of Baubles are in request at the Indies or whether the Customs of China or Iapan are the wiser i. e. than the most trifling things and the remotest from our knowledge But this is to absurd and unreasonable to suppose that men should not think themselves concerned in their own eternal happiness and misery that I shall not shew so much distrust of their understandings to speak any longer to it 3. But if notwithstanding all these things our neglect still continues then there remains nothing but a fearful looking for of judgement and the fiery indignation of God For there is no possibility of escaping if we continue to neglect so great salvation All hopes of escaping are taken away which are only in that which men neglect and those who neglect their only way to salvation must needs be miserable How can that man ever hope to be saved by him whose blood he despises and tramples under foot What grace and favour can he expect from God who hath done despight unto the Spirit of Grace That hath cast away with reproach and contempt the greatest kindness and offers of Heaven What can save him that resolves to be damned and every one does so who knows he shall be damned if he lives in his sins and yet continues to do so God himself in whose only pity our hopes are hath irreversibly decreed that he will have no pity upon those who despise his goodness slight his threatnings abuse his patience and sin the more because he offers to pardon It is not any delight that God takes in the miseries of his Creatures which makes him punish them but shall not God vindicate his own honour against obstinate and impenitent sinners He declares before-hand that he is far from delighting in their ruine and that is the reason he hath made such large offers and used so many means to make them happy but if men resolve to despise his offers and slight the means of their salvation shall not God be just without being thought to be cruel And we may assure our selves none shall ever suffer beyond the just desert of their sins for punishment as the Apostle tells us in the words before the Text is nothing but a just recompence of reward And if there were such a one proportionable to the violation of the Law delivered by Angels how shall we think to escape who neglect a more excellent means of happiness which was delivered by our Lord himself If God did not hate sin and there were not a punishment belonging to it why did the Son of God die for the expiation of it and if his death were the only means of expiation how is it possible that those who neglect that should escape the punishment not only of their other sins but of that great contempt of the means of our salvation by him Let us not then think to trifle with God as though it were impossible a Being so merciful and kind should ever punish his Creatures with the miseries of another life For however we may deceive our selves God will not be mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting I shall only propound some few Considerations to prevent so great a neglect as that of your salvation is 1. Consider what it is you neglect the offer of Eternal Happiness the greatest kindness that ever was expressed to the World the foundation of your present peace the end of your beings the stay of your minds the great desire of your Souls the utmost felicity that humane Nature is capable of Is it nothing to neglect the favour of a Prince the kindness of Great Men the offers of a large and plentiful Estate but these are nothing to the neglect of the favour of God the love of his Son and that salvation which he hath purchased for you Nay it is not a bare neglect but it implies in it a mighty contempt not only of the things offered but of the kindness of him who offers them If men had any due regard for God or themselves if they had any esteem for his love or their own welfare they would be much more serious in Religion than they are When I see a person wholly immersed in affairs of the World or spending his time in luxury and vanity can I possibly think that man hath any esteem of God or of his own Soul When I find one very serious in the pursuit of his Designs in the World thoughtful and busie subtle in contriving them careful in managing them but very formal remiss and negligent in all affairs of Religion neither inquisitive about them nor serious in minding them what can we otherwise think but that such a one doth really think the things of the World better worth looking after than those which concern his eternal salvation But consider before it be too late and repent of so great folly Value an immortal Soul as you ought to do think what Reconciliation with God and the Pardon of sin is worth slight not the dear Purchase which was bought at no meaner a rate than the Blood of the Son of God and then you cannot but mind the great salvation which God hath tendered you 2. Consider on what terms you neglect it or what the things are for whose sake you are so great enemies to your own salvation Have you ever found that contentment in sin or the vanities of the World that for the sake of them you are willing to be for ever miserable What will you think of all your debaucheries and your neglects of God and your selves when you come to die what would you then if it were in your power to redeem your lost time that you had spent your time less to the satisfaction of your sensual desires and more in seeking to please God How uncomfortable will the remembrance be of all your excesses oaths injustice and profaneness when death approaches and judgement follows it What peace of mind will there then be to those who have served God with faithfulness and have endeavoured to work out their salvation though it hath been with fear and trembling But what would it then profit a man to have gained the whole World and to lose his own Soul Nay what unspeakable losers must they then be that lose their Souls for that which hath no value at all if compared with the World 3. Consider what follows upon this neglect not only the loss of great salvation but the incurring as great damnation for it The Scripture describes the miseries of the life to come not meerly by negatives but by the most sensible and painful things If destruction be dreadful what is everlasting destruction if the anguish of the soul and the pains of the body be so troublesome what will the destruction be both of Body and Soul in Hell If a Serpent
to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders c. Wherein we have all the satisfaction which the minds of reasonable men could desire as to these things It might be justly expected that the messenger of so great news to the World should be no mean and ordinary person neither was he for the honour was as great in the person who brought it as the importance was in the thing it self No less than the Eternal Son of God came down from the Bosom of his Father to rectifie the mistakes of Mankind and not only to shew them the way to be happy but by the most powerful arguments to perswade them to be so Nay we find all the three persons of the Trinity here engaged in the great work of mans salvation it was first spoken by our Lord God also bearing them witness and that with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that not only the first revelation was from God but the testimony to confirm that it was so was from him too there being never so clear an attestation of any divine truths as was of the Gospel From whence it follows that the foundation whereon our Faith stands is nothing short of a divine testimony which God gave to the truth of that revelation of his will so vain are the cavils of those who say we have nothing but meer probabilities for our Faith and do interpret that manner of proof which matters of fact are capable of in a sense derogatory to the firmness of our Christian Faith As tho' we made the Spirit of God a Paraclete or Advocate in the worst sense which might as well plead a bad as a good cause No we acknowledge that God himself did bear witness to that doctrine deliver'd by our Lord and that in a moâ—t signal and effectual manner for the conviction of the world by those demonâ—â—rations of a divine power which accompanied the first Preachers of salvation by the Gospel of Christ. So that here the Apostle briefly and clearly resolves our Faith if you ask Why we believe that great salvation which the Gospel ofâ—ers the anâ—wer is Because it was declared by our Lord who neither could nor woulâ— deceive us if it be asked How we know that this was delivered by our Lord he answers because this was the constant Doctrine of all his Disciples of those who constantly heard him and conversed with him But if you ask again how can we know that their testimony was infallible since they were but men he then resolves all into that that God bare witness to them by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost And those persons whom these arguments will not convince none other will Who are we that should not think that sufficient which God himself thought so who are we that dare question the certainty of that which hath had the Broad Seal of Heaven to attest it Can any thing make it surer than God himself hath done and can there be any other way more effectual for that end than those demonstrations of a divine power and presence which the Apostles were acted by Those that cavil at this way of proof would have done so at any other if God had made choice of it and those who will cavil at any thing are resolved to be convinced by nothing and such are not fit to be discoursed with 4. Here are the most prevailing motives to perswade them to accept of these offers of salvation There are two passions which are the great hinges of Government viz. mens Hopes and Fears and therefore all Laws have had their sanctions suitable to these two in Rewards and Punishments now there was never any reward which gave greater encouragement to hope never any punishment which made fear more reasonable than those are which the Gospel proposes Will ever that man be good whom the hopes of Heaven will not make so or will ever that man leave his sins whom the fears of Hell will not make to do it What other arguments can we imagine should ever have that power and influence on mankind which these may be reasonably supposed to have Would you have God alter the methods of his Providence and give his rewards and punishments in this life but if so what exercise would there be of the patience forbearance and goodness of God towards wicked men must he do it as soon as ever men sin then he would never try whether they would repent and grow better or must he stay till they have come to such a height of sin then no persons would have cause to fear him but such who are arrived at that pitch of wickedness but how then should he punish them must it be by continuing their lives and making them miserable but let them live and they will sin yet further must it be by utterly destroying them that to persons who might have time to sin the mean while supposing annihilation were all to be fear'd would never have power enough to deter men from the height of their wickedness So that nothing but the misery of a life to come can be of force enough to make men fear God and regard themselves and this is that which the Gospel threatens to those that neglect their salvation which it sometimes calls everlasting fire sometimes the Worm that never dies sometimes the wrath to come sometimes everlasting destruction all enough to fill the minds of men with horror at the apprehension and what then will the undergoing it do Thence our Saviour reasonably bids men not fear them that can only kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus the Gospel suggests the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and as it doth that so it presents likewise the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good which is no less than a happiness that is easier to hope to enjoy than to comprehend a happiness infinitely above the most ambitious hopes and glories of this world wherein greatness is added to glory weight to greatness and eternity to them all therefore call'd a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Wherein the Joys shall be full and constant the perception clear and undisturbed the fruition with continual delight and continual desire Where there shall be no fears to disquiet no enemies to allarm no dangers to conquer nothing shall then be but an uninterrupted peace an unexpressible Joy and pleasures for evermore And what could be ever imagined more satisfactory to minds tired out with the vanities of this world than such a repose as that is What more agreeable to the minds and desires of good men than to be eased of this clog of flesh and to spend eternity with the fountain of all
goodness and the spirits of just men made perfect What more ravishing delight to the souls that are purged and made glorious by the blood of the Lamb than to be singing Hallelujahs to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever How poor and low things are those which men hope for in this world compared with that great salvation which the Gospel makes so free a tender of What a mean thing is it to be great in this world to be honourable and rich i. e. to be made the object of the envy of some the malice of others and at last it may be an instance of this world's vanity and after all this to be for ever miserable But O the wisdom of a well-chosen happiness that carries a man with contentment and peace through this life and at last rewards him with a Crown of everlasting felicity Thus we see the Gospel proposes the most excellent means to make men happy if they be not guilty of a gross neglect of it and if they be that is their own act and they must thank none but themselves if they be miserable 2. But I pray what reason can be given since God is so tender of our happiness that we should neglect it our selves which is the next thing to be spoken to There are three sorts of things we think we have reason to neglect Such as are too mean and unworthy our care such as are so uncertain that they will not recompence it such as our own Interest is not at all concerned in but I hope there are none who have an immortal soul and the use of their understandings can ever reckon their salvation under one of these 1. Is it too mean an employment for you to mind the matters of your eternal welfare Is Religion a beggarly and contemptible thing that it doth not become the greatness of your minds to stoop to take any notice of it Hath God lost his honour so much with you that his service should be the object of mens scorn and contempt But what is it which these brave spirits think a fit emploâ—ment for themselves while they despise God and his Worship Is it to be curiously dressed and make a fine shew to think the time better spent at the Glass than at their Devotions These indeed are weighty imployments and fit in the first place to be minded if we were made only to be gazed upon Is it meerly to see Plays and read Romances and to be great admirers of that vain and frothy discourse which all persons account wit but those which have it This is such an end of man's life which no Philosopher ever thought of Or is it to spend time in excesses and debaucheries and to be slaves to as many lusts as will command them This were something indeed if we had any other name given us but that of Men. Or lastly is it to have their minds taken up with the great affairs of the World to be wise in considering carefull in managing the publick interest of a Nation This is an employment I grant fit for the greatest minds but not such which need at all to take them off from minding their eternal salvation For the greatest wisdom is consistent with that else Religion would be accounted folly and I take it for granted that it is never the truly wise man but the pretender that entertains any mean thoughts of Religion And such a one uses the publick Interest no better than he doth Religion only for a shew to the world that he may carry on his own designs the better And is this really such a valuable thing for a man to be contented to cheat himself of his eternal happiness that he may be able to cheat the world and abuse his trust I appeal then to the Consciences of all such who have any sense of humanity and the common interest of Mankind setting aside the considerations of a life to come whether to be just and sober vertuous and good be not more suitable to the design of humane Nature than all the vanities and excesses all the little arts and designs which men art apt to please themselves with And if so shall the eternal happiness which follows upon being good make it less desirable to be so No surely but if God had required any thing to make us happy which had been as contrary to our present Interest as the Precepts of Christianity are agreeable to it yet the end would have made the severest commands easie and those things pleasant which tend to make us happy 2. Are these things so uncertain that they are not fit for a wise man to be solicitous about them if they will come with â— little care they will say they are desirable but too much will unfit them for greater busâ—ness But do men believe these things to be true or not when they say thus if they be true why need they fear their uncertainty if they be certain what painâ— and care can be too great about them since a little will never serve to obtaiâ— them Let but the care and diligence be proportionable to the greatness of the end and the weight of the things and you never need fear the want of a recompence for all your labour But suppose you say if you were fully convinced of theiâ— certainty you would look more after them What hinders you from being so convinced Is it not a bad disposition of mind which makes you unwilling to enquire into them examine things with a mind as free as you would have it judge seriously according to the reason of things and you will easily find the interests of a life to come are far more certain as well as more desirable than those of this present life And yet the great uncertainty of all the honours and riches of this world never hinder the covetous or ambitious person from their great earnestness in pursuit of them And shall not then all the mighty arguments which God himself hath made use of to confirm to us the certainty of a life to come prevail upon us to look more seriously after it Shall the unexpressible love of the Father the unconceivable sufferings of the Son of God and the miraculous descent and powerful assistance of the Holy Ghost have no more impression on our minds than to leave us uncertain of a future state What mighty doubts and suspicions of God what distrusts of humane Nature what unspeakable ingratitude and unaccountable folly lies at the bottom of all this uncertainty O fools and slow of heart to believe not only what the Prophets have spoken but what our Lord hath declared God himself hath given testimony to and the Holy Ghost hath confirmed 3. But is not your Interest concerned in these things Is it all one to you whether your souls be immortal or no whether they live in eternal felicity or unchangeable misery Is it no more to you than to know what kind