mind or conscience as was the case of the better sort of Heathens or by the Law of Moses as the Jews were in our Saviours time Or lastly by the benefit of a Christian education as the state of those among our selves is who come to examine the truth of the Gospel and to enquire more nearly into the sense of it Suppose we a man already instructed by any of these means in the fundamental rules of practice desirous of further knowledge and satisfaction in the doctrine of the Gospel he must be careful to live up to those principles he is already instructed in resolving also to submit obediently to whatsoever else upon his further enquiry he shall find to be his duty Such a man thus prepared by doing his duty and thus resolved to do the will of God as far as it shall be made known to him such a one is the person to whom this promise of our Savior doth belong If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self I proceed to the second thing propounded to shew the certainty of success to those that seek for knowledge with this preparation and here it will not be amiss to consider briefly in what sense this promise is to be understood before we undertake to prove the certainty of it We are to observe therefore that this promise of our Saviour is not to be understood so universally as though no man who was sincerely resolved to obey God shall fall into any kind of errours in matters of Religion For this is contradicted by the constant experience of all Ages for it would be very uncharitable to suppose that among most of the dissenting parties in Religion who maintain great controversies with one another there should not be some persons truly devout and sincere on both sides We are not therefore to suppose that a man truly religious shall not err at all but that he shall not be led into such errors as are dangerous to or inconsistent with his salvation And indeed the promise in this place is not set down in so general terms as that they should seem to require any larger interpretation than this I am speaking of If any man will do his will saith our Saviour he shall know of the doctrine I now beliver to you whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Which cannot reasonably be extended beyond these two things 1. He shall receive satisfaction concerning the truth of Christian Religion in general that it is a doctrine truly divine and heavenly and that the author of it came from God and delivered his mind and will 2. He that will do the will of God shall be satisfied also concerning those particular truths which are indispensably necessary for him to know in order to his salvation These two things will be the undoubted effects of a religious frame of mind of a sincere resolution to do the will of God and will certainly be made good to all who seek for knowledge with that preparation and this we have great reason to be assured of whether we consider 1. The natural influence that a religious temper of mind hath upon the understanding to make it fit for the reception of divine truth 2. The peculiar blessing and assistance of Gods good spirit which always accompanies a truly religious man to guide him into all truth which is necessary for him I will begin with the former and shall endeavour to shew that the practice of religious Duties hath a natural efficacy upon the mind to clear its discerning faculties to make it capable of understanding and giving a full assent to the doctrine of the Gospel And this I shall make appear by instancing in some particular duties which are of a natural obligation which no man can be ignorant of each of which singly considered hath a very immediate influence upon the understanding to make it capable of divine knowledge In consideration of which it will also appear that the contrary vices to these are the onely causes of dangerous and damnable errors The Duties I shall particularly insist on are these 1. Simplicity of mind without prejudice 2. Purity of heart and affections 3. Humility 4. Calmness of Temper 5. Prayer to God These are all Duties of a natural obligation and therefore he that comes to examin the truth of the Gospel cannot be presumed ignorant of nor unwilling to practise them if he seek for knowledge with that preparation I have been speaking of 1. He that examines the doctrine of the Gospel with this intention to satisfie his conscience concerning those things that are necessary for him to believe and do resolving by Gods grace to do the will of God as far as it shal be made known to him such a one will bring with him an honest simplicity of mind not biassed by prejudice or preconceived opinions such a one will consider with himself that the truth of things doth not depend upon his own fancy or petty reasonings that a strong imagination cannot make those things Articles of Faith which God hath not revealed and therefore he will bring with him no preconceived opinion which he will not be ready to lay aside upon sufficient evidence to the contrary he will not endeavour to distort and wrest the plain words of Scripture to that sense of things which he formerly had but will readily yield up all his former notions to the authority of divine revelation That we are naturally obliged to this simplicity of judgment in all enquiries after truth is evident because in all manner of disputes this is one of the first things we challenge from our Adversary as our undoubted right that he would hear what we have to say without prejudice and therefore we also ought to bring with us to a religious debate the same free and unprejudiced minds which we expect from others And indeed this temper of mind is highly necessary and very advantageous to prepare us for the reception of truth For certainly the power of prejudice is very great to darken mens minds and to mould them into such apprehensions as are most suitable to it And therefore it is easie to observe how men who are engaged in a Party and prepossessed with the distinguishing opinions of their Sect easily find ways to pervert the plainest places of Scripture to their own sense to make it agree with the Analogy of their Faith that is of their darling Notions When I speak of laying aside prejudice in the search after divine truth I do not understand that we must call in question all kind of preconceptions we have had concerning religious matters Some things there are in Religion of so great certainty and evidence that though an Angel from Heaven should teach us otherwise we ought not to receive him Such are those preconceptions we have concerning the Being and Attributes of God that he is most wise just powerful faithful
joy which it affords us in this spiritual Race which infinitely over-ballances all the false pleasures we forsake and all the difficulties we undergo in undertaking this enterprize And lastly I might put you in mind of the great danger reproach and confusion of face which will certainly attend us if by our negligence and indifference we fall short of this glorious prize all which arguments ought to have a mighty influence upon us to awake and excite our utmost industry and vigour to promote our vigilance and to confirm strengthen and maintain our courage constancy and resolution to go on stedfastly in the ways of holiness and to run with patience the Race set before us But the prosecution of these and the like arguments would be too large a scope for the time allotted to this exercise and the words of the Text confine my thoughts to a more particular consideration of the example of the Saints Martyrs and holy Confessors who have gone before us in this glorious Race and have already finished their course with patience Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight c. The word Martyr or Witness in an Ecclesiastical sense is usually restrained to such onely who have laid down their lives in testimony of the truth of the Gospel but in the language of holy Scripture I find no such limitation of it Any of these who were either great examples of obedience and faith in God any who bare witness to divine truth though they were not called to suffer death for that testimony being indifferently stiled by that name The Fathers mentioned in the former Chapter cannot all be accounted Martyrs in the stricter sense however they all help to make up the number which by reason of the multitude of them is here called a Cloud of Witnesses Now the force of their witness and example to engage us in a like diligence and constancy in running the Race set before us I shall endeavour to represent in these following particulars 1. They were witnesses of the truth and faithfulness and goodness of God in whom we believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him and therefore that our labour and industry in our Christian Race shall not be in vain I mention this truth more particularly because it seems to be the onely Creed which all the Saints recited in the former Chapter agreed in Some of them 't is true had a great prospect and hope of a Messias to come Abraham rejoiced to see his day Jacobs prophecy of him is very punctual and particular The other Prophets give witness to him But yet it appears not that all there mentioned had any knowledge at all either that he was to come or what he should do or suffer for the World And therefore the Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter lays down that viz. That God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him as the fundamental Article of their Belief in confidence of which they willingly underwent so many Trials and Temptations with such bravery and undaunted resolution If therefore we look upon these men onely as giving testimony to this truth yet this alone is sufficient reason for our imitation of them and doth justifie the wisdom of our choice in being religious and serving the same God on whom they believed and forsaking all in obedience to him as they did before us Since we have the same convictions of Reason that they had that our God whom we serve is a Rewarder of those that put their trust in him and are further confirmed in our belief of this by their patience and constancy in the same Profession and by their chearful suffering Persecution for it By their suffering we have this satisfaction at least that we are not singular in this our persuasion concerning God and that he hath not been without his Witnesses in all Ages who have laid down their lives in this Faith and Assurance and therefore we ought to be stedfast in it without wavering Now if any should object that the numbers of those who have died in this Faith though they are here called a Cloud of Witnesses are yet but a very few in comparison of those who have lived without God in the World and have despised and rejected all hopes of a future reward To this it is easie to reply that the credit of any testimony doth not depend on the number and noise of those that affirm any thing but from the manner of the evidence they give Now a few men who give sufficient proof that they understand perfectly what they say and do and would not deceive others are more to be valued as Witnesses than ten thousand of the ruder multitude who take up reports upon trust and if you come to examine them they shrink into nothing They said something they know not what but know not whence they had it nor why they said it The case is the same in matters of religion those that have been truly pious and religious have in all Ages been men of the clearest and best understandings that have always been able to give a reason of their Hope that was in them and to satisfie the World that they did not pretend this for any temporal advantage they did deliberately and chearfully expose themselves to the most severe Trials and Persecutions for their testimony of it not accepting deliverance as the Apostle speaketh that they might obtain a better resurrection This was the case of those Heroick Spirits recited in the foregoing Chapter They were men of found mind as appears by the glorious things they did and suffered many of which are at large recorded in sacred Story They knew the value of life as well as others they were sensible of disgrace and pain and want and could have no reason to expose themselves to these things without a mighty evidence and conviction of the truth of what they believed concerning God of the greatness of his Power that he was able to reward them after this life of the greatness of his Wisdom that he knew when and how to do it better than they could choose of the Justice of his Providence that he would certainly do it But then on the contrary for those that have rejected this belief or at least have not lived answerably to it it is plain that much the greatest part of them are onely a rash inconsiderate multitude of no understanding in these matters who never took time to think whether Religion had any real foundation in Nature or Reason or not and therefore these are not competent Judges in the case and not to be regarded as Witnesses For those others who have lived wickedly and have yet had some reason to consider of the grounds and obligations of a religious course of life it is plain that these are most of them self-condemned and act against the conviction of their
his good Spirit to enable us to understand and do those things which are necessary for us and to lead us into all truth For we are not to understand this promise of our Saviour as though God would infuse the knowledge of divine truth by a miracle but that those that will do the will of God shall be blest by him in the diligent use of those ordinary means which he hath appointed for their instruction And therefore in the old Oeconomy the Jews were referred to Moses for their instruction what they ought to do And under the Gospel God hath given some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ and to these men and their successors we must have recourse in order to instruction and satisfaction in matters of Religion To these themselves we may have recourse in the Books of the New Testament which they have left behind them as a certain guide to us in all things necessary if we be not wanting to our selves To their Successors we have recourse in our attendance upon the publick Ministry who derive their commission by a continued succession from the Apostles who were impowered by Christ to ordain others for the continuance of their Office to the end of the World And to these persons thus impowered all private Christians ought to apply themselves with humility and diligence for their instruction and in the diligent use of those means of knowledge above-mentioned he that will do the will of God by vertue of this promise of our Saviour shall know of the doctrine 3. This condition if any man will do his will implies further that in our search after divine truth and in our use of those means of knowledge which God hath afforded us we must propose to our selves the doing the will of God as the ultimate end of our knowledge This is that which is more particularly expressed in the Text. Many there are who are very inquisitive after truth but they have oft-times very different and undue ends in their enquiry sometimes they do it to gratifie their curiosity sometimes that they may be able to maintain their Party they are ingaged in with some plausible shew of reason sometimes they do it for ostentation and vain-glory that they may appear wiser and more learned than their neighbours and sometimes they seek for knowledge as other men do their Merchandise that they may make a gain of it and provide for their subsistence in the World Now Now all these several sorts of Enquirers may possibly attain the several ends they propose to themselves they may grow learned and wise in the ordinary account of men they may grow rich and gain esteem and applause among men and in this they have their reward but still they may want the true knowledge and satisfaction which our Saviour here speaks of which is not attainable by any that do not intend and resolve to do the will of God according to their knowledge this alone makes them capable of a full and sensible conviction of the divine authority and excellency of those revelations which are contained in the Gospel For it is not every one that can talk superficially about religious matters or that can give a tolerable account of the rational grounds upon which the truth of the Gospel is conveyed to us not every one that can dispute learnedly about points of Faith and decide Controverfies not every one that is thus accomplished is properly said to know of the doctrine in our Saviours sense No he that is resolved to do the will of God absolutely and entirely such a one shall receive a more full and ample satisfaction concerning those things that are necessary for him than can be gained by the strongest reasonings and most convincing demonstrations He shall find in his soul a lively sense of the excellency of those truths which the Gospel delivers such as shall leave no room for doubtfulness or disputing 4. We must not onely intend and resolve to do the will of God and propose to our selves this as the great end of our enquiry but we must actually endeavour to discharge those duties we already know if we hope to attaim to a sufficient satisfaction in our Religion for he that neglects to do the will of God as far as he already knows he cannot be presumed to have a sincere resolution of submitting to those further instructions which he may find in the Gospel And indeed in this place our Saviour may well be understood to exact this qualification of those who came to hear him that they should practise those duties they already knew if they would be satisfied concerning the truth of his Religion for otherwise it may seem an improper and preposterous way of proceeding to persuade men first to obey the Gospel and then to promise them satisfaction about the truth of it Men are not willing to enter upon a way of living so strict and severe as the Gospel enjoyns without being satisfied before hand of the truth of it that that is truly the will of God which is there required and that it is their great duty and interest to obey it Nay it is manifest by sad experience that many who are convinced of the truth of the Gospel are yet very backward to practise the precepts of it but how much more unwillingly would they undertake this practice if they were not capable of satisfaction about the truth of the Gospel till they had obeyed it So that it is most reasonable to suppose that the doing the will of God here spoken of must in part be understood of those previous instructions in the will of God which those who came to hear our Saviour had before received The Jews to whom our Saviour here directs his discourse had the instructions of Moses and the Prophets from whom they might have understood the principal rules of good living and their obedience to Moses and the Prophets would doubtless have been a great preparation for their reception of the Gospel and then for those Enquirers after truth who have been bred up in a Christian Commonwealth they cannot be supposed to be wholly ignorant of their duty No man can ordinarily grow up in a Christian Society to an age capable of such enquiries but must have been competently instructed in the general rules of good living in the substantial and necessary parts of Religion Those three great branches of Duty which S. Paul teaches us to be the summe of the Gospel the living righteously soberly and godly in the World are in themselves of so evident an obligation that no man who hath come to the use of Reason especially in a Christian Common-wealth can be ignorant that it is his duty to live so Suppose we then a man competently instructed in the general rules of good living whether by the Law of Nature written in his
appetites which every man is endued with which tend to the preservation of life and the propagation of mankind are in themselves the work of God and are designed by him for good ends and we may lawfully gratifie them so far as is requisite for the accomplishment of those ends But this is one of the greatest trials of our prudence and resolution in the government of our lives to understand the true bounds how far we may lawfully indulge the lower faculties and to restthere for if our Reason which should prefide over them once let go the reins by which she should govern and restrain them they easily get the mastery and are not to be reduced to their just measures without great difficulty and reluctancy Now the regulating these desires I conceive to be that which our Saviour recommends to us S. Matt. v. 8. as a means to attain to the beatifical vision of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Which blessing though it principally be understood of the blissful sight or knowledge of God in the Kingdom of Heaven yet hath it part of its accomplishment in this life The pure in heart being the best qualified to judge of those divine and spiritual things which God hath made known to us in the Gospel And this will easily appear if we consider how much the contrary Vices tend to the debauching the Understanding in these matters The fumes of Lust and Intemperance are very pernicious to our rational powers they make men dull and of no understanding even in the ordinary affairs of life and then surely if they make men unfit for worldly business they will render them infinitely more uncapable of religious enquiries A man who is led captive by his impure desires will not easily be brought to spend so much time to enquire seriously into the nature of Religion as is necessary for his satisfaction he is afraid he should be convinced of something that would ruffle and discompose his thoughts awaken his conscience and put a check to his Carreer of pleasure and therefore while he can find pretences to defer his enquiry he will But then suppose a man of this temper should for once undertake to peruse the Gospel yet being prepossessed with the love of these sensual delights he would find out many Arguments to defend himself withal many arts and evasions to justifie or at least to palliate and excuse his practice and then withall it is certain he would not have a due relish of the excellency of those precepts which the Gospel gives nor of the rewards it promises they being of a more refined and spiritual nature and of a kind so vastly different from what he is most delighted with So S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. ij 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned To this purity of heart I have been speaking of may be reduced a generous contempt of the World a freedom from all covetous and ambitious desires for he that hath his heart set upon riches or upon the pomps and gallantries of the World is not in any capacity of receiving or understanding the Gospel These two Vices Covetousness and Ambition have even from the Apostles times been noted for the great causes of Infidelity and Heresie The love of Money was that which made the young man in our Saviours time go away sorrowful because he could not be admitted a Disciple of our Saviour without relinquishing his large possessions This was the cause of Demus's Apostasie from the Religion he once embraced because he loved the present World Diotrephes is noted by S. John for his ambition for he withstood the Apostle loving to have the pre-eminence S. Paul also puts these two causes together Pride and Covetousness as the principal reasons of Heresie and false doctrine 1 Tim. vj. 3. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness he is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words supposing that gain is godliness And indeed it is easie to observe how hard it is to convince any man of what is contrary to his interest or ambitious desires and therefore we cannot but understand that this duty of purity of heart which consists in regulating our worldly and sensual affections highly conduces to the understanding and embracing the Gospel because it takes away those dangerous causes of Errour and Apostasie 3. A third branch of Duty which I proposed to treat of as being a necessary qualification for all Enquirers after divine truth is Humility and the efficacy of this duty to make us capable of divine impressions will appear if we consider these properties of an humble and modest man 1. He that is truly humble and sensible of his many defects and infirmities will readily acknowledge that he is not able to understand all Mysteries He knows the nature of God which is infinite cannot be comprehended by his finite and narrow faculties He knows that no reasonings of ours can give us so true an account of the Nature and Attributes of God and of the various methods of his providence towards men as God himself can and therefore he doth with all reverence submit his understanding to those revelations which God hath made in the Gospel and provided they be there plainly delivered he will not be discouraged from his belief of them by any of those imperfect reasonings wherewith men of corrupt minds may endeavour to shake his Faith 2. A truly humble man will not be too curious and inquisitive in praying into those things which are not clearly revealed much less will he be positive and dogmatical concerning them This vertue of humility will lead him to consider that had the knowledge of such and such controverted doctrines been necessary for him they would have been delivered in Scripture with the same plainness as other things of the greatest importance are he will satisfie himself that God was able to have interpreted his mind to the World as far as he thought convenient and therefore where God hath not used this plainess he thinks it a sufficient check to his curiosity and that he ought not to pry into it According to that of Moses Deut. xxix 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever 3. An humble man is naturally apt to learn he is willing to be instructed he will easily believe that some other men may have better abilities to understand and judge of truth than himself especially he will have a great deference and regard to his spiritual Guides who are set over him for his instruction in the way of righteousness he will consider that these men are commissioned by God and have a peculiar
diligence add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you effectually into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Now these and the like Exhortations would be of no force at all to persuade us if these promises could be attained without the performance of these conditions In a word in all the descriptions of a Judgment to come there is nothing plainer than this that I now plead for that God will reward every one according to what he hath done I shall mention but two places more Rom. ij 6. God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentiles For there is no respect of persons with God The other place is Mat. xxv where our Saviour having given us a large description of those good Works which shall then be rewarded and having there represented the vanity of those mens excuses who had not wrought them he concludes with this sentence these shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal There remains onely to draw some inferences from what hath been said that may be of use to us for the government of our lives 1. If there be a Judgment to come wherein men shall receive rewards and punishments according to their actions whether good or bad it is easie then to understand how much those men deceive themselves who hope to be saved by vertue of any absolute and inconditionate decree For if God have from eternity fore-ordained such and such particular persons to eternal life and others to eternal damnation without any consideration of their actions whether good or bad then certainly God cannot proceed in judgment according to the method before described nor could the promises and threatnings of the Gospel have any force of persuasion to engage men in the practice of Vertue or to discourage them from Sin and Wickedness In vain would the Apostle here make use of the terrours of the Lord to persuade men if God have before determined that such a certain number of them shall not escape the wrath to come whatsoever diligence they use on their parts On the contrary the promises of the Gospel cannot have any reasonable force to engage men to obedience if once they knew and believed that their future state was from everlasting unalterably fixed so that they could not fall short of it by any neglect Nay upon this supposition all the various methods of persuasion which God uses in Scripture to bring men to repentance and a better life prove nothing else but illusion and hypocrisie For that God should so often by his holy Prophets and Apostles invite and exhort and beseech all men that they would turn from their evil ways and live when in the mean time he hath excluded many myriads of men from any possibility of salvation by an absolute and irresistible decree which no endeavour of theirs can revoke or cancel this way of proceeding cannot by any means consist with that truth and sincerity and goodness which is inseparable from the divine nature We must therefore conclude that if there be a Judgment to come when all men shall receive rewards and punishments according to what they have done then certainly no man shall ever be excluded from those rewards but by his own fault nor yet any man obtain the same but by a due diligence in working out his salvation and performing those conditions upon which they are promised 2. From what hath been said concerning the method of Gods proceeding at the Judgment of the last Day we may also observe that those men do extreamly mistake the conditions of salvation who talk of being saved by Faith as it is distinguished from good works and obedience who take so much pains to cry down the value of our good works as though they had little or no influence in the justification or salvation of a Christian For surely if we shall be judged according to what we have done Faith alone cannot be the whole condition required on our parts in order to our salvation It is true indeed glorious things are spoken of Faith in holy Scripture but these things must not be understood of a bare assent to the truth of the Gospel which is the proper importance of that word Faith but of such a Faith as is a principle of life and action such a Faith as hath influence upon the whole course of our lives and is not contradicted by our practice and conversation a Faith that worketh by love and is fruitful of good works and obedience Thus it is not to be considered as a single Vertue and separate from the rest but as being the fruitful parent of all other Christian Vertues and including them in it For if we understand Faith in a more strict sense as distinct from an holy conversation it is no more than the Devils themselves may pretend to and yet this is so far from being any relief to them that it is the great aggravation of their misery To know and be assured of the glorious things revealed in the Gospel and to know withal that they themselves are finally excluded from the benefit of them this doubtless is a mighty aggravation of their horrour and we may well conclude as S. James doth that they believe and tremble nay that this belief doth make them tremble 3. If we shall be judged according to what we have done in the body it then follows that all that is to be done by us in the great work of our Salvation must be performed in our life time whilest we are in the body Now must we give all diligence to make our calling and election sure and not leave any thing to be done after our death either by our selves or others This I observe in opposition to that Doctrine of the Church of Rome which supposes that some sins are expiated after death and purged away by the fire of Purgatory and by the Prayers and Sacrifices of those that are left alive But this is not onely a vain and groundless opinion but certainly doth much tend to the hindrance of Piety and lessening mens care of their future state As the Tree falleth so it lieth As a man goeth out of this World such will be his future state and he will be judged according to what he was when he left the body according to what he had done in the body 4. If it be thus certain that we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body this certainly ought to awaken our diligence in the business of our Salvation that to day while it is called to day we break off our sins by a sincere and hearty repentance that knowing the terrours of the Lord we pass the time of our so journing here in fear For surely did men seriously consider that there is a day coming when all the hidden works of darkness shall be made manifest when the secrets of all mens hearts shall be revealed when all the close impieties which had passed here undiscerned should be laid open before God and all the World they would not now so fondly flatter themselves with hopes of secresie or impunity Did men seriously reflect upon the terribleness of that great day when God shall appear with ten thousand of his Saints to take vengeance on them that have not feared his name did they often think upon that dreadful sentence which will then be pronounced against all impenitent sinners Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels this certainly if any thing would put a check to the bold impiety of this Age. Men would not then dare so openly to defie Heaven and blaspheme the Majesty of the great God who will at that day appear so terrible nor would they continue by their hardness and impenitent hearts to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God On the contrary as the terrours of that day ought to make us sensible of our danger if we continue in disobedience so the glorious reward which shall at that day be given to those that have lived obediently to the will of God ought to be a most effectual motive to persuade us thereunto For what greater encouragement to our duty than the consideration of those great and glorious things which God hath prepared for them that love him Who would not willingly forsake all the flattering joys and transitory pleasures of this life that he may secure to himself such an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away which God the righteous Judge shall give him at that day Or who would not despise all the sufferings of this life which may possibly attend him in the practice of his duty when he remembers that these light afflictions which endure but for a moment work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Now the great God grant us all his grace that we may have the judgment of the last day always present to our minds that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we may live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that when we come to stand before that great Tribunal we may be presented pure and unblamable in his sight and that not for any merits of our own but through the mediation of our blessed Saviour To whom with the Father and Eternal Spirit be ascribed as is most due all power praise thanksgiving and obedience for evermore FINIS