of your doings from before mine Eyes Cease to do evil and learn to do well saith the Lord and tho' your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow tho' they be red like Crimson they shall be white like Wooll God will not pardon those who forgive and flatter themselves in their Sins but those who confess and forsake them shall find mercy 2. Sincerity of Obedience is accepted where Perfection is wanting When a Person with consent of Heart and serious endeavours strives to obey the Holy Will of God without the exception of any known Duty or the indulgence of any Sin God will spare him as a Father spares his Son that serves him 'T is not so much the Matter as the Allowance that makes Sin deadly Where there is guile in the heart it will be severely imputed 'T is not according to some particular Acts of Sin but the Tenor of the Life that the state of Men will be decided 3. Unfeigned Faith in the Lord Jesus that is such a belief of the Truth and Goodness of his Promises as induces us to receive him as our Prince and Saviour as purifies the Conscience the Heart and Life will free us from Hell and entitle us to Heaven according to the Covenant of Grace In short the final Resolution of a Man's Trial and Case will be this either he has performed the gracious Conditions of the Gospel and he shall be saved or rejected them and he shall be damned If it be objected that the terms of Evangelical Justification tho' in themselves comparatively easy yet are of impossible performance to Men in their natural sinful state The Answer is clear 1. That although the natural Man be dead in Sin without spiritual strength to resolve and perform his Duty and holy heat of desires to it and nothing is alive in him but his corrupt Passions that are like Worms generated in a Carcase yet by the Grace that is offered in the Gospel he may be enabled to perform the Conditions of it for in this the Gospel excels the Law the Law discovers Sin but affords no degrees of supernatural Power to subdue it and directs to no means for the expiation of its Guilt As the Fire in the Bush discovered the Thorns without consuming them But the sanctifying Spirit the true Spring of Life and Power is the concomitant of the Gospel as St. Peter declares With the preaching of the Gospel the Holy Ghost was sent down from Heaven And the Spirit by illuminating preventing and exciting Grace assists Men to repent and believe and is promised in rich and liberal supplies to all that humbly and ardently pray for it This our Saviour assures to us by a most tender and endearing Comparison If ye that are evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask it 2. From hence it follows that 't is from the perverseness of the Will and the love of Sin that Men do not obey the Gospel For the Holy Spirit never withdraws his gracious assistance till resisted grieved and quenched by them It will be no excuse that Divine Grace is not conferr'd in the same eminent degree upon some as upon others that are converted for the impenitent shall not be condemned for want of that singular powerful Grace that was the priviledg of the Elect but for receiving in vain that measure of common Grace that they had If he that received one Talent had faithfully improved it he had been rewarded with more but upon the slothful and ingrateful neglect of his Duty he was justly deprived of it and cast into a Dungeon of Horrour the Emblem of Hell The Sentence of the Law has its full force upon impenitent Sinners with intollerable aggravations for neglecting the Salvation of the Gospel Concerning the Heathens the Scripture declares 1. That although the Law publish'd by Moses was not communicated to them yet there was a silent though less perfect Impression of it in their Hearts The Law of Nature in the fundamental Precepts of Religion and Society and Temperance was better known than obeyed by them Therefore the Apostle endites them for atrocious Crimes such as natural Conscience consenting with the Law of God severely forbids upon the pain of damnation Thus 't is said of the Heathens who knowing the Judgment of God That they which commit such things are worthy of death not only commit the same but have pleasure in them that do them And at the last Day As many as have sinned without the Law as delivered to the Jews shall be judged and perish not according to that Law of Moses but the Law of Nature that obliged them to do good and restrain themselves from Evil of which the counterpart was not totally deleted in their Hearts 2. Although the Revelation of Christ in his Person Office and Benefits is not by the preaching of the Gospel that is necessary for the begetting of Faith extended to all Nations yet the Grace of the Redeemer is so far universal that upon his account the indulgent Providence of God invited the Heathens to Repentance His renewed Benefits that sweetned their Lives and his powerful patience in forbearing so long to cut them off when their Impurities and Impieties were so provoking was a testimony of his inclination to clemency upon their reformation And for their abusing his Favours and resisting the methods of his Goodness they will be inexcusable to themselves and their condemnation righteous to their own Consciences We are next to consider the Sanction of the Law that enforces Obedience and it will appear that God is not extream but wisely and justly ordained Eternal Death to be the punishment of Sin This will appear by considering 1. The end of the Sanction is to preserve the Authority of the Law in its full vigour to render it most solemn and awful and consequently the punishment must be so heavy as to overpoise all Temptations that might otherwise induce the Subjects to transgress its Precepts Therefore to Adam the first and second Death was threatned upon his Disobedience and Fear as a Sentinel was planted in his Breast that no guilty Thought no irregular Desire no deceitful Suggestion should enter to break the Tables of the Law deposited therein Now since notwithstanding the threatning Man was so easily seduc'd by the insinuations of the Tempter to break the Law and disorder the Government of God in the World 't is evident that such a restraint was not over-rigorous to secure his Obedience I shall not insist on what is sadly visible since the first Apostacy that there is in Mankind such a prodigious propensity to sensual things that without the fear of Hell no Arguments are strong enough to prevent the bold violation of the Divine Law 2. 'T is consented to by common Reason that there ought to be a proportion between the quality of
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
predestinated to be conform'd to the Image of God's Son who trac'd out the way to Heaven in his own Blood and by the Cross ascended to the Throne Sometimes more immediately Divine Providence afflicts them to preserve their Spirits from the tainted pleasures of the World and other Holy Ends but there is a rest for the People of God in Heaven Besides there are Reliques of Sin in the best of the Saints here Indeed Sin is depos'd from sovereignty and rule the imperious Lusts are crucified but not quite expir'd As those that were nail'd to the Cross in their hands and feet the parts least vital and most sensible died a painful lingring death Still the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh As there is a complexion of Humours in humane Bodies always jarring when they are in the soundest health and where there is not this active contrariety either the Body is without a Soul a mere Carcass or a glorified Body in Heaven So where there is not this internal Combat between Grace and Sin either the Man is wholly Carnal dead in sins and trespases or wholly spiritual reigning in Heaven And there is nothing more works on the tender affections of a Saint than to find in himself what is displeasing to God that still he is under a sad necessity of sinning What is said concerning an old Man wasted and decayed in his drooping Years that the Grashopper is a burden to him is true of the new Man in a Christian the sins that are counted light in the valuation of the World are a heavy weight to him Vain Thoughts idle Words irregular Passions unprofitable Actions are motives of heart-breaking sorrow Now Death is to a Believer a universal Remedy against all the Evils of this Life it frees him from all Injuries and Sufferings and from Sin in all its degrees from all inclinations and temptations to it He that is dead ceaseth from Sin Death is the passage from this Wilderness to the true Canaan the rest Above that flows with better Milk and Hony with Innocence and Happiness for ever There nothing can disturb the Peace or corrupt the purity of the blessed 3. Besides the privative advantage the freedom from all the effects of God's displeasure and the resentments of it there is the highest positive Good obtained by Death The Spirits of just Men are made perfect in Heaven The Soul is the Glory of Man and Grace is the Glory of the Soul and both are then in their exaltation All the Faculties of the Soul are rais'd to the highest degrees of Natural and Divine Perfection In this Life Grace renews the Faculties but does not elevate them to their highest pitch it does not make a mean Understanding pregnant nor a frail Memory strong nor a slow Tongue eloquent but sanctifies them as they are But when the Soul is releas'd from this dark Body of Earth the Understanding is clear and quick the Memory firm the Will and Affections ardent and vigorous And they are enrich'd with divine Light and Love and Power that makes them fit for the most noble and heavenly Operations The lineaments of God's Image on the Soul are first drawn here but then it receives his last hand All the Celestial Colours are added to give the utmost life and lustre to it Here we are advancing but by Death we arrive at Perfection We shall in Heaven be join'd to the Assembly of Saints and Angels our best Friends Love is the Law of that Kingdom and Perfectly obeyed there Now how charming is the Conversation of one that is wise and holy especially if the sweetness of affability be in his temper How pleasantly does time slide away in the company of our beloved Friends We are not sensible of its flight But what dear satisfaction is it to be united to that chosen consecrated Society Above who love one another as themselves Tho' the Angels and Saints have different degrees of Glory yet every one is perfectly happy and pleased As the strings of an Instrument differ in the size and sound some are sharp and high some grave and deep others a mean and from that variety results the Harmony and Musick so that if every string had Judgment and Election it would chuse to be what it is so from the different degrees of Glory in Heaven the most amiable and equal Order of the Divine Wisdom appears that satisfies every one We shall be in the glorious presence of God and Christ where is fulness of joy and infinite pleasures for ever 'T is said of Abraham He rejoic'd to see the day of Christ two thousand Years before his coming When by Faith he saw the incarnation of the Son of God in order to the redemption of Men it put him into an extasy Yet then our Saviour was born to Sorrows and Miseries But how ravishing is the sight of our Redeemer set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high having purged our Sins by himself and accomplish'd our Salvation Now we are absent from God yet in believing his infallible Promises we rejoice with a Joy unspeakable and glorious But how much more joyful is the fruition of them Here the Divine Goodness is derived to us through secondary means that weaken its efficacy but in Heaven the consolations of the Creator are most purely dispensed and his immediate Excellencies are made known This Blessedness exceeds all our thoughts and explicit desires and requires the eloquence and experience of an Angel to set it forth The bright sum of it is this We shall see God in his Glory face to face in the most perfect manner the sight of his Glory shall transform us into his Likeness we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is This shall produce in us the most pure and ardent Love and Love shall be attended with inexpressible joy and that with the highest praises of the blessed God whose influxive presence is the Heaven of Heaven And that which crowns all is that the Life above is Eternal This satisfies all our Desires and excludes all our Fears for unchangeableness is an inseparable Attribute of perfect felicity The Blessed are in full communion with God the Fountain of Life and Christ the Prince of Life Because I live saith our Saviour ye shall live also What can interrupt much less put an end to the happiness of the Saints The Love of God is immutably fix'd upon them and their Love upon him Here their love is subject to decays and gradual alienations as the Needle in the Compass tho' it always has a tendency to the North Pole yet sometimes it declines and has its variations But in Heaven the love of the Saints is directly and constantly set upon God The light of his Countenance governs all their Affections 'T is as impossible to divert their desires from him as to cause one that is inflam'd with thirst to leave a clear flowing Spring for a
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
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
respect to Eternity as Ahab was the Prophet Michaiah who always foretold evil things to him 'T was the chief design of the Philosophers by Principles of Reason to fortify themselves against all frightful Accidents and with a masculine Mind and an Heart ardent with generous Spirits to encounter this inevitable Evil. When one of them was threatned by the Emperor Antigonus with present Death he boldly replied Threaten this to your dissolute Courtiers that are softned and melted by sensual pleasures and easily receptive of terrible impressions not to a Philosopher to whom Death is contemptible in any appearance This was a piece of affected Bravery for Pagan Philosophy could never furnish them with Armor of Proof against the Dart of our last Enemy But the Gospel assuring us that Death is an entrance into Immortality makes that to be the reality of a Christian that was a vain boast of the Philosophers Now that we may be establish'd in that blessed Tranquillity that Death cannot discompose the following Directions are infinitely useful 1. We must give all diligence to be in a state of Reconciliation with God The things requisit to that are as the Apostle declares Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance includes a Godly sorrow for Sins past with a detestation and forsaking them sincerely without hypocrisy and entirely without partiality in the heart and conversation 'T is call'd Repentence from dead works the proper name of our Sins that deserve eternal Death By repentance we return to Obedience that is due to God our Maker and Lawgiver Faith respects the Redeemer who by his Blood shed on the Cross and pleaded in Heaven reconciles God to penitent Sinners The belief of his merciful and powerful Mediation for our acceptance and Pardon works by Love and constrains us to dedicate our selves in a devoted propriety to his Glory and Service and to live according to that Dedication These two are absolutely necessary to the vital and salvifical state of a Christian. And as soon as a person sincerely repents and believes he is justified before God and if he dies will certainly obtain eternal Glory This should be the early and most speedy work of our Lives for the delay of Repentance and neglect of securing the Favour of God arms Death with more stings and terrors 1. 'T is direct Rebellion against God who commands us to hear his Voice to day obediently and immediately upon no less penalty than being excluded from his blessed Rest for ever Yet the self-flattering Sinner preaches another Gospel to himself and runs in hazard of Damnation and the eternal Curse every hour 2. 'T is the most provoking Abuse of his Mercy and Patience that should lead Men to Repentance He can in the twinkling of an Eye in the beating of a Pulse cut off the Sinner 't is as easy to his power as to will it And there 's no consideration should be so meltting and moving as his Clemency We reade of David that he had more than once in his power Saul his unjust and implacable enemy and spared him the effect of it was that Saul became so softned and under such compunction of spirit that he wept confest his guilt and desisted from persecuting him overcome by that unexampled Love If a Man find his Enemy will he let him go And yet Men take advantage from the goodness of God securely to despise his Laws 3. How justly will this render divine Mercy inexorable to their Prayers and Tears in their extremity When a Roman Gentleman that had wasted a great Estate by Luxury and was wont to revel in the Night and sleep in the Day petitioned the Emperor Tiberius to relieve his poverty he was dismist with this upbraiding Answer Sero experrectus es You are risen too late He never opened his Eyes to see his Condition till it was past remedy This is the sad case of many Souls that waste the seasons of Grace and are careless of their Duty till they are upon the point of perishing and then address themselves to God for his Favour and Pardon but are justly rejected with the reproaches of their obstinate neglect of Salvation in the time of their lives 4. Repentance that is indispensibly required to qualify us for Mercy is far more difficult and hazardous by Mens deferring of it The last guilty disposition that seals up the Damnation of the Sinner is Impenitence Now he that delays the returning to his Duty shall have more cause to repent hereafter but less will and power For the continuance in Sin hardens the heart and that which is indisposition will become averseness and obstinacy The heart with difficulty changes its last end Actions may be suddenly changed when there is a disability to perform them but the inward inclination to Sin without supernatural Grace remains And is it reasonable to expect the least breathings of the Spirit any divine Assistance after long resisting his holy Excitations God threatens My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with Man And to the forsaken Sinner the seasons of Grace are as irrevocable as his wasted mis-spent time The Delayer does not trust but tempt divine Mercy 5. The numerous Examples of those who have deferred Repentance and Reconciliation with God and at last died in their sins should terrify Men if they are not wrought on in a more excellent way 1. Some presume upon the vigour of their Youth or Complexion and think when they have satiated themselves with the pleasures of Sin when they have the freest vacancy and are retir'd from the affairs of the World there will be a convenient season for making their peace with God And how often are they suddenly cut off the first symptom of their sickness is Death and what the Angel with such solemnity declared that time should be no more is verified concerning them by an unexpected dissolution 2. Some that continue a while in sickness and languishings do not apply themselves seriously to God upon the hopes of recovery And this hope is cherish'd by the mortal love the cruel deceit of friends who are unwilling to let them see their danger lest their spirits should sink under it And thus many die in an unprepared state 3. Others that are guilty and graceless tho distant from Death and Hell but a few hours are secure as Jonah who slept in the midst of a Tempest at Sea The tenour of their lives discovers this to be divine Vengeance they are seiz'd with a spirit of slumber and pass without fear into the state of everlasting desperation 4. Others who have lived in careless security as if they had made a Covenant with Death yet upon the near approaches of it when they see Death before them attended with Judgment and Judgment Hell as we read of Sisera who from extream Fear past to extream Security so on the contrary these self-deceivers from extream Security have fallen into extream Fear Then Truth
and Conscience that were so long under unrighteous restraints break the Fetters and terribly charge the sinner Then innumerable Acts which they thought to be innocent appear to be sins and Sin that they made light of to be infinitely evil and in the highest degree hateful to God And sometimes by the suggestions of the enemy of Souls they are overwhelm'd with despair and their last Error is worse than the first 5. Others are deceived with things that are short of true repentance and mistake a false peace for a true and asswage the anguish of Conscience by palliating remedies Their sorrowful sense of Sin their Prayers their resolutions of Amendments are the product of servile Fear that is ineffectual to Salvation And as 't is with crafty Tradesmen that take up much upon trust when they are ready to breaking so they are very liberal of their promises of Reformation when in their own apprehension near dying But how often does Experience convince us of the inefficacy of a sick-bed Repentance How many that were very penitent and devout with one foot as it were in the Grave and another in Hell and were as a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire and the fear of Death being removed all the pangs of Conscience the religious Affections that were felt and exprest by them vanish as the morning dew Now converting Grace is distinguish'd by its radication and efficacy not only from the meer pretences of those who know their own insincerity but from the real workings of Conscience and the imperfect dispositions to good that are in the Unrenewed And those persons who with the return of Health have returned to their Sins again if they had died with their religious resolutions would have presum'd that their repentance was unto Life and of their interest in the divine Mercy The Heart is deceitful above all things and above all things deceitful to it self 6. But supposing in the last hours there be an unfeigned closing with Christ according to the Gospel-Covenant and a cordial change from the love of Sin to the love of Holiness this person shall certainly not miss of Heaven but Death will be less comfortable than if he had in the course of his Life declared the truth and power of Grace in such acts and fruits as are suitable to it The sum is this the vain hope of living long and being reconciled to God when they please is the fatal foundation of Mens Sins and Misery They apply the Word of God against the Mind of God and securely provoke him as if they could take Heaven by violence in contradiction to the Gospel But they usually dispose of that time they shal never injoy or presume upon that pardoning Mercy and assisting Grace they shall never obtain We are commanded to seek the Lord while he may be found a sad intimation that 't is not in our power to find him to our comfort when we please He spares long but abused Patience will deliver Sinners to revenging Justice Sampson was three times in the Chamber of his Lust exposed to Treachery and escap'd but the fourth time he said I will arise but was surpriz'd by his Enemies and lost his strength and sight and liberty I doubt not that some are wonderfully converted and saved at last but these special Mercies are like our Saviour's passing in the Way and by his miraculous Virtue healing the two blind persons when great numbers remain'd uncured We read a prodigious story in the Book of Kings that a Captain and his fifty went to Elias to command him to come to the King and immediately a tempest of Lightning destroyed them Now who would think it possible that another Captain and his fifty should be so desperate that having the Ashes and Reliques of these miserable Carcases smoking before their Eyes as to make the same Citation to the Prophet yet they did and provok'd the Justice of Heaven to consume them And this is verified in thousands every day for notwithstanding they see sinners like themselves suddenly cut off in their evil ways they persist unreformed as if they were fearless of Hell nay as if resolved to secure their own Damnation I have insisted the longer on this because 't is so universally useful 2. The careful preserving our selves from wilful presumptuous Sins is an happy means to render Death comfortable to us The Spirit seals our Pardon and title to Heaven as the holy Spirit his Testimony that we are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory is concurrent with the renewed Conscience and distinguish'd from the ignorant presumptions blind conjectures and carnal security of the unholy As the sanctifying Spirit he distinguishes true Christians from the lost World appropriates them to God confirms their present interest in the Promises of the Gospel and their future hopes Briefly Grace is the most sensible effect and sign of God's special Favour the fruit of Election and the earnest of Glory and the truth of Grace is most clearly and certainly made evident by the continual efficacy of it in the Conversation The observation of our Hearts to suppress unholy affections and of our senses to prevent them a constant course of Holiness in our lives tho many frailties will cleave to the best is usually rewarded with greate peace here God has establish't a connexion between our Obedience and his Comforts Those that keep themselves pure from the defilements of the World have the white Stone promised the bright Jewel of Assurance of God's pardoning and rewarding Mercy We read of Enoch that the walk't with God was a Star shining in a corrupt Age the tenour of his Life was holy and he was translated to Heaven without seeing Death Tho this was an extraordinary Dispensation yet there is a peculiar reward analogical to it for those who walk circumspectly they shall not see Death with its terrors but usually have a holy Chearfulness a peaceful Joy in their passage through the dark Valley to Heaven But presumptuous Sins against external and internal restraints the convincing Law of God and the directions of Conscience grieve the Holy Spirit and wound our Spirits and if continued sequester us from the comfortable priviledges of the Gospel and render us unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven And when they are retracted by Repentance yet there often remains a bitter remembrance of them as deep Wounds tho cur'd yet are felt in change of weather And somtimes a spring-tide of doubts and fears breaks into humble penitent Souls in the last hours tho Death brings them safely yet not comfortably to Heaven 3. The zealous discharge of the Duties of our place and calling the conjunction of our resolutions and endeavours to glorify God and do good according to our abilities and opportunities of service sweetens the thoughts of Death to us For the true end and perfection of Life is the Glory of God and when with fidelity it is employed in order to it Death brings us to the blessed Rest from
pass and the Rocks we must avoid Faith is the Compass that directs the Course we must steer Love is the Rudder that governs the Motion of the Ship Hope fills the Sails Now what Passenger does not rejoice at the discovery of his Country where his Estate and Heart is and more at the near approach to the Port where he is to land Is not Heaven the Countrey of the Saints is not their Birth from above and their tendency to their Original and is not the blessed Bosom of Christ their Port Oh what joyful thanksgivings are due to God when by his Spirit and Providence they have happily finish'd their Voyage through such dangerous Seas and are coming into the Land of the Living How joyful was to Noah the coming of the Dove with an Olive Branch to shew him the Deluge was asswaged and the time was come of his freedom from the troublesom company of Animals and from the straitness and darkness of the Ark to go forth and possess the World How joyful should Death be to a Saint that comes like the Dove in the evening to assure him the Deluge of Misery is ceas'd and the time is come of his enlargement from the Body his deliverance from the wretched sinful society here and his possessing the Divine World Holy Souls are immediately transported by the Angels to Christ and by him presented to his Father without spot or wrinkle compleat in Holiness and prepared for Communion with him in Glory How joyfully are they received into Heaven by our Saviour and the blessed Spirits they are the reward of his Sufferings the precious and dear purchase of his Blood The Angels that rejoice at the Conversion of a Sinner much more at the Glorification of a Saint and the Church of the First-born who have before us enter'd into Glory have a new accession of Joy when their younger Brethren arrive to the undefiled immortal Inheritance And is it not very becoming Believers joyfully to ascend to the Seat of Blessedness to the happy Society that inspires mutual Joys for ever For our encouragement there are numerous instances of Believers that have with peace and joy tho in various degrees past through the dark Valley to the Inheritance of Light Some have died with more Joy than they lived and triumph'd over the last Enemy with the vocal Praises of God others with silent affections have quietly commended their Spirits into his hand Some have inward Refreshings and support others exuberant Joys and Ravishments as if the Light of Glory shined into them or the Veil of Flesh were drawn and their Spirits were present with the invisible World Some of the Martyrs in their cruellest Sufferings felt such impressions of Confidence and Alacrity that as in the House of Lamech there was accorded at the same time two discordant Callings by the two Brothers Jubal the Inventer of the Harp and Organ and Tubal-Cain the first Artificer in Brass and Iron the one practised on Instruments of Musick breathing harmonious sounds and melodies the other used Hammers Anvils making noise and tumult So in some persons whilst the heaviest strokes fell on their Bodies their Souls were ravish'd with the sweetest Joy and Exultation Indeed 't is not thus always with the Saints for tho Sin be pardoned yet the apprehensions of Guilt may remain When a Stream is disturbed it does not truly represent the Object When the Affections are disordered the Mind does not judge aright of a Christian's state A Serpent may hiss when it has lost its sting Death may terrify when it cannot hurt us I doubt not but some excellent Saints have been in anxieties to the last till their Fears were dispell'd by the actual fruition of Blessedness As the Sun sometimes sets in dark Clouds and rises in a glorious Horizon We reade our Evidences for Heaven by the Light of God's Countenance his Image is made visible in our Souls by the illustration of his Spirit and he exercises Prerogative in the dispensation of his Comforts 'T is his pleasure to bestow extraordinary Favours on some and deny them to others that are as holy But every Penitent Believer has just cause of Joy in Death for Jesus Christ has reconciled God destroyed Satan and conquered Death and the last day of his Life is the first of his Glory FINIS Errata of the Sermons on Death PAge 8. line 19. for should r. might P. 25. l. 18. f. lost r. tost P. 32. l. 19. f. quietly r. guiltily P. 92. l. 12. f. impassibility r. impossibility The Sermons on Judgment P. 11. l. 21. dele only l. 22. r. not only the Angels P. 19. l. 23. f. attaque r. attach SERMONS UPON Eternal Judgment BY WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazen Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1683. SERMONS UPON Eternal Judgment Acts 17. 31. Because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he raised him from the dead SAint Paul had this Title of Honour eminently conferred upon him the Apostle of the Gentiles This Office he performed with persevering diligence diffusing the Light of Life to those that sate in darkness and in the shadow of Death In this Chapter we have recorded the substance of his Sermon to the Athenians wherein his admirable Zeal and Prudence are remarkable in the Matter and Order of his Discourse to convince and perswade them to receive the saving Truth of the Gospel He first lays down the Principles of Natural Religion to prepare them for the more easy belief of supernatural revealed Religion The depravation of the Minds of Men was in no instance more prodigious than in their vilifying Conceits of the Deity They attributed his Name and Honour to various Idols and ascribed to him their own Figure and which was infinitely more unworthy and dishonourable their own Passions and Vices They adored their own vain Imaginations The Idols of their Hearts were erected on their Altars Venus was a Goddess because impure Love reigned in their Brests Bacchus had Religious Rites because sensual Pleasures as sweet as Wine intoxicated their Spirits These Errors as gross as impious were universal the Philosophers themselves were not exempted from the Contagion The Apostle therefore makes use of the clearest Arguments to give Authority to the plain conspiring Voice of Nature that had so long in vain recall'd them from Idolatry to the Worship of the only true God He therefore declares that the Divine Maker of all things the Father of Spirits could not be represented by corporeal and corruptible things but was to be acknowledg'd and ador'd in a manner becoming his spiritual and infinite Perfections That he made all Nations of one Blood tho' distinguish'd in their Habitations and Times that they might seek and serve the one universal Creator And though
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
their consummate degrees Our Obedience supposing it perfect is of no desert When we have done all we are unprofitable Servants but his Obedience was infinitely meritorious by the union of the Deity with his humane Nature and is the foundation of the excellent Reward Not that his Merits derive a value to our Works to make them worthy of eternal Glory as some noble Mineral infused into Water that is in it self without taste or efficacy gives it a medicinal tincture and virtue for this is impossible since the infinite Dignity of his Person and his most perfect habitual and actual Holiness that are the fountains and reasons of his Merits are incommunicable to our persons and works For this would render us equal to our Saviour and our works to be divine as his But the active and passive Righteousness of Christ is so satisfactory and meritorious that God is pleased graciously to reward with the Crown of Life the mean services of those who are by a lively and purifying Faith united to him 2. Sincere Obedience that is an uniform and entire respect to all the Commands of God will alone be accepted in that day for his Authority runs through all and binds them on the Conscience David had this Testimony from God himself that he was a Man after his own heart that fulfilled all his Will And St. John refers the decision of our state to this If our hearts condemn us of any allowed Sin of omission or commission much more God will who is greater than our hearts and knows all things But if the illuminated tender Conscience condemns us not of insincerity we have confidence towards God that he will spare and accept us notwithstanding our frailties and give free and safe access into his presence The lives of many are chequer'd with a stran◠disparity they are restrain 〈…〉 some Sins of apparent odiousness but indulgent to others they are strict in some duties but loose and slack in others as if they hop'd by way of commutation to be accepted of God to expiate their Delinquencies in one kind by supererrogating in another Some are painted Pharisees in the duties of the first Table very exact in the formalities of outward Devotions but gross Publicans in the duties of the second careless of Justice and Equity and Charity to Men Others are in appearance strictly moral in the discharge of their duties to Men and negligent of their obligations to God But partial obedience can never endure the trial of Conscience much less of God For what is the weak light of our minds to the pure eyes of his Glory It will make us liable to inward rebuke now and to open confusion at the last St. Paul's rejoycing was from the Testimony of his Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had his conversation in the World and as he expresses it in another place it was his daily exercise to have a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men. Tho our conquest of Sin be not compleat yet our resolution and endeavours must be to mortify it in every kind Tho' our obedience has not the perfection of degrees we must be equally regarding the Divine Law If there be any secret-favoured Sin either of omission or commission it will render our Petitions unacceptable at the Throne of Grace and our Persons at the Throne of Judgment If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer The Law requires the performance of our Duty without abatement or denounceth the penalty without allay or mitigation the Gospel has not relax'd the strictness of the Law as 't is the Rule of Life but as it was the condition of obtaining Life Sincere obedience is accepted by that gracious Covenant where the Legal Perfection is wanting but that is indispensibly required of all I may illustrate this by a passage of Alexander the Great who being desirous to learn Geometry applied himself to a skilful Instructer in it But his warlike disposition made him more capable to conquer than to measure the Earth so that tired with the first Propositions he desir'd his Master to make the Scheme more clear and plain and easy to him To whom the Master replied that the Theorems of that Science were equally difficult to all and requir'd the same attention of mind to understand them Thus the Gospel of Mercy requires of all sincere Sanctification and serious endeavours to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and without this none shall be exempted from Condemnation To the sincerity of Obedience I shall add a more restrained Notion of it as respecting Religion The duties of Piety consist of an outward and inward part and the one without the other is but as a Carcass without a quickning Soul Now there will be an exquisit Anatomy of the Heart in that Judgment a discovery of all the Principles and Motives by which Men were acted and then he that is a Saint inwardly in the Spirit who with pure aims and holy affections hath served God shall have praise of him And those who have us'd God to injoy the World that have assumed pretences of Piety for secular ends shall be reproved This will be a cause of wonder in that day that many who are highly esteemed by Men as excellent Saints shall be an abomination to God That in the broad way to Hell thousands go thither is sad beyond expression but not strange at all but that in the path of Heaven any should descend to Hell is astonishing That those who live without God in the World in the prophane neglect of his Worship in a dissolute disorderly course should fall under Condemnation is believed of all but that those who have appeared zealous in Religion shall be at last rejected is contrary to universal expectation And not only the gross Hypocrite that deceives others but he that deceives himself by the external practice of holy Duties without correspondent lively Affections that prayes with that coldness as if he had no desire to be heard and hears with that carelesness as if he had no desire to be sanctified by the Word and is conversant in other parts of divine service in that slight manner as if he had no design to be saved shall by a convincing upbraiding Light see his Wickedness in dishonouring that God whom he pretended to worship and neglecting his Soul When the Upright as pure Gold shall be more radiant by the Fire the Insincere like reprobate Silver shall not endure that severe trial 3. The frequent discussion of Conscience and reviewing our ways is necessary in order to our comfortable appearing before our Judg. This is a duty of constant revolution for while we are in flesh the best Saints notwithstanding all their vigilance and diligence are overtaken by surprisal and sometimes overborn by strong temptations and 't is more necessary to beg for daily pardon than for our daily bread Under the Law if any one had by