of the Creatures to Believers and of Believers to Christ and of Christ to God All things are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's Aud observing the beautiful Order that arises from the superiority and dependance between things he saith The Head of every Man is Christ and the Head of the Woman is the Man and the Head of Christ is God Now this Power by Commission was conferr'd upon him as the Reward of his Sufferings The Apostle expresly declares it that Christ being in the Form of God and without any usurpation truly equal to him in Divine Perfections and Majesty humbled himself and came obedient to the Death of the Cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father His victorious Sufferings are the Titles of his Triumphs his being so ignominiously deprest and condemn'd by Men is the just reason of his advancement to judg the World 5. There is a Day appointed wherein the Son of Man will appear in sensible Glory and exercise his judicial Power upon Angels and Men. He is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High and the Celestial Spheres are under his Feet Universal Nature feels the power of his Scepter He reigns in the Hearts of the Saints by his Word and Spirit and restrains the Fury of his Enemies in what degrees he pleases but still his Servants are in distress and his rebellious Enemies insolently break his Laws and the Curtains of Heaven conceal his Glory from us therefore a Time is prefix'd when in the Face of the World he will make an eternal difference by Rewards and Punishments between the Righteous and the Wicked and his Government shall have its compleat and glorious Issue This is stiled the Judgment of the Great Day 1. With respect to the appearance of the Judg. When the Law was given from Mount Sinai the Mountain was covered with Fire and the Voice of God as loud as Thunder proclaimed it from the midst of the Flames so that the whole Army of the Israelites was prostrate on the Plain struck with a sacred Horror and almost dead at the amazing sights and sounds From hence 't is said that in his right hand was a fiery Law And if the Law-giver appear'd in such terrible Majesty at the proclaiming the Law how much more when he shall come to revenge the Transgressions of it 'T is set forth in Scripture in the most lofty and magnificent Expressions He shall come in his Father's Glory and his own Glory and the Glory of the Angels A devouring Fire shall go before him to consume all the Works of the Universe He shall descend from the highest Heavens glorious in the attendance of innumerable Angels but more in his own Majesty and sit on a radiant Throne high above all 2. 'T is great with respect to the appearance of those who are to be judg'd All the Apostate Angels and the universal Progeny of Adam The bowels of the Earth and the bottom of the Sea and all the Elements shall give up the Dead The mighty Angels the winged Ministers of Justice shall fly to all Parts and attaque the Wicked to bring them as miserable Prisoners before that high Tribunal And those blessed powerful Spirits shall congregate the Righteous to present them at his right hand 3. 'T is great with respect to what shall be then done He shall perform the most glorious and consummate act of his Regal Office after a righteous Trial pronounce Judgment upon which the eternal Destiny of the World depends And immediately the Saints shall ascend with him to the everlasting Mansions of Glory and the Wicked shall be swallowed up in the fiery Gulph for ever To define the particular Time when this shall be accomplish'd is beyond the knowledg of the Angels of highest dignity 'T is inter Arcana Imperii among the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is observable that God has revealed the Times precisely wherein some great Events should come to pass after how many Years the Israelites should be freed from Egyptian Bondage after what space of Time they should be restored from the Captivity of Babylon when the Messiah should die for the expiation of Sin but there is no designation by certain Characters of the particular Day nor Year nor Age in any Prophecy of our Saviour's coming to Judgment And of this an Account may be given The special End of those Predictions was that those who lived to see their accomplishment notwithstanding the seeming Impossibilities might believe the Truth and Power of God to fulfil the Revelation of his Purposes for the time to come But at the last Day all the Promises and Threatnings will be fulfilled nothing will remain to be the Object of Faith and consequently it was superfluous to declare the certain Time since the exact accomplishment of it according to the prediction will neither be useful to confirm Believers or convert Infidels Lastly The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most convincing and commanding Evidence of this Doctrine that he shall judg the World For he was charged with Blasphemy deserving of Death for this Testimony I say unto you hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven He dedicated Martyrdom in his own Sufferings Now God in raising him from the Dead confirmed the truth of his Testimony by that visible Miracle and the belief of it converted the World to Christianity I will now proceed to illustrate and prove the main Point which is this That God will judg the World in Righteousness by Jesus Christ. The Mediator who shall be Judg in the Union of both Natures considered as the Son of God is essentially Holy and Righteous and considered as the Son of Man was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners In him all Vertues shin'd in their absolute Purity and who is so worthy and qualified to reward Holiness and punish Wickedness as the holy one of God 'T is said of him Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore thy God hath anointed thee with Oil of gladness above thy Fellows Consecrated him to the Regal Office and enrich'd his humane Nature with Endowments suitable to it 'T was prophesied of him The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might the Spirit of Knowledg and of the Fear of the Lord and shall make him of quick understanding in the Fear of the Lord and He shall not judg after the sight of his Eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his Ears But with Righteousness shall he judg the Poor and reprove with Equity Humane Judgments are
inexorable in his Justice and dreadful to Death that all hopes of obtaining his favour are lost As the Egyptian Darkness was not meerly from the absence of the Sun but from feculent Vapours condensing the Air that it might be felt So these dark and fearful expectations of the Divine Wrath are not only from the withdrawing the Light of God's Countenance but from the Prince of Darkness that foul Spirit And as we read of the Egyptians that no Man arose from his place for three days as if they had been buried in that darkness and deprived of all active power and motion so the despairing Soul sits down mourning at the Gates of Death totally disabled from prosecuting the Things that belong to its peace 'T is Hope inspires and warms us with alacrity encourages our Endeavours Despair is without edg and industry The Soul suffers the hardest Bondage and the condition is inexpressibly sad under the tyranny of this Fear O how enthralled how desolately miserable for despair doth meritoriously and effectually ruin the Soul For whereas there is no Attribute more Divine no clearer Notion of the Deity than Love and Mercy this Passion disparages his Mercy as if Sin were more omnipotent than his Power to pardon and all the Tears that flow from it are so far from expiating that they encrease Guilt and whereas the believing view of Christ would as compleatly and presently recover the Soul-wounded Sinner as the Israelites were by looking to the ordained visible Sign of their Salvation Despair turns away the Eye from our Deliverer and fixes it upon misery as remediless and final 4. How comes it to pass that Men are not always under the actual fear of Death but subject to the revolutions of it all their Lives The Seeds of this Fear are hid in the guilty Breasts of Men and at times especially in their Calamities break forth and kindle upon them In their leisure and Retirement intercurrent thoughts of Death and Judgment sting them by fits and make them uneasy The flashes of Conscience like moments of Lightning startle them but they relapse into their habitual stupidity And the account of it will be clear by considering the following Particulars 1. Men are apt to flatter themselves with the hopes of long Life and look upon Death at a great distance Tho' there be a dying disposition in the youngest and strongest Persons tho' we live in a world of Casualties and Death lie in ambush to surprize us every day yet we are secure because Evils affect us according to their apprehended nearness A Petty Constable that is troublesom and vexatious is more fear'd by his Neighbours than the Grand Signior with all his Executioners As remote Objects though of vast bigness are lessen'd to our sight so through the supposed interval of many years Death is lookt on with a diminution of its Terror But when Death presents it self before Men ready to dispatch them how formidable is its appearance Saul tho renouned for his Valour yet when he understood by Revelation that to morrow he and his Sons should be in the state of the dead there was no strength in him but he fell straight-way all along on the Earth struck through with fear before he was wounded by the Arrows of the Philistins Belshazzar in the midst of his luxury and jolity attended with a thousand Lords and his herd of Concubines inflam'd with Wine and therefore less capable of fear yet upon the sight of the fatal Hand writing on the Wall a few unknown Characters which his guilty Conscience before the Prophet Daniel came interpreted to be the sentence of present Death How fearfully was his Countenance changed pale as a Carcass How suddainly did his Blood congeal and his warmest quickest Spirits die in his Heart His whole Body was seized by such a vehement trembling that his joints were loosed and his knees smote one against another This is a representation of those who bid defiance to Death at a distance but when the fatal Hour is come and they hear the Sentence decreed against them God has numbred thy days and finish'd them thou art weighed in the ballance all thy words and Actions thy Thoughts and Affections and art found wanting and thy Soul shall be divided from thy Body the one sent to Hell to suffer the undying Worm of Conscience the other to the Grave to be a prey to the Worms of Corruption how are they overcome with horror 2. The continual succession of the Pleasures and Business of the World divert the mind from the attentive strong contemplation of Death and the consequences of it Pensive thoughts are unwelcome and we studiously endeavour to cancel the memory of such things as afflict us 'T is said of the Wicked that God is not in all their thoughts The consideration of the Holy Inspector and Judg of their Actions is tormenting therefore they fill their minds with earthly Imaginations to exclude the Divine Presence We read of those who to put far away the evil day chaunted to the sound of the Viol and drank Wine in Bowls They are rock'd asleep with the motion of phantastick Vanities And sleep takes away Fear but gives no safety 'T is recorded of Marius that after his overthrow by Scylla he was always in consternation as if he heard the sound of the Trumpets and the noise of the victorious Army pursuing him And his Fears were no longer quiet than whilst charm'd with Wine and Sleep He therefore was continually drunk that he might forget Himself his Enemy and his Danger Thus Men make a pittiful shift to forget their latter End and whilst they are following either secular Affairs or sensual Pleasures are unconcerned for what is to be hereafter But this diversion will shortly be at an end for in their languishing hours when the wasted Body fails the carnal Mind and sensual Desires fail the Man then Conscience that spoke with a low Voice before is loud and terrible and like the rigid Exactor in the Parable that took his Debtor by the throat requires them to pay what they owe. 3. Some are so hardned in Infidelity that the Powers of the World to come make no impression on their hearts They mind but little and are less affected with invisible things They fortify themselves with gross thoughts that the Spirit of Man vanishes with his Breath that Death is the end of this Life and not the beginning of another and feed without fear Place one in the midst of destructive Evils but unseen or not believed and he is as fearless as a blind Person walking on the brink of a deep Pit Indeed there are none less disturbed with the terrors of Death than the eminently good or the extremely bad for the one sort have a blessed hope that Death will be to them an entrance into Life and live like the Angels with a joy unspeakable and glorious The others are as sensual and secure as the Beasts that perish
what he has done to what he is able to do the Consequence is clear The Apostle tells us He will raise our vile bodies and change them like unto his glorious Body by that Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Our Redemption will then be compleat and all the bitterness of Death past The Redemption of the Soul is accomplish'd from Sin and Misery immediatly after Death but the Redemption of the Body is the last in order and reserved to crown our Felicity at the Great Day Then Death shall be swallowed up in Victory abolish'd for ever And O the joyful reunion of those dear Relatives after such a Divorce when the Body that was so long detained in the loathsome Grave shall be reformed with all glorious Perfections and be a fit Instrument for the Soul and partaker with it in Blessedness and a consummate Immortality 'T is said that those that wear rich Clothing are in Kings Houses but what are all the Robes of costly Folly wherein earthly Courtiers appear to the Brightness and Beauty of the Spiritual Body wherewith the Saints shall be clothed to qualify them for the Presence of the King of Kings and to be in his House for ever But O the miserable Condition of the Wicked in that day Death now breaks their Bodies and Souls into an irreconcilable Enmity and how sad will their Conjunction be the Soul will accuse the Body to have been Sins Solicitor continually tempting to sensualities and the body wil upbraid more than ever it allur'd the soul for its wicked Compliance Then the Sinner shall be an entire Sacrifice burning but never consumed Now from the assurance of a blessed Resurrection by Christ the forementionâ—d fear of Death is conquered in Beleivers If the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls into other Bodies the invention of Pythagoras inspired his Disciples with that fiery vigour as to encounter the most present and apparent dangers being fearless to part with the Life that should be restored how much more should a Christian with a holy confidence receive Death knowing that the life of his Body shall not be finally lost but renewed in a blessed Eternity The fourth General to be considered is the Persons that have an interest in this blessed Priviledg This inquiry is of infinite moment both for the awakning of the secure who vainly presume upon their interest in the Salvation of the Gospel and for the confirming and encouraging the Saints And we have an infallible rule of trial declared by St. John He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life All the excellent and comfortable Benefits procur'd by our Saviour are communicated only to those who are united to him Particularly with respect to the present subject Justification that great blessing of the Gospel the compleat pardon of Sins that disarms Death of its sting is not common to all that are Christians in title but is a priviledge with a limitation There is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus vitally as their Head from whom are derived spiritual influences and judicially as their Advocate in Judgment and such are described by this infallible Character who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The blessedness after Death that is assured by a Voice from Heaven is with this precise restriction exclusive of all others Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them The glorious Resurrection at the last Day when the Bodies of the Saints that now rest in Hope shall be incorruptible and immortal is the consequence of union with him Thus the Apostle declares As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive As all that were naturally in and from Adam the corupt fountain of Mankind are under the sentence of Death so all that are in Christ the Head of the Regenerate shall partake of his blessed Life Others shall be raised by his Power as their Judg but not as their Head rais'd to be more miserable than Death can make them not be transform'd into his glorious Resemblance made capable of suffering an ever-dying Death not revived to eternal Life Now the bond of our union to Christ is the holy Spirit derived from him as the Head of the Church and is the inward powerful and lasting principle of Holiness and new obedience in Believers He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit that is by the Spirit of Holiness has a real participation of his Life is both quickned and united to him When the Prophet Elisha by the outward applying the parts of his Body to the dead Child inspir'd life into him there was no real union between them but Christ is by his Spirit so intimately united to Believers that he lives in them and they in him The sanctifying Spirit renews the directing and commanding faculties the fountains of moral actions enlightens the Understanding with saving Knowledge rectifies the obliquity of the Will purifies the Affections and reforms the Life so that the same mind is in Christians as was in Christ and as his Conversation was such is theirs in the World This divine Change is not wrought by natural Reason tho assisted by the most powerful Arguments The breath of a Man may as easily dispel a Mist or thaw a Frost as humane directions and motives to Vertue can renew the Mind and Heart and produce a holy frame of Soul towards God Renewed Christians are said to be in the Spirit illuminated inclin'd and enabled by the Spirit to do God's Will and the Spirit of God to dwell in them by his peculiar and eminent operations They live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit An Angel may assume a Body and act by it but the humane Soul enlivens it and performs sensible operations by it And such a principle is the holy Spirit to the Soul gives it spiritual life activity and power for good Works By what application of the Spirit 's power this is produc'd is mysterious and inexplicable but as the Apostle speaks of his rapture into the third Heavens that he knew it was real and heard unutterable things tho how it was performed whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell thus when a natural man the current of whose thoughts and affections was to the things of this World becomes spiritual when the carnal appetite is subdued and sanctified Reason has the Throne when he feels such strong and sweet impulsives to holiness as engage the Will when the stream of his desires ascend to the things above and his Life becomes holy and heavenly he feels and knows this wonderful change tho the manner how it was wrought he cannot tell I will shew more fully this sanctifying work of the Spirit that we may the better understand our state The Spirit of God is
denominated by various titles the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Holiness the Comforter and represented by various types by an Ointment that clarifies the Eye to see things aright by cleansing refreshing Water by purifying refining Fire correspondent to his sacred operations in the Soul As the Spirit of Truth he illuminates the Understanding to see the reality and excellency of supernatural and heavenly things of the great Mysteries of Godliness of Eternal Glory so that a Christian in his most deliberate solemn and composed thoughts in his exactest valuation infinitely prefers them before the gaudy Vanities of this transient World When the Eyes of the Mind are truly enlightned present things appear or rather disappear as shadows As the Spirit of Holiness he renews the Will and Affections inspires the Soul with divine and unutterable desires after the Favour and Grace of God and communicates spiritual Power for the prosecution and obtaining those Desires The holy Spirit raises such a Love to God that habitually and strongly inclines the Soul to obey his Commands This is the most clear and essential Character of a Christian the special and most excellent Property of a Saint upon which all other holy Qualifications depend As Reason is the first and chief excellence of Man from whence his other Perfections are derived that distinguish him from the Brutes and give him a natural and regular preheminence and dominion over them so that a Man is most properly defined a Reasonable Creature Thus the Love of God is the most Divine Grace the true Form of Holiness the Root from whence all other Vertues spring and flourish and most peculiarly distinguish a Saint from Unregenerate Men however adorn'd and accomplish'd so that a Saint is most properly defined to be a Lover of God This is the Principle of true Holiness inherent in the Soul and shining in the Conversation that distinguishes the Sincerity of a Saint from the Art of Hypocrisy an affected appearance of Religion for carnal sordid respects and from Civil Vertue that restrains from what is ignominious and disgraceful to our Reputation and makes obnoxious to penalties of the Laws and excites to praise-worthy Actions upon worldly motives and from Philosophical Morality that forbids Vice as contrary to Reason and commends Vertue as the chief ornament and perfection of humane Nature without a regard to please and glorify God And Divine Love is the Principle of Universal Holiness Love is called the fulfilling of the Law as 't is a comprehensive Grace as it draws forth all the active powers of the Soul to do God's Will in an exact manner Universal Obedience is the exercise of Love in various instances As the Spouse in the Song of Solomon is transform'd in divers Representations sometimes as a Sister sometimes as a Warriour sometimes as the Keeper of a Vineyard but she always acted as a Lover and her cheif business was to please her Beloved This Allegorical description of the Church signifies that when the Soul is inflamed with the love of God that affection will be active and discover its self in all it does or suffers in the service of God This will make a Christian very desirous and diligent to please God in all things and careful not to displease him in any thing for that is the inseparable effect of Love The felicity of the natural temper and the force of Education may cause a loathing of some Evils and dispose to some good Works but with a reserved delight in other sins and a secret exception against other duties Servile fear is a partial principle and causes an unequal respect to the Divine Precepts it restrains from sins of greater guilt at which Conscience takes fire it urges to some duties the neglect of which causes disquiet but the Love of God causes the hatred of Sin and therefore 't is against all Sin not only to prevent the exercise of it but to eradicate it out of the soul. All the fearful consequences of Sin do not render it so odious to a gracious Spirit as its own proper idea and intrinsick evil as 't is contrary to the holy Nature and Law of God Love unites the soul to God and turns the thoughts continually to him and the lively sense of his Majesty and Presence who is so pure that he cannot behold iniquity causes an aversion from all that is dispjeasing to his Divine Eyes And from hence it is that a zeasous Lover of God is frequent and strict in reviewing his heart and ways and upon the discovery of sinful failings renews his repentance which is the exercise of grief and Love and renews his purposes of more care and circumspection for the future Love aspires to be like God in all possible degrees of Purity for it inflames our desires after his Favour as that which is better than Life and all the sweetest enjoyments of it and Hoiiness is the powerful attractive of God's delightful Love to us Love is the principle of free ingenuous and joyful Obedience 'T was our Saviour's Meat and Drink to do the Will of his Father For Love is the fountain of Pleasure it moves the Soul with Election and Liberty and makes every thing grateful that proceeds from it Therefore the Apostle declares that the Law is not made for a righteous Man that is as it is enforc'd by terrible penalties to constrain rebellious sinners to obedience for Love is an internal living Law in the heart and has an Imperial Power over his Actions And this also distinguishes the renovation of one sanctified by the Spirit from the imperfect change that is made in the unregenerate They may stop the eruption of corrupt Nature but are like Swine that being wash'd have an inclination to wallow in the Mire they may by strong impressions of Fear be urged to do many good things but in this they are like a Boul that is thrown with such violence as controuls the drawing of the Bias makes it run contrary to it But Love enclines the Soul to obey the holy motions of the Spirit with facility as the Wheels in Ezekiel's Vision turned every way with readiness as the Spirit mov'd them And with holy Love there is a spiritual Power cōmunicated that both the natural averseness impotence to what is good may be healed By the virtue of the sanctifying Spirit the Soul that was dead absolutely unable to perform spiritual and supernatural Acts is revived to a kind of Omnipotence it can do all things required by the Evangelical Covenant by the new Law that is in the hands of our merciful Mediator for Salvation 'T is true there are reliques of sin in the best and the Flesh and Spirit are repugnant Principles warring against one another but the holy Spirit will make no capitulation or composition with sin but is so predominant that sin is gradually subdued and does not so freely and frequently break forth as it does from the unrenewed By the accession of his
strength we are enabled to mortify the deeds of the Body to crucify the Flesh with the affections and lust thereof And to perform holy Duties with freedom alacrity and zeal in such a manner as is acceptable to God In short saving Grace is distinguisht from that which is common to the unregenerate by its prevalency and constancy There may be a declination in the Saints tending to a downfal but the Seed of God that supernatural Grace that remains in them will by the power of the holy Spirit recover the supremacy Others may be enlightned and feel some good motions and transient touches as Saul had his rapture among the Prophets but they are not truly entirely and perseveringly converted to God They are not proof against the allurements or terrors of the World They make a fair profession till they are try'd by temptations Congealed drops of water appear like solid Chrystal till the warm beams of the Sun dissolve them and discover the hypocrisie of the Chrystal False Jewels may seem to have the luster of Diamonds till they are broke by a fall and discovered to be Glass Thus the Riches the Honours and Pleasures of the Flesh melt some and temporal Evils break the resolutions of others and make it evident they were not sincere Converts But where the holy Spirit savingly works he is said to dwell he is not like a Passenger or a Tenant at will that neglects the House and suffers it to fall into ruine but as the Proprietary and Owner he keeps perpetual residence in true Christians and by his continual influence preserves them from final Apostacy Now from hence we may judg whether we have an interest in Christ and his Benefits For the Apostle clearly tells us that if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his By this sacred Signature we are appropriated to Christ and visibly distinguish'd from the World For tho the secret and pure influences of the Spirit in the soul are only known to the person that feels them yet his active inspirations are declarative of his presence and power in the outward conversation As the Wind that is of so thin and subtil a nature that 't is invisible in it self but we certainly know from what point it blows by the course and way that the Ship makes thus the Spirit of God who is compared to the Wind is discovered by an infallible Indication his fruits and effects in a holy Life And those who have communion with Christ by his Spirit have a share in his Victories and may with confidence meet the last enemy Death For we are assured If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal Bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in us A preparative conformity to Christ in Grace will be followed with a consummate in Glory But those who never felt the sanctifying efficacy of the Spirit in their hearts and lives tho they are Christians in profession yet they have no other union with Christ than a dead Branch with a Tree that receives no sap and virtue from it or an artificial Member joyned to the Body that may have the outward clothing and ornaments proper to that part but derives no life and sense from it Whoever is in Christ is a new Creature And only those who partake in the first resurrection from Sin shall be exempted from the power of the second Death and upon just grounds are freed from the terrors of the first To apply this point let us 1. Consider our dear Obligations to our blessed Saviour who to free us from the sting and enslaving fear of Death submitted to it with all its terrors from God and wicked Men. He felt a sadness to an Agony in his Soul and suffered the equal extreamities of Ignominy and Torment in his Body The Favour of God was intercepted from him that it may shine upon us in that gloomy hour And all his terrible Sufferings tho foreknown by his enlightened mind could not weaken his determined Will to undergo them for us But when Peter regarded with a more tender eye his Life than our Salvation he was repell'd with indignation Unparallell'd Love no less than divine transcending all the instances of humane affection The highest kind and excess of Love amongst Men is to die for another and the highest degree in that kind is to die to save an Enemy and of this our Saviour is the singular Example Love incomprehensible it passes knowledge and all understanding but his who exprest it His Love was equal to the heighth of his Glory from whence he descended and the depth of his sufferings that he sustained in our stead By washing us from our sins in his Blood he makes us Kings dignifies us with spiritual Soveraignty over not only defiling but disturbing passions The freest and most confident Sinner in the World that rebels against the Divine Laws without restraint is a slave not only under the chains of his imperious Lusts but in that he is liable to the scourgings of Conscience when ever awaken'd and to the servile fear of Death every day But the sincere Christian has a clear and sweet peace a blessed tranquillity from the tormenting apprehensions and fears of Death that are the just consequents of guilt One of the ancient Romans highly celebrates the Astronomers who discover'd the true Causes of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and freed the World from the double darkness of Ignorance and Fear which believed the obscuring of those great Lights were the fainting fits of Nature and mortal symptoms threatning an universal Calamity But what Praise and Blessing is due to our Saviour who hath given us infallible assurance that the death of the Righteous is not as the heathen World imagin'd an irreparable loss of Life but a short eclipsing of this low and mean Light that is common to sensitive creatures to be restored more excellent and permanent in Heaven where those Stars shine in the Divine Presence for ever Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This should render him infinitely precious to us and inflame our Hearts with desires equal to our Obligations to serve him 2. Let us make it the main business of our lives to remove from our Souls the just fears of Death 'T is one of the solemn follies of the World to fear where there is no cause As if a Sentinel should mistake Gloworms in the Night for lighted Matches and give a false Alarm but 't is a worse folly tho pleasing not to fear when there is the greatest reason to excite it And 't is so in the present Case for the most are without the fear of Death that should make them serious in preparing for it nay to maintain their security are as unwilling to hear Conscience declare the wretchedness of their condition with
words of a dying St. changes his Room but not his Company God was always with him on Earth and he shall be ever with God in Heaven But cold and seldom converse begets strangeness and that makes us shy of God When Religious Duties are performed as a complemental Visit without zealous Affections or used only in times of Affliction and Exigency as Cordial Waters in swooning Fits the Divine Presence is uncomfortable to us They who prefer carnal sweets before acquaintance with God cannot with Peace and Joy think of appearing before him O how unwelcome is Death to such for then the Spirit returns to God that gave it 6. Let us strengthen our belief of the blessed state after Death Divine Truths lose their influence and efficacy when they are not stedfastly believed Faith is the substance of things not seen and the evidence or conviction of things hoped for The Spirit confirms our Faith not by a pure Physical Act but by convincing Reasons of the truth of the Gospel The Life of Christ so glorious in holiness his Doctrine so becoming the Wisdom and other excellent Attributes of the Deity his Miracles so great numerous open and beneficial not meerly to surprize the Spectators with astonishment but to touch their Hearts his Death foretold by the Prophets and exactly agreeing in all the circumstances of the Predictions his Resurrection the most noble operation of the Divine Power are the strongâ—st Proofs that what he has reveal'd as the Counsel of God for our Redemption and the Preparations of Glory for the Saints in Heaven are divine Truths And the efficacy of the Spirit of Christ in sanctifying his Disciples in all Ages is a continual and as satisfying an Argument that the Gospel is derived from God the fountain of Truth as extraordinary Miracles For Holiness is as â—â—â—parable a property of the Divine Natu◠〈…〉 the sancti◠〈…〉 divine an efâ—ect 〈…〉 of the Body Now 〈…〉 God enters into Covenant with obedient Believers to be their God a title and relation that supposing them the most happy here all the enjoyments of this World cannot fulfil This Covenant is not dissolv'd by Death for he uses this stile after the death of his faithful Servants and from hence it follows they are partakers of his Glory and Joys in the next Life For the honour of his Veracity is most dear to him The Psalmist declares that he has magnified his Word above all his Name No perfections of his Nature are more sacred and inviolable than his Truth The foundations of Nature shall be overturn'd and the most solid parts of the Creation destroyed but his Promises shall be compleatly accomplish'd We are assured by his Infallible Authority that there remains a Rest for the People of God And he that receives this Testimony sets to his Seal that God is true honours the Truth of God's Word and binds himself more firmly to his Service and is encouraged to leave this sensible World for that which is infinitly better Our confidence and patience in well-doing and in suffering the utmost evil to Nature is from the pregnant apprehensions of the reality of eternal things We know saith the Apostle if our earthly tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens This fortified him against the terrors of Death When Stephen saw the Heavens open and the Son of God ready to receive him with what courage and constancy did he encounter the bloody Rage of his Murderers Faith supplies the want of Vision it pierces the Clouds opens a Window in Heaven sees the Crowns of Righteousness prepared for the Saints and sweetens the bitterest passage to it But if our Faith be weak and wavering our Courage will decline in the needful hour 'T is with Christians in their last passage from Earth to Heaven as with the Apostle walking upon the Waters to Christ whilst his Faith was firm in Christ he went upon the Waves as on the firm Land but upon the rising of a Storm his Faith sunk into Fear and he sunk in the Waters till our Saviour upon his earnest Prayer Lord save me took hold of him and rais'd him with that compassionate Reproof O thou of little Faith wherefore didst thou doubt The last Use is to excite the Saints to die with that courage and chearfulness as becomes the Gospel of Christ. The encouragement of Joshua to the Israelites against the Giants that terrified them from entring into the Land of Canaan the type of Heaven Be not afraid of them they are Bread for us we shall obtain an easy Conquest over them is applicable to this purpose do not fear Death the Enemy that interposes between us and the true Canaan for our Conflict shall be the means of our Victory and triumphant possession of the holy and blessed Land above This is very honourable to our Redeemer and recommends Godliness to the judgment affections and practice of others S. Basil tells of a custom to annoint the tops of Doves Wings with some fragrant liquor that mixing in company with other Doves they might by the scent allure them to follow to the Dove-houses Thus when holy Persons live and die with peaceful joy those that converse with them are drawn by that Fragrance of Paradise to apply them to serious Religion 'T is the Apostle's Consolatory Advice to Believers Not to be sorrowful for those that sleep in JESUS and those that are without hope When Jacob saw his Beloved Son's Coat rent and stain'd with Blood he abandoned himself to desperate Sorrow and mourned for his Death when Joseph was advanc'd in Authority and Dignity next to Pharoah in the Kingdom of Egypt Thus when we see the Garment of Mortality rent by Diseases we mourn for departed Saints as if Death had absolutely destroyed them when their Souls are reigning in Glory This immoderate Sorrow is an Heathenish Passion suitable to their ignorance of the future happy state but very unbecoming the plenary Assurance the Gospel affords us of it So for the Wicked to die with fears and palpitations of heart to be surrounded with impendent horrours when such a precipice and depth of misery is before them is very just and reasonable but for the Saints to die uncomfortably under inordinate fears is a disparagement to the Blessed Hope establish'd upon the revelation of Life and Immortality by the Gospel Now in three things I shall propound the duty of dying Christians 1. To submit to the Divine Pleasure with resigned spirits as to the means the manner and time of Death God has a Sovereign Right and Dominion over us The present Life is his most free Favour and he may justly resume it when he pleases His Will should be the first and last Rule of ours Whether he gently untwines the Band of Life or violently breaks it we must placidly without reluctation yield up our selves By what means soever Death comes all second causes are moved by an impression
judged according to his Works the tenor of good Works and the desert of bad The Apostle assures us That whatsoever a Man sows that shall he reap He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting The Harvest shall be according to the Seed both in kind and measure 1. Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Imortality shall obtain eternal Life Indeed eternal Life is the Gift of infinite bounty nay of pure Mercy and Mercy excludes Merit 'T is said of the Blessed Martyrs who contended for the Truth and Purity of the Gospel to the Death that their Robes were wash'd white in the Blood of the Lamb not in their own Blood Their right to Heaven was from the application of his Merits to them But the Reward is dispens'd from God according to the Evangelical Law not only as a Magnificent Prince but as a Righteous Judge All those whom the Gospel ordains to Eternal Life shall infallibly obtain it and none that the Gospel excludes Those who were sensible of their Sins and cordially forsaking them did humbly and entirely depend upon the Grace of God through the Blessed Reconciler and Saviour shall be justified and glorified Then the Judg will discern between unfeigned Faith and vain Presumption and will justify the Faith of the Saints by the genuine Fruits of it the Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety of their Lives and a victorious perseverance in their Duty notwithstanding all the pleasing Temptations or Tortures to withdraw them from it Thus the Apostle expresses his humble confidence I have fought the good Fight I have finish'd my Course henceforth there is laid up for me the Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judg will give me at that day and not only to me but to all that love his appearance We read in the Description of the Last Judgment That the Book of Life was opened the Names of all that were written in Heaven shall then be declared that it may appear they are saved by Grace For it was his most free pleasure to select some from the common Mass of Perdition who were naturally as guilty and corrupted as others and to predestinate them to Eternal Glory and effectual persevering Grace to prepare them for it The Saints are created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that they should walk in them And the New Creation is as undeserved and entire an Effect of God's Love as the first was But 't is said That every Man was judged according to his Works For Eternal Election does not entitle a Person immediately to Heaven but according to the order establish'd in the Gospel Thus the King at the last Day speaks to the Elect Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the World for I was hungry and ye fed me naked and ye clothed me And according as the Saints have excell'd in Fidelity and Zeal in God's Service they shall be rewarded with a more excellent Glory The Stars of Paradise are of a different brightness and greatness as the Stars of the Firmament Indeed all are perfectly happy without jealousie that any is equal or superior to them in that Kingdom But God will crown his own Graces as the Saints have improved them Our Saviour valued the Widows two Mites as transcending all the magnificent Gifts of others because of the degrees of Love in the giver There was a richer Mine of affection in her Heart Gold of a more noble Vein more pure and precious than all their Riches This was of greater price in God's account who weighs the Spirits in his Ballance God will accept and reward according to what a Man has and not according to what he has not He that improves but two Talents with his best skill and diligence shall have a greater Reward than another that had ten Talents and was remiss and less careful to employ them for his Masters profit The Rule will be exactly observed He that sows bountifully shall reap bountifully and he that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly And if God will be thus impartial in rewarding the Saints much more in punishing the Wicked For the renumeration of our Duty is the effect of his most free Favour but the recompences of Sin are due and decreed by Justice in Number Weight and Measure The severity of the sence will be in proportion as Mens Sins have been more numerous and heinous Altho ' all the Damned shall be equally miserable in dispair all broken on an endless Wheel yet the degrees of their Torment are different Sins of Ignorance are extenuated in comparison of Rebellious Sins against knowledge The first are like a Servant's dashing against his Master in the dark the other like the insolent striking of him in the light And as they incur greater Guilt will expose to greater Punishment Accordingly our Saviour predicts that the Servant which knew his Lord's Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Unactive Knowledge is worse than Igâ—orance For this reason the case of Heathens wil be more tolerable than of the Jews for tho' some natural Principles were strong and quick in their minds that made them sensible of their duty and danger yet they were not so clear and perfect as the Law delivered by Moses Those Sins that were infirmities in a Pagan were presumptuous in a Jew And the case of the Jews will be more tolerable than of disobedient Christians who enjoy the Gospel less charged with Ceremonies and more abundant in Grace than the Mosaical Dispensation Those that have set before them the Life of Christ the Model of all Perfection that are excited by such lowd Calls to flee from the Wrath to come and yet are deaf and regardless to the Commands nay to the melting Invitations and precious Promises of the Gospel shall have a more intolerable Judgment than the most guilty Sinners even the Sodomites and Sidonians that were strangers to it The precious Blood of the Son of God despised induces a Crimson Guilt And as Sins are committed with pride and pleasure with eager appetite and obstinacy the revenge of Justice will be more heavy upon Persons More particularly Sins of consequence whereby others are drawn to Sin will heighten the Guilt and the retribution of Justice will be to every Man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings This will principally concern Superiours in eminency of place whose dignity has always a concomitant proportion of Duty Their vicious Actions are Examples and their Examples more powerful Rules than their Laws and give countenance to others to sin licentiously They sin
the end and perfection of their Lives shall dispose their states for ever that he who esteems every act of their Charity and Kindness done to his Servants as done to himself shall dispense the blessed Reward Then the King will say to them plac'd on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World O the transports of joy to hear those words from his Life-breathing Lips The Prophet breaks forth in an Extacy How beautiful are the feet of the Messengers of Peace those that bring glad-tidings of Salvation but how much more beautiful is the face of the Author of our Peace and Salvation O how full of Serenity and Clemency and Glory The expectation of this makes them languish with impatience for his Coming Tho the Preparations of that Day are so dreadful when the Sun shall be darkned and the Moon turned into Blood and the Stars fall like leaves in Autumn yet 't is stiled a Day of Refreshment to the Saints But how dreadful will his Coming in Majesty to Judgment be to the Wicked They shall see him whom they have pierced and with bitter lamentation remember the indignities offered to him What Excuses can they alledg why they did not believe and obey the Gospel Our Saviour revealed high Mysteries but confirm'd them with great Miracles He requir'd strict Holiness but offer'd divine Grace to enable Men to do his Will He poured forth his Spirit upon them but their hearts were as hard as the Rocks and as barren as the Sands Then he will reproach them for their undervaluing neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and so freely and earnestly offered to them for their obstinacy that the Purple streams that flow'd from his Crucified Body that all the Sorrows and Agonies of his Soul were not effectual Perswasives to make them forsake their Sins for their preferring the Bramble to reign over them Satan the Destroyer of Souls and ungrateful rejecting the true Vine the blessed Saviour who by so many miraculous mercies sollicited their love and deserved their service this will make the sentence as just as terrible and the more terrible because just This will exasperate the anguish that the Gospel shall be a savour of Death to them and the blessed Redeemer pronounce them cursed and dispatch them to everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for ever The Judgment of the Redeemer will be more heavy than that of the Creator For all the riches of his goodness which they despised shall be the measure of their guilt and woes All the means of Grace used for their conversion but frustrated by their perversness shall rise up in Judgment against them Justice will revenge the abuse of Mercy Do they hope to soften the Judg by Submissions and Deprecations alas he will be inflexible to all their Prayers and Tears The Lamb will be then a Lion arm'd with terrours for their destruction Or can they appeal to an higher Court to mitigate or reverse the Sentence No his Authority is supream and confirm'd by the immutable Oath of God Or do they think to resist the execution of the sentence Desperate Folly The Angels notwithstanding their numbers and strength could not for a moment escape his revenging hand The whole World of Sinners is of no more force against his Wrath than the light dust against a whirl-wind or dry Stubble against devouring Fire Or do they think by a stubborn Spirit to endure it Self-deceiving Wretches If the correction of his Children here tho allayed and for their amendment make their beauty and strength consume away as a moth how insupportable will the Vengeance be on his obstinate Enemies Who knows the power of his Anger who can found the depths of his displeasure 7. The Consideration of eternal Judgment should be a powerful Incentive to prepare our selves for it 'T is the Inference the Apostle makes from the certainty of our appearing before the righteous Judge Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent in this or the next life we may be accepted of him This was his great Design his chief Care his Duty and his Glory Never did any person more ardently aspire and ambitiously endeavour for the obtaining a Kingdom than he did to secure his own Acceptance with the Lord. In order to this I will lay down the Rules of our Acceptance in that Day and conclude the Argument 1. Unfained Faith in the Lord Jesus is absolutely necessary that we may be accepted This is such a belief of his all sufficient Merits and his merciful inclination to save us that the guilty and self-condemned Sinner entirely consents to the terms of the Gospel as well as to the priviledges of it with a reliance upon his Merits and a resolution to obey his Precepts He is a Priest on a Throne a Prince and a Saviour and so must be acknowledged and received Upon this condition his Righteousness is freely imputed to us for our Justification unto Life without which we must perish in our Sins For 1. The best Saints are guilty and deeply obnoxious to the Law and the Judgment of God is invariably according to Truth so that appearing in their Sins they will be cast for ever God's Tribunal like that of the severe Roman Judg is Reorum Scopulus a Rock that dashes in pieces all the Guilty that come to it Therefore the Psalmist so earnestly deprecates Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified And the Aposte tho' a transcendent Saint devests himself of his own righteousness that he may be entirely covered with the righteousness of Christ and renounces all things that he may be found in him as his Surety in that Day of Accounts and obtain Pardon by virtue of his Satisfaction for Sin We cannot perfectly obey the Commands nor appease the Displeasure of God but the expiatory Sacrifice of Christ propitiats the Divine Justice This alone can make us stand in Judgment before the fiery Law and the fiery Tribunal and the Judg who is a consuming Fire to all the Guilty that appear in their Sins before him The Blood of the Mediator has sprinkled the Throne of God in Heaven and our Consciences being sprinkled with it by a purifying Faith we may appear before God the Judg of all with an humble confidence and enter into the Holy of Holies the Celestial Sanctuary with joy 2. Not only the pardon of our Sins but the acceptance and rewarding of our services with eternal Glory is upon the account of our Saviour's compleat Righteousness There are defilements in the persons and defects in the works of the Saints Their most holy and fervent Prayers are perfum'd by the Incence of his Intercession and so become grateful to God Our best Vertues are mix'd and shadowed with imperfections but in him all Graces were conspicuous in