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
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
Death reigns in the World 2. 'T is certainly future All the wretched Accidents of this Life such as concern us in our Persons Relations Estates and Interests a thousand Disasters that a jealous Fear and active Fancy will extend and amplify as they may so they may not happen to us And from this mixture of contrary possibilities from the uncertainty of event Hope that is an insinuating passion mixes with Fear and derives Comfort For as sometimes a suddain Evil surprises not fore-thought of so often the Evil that was sadly expected never comes to pass But what Man is he that lives and shall not see Death Who is so vain as to please himself with an imagination of Immortality here 3. 'T is a prevalent Evil from hence the proverbial Expression Strong as Death that subdues all cruel as the Grave that spares none 'T is in vain to struggle with the pangs of Death No Simples in Nature no Compositions of Art no Influence of the Stars no Power of Angels can support the dying Body or retain the flitting Soul There is no Man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath he power in the day of Death and there is no discharge in that War The Body sinks in the Conflict and Death feeds on its prostrate prey in the Grave 2. I shall consider more particularly the Causes that render Death so fearful to Men. 1. In the apprehension of Nature 2. In the apprehension of Conscience 1. In the apprehension of Nature Death hath this Name engraven in its forehead Ultimum terribilium the supreme of terrible things upon several accounts 1. Because usually sickness and pains languishing or tormenting make the first changes in the Body and the natural Death is violent This Hezekiah complained of with a mournful accent He will cut me off with pining sickness from day even to night thou wilt make an end of me I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so will he break all my Bones A Troop of Diseases are the forerunners of this King of Terrors There is a preceding encounter and sometimes very fierce that Nature feels the cruel Victory before it yields to this Enemy As a Ship that is lost by a mighty tempest and by the concussion of the Winds and Waves loses its Rudder and Masts takes in water in every part and gradually sinks into the Ocean So in the shipwrack of Nature the Body is so shaken and weakened by the violence of a Disease that the senses the animal and vital Operations decline and at last are exstinguish'd in death 2. Death considered in the strictest propriety as destructive of the natural being that is our first and most valuable good in the order of Nature is the just object of Fear The union between Soul and Body is very intimate and dear and like David and Jonathan they part unwillingly Nature has a share in the best Men and works as Nature St. Paul declares we would not be uncloathed not finally put off the Body but have it glorified in conjunction with the Soul Our blessed Saviour without the least impeachment of the Rectitude and perfection of his Nature exprest an aversness from Death and with submission to the divine Will desired a freedom from it His Affections were holy and humane and moved according to the quality of their Objects 3. The natural consequents of Death render it fearful Life is the foundation of all natural enjoyments and the loss of it induces the loss of all for ever 'T is from hence that such Evils that are consistent with Life and deprive us only of some particular content and pleasure are willingly chosen rather than Death The forfeiture of Estate the degrading from honour the confinement to a perpetual Prison the banishing from our native Country are less Penalties than Death There is a natural love of Society in Man and Death removes from all The Grave is a frightful solitude There is no conversation in the territories of darkness This also Hezekiah in his apprehensions of death speaks of with tears I shall see Man no more in the Land of the Living As in the Night the World is an universal Grave all things are in a dead silence Palaces Courts of Justice Temples Theaters Schools and all places of publick Conversation are shut up the noise and rumour that keeps Men in continual observation and action ceases Thus when the Sun of this present Life is set all the Affairs and Business all the vain joys of Company Feasting Dancing Musick Gaming ceases Every one among the Dead is confined to his sealed obscure Cell and is alone an entertainment for the Worms The Psalmist saith of Princes Their breath goeth forth they return to the Earth in that very day their thoughts their glorious compassing thoughts perish This the Historian observes was verified in Julius Caesar After his assuming the Imperial Dignity he thought to reduce the numerous Laws of the Romans into a few Volumes comprising the substance and reason of all to enrich and adorn the City of Rome as was becoming the Regent of the World to epitomise the Works of the most learned Grecians and Romans for the publick Benefit And whilst he was designing and pursuing these and other vast and noble things Death surprised him and broke off all his Enterprises At the terrible Gate that opens into Eternity Men are stript of all their Honours and Treasures and as naked as they come into the World go out of it Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his House is encreased For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him Death equally vilifies makes loathsom and ghastly the Bodies of Men and reduces them to sordid Dust. In the Grave the dust is as precious and powerful of one as of another Civil distinctions are limited to the present time The prodigious Statue in Nebuchadnezzar's Vision Dan. 2. 32 33 34 35. While it was upright the parts were really and visibly distinct The head was of fine gold the breast and arms of silver the belly and thighs of brass the legs of iron the feet part of iron and part of clay but when the stone cut out without hands smote the Image upon the feet then was the iron the clay the brass the silver and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the Chaff the wind carries away Who can distinguish between Royal Dust taken out of magnificent Tombs and Plebean Dust from common Graves Who can know who were Rich and who were Poor who had power and command who were Vassals who were remarkable by Fame who by Infamy They shall not say this is Jezebel not know this was the Daughter and Wife of King The King of Babylon stiled Lucifer the bright Star of the Morning that possest the first Empire in the World was degraded by Death humbled to the
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
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
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
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