a discerning Eye saw reason enough to part with all that he might gain the Pearl of Price the Grace and Glory of the Kingdom of Heaven The Apostle declares his resolute contempt of the concurrence of all the Prerogatives either the Law or the World could afford him that he might have an Interest in Christ the Reconciler and Restorer of Man to the Favour and Fellowship of God But what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the Knowledg of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I might win Christ. The glorious Gospel is the brightest and most pleasant Light that ever shone upon the World a revelation of the deepest Wisdom and most admirable Love wherein the combination of God's holy and wonderful Counsels for our Salvation is unfolded and accordingly St. Paul with the greatest Life of Affection sets forth his value of it and by full and most vilifying Expressions rejects all things in comparison of it 2. The Sincerity of the Heavenly Choice is discovered by a zealous observance of the means requisite in order to it Inanimate things incline to rest in their Centre the rational intend and pursue it The blessed End when valued and respected according to its worth excites and directs the Affections and Endeavours in that order and measure as is proportionable to its Excellency and the difficulties of obtaining it There may be a naked estimation and some desires of Eternal Happiness simply considered yet the Will remain incompleat and undetermined in its choice for the End in conjunction with the Means is propounded to us and the carnal Man will not consent to the Means He dislikes the Holiness of Religion and will rather forfeit Heaven than submit to such strict terms Though with Balaam in a fit of Devotion he says O that I might die the death of the Righteous and that my last end might be like his yet from Indulgence to his sensual Inclinations he will not live as the righteous All his wishes of true Happiness are soon strangled by the predominant love of some Vanity 'T is said of the Israelites they despised the pleasant Land not absolutely in it self for it was the Glory of all Lands abounding with things for the support and delight of Man but considering its distance a Wilderness waste and wild interposing and the Enemies to be encountred they did not think it worthy of undergoing such hazards and difficulties The Land of Canaan was a Type of Heaven both with respect to its pleasantness and the manner of the Israelites obtaining it Their Title to it was derived from the rich Bounty of God therefore 't is called the Land of Promise but it was to be possest by Conquest Thus the Celestial Canaan is the pure gift of God but the actual enjoyment of it is obtained by victorious resistance against the Enemies of our Salvation And carnal Men despise this pleasant Land the Promise being inseparably joined with Precepts of Duty and Obedience from which they are averse But he that chooses sincerely is joyful and vigorous in the use of means for acquiring his most desired good Ardent Affections like Elijah's Chariot of Fire ravish the Soul above this sensible World to the place where God dwells in Glory Zeal animates his endeavours as the Motion of the Heart diffuses the Spirits into the Arteries to convey Life to all parts of the Body One thing saith the inflamed Psalmist have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire into his Temple The sensual Man is ranging abroad for satisfaction and shoots all the Game that crosses his Eye but the Soul that has a discovering light and feeling heat of the Divine Beauty unites all its desires in God and with affection to an extasy longs for the enjoyment of him and the endeavours are in some proportion to the desires Our Saviour tells us That from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Some previous rays of the Sun of Righteousness appeared in his Ministry and produc'd such a holy ardency in those Converts that with all resolution diligence and earnestness they sought to be partakers of the Blessedness revealed Lazy Desires easy Prosecutions sluggish Attempts discover that the Heart is not througly engaged for the spiritual Eternal Good When the End is truly designed it will give Law to the Actions This is visible in Men who are wholly led by Sense how sagacious how sollicitous are they to accomplish their Ends and base Designs They try all ways either by fine Dissimulation or toilsome Industry to obtain their Desires No time is too much in their gainful Affairs or voluptuous Enjoyments They transform the Night to lengthen out the Day for their Profit they vail the Day to lengthen out the Night for their Ease and Pleasure But alas Heaven is only regarded by the By as if the intellectual Soul were only given to dwell with the Body on Earth the place of its Banishment and direct Affairs here below and not to lead in the way to Heaven the place of its Nativity and prepare for another World The work of Salvation is followed with that remiss degree of Affection as if it were a slight matter whether performed or neglected These Persons carry their Conviction in their Bosoms for they are ardent and active to obtain inferior and infinitely less concerning Ends but with that cold application mind the superior nobler End of Man that it is wholly frustrate which plainly shews it was never seriously intended by them 3. The sincerity of our Heavenly choice declares it self in the temper and frame of our Hearts with respect to all temporal things in this World For our main and happy End being established that it consists not in secular Riches and Honours and the Pleasures of Sense but in the clear vision of God the blessedness of the Spirit it follows that all present things are in our use so far good or evil and to be desired or not as they are profitable or prejudicial to our obtaining Salvation as they conduct or divert us from Heaven A wise Christian looks on temporal things not through the Glass of disordered Passions that are impetuous and impatient for what is grateful to them but with reference to his future Happiness He considers the train of Temptations that attend an exalted condition and desires such a portion of these things as may redound to the Glory of the Giver and be improved for his own Salvation This Purity of Affections our Saviour teaches us For in his divine form of Prayer the true directory of our desires are set down in an admirable order all
confirm and fortify our resolutions for Heaven God promised to Hezekiah 15 years but not to preserve his Life by Miracle he was obliged to repair the wastings of Nature by daily Food and to abstain from what was noxious and destructive to his Body The Apostle excites Christians to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that works in them to will and to do of his good Pleasure Let him that stands take heed lest he fall None are a more easy Conquest to the Tempter then those who presume upon their own Strength We should be always jealous of ourselves from the sad Examples of Apostacy in every Age. St. Ambrose testifies from his own knowledg that many after the couragious enduring of cruel Torments for Religion the tearing open their Sides that their Bowels appeared and the burning of some parts of their Bodies yet when led forth to finish the Victory of Faith to be a triumphant Spectacle to Angels and Men when the blessed Rewarder was ready to put the Martyrs Crown on their Heads at the sight of their mourning Wives and Children in the way were overcome by Pity the weakest Affection and fail'd in the last act of Christian Fortitude We must pray to be strengthned with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness For some may vigorously resist one sort of Temptation and render themselves to others And if finally vanquisht by one of those Enemies we lose our Victory and Crown And as Presumption betrays the Soul into the Devils Snares so a vicious dejection of Spirit from a distrust of Relief from God in our Difficulties and his assistance with our unfeigned endeavours for Salvation is very pernicious For this damps Industry and causes either a total neglect or uncomfortable use of Means for that End Many Christians considering their Graces are weak their Nature fickle and apt to revolt are ready as David said One day I shall perish by the hand of Saul to conclude sadly of the issue of their Condition To encourage such let them consider that Perseverance is not only a Coudition but a Privilege of the Covenant of Grace For that affords supply of spiritual Strength to the sincere Believer for performing the condition it requires Indeed if Grace were the meer product of Free Will the most fervent Resolutions would vanish into a Lye upon the Assault of an overpowering Temptation As Hezekiah acknowledged that the Assyrian Kings had destroyed the Gods of the Nations that were no Gods but Idols the work of Mens Hands But sanctifying Grace is the effect of the Holy Spirit and he that begins that good work in the Saints will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He that inclin'd them joyfully to chuse the Spiritual Eternal Good will bind their unconstant Hearts that by a faithful adherence they shall cleave to their Duty and Felicity God has most graciously declared I will put my Spirit into their Hearts that they shall never depart from me The Promise is founded in the unchangeable Love of God to his People Were God as Man subject to Variation there might be Jealousies in Believers lest they should lose his good Will As those who depend on Princes are suspicious lest from the natural inconstancy of the human Will a new Favourite should supplant them But whom God loves he loves to the end The Apostle prays for the Thessalonians that God would preserve them blameless till unto the coming of Christ by this Consideration faithful is he that calleth you he will do it He speaks of the Internal Call that opens the Heart and overpowers all Resistance As when the Angel came with a Light shining in the Prison to St. Peter and struck him on the Side bid him arise quickly loosed his Chains aud led him through the Guards open'd the Doors and restored him to Liberty The effectual calling of a Sinner is the visible and infallible effect of electing Mercy and God is unchangeable in his own purpose and faithful to his Promises of bringing all such by Sanctification to Glory The same Apostle tells the Saints at Corinth That the Redeemer would confirm them to the End God is faithful by whom ye are called Grace that was at first inspir'd is continually actuated by the Spirit who is stiled the earnest of the Saints Inheritance So that whereas the Angels that excell'd in Strength kept not their first State of Purity and Glory but are sunk into Corruption and Misery yet true humble Believers though weak and encompast with many Difficulties shall be preserved from destructive Evil and raised to an unchangeable Estate of Perfection This is as truly admirable as if the Stars should fall from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Apostle who acknowledged his insufficiency of himself to think a good Thought yet triumphantly declares I can do all things within the compass of his Duty through Christ that strengthens me The Love Fidelity and Power of God are a sure Fountain of Assistance to every Christian that sincerely resolves and endeavours to prosecute his last and blessed End CHAP. VII An Account how Men are induc't to choose a false Happiness and reject the true Directions for the regulating our Choice The Senses and Passions are the worst Councellors The Example of the multitude is contagious I Shall now come to the Directions how to fix our Choice aright This is a matter of everlasting Consequence it therefore becoms us with the most intense application of Mind to consider it and according to the advice of Wisdom to keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Indeed the choice were not difficult between lying Vanities and substantial Blessedness if uncorrupted reason had the Superior sway but in this lapsed state of Nature the Understanding and Willare so depraved that present things pleasing to sence ravish the Heart into a Compliance Men are deceived not compelled into ruin the subtile Seducer prevails by fair Temptations This will be evident by reflecting upon the frame and composition of Man as he consists of Spirit Soul and Body and the manner of his acting The Spirit is the intellective discerning Faculty the Seat of Reason capable to compare and judge of the qualities of things and foresee their issues The Body includes the lower Faculties the Sences Fancy and Passions that are coversant about present things The Soul is the Will the principle of Election in the midst of the other as the Centre to which all their Addresses flow Now upon the proposal of the spiritual and carnal Good in order to Choice the Will is to be directed by the Mind and by its own Authority to rule the lower Passions But alas the Mind has lost its primitive Light and Purity Vigilance and Integrity neglects its Duty and from Ignorance Errour and carnal Prejudices often pleads for the Flesh and the
Learning with Diligence and Delight is intent in his Studies and though ingaged in other Affairs yet his Thoughts are still conversant about Learning In short the fear of Hell may be only a natural Affection that recoils from what is tormenting to the Body and is consistent with the Love of Sin but the hope of Heaven as 't is revealed in the Scripture is a spiritual Affection and always joined with the hatred of Sin Now the great design of the Gospel is by the fear of Hell as a powerful preparative to make way for the love of Heaven If carnal indulgent Sinners are not roused by a quick apprehension of Hell they will securely enjoy their pernicious Pleasures and grow old in Sin and at last die impenitent No offers of Mercy will prevail till they are storm'd by the Terrors of the Lord. But when the fear of eternal Misery has made a breach divine Grace victoriously enters and takes Possession The convinced and contrite Sinner most humbly and willingly embraces the precious Promises wherein not only Pardon and Indemnity is offered but the richest favour the advancing him into a State of Eternal Glory Thus the sweetest Hopes succeed tormenting Fears and the Obedience which before had a mixture of involuntary flows from the intire consent of the Soul with filial Freedom Before the particular Description of the pains of the Damned I shall observe in General That the full representation of Hell is beyond all human Expression nay our most fearful Thoughts cannot equal the Horror of it Who knows the Power of thine Anger What are the prepared Plagues by infinite Justice and Almighty Wrath for obstinate Sinners It is impossible for the most guilty and trembling Conscience to inlarge its sad apprehensions according to the degrees of that Misery The Lord will shew forth his Wrath and make his Power known in the Vessels fitted for Destruction None can tell what God can do and what Man shall suffer when made capable to endure such Torments for ever as now would presently consume him As the Glory of Heaven cannot be fully understood till enjoyed so the Torments of Hell cannot be comprehended till felt But we may have some discovery of those unknown Terrors by the following Considerations 1. The Wisdom of God requires that the Punishment threatned in his Law as it must so be firmly decreed that all obstinate Rebels shall of necessity undergo it so it must incomparably exceed all temporal Evils to which Men may be exposed for their Obedience to the divine Commands Otherwise the threatning would not be an effectual restraint from Sin For the propinquity of an Evil makes a strange impression on the Mind and present Fear makes a Person sollicitous to avoid the incursion of a danger ready to seize on him without forecasting to prevent an evil look'd on at a distance Therefore that the sanction of the divine Law may preserve the Precepts inviolable that there may be a continual reverence of it and a fixed resolution in the Heart of Men not to transgress the penaly threatned must be in its own nature so terrible that the fear of it may conquer the apprehension of all present Evils that can be inflicted to force us to Sin As on the other side to confirm our purpose to please God in all things the Reward of Obedience must be of infallible assurance that all and only those who serve him faithfully shall enjoy in the future State and so excellent that all the allurements of the World may in comparison with it be of no consideration to divert us from our Duty They command the Heart and have its most prevailing Respects from whom is expected the most desireable Good and feared the most terrible Evils Therefore our Saviour warns his Disciples Fear not them that can kill the Body make that part die that is mortal but fear him that after he has killed has power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him All the exquisite Tortures that the most cruel contriving and powerful malice of wicked Men can inflict is so much less than the Wrath to come that avoid the one and venture on the other is more brutish Stupidity than that of the Horse or Mule that starts at the shadow of a Bush and springs over a Precipice 2. The Judgments of God executed here are light and tolerable in comparison of the punishment of Sinners in the next Life 1. Temporal Evils of all kinds and degrees as Pestilence Famine War are designed for the bringing of Men to a sight and sence 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 sence 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 the 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 Crys 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
future State where the Misery is extream and nothing remains to allay it that the Damned should be in love with the unhappy good of simple being and not choose an absolute extinction if it might be If any one should be so foolish to think that custom will render that State more tolerable he may find a terrible confutation of his vain Fancy Indeed continuance under light Evils may arm the Mind with patience to bear them but in great extremities it makes the Evil more ponderous and intolerable He that is tortured with the Stone or on the Rack the longer the Torture continues the less able he is to sustain it In short as the Joy of Heaven is infinitely more ravishing that the Blessed are without fear of losing it so the Misery of Hell is proportionably tormenting that the Damned are absolutely destitute of hopes of a release O 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Now the serious Consideration of this Misery is the most proper and powerful means to awaken indulgent Sinners and make them resolved to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right Eye to part with the dearest Lusts rather than be exposed to it According to the judgment of Sense would any one in his Wits choose the enjoyment of the most intense and exquisite Pleasures for a Year and afterwards be content to burn in a Fornace for a Day much less to enjoy them for a Day and to burn for a Year what stupid Beasts are they who for momentary Delights incur the Fiery and Eternal Indignation of God Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he Try but the Finger with the Flame of a Candle or touch but a hot Coal you will soon discover your weakness But alas how hardly are Men induc't to exercise their Minds on this terrible Object He thinks least of Hell who has most reason to consider it so unwilling is the carnal Heart to have represented to it the evil to come Yet this is the first Motive that compels Sinners to change their course and turn from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Joys of Heaven being Spiritual and Divine as was before observed have no attractive influence upon their Affections would never convert and reform any but the torment of Fire being most evident and vehement to Sense is strongly represented by the Imagination and affects carnal Men. How many abound with vicious obstinate habits that by solemn and believing thoughts of the unquenchable Fire have felt the Miracle upon the three Children in the Fornace renewed in themselves their strong Cords burnt asunder and all their Powers restored to the freedom of Duty the blessed liberty of Obedience The Truth is if God had not formed Hell for the Punishment of Sin and only prepared the Celestial Kingdom for the Reward of Holiness the blessed Angels would be the sole Possessors of it and Heaven would be as empty of human Souls as 't is full of Glory so foolishly and violently is the corrupt nature of Man drawn by what is pleasing to Sense though with the certain loss of the most precious and eternal good things in the Divine Treasury But the belief that within a little time nothing will remain of their sinful Pleasures but the never dying Worm and ever living Flames makes them considerative of their imminent danger and as it were by necessity to seek the Kingdom of Heaven as a secondary Object to escape from Hell As the vertue of the Load-stone when encompast and arm'd with Iron is increast and draws a far greater weight than when 't is single thus the attractives of Heaven are more powerful to move our obdurate Hearts when enforc'd from the terrors of Hell In this respect the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom of the active and best Wisdom that directs us in the way to Blessedness CHAP. XIII The last Direction Earnest Prayer to God to inlighten our Minds to believe the Eternal World and effectually turn our Wills to desire and prosecute the Blessedness to come HAving a discovery so clear and certain in the Holy Scriptures of the everlasting recompences in the next World of the Kingdom of Heaven prepared by God to shew his excellent Glory to his faithful Servants where Love and Peace and Joy dwell for ever and of the infernal Prison where despair and Rage and Sorrow and whatever is signified under the terrible allusions of Fire and Brimstone are ordained by Divine Justice for the Wicked it might be justly hoped that all Men would by a holy violence take Heaven and by the swiftest Motion flee from the Wrath to come The instinct of Nature and the light of Reason excite them to secure their most precious Interest Can there be an Expectation Desire or Capacity in Man of enjoying a Blessedness beyond what is Infinite and Eternal And can there be any Evil so formidable as Everlasting Misery Now both these Objects are set before Men and propounded to their Choice And we are infallibly assured from God himself that all who are sincere and constant in their Choice and Pursuit shall obtain Heaven and that none shall be cast into Hell but those who choose it and therefore most worthily suffer it But O astonishment if with a serious Eye we regard the course of Mens Actions 't is visible that incomparably the greatest number of Christians in Profession love Death and hate Eternal Life Not that 't is possible for the reasonable Creature to do this directly with an explicit aim but virtually and by interpretation They intend Happiness but choose Misery For he that voluntarily breaks the Law of God chooses the known Penalty of its Violation He that prefers this perishing World before Heaven rejects it in the most contumelious manner And such is the depravation of Man since his Fall the Mind being diverted by vain Thoughts and the Heart prepossessed with sensual Desires that till the Spirit of his Mind be renewed and his original Affections to the Supream Good be revived and restored by Divine Grace he is regardless of it and only applies himself to what is pleasing to Sense Therefore a most necessary Duty incumbent upon us is by humble and fervent Prayer to address our selves to God for his Spirit to enlighten our Minds that we may believe the reality and greatness of the Eternal Reward and to reform our Wills that we may feel its attractive Force Both these acts of the Spirit are requisite that the Love of God as our chief Felicity may be the regent Principle of our Hearts and Lives 1. For this end the Holy Spirit convinces Men thorowly of the reality and greatness of an invisible Happiness Indeed the Heathens saw something of this as it were in a Dream they had some transient Glances and volatile Wishes concerning it but miserably weak and ineffectual And in the most of
Christians the convictions of a future State are not so clear and strong as to govern their Hearts and Lives How many of eminent intellectual Faculties are stupid as to their great Interest and spend themselves about Trifles and are equally tractable to Eternal Ruine as the Ox to the Slaughter He that is destitute of the illuminating Grace of the Spirit is blind and cannot see afar off Now by the Analogy between the corporal and the intellectual Faculties we may understand in some measure how the Mind is illuminated by the Spirit of God For as to the act of Seeing two things are requisite 1. External Light in the Air without which the Colours Figures and Beauties of Objects are not visible to the sharpest Eye but lie obscur'd under impenitrable Darkness 2. Internal Light in the Eye in which the visive Power consists if this be extinguish'd the clearest Light of Heaven is of no use for the discovery of Things Thus the Understanding is enabled to see Spiritual Things 1. By the revelation of the Object in this respect Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel Till that bright discovery was made of Eternal Blessedness it was above the desires and hopes of sinful Man Coelum homo nec optare poterat ex ignorantia nec sperare ex propriae miseriae conscientia 2. By the inward inlightning from the Spirit of Wisdom that removes the Ignorance Prejudice and Inadvertency of the Mind which as Scales darkned its Sight and disposes it to perceive the verity and excellency of spiritual and future Things though not with comprehensive evidence yet with that assurance that no doubtfulness or suspence remains concerning them 'T is observable that Faith is exprest in Scripture by Prudence Wisdom and Knowledg whereby a Man knows the grounds and motives of his Judgment and Actions And Sin is called Folly For as when the understanding Faculty either from the indisposedness of the Organs as in Idiots or from the disorder of Fancy by the inflammation of the Humours as in distracted Persons cannot weigh and compare and therefore makes a perverse judgment of things so the carnal Mind by not due measuring and pondering judges falsly of Spiritual Things If something no bigger than the Hand were put before the Eye it would intercept the Sight of the Heavens and he that not considering the properties of things near and distant should conclude that piece to be bigger than the Heavens were justly reputed a Fool. And the Folly of carnal Men is more gross who prefer things present to Sense before what is future and of everlasting consequence to the Soul But there are some actions which if done by a Natural would be counted Folly yet being done by those who in the reputation of the World are Wise are esteemed Prudent but they are the most deplorable Folly Now as the restoring the Laesum principium the broken Mind to its sound State whereby 't is able to consider discern and conclude of things according to their Nature such is the action of God's Spirit upon the corrupt Mind clarifying and enlightning it so that it receives full conviction by the clearest marks of divine Authority shining in the Gospel of the Truth of all the great and precious Promises therein contained and causing it by a steddy application of the Thoughts to see the vast difference between what is Temporal and Eternal how despicably light all the Vanities of this World are found when put in the Ballance against the infinite inestimable Happiness of the next In short the renewed Mind knows Spiritual Things according to their Nature and Qualities believes esteems and determins that they are of Eternal moment and absolutely necessary for the Happiness of Man And as when the natural Faculty of seeing is perish'd 't is irreparable by human Skill and without a Miracle can never be restored so the intellectual Faculty when darkned by sinful Lusts without the renewing power of the Spirit can never know Spiritual Things as they ought to be known Therefore as the blind Men in the Gospel who dispair'd of help from the Physicians hearing of the miraculous Power of Christ importunately begg'd his healing Mercy so let us pray to the Light and Saviour of the World but in a more noble and higher Sense Lord that we may receive our sight Let us with the most zealous Affections call upon the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory that he would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him the Eyes of our understanding being inlightned that we may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints 2. The efficacious Influence of the Holy Spirit is requisite to change the Will that with a free and full consent it may desire and prosecute the Spiritual Eternal Good Without this the conviction of the Mind is not powerful enough to convert the Soul from the love of the World to choose Heaven There may be an inlightned Conscience without a renewed Heart Though the Judgment assents that God is the Supream Good yet till the Heart be circumcised the sensuality of the Affections taken away divine Love that directs the Life to God as our blessed End can never possess it Suppose that Men had a sensible and strong assurance of the Eternal State hereafter if all those who lived godly in a visible manner ascended with Elias to Heaven and if all who continued in their Sins visibly descended into Hell as Corah and his Company were swallowed up alive by the Earth before the Israelites if Men could hear the joyful Exultations of the Saints above their high Praises of God and hear the desperate Crys and deep Complaints of the Damned if one according to the desire of the rich Man were sent from Hell and with his Fiery Tongue should preach a Sermon of those Torments not describing them at a distance but by a sensible demonstration in himself yet this alone were not sufficient to draw off their Hearts from the deceitful Happiness of this World and fasten them on the perfect and Eternal Happiness in the next Indeed they could not then indulge their Lusts so securely but they would be Strangers to the Life of God such an inveterate alienation of Heart is in Men from real Holiness Till the sanctifying Spirit by a directive persuasive Light that represents the Truth and Goodness of Spiritual Things transforms the Soul and makes it Spiritual in its Valuations and Affections 't is inwardly averse from Grace and Glory The Lord direct our Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS * Beatitudo est bonorum omnium complexio secretis omnibus malis Cicer. †Quicquid illis congesseris non finis erit cupiditatum sed gradus Sen. ‖ Nullum
that makes them grow the faster And that a Mercy so ready to pardon did not produce in them a correspondent affection of grateful obedient Love but by the most unworthy provocations they pluckt down the Vengeance due to obstinate Rebels will so enrage the Damned against themselves that they will be less miserable by the Misery they suffer than by the conviction of their torn Minds that they were the sole Causes of it What Repentings will be kindled within them for the stupid neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and earnestly offered to them What a fiery addition to their Torment that when God was so willing to save them they were so willful to be Damned They will never forgive themselves that for the short and mean Pleasures of Sense which if enjoyed a thousand years cannot recompence the loss of Heaven nor requite the pains of Hell for an Hour they must be deprived of the one and suffer the other for ever 4. The Sorrow and Rage will be increased by Dispair for when the wretched Sinner sees the Evil is peremptory and no Outlet of Hope he abandons himself to the violence of Sorrow and by cruel Thoughts wounds the Heart more than the fiercest Furies in Hell can This Misery that flows from dispair shall be more fully opened under the distinct consideration of the Eternity of Hell And as from Dispair the condemned Creature turns Enemy to himself so to God 'T is said of the Worshippers of the Image of the Beast that they gnawed their Tongues for Pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains The Torment and Blasphemies of those impenitent Idolaters are a representation of the state of the Damned where the just and dreadful Wrath of God upon Men and the impious Rage of Men against God is in the highest degrees For when the guilty Sufferers are so weak that they neither by Patience can sustain their Torments nor by Strength resist the Power that inflicts them yet are wicked and stubborn they are irritated by their Misery and foam out Blasphemies against the righteous Judg. They hate God with a direct Enmity and are always under his invincible tormenting Power Hatred takes pleasure in Revenge either real or imaginary The Damned Wretches were they as Omnipotent to Effect as they are malicious to Desire would dethrone God and destroy his Being But he is infinitely above the transports of their Fury All their rancorous cursed imprecations are reflexively pernicious to themselves like Arrows shot up against the Sun that fall down upon their Heads that shot them Now what more inrages a stubborn malicious Spirit than to be utterly unable to reach and hurt an irreconcileable Enemy the object of its habitual detestation Briefly as the blessed Spirits are in Heaven and Heaven is in them by those holy and joyful Affections that are always exercised in the Divine Presence so the Damned are in Hell and Hell is in them by those fierce and miserable Passions that continually prey upon them 4. The Eternity of their Misery makes it above all other Considerations intollerable Our Saviour repeats it thrice in the space of a few Verses to terrify those who spare some favourite Corruption that in Hell their Worm dies not and the Fire is never quenched God will never reverse his Sentence and they shall never change their State How willingly would carnal Men raze the Word Eternal out of the Scriptures but to their grief they find it joined with the Felicity of Heaven and the Torments of Hell The second Death has all the terrible qualities of the first but not the ease and end it brings to Misery All the Tears of those forlorn Wretches shall never quench one spark of the Fire Where are the delicious Fair the Musick the Purple and all the carnal Delights of the rich Man they are all changed into a contrary state of Misery and that state is fixt for ever From his vanishing Paradise he descended into an everlasting Hell In this the Vengeance of God is infinitely more heavy than the most terrible execution from Men. Human Justice and Power can inflict but one Death that will be soon dispatcht upon a Malefactor worthy to suffer a hundred Deaths if he be condemned to the Fire they cannot make him live and die together to burn and not be consumed But God will so far support the Damned in their Torments that they shall always have Strength to feel though no Strength to endure them Those extream Torments which would extinguish the present Life in a Moment shall be suffered for ever This Consideration infinitely aggravates the Misery For the lost Soul rackt with the fearful Contemplation of what it must suffer for ever feels as it were at once all the Evils that shall torment it in its whole duration The perpetuity of the Misery is always felt by prevision This is as the cruel breaking of the Bones upon the Wheel when the Soul is tormented by the foresight of Misery that without allays shall continue in the circulation of Eternal Ages To make this more sensible let us consider that pain makes the Mind observant of the passing of the hours In Pleasures Time with a quick and silent motion insensibly slides away but in Troubles the Hours are tedious in violent pains we reckon the minutes as long 'T is observable how passionately the afflicted Psalmist complains Will the Lord cast off for ever Will he be favourable no more Doth his Promise fail for evermore Hath he forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies In what various pathetic forms does he express the same Affection Though he had assurance that the gracious God would not be always severe yet his anguish forc'd from him complaints as if the moment of his Trouble were an Eternity But what strains of Sorrow are among the Damned who besides the present sence of their Misery have always in their Thoughts the vast Eternity wherein they must suffer it When three terrible Evils were propounded to David's choice pining Famine for three years or bloody War for three Months or devouring Pestilence for three days he chose the shortest though in it self the heaviest Evil. Many sad Days must pass under the other Judgments where Death by anticipation in such variety of Shapes would be presented to the Mind that the lingring expectation of it would afflict more than the sudden stroke whereas the fury of the Pestilence would be soon over But the Damned have not this relief but shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever How earnestly do they seek for Death but cannot find it what a favour would they esteem it to be annihilated For certainly if when the Evils in the present State are so multiplyed that no Comfort is left or so violent that the afflicted Person cannot enjoy them and refresh his sorrowful Spirit Death is chosen rather than Life it cannot be imagined that in the