partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is entirely the Work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living Impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's Power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the Habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of Nothing to produce this great and regular World And altho there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its Effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the humane Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sense in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in producing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital Influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their Nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sinn'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensable necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant mark'd in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial amongst them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high Priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the Band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the Reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's Works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind laps'd and miserable was in his view he chose some to be Vessels of Mercy and by priviledg separated them from the rest that finally perish Now what induc'd him to place a singular Love on the Elect There was nothing in them to incline his Compassion being equally guilty and depraved with the rest of the Progeny of Adam This difference therefore is to be resolved into his unaccountable and adorable Will as the sole cause of it Thus God declares it to be his glorious Prerogative I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion And this is no unjust acceptance of Persons For as a Benefactor he may dispense his own Favours as he pleases A Gift from meer and arbitrary Bounty may be bestowed on some and not on others without injustice But there are other Actions of God for which there is an evident reason in Men on whom they are terminated Thus as the supreme Judg without respect of Persons he will judg and reward every Man according to his Works The Evangelical Law as was toucht on before is the rule of eternal Judgment and gives a right from the gracious
and active to prevent a threatning Evil or to sustain it in the best manner 'T is observable in the brute Creatures that the Weak and Fearful are most subtile and ingenious to secure themselves and supply the want of Strength with Artifice But when Fear is inordinate 't is a tyrannous Master that vexes the weary Soul and hinders its free and noble Operations Cesar chose rather to be expos'd to sudden death than to be continually harrass'd with fears how to avoid it The Greek word implies the binding of the Spirit that causes an inward Slavery And in the Apostle's Writings the Spirit of Fear and the Spirit of Bondage are equivalent Ishbosheth when Abner provok'd by the Charge about Saul's Concubine imperiously threatned to translate the Kingdom to David was struck with such a fear that he could not answer Abner a word 2 Sam. 3.10 11. The sudden Passion stifled his Reply and reduc'd him to a defenceless Silence Now the fear of Death as 't is remiss or vehement such are the degrees of Bondage from it 1. It embitters the enjoyments of the present Life and makes the most prosperous in the World even in the fulness of their sufficiency to be in straits Though the Senses are pleased with the quick sweetness of Change from one Object to another yet the Soul cannot have a delightful undisturbed Fruition foreseeing that the stream of Pleasure will issue into the dead Sea Truly Light is sweet and 't is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun But how short is this Life with all its Pleasures in comparison of the Days of Darkness that follow Now though 't is our best Wisdom and truest Liberty to rejoice in this World as if we rejoiced not and frequently to meditate on the cooling Doctrines of Death and Judgment to repress the transports of the voluptuous Appetite yet since the Comforts of this Life are liberally indulged to us by the Love of God to be the Motives of our grateful and affectionate Obedience to sweeten our passage to Heaven we may with tranquillity of Spirit make a pure and chearful use of them in his Service and 't is an oppressing bondage when the disquieting anxious Fears of Death hinder our temperate enjoyment of his Favours and Blessings 2. The fear of Death oppresses the Souls of Men under a miserable Bondage to the Devil for his Dominion is maintain'd by the Allurements and Terrors of the World Though Men do not explicitly acknowledg his Soveraignty yet by voluntary yielding to his pleasing Temptations they are really his Slaves And the apprehension of temporal Evils especially of Death dress'd up in a frightful representation with its bloody Pomp is the strongest snare to the Soul The Faint-hearted prove false-hearted in the time of trial For the timerous Spirit being wholly intent how to avoid the incursion of a present Evil forgets or neglects what is indispensably to be done and thinks to find an excuse in the pretended necessity How many have been terrified from their clearest Duty and resolved Constancy To escape Death they have been guilty of the most insufferable Impieties by renouncing God their Maker and Saviour and worshipping the Devils for Deities Every Age presents sad Spectacles of many that choose Iniquity rather than Affliction that relinquish their Duty and by wicked Compliances save their Lives and lose their Souls Carnal Desires and carnal Fears are the Chains of Hell that retain Men Satan's Captives But what folly what madness is it for the avoiding the impotent fury of the Creature to venture on the powerful Wrath of God that exceeds all the Terrors that can be conceived by Fear This renders them more brutish than the Horse that starting at his Shadow springs over a desperate Precipice The Fearful are excluded from Heaven and cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone for ever 3. The extream fear of Death and Judgment dejects and discourages the Soul from the use of means to prevent eternal Misery and induces a most woful Bondage Fear anticipates and exasperates future Evils for as Knowledg excites Fear so Fear encreases Knowledg by the uncessant working of the Thoughts upon terrible Objects The fearful Mind aggravates the foreseen Evil and distils the Poison from all the Circumstances and Consequences of it And when the Evil is apprehended as insuperable and indeclinable all endeavours to escape are cut off What a Philosopher observes of an Earthquake compared with other destructive Evils is true in this case There may be a safe retreat from Fire from Inundations from Storms from War from Pestilence but an Earthquake astonishes with so violent a perturbation that stops our flight from the imminent Danger So the vehement impressions of Fear from the approaches of Death and the severe executions upon the Sinner after it distracts the Mind and disables from flying from the Wrath to come These Fears are more heavy by the suggestions of Satan who represents God so terrible in his Majesty inexorable in his Justice and unchangeable in his Threatnings that all Hopes of obtaining his Favour are lost As the Egyptian Darkness was not meerly from the absence of the Sun but from feculent Vapours condensing the Air that it might be felt So these dark and fearful expectations of the Divine Wrath are not only from the withdrawing the Light of God's Countenance but from the Prince of Darkness that foul Spirit And as we read of the Egyptians that no Man arose from his place for three days as if they had been buried in that Darkness and deprived of all active Power and Motion so the despairing Soul sits down mourning at the Gates of Death totally disabled from prosecuting the Things that belong to its Peace 'T is Hope inspires and warms us with alacrity encourages our Endeavours Despair blunts our edg and industry The Soul suffers the hardest Bondage and the Condition is unexpressibly sad under the tyranny of this Fear O how enthralled how desolately miserable Despair does meritoriously and effectually ruin the Soul For whereas there is no Attribute more Divine no clearer Notion of the Deity than Love and Mercy this Passion disparages his Mercy as if Sin were more omnipotent than his Power to pardon and all the Tears that flow from it are so far from expiating that they encrease Guilt and whereas the believing view of Christ would as compleatly and presently recover the Soul-wounded Sinner as the Israelites were by looking to the ordained visible Sign of their Salvation Despair turns away the Eye from our Deliverer and fixes it upon Misery as remediless and final 4. How comes it to pass that Men are not always under the actual fear of Death but subject to the revolutions of it all their Lives The Seeds of this Fear are hid in the guilty Breasts of Men and at times especially in their Calamities break forth and kindle upon them In their Leisure and Retirement intercurrent thoughts of
who has lived an obstinate Sinner dies a penitent Believer is very rare and extraordinary What our Saviour said concerning the Salvation of rich Men is justly applicable to this Case That it was as easy for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle as for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This so astonish'd the Apostles that they cried Who then can be saved To mitigate the Difficulty he remembers them of the Divine Omnipotence All things are possible with God Thus for one who has been hardned in a long course of Sin and making himself meet for the Company of damned Spirits in Hell to be at last suddenly prepared and received into the pure and glorious Society above is possible but possible only as Miracles are by the Efficacy of Infinite Power and we cannot reasonably expect such Miracles And are Heaven and Hell such trivial things as to be left to an Uncertainty Are not Men concern'd in another manner in the Affairs of this World How careful to prevent the Sentence of Death of Imprisonment of Banishment How diligent to obtain some temporal Advantage Yet how neglectful in things of highest importance It may be says the secure Wretch God will give me Repentance at last as he did to others Remember you speak of that that most nearly concerns your Soul and dare you venture the Salvation of an immortal Soul upon a naked possibility of receiving Grace What reasonable Person would neglect a Disease that may prove deadly and rely on extreme Remedies And can you be guilty of such a cruel Indifference such a desperate Carelessness as to leave eternal Salvation and Damnation to a peradventure 2. Consider how many thousands have died in their Sins and of them great Numbers cherish'd fallacious Hopes of repenting at last Diagoras the Atheist that denied a governing Providence of things in this lower World the Sphere of Mutability when one for his Conviction shewed him in the Temple of Neptune many votive Tables containing the grateful Acknowledgments of those who by Addresses to the Gods in dangerous Storms had arrived safe at their Ports and ask'd him Whether he had observ'd those numerous Testimonies for Divine Providence He replied I see them but how many having invocated Neptune yet perish'd in the Ocean and never came to pay their Vows for Deliverance 'T was Impiety in him to argue so against God's disposing Providence but it may be justly said to those who neglect their present Duty presuming upon some Examples of his glorious Goodness on those who were converted and saved in their approaches to Death How many have finally miscarried in shooting that Gulph to one that has arrived safe at Heaven How many that presume upon their Youth and Strength to delay Repentance are suddenly cut off the first Symptom of their Sickness is Death And what the Angel with such solemnity declar'd that Time should be no more is verified concerning them by an unexpected Dissolution How many when sick hope either by the Vigour of Nature or the Virtue of Medicines to overcome the Disease and this Hope is cherish'd by the mortal Kindness the cruel Deceit of Friends who are unwilling to discover their Danger lest their Spirits should sink under the apprehension of it And thus deluded many never see Death till they feel it and perish for ever in their Impenitence How many that are guilty and graceless when distant from Death and Hell but a few hours yet from Atheism are secure as Jonah who slept in the midst of a Tempest at Sea The Tenour of their Lives discovers this to be Divine Vengeance they are seiz'd by a Spirit of Slumber and pass without fear into the State of everlasting Desperation How many are deceived with the appearance of Repentance and mistake a false Peace for a true and asswage the anguish of Conscience by palliating Remedies Their Sorrow for Sin their Prayers their Resolutions of Reformation are the product of servile Fear that is ineffectual to Salvation And as 't is with crafty Tradesmen that take up much upon Trust when near breaking so they are very liberal of the Promises of Amendment when they are near dying From hence they vainly presume that God is reconcil'd to them whose all-discerning Eye sees the inward Spring of their Sorrows and the Principle of all their religious Resolutions is the guilty fear of eternal Judgment Now a false Tranquillity is more terrible than the Storms of a troubled Spirit for those who hope upon deceitful grounds are in the most hopeless State neglecting what is requisite in order to Salvation Thus innumerable pass in a Cloud of Delusion to the Kingdom of Darkness And how many who have lived in careless Security as if they had made a Covenant with Death when Conscience is awaken'd and looks into the depth of their Guilt when they see Death before them attended with Judgment and Judgment with an everlasting Hell as we read of Sisera who from extream Fear pass'd to extream Security so on the contrary these Self-deceivers from Security have fallen into Despair Then Truth and Conscience that were so long under unrighteous Restraints break the Fetters and terribly charge the Sinners Then innumerable Acts which they thought to be innocent appear to be Sins and Sin that they made light of to be infinitely evil and in the highest degree hateful to God And sometimes by the Suggestions of the Enemy of Souls they are overwhelmed with Despair and their last Error is worse than the first The Devil makes his advantage of the timerous Conscience as well as of the seared Solitude is his Scene as well as the noisy Theatre and by contrary ways either Presumption or Despair brings Sinners to the same end He changes his Methods according to their Dispositions the Tempter turns Accuser and then such who had but a dim sight of Sin before have an over-quick sight of it and are swallowed up in an abyss of Confusion The Condition of such is extreamly miserable 'T is observed of those who are bitten with a mad Dog that their Cure is extream difficult if not impossible for being tormented with Thirst yet are so fearful of Water that the sight of it sometimes causes sudden Convulsions and Death This is a significant Emblem of a despairing Soul For when inraged Conscience bites to the quick the guilty Person fill'd with Estuations and Terrors ardently thirsts for Pardon yet fearfully forsakes his own Mercies Whatever is propounded to encourage Faith in the Divine Promises he turns to justify his Infidelity Represent to him the infinite Mercies of God the unvaluable Merits of Christ sufficient to redeem the lost World it increases his Despair because he has perversly abused those Mercies and neglected those Merits The most precious Promises of the Gospel are killing Terrors to him as the sweet Title of Friend wherewith our Saviour receiv'd Judas when he came to betray him was the most
is an happy means to render Death comfortable to us Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity of sudden Surreption and Surprize the best Men are not freed from in the present State and being the daily motive of our Grief and serious circumspection to prevent them are consistent with the regular Peace of Conscience and the Friendship and Favour of God But great Sins in their matter being so contrary to natural Conscience and supernatural Grace or Sins presumptuous in the manner of their commission such as proceed from the choice of the perverse Will against the inlightned Mind whatever the matter or kind of them be are direct Rebellion against God a despising of his Command and provoke his pure Eyes and make the aspect of Death fearful The Spirit seals our Pardon and Title to Heaven as the holy Spirit his Testimony that we are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory is concurrent with the renewed Conscience and distinguish'd from the ignorant Presumptions blind Conjectures and carnal Security of the Unholy As the sanctifying Spirit he distinguishes true Christians from the lost World appropriates them to God confirms their present Interest in the Promises of the Gospel and their future Hopes Briefly Grace is the most sensible effect and sign of God's special Favour the fruit of Election and the earnest of Glory and the Truth of Grace is most clearly and certainly made evident by the continual Efficacy of it in the Conversation The observation of our Hearts to suppress unholy Affections and of our Senses to prevent them a constant course of Holiness in our Lives though many Frailties will cleave to the best is usually rewarded with great Peace here God has establish'd a connexion between our Obedience and his Comforts Those that keep themselves pure from the Defilements of the World have the white Stone promised the bright Jewel of assurance of God's pardoning and rewarding Mercy We read of Enoch that he walk'd with God was a Star shining in a corrupt Age the tenour of his Life was holy and he was translated to Heaven without seeing Death Though this was an extraordinary Dispensation yet there is a peculiar Reward analogical to it for those who walk circumspectly they shall not see Death with its Terrors but usually have a holy Chearfulness a peaceful Joy in their passage through the dark Valley to Heaven But presumptuous Sins against external and internal Restraints the convincing Law of God and the Directions of Conscience to which even the Saints of God are liable here as appears by David's earnest Prayer to be preserved from them such Sins grieve the holy Spirit and wound our Spirits and if continued sequester us from the comfortable Priviledges of the Gospel and render us unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven And when they are retracted by Repentance yet there often remains a bitter Remembrance of them as deep Wounds though cur'd yet are felt in change of Weather And sometimes a Spring-tide of Doubts and Fears breaks into humble penitent Souls in the last Hours though Death brings them safely yet not comfortably to Heaven 3. The zealous Discharge of the Duties of our Place and Calling the Conjunction of our Resolutions and Endeavours to glorify God and do good according to our Abilities and Opportunities of Service sweetens the Thoughts of Death to us For the true End and Perfection of Life is the Glory of God and when with Fidelity it is employed in order to it Death brings us to the blessed Rest from our Labours Our Saviour when he was to leave the World address'd himself to his Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finish'd the Work thou gavest me to do And now Father glorify me with thy self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was A Christian that imitates and honours Christ and with Diligence perseveres in well-doing may with an humble Confidence in the Divine Mercy expect the promised Reward The Reflection upon a well-spent Life is joyn'd with a joyful Prospect of God's Favour and Acceptance above But to the careless and remiss to those who are wilfully negligent of their Duty how fearful is Death that summons them to give an account of their Talents to the Righteous Lord 4. A holy Indifference of Affection to present things makes it easy to part with them and Death less fearful to us David though a King declares he was a Stranger on Earth not only with respect to his transient Condition but his inward Disposition and that he was as a weaned Child from the admired Vanities of the World Chrysostom in a Letter to Ciriacus who was tenderly sensible of his Banishment wrote to him You now begin to lament my Banishment but I have done so for a long time for since I knew that Heaven was my Country I have esteemed the whole Earth a place of Exilement Constantinople from whence I am expell'd is as distant from Paradise as the Desert to which they send me But when our Affections are set upon external things and we are irregular in our Aims intemperate in our Use and immoderate in our Delights how sensible and cutting is the Division from them How bitter is Death that deprives a carnal Wretch of all the Materials of his frail Felicity What a Storm of Passions is raised to lose all his good things at once for 't is a Rule in Nature What is possess'd with transporting Joy is lost with excessive Sorrow As the Ivy that twines so closely about the Tree and is intimately fastned by so many Roots as there are Branches cannot be pluck'd away without rending the Bark with it so when the World that was as it were incarnated with the Heart is taken away the Heart it self is grievously rent by the violent Separation And the Infelicity of carnal and worldly Persons is heavily aggravated in that the Guilt in procuring or abusing those Treasures and Delights that they leave here with so great Sorrow will cleave to them and give Testimony against them before their Judg. But when the Affections are loose to the World and set upon Heaven our leaving the Earth is no Loss but Gain and our Separation from the Body of Flesh is with that Alacrity as the putting off a vile Garment to be clothed with a Royal Robe 'T was the wise Counsel of Tertullian to the Women of the first Ages of the Church not to value and love the Jewels and Ornaments of Gold that they might be more ready and resolved to obtain by Death Martyrdom and by Martyrdom Eternal Glory And that we may disentangle our Souls from those voluntary Bands that fasten us to present things we must have a sincere uncorrupted Judgment of their Meanness The Apostle exhorts Christians to Moderation in their Temper and Conversation with respect to the Business and Enjoyments here that they who have Wives be as though they had none that those that rejoice be as though they rejoiced not and they
Promise of God to all penitent Believers in the Kingdom of Heaven and excludes all impenitent Infidels Divine Justice will illustriously appear then in distinguishing Believers from Unbelievers by their Works the proper Fruits either of Faith or Infidelity All the thick Clouds of Disgraces Calumnies Persecutions that often oppress the most sincere Christians here shall not then darken their Holiness and all the specious appearances of Piety which the most artificial Hypocrites make use of to deceive others shall not conceal their Wickedness And accordingly the one shall be absolved and glorified the others condemned and punish'd for ever In short without violation of his own righteous establishment in the Gospel God cannot receive the unholy into his Glory 3. Besides the Legal Bar that excludes unsanctified Persons from the beatifick vision of God there is a moral incapacity Suppose that Justice should allow Omnipotence to translate such a Sinner to Heaven would the Place make him happy Can two incongruous Natures delight in one another The happiness of Sense is by an impression of Pleasure from a suitable Object The happiness of intellectual Beings arises from an entire conformity of dispositions So that unless God recede from his Holiness which is absolutely impossible or Man be purified and changed into his likeness there can be no sweet Communion between them Our Saviour assigns this Reason of the necessity of Regeneration in order to our admission into Heaven That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit According to the quality of the Principle such is what proceeds from it The Flesh is a corrupt Principle and accordingly the Natural Man is wholly carnal in his propensions operations and end The Disease is turn'd into his Constitution He is dead to the Spiritual Life to the actions and enjoyments that are proper to it Nay there is in him a surviving Principle of Enmity to that Life not only a mortal coldness to God but a stiff aversation from him a perpetual resistance and impatience of the Divine Presence that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments The Exercises of Heaven would be as the Torments of Hell to him while in the midst of those pure Joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest Lees of Sensuality And therefore till this Contrariety so deep and predominant in an unholy Person be removed 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy God with satisfaction As it was necessary that God should become like Man on Earth to purchase that Felicity for him so Man must be like God in Heaven before he can possess it Holiness alone prepares Men for Celestial Happiness that is against the corruption and above the perfection of meer Nature I shall now proceed to consider more particularly what is requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven 1. Faith in the Redeemer is absolutely required of all that will partake of the Salvation purchased by him God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have Eternal Life This is the Spirit and Substance of the Gospel therefore I will briefly unfold it The Son of God having assumed the human Nature and performed what was necessary for the expiation of Sin the Father was so pleased with his Obedience that from his lowest State he rais'd him to Divine Glory and gave him supream Authority and all-sufficient Power to communicate that Glory to others Thus our Saviour declares Thou hast given him i. e. the Son power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And he exhorts the People Labour for that Meat that endures unto Eternal Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed Now this glorious Life is not given to all but only to those who are united to him As Adam the principle of the carnal corrupt Nature derives Guilt and Death to all his Progeny so Jesus Christ who is opposed to him the Head and Prince of the renewed State communicates Life and Glory to his People The Apostle expresses it As in Adam all dye his natural Descendants are involv'd in his Condemnation even so in Christ shall all be made alive that is all that are spiritually united to him shall partake of his glorious Resurrection And St. John tells us He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life The having the Son upon which our right to Eternal Life depends is believing in him Faith has a principal Efficiency in receiving Christ therefore 't is exprest by that Act But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God and consequently Heirs of Glory so as many as believed on his Name And Christ is said to dwell in our Hearts by Faith This is not a meer assent to the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning the Dignity of his Person that he is in so high and glorious a Relation of being the Eternal Son of God and the infinite value of his Merits whereby he is able to save all that come unto God by him and his merciful compassionate Nature to embrace returning Sinners and the excellency of the benefits purchased by him but such a Belief as sways the Will and Affections to receive him upon God's terms for our Salvation Faith is seated in the whole Soul in the Mind and Heart and accepts of Christ intirely as Prophet Priest and King The parts of the Mediator's Office are inseparably connected and all the Effects of them are communicated to the same Persons Jesus Christ is made of God to Believers Wisdom to cure their Ignorance and Folly Righteousness to abolish their Guilt Sanctification to renew their Natures and Redemption to free them at last from the Grave and bring them to Glory From hence 't is clear that the Faith which is justifying and saving includes in its Nature as dependance and trust in Christ as a powerful and merciful Mediator that is able and willing to reconcile us to God and make us for ever happy in his Favour so a sincere resolution of Obedience and Subjection to all his holy Commands even to the plucking out of the right Eye and the cutting off the right hand the parting with the most pleasing or profitable Sins For the Promises of God that are the Rule of Faith make an offer of Christ upon these Conditions to us Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of Sins And only the Justified shall be glorified Those therefore who desire a partial interest in him as a Saviour out of absolute necessity to escape Hell and will not out of Love submit to him as their Prince have not that Faith that is unfeigned and gives a title to Eternal
State For 1. Temporal Evils of all kinds and degrees as Pestilence Famine War are designed for the bringing of Men to a sight and sense of their Sins and are common to Good and Bad here And if his Anger be so terrible when he chastises as a compassionate Father what is his Fury when he punishes as a severe Judg If the correcting Remedies ordered by his Wisdom and Love for the conversion of Sinners be so sharp what is the deadly revenge of his irreconcileable Hatred 2. The Miseries of the present State are allayed with some enjoyments None are so universally afflicted so desolate but something remains to sweeten the sense of their Sufferings Judgments are tempered with Mercies No Man is tortur'd with all Diseases nor forsaken of all Friends nor utterly without Comfort And when the Affliction is irremediable yet if our grief produces Sympathy in others 't is some ease to the troubled Mind and by that assistance the Burthen is made lighter But in Hell the Damned are surrounded with Terrors encompast with Flames without any thing to refresh their Sorrows not a drop of Water to a Lake of Fire All that was esteemed Felicity here is totally withdrawn Death puts a period to their Lives and Pleasures of Sin for ever For 't is most just that those Objects which were abused by their Lusts and alienated their Hearts from their Duty and Felicity should be taken away And which is extream Misery in their most pitiful State they are absolutely unpitied Pity is the cheap and universal Lenitive not denied to the most guilty in their Sufferings here for the Law of Nature instructs us to pity the Man when the Malefactor suffers But even this is not afforded to the Damned All their Agonies and Cries cannot incline the Compassion of God and the blessed Spirits in Heaven towards them for they are not compassionable Objects their Misery being the just effect of their perverse obstinate Choice And in Hell all human tender Affections are extinguisht for ever Now 't is the perfection of Misery the excess of Desolation to be deprived of all good things pleasing to our Desires and to suffer all Evils from which we have the deepest aversation and abhorrence As in Heaven all Good is eminently comprised and nothing but Good so in Hell all Evil is in excessive degrees and nothing but Evil. 3. Temporal Evils are inflicted by the mediation of second Causes that are of a limited power to hurt but in the next World he more immediately torments the Damned by his absolute Power The Apostle tells us that the Wicked are punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power What is the lashing with a few Rushes to a blow given by the hand of a Giant that strikes dead at once This comparison is below the Truth More particularly the state of Misery is set forth in Scripture by such representations as may powerfully instruct and terrify even the most carnal Men. Nothing is more intolerably painful than suffering the violence of Fire inraged with Brimstone and Hell is described by a Lake of Fire and Brimstone wherein the Wicked are tormented Whether the Fire be Material or Metaphorical the reality and intenseness of the Torment is signified by it But the ordinary Fire tho mingled with the most torturing Ingredients is not an adequate representation of it For that is prepared by Men but the Fire of Hell is prepared by the Wrath of God for the Devil and his Angels The Divine Power is illustriously manifested in that terrible Preparation So that as some of the Fathers express it if one of the Damned might pass from those Flames into the fiercest Fires here it were to exchange a Torment for a Refreshment The Scripture speaks of the vehement heat and fiery Thirst and outer Darkness in which the Damned suffer to satisfy the rights of Justice in the torment of those Senses for the Pleasure of which Men wilfully broke the Laws of God But the Soul being the chief Sinner shall be the chief Mourner in those Regions of Sorrow An Image of this we have in the Agonies of Spirit which sometimes the Saints themselves are in here and which the most stubborn Sinners can neither resist nor endure Job was afflicted in that manner that he complains The Arrows of the Almighty are with me the Poison whereof drinks up my Spirit the Terrors of God set themselves in Array against me If a Spark of his Displeasure falls on the guilty Conscience it tears and blows up all as a Fire-ball cast into a Magazine Solomon who understood the Frame of humane Nature tells us The Spirit of a Man can bear his Infirmity that is the Mind fortified by principles of moral Counsel and Constancy can endure the assault of external Evils but a wounded Spirit who can bear This is most insupportable when the sting and remorse of the Mind is from the sense of Guilt for then God appears an Enemy righteous and severe and who can encounter with offended Omnipotence Such is the sharpness of his Sword and the weight of his Hand that every stroke is deadly inward Satan the cruel Enemy of Souls exasperates the Wounds He discovers and charges Sin upon the Conscience with all its killing Aggravations and conceals the divine Mercy the only Lenitive and Balm to the Wounded Spirit What Visions of Horror what Spectacles of Fear what Scenes of Sorrow are presented to the distracted Mind by the Prince of Darkness And which heightens the Misery Man is a worse Enemy to himself than Satan he falls upon his own Sword and destroys himself The guilty Conscience turns the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood the precious Promises of the Gospel that assure Favour and Pardon to returning and relenting Sinners are turn'd into Arguments of despair by reflecting upon the abuse and provocation of Mercy that the Advocate in God's bosom is become the Accuser Whatever the Soul-wounded Sinner sees or hears afflicts him whatever he thinks torments him All the Diversions in the World Business Pleasures merry Conversation Comedies are as ineffectual to give freedom from those Stings and Furies in the Breast as the sprinkling of Holy Water is to expel a raging Devil from a possest Person Those who in their Pride and Jollity have despised serious Religion either as a fond Transport and Extasy towards God or a dull Melancholy and Dejection about the Soul or an idle Scrupulosity about indifferent things yet when God has set their Sins with all their killing circumstances in order before their Eyes how changed how confounded are they at that Apparition how restless with the dreadful expectation of the doom that attends them Belshazzer in the midst of his Cups and Herd of Concubines by a few Words written on the Wall containing his Process and Judgment was so terrified by his guilty jealous Conscience that his Joints were loosed Nature sunk under the