us VVhat Plots and Descents has he detected and defeated How has he baffled the profoundest Policy of the subtilest Achitophel and made him prove according to his name in Hebrew no better than the Brother or Cousin-Germain to a Fool Oh then let us praise our God according to his excellent Greatness and being wonderfully delivered from the hands of our Enemies let us serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life This God of his infinite Mercy grant for the merits of his dearest Son c. SERMON XII Preached November 27. 1692. the Sunday before the Author died Heb. ii 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation SAint Paul in the former Chap. displays the excellent Glory and Majesty of our Saviour He styles him ver 2. the Son of God the Heir of all things and Maker of the Worlds He tells us us farther ver 3. that He is the brightness of his Fathers Glory the express Image of his Person and the upholder of all things In the following part of the Chapter he shews how far Christ transcends all the Holy Angels These he says are but Servants and Ministring Spirits but Christ he is the Eternal and only begotten Son of God These are all commanded to fall down and worship Christ but He has á Throne a Scepter a Scepter of Righteousness yea the Scepter of his own Heavenly Kingdom Thus great thus glorious a Person is Christ Heaven it self has nothing greater and yet as great as glorious as He is his Father thought fit to employ him in the work of Mans Salvation O the wonderful Condescentions of Heaven We may be sure God is most willing to save poor Sinners seeing he sends to them and that his own Son to beseech and entreat them to accept of Salvation Hence is that of St. Paul in the beginning of this Epistle God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Had God spoken to us by the meanest of his Prophets it had been strange and wonderful Condescension but that he should send his own Son to preach the Gospel and intreat Rebel sinners to be reconciled to Heaven and accept of Eternal Happiness this is such an instance of stupendious Love and Mercy as does as much exceed our imaginations as it does our Deserts St. Paul having thus dispiayed the Excellent Majesty of Christ and the infinite Riches of Gods Free Grace and Mercy in that he sent his Eternal Son to be the first Preacher of the Gospel and tender Salvation to lost and undone sinners he begins the 2d Chapter with a serious and passionate Admonition We therefore saith he ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip If God had conveyed the Gospel to Christians as he did the Law unto the Jews by the Ministry of Angels we could not have slighted it without gross ingratitude and our Disobedience as we are told ver 2. would have received a just recompence of reward Of how much sorer punishment shall we now he thought worthy seeing the Eternal Son of God condescended to be of the Order of Predicants seeing Christ Jesus himself vouchsafed to be the first Preacher of the Gospel how should we then honour and value this Gospel What earnest heed should we give to the things contained in it or preached from it Whatever Admonitions Exhortations or Reproofs Ministers give us out of these Sacred Oracles should not be look'd upon as the Words of frail Men but as they are in truth the Words of God and Christ. Christians therefore will be most inexcusable They of all men will deserve the severest Punishments if they shall neglect so great Salvation And because the danger is thus great our Apostle is the more earnest and passionate in his Exhortation He employs all his Divine Rhetorick to make Christians sensible of their greater Priviledge and consequently of their greater Obligations to obey the Gospel How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Having by this short Preface led you into the very Bowels of the Text I shall fetch from thence these Three Observations First That the Salvation which is published by the Gospel is exceeding great Secondly That those Christians which neglect this great Salvation must expect the severest Punishments in Hell Thirdly That Ministers may very well be allowed to be mighty earnest and passionate in their Exhortations of Obedience to the Gospel First I begin with the first of these namely to shew you that the Salvation which is published by the Gospel is exceeding great It is called Great Salvation in the Text yea the Apostle puts an Emphasis upon it and calls it So great Salvation Learned Men render it Eximiam ut mire magnam salutem i. e. Most admirable and most excellent Salvation And it will appear at large to be so from these following Considerations 1st The greatness of this Salvation will appear if we consider the greatness of the Price that was paid for it The worth and excellency of a thing is usually measur'd by the greatness of its price Now how great was that price which was paid for this Salvation St. Peter tells us we were not redeemed with such corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of the Son of God Had we offer'd a thousand Rams and ten thousand Rivers of Oil Had we given the fruit of our Bodies for the sin of our Souls yea had it been possible for us to have sacrificed whole Hecatombs of Angels to the Justice of Heaven they would not all have been sufficient to atone for our Sins and purchase this Salvation Nothing could purchase it but the Blood of Iesus and that not only as he was Man but as he was God too Hence we are said expresly to be purchas'd with the Blood of God Act. 20. 28. We see an Infinite price was paid Heaven to purchase this Salvation And therefore we may well allow the Apostles Emphasis of so great Salvation 2ly The greatness of this Salvation will yet further appear if we consider the greatness of those evils it delivers us from It is an excellent saying of Seneca Lenocinium est gaudii antecedens metus the greatness of the danger uses to commend and inhance the greatness of the deliverance Now how great was the danger we were in how great those Evils we were exposed to The Prophet Esay gives us a most Tragical Description of the Infernal Tophet which was to be the Portion of the Rebellious Sinner Chap. 30. 31. Tophet saith he is prepared of old the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood and the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it continually See how each word is arm'd with Terror It seems there is an eternal Tophet prepared for all
remember such Texts of Scripture as these Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1. Thess. 5. 21. Take heed lest ye being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness 2. Pet. 3. 17. Nay St. Iude carries the duty one step higher and tells us we must contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Ministers must contend by their Tongues and Pens Magistrates and Gentry by their Power Interest and Authority and private Christians by their Prayers and open Profession of it And if St. Iude would have the Primitive Christians not barely own but even contend and that earnestly for the faith when they groaned under the heavy Persecutions of Pagan Emperours sure we have little reason to be afraid to do so who live under the Protection of a most gracious King And since these things are so I hope I shall need no more than these two Motives to back the Exhortation and to enforce the Duty 1. Let us consider The great happiness of such as continue stedfast in the Faith of Christ and Doctrine of the Apostles 2. The lamentable condition of those that shall dare to disown it 1. Let us consider the great Happiness of such as continue stedfast in the Faith of Christ and Doctrine of the Apostles As the Church of Christ is that Golden Candlestick which holds forth the light of the Gospel so it is the Treasurer of all the Riches of Heaven for to it belong the Adoption and the Glory to it appertain the Covenants the Service of God and all the Promises Here we may enjoy all the Ordinances of God and satisfie our Souls with the marrow and fatness of his Sanctuary Yea if we will believe our Apostle in the Verses following my Text every Christian does now grow into an holy Temple in the Lord he becomes an habitation where God vouchsafes to dwell and manifest his special Presence by the saving Operations of his Holy Spirit Happy Souls who have the Honour and the Privilege to lodge and entertain their God! What Joys and Comforts will now crowd into the Soul and attend this glorious Guest And yet all this is only a preparatory for much greater Happiness For these happy Believers as our Apostle speaks are now become fellow citizens with the Saints such are here of the houshold of God and if they make a just improvement of that Grace which is afforded them they shall hereafter be admitted into the Society and Fellowship of Saints and Angels And what Tongue is able to express this Happiness How great an Honour how great a Priviledge was it thought of Old to be a free Citizen of Rome and to have a right to all the Offices and Franchises of that Imperial City So highly valuable was this Freedom that the chief Captain in the Acts tells us he did not obtain it but with a great sum of Mony To these Priviledges S. Paul alludes when he tells the Ephesians and in them all Christians that if they are of the houshold of God and built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets then they are fellow citizens with the Saints that is Denizons of Heaven and free of that City which is above even the heavenly Ierusalem Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God St. Paul tells us Heb. 12. That here dwell an innumerable company of glorious Angels the general Assembly of the First-born That is the Holy Apostles the First-born of the Gospel the Spirits of Prophets Martyrs Confessors and all those just men that are already made perfect Nay farther yet here God the Judge of all vouchsales his glorious Presence and Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant appears in all his Glory To be Citizens therefore of this Heavenly Ierusalem is to enjoy the most ravishing Society of Saints and Angels to be admitted to the Beatifick Vision of God himself and to live for ever in Paradise with the Holy Jesus It is to lye with Lazarus in Abrahams bosom feeding continually on the feast of the Lamb and drinking of those Rivers of pleasures which ran at Gods right hand for evermore This one would think should be argument enough to make us hold fast the profession of our Faith stedfast unto the end But if all this will not prevail with us I know nothing that can unless it be what I proposed to be considered in the 2d place Namely the Lamentable condition of those who dare disown and deny the Truths of the Gospel And I cannot give you a truer prospect of their sad condition than in the words of our Saviour Mat. 10. 33. Whosoever shall deny me or be ashamed of my words before men him will I deny before my Father and his holy Angels How many Woes are crowded into this one sentence I will deny him It is to say no more a compendious expression of Hell an Eternity of torments comprized in a word Oh the ineffable horror that will seize the poor Sinner when he stands arraign'd before the Tribunal of Heaven When at the great Assize at the last day he shall see his very Advocate become his Accufer and hear his Sentence pronounced by his merciful Saviour the very hearing of it will be a kind of Hell and the Promulgation of the Punishment anticipate the Execution And now if I could give you a lively representation of the guilt and horror on the one hand and paint out eternal Wrath and Vengeance on the other I might then hope to shew you the condition of such a Sinner as shall be thus disowned and denied by his Saviour But alas this is not all we shall find more ingredients of horror in this Condemnation if we consider that Christ threatens to deny such a Sinner before his Father and the Holy Angels If there could be any room for comfort after the Sentence of Damnation it would be this of being executed in secret But it seems the Sinners folly must be laid open before God and his Holy Angels and all his baseness ript up before the whole World Christ will now in the presence of God the Father of Men and of Angels compare himself who was denied and the Cause for which he was denied together he will now parallel his infinite Merits with a Lust and lay Eternity in the ballance with a Trifle he will now propose that worthy price for which he was denied he will hold it up to open view he will call upon Men and Angels saying Behold that piece of dirt that windy applause that corruptible dower that poor transitory satisfaction for which I was dishonoured and my Truths disowned for which Life Eternity and God himself was scorned yea trampled on by this vile wretched Sinner Judge all the World whether what he despised in the other Life he deserves to enjoy in this How will the vile wretched Sinner then crawl forth and appear in all his filth He will then call in vain upon the
come now Fourthly In the fourth place to shew you what Reasons and Encouragements we have to endeavour after the highest degrees of Grace And 1st Our serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Grace will be an excellent means to preserve that saving growth in Grace the pious Christian has already attain'd to There is a dangerous Opinion in the World that a man cannot totally and finally fall away from Grace According to these mens sentiments he that is once sincerely Righteous will infallibly hold on and persevere unto the end Now if this Opinion were true this exhortation would be vain But certainly nothing can be more contrary to the plain Doctrine of the Scripture Hear what St. Peter saith Chap. 1. of this Epistle vers 10. Give all dilligence saith he to make your Calling and Election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall You see he puts an if in the case such as fairly implies that we may neglect our Duty and fall from our own stedfastness For the same reason St. Paul gives this necessary Caution Rom. 11. 20. c. Be not high-minded but fear for if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fall severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off But a fuller confutation of this dangerous Opinion we cannot desire than what may be gathered from the words of the Prophet Ezek. 18. 24. VVhen the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live saith the Lord No All his 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 Thus plain it is that a Christian may fall away from that saving state of Grace he has attained to And what I pray is more likely to secure his steadfastness than serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Holiness Our Apostle it seems thought so for having in the foregoing Verse given this necessary Caution Beware Brethren lest you fall from your own steadfastness he presently subjoins in the Text as the properest means to secure them from falling but grow in Grace It is the same in spiritual growths that it is in naturals For as a man by eating and drinking and other natural Actions preserves his natural Life so the Christian by serious endeavours after higher degrees of Holiness preserves his spiritual Life The Musician screws up his Peg to an higher pitch that he may be sure it will not fall lower than the true Note Even so the higher degrees of Perfection we aspire to the less danger shall we be in of falling lower than what is absolutely necessary And this certainly is sufficient encouragement to continue these our serious endeavours 2ly These serious endeavours after a further growth in Grace than what is absolutely necessary to Salvation will give the pious Christian a more comfortable assurance of Eternal Happiness It is no doubt a kind of Heaven upon Earth to be assured of Heaven whilst we are here upon Earth This is that hidden Manna mentioned in the Revelations which fills the Soul with all variety of Delights Now nothing besides a particular Revelation from Heaven can be more likely to create this full assurance in the Soul than these Heroick attainments of Grace and Vertue Grace is that Seal of the Spirit by which we are marked and sealed unto the day of Redemption And certainly the brighter and more evident that Grace is the more evident will it be to our own selves and the fuller our assurance of Heaven and Eternal Happiness Many good Christians are in a safe condition and yet their condition is not so comfortable by reason of those fears and doubtings which do often accompany these lower degrees of Grace But the more we abound in good Works and the more eminently our Graces shine the more comfortable will our Assurance be and the clearer our Title to Heaven and Eternal Happiness Read St. Paul's 11 Chap. to the Hebrews where he sets down a large Calendar of God's eminent Saints such as advanc't into the highest form of Piety and Vertue and you 'l find their Faith as great as was their growth in Grace and their assurance of Heaven bearing a just proportion to their improvements in Holiness For St. Paul describing their Faith ver 1. calls it the substance or subsistence of things hoped for the evidence or clear demonstration of things not seen 3ly These serious endeavours after the highest degrees of Grace as they will secure our Title to Heaven and give us a more comfortable assurance of it for the present so they will hereafter advance us to higher degrees of Glory in Heaven We know there are different degrees of Glory in Heaven even as one Star differeth from another Star in Glory so also saith St. Paul shall be the Resurrection of the Iust As St. Austin speaks Splendor dispar Caelum commune the Saints shall dwell together in the same Heaven but yet like Stars they shall shine with different Rays of Glory Now these higher degrees of Glory will be conferred on such who arrived at higher degrees of Grace Hence when our Saviour tells his Disciples John 14. 2. In my Fathers House are many Mansions Tertullian remarks thus upon the place Quomodo multae Mansiones si non pro varietate Meritorum Wherefore saith he should our Saviour mention many Mansions in his Fathers House if there were not several Rooms of different Size and Glory provided for his Saints according to the variety of their deserts Indeed Heaven has room enough to lodge all the Godly but as in other Magnificent Palaces so in this of Heaven there are higher and lower larger and lesser Mansions in which God's Saints shall be disposed of according to those Services they have performed upon Earth Their Rewards hereafter shall be answerable to their Obedience here See then what incouragement there is to endeavour after the highest degrees of Glory These it seems will create an Heaven in our Souls whilst we live here on Earth These will at our Deaths carry our Souls as high as Heaven nay which is more they will lodge them in the best Mansions there Hence is that of our Apostle Chap. 1. 11. If these things be in you and abound then shall an entrance be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Having therefore these Promises Dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord. Let us go from Strength to Strength and grow from one degree of Grace unto another until we appear before our God in Sion I shall conclude all with St. Pauls Exhortation
to dye sooner being prest with Arguments on both sides If I consult my self and my own good it is doubtless better for me to dye and enter presently into Happiness But then if I consult your Convenience it were better I should live longer in the World to be serviceable unto your Edification Now I think it is evident that if the Apostle could have supposed that his Soul should have slept after death and not presently have enter'd into the fruition of Bliss there could have been no strait in the case nor any dispute but that it was better to live still in the World to continue in the Comforts of a good Conscience and of doing good to others rather than to be in a constant sleep or in a sensless state of stupidity and inactivity From all which Places of Scripture it is most plain that the Souls of good Men do not sleep after their separation from the Body as some among us fancy but are immediately received into Bliss as Lazarus was into Abrahams Bosom and the Thief here in the Text into Paradise Vse And we learn from hence the Reason why the Primitive Christians did celebrate their Funerals with Joy and Feasting We use to rejoyce at the Happiness of our Friends in this World and they much more at their happiness in a better They did not therefore as we do now hang their Houses and Churches with Mourning but as Prudentius tells us with White the Emblem of Ioy For they looked upon the day of their Deaths as their Birth-day to an Eternal life and their going out of this World as an entrance upon the incomprehensible Happiness of a better And indeed we shall find they had Cause enough to rejoyce if we consider the greatness of the Happiness they were possess'd of and this I told you was exprest in the Text by these two things 1st They shall be with Christ. 2dly They shall be in Paradise 1st The Godly after death are said to be with Christ. Now how great is the Happiness which lies couched in these Words We cannot be with Christ but we must be with all the Saints and Angels of Heaven Nay farther we must enjoy the sweet and ravishing Communion of all the Persons of the Ever Blessed Trinity And sure such Company cannot but enhaunce the happiness of Heaven Society is ordinarily styled Sal vitae the Salt of Life without this the Life of Man would be most unsavoury and unpleasant We know God said at the Creation of the World It is not good for Man to be alone It seems Paradise it self would have been a Valley of Bacha little less than a Comfortless Solitude without the refreshments of Society That therefore nothing may be wanting to compleat the happiness of the Paradise above St. Paul Heb. 12. 22. gives us a large Catalogue of that Glorious Company we shall converse with in Heaven We shall come saith he to the General Assembly of the First born to the Spirits of Iust Men made Perfect to an innumerable Company of Angels and to God the Iudge of all and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant From which place it is most plain that we cannot be with Christ but we must also be with God with Angels and with the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Now such Glorious Company cannot but make the Happiness of Paradise exceeding great as will appear more at large by considering in particular what it is to be First With all the Saints of Heaven Secondly What it is to be with the Angels And Thirdly What it is to be with God and Christ. 1st Let us enquire what it is to be with all the Saints of Heaven and how the happiness of Paradise is inhaunced by such Glorious Company It is the unhappiness of the Godly here below that with Daniel they are forced sometimes to dwell in the same Den with Lions or else converse as St. Paul did at Ephesus with Men that did more truly deserve the name of Beasts How was righteous Lot vexed daily with the filthy Conversation of the Sodomites How does David mourn that he was forced to dwell in Mesech and sojourn in the Tents of Kedar The good Man whilst he lives in this World has his Eyes daily bloodshot with Murders his Ears unhallowed with Oaths and Blasphemies his Nostrils offended with the Drunkards Vomits and his Memory made too often the Cabinet of vain frothy or obscene Discourses so that with good Lucullus in Tully he frequently desires his Memory were worse or that he could learn the Art of Oblivion But in Heaven the Godly shall be free from all such vile and troublesom Company Here there will be no Murderers no Whoremongers no Drunkards no Dogs to molest them Rev. 22. 15. In the Heavenly Canaan there will be no Canaanites to be pricks in their Eyes and Thorns in their Sides But they shall converse for ever with all the Saints of Heaven and live in the general Assembly of the First-born Now what it is thus to live with all the Saints of Heaven I shall shew you more distinctly in these following Particulars 1st The Godly shall know all the Blessed Saints that are in Heaven It is a wonder it should be disputed by any Divines whether the Saints in Glory shall know one another But sure there can be little comfort in Society where there is not a particular Knowledge and a familiar Acquaintance St. Austin therefore tells us In Caelo a singulis omnes ab omnibus singuli cognoscentur In Heaven saith he all Men shall be known of every Man and every Man shall be known of all Men. It is reported of Luther that being reasonable well the night before he died he sate at Table with his Friends and the matter of their Discourse hapned to be Whether they should know one another in Heaven Whether the Father should know his Child a Husband his Wife and a Friend his Friend Luther resolv'd the point in the Affirmative and gave this Reason among others for it Adam saith he knew Eve as soon as he saw her and be sure our Knowledge in the Heavenly Paradise shall be much greater than his was in the Earthly Paradise none will be stranggers there but every Glorified Saint shall know all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all the Servants of God We find Mat. 17. 4. Peter Iames and Iohn who were allowed to see Christs Transfiguration knew Moses and Elias whom they had never seen before how much more shall we being fully illuminated and perfectly Glorified in Heaven know exactly all the blessed Ones tho' never acquainted with them upon Earth This therefore is one part of the Happiness of the Godly in Heaven they shall see Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of God as our Saviour speaks Luke 13. 28. They shall know all those Worthies and Heroes that have gone to Heaven before or shall come thither after them but this is not all For 2ly We
eternally to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth and admire the Lustre and Beauty of the Glorified Jesus So we are told 2 Thess. 1. 10. where it is said that when Christ shall come in the Glory of his Power he shall come to be Glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe 2ly The Godly shall be with Christ in respect of his Divinity In Heaven we shall enjoy the Glorious presence of the Divine Majesty Here we shall see God and which is more we shall see him as he is Here it is that we shall see the King of Heaven in his perfect Beauty and we shall not only see him but we shall also enjoy him and have sweet and ravishing Communion with all the persons of the ever blessed Trinity And this is that which is the very height of bliss To enjoy the Company of Saints and Angels is happiness great beyond our utmost imagination and yet they are but as little drops if compared to that Ocean of Bliss which will flow into the Soul upon the enjoyment of God himself It was a noble saying of Luthers that he had rather be in Hell with God's presence than in Heaven without it And if the presence of God be thus able to convert even Hell it self into Heaven the enjoyment of this will certainly make Heaven become what it is styled in Scripture an Heaven of Heavens This therefore is the Flower of Joy the Quintessence of Comfort the Crown of Blessedness and the very Soul of Heaven For whilst we enjoy God we must needs enjoy all things All that is good did at first flow from him and therefore is more eminently to be found in him as in its Fountain and Original All that can delight our Souls or ravish our Hearts all that is lovely and desirable are here to be found in their greatest perfections Well then might the Psalmist say Psal. 16. 11. In thy Presence there is fulness of Ioy and at thy Right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore But because so Copious so Pleasant and so edifying a Subject does deserve better than to be lightly toucht in the close of a Sermon I shall reserve the fuller handling of it till the next opportunity Thus ye see the top of our Happiness in Heaven consists in our enjoyment of the Blessed Trinity And since these things are so give me leave to exhort you to acquaint your selves with this great Mystery of the Trinity The more we know of the Trinity here the more capable shall we be of enjoying Communion with the Father Son and Holy Ghost hereafter When therefore ye go home meditate on the Lessons and other Portions of Scripture which our Church this day recommends to your serious consideration This is the way to be well acquainted with the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity and prepare your selves for the happy enjoyment of them in Heaven which God grant SERMON IX Luke xxiv 43. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise I Have formerly made some entrance upon these Words and hope now to finish them The Method I proposed was First To shew you that the Souls of the Godly are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their departure from the Body Secondly The Happiness is exceeding great for it is said here in the Text That they shall be with Christ and they shall be in Paradise First The Souls of the Godly after their departure from the Body are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness There are a sort of Men in the World they call Psycho-pannicletes who hold the Soul after its separation from the Body sleeps all the while till the general Resurrection and consequently is neither in a State of Joy or Misery But how do these men err not knowing the Scripture For here in the Text our Saviour says unto the Thief to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Paradise is a place of Joy and Bliss and to be with Christ is to be in a state of Happiness Now in such a place and in such a state was this honest Thief to be that very day I named several Texts for the clearing of this Truth but I shall only name one of them at this time which you will find Phil. 1. 21 22. I am in a strait betwixt two saith St. Paul having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you As much as if the Apostle should have said I cannot tell whether I should desire to live longer or die sooner being prest with Arguments on both sides If I consult my own good it is doubtless better for me die and enter presently into Happiness but then if I consult your convenience it were better I should live longer in the World to be serviceable to your Edification Now I think it is evident that if the Apostle could have supposed that his Soul should have slept after Death and not presently have entred into the fruition of Bliss there could have been no strait in the case nor any dispute but that it was better to live still in the World to continue in the Comforts of a good Conscience and of doing good to others rather than to be in a constant Sleep or in a sensless state of Stupidity and Inactivity From these places of Scripture it is most plain that the Souls of good Men do not sleep after Death but are immediately received into Bliss as Lazarus was into Abrahams Bosom and this honest Thief in the Text into Paradise Secondly This Happiness of the Godly is exceeding great for they are said 1st To be with Christ. And 2ly To be in Paradise 1. The Godly after Death are said to be with Christ and how great is the Happiness which lies couched in these words For we cannot be with Christ but we must be with all the Saints and with all the Angels of Heaven nay further we must enjoy the sweet and ravishing Communion of all the Persons of the ever Blessed Trinity So much may be gathered from Heb. 12. 22 23. We shall come saith St. Paul to the General Assembly of the First-Born to the Spirits of Iust Men made Perfect to an innumerable company of Angels to God the Iudge of all and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant From this place it is most plain that we cannot be with Christ but we must be with God with Angels and with the Spirits of Just Men made perfect And sure such Glorious Company cannot but make the Happiness of Paradise exceeding great 1. I shew'd you that we shall in Paradise be with all the Saints in Heaven nor shall we barely be with them but we shall know them If the Three Disciples who were admitted to Christ's Transfiguration knew Moses and Elias whom they had never seen before no doubt but we being fully illuminated and perfectly Glorified in Heaven shall know all
shall see the King of Kings in all his beauty Esay 33. 17. Indeed the Soul here below like the Spouse in the Canticles seeks her Beloved only in the dark beholds his Back-parts in the Glass of his Creatures reads a little more of him in the Holy Scripture and tastes a litle more of him in his Comfortable Ordinances yet still she sees him but darkly and through the Lattice and all is able to do no more than to make her sick of Love But hereafter we shall see God face to face and we shall know him even as we are known 1 Cor. 13. 12 We shall not then sit down content with the School-mans Negative Knowledge and be proud when we know only what God is not No we shall then have a Positive Knowledge of him and as St. Iohn phrases it see him even as he is 1 Joh. 3. 2. What strange Expressions are these How clear and how full a Knowledge of God do they import We shall no longer read of God in the Scripture or hear of him by his Ministers but we shall see him with our Eyes yea and we shall see him as he is in all that wonderful Glory which is the Light and Sun of the highest Heavens Now how much such clear Knowledge of God will increase our future happiness we may learn in some measure from the Story of the Queen of the South The Q. of Sheba heard indeed some imperfect Reports of Solomon's Wisdom in her own Country but when she came and saw his Person heard his incomparable Wisdom and had been an happy Spectator of all the Pomp and Royal Magnificence of his Court she was then sweetly astonished so that there was no more Spirit left in her Even so when the pious Soul shall come to the Court of Heaven and there see God as he is cloathed with Majesty and Honour infinitely beyond and above all she ever heard of him by his Ministers or read of him in the Scripture when she shall behold the Attendance of his Throne even ten thousand times ten thousand Angels and comprehend all those ineffable Glories which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard with what pleasing Ecstasies of Admiration will she then be transported But this is not all For 2dly Our happiness in Paradise will not barely consist in the clear and perfect Knowledge of God but also in the enjoyment of him unto all Eternity Knowledge without Fruition can only give us the Happiness of Moses upon Mount Nebo at best but a fairer prospect of the Heavenly Canaan but we are assured in Scripture that we shall not only see this Land of Promise but we shall taste the Milk and the Hony of it We shall not only see and know God but we shall also enjoy him This Enjoyment of God is elegantly set forth in Scripture by the Metaphor of a Feast because Friends usually enjoy themselves most when they Feast together Now what strange Expressions to this purpose are those which we read Rev. 19. 9. where the Angel bids S. Iohn write thus Blessed are they which are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. They used to have their greatest Feasts at Supper but the happiness of Heaven is here set forth not only by the Metaphor of a Supper but also of a Marriage Supper to denote that more intimate and pleasant enjoyment of God and Christ the Saints may expect in Heaven And lest we should in the least doubt of this these Emphatical words are added which perhaps ye do not use much to take notice of but now I desire you to do these saith the Angel are the true Sayings of God So that we may well believe the Saints shall enjoy all this happiness I have spoken of Tho' this which I last mention'd be a most comfortable Text yet I think you 'l find one fuller to this purpose Luk. 12. 37. Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them Here again the happiness of Heaven is set forth by the Metaphor of a Feast and our Saviour alludes to those Feasts among the Romans which they called their Saturnalia when the Masters were obliged to provide sumptuous Feasts for their Servants and to gird themselves and come forth and serve It seems God will deal thus with his poor unworthy Servants He will prepare as great a Feast for them as Heaven can afford and will come forth himself and serve them In this World he makes use of Angels as Ministring Spirits and imploys them for the good of his People But in the other World the happiness of the Godly will be so great and so infinite that Angels being but finite Creatures cannot serve any longer as Conduits to convey it to them No God himself as he will be the Feast so he will be the Entertainer too and in a word All in all Thus I have shewn you how great our happiness will be in respect of God himself we shall have a clear and perfect knowledge of him and his infinite Excellencies and we shall also have a full Enjoyment of him unto all Eternity I proceed now to the last thing proposed namely to consider the greatness of this happiness with reference to the place Lastly We shall not only be with Christ but we shall be with Christ in Paradise To be with Christ in any place cannot but be happiness Had our Saviour took the Penitent Thief along with him when he descended into Hell there to have seen him Triumph over Principalities and Powers and all our spiritual Enemies this had been a blessed and most pleasant sight But to carry him along with himself to Paradise the pleasantness and glories of the place could not but add to the happiness of it To this end you 'l find the Holy Ghost in Scripture exceeding large in the description of this place and it is set forth by such Metaphors as denote the most incomprehensible both beauty pleasantness strength splendour and glory for pleasure it is in the Text called Paradise for Magnificence a Kingdom yea a Kingdom of Glory too It is styled an House not made with hands but by God himself to denote both its strength and workmanship For Magnitude it is called a Great City For Purity the Holy and Heavenly Ierusalem Would we some Evening take a walk with Isaac into the Fields and there view how God has garnished these upper Regions of the World how many are those Stars which sparkle there And they are also most of them of such an incredible Magnitude as to be more than an hundred times bigger than the Earth and yet this Firmament as glorious as it is is only the outside of the Pavement of that Ierusalem which is above What incomprehensible Glory then must shine within it We read in the Book of Revelations that the very Streets are of pure
the Enemies of Heaven It seems the Torments of this dreadful place is set forth by Fire one of the cruellest of the Elements Nay give me leave to observe farther to you that this Fire of Tophet can be no ordinary material Fire seeing we are told it was originally prepared for the Devil and his Angels For since they are Spiritual and Immaterial Beings they cannot be Tormented by any ordinary material Fire The Fire therefore of Tophet must be of such a strange and dreadful Nature that this Fire we use is only fit to be a cold and faint emblem of it and well may we conclude so much seeing it is said to be kindled by the Breath of the Almighty The fiery Furnace of Babylon was dreadful enough tho' it was kindled only by the breath of an Earthly King how dreadful then must the Furnace of Hell be which has all the Ingredients of Torture Omnipotent Vengeance can furnish it with This Fire of Tophet of Hell is said yet farther to be prepared for the Devil and his Angels Now we know these Hellish Fiends are the most malicious Enemies of Heaven These ambitious Spirits endeavoured at the very first to dethrone their Almighty Creator and since they failed in that black design they have ever since discovered their inveterate hatred of God by tempting Mankind into the same cursed Conspiracy against him Sure then that Fire which is prepared for these malicious Enemies of Heaven cannot possibly want any Ingredients of Torture Infinite Wisdom can invent or Infinite Power inflict Now such devouring Flames as these were prepared for obstinate sinners as well as for these fallen Angels There is one Consideration still behind which will make these Torments appear more dreadful and that is the Eternal Duration of them For here it is that the Worm never dies here it is that the Fire is not quenched When the sinner has lain in Hell as many millions of years as there are Sands on the Sea-shore he will be no nearer an end of his Torments than he was the first Moment of his entrance into them Who can read without trembling what St. Mark tells us Chap. 9. 49. Namely that the Damned shall be salted with Fire Such it seems is the dreadful Nature of the Infernal Flames that they do Torment but not Consume Like Salt they preserve those wretched Persons they seem to devour O cruel Mercy of Hellish Flames O Preservation worse than the most dreadful Destruction Thus great are those Evils we are delivered from and you will easily conclude how great that Salvation is which delivers us from them The Children of Israel did exceedingly rejoyce when they were delivered from the Tyranny of Pharaoh and the Slavery of Egypt But sure Hell is a more dreadful kind of Bondage than Egypts and Satan a worse sort of Tyrant than Pharaoh therefore the Salvation of the Text which delivers us from these dreadful and infinite Evils must needs be exceeding great 3ly The greatness of this Salvation will appear yet further if we consider that Infinite and Eternal Happiness it brings along with it This Salvation does not only deliver us from Hell and Eternal Damnation but it gives us also a Right and Title to the endless Joys of Heaven Even those Joys which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive If the sweet society of Saints and Angels if the most ravishing enjoyment of the Blessed Trinity if an uninterrupted and eternal fruition of the most desirable Pleasures if all this be sufficient to make the Salvation in the Text exceeding great then we may pardon St. Paul's Emphasis and allow him to call it so great Salvation for this is that Salvation which Christ has purchast and the Gospel publish'd to the World Hence Christ is styl'd the Author of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5. 9. and is said to have obtained Eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. Ioshua was deservedly accounted a mighty Saviour because having delivered Israel from their malicious Enemies he gave them a quiet Possession of the Earthly Canaan How great a Saviour is our Ioshua or Jesus who having vanquished our Spiritual Enemies has purchased for us the possession of the Heavenly Canaan 4ly The greatness of this Salvation will further appear if we consider the Extent and Amplitude of it This Salvation is an universal Salvation all Men have a Right and Title to it tho' Salvation of old was only of the Iews yet now Christ is a Light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the Glory of his People Israel God is now no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him They are highly injurious to the goodness of God and to that Salvation which was wrought by Christ who would have it restrained to a certain number of Persons For it is most plain from Scripture that God would have all Men to be saved Hear what the Angels said unto the Shepherds Luke 2. 10. Behold I bring you good Tidings of great Ioy which shall be unto all People Hence Christ is said to give himself a Ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. as St. Iohn speaks 1 Epist. 2. 2. He is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World If these places of Scripture be not full and clear enough St Paul will tell you that Christ tasted Death for every Man Heb. 2. 9. I shall add but one Text more to convince you of this Truth and it shall be that of St. Peter 2 Epist. 2. 2. where he speaks of False Teachers such as privily bring in Damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift Destruction It seems Christ bought those that are Damned as well as those that are Saved and consequently the Salvation or Redemption which he wrought must needs be Universal None are excluded from it but such as exclude themselves by their Obstinancy and Impenitency Now if we lay these Four Cnsiderations together namely The greatness of the Price which was paid for this Salvation The greatness of those Evils it delivers us from The Infinite and Eternal Happiness it brings along with it And Lastly The Extent and Amplitude of it which is so great as to include both Iew and Gentile we may safely conclude with St. Paul that it is great Salvation Thus I have dispatched the First General I proposed and proceed now to the Second Secondly Namely To shew you that those Christians who neglect this great Salvation must expect the severest punishments in Hell This may be gathered from the words of the Text where St. Paul delivers himself in these Emphatical Expressions How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation As much as if the Apostle should have said Christians who disobey the Gospel must never hope to go unpunisht nay these of all others must expect the severest