either of eternal happiness or misery But such was the stupid folly of Dives that to dye was the least of his care and the least in his mind His chief study was what he should eat drink and put on what sort of pleasures would best suit with and accommodate his senses In sine his happiness was fixed in these perishing enjoyments and so fondly imagined his condition immutable But behold a woful change of things In the midst of his carnal security death steps in an unwelcome Guest a frightful Spectrum and irresistably hauls him from all his darling repasts and crouds him into the Region of damned Spirits Now he that was cloathed with Purple and fine Linnen is inveloped in devouring and unquenchable flames he that fared sumptuously and deliciously every day is confined to a loathsom dungeon and doomed to suster those intolerable preparations And to enhance his Misery Lazarus whom he uncharitably denyed the crumbs which fell from his Table and without any reluctancy permitted to faint languish and dye at his Gates is at a distance presented to his view lying in Abrahams bosom crowned with glory and encircled with the rades of eternal bliss To Abraham he addresses himself Pity my hard fate consider my woful condition see how the flames scorch and torment me see how my tongue is parched with heat I am so miserably afflicted that I cannot express my self I pray thee therefore to send Lazarus with a drop of water to abate the anguish and allay the throbbing of my enflamed tongue So great and vehement are the plagues of Hell that the damned Spirits there cry continually for help and succour but are not pitiable Objects having withstood the frequent tenders of grace and mercy Now from the words of the Text we learn First That as the Souls of true Believers when they go out of their Bodies launce into a fixed state of happiness so the Souls of wicked men immediately upon separation go into a fixed state of misery We no sooner read of the Rich Man being dead and buried but it follows And in Hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment Secondly That it will be a great part of the misery of the damned to understand those to be in Heaven whom they in this life scorned reproached and abused and it may be were instruments of hastening them to those blessed Mansions It was doubtless an aggravation of the rich Mans torments to see Lazarus in Abrahams bosom that Lazarus whom be did brow-beat and suffered to perish with hunger at his own Gates Thirdly That there will come a time when the most proud and ambitious sinners would gladly be relieved by the meanest Saints Father Abraham says the rich Man send Lazarus the very same who begg'd at my Gates for the crumbs which fell from my Table Fourthly That the state of the damned will be void of the least degrees of comfort The rich Man desired but the cooling of his tongue with as much water as could be brought upon the tip of Lazarus's finger Lastly That the Tongue is a Member the abuse of which in another life will lye very heavy upon lost Souls The chief member which the rich man complained was most afflicted was his Tongue send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and could my tongue Intolerable are those preparations in the other miserable world But concerning the former of these First That the Souls of wicked men as-soon as they go out of their bodies pass into a fixed state of misery Which we learn from the former part of the Text The rich man also dyed and was buried and in Hell he lift up his eyes being in torments That is his Soul was hurried by evil Spirits into a state of misery His Body we read dyed and was honourably and splendidly buried in the Earth and there must rest till the great Creator bids it rise in the last day and then shall be re-united to its particular Spirit and both share alike in those unconceivable torments which God has prepared for ungodly men It is therefore an idle fancy of some who conceit that the Soul sleepeth together with the Body and remaineth unactive and insensible as the body The Soul being a Spirit cannot be subject to death and though its agility is much restrained while confined in the body yet as soon as it is delivered it swiftly returns to its own place carried either by good Angels into a state of happiness or by evil Spirits into a place of torments And such is the opinion of the wise man Eccles 12.7 The dust that is the body so termed from the matter of which it is compounded returneth to the Earth again as it was and the Soul to him that gave it to be sentenced either to dwell with God or damned Spirits for ever And though the happiness and misery of departed Souls is not compleat at the highest perfection till that day wherein Christ will come in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels to judge all the world yet this no way favours the Romish Doctrine which insinuateth a Purgatory a place where departed Spirits are purged by fire and by the fervency of prayer may be redeemed from thence a most pernicious principle As the tree falls so it lyes After this life which is the time of Tryal and Probation a fixed state either of bliss or torment commences And a good Soul cannot then be deprived of happiness tho' not yet in the highest degree but with exceeding joy and a kind of holy impatience it waiteth for the Day of Judgment then to enter on the possession of those good things which God hath prepared for them who continue stedfast unmoveable always abounding in his work Nor on the other hand can a wicked Soul be ransomed from Hell tho' it be not yet in the midst of most exquisite torments but with dread and fear sadly looks for the great and terrible day wherein it must change its unhappy condition for a much worse Those Angels which kept not their first estate are reserved in chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day that is they are not yet afflicted with those punishments which they shall feel and endure when Christ comes to separate the Sheep from the Goats They are therefore said to tremble at the thoughts of a Judgment when Sentence shall pass upon them to be confined in those unhappy Residencies of Misery and to undergo the utmost fury of an Omnipotent God And tho' it is expressed that the Rich man being dead and buried in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torments we are not to understand him in that place of Misery which wicked men shall be doomed to in the General Judgment but in a state of despair of Mercy without any intermission of hope weeping and wailing for the loss of Heaven which Lazarus whom he reproached reviled and suffered to perish has a sure hope of A state of dread
were out upon thee when Death like an Executioner comes to seise and apprehend thee and hurry thee before the dreadful Tribunal where all thy past Actions must be examined all thy secret Sins laid open and a dreadful Sentence shall be immediately pronounced upon thee Is not the Consideration of this enough to prevail with Men who have their Wits about them to break off their Sins timely by Repentance and apply themselves to a serious thoughtfulness of their latter end Should a damned Spirit be permitted to come from the Region of Misery to tell thee how intolerable those Preparations are what Pain and Anguish those wretched Ghosts endure thou saist it may be that thou wouldst repent but if thou wilt not be convinced by the assertions of the Gospel it is to be presumed nothing besides can have effect upon thee as Abraham answered the rich Man in that Parable who desired him to send some Spirit to his surviving Bretheren to scare them to Repentance If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets they will not be persuaded though one rose from the dead Lastly And since we are promised all the assistance imaginable to fit us for those Mansions of Bliss let us not be so injurious to our selves as to be lacking on our parts Let us offer violence to our stubborn Wills wean our Affections from the objects of Sin and mortifie the Flesh till it is brought in subjection to the Spirit and intirely submissive to the Law of Reason Let us improve the means of Grace and be purely governed by the motions of God's Spirit What a comfortable Death will such a regular and well-managed Life produce All slavish fears misgivings frightful thoughts and terrible apprehensions will flee away and a prospect of the Heavenly Canaan will present it self we shall have a view of that glorious reception we are like to have which will sweeten the agonies of Death lift us up under the pressure of a sore Disease and carry us out of the World with a solid hope of entering into our Masters joy And here the Soliloquy of a Soul that is ready to pass out of this World into a better I a poor Creature of this World below I who have felt the troubles of this Mortal State been tortured by the Passions of Flesh and Blood Fears and Cares Despair and Hopes even I am going into a Heaven where none of these can enter where I shall be made happy with these Enjoyments which make God and Angels so I shall be made equal to the Angels in Heaven how far above them in my Happiness For what a value will the Experience of this World make me set upon the joys of another The sence and memory of Misery will make my Heaven double Oh! The mighty Raptures and Extasies this holy Soul falls into till it is swallowed up in uninterrupted Joys and holy Wonder And since there is far less trouble in Virtue than in Sin and since the Reward of each is so vastly different how blameable and worthy of Condemnation are they who refuse the former and chuse the latter Let none of us then for the sake of a few short-liv'd Pleasures run our selves in danger of being cast into a miserable Eternity wherein we shall sorely repent of our Inadvertencies and stubborn Perversenesses and wish we had been perswaded in time Let us therefore with our Church pray O Almighty God the Protector of all that trust in thee without whom nothing is strong nothing is holy increase and multiply upon us thy Mercy that thou being our Ruler and Guide we may so pass through things Temporal that we finally lose not the things Eternal And thus we beg for Jesus Christ's sake to whom with the Father and the ever Blessed Spirit be given all Honour Praise Thanksgiving and Obedience now henceforth and for evermore Amen SERMON VI. Luke XVI latter part of 22 verses The Rich man also died and was buried And in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torments and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom And he cried and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my Tongue for I am tormented in this flame WHen I enter'd upon these words you may remember I raised these following particulars from them As First That as the Souls of true Believers when they go out of their Bodies launch into a fixed state of Blessedness so the Souls of wicked men pass into a fixed state of Misery We no sooner read of the Rich man's being dead and buried but in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torment Secondly That it will be a great part of the misery of the damned to understand those to be in Heaven whom in this life they scorned reproached and abused and it may be were Instruments of hastening them to those blessed Mansions It was doubtless a great aggravation of the Rich man's misery when he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom that Lazarus whom he suffered to perish with hunger at his Gates Thirdly That the time will come when the most proud and ambitious Sinners would gladly be relieved by the meanest Saints Father Abraham says the Rich man send Lazarus the very same who begg'd for the crumbs which fell from my Table Fourthly That the state of the damned will be void of the least degrees of comfort The Rich man desired but the cooling of his Tongue but with as much Water as could be brought upon the tip of Lazarus 's finger Fifthly and lastly That the Tongue is a member the abuse of which in another life will lie very heavy upon lost Souls The chief member which the Rich man complained was most afflicted was his Tongue Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue As concerning the former of these That the Souls of wicked Men when they go out of their Bodies pass into a fixed state of misery I urged that though their punishment will not be compleat till the day of Judgment when Soul and Body shall be re-united and sentence pass upon them yet their condition is irreversible no changing it for a better but there they weep and howl for the loss of Heaven reproach themselves for their obstinate perversenesses in neglecting the opportunities and slighting the means of happiness and sadly expect the day of Judgment having too much Reason to believe they shall be cast and condemned at that formidable Audit Hence I told you the Devils are said to fear and tremble being convinced that they shall at the last reckoning be thrown into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone And therefore it is spoken by St. Jude concerning the fallen Angels that kept not their first Estate having violated those everlasting Laws given to them by their Creator They are reserved in chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day That is they are not in
Infidelity when the Word of God doth not take place convince Men of their Sins and happily bring them from under the power of Satan unto God And now I proceed to draw some Inferences from the whole and so conclude And here First We learn what a mighty Privilege and Advantage we are partakers of that Almighty God should honour us sinful Creatures with the declaration of his Will the which is a guide to conduct us through cragged and uneven ways a glass to discover our nakedness the spots and stains upon our Souls that we may wipe them out by repentance and a new life and a Lamp to light us to Heaven We might still have been bewildered with foolish fancies and gross illusions have followed the ignis fatuus of our heady Minds and run violently into the Ocean of Misery if God who careth for us and highly values our good had not set out this great illuminary his Word to bring us back and call us from the destruction we were ignorantly posting to What an esteem and veneration ought we to have then for the Scriptures How dear should they be to us We cannot read and meditate on them too often we cannot be too wise for Heaven nor too much acquainted with our selves Our selves are a great Mystery which requires a good Judgment a discerning Spirit and a sagacious Mind to comprehend and the Scriputres mightily help us in the knowledge of our selves by them as one of the Fathers has it all Men may be amended the weak strengthened and the strong confirmed so that surely there are none who are enemies to the reading of God's Word but such as either be so ignorant that they know not how wholsom and salvisick it is or else be so sick that they loath and stomach at the most comfortable and adapt Medicines to heal their malady or so ungodly that they would with all persons might continue in blindness and gross ignorance of God and themselves It is a lamentable consideration that the Bible which treateth of Mens salvation and teacheth them how they may make sure of Heaven should be so much slighted as it is that Novels Romantick Hisicries and Pedantick Poetry all but human Wit and Invention should be read with such attention and curiosity with an eager appetite and a well-pleased fancy and the Word of God which hath brought light and immortality into the World hurried over and slovenly perused as if it were a dull sapless and heavy composition not worth Mens while to carry in their memories It will turn to a dismal after-reckoning when God shall judge the contemners and despisers of his Oracles when they shall be tried by that Word which now they disdain and the threatnings therein denounced which now they laugh at shall be put in full execution better they had never heard of a Gospel or a Jesus Christ better they had lived in some dark corner of the earth where the Sun of righteousness never shined Secondly If we hope and wish for the continuance of God's Word among us if we would that it may be a savour of life unto life to us in fine if we would have that righteousness wherein we must stand before the Son of Man when he comes attended with his mighty Angels to judge the World and to determine every Mans final state then it highly concerns us to put a separate value upon the Scriptures to read them as the Oracles of God to believe them as the contents of his Will concerning us and to order our Lives and Conversations according as they direct us To revere them as they bring the glad tidings of Salvation and to admire them as they contain wonderful expressions of the Divine Love to us They instruct us how to behave our selves in all conditions of Life If we are rich they counsel us to be humble meek and condescending to be indifferently affected with our Wealth that we may not be too much incumbered with cares fears and uneasie jealousies which disturb the Mind distract the Thoughts and make Men unapt for the Kingdom of Heaven If we be poor the Bible even improves and sweetens an adverse state by counselling us to cast all our care upon God who careth for us to put our confidence in him to present our Pravers to him who if he grant not those things we pray for yet some other he knows most suitable and convenient for us and at last will reward us with the felicities of his Kingdom for our faith patience and continuing in well-doing In fine the Bible has a Salve for every Sore Medicaments of all sorts it cures blindness of Heart weakness of Judgment the inconstancy of Faith and makes a Christian such a one as God would have him to be Is then this Book to be slighted and thrown by as useless Can Men be unwilling to peruse and meditate upon it or think their time ill spent in reading it Can they be better imployed than in acquainting themselves with God's Will and searching how they may fullfil it How they may pass through this troublesom and vexatious World blameless that they may commence a happy and blessed Eternity What can be compared with the Soul And what loss so irreparable as the loss of it Insomuch that our Saviour says What will it avail a Man if he had the Worlds wealth every thing that is great good and desirable in it and lose his Soul All that he has cannot make him satisfaction or repair his damage What therefore should be every Mans study so much as to provide for the after state of his Soul to read and ponder the ways and means he must use to prepare his Soul for the embraces of the Father of Spirits How melancholy soever Men may think it is to fill their Minds with the thoughts of Death Judgment and Eternity yet when they come to die they will earnestly wish themselves well provided for their Voyage into another World Let them therefore lose no time in health but read diligently meditate seriously and practise conscionably the Word of God which by Divine Grace and their own endeavours will make them wise unto Salvation Finally and to conclude As we are Christians let us have a special regard to God's Word and with the Psalmist hide it in our hearts that we may not sin against our Maker Let it be our Counsellor our Guide and Director that all our Actions Words and Thoughts may be pure and blameless And that we may thus order our steps let us pray as our Church O Blessed Lord who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our Learning grant that we may in such-wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting Life which thou hast given us in thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the ever Blessed Spirit be given all
it so falls out that thou shouldst out-live thy Happiness see thy self stripp'd of all thy Pomp and Riches thou mayest justly expect to meet with hard and severe usage for besides the many Reflections which would certainly be cast upon thee that this sad Catastrophe and dismal change of things is a just Judgment upon thee for thy Pride Arrogance Self-conceitedness and Uncharitableness during thy Prosperity Men would be so far from pittying thy downfall and considering thy necessities that rather they would reproach thee for thy Poverty and laugh at thy Calamities The World is apt to remember faults and never at a better time than when Men are fallen to decay and stand in special need of common help then the generality lay their heads together and recount as many failings which may harden them against a charitable disposition but enough for the second general thing namely That Riches are strong Temptations to Pride Haughtiness and Uncharitableness The other remaining Topick namely That Poverty is a most despicable state and renders a Man most vile and mean in the Eye of the World drawn from the miserable condition of Lazarus and the base usage shewn him in his Low Circumstances By the Rich Man shall be my business the next opportunity I now proceed to make some special Use of what hath been said at this time and so conclude And the first Use is That if Riches are such Lures and strong Temptations it should serve for an Admonition to those who are blessed with them that they do not set too great a value upon them nor hugg them with too much eagerness and desire that they labour to make their love of Wealth subservient to their love of Heaven and heavenly things that they learn to admire and adore their Creator who has cast their Lott in a fair Heritage and rightly understand his wise and holy Purpose in crowning them with Prospeperity that Riches are not given to spend them upon our Lusts to live sumptously every day to trifle our time in ease Idleness and security this is the abusing of Riches No no they are given to more excellent ends To encourage us in our Duty to give our Children good Education to help the Fatherless and Widow the Oppressed Stranger it is sad to consider how Lavish and Prodigal many are whom fate has blest with plenty and store laying out vast sums in beautifying buildings dainty fare and well furnished Wardrobes and the like while the poor perish at their Gates Dives was so taken up with his various and extravagant Diversions that he could spare no time or rather would not to hear the doleful complaints of distressed Lazarus or to see consider and relieve his necessities He was cloathed in Purple and fine Linnen his belly filled with the best of Provisions and therefore considered not what it was to be Hungry Thirsty Naked and Friendless he was not tormented with that sharp Thorn which so miserably afflicted Lazarus that he cryed Oh! fill my craving Stomach with the crumbs that fall under thy Table with those superfluous morsels which are thy Dogs Food I desire not that which thou feedest upon nothing else but the worst bit thy Servants leave this is my request this I should be glad of and without some speedy relief I shall faint and drop and perish at thy Gates This dismal story no way affected this Inexorable wretch but he rather chid him for his importunity than pitied him for his poverty One would have thought that such expressions as these were enough to have pierced the most obdurate heart and to have melted it down into compassion but such is the unhappy proof of an heart enamoured with and inseparably fixed upon Riches Let it therefore be a caveat to those who are favoured with the smiles of fortune that they do not reckon too much upon their prosperous condition nor be too much in love with it Secondly The second Use is That since Riches are apt to seduce and betray men tempt them to forget God and themselves let those whose fortunes are mean in the world learn to be content in their State They have the more leisure to look after the concernments of their Souls and to provide for their long Journey into Eternity they are free from abundance of cares fears and troubles they are not perplexed with contriving how to purchase such an Estate nor over-whelmed with the fear of losing it but have many fair opportunities of preparing themselves for the embraces of the Father of Spirits Therefore Christian grudge not that thy Portion in this life is so narrow if thou art brought to a morsel of bread to a draught of water yet even this is enough to bear thy charges to Heaven But if thou art not so fortunate to be Master of this meaner Diet thy life will be only the shorter and possibly God keeps thee short here that he may plentifully reward thee hereafter Heaven is sufficient to make thee satisfaction for all thy sufferings in Gods presence there is fulness of Joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore To be received into that capacious world where are all the instances of Joy all the ingredients of felicity to have all thy faculties enlarged to the end they may relish those hidden Comforts to know and understand the methods of providence and to be made acquainted with the Arcana Imperii the secrets of Heaven In a word to possess all that that is good lovely and desirable and that for ever The consideration of this is enough to bear us up under the sorest Tryals and most pressing Calamities To conclude let us all endeavour to answer the end of God in whatsoever condition we are if we be Rich let us be Humble Meek and Modest Affable Courteous and Charitable if Poor Content Thankful and Holy Now to the mighty Governour of the world who loveth Mankind and giveth to all men according to his Infinite Wisdom be given the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Soli Deo Gloria SERMON II. Luke XVI Ver. 19 20 21. Ver. 19. There was a certain rich man which was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and faired sumptuously every day Ver. 20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gates full of sores Ver. 21. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich mans table moreover the dogs came and licked his sores AFter a plain and familiar descant upon this part of the Parable in my last Discourse to the end it might be more emphatical and taking I proceeded to Division and told you That these words were separated into two Parts The first Being a brief Narrative of a rich Man's general course of living that he lives softly arrays himself splendidly and fareeth sumptuously every day The second A description of the miseries which attend an impoverish'd state namely Hunger Thirst declension of Health Contempt and the like
it not to me and in denying of them ye deny'd me and their cause I will espouse and therefore go ye carsed into everlasting fire But Thirdly From the death of Lazarus we learn to be content with our Condition tho' never so mean and to keep our selves in the Exercise of Religion tho' we are deprived of this Worlds goods Lazarus tho' he was Hungry and Thirsty his Soul fainted in him tho' he was Naked and full of Sores yet he murmured not but committed himself to God to whom his Soul was carried by the Angels as soon as separated from his Body It is excellent to be Poor and Virtuous for it argues the strongest Faith the best Hope and the best Affections because there are not those outward encouragements to Goodness in Adversity as Prosperity Poverty is look'd upon as a kind of Judgment as if God hates the Person and therefore makes him an Object of Scorn and Infamy so that he is apt to be discouraged and can do nothing else but bewail and lament his unhappy circumstances sit drooping and pausing on his low condition But however the Scripture has well inform'd us that God Almighty means no ill towards his Creatures and that when he changes things and removes Prosperity from the Door it is only to try them how they will manage themselves upon an alteration what kind of nature they will appear to have whether they will make application to him and carry themselves in all Duty and Allegiance towards him And since such is God's Wise design it is but very reasonable that we should be as Good and Vertuous when poor as well as when rich especially considering that we deserve nothing at the Hands of God nothing but Fury and everlasting Damnation Besides the advantage of Piety Is a Man poor and low in the World it doth improve and sweeten even that State It keepeth his Spirits up above dejection desperation and disconsolateness it frees him from all grievous solicitude vnd anxiety shewing him that altho' he seemeth to have little yet he may be assured to want nothing he having a certain Succour and never-failing supply from God's good Providence that notwithstanding the present straightness of his condition or scantiness of outward things he has a title to goods infinitely more precious and more considerable To conclude Let it be our main imploy to improve our Judgments and Understandings in things Spiritual that we may have right notions of God such as become the perfections of his Nature and the excellency of his Goodness that in whatsoever state and condition we are we may glorifie his Name And thus when we have conquer'd our selves and brought our Minds to a settlement in the ways of Holiness we shall resign our Concernments with more freedom to God's wise disposal and be submissive to his Laws whatever our condition be May God assist us by the influences of his Grace and blessed Spirit so to order and govern our Natures that we may love him freely believe in him stedfastly and serve him faithfully to our lives end And this for Jesus Christs sake to whom with the Father and ever blessed Spirit be given all Honour Praise Thanksgiving and Obedience now henceforth and for ever more Amen SERMON IV. Luke XVI part of the 22 Verse And was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom HAving in my last Discourse treated of the Death of Lazarus and particularly considered what were the immediate causes of his death the manner and circumstance of his dying and how his dead body was probably disposed of My Text now leads me to consider the state and condition of his Soul after separation from the Body It was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom Many differ in their sentiments about this Expression and have conceived Witty and Learned Notions of it but yet seem to agree in this that by Abrahams bosom is meant Heaven and the Reason of this phrase is Abraham is stiled The Father of the Faithful and while he lived a very Hospitable person to him was the Soul of Lazarus convey'd as a Sanctuary of Rest and Peace the just reward of his patience during his great want and heavy conflicts Some urge it as a Metaphor from Parents who imbosom and hug their Children when tired by running to and fro or have met with some hurtful mischance and come weeping and lamenting themselves A very adapt Parallel The Soul of poor Lazarus was grieved and wearied with Fastings and Miseries perplexed and overwhelm'd with sorrows for the cruel treatment he met with in the world it was therefore conducted by the Heavenly Courtiers into Abraham's bosom to be succour'd and made amends for past indignities He was carried by the Angels As if they contended who should usher it into Paradise Now Lazarus thou recountest with triumph the difficulties thou hast rubb'd through the afflictions thou hast endured the shame pain and ignominy thou hast undergone for Christs sake Now thou art made acquainted with the Arcana Imperii the secrets of the other happy World and rejoycest with joy unspeakable and full of glory Nothing shall interrupt thy peace nor call thee off from thy enjoyments but there thou shalt swim in rapturous pleasures for evermore This may serve to prevent those who are in sorrow trouble or any other adversity from reflecting upon the Divine Justice as if he unequally distributed his Mercies In this life it matters not whether his Servants be accommodated with sublunary affluences or no since he has prepared a wide and capacious Heaven to receive and replenish them wherein are all the instances of Joy all the ingredients of felicity and nothing else to the contrary all that can caress our powers all that can ravish our hearts all that is good lovely desirable is there to be compendiously enjoyed But to traverse the Text The Soul of Lazarus was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom or Heaven Which words afford us this matter First That the Angels are imploy'd to convey the Souls of true Believers into a fixed state of blessedness And to prove this granting that there are such Beings as Angels because the Scriptures often speak of them I shall First of all Undertake to shew their Offices as relating to God's faithful Children in this life Secondly The great love and kindness they have for mankind First then I am to distinguish their Offices as relating to God's faithful Children in this life They are called in Heb. 1. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation The word Angel signifies an Ambassador which is sent upon another's Errand and in Scripture sense it is restrainedly taken for a select divine sort of Emissaries Spiritual Beings created commissioned and employed by and under God Now first it is part of the Angels Employment upon any urgency to reveal God's mind and will and to bring Embassies from him to us for our instruction and
and fear being too well convinced that he must take up his Eternal Abode with Devils and damned Fiends A state of Torment too his Conscience sadly bringing to his remembrance that he played away the Day of Grace and wilfully rejected the Methods of Eternal Happiness That he was too much taken up with the Pomp and Pride of life spending all his time in catering for his Body cloathing it with Purple and fine Linnen and gorging it with delicious fare but had no regard to his Soul which must live for ever This is Torment inexpressible to reflect on those things which cannot possibly be retrieved to repent and wish he had not been so foolish without the least hope of pardon to sigh and sob groan and howl without pity We may in some measure conceive the uneasiness of this kind of Torment in some who are so unfortunate to be in such an ill frame of spirit as to imbibe unworthy thoughts of God that he is an inxorable Being that he delighteth in the Miseries of his People and will not be intreated for pardon after such an advancement in sin no though they seek it with flouds of tears with many prayers and penitential groans What an Hell is there within the Breasts of these dejected Souls What an abundance of melancholy and frightful thoughts invade their minds how do they wander hither and thither like despairing Ghosts as if Sentence was already past upon them Humane Conversation or other sublunary delights and pleasures become dull and flatulent Now if in this life such an unhappy frame of spirit occasioned either by strength of fancy or too much tenderness of spirit does disorder and confuse the mind and make men their own Tormentors tho' there is yet hopes of forgiveness from God how infinitely more vexatious and afflicting must it needs be in the other World to reflect that the time of Mercy is past and that God will certainly pass Sentence of Eternal Death upon the Soul having no Advocate to plead nor any Vertues to render it an Object of Mercy And here by way of Digression we will suppose the Cryes the woful Complaints of the Rich man's Soul in the other World he is unexpectedly snatched away from all his Pomp and Greatness and surpriz'd into the wide World of Despairing Ghosts Whither am I hurried Oh the doleful sighs and unutterable groans I hear Mercy Mercy but there is none Cursed be my folly in living without a thought of this unhappy Region Cursed be my heart for loving so much the World and worldly things cursed be my avaricious humour in retaining of pelf as if I was never to die cursed be my hands that would not liberally dispence to poor Lazarus O that I was but to live my time over again I would alter my very Nature and make amends for all the wrongs I have done Father Abraham be moved by my recantation pity me who am thus tormented Let Lazarus whom it repenteth me that I did not consider and relieve when it was in my power come with some cooling drops and allay my anguish O that I had never been born that I had given a groan and dyed in my Mothers Womb May that day be darkness wherein it was said I was brought forth Cursed be my Father that begat me cursed be my Mother that bare me cursed be the Place wherein I was Educated cursed be the Purple and fine Linnen that cloathed me the delicious Meats which nouvished me and the Estate that made me live secure and thoughtless till I was surprized into this place of weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth But thus much for the first thing namely that the Souls of wicked Men as soon as they go out of their Bodies pass into a fixed state of misery tho' not the extremity of it till the day of Judgment yet it is irreversible for there is no returning into this life again I pass on to the second general thing namely Secondly That it will be a great part of the misery of the Damned to understand those to be in Heaven whom they in this life scorned reproached and abused and it may be were Instruments of hastening them to those blessed Mansions It was doubtless an aggravation of the Rich Man's torments to see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom that Lazarus whom he formerly Brow-beat and suffered to perish with Hunger at his Gates This Vision could not but enhance his rage he that was but a Beggar the very abject of Mankind he that bowed and cringed for a little sustenance and was the most despicable Object in Nature he that would have been glad of the crumbs which fell from my Table Is he thus advanced into Glory And I who once was of great repute and had all things that were great good and desirable thus sunk into the depth of Disgrace and inveloped in a sad and woful Eternity O wretched change of things Doubtless it will be brought to the memory of the Damned how cruelly despitefully and disdainfully they have treated the Servants of God in this Life and fill them with rage and passion For if Hell be a place wherein are all the instances of torment the perfection of misery it must follow that whatsoever may tend to the unhappiness of those cursed inhabitants will be eternally present with them not only the outward Senses such as the Sight the Ear the Smell the Taste and Touching shall be proportionably tormented but the inferior faculties also First The Imaginative Faculty shall be perplexed with horrid Idea's more terrible and affrighting than the most melancholy fancy in their Dreams and shall be hurried into strange consternations surprized into a kind of convulsive delirium it shall never conceive a Notion but what may disturb disquiet and make it unconceiveably uneasie Secondly The Appetites shall be tormented with the fury of their own passions and shall issue out after a vehement manner namely fears heaviness irksomness agonies anger desperations envyings out-rages with such a cruel War among themselves that they shall clash and make most horrid noises Thirdly The Intellectual Memory shall be tormented with a continual and fixed Recordation of the many opportunities and advantages there once were of getting to Heaven the many offers of Grace which have been stubbornly refused the many affronts and injuries that have been offered to God and his Saints the good things it formerly possessed the evils it suffers at present and those it must painfully endure to all Eternity So that it cannot think or imagine any thing but what will grieve and torment it Fourthly The Understanding shall be darkned without being able to discourse or understand any thing that may please it it shall be full of Errors and Illusions pondering and exaggerating his own Evils and judging with a furious boldness that God Almighty doth him wrong Fifthly The Will shall be obstinate and obdurate in his sins and in the hatred of God and his Saints without being able to be appeased or
be cut off nay to be Rack'd or to have all the Instruments of tortures apply'd to him than to be cast both Soul and Body into Hell where the Worm dies not and the fire is not quenched The sence of a greater does divert a lesser affliction and hereby Men are more appeased under unhappy circumstances when they see others more rigorously dealt with and proclaim their grievances with hideous cries groans and fearful lamentations In like manner a view by thought of the other miserable World and the pains and agonies the Damned there do suffer will make Men bear any temporal affliction with more patience and submissiveness Thirdly and Lastly We learn from the consideration that God has prepared a Hell to torment and pain those who die in enmity with him to hate every sin since it produces so woful an effect This is it which God abhors and therefore has contrived unconceiveable Plagues to punish it Now he manifests his aversion to sin by menacing it with future torments but hereafter his threats will be put in execution in raining down indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul that dies in an impenitent state Where is the sence then of sporting our selves in vicious repasts if we are like to pay so dear in another World for it What is a Man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul What if he were as Wealthy as Croesus as Great as Alexander had the whole Universe and all the Delights and Pleasures thereof at his beck if when he dies he must descend into the Regions of Sorrow and be locked up in the Prison of Hell for ever and ever What will it avail him that once he was Rich and Honourable since now all the Goods that ever he had are converted into flames Hell comprehends a deprivation of all Good and the presence of every Evil and one would imagine that the very thoughts of it were enough to damp Mens spirits and to make them carefully shun the breach of their Innocence that they would caution them against Temptations and fill their Minds with Wise Considerations When Men draw so near to a woful Eternity that they can as it were look over to it when they see the Grim and Terrible Serjeant Death coming to hale them into another World then they will be terrified and amazed and cry out against those sins they formerly delighted in and will wish they had been so wise for themselves to have considered the unhappy and fatal consequences of Vice that they might have avoided it in time of health and strength And why will not Sinners come to a serious and a right frame of Mind now since they know they shall repent of those things with shame and sorrow which now they glory in when they lie languishing If therefore we would escape those punishments which God Almighty has prepared in the other miserable World let us so meditate and pause upon them as to shun those things which are threatned with the second Death Therefore Beloved since ye know these things beware lest ye fall from your stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and ever Blessed Spirit be given all Honour Praise Thanksgiving and Obedience now henceforth and for evermore Amen SERMON VII Luke XVI 25 26. But Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence THis is the Answer to the Rich Man's foregoing Request That Abraham would send Lazarus with a drop of Water to cool his Tongue Abraham gives him the Title of Son either as he was lineally descended from him or as he was a Member of that Church of which he was the Father So he terms him by way of Irony or Exprobration that he might Remember as an addition of his misery how basely he degenerated from the practice and example of the Father of the Faithful the advantages and opportunities of being happy he neglected and his folly in contenting himself with the bare denomination of being a Member of the Church of Christ Remember that in the other life thou enjoyedst the upper and the nether Springs hadst all the comfortable Accommodations the World could present thee with and in them all thy happiness was fixed thy heart and affections were wholly taken up with the pomp and pride of Life thou hadst no regard to nor value for the things of another world thou hadst neither reverence for God the Author and Giver of thy store nor common compassion for thy Fellow-Creatures driven to poverty and extream want Therefore art thou now tormented a wretched and pitiless Object Not because of thy riches but because thou didst not employ them to those ends and purposes for the which they were bestowed upon thee Lazarus whom thou desirest to cool thy Tongue shall not bring thee the least comfort because thou wert so stubborn and hard-hearted to deny him the crumbs which fell from thy Table He was poor and despicable appeared like one forsaken had neither Friends nor Wealth but embracing such a poor condition with patience and thankfulness is now made amends for all and enjoys all that can caress his powers all that can ravish his heart all that is good lovely and desirable But besides there is a great gulf fixed between you and us that there is not a possibility for the Saints to come to you nor for you to come to us both states are determined Thou therefore must endure hunger and thirst and the other direful torments in Hell without pity or succour and Lazarus shall enjoy the sweet and ravishing entertainments of Heaven without lett or hinderance where no satiety shall ever render his fruition lothsom or tedious no sad circumstances imbitter his delights nor any temptation disturb or molest him But Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art termented And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence From which words we are advised First of all That it will be a great aggravation of the misery of the damned to consider and recollect the former means and advantages they have been under for Salvation if they have descended from godly Parents or have been Members of the Church of Christ initiated thereinto by Baptism and have made an open acknowledgement of its Faith and Doctrines Son says Abraham to the rich Man remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things Secondly
we come to dye we forrowfully discover that we are nothing the better for these mighty helps not a whit qualified for the enjoyment of God no more than if we never heard of a Gospel or Jesus Christ Then it will enrage us against our selves that from the hopes of Heaven we have precipitated our selves into a desparate state and for the gratification of a foolish lust have plunged our selves into the Ocean of misery It is therefore necessary that now I proceed in the last place to draw some Practical Inferences from what has been said and then close my Discourse And here First Will it be a great aggravation of the misery of the damned to consider and recollect the former means and advantages they have been under for Salvation if they have descended from godly Parents or have been Members of the Church of Christ initiated thereinto by Baptism and have made an open acknowledgment of its Faith and Doctrines let then the consideration of this warn us from slighting mis-using and neglecting these priviledges and happy advantages and lay a necessity upon us to joyn our own endeavours with these means that they may be a favour of life to us Neither the eminence of a fair and ingenuous Education nor the honour of being a Member of the Christian Church nor an open acknowledgment of its Institutions will be of any avail unless they work together by our own studious industry to the reforming of our lives correcting of our ruder passions and the reducing us to the evennesses of vertue and a good disposition Doubtless there are a great many in the Regions of despair and sorrow who had godly Parents and the advantage of a liberal Education were baptized into the Church of Christ and made an ample profession of its Doctrines and Truths Their torment is so far from being lessened because of these priviledges that it is infinitely enhaunced and aggravated as sadly remembring how happy they might have been what means of Salvation are quite lost and thrown away upon them It will not so much be the enquiry in the day of Judgment whether we were baptized as whether we have lived up to the Rule of God's word He is not a Jew who is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God says St. Paul Rom. 2.28 29. Thou mayest go down into Hell with the water of baptism in thy fore-head with the name of God in thy mouth for he is not affected with the ceremonial without the internal part of Religion Bodily worship separate from the concurrence of the heart he terms Impudent and bare-faced Hypocrisie as he speaks concerning the Oral Worship of the Pharisees Matth. 15.8 9. This people draweth nigh unto me with their Mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me and in vain do they worship me Tho' thou speakest with the tongue of Men and Angels though thou hast the gift of Prophecy and understandest all Mysteries and all Knowledge and though thou hadst all Faith so that thou couldst remove Mountains though thou bestowedst all thy goods to feed the poor and though thou givest thy body to be burned yet if thou doest not truly love God if thou art not conformable in Will and Affection to his Will and Law all this will profit thee nothing 1 Cor. 13.1 2 c. It must be a renewed mind estranged from the lusts and vanities of the world a new birth a life of grace and faith that will intitle us Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven and qualifie us for the society of Angels and beatified Spirits Secondly And is there no commerce or intercourse between glorified and damned Spirits The consideration of this should engage us to honour esteem reverence and kindly treat the Saints of God in this life To love them for their piety to converse with them for their example to be thankful to them for the many devout prayers they put up to God for our Reformation and Salvation to vindicate and justifie them against all the cavils slanders and reproaches of unreasonable and heady Men. How do they evidence their respect to us in fasting and praying in weeping and sighing and expostulating with God to avert his Judgments we deserve and bless us by pardoning of our sins and crowning us with Glory hereafter Let not a good man's poverty be a motion to contemn him for though he want the Accommodations of this life yet he is a chosen Heir to the Kingdom of Heaven and remember the good Offices he daily does for us If he be hungry feed him if he be thirsty give him drink if he be naked cloath him if he be sick minister to his infirmity if in prison visit him with comfortable refreshment For he that giveth to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water in the name of a Disciple shall in no wise lose his reward Matth. 10.42 It is a sad consideration that goodness shall not be preferred before riches that wealth must take place before piety What will that avail thee when thou art bidding adieu to the pleasures of earth and preparing to make thy personal appearance before the Judgment-seat of Christ Thou must bring nothing there but thy vertues or thy vices the Judge is no respecter of persons If thou be condemned there is nothing to prevent the execution of that irreversible sentence Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Poverty is honourable because Christ our Head chose to be poor and to despise that is to fling dirt into his face and reproach him from whom we expect eternal life Therefore how mean soever the Servants of God appear in this World how scanty soever their portion be let us respect them and do them all the kind Offices we can then at the last and final reckoning they will appear for us and declare the special acts of civility the tender compassionate services we have done them the respect and fingular regard we had for them and the generous treatments we exercise towards them then in the face of the whole world shall the Judge pronounce Come ye blessed Children of my Father receive a Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World For I was hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was naked and ye cloathed me I was a stranger and ye took me in I was sick and in prison and ye came unto me for as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Thirdly and Finally We knowing the terrours of the Lord let us be prevailed with to consider our present State to be perfectly acquainted with our selves how we have spent the former part of our lives