodies invulnerable which a body of flesh and blood cannot be without a Miracle some die by their own hands others by wild Beasts others by evil Accidents and there are so many ways of destroying these brittle Bodies that it is the greatest wonder that they last so long and yet Adam's body in Paradise was as very Earth and as brittle as our Bodies are but all this had been prevented had men continued innocent they would not then have quarrelled or fought they would not have died by their own hands nor drunk themselves into a Feavour nor over-loaded Nature with riotous Excesses there had been no wild Beasts to devour no infectious Air or poisonous Herbs and then the Tree of Life would have repaired all the decays of Nature
Misery and to obtain eternal Happiness be not necessary I know not what can make any thing necessary And if this cannot be done without the knowledge and practise of true Religion that is as necessary as the Salvation of our Souls is And can any present time how early soever it be be too soon to do that which is necessary to be done especially when we are not sure of any other time to do it in No time is too soon to do that which is absolutely necessary and no wise man will neglect doing that at present which unless it be done he must be miserable for ever and yet it may never be done if it be not done at present 2. Is not Religion and the care of our Souls the work of every day as much as eating and drinking to preserve our bodily health and strength is Must we not pray to God every day and make his Laws the rule of our actions every day and repent of our sins and do what good we can every day And what is the work of every day we ought to do every day though we were secure of living till to morrow much more when we know that we may die before another day comes 3. Do ye not all resolve to repent of your sins and reform your lives before ye die And is it not as necessary to repent of your sins to day as ever it will be is not to day as proper a time to repent in as ever you are likely to have are you sure of having another day to repent in if you neglect this This may convince any considering man that no resolutions of repenting hereafter can be sincere because such men resolve indeed to repent but do not resolve to do it at such a time when they can do it that is the present time which alone they are sure of but put it off till another time which may never be theirs I grant men may sincerely resolve to do that hereafter a month or half a year or a year hence which they do not think so fitting and convenient to do at present but then this is not an absolute resolution to do such a thing but a conditional resolution that they will do it if they live till such a time when it will be convenient to be done Consider then which of these you mean when you resolve to repent is it onely a conditional resolution that you will repent if you live till such a time I grant there is some sence in this resolution but I wish you would consider what danger there is in it too for are you contented to be eternally miserable if you do not live till your time of repentance comes No this you tremble at the thoughts of and resolve to repent because you resolve not to be miserable for ever that is you absolutely resolve to repent you are convinced this is absolutely necessary it is a work that must be done and you are resolved to do it Consider then how vain and contradictory this resolution is to resolve to repent hereafter which is an absolute resolution with a condition annexed to it and a very uncertain one too a resolution certainly to repent but not in a certain but uncertain time and yet those who repent must repent in some time and Repentance can never be certain when the time to repent in is uncertain Indeed no resolution is good which is not for the present time when there are no exceptions against doing it at present especially when there is such manifest danger in deferring it To resolve to repent hereafter when the present time is the only certain time to repent in only signifies that men are convinc'd of the necessity of Repentance but love their sins so well that they cannot part with them yet and therefore that they may sin on securely without the perpetual fears and terrors of another World they resolve to repent hereafter Now though there were no such manifest danger in a delay from the uncertainty of our lives yet let any man judge whether such resolutions as these are ever like to take effect a resolution which is owing to a great love to sin and is intended onely to silence mens guilty fears and give them a present security in sinning For this reason they resolve not to repent now but to repent hereafter and if they keep this resolution they will never repent for their hereafter will never come which does not signifie any set and determined time but any time which is not present The reason why they resolve not to repent to day will extend to every day when it comes that is that they love their sins and are unwilling to part with them and the reason why they resolve to repent hereafter will serve for all hereafters but will never serve for any time present viz. because they will not repent yet and yet will flatter themselves into security with the vain hopes of Repentance flatter not yourselves then with vain hopes he who resolves to repent but does not resolve to repent presently though he knows he is sure of no other time but the present to repent in does not sincerely resolve to repent but only resolves to delay his Repentance The like may be said concerning the danger of delays concerning missing the proper times and seasons of action and neglecting that which is of present use to us and which we ought above all things to desire viz. to secure the happiness of our immortal Souls but I shall only add this one thing to make you sensible what it is to let slip the present time without improving it to any wise purposes that he who loses his present time loses all the time he has all the time that he can call his own which is the sum of all other Arguments that the present time is the only time he has to live in to repent in to serve God and to do good to men in to improve his knowledge and to exercise his graces and to prepare himself for a blessed Immortality which are the most necessary the most useful the most desirable things in the World and that which gives the value to time itself which is valuable only for the sake of what may be done and what may be enjoyed in it But you 'll say at this rate we must spend our whole lives in the Duties of Religion in thinking of God and another World in acts of Repentance and Mortification in Prayer and Fasting and such like Exercises of Devotion here will be no time left for the ordinary Affairs of Life scarce to eat or drink or sleep in but that they will have some of our time whether we will or no but here is no allowance made for Recreations and Diversions for the Conversation of Friends and innocent Mirth and Pastime to refresh our wearied Bodies and Minds for if we must be so careful to improve our present time to the best purposes our present time is
done but once for their whole lives especially if the happiness of their whole lives depends on it for no errour can be corrected in what is to be done but once and certainly we have much more reason to prepare to die once which translates us to an immutable state of Happiness or Misery This ought to be the work and business of our whole lives to prepare for Death which comes but once but that once is for Eternity What unpardonable folly is it for any Man to be surprized by Death to fall into the Grave without thinking of it To commit a mistake which may be retrieved again to be guilty of some neglect and inadvertency when the hurt we suffer by it may be repair'd by future diligence and caution is much more excusable because it is not so fatal and irreparable a folly In this case experience may teach wisdom and wisdom is a good purchase though we may pay dear for it but a wise Man will use great caution in making an experiment which if it fail will cost him his life because that can never be tried a second time and experience is of no use in such things as can be done but once And this is the case of dying we can die but once and if we miscarry that once we are undone for ever And what considering Man would make such dangerous experiments as Sinnres do every day when their Souls are the price of the experiment Who would try how long Death will delay its coming how long he may sin on safely without thinking of Death or Judgment whether Death will give him timely notice to repent or whether God will give him grace to repent if it does Who would venture the infinite hazards of a Death-bed-repentance whether after a long life of sin and wickedness a few distracted confused and almost despairing sighs and groans will carry him to Heaven If such bold Adventurers as these when they have discovered their mistake and folly could return back into this World and live over their lives again the hazard were not so great but this is an experiment not to be twice made If they sin on till they harden themselves in sin and are forsaken of the Grace of God if Death comes long before they expected and cut them off by surprize and without warning if their dying and despairing Agonies and Horrours should not prove a true godly Sorrow not that repentance to salvation never to be repented of they are lost to Eternity And what wise Man would expose his Soul to such a hazard as this Who would not take care to make his Calling and Election sure before Death comes and in a matter of such infinite concernment wherein one miscarriage is irreparable to prevent danger at a distance 2dly We hence learn how necessary it is for those who begin well to persevere unto the end It is the conclusion of our lives which determines our future state as God expresly tells us by his Prophet Ezekiel 18 Ezek. 21 24. If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die all his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all the righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die And throughout the New Testament the reward is promised only to those who continue to the end And what I have now discoursed gives a plain account of this for our whole life is a state of trial and probation and if we leave off before our work be done if we stop or run backwards before we come to the end of our race we must lose our reward our crown the Christian Life is a state of Warfare and we know the last Battel gives the final Conquest and this cannot be otherwise because what comes last undoes what went before when a wicked Man turns from his wickedness and does good God in infinite Mercy thro' the Merits and Mediation of Christ will forgive his sins because he has put them away from him and undone them by repentance and a new life when a righteous Man turns from his righteousness and does wickedly his righteousness shall be forgotten because he has renounced it and parted with it and is a righteous Man no longer Now when God comes to judge the World he will judge Men as he then finds them he will not inquire what they have been but what they are he will not condemn a righteous Man because he has been wicked nor justifie a wicked Man because he has been righteous for this would be to punish the Righteous and to reward the Wicked Such as we are when we die such we shall continue for ever and therefore it is the last scene of our lives which determines our future state And should not this make us very jealous and watchful over ourselves To take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living GOD. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of GOD lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled lest after we have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ we are again entangled therein and overcome and it happen to us according to the true proverb The dog is turned to his vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire This as the same Apostle tells us makes our latter end worse than the beginning for it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us Let those consider this who have been blessed with a religious Education and trained up in the exercises of Piety and Vertue who have preserved themselves from the pollutions of youthful Lusts and spent their vigorous age in the service of God Can you be contented to lose all these hopeful beginnings to lose all your triumphs and victories over the World and the Flesh When you have out-rid all the storms and hurricanes of a tempting World for so many Years will you suffer yourselves to be shipwracked in the Haven When you are come within view of the promised Land will you suffer your hearts then to fail you will you then murmur and rebel against God and die in the Wilderness There has been a very warm Dispute about the Perseverance of Saints Whether those who are once in a state of Grace shall always continue so I will not undertake
as the Iews did when they crucified him which is as much crucifying him again and exposing him to publick shame and infamy as they can possibly do But now this Description can relate only to total Apostates for whatever sins professed Christians are guilty of though thereby they reproach their Lord and Saviour yet they do not declare him to be an Impostor who justly suffered on the Cross and whom they would condemn to the same ignominious Death again if they could nay those who are conquered by some powerful and surprizing fears to deny Christ as Peter did or to offer Sacrifice to Idols as many Christians did under the Heathen Persecutions and recover themselves again by Repentance are not included in this severe Sentence for such Men do really believe in Christ still do not heartily renounce their Baptismal Faith and therefore do not lose their Baptism though in word and deed at present they deny Christ the case of such Men is very dangerous for our Saviour tells us Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven 10 Mat. 33. Those who through fear of Men persist in such a denial shall not be saved by a secret and dissembled Faith for we must not only believe in Christ but we must openly profess our Faith in him but such Men may be recovered by Repentance and by a bold Confession of Christ in new Dangers and Temptations these are lapsed Christians but not Apostates as Iulian was who hated the Name and Religion of Christ and therefore they were admitted to Repentance in the Christian Church as not having lost their Baptismal Faith though through fear they denied it 3. Of these total Apostates the Apostle tells us That it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom renders it to make them new Creatures again by Baptismal Repentance for so he tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that to be renewed is to be made new which can be done only by Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptism only can make us new Creatures The danger then of these Mens case as the Apostle represents it is this That they having totally Apostatized from the Faith of Christ together with their Faith have lost their Baptism and are become Iews and Pagans again now Iews and Pagans can never be made Christians without Baptism wherein they are regenerated and new made and by the same reason these Apostatized Christians who are become Iews and Pagans can never become Christians again unless they be rebaptized and that they cannot be because there is but one Baptism in the Christian Church and therefore though we could suppose that they should believe again and repent of their sins they could never recover a legal Right and Title to Mercy and the Promises of the Gospel-Covenant Faith and Repentance will not justifie a Heathen without Baptism for he that believes and is baptized shall be saved are the express terms of the Covenant and therefore the condition of Apostates is very hopeless who are relapsed into such a state that nothing but Baptismal Grace and Regeneration nothing but being new made and new born can save them and that they cannot have for they must not be baptized again A Christian must be but once born no more than a Man is which possibly is the reason why St. Peter tells us of such Apostates That their later end is worse with them than their beginning 2 Pet. 2. 20. for Iews and Heathens how wicked soever they were might wash away all their sins in Baptism but such Apostates are like a sow that was washed that returns again to her wallowing in the mire When they had washed away their Sins and Infidelity in Baptism they return to their forsaken Paganism again and lose the effect of their first Washing and there is no second Baptismal Washing to be had The Apostle does not say that it is impossible these Men should be saved but it is impossible they should be regenerated again by Baptism which is the only Gospel-state of Salvation If any such Men be saved they must be saved as I observed before by Uncovenanted Grace and Mercy they are in the state of Unbaptized Iews and Heathens not of Christians who have a Covenant-right to God's Promises and I would desire the baptized Atheists and Infidels of our Age to consider of this whose case is so very like this if it be not the same that it should make them afraid of setting up for Wits at such infinite peril of their Souls To apply this then to our present purpose What I have now discoursed plainly shews that a baptized Christian must not always expect to be saved by such Grace as saves and justifies in Baptism Baptismal Grace is inseparably annexed to Baptism and can be no more repeated than Baptism This makes the case of Apostates so desparate that Infidelity can be washed away only in Baptism and those who Apostatize after Baptism can never be rebaptized again and therefore can never have any Covenant-title to Pardon and Forgiveness And this proportionably holds good in our present case the Grace of Baptism washes away all the Sins of our past lives how many how great soever they have been only upon our profession of our Faith in Christ and Repentance of all our Sins and Vows of Obedience to the Laws of Christ for the future but whoever after Baptism lives a wicked and profligate life and hopes to be saved at last only by Faith in Christ and sorrow for his Sins and vows of living better when he is just a dying will be miserably mistaken for this is onely the Grace of Baptism which can never be repeated not the rule and measure whereby God will judge baptized Christians who have had time and opportunity of exercising those Christian Graces which they vowed at their Baptism A Man who retains the Faith of Christ though he lives wickedly does not forfeit his Baptism but shall be forgiven whenever he repents and forsakes his sins and lives a holy life but if he delays this so long that he has no time to amend his life that he can do nothing but be sorry for his sins and vow a new life I cannot promise him that this shall be accepted at the hour of death because the Gospel requires a Holy Life not meerly a Death-bed sorrow and remorse for Sin Sorrow for Sin and Vows of a new Life will be accepted at Baptism as the beginnings of a new Life but that is no reason why they should be accepted at our Death when they are only the forrowful conclusion of a wicked Life God will receive us to Grace and Mercy at Baptism upon our solemn Vows of living to him but he has no where promised to accept of our dying Vows instead of Holiness and Obedience as a recompence for a whole
life spent in Wickedness and Folly It is very seldom that such dying Sorrows or dying Vows are sincere and hearty but were they never so sincere as sometimes though very rarely we see that Men who recover from a dangerous Sickness keep the vows and promises they then made and that is a good proof that they were very sincere in making them yet I do not know any one promise in Scripture to a dying Repentance the Gospel requires actual holiness of life and when God cuts off such Men in their sins without allowing them any time to reform their lives it is very suspicious that he rejects their sorrows and their vows as Wisdom threatens 1 Prov. 24 c. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me I will not pre-judge the final state of these Men but if God accept of such a Death-bed Repentance which cannot produce the actual Fruits of Righteousness it is more than he has promised and more than he has given us authority to preach and we should consider what infinite hazard we run by such delays of Repentance that we cannot be saved by the express terms of the Gospel but if we be saved we must be saved by an unpromised and uncovenanted Grace and Mercy which how good soever God be we have no reason to rely on This I know will be thought very severe but I cannot help it it may terrify dying Sinners but there is less danger in that than in nursing Men up in the deluding hopes of a Death-bed Repentance which renders all the arguments and motives to a holy Life ineffectual and I fear eternally destroys as many as trust in it If you ask why Faith and Repentance without the actual obedience of our Lives should not as well be accepted by God on our Death-bed as it is at our Baptism I shall ask another very plain question Why a Husbandman who hires Labourers into his Vineyard in the morning receives them into his service protection and pay only upon their promise to be faithful and diligent in his work before they have done any thing I say when these Men have loitered away the day without working why should not he reward them at night because they then also profess themselves very sorry that they did not work and make a great many promises and vows that if they were to begin the day again they would A promise of faithfulness and diligence was reason enough why he should take them into his service but their sorrow for not working and their resolutions of working when the time of working is past is no reason why they should be rewarded or escape the punishment of Loiterers This is the very case here we are saved by the Mercies of God and the Merits of Christ which we partake of by our union to him this union is made in Baptism which incorporates us into the Body of Christ and from the very first moment of our union we are in a state of Grace and Justification our sins are washed away in his Blood as Water purges all bodily defilements and the Spirit of Christ dwells in us to renew and sanctify us now all that is required by God or that seems in the nature of the thing necessary to this Union is a general Repentance of all our Sins renouncing our former wicked course of Life professing our Faith in Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the World and vowing Obedience to his Laws for this qualifies us to be his Disciples and to be received into his Service and into the Communion of his Body and Church and therefore this Faith and Repentance justifies in Baptism because those who thus repent of their Sins and believe in Christ are received to Baptism and in Baptism have all their Sins forgiven and are put into a state of Grace and Favour with God. But now though Faith and Repentance and the Vows of Obedience are sufficient to make us the Disciples of Christ and to put us into a state of Justification yet they are not sufficient to save those who are the Disciples of Christ without actual Holiness and Obedience of Life for to be a Disciple of Christ does not signifie meerly to believe in him and to vow obedience to him but to obey him it is reasonable â—nough that upon our Vows of Obedience we should be received into his service but it is not reasonable that we should be rewarded without performing our Vows for it is as ridiculous a thing to think that our repeated sorows for not obeying and our repeated and fruitless resolutions of obeying our Saviour should pass for Obedience as that that Son should be thought to do his Father's will who said I go Sir but went not especially when after our Vow of Baptism we live a very ungodly life and never think it time to repent and to renew our Vows again till we come to die If we consider the difference between what is necessary to make us the Disciples of Christ and what is required of us when we are Disciples we shall see a plain reason why Faith and Repentance as that signifies sorrow for sin and Vows of Obedience will justifie us in Baptism but will not be accepted upon a Death-bed after a life spent in wickedness for when a baptized Christian comes to die he is not then to be made a Disciple of Christ and to be baptized again but to give an account of his life since he has been Christ's Disciple and meer Faith in Christ sorrow for Sin and vows of Obedience without actual Holiness of Life though with the Sacrament of Baptism it will make a Disciple yet it will not pass in a Disciple's account especially when the sum total of his Life is nothing but sin and sorrow and fruitless vows for this is not that holiness of life which Christ requires of his Disciples The ancient Discipline of the Church was a plain proof of this that they thought a great deal more necessary for a baptized Christian than was required to qualifie Men for Baptism In the Apostles days they baptized both Iews and Heathens immediately upon their profession of Faith in Christ and renouncing their former wicked lives but in case they fell into any gross and scandalous sin after Baptism they were cast out of the Communion of the Church and the profession of sorrow and repentance for their sins and the most solemn vows of a new life was not thought sufficient to restore them to the Peace of the Church but they were kept under the severities of Repentance till they had made satisfaction for the Scandal they had given to the Church and given sufficient testimonies of the actual reformation of their Lives and in the Ages succeeding the
lived very ungodly Lives and are now awakened by the approaches of Death to see an angry and provoked Judge an injured Saviour a righteous Tribunal and think they hear that fatal Doom and Sentence pronounced on them by their own Consciences Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels 3. Those who are doubtful of their own condition and are apt to fear the worst 1. As for the first sort of these Men who have sincerely endeavour'd to please GOD and have the testimony of their Consciences that in simplicity and godly sincerity they have had their conversation in this World Christ has delivered them from all their fears by his death upon the Cross and his Intercession for them at the right hand of God The best Men dare not stand the trial of strict and impartial Justice they are conscious to themselves of so many sins or such great imperfections and defects that their onely hope is in the Mercy of GOD thro' the Merits and Mediation of CHRIST and in this hope they can triumph over Death as St. Paul does O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to GOD who hath given us the victory by our Lord Iesus Christ who destroyed Sin and plucked out the sting of Death by his Death upon the Cross who triumphed over Death by his Resurrection from the Dead and is invested with Power to raise all his true Disciples from the Dead Is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto GOD by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them This is the happy state of good Men when they come to die they can look into the other World without terrour where they see not a Court of Justice but a Throne of Grace where they see a Father not a Judge a Saviour who died for them and has redeemed them with his own Blood What a blessed Calm and Serenity possesses their Souls nay what Joy and Triumph transports them How do their souls magnifie the Lord and their spirits rejoyce in GOD their Saviour when they see him ready to pronounce them blessed and to set the Crown upon their heads Who would not die the death of the righteous and desire that his latter end may be like his What wise Man would not live the life of the Righteous that his latter end may be like his that in the agonies of Death and in the very jaws of the Grave no disturbed thoughts may discompose him no guilty fears distract him but he may go out of the World with all the joyful presages of eternal Rest and Peace 2. As for wicked Men who never concerned themselves with the thoughts of God and another World while they were in health many times a dangerous Sickness which gives them a nearer view of Death and Judgment awakens their Consciences and overwhelms them with the unsupportable terrors of future Vengeance then they begin to lament their ill-spent lives to tremble before that just and righteous Judge whom they have provoked by repeated Villanies whose Being they formerly denied or whose Power and Justice they desied now they cry passionately to Christ for Mercy and will needs have him to be their Saviour though they would not own him for their Lord nor submit to his Laws and Government now these Men are mighty earnest for comfort the Minister who was the subject of their Drollery before is sent for in great hast and it is expected from him that he should lull their Consciences asleep and send them quietly into another World to receive their doom there Now it is very fitting to let these Men know while they are well that there is no comfort to be had when they come to die For there is no peace saith my GOD to the wicked and no Man who knows them can speak Peace to them without making a new Gospel or corrupting the old one What I have already discourst concerning a Death-bed Repentance is a plain proof of this but though we set aside all that and proceed upon the common principle That a true Penitent whenever he sincerely repents thô it be upon his Death-bed after a long life of wickedness shall be pardoned and rewarded by God yet upon these principles it is impossible that a wicked Man when he comes to die should have any Comfort without a vain and Enthusiastick Presumption and the reason is very plain because it is impossible either for himself or others to judge whether his Repentance be true and sincere such a Repentance as if he were to live longer would reform his Life and bring forth the fruits of an universal Righteousness and it is agreed on all hands that no other Repentance but this can be accepted by God. Now it is absolutely impossible without a Revelation for any Man to know this who begins his Repentance upon a Death-bed he may feel indeed the bitter pangs and agonies of Sorrow and may be sincerely and heartily sorry that he has sinned And this every dying Sinner is who is sorrowful he is sincerely sorrowful that is he does not counterfeit a Sorrow but really feels it and I know nothing else to make Sorrow sincere but that it is real and not counterfeited and therefore to be sorrowful and to be sincerely sorrowful is the same thing And will any Man say that whoever is sorry for his sins when he comes to die shall be saved Then no Sinner can be damned who does not die an Atheist or stupid and distracted or suddenly without any warning for it is impossible for a Sinner who is in his wits and believes that wicked Men shall be eternally punished in the next World not to feel an amazing remorse and sorrow of mind when he sees himself just a falling into Hell. A dying Sorrow then though it may be sharp and severe almost to the degree of Amazement and Distraction and it is hard if such a Sorrow be not real and sincere is not saving Repentance and therefore though Sinners may feel themselves very heartily sorrowful this does not prove them to be true Penitents and yet this is the only evidence they can have of their Repentance and the only thing they rely on that they are sure their Sorrow is very sincere and I doubt not but it is for all true Sorrow is sincere but Sinners who are very sorry for their sins may be damned Since then sorrow for Sin is the onely evidence such Men can have of the sincerity of their Repentance let us consider whether the meer dying sorrows of Sinners be any evidence at all of this or what kind of evidence it is True Repentance does at least include a change of Mind a turning from our sins to God a deep sence of the evil of Sin and an abhorrance of ourselves for it a great reverence for God and for his Laws as
well as a dread of his Judgements and deliberate and serious resolutions of changing our course of Life and for the time to come of living to God and to the purposes of his Glory never to return to our old Sins again but diligently to exercise ourselves in all the Duties and Offices of a Christian Life Now suppose a Man who has lived wickedly all his life should be thus changed in a moment and prove such a true Penitent as I have now described and that God who knows the hearts of Men sees that his promises and vows are sincere and that if he were to live any longer he would be a good Man and therefore will pardon and reward him not according to what he has done but according to what he foresees he would have done had he lived any longer which is to judge Men not according to their Works but according to his own Fore-knowledge which the Scripture never makes the Rule of future Judgment I say suppose such Men may be true Penitents and pardoned by God who knows that they are so yet they can never have the comfort of it before they die because it is impossible for them to know it When Men see themselves a dying they are very sorrowful for their sins so they say but the most likely account of it is That they are very sorry they are a going to Hell as a Malefactor is very sorrowful when he is going to the Gibbet This may be the whole of his Sorrow and it is impossible to prove that there should be any thing more in it and extreamly improbable that there is for what likelihood is there that Men who yesterday were very much in love with their sins and as little thought of falling out with them as they did of their dying day should to day as soon as ever they are arrested with a threatning Sickness be Penitents in good earnest and abhor their Sins in a minute and be quite other Men upon the view of the other World This is the case of all Sinners when they come to die which makes it very suspicious that there is nothing extraordinary in it no miraculous power of the divine Spirit to change their hearts in a moment and make them new Men but only the common effect of a great Fear which makes Men sorry for their sins when they come to suffer for them Now if such dying Sinners can never be sure that their sorrow for Sin is any thing more than a great Fright they can be sure of nothing else for such a sorrow as this will counterfeit all the other acts of Repentance Men who are terribly afraid of Punishment are not only sorry for their Sins but this very sorrow makes them ashamed of them gives them a great indignation against themselves for them makes them flatter their Judge and vow and promise reformation if they could escape this one time and this is so very common and familiar that in all other cases no Man regards it a Judge a Father or a Master will not spare upon such promises as these and why should this be thought any thing more in a dying Sinner than in other Malefactors Why should that be thought a sufficient reason for God to pardon which we ourselves think no reason in all other cases All this may be no more than the fear of Hell and I doubt the meer fear of Hell when Men are a dying tho' it may imitate all the scenes of Repentance will not keep them out of Hell. It is so very probable that this is the whole of a Death-bed Repentance that no such dying Sinner can have any reasonable hope that he does truly repent and therefore unless he flatters himself when he dies with a false and counterfeit Repentance as he did while he lived with the hopes of repenting before he died he must expire in all the terrors and agonies of guilty Fears This is so miserable a condition that tho' we should suppose such a Sinner may be a true Penitent and go to Heaven at last yet no wise Man would endure these dying Agonies for all the false and deceitful Pleasures of Sin and yet there is no possible way of avoiding this but by such a timely Repentance while we are well and Death at a distance as may bring forth the actual fruits of Holiness that when we come to die we may have some better evidence of the sincerity of our Repentance than meer dying sorrows 3. Let us now consider the Case of those who are doubtful what their condition is who are neither so good as to be out of all danger and fear nor so bad as to be out of hope and I need not tell any Man that this is a state between Hope and Fear which is a very uneasie state when eternal Happiness or Misery is the matter of the doubt This is the case of those Men who after all their good resolution are ever and anon conquered by temptations who as soon as their tears are dried up for their last fall fall again and then lament their sins and resolve again and while they are thus interchangeably sinning repenting and resolving before they have got a lasting Victory or are arrived to a steady Vertue are summon'd by Death to Judgement or those who have a reverence for God but are not so constant and frequent in their Devotions or if they abstain from gross and scandalous Vices yet they have not a due government of their Passions or do very little good in the World c. Here is such a mixture of Good and Evil that it is hard to know which is predominant while such Men are in health they are very uneasie and know not what to judge of themselves but they fall into much greater perplexities when they are alarm'd with the near aproaches of Death and Judgment And what a deplorable state is this when we are a dying to be uncertain and anxious what will become of us to Eternity Now there is no possible way to prevent these fears when we come to die but by giving all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure by living such holy and innocent Lives that our Consciences may not condemn us and then we shall have confidence towards God. But this is such a remedy as few of these Men like they would be glad to be sure of Heaven but yet would go as near Hell as they can without danger of falling into it they will serve God but must reserve a little favour and indulgence to their Lusts though they dare not take full draughts of sensual Pleasures yet they must be sipping now and then as often as they can pacifie their Consciences and get rid of the Fear of God and of another World and therefore they are very inquisitive after other Cures for an accusing and condemning Conscience are mighty fond of such marks and signs of Grace as will secure them of Heaven without the severities of Mortification