incapacity to perform them he cannot obey nor enjoy God Now the renewing of Man is called a Regeneration Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Verily I say unto you Vnless a Man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The reason of the Expression is because there is a new Nature spiritual holy and heavenly communicated different from the carnal polluted and earthly Nature derived from the first Adam And as the Relation of a Father results from the communicating a vital active Principle to another in that kind of Life like his own so God by making us Partakers of a Divine Nature of his Life and Image is stiled our Father Of his own Will beg at he us with the Word of Truth And we are said to be born again not of corruptible Seed but incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever By the Divine Influence the Word of God implants in them such Qualities and Dispositions whereby they resemble God are holy as he is holy in all manner of Conversation They are called godly as they are like him in their Minds Affections and Actions And to such God has the Heart and Eye of a Father to regard and relieve them in all their Exigencies Like as a Father pities his Children so the Lord pities them that serve him We are also the Children of God by Adoption This heavenly Privilege is obtained for us by the meritorious Sufferings of Christ and is founded in our Union with him God sent his Son that he might redeem them that were under the Law that they might receive the Adoption of Sons For his sake we are not only pardoned but preferr'd to this Heavenly Dignity 'T is worthy of Observation that the Degrees of our Redemption mentioned in Scripture have annex'd to them parallel degrees of our Adoption Thus when 't is said We are redeemed from the Curse of the Law 't is added That we might receive the Adoption of Sons When 't is said We are freed from the servile Spirit of the Law it follows We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And the Apostle tells us That the redemption of our Bodies from the bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God is our Adoption that is the manifestation of it before all the World Our Adoption is founded in our Union with Christ. A Member of Christ and a Son of God are the same 'T is therefore said As many as received him to them gave he Power or Privilege to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name And ye are all the Sons of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. This is the vital Band of our Union with Christ and invests us with his Relation to God When he was to leave the World he sends this comfortable Message to his Disciples Go tell my Brethren I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God His Relation has the precedence in Order Dignity and Causality He is God's own Son in a sense infinitely high and proper to himself To which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee The sublimest Prophet breaks forth with Wonder Who shall declare his Generation 'T is above our Capacity and Conception It becomes us to acquiesce in what the Scripture reveals He is the eternal Word and Wisdom of God the Brightness of his Father's Glory This is the most fit Comparison for as Light is productive of Light without any diminution so the Eternal Father communicated his Essence to the Son In short God is Christ's Father by Nature and God by Dispensation he is our God as the Author of Nature and our Father by Adoption Before I proceed it is fit to observe the Excellence of the Evangelical Adoption above the Civil Adoption among Men. 1. Adoption is a legal Act in imitation of Nature for the Comfort of those who are without Children But God had a Son the Heir of his Love and Glory His adopting Love is heightned by considering our Meanness and Vileness we are but a little breathing Dust worthless Rebels The Apostle cries out in a rapture of Admiration and Joy Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! If we consider the natural Distance between God and us as he is the Creator and we are the Works of his Hands 't is truly infinite but the moral Distance between the holy righteous God and the guilty polluted Creature is if it were possible more than infinite Love inconceivable That releases us from Bondage and adopts us into the Line of Heaven If we admire any thing of this World in comparison of it 't is a sign we have no share in this Privilege 2. Civil Adoption conveys no Praise-worthy Qualities into the Person that is adopted A King may adopt one to be his Son and the Heir of his Kingdom but cannot endow him with a Royalty of Spirit with ruling Wisdom with Justice and Equity Clemency and Bounty with Magnanimity and Fortitude that may qualify him to manage the Scepter The adopted Prince may be of a low sordid Disposition a Slave to his vile Lusts and designing to enslave others But all the adopted Sons of God are divinely renewed they are purified from defiling debasing Lusts and are adorn'd with all the Graces of the Spirit that God is not ashamed to be called their God and Father nor Christ ashamed to call them Brethren Now from this special Relation and Interest of God in the Saints there is a sure Foundation of their Trust in his saving Mercy David addresses himself to God for his preservation from imminent Danger I am thine save me As if his miscarrying would be a Loss to God who had so dear a Propriety in him I come now to the second thing that encourages the praying Faith of the Saints when they leave the World to commend their Souls to him His Perfections joined with his Relation His Love inclines his Truth engages and his Power enables him to bring them safely to Heaven 1. His Love This is the brightest Ray of the Deity the first and clearest Notion we have of God St. John tells us God is Love His Love cannot be fully express'd by the dearest Relations and Affections in Nature The Relation of Parents as 't is most deeply implanted in Nature so it implies the most cordial strong and tender Affection But as God is infinitely greater and better than earthly Parents so he equally excels them as in his Abilities so in his good Will to his Children Our Saviour directs us Call no Man Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven The Title and Love of a Father is peculiar to him Our Saviour argues If you that are evil know how to give good
A Funeral-Sermon FOR THE Reverend Holy and Excellent DIVINE Mr. Richard Baxter Who deceased Decemb. 8. 1691. WITH An Account of His LIFE By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1692. To the Right Worshipfull and his much Honoured Friend Sr Henry Ashurst Baronet SIR YOur Noble and Constant Kindness to Mr. Baxter Living and your Honourable Respect to him Dead have induced me to inscribe the following Memorial of him to your Name He was most worthy of your highest Esteem and Love for the first Impressions of Heaven upon your Soul were in Reading his unvalued Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest. This kindled a mutual Affection in your Breasts his Love was Directing Counselling and Exciting you to secure your Future Happiness your Love was Observant Gratefull and Beneficent to him The Sincerity and Generosity of your Friendship was very evident in your appearing and standing by him when he was so roughly and unrighteously handled by one who was the dishonour of this Ages Law whose Deportment in a high place of Judicature was so contrary to Wisdom Humanity and Justice that there need no foul words to make his Name odious Of this and your other Favours Mr. Baxter retain'd a dear and lasting Sense and in his dying hours declared that you had been the best friend he ever had He has finished his Course and received his Crown His Name will shine longer than his Enemies shall bark I cannot omit the mentioning that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter those incomparable Persons in their several Studies and dear Friends died within a short space of one another Mr. Boyle was engaged in the Contemplation of the Design and Architecture of the visible World and made rare discoveries in the system of Nature not for Curiosity and barren Speculation but to admire and adore the Perfections of the Deity in the Variety Order Beauty and marvellous Artifice of the Creatures that compose this great Universe Mr. Baxter was conversant in the invisible World his Mind was constantly applied to understand the harmonious Agreement of the Divine Attributes in the Oeconomy of our Salvation and to restore Men to the Favour and Image of God They are now admitted into the inlightned and purified Society above where the immense Volumes of the Divine Wisdom are laid open and by one glance of an eye they discover more perfectly the Causes Effects and Concatenation of all things in Heaven and Earth than the most diligent Inquirers can do here in a thousand years Study though they had the Sagacity of Solomon By the Light of Glory they see the face of God and are satisfied with his likeness for ever 'T is a high honour to you that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter should by their Last Will nominate you amongst their Executors It was the Saying of a Wise Roman Malo divi Augusti judicium quam beneficium I had rather have the Esteem of the Emperour Augustus than his Gifts for he was an understanding Prince and his Esteem was very Honourable to a Person That two who so excell'd in Wisdom and Goodness should commit to your Trust the disposal of their Estates for the Uses of Piety and Charity is a more noble Testimony of their Esteem of your Prudence and inviolable Integrity than if they had bequeathed to you rich Legacies It is a satisfaction to me that I have complied with Mr. Baxter's desire in Preaching his Funeral-Sermon and with yours in Publishing it I shall unfeignedly recommend Your self your excellent Lady and vertuous Children to the Divine Mercies and remain with great Respect SIR Your humble and faithfull Servant William Bates A SERMON On the DEATH of Mr. Richard Baxter Luke 23.46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud Voice he said Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit THE Words are the Prayer of our Blessed Saviour in the Extremity of his Passion His unrighteous and implacable Enemies had nail'd his Body to the Cross but they had no power over his Spirit that was ready to take its flight to the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality This dying Prayer of Christ is a Pattern for sincere Christians He has invested them with the Relation of Children of God and authorises them by his Example to commend their departing Spirits to his powerful Love The Observation I shall unfold and apply is this 'T is the Priviledg of dying Saints to commend their Spirits into the Hands of their Heavenly Father In discoursing of this I shall I. Consider the Foundation of this Priviledg II. Shew what a blessed Priviledg this is III. Apply it I. The Foundation of this Priviledg is to be consider'd This is built upon two things 1. The Relation of God to the Saints 2. His Perfections joined with that Relation 1. The Relation of God to the Saints The Title of Father is upon several Accounts attributed to God 1. He is a Father by Creation O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay thou art the Potter we are the Work of thine Hands He formed Man's Body into a Majestick Figure becoming his original State being Lord of the lower World But in a peculiar manner he is stiled the Father of Spirits they have a near Alliance and Resemblance of the Father of Lights in their intellectual Powers and their immortal Nature From hence it is the Angels are called the Sons of God They are the eldest Off-spring of his Power Adam has the Title of the Son of God And since the Fall Men are called God's Offspring There is an indelible Character of Dignity engraven in the reasonable Nature by the Hand of God But since Man turn'd Rebel to his Creator and Father this endearing obliging Relation aggravates his Rebellion but gives him no Interest in the Paternal Love of God of which he has made a deadly Forfeiture 'T is threatned against ignorant perverse Sinners He that made them will not save them 2. Upon the account of external Calling and Profession there is an intercurrent Relation of Father and Sons between God and his People Thus the Posterity of Seth are called the Sons of God and the entire Nation of the Jews are so stiled When Israel was young I called my Son out of Egypt And all that have received Baptism the Seal of the holy Covenant and profess Christianity in this general Sense may be called the Children of God But 't is not the outward Dedication that entitles Men to a saving Interest in God unless they live according to that Dedication There are baptized Infidels as well as unbaptized How many every day fall as deep as Hell whose hopes were high on the account of their external Christianity 3. God is our Father upon a more excellent Account by Renovation and Adoption The natural Man is what St. Paul saith of the voluptuous Widow dead while he lives There is not only a cessation of spiritual Acts but an utter
things to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father to those that ask him The Inference is strong not only from the Divine Authority of the Speaker but from the native Perspicuity of the Things for the Love of an earthly Father is but an Infusion into his Breast from the heavenly Father and but a faint resemblance of his Love The Love of a Mother is more tender and endearing than of a Father Even a fearful Hen will fly upon Death to preserve its tender Brood from the Devourer Yet the Love of God to his Children far excels it Can a Woman forget her sucking Child What Heart what Marble is in her Breast so incompassionate and unrelenting as to neglect her helpless Infant She may but saith God I will never forget thee The Seraphims those bright and unperishing Flames are but faint and cold in comparison of God's Love to his Children 'T is observable how the Love of God to them expresses it self in all the Notions of Propriety and Preciousness to make it more sensible to us They are stiled his Treasure his Jewels the most precious part of his Treasure the Jewels of his Crown that are the richest Jewels Now will he throw away his Treasure or suffer the cruel Enemy to rob him of his Jewels Will he not take them into his safe Custody 'T is to be observed that the Esteem and Affection of God principally respects the Souls of his Children Their Souls have an original Affinity with him in their Substance as Spirits and being born again of the Spirit they are Spirit in their Divine Qualities Endowments and more endear'd to him than by their first Alliance His tender Care to preserve them will be correspondent to his Valuation and Love Moreover the Condition of departing Souls affords another Argument of reliance upon his Love for they leave this visible World with all their Supports and Comforts they are stripp'd of all sensible Securities And will he leave them fatherless in such a forlorn and desolate State His Love is express'd by Mercy Compassion Pity melting Affections that are most tenderly moved when the beloved Object is in Distress Our Saviour propounds an Argument for dependance upon the delivering Love of God from the Exigence of his People Shall not God deliver his own Elect the Designation of Love who cry day and night to him He will do it speedily Love is never more ardent and active than in times of Distress Therefore when his dying Children are deprived of all their Hopes and dependance upon Creatures and fly to him for Protection and Relief will he not hear their mournful Requests and grant their fainting Desires When their earthly Tabernacles are so ruinous that they are forc'd to dislodg will the Love of a Heavenly Father suffer their naked Souls to wander in the vast Regions of the other World seeking Rest and finding none Certainly he will bring them into his reviving Presence If Divine Love be so condescending that the high and lofty One that inhabits Eternity dwells with the humble and contrite Spirit to revive the Spirit of the Humble when they are confin'd to our lowly Earth we may be assur'd when that Spirit shall be devested of Flesh he will bring it to Heaven the Temple of his Glory to be with him for ever 'T is greater Love for a King to lay aside his State and dwell in a mean Cottage with his Favourite than to receive him into his Palace and communicate to him of his rich Abundance 'T is another most comfortable Consideration that the Love of God is unvariable towards his Children His Love is the sole moving Cause of our filial Relation to him Of his own Will he begat us by the Word of Truth His Soveraign free Love was the Principle of his electing any to the Dignity of being his Children This Love is as unchangeable as free and Election that proceeds from it is as unchangeable as his Love What can induce him to alter his Affection towards them For such is the perfection of his Knowledg that he can never be surprized by a sudden new Event that may cause a change in his Mind and Will He foresaw all the Sins of his People with their provoking Aggravations Now if the foresight of them did not hinder his electing Love in its rise can they frustrate its end the bringing of them to Glory Besides we may argue from what his Love has done for his Children to what he will do He has given his Son and Spirit to them the surest Signs of his Love if we consider the unvaluable Excellence of the Gifts and the Design of the Giver The Son of God is the most excellent Gift of his Love as undeserved as he was undesired And from hence the Apostle argues He that gave his Son for us all how much more will he with him give us all things Blessed God! What richer Evidence and more convincing Demonstration can there be of thy Love Will he not with him give us all things The Inference is direct and conclusive with respect to temporal and eternal Things He will give to his Children in the present World whatever his Wisdom in conjunction with his Love sees good for them To illustrate this by a low and familiar Instance If a Mother bestows upon her Daughter rich Jewels for her Marriage-Ornaments will she deny her Pins to dress her And we may as strongly argue that with his Son he will give us eternal Blessings Will he give us the Tree of Life and not permit us to eat of the Fruit of it What was the design of his Counsel and Compassion in giving his Son to be a Sacrifice for us but to restore us to his Favour The Apostle reasons strongly If when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life He has paid our Ransom and revers'd the Sentence of Condemnation against us and it invincibly follows he can more easily accomplish our Happiness in Heaven If Love justify a Sinner it will glorify a Saint And as the Gift of the Son so the most precious Gift of the Spirit to God's Children to make them holy and heavenly is the most certain sign of his Love to them The Apostle in the fullest expression speaks of it God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he has loved us even when we were dead in Sins quickned us together with Christ By Grace ye are saved Sanctification is the effect of rich Mercy great Love and saving Grace The Children of God are seal'd by the Holy Spirit to the Day of Redemption that Seal distinguishes them from the obstinate and polluted World and ratifies the conveyance of eternal Life to them The Spirit is stiled the Earnest of the Inheritance His dwelling in the Saints by his sanctifying and comforting Operations is an Earnest of their dwelling with
the cold Blood of their Enemies In short many live in such open defiance of the Divine Law as if there were no God to see and punish their Sins or as if they would make a trial whether he will be true to his Threatning and revenge their bold Impieties They are partly worse than Brutes for having an understanding Faculty a Principle of Reason they submit it to Sense and partly worse than Devils for as the Devils they rebel against God and yet not as they tremble in their Rebellion Now when Death is ready with its cold Hands to close their Eyes and Conscience awakes out of its Slumber what Horrors seize upon them They are stripp'd of their carnal Securities the Creature cannot help them and the Creator will not They have been Enemies to that Love that made them and preserv'd them and notwithstanding their violent Provocations has spar'd them so long They have rejected that infinitely condescending and compassionate Love that so tenderly beseech'd them to be reconciled to God as if it were his Interest to save them Whither will they fly from their Judg What can rescue them from instant and irrecoverable Misery Can they hope that Mercy will be their Advocate Their Condemnation is so righteous that Mercy cannot dispense with it 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Who knows the Power of his Wrath 'T is boundless beyond all our Thoughts and Time O take notice of this with Terror all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Others are not so visibly disobedient as notorious Sinners but are as really You may see their Picture in the disobedient Son mentioned by our Saviour in the Gospel who when his Father commanded him to go work in the Vineyard answered I go Sir and went not 'T is true they perform the external part of some Duties and abstain from the gross acts of some Sins but 't is with an exception and a reserve A Duty that is contrary to their carnal Appetites and Interest they will not perform a Sin that bribes them with Profit or Pleasure a temperamental Sin they will not part with Now any indulged habitual Lust is not the Spot of God's Children but denominates the Sinner a Child of the Devil for tho the Saints till they are devested of frail Flesh have their Allays and cannot be exempt from the relicks of Sin yet the Divine Nature communicated to them is opposite to every Sin and is an active Principle to subdue Sin And from hence S. John tells us He that is born of God cannot sin that is deliberately and habitually Such Sinners tho in the Hour of Death they may address with all the applying Titles Our Father and our God shall ever be excluded from his sacred and saving Protection 2. Let us seriously consider whether we are of this spiritual Progeny the Children of God not only in Title but in Reality The Inquiry is of infinite moment for all the Promises and Priviledges of the Gospel are annex'd to this Sonship This secures us from the Wrath to come and entitles us to the eternal Inheritance Fear not little Flock 't is your Father's good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom This Inquiry is very useful to calm and quiet the troubled Saints and to awaken unregenerate Persons out of their confident Dream of their good State Many sincere Christians are infinitely concern'd whether they are the Children of God of this their Tears and Fears give abundant evidence The reasons of their Doubts are partly the Jealousy of their own Hearts which are naturally deceitful above all things and most deceitful to a Man's self and partly from the consequence of the Deceit for knowing the inestimable value of this Privilege to be the Sons of God and that if they are deceived in it they are undone for ever they are anxiously thoughtful about it But carnal Persons who are not acquainted with the Hypocrisy of their Hearts nor duly understand the excellence of the Privilege easily believe what they coldly desire And the great deceiver of Souls is equally subtile to varnish what is evil with the false colours of Good and to conceal what is good under the appearance of Evil. From hence it is that many tender-spirited Christians are timorous and full of unquiet Agitations all their Lives and many who have but a shew and fair pretence of Religion are undisturb'd and hopeful till at last they fall from their supposed Heaven and high Hopes into the Abyss of Misery This Trial will be most clear and convincing by representing from Scripture the inseparable Properties and Characters of the Children of God that distinguish them from all that are in the State of unrenewed Nature The Apostle tells sincere Christians The Spirit it self witnesses with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Here is a Consent and Agreement of those Witnesses in whom are all that is requisite to give value to their Testimony For the Spirit of God such is his unerring Knowledg who searches the deep things of God and such is the absolute Sanctity of his Nature that he can neither deceive nor be deceived so that his Testimony is infinitely sure and of more worth than the concurrent Testimony of Heaven and Earth of Angels and Men. The other Witness is the renewed Conscience that is acquainted with the Aims and Affections of the Heart as the Apostle saith Who knows the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man This Faculty reflects upon our Actions and the Principles of them to this Faculty is referr'd the decision of our spiritual State If our Hearts condemn us not of any allowed Sin then have we Peace towards God From the consent and agreement of these Witnesses there is a blessed Assurance of our Evangelical Sonship that overcomes all our Fears Now this Testimony is rational and argumentative from the discovery of those Graces that constitute a Person the Child of God I will make the Inquiry concerning the Grace of Faith and of Love which are the vital Bands of our Union with Christ the principal Fruits of the sanctifying Spirit and the Symptoms of Salvation 1. The Grace of Faith is express'd in Scripture by receiving of Christ this answers to God's offer of him to our acceptance in the Gospel It receives him entirely in his Person and Natures as the incarnate Son of God and in his Office as a Prince and Saviour to give Repentance and remission of Sins This receiving Christ implies an Act of the Understanding and the Will the Understanding assents to the Truth of the Divine Revelation that Christ crucified is an alsufficient Saviour and the Will closes with the Terms of it that he will save to the uttermost all that obey him From hence it follows that reliance upon him and a sincere resolution to obey him are
God in his Sanctuary above From hence the Apostle propounds a strong Argument to assure the Saints upon their leaving this World of their reception into Heaven Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God and the Almighty always obtains his End who hath also given us the earnest of his Spirit Holiness is the Morning-Star of the great Day Grace is the Preparative and Assurance of Glory For altho the Saints are in themselves mutable and while there remains Corruption within and a tempting World without are liable to falling away yet the free and powerful Love of God that revived them when dead will preserve them living that which raised them from the Grave will prevent their relapsing into it The Gifts of God are without Repentance How triumphantly does the Apostle express his Confidence Who shall separate us from the Love of God Shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword These are the most powerful Terrors that the perverse World in combination with the Devil can make use of to constrain us to desert the Service of God but they are vain Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This blessed Assurance of the Apostle is not rais'd from his extraordinary Privileges not from the apparition of Angels to him nor his rapture to Paradise nor special Revelations but from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that everlastingly embraces all his Children Briefly in that God has given his Son to die for us and his Spirit to live in us his Son to purchase and prepare Heaven for us his Spirit to prepare us for Heaven a dying Saint may with blessed Tranquillity commend his Soul into God's Hands I have more particularly considered the Fatherly Love of God what a strong Security it affords to his Children that he will never leave them in that no Point requires and deserves more Confirmation and weight of Argument to press it down into our distrustful Hearts 2. The Divine Truth affords a strong Security to the Children of God to commend their Souls to him at last Truth is an Attribute as essential and dear to God as any of his Perfections And in the Accomplishment of our Salvation he ordered all things becoming to his Wisdom that is for the illustration of all his principal Attributes and accordingly design'd the Glory of his Truth equally with the Honour of his Mercy Thus he declares to his chosen People Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments The Attribute that is set next to the Deity as most sacred is the Faithful God and that further express'd keeping Covenant and Mercy for he delights in fulfilling his Promises as in the freest Acts of Mercy The Psalmist breaks forth with the affectionate Praises of these Attributes I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy loving Kindness and thy Truth for thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name His Word here immediately signifies his Promise that has its rise from his loving Kindness and its performance from his Truth This he magnifies both with respect to the matter of his Promises that are exceeding great and precious and the fulfilling them above all that we can ask or think God cannot repent or lie his Counsels are unretractable from the Immutability of his Nature his Promises are infallible from his Fidelity they are as unchangeable as the Sun and Stars in their appointed Courses nay more stable than the Centre for Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not a tittle of his Promises and our Hopes be unfulfilled If the Frame of Nature were dissolved it would be no loss to God who is glorious and blessed in his own Perfections but if his Promises fail the Honour of his Truth would be impair'd and blemish'd The Psalmist saith Those that know thy Name will trust in thee Those who know the Creature its Levity Mutability and Mortality will be discourag'd from trusting in it but those who know the eternal Constancy of God in his Nature and Promises will securely rely upon him Now the Promises the Declarations of God's Love without which we cannot have any solid and sustaining Hope in our Death assure us of God's receiving the separate Spirits of his Children There was a constant clearness tho not in that degree of Light as since the appearance of Christ of the Happiness of the departed Saints Dying Jacob breaks forth with a lively Hope O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation Job says Tho he kill me yet will I trust in him that is for his Almighty Mercy in the next State The Psalmist expresses his Confidence Thou wilt guide me by thy Counsel and receive me into thy Glory After the safe conducting him through a World of Troubles and Temptations he would bring him to Heaven a Place of equal Purity and Glory David when he was in pressing Peril addresses to God Into thy Hands I commend my Spirit to be preserved as a precious Depositum thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth His Assurance is built on God's Right and Title to him Thou hast redeemed me and his everlasting Fidelity The Apostle speaks with full assurance We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God eternal in the Heavens And we are confident I say rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. St. Peter encourages Christians when surrounded with Death to commit their Souls to him Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in wel-doing as unto a faithful Creator He encourageth them to encounter Death in its most formidable Pomp by considering their Souls shall be safe for ever upon the account of God's Right and Interest in them and his Fidelity he has an original Right in them by the first Creation as they are intellectual immortal Spirits in their Nature but a nearer and more especial Right by a new and nobler Creation as they are renewed Spirits made like to him in his Holiness the most Divine Perfection The Relation of Creator implies his omnipotent Love and the Attribute of Faithful his eternal Love declar'd in his Promises There can never be the least cause to charge him with Insincerity or Inconstancy The Favour of God is round about the Righteous as a Shield And his Faithfulness is round about him that he is always ready to perform his Promise to them They may
same Almighty Power be carried through the Dominions of Satan in the sight of their Enemies tormented with the remembrance of their lost Happiness and Envy that humane Souls should partake of it to the Place of God's glorious Residence I shall also observe that as the Lord is a God of Power so he is a God of Order and uses subordinate Means for the accomplishment of his Will Our Saviour has reveal'd that the Angels transport the separate Souls of the Righteous to Heaven Those glorious Spirits who always behold the Face of God such is their exact Obedience to him and perfect Love to his Children that they disdain not to protect his little ones in this open State They rejoice at the Conversion of Sinners at their first entrance into the Way of Life and with tender watchfulness encompass them here never withdrawing their protecting Presence till they bring them to their celestial Country and resign their Charge to the Lord of Life How safe are the departed Saints when convey'd through Satan's Territories by the Royal Guard of Angels that excel in strength 2. Heavenly Felicity The receiving of holy Souls into God's Hands is introductive into his Presence which is both a Sanctuary to secure us from all Evil and a Store-house to furnish us with all that is good The Lord is a Sun and a Shield he is to intellectual Beings what the Sun is to sensitive communicates Light and Life and Joy to them In his Presence is fulness of Joy at his right Hand are Rivers of Pleasure for ever All that is evil and afflicting is abolish'd all that is desirable is conferr'd upon his Children A glimpse or reflected Ray of his reconciled and favourable Countenance even in this lower World infuses into the Hearts of his Children a Joy unspeakable and glorious a taste of the Divine Goodness here causes a disrelish of all the carnal Sweets the dreggy Delights which natural Men so greedily desire And if the faint Dawn be so reviving and comfortable what is the Brightness of the full Day None can understand the Happiness that results from the full and eternal sight of God's Face and the fruition of his Love but those who enjoy the Presence of God in perfection His Goodness is truly infinite the more the Saints above know it and enjoy it the more they esteem it and delight in it His compleat and communicative Love satisfies the immense Desires of that innumerable Company of blessed Spirits that are before his Throne there is no Envy no Avarice no Ambition in that Kingdom where God is all in all The Divine Presence is an ever-flowing Fountain of Felicity The continual reflection upon this makes Heaven to be Heaven to the Blessed their Security is as valuable as their Felicity they are above all danger of losing it Methinks the belief of this should cause us as it were with Wings of Fire with most ardent Desires to fly to the Bosom of God the alone Centre of our Souls where we shall rest for ever 3. The reception of the Soul into Heaven is a certain Pledg of the Resurrection of the Body and its re-union with the Soul in the State of Glory The Covenant of God was made with the entire Persons of Believers therefore under the Law the sacred Seal of it was in their Flesh. To be the God of Promise to them implies his being a blessed Rewarder to them Our Saviour silences the Sadduces who disbeliev'd the Resurrection from the tenour of God's Covenant I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob which Title he was pleased to retain after their Death Now God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living The immediate Inference from thence is that their Souls did actually live in Blessedness and that their Bodies tho dead to Nature were alive to God with respect to his Promise and Power If we consider that the Divine Law binds the outward Man as well as the inward and that during the time of our Work and Trial here our Service and Sufferings for the Glory of God are from the concurrence of the Soul and Body it will appear that the Promise of the Reward belongs to both and that the receiving of the Soul into Heaven is an earnest of our full Redemption even that of the Body 'T is true there is no visible Difference between the Bodies of the Saints and of the Wicked here they are sick with the same Diseases and die in the same manner As 't is with Trees in deep Winter when they are covered with Snow we cannot distinguish which are absolutely dead and destin'd to the Ax and Fire and which retain their Sap and will be fruitful and flourishing in the returning Year so the dead Bodies of the Godly and Ungodly to external appearance are alike But what a vast difference will be between them in the next World The Bodies of the Ungodly in conjunction with their Souls shall be cast into the Lake of Fire the Bodies of the Godly resumed by their Souls shall enjoy a full and flourishing Happiness for ever The Application 1. This may inform us of the contrary States into which dying Persons immediately pass The Children of God resign their Spirits to the Hands of their gracious Heavenly Father but Rebels and Strangers to God fall into the Hands of a revenging Judg. Could we see the attending Spirits that surround sick Persons in their last Hours what a wonderful Impression would it make upon us A Guard of glorious Angels convey the departed Saints to the Bosom of God's Love and the Kingdom of his Glory But when the Wicked die a Legion of Furies sieze upon their expected Prey and hurry them to the infernal Prison from whence there is no redemption How many Rebels and open Enemies to God are in the Pale of the Christian Church They will loudly repeat Our Father which art in Heaven notwithstanding the impudent and palpable Atheism of their Lives they live as if they were independent and not accountable to him who will judg the World without respect of Persons The more strict his Commands are the Contempt of them is more visible Our Saviour's Prohibition is peremptory I say unto you Swear not at all but how many make no more conscience of Swearing than they do of Speaking and pour forth Oaths of all fashions and sizes We are severely forbid all degrees of Impurity in the Look in Words or in Wish yet how many without reflection or remorse continue in the deepest Pollutions We are commanded to live soberly in this present World yet how many indulge their swinish Appetites and debase themselves even below the Beasts that perish And as the sensual Appetites are notoriously predominant in some so the angry Appetite is tyrannous in others Pride Wrath Revenge possess the Breasts of many How often for a slight or but reputed Injury they are so fir'd with Passion that their hot Blood cannot be satisfied without
State He reconciled things in Earth and in Heaven but not things in Hell The Golden Scepter is extended to none there the Holy Spirit strives with none they are without the Reserves of Mercy The Guilt of Sin remains in its full Obligation the Pollution of Sin in its deepest Die and the Punishment of Sin in its Extremity for ever O what Folly is it or rather Frenzy not to provide for our Souls in their greatest Exigence Common Reason instructs us knowing our own Weakness to commit our Treasure to the custody of our Friends which we cannot otherwise keep from our Enemies especially to such a Friend as can and will preserve it for our Use and Advantage The Soul is our Jewel above all Price 't is our Wisdom to secure it out of all danger Let us therefore commit it to the safe and sure Hands of our Heavenly Father otherwise we cannot preserve it from the infernal Spirits the Robbers and Murderers of Souls The wise Preacher denounces a fearful Evil Wo be to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up In all the Senses of falling Death is the greatest Fall the High the Honourable the Rich fall from all their State and Men of all Degrees are forsaken of all their carnal Comforts and Supports If then the solitary Soul has not a God to receive support and comfort it how woful is its Condition Methinks the apprehension of this should strike a Terror so deep into the Hearts of Men that they should be restless till they have secur'd a Retreat for their departing Souls For this end let us according to the earnest Advice of St. Peter be diligent that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless The Lord Jesus is the only Peace-maker of the righteous and holy God to Sinners The Judg of this World is flaming with Wrath and terrible in Vengeance to Sinners that appear before his Tribunal out of Christ. We shall for ever be excluded from his blessed Communion without the Mediator restore us to his Favour Our Reconciliation only is by Redemption in his Blood The Chastisement of our Peace was upon him He is the Lord our Righteousness by whom alone we can stand in Judgment God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself There is now an Act of Oblivion offer'd in the Gospel to all that come to God by him We have sure Salvation in his Name But we must with consenting Wills close with him as our Lord and Life The first Gospel preach'd by the Angel after his coming into the World declares There was born in the City of David a Saviour Christ the Lord. We must not separate between Christ the Saviour and Christ the Lord between his Salvation and his Dominion God indispensably requires we should resign our selves to his Son as our King and rely upon him as our Priest to atone his Displeasure If we thus receive him he will restore us to the Favour and Peace of God establisht in an everlasting Covenant How tenderly and compassionately does the great God invite Sinners to re-enter into his Favour to acquaint our selves with him and to be at peace His Embassadours in his Name and in Christ's stead beseech them to be reconciled to God But their perverse Spirits would have God reconciled to them that they might be exempt from Punishment but are unwilling to be reconciled to him to part with their Lusts. In short reconciliation with God necessarily infers defiance with Sin Ye that love the Lord hate Evil. If Men do not cease their Rebellion there is no shadow of hope to obtain the Divine Favour Do ye provoke the Lord to Jealousie are you stronger than he Jealousie is the most sensible and severe Affection As 't is with a Town taken by storm all that are found in Arms are without Mercy cut off so all that at Death are found with the weapons of unrighteousness their unrepented unforsaken Sins about them must expect Judgment without Mercy Lastly Let the Children of God be encouraged with Peace and Joy to commend their Souls to him Let rebellious Sinners tremble with deadly Fear upon the brink of Eternity but let the Saints with a lively Hope enter into the Divine World If Men possess their Treasure with Joy and Jealousie and guard it with vigilant Care will not God preserve his dearest Treasure the Souls of his Children committed to his Trust Can Love forsake can Truth deceive can Almighty Power fail Will a Father a heavenly Father be without Bowels to his own Off-spring No he cannot deny himself he is readiest to relieve when they are in distress Old Simeon is a leading Example to Believers after he had embraced Christ in his Armes how earnestly did he desire his Dissolution Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation St. Stephen in the midst of a showr of Stones with a blessed Tranquillity makes his dying Prayer Lord Jesus receive my Spirit If the Fears of humble Souls arise in that hour because they have not the Conspicuous marks of God's Children the Graces of the Spirit in that degree of Eminency as some Saints have had Let them consider there are different Ages among the Children of God some are in a state of Infancy and Infirmity others are more Confirm'd but the relation is the same in all and gives an interest in his promised Mercy The weakness of their Faith cannot frustrate God's faithfulness 'T is the Sincerity not the Strength of Grace that is requisite to Salvation If Faith be shaking as a bruised reed and but kindling as the smoaking flax it shall be victorious O that these powerfull Comforts may encourage dying Christians to commend their Souls with Ardency and Assurance to God their Father and Felicity I have now finisht my Discourse upon the Text and shall apply my self to speak of the other Subject the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter that Excellent Instrument of Divine Grace to recover and restore so many revolted Souls to God out of the Empire of his Enemy or in the Apostles Language to translate them from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son I am sensible that in speaking of him I shall be under a double Disadvantage For those who perfectly knew him will be apt to think my Account of him to be short and defective an imperfect Shadow of his resplendent Vertues others who were unacquainted with his extraordinary Worth will from Ignorance or Envy be inclin'd to think his just Praises to be undue and excessive Indeed if Love could make me eloquent I should use all the most lively and graceful Colours of Language to â—dorn his Memory but this Consideration relieves me in the Consciousness of my Disability that a plain Narrative of what Mr. Baxter was and did will bee a most noble Eulogy and that his substantial Piety no more needs artificial Oratory