the cold Blood of their Enemies In short many live in such open defiance of the Divine Law as if there were no God to see and punish their Sins or as if they would make a trial whether he will be true to his Threatning and revenge their bold Impieties They are partly worse than Brutes for having an understanding Faculty a Principle of Reason they submit it to Sense and partly worse than Devils for as the Devils they rebel against God and yet not as they tremble in their Rebellion Now when Death is ready with its cold Hands to close their Eyes and Conscience awakes out of its Slumber what Horrors seize upon them They are stripp'd of their carnal Securities the Creature cannot help them and the Creator will not They have been Enemies to that Love that made them and preserv'd them and notwithstanding their violent Provocations has spar'd them so long They have rejected that infinitely condescending and compassionate Love that so tenderly beseech'd them to be reconciled to God as if it were his Interest to save them Whither will they fly from their Judg What can rescue them from instant and irrecoverable Misery Can they hope that Mercy will be their Advocate Their Condemnation is so righteous that Mercy cannot dispense with it 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Who knows the Power of his Wrath 'T is boundless beyond all our Thoughts and Time O take notice of this with Terror all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Others are not so visibly disobedient as notorious Sinners but are as really You may see their Picture in the disobedient Son mentioned by our Saviour in the Gospel who when his Father commanded him to go work in the Vineyard answered I go Sir and went not 'T is true they perform the external part of some Duties and abstain from the gross acts of some Sins but 't is with an exception and a reserve A Duty that is contrary to their carnal Appetites and Interest they will not perform a Sin that bribes them with Profit or Pleasure a temperamental Sin they will not part with Now any indulged habitual Lust is not the Spot of God's Children but denominates the Sinner a Child of the Devil for tho the Saints till they are devested of frail Flesh have their Allays and cannot be exempt from the relicks of Sin yet the Divine Nature communicated to them is opposite to every Sin and is an active Principle to subdue Sin And from hence S. John tells us He that is born of God cannot sin that is deliberately and habitually Such Sinners tho in the Hour of Death they may address with all the applying Titles Our Father and our God shall ever be excluded from his sacred and saving Protection 2. Let us seriously consider whether we are of this spiritual Progeny the Children of God not only in Title but in Reality The Inquiry is of infinite moment for all the Promises and Priviledges of the Gospel are annex'd to this Sonship This secures us from the Wrath to come and entitles us to the eternal Inheritance Fear not little Flock 't is your Father's good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom This Inquiry is very useful to calm and quiet the troubled Saints and to awaken unregenerate Persons out of their confident Dream of their good State Many sincere Christians are infinitely concern'd whether they are the Children of God of this their Tears and Fears give abundant evidence The reasons of their Doubts are partly the Jealousy of their own Hearts which are naturally deceitful above all things and most deceitful to a Man's self and partly from the consequence of the Deceit for knowing the inestimable value of this Privilege to be the Sons of God and that if they are deceived in it they are undone for ever they are anxiously thoughtful about it But carnal Persons who are not acquainted with the Hypocrisy of their Hearts nor duly understand the excellence of the Privilege easily believe what they coldly desire And the great deceiver of Souls is equally subtile to varnish what is evil with the false colours of Good and to conceal what is good under the appearance of Evil. From hence it is that many tender-spirited Christians are timorous and full of unquiet Agitations all their Lives and many who have but a shew and fair pretence of Religion are undisturb'd and hopeful till at last they fall from their supposed Heaven and high Hopes into the Abyss of Misery This Trial will be most clear and convincing by representing from Scripture the inseparable Properties and Characters of the Children of God that distinguish them from all that are in the State of unrenewed Nature The Apostle tells sincere Christians The Spirit it self witnesses with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Here is a Consent and Agreement of those Witnesses in whom are all that is requisite to give value to their Testimony For the Spirit of God such is his unerring Knowledg who searches the deep things of God and such is the absolute Sanctity of his Nature that he can neither deceive nor be deceived so that his Testimony is infinitely sure and of more worth than the concurrent Testimony of Heaven and Earth of Angels and Men. The other Witness is the renewed Conscience that is acquainted with the Aims and Affections of the Heart as the Apostle saith Who knows the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man This Faculty reflects upon our Actions and the Principles of them to this Faculty is referr'd the decision of our spiritual State If our Hearts condemn us not of any allowed Sin then have we Peace towards God From the consent and agreement of these Witnesses there is a blessed Assurance of our Evangelical Sonship that overcomes all our Fears Now this Testimony is rational and argumentative from the discovery of those Graces that constitute a Person the Child of God I will make the Inquiry concerning the Grace of Faith and of Love which are the vital Bands of our Union with Christ the principal Fruits of the sanctifying Spirit and the Symptoms of Salvation 1. The Grace of Faith is express'd in Scripture by receiving of Christ this answers to God's offer of him to our acceptance in the Gospel It receives him entirely in his Person and Natures as the incarnate Son of God and in his Office as a Prince and Saviour to give Repentance and remission of Sins This receiving Christ implies an Act of the Understanding and the Will the Understanding assents to the Truth of the Divine Revelation that Christ crucified is an alsufficient Saviour and the Will closes with the Terms of it that he will save to the uttermost all that obey him From hence it follows that reliance upon him and a sincere resolution to obey him are
escape their deep Censures The Pulpit represented them as seditiously disaffected to the State as obstinate Schismaticks and often the Name of God was not onely taken in vain but in violence to authorise their hard Speeches and harder Actions against them Some drops of that Storm fell upon Mr. Baxter who calmly submitted to their injurious dealings I shall speak of that afterward In the Interval between his Deprivation and his Death he wrote and publisht the most of his Books of which I shall give some account His Books for their number and variety of Matter in them make a Library They contain a Treasure of Controversial Casuistical Positive and Practical Divinity Of them I shall relate the Words of one whose exact Judgment joyn'd with his Moderation will give a great value to his Testimony they are of the very Reverend Dr. Wilkins afterwards Bishop of Chester he said that Mr. Baxter had cultivated every Subject he handled and if he had lived in the Primitive Times he had been one of the Fathers of the Church I shall add what he said with admiration of him another time That it was enough for one Age to produce such a Person as Mr. Baxter Indeed he had such an amplitude in his Thoughts such vivacity of Imagination and such solidity and depth of Judgment as rarely meet together His inquiring Mind was freed from the servile dejection and bondage of an implicit Faith He adher'd to the Scriptures as the perfect Rule of Faith and searcht whether the Doctrines received and taught were Consonant to it This is the duty of every Christian according to his capacity especially of Ministers and the necessary means to open the Mind for Divine Knowledge and for the advancement of the Truth He publisht several Books against the Papists with that clearness and strength as will Confound if not Convince them He said he onely desir'd Armies and Antiquity against the Papists Armies he cause of their bloody Religion so often exemplified in England Ireland France and other Countries However they may appear on the Stage they are always the same persons in the Tyring-room their Religion binds them to extirpate Hereticks and often over-rules the milder inclinations of their nature Antiquity because they are inveigled with a fond pretence to it as if it were favourable to their Cause but it has been demonstrated by many learned Protestants that the Argument of Antiquity is directly against the principal Doctrines of Popery as that of the Supremacy of Transubstantiation of Image-worship and others He has wrote several excellent Books against the impudent Atheism of this loose Age. In them he establishes the fundamental Principle upon which the whole Fabrick of Christianity is built that after this short uncertain life there is a future state of happiness or misery equally Eternal and that Death is the last irrevocable step into that unchangeable state From hence it follows by infallible Consequence that the reasonable Creature should prefer the interest of the Soul before that of the Body and secure Eternal life This being laid he proves the Christian Religion to be the onely way of fallen Man's being restor'd to the favour of God and obtaining a blessed Immortality This great Argument he manages with that clearness and strength that none can refuse assent unto it without denying the infallible Principles of Faith and the evident Principles of Nature He also publisht some warm Discourses to Apologize for the Preaching of Dissenting Ministers and to excite them to do their Duty He did not think that Act of Uniformity could disoblige them from the Exercise of their Office 'T is true Magistrates are Titular-Gods by their Deputation and Vicegerency but subordinate and accountable to God above Their Laws have no binding force upon the Conscience but from his Command and if contrary to his Law are to be disobeyed The Ministers Consecrated to the Service of God are under a moral perpetual Obligation of Preaching the saving Truths of the Gospel as they have opportunity There needs no miraculous Testimony of their Commission from Heaven to authorize the doing their ordinary Duty In some points of modern Controversie he judiciously chose the middle way and advised young Divines to follow it His reverence of the Divine Purity made him very shy and jealous of any Doctrine that seem'd to reflect a blemish and stain upon it He was a clear asserter of the soveraign Freeness and infallible Efficacy of Divine Grace in the Conversion of Souls In a Sermon reciting the Words of the Covenant of Grace I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me he observed the Tenor of it was I will and you shall Divine Grace makes the rebellious Will obedient but does not make the Will to be no Will. By the Illumination of the Mind the Will is inclin'd to Obedience according to the Words of our Saviour All that have heard and learn'd of the Father come to me He preach'd that the Death of Christ was certainly effectual for all the Elect to make them partakers of Grace and Glory and that it was so far beneficial to all Men that they are not left in the same desperate State with the fallen Angels but are made capable of Salvation by the Grace of the Gospel not capable of Efficience to convert themselves but as Subjects to receive saving Grace He did so honour the sincerity of God as entirely to believe his Will declared in his Word he would not interpret the Promises of the Gospel in a less gracious sense than God intended them Therefore if Men finally perish 't is not for want of Mercy in God nor Merits in Christ but for their wilfull refusing Salvation His Books of Practical Divinity have been effectual for more numerous Conversions of Sinners to God than any printed in our time and while the Church remains on Earth will be of continual Efficacy to recover lost Souls There is a vigorous Pulse in them that keeps the Reader awake and attentive His Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest was written by him when languishing in the suspence of Life and Death but has the Signatures of his holy and vigorous Mind To allure our Desires he unvails the Sanctuary above and discovers the Glory and Joys of the Blessed in the Divine Presence by a Light so strong and lively that all the glittering Vanities of this World vanish in that Comparison and a sincere Believer will despise them as one of mature Age does the Toys and Baubles of Children To excite our fear he removes the Skreen and makes the Everlasting Fire of Hell so visible and represents the tormenting Passions of the Damned in those dreadfull Colours that if duly considered would check and controul the unbridled licentious Appetites of the most sensual Wretches His Call to the Vnconverted how small in bulk but how powerfull in vertue Truth speaks in it with that authority and efficacy that it makes the Reader to lay
His joy was most remarkable when in his own apprehensions Death was nearest and his Spiritual Joy at length was consummate in Eternal Joy Thus lived and dyed that blessed Saint I have without any artificial Fiction of words given a sincere short Account of him All our Tears are below the just grief for such an unvaluable Loss It is the Comfort of his Friends that he enjoys a blessed Reward in Heaven and has left a precious Remembrance on the Earth Now blessed be the gracious God that he was pleased to prolong the Life of his Servant so useful and beneficial to the World to a full Age that he has brought him slowly and safely to Heaven I shall conclude this Account with my own deliberate Wish May I live the short remainder of my Life as entirely to the Glory of God as he lived and when I shall come to the Period of my Life may I dye in the same blessed Peace wherein he died may I be with him in the Kingdom of Light and Love for ever POSTSCRIPT I Shall annex two Passages declaratory the one of his Humility the other of his Excellent Abilities He had such an Abhorrence of himself for his Sins that he said to a Minister I can more easily believe that God will forgive me than I can forgive my self The other was being in the Pulpit to preach he found that he had forgot to put his Notes into his Bible he pray'd to God for his Assistance and took the first Text that occurr'd to his View in opening the Bible and preach'd an Excellent Sermon for the Matter and Order of it upon the Priesthood of Christ. After he was come down he enquir'd of a Minister present whether he had not tir'd him who replyed No but with several others declar'd they were exceedingly satisfied with his Discourse he said It was necessary to have a Body of Divinity in ones Head FINIS BOOKS writ by William Bates D. D. and sold by B. Aylmer THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work In Octavo Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompence of the Future State To which is added the Divinity of the Christian Religion proved by the Evidence of Reason and Divine Revelation for the Cure of Infidelity the Hectick Evil of the Times In Octavo The Soveraign and Final Happiness of Man with the effectual Means to obtain it In Octavo The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied in several Discourses In Octavo and Duodecimo The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons upon Prov. 1.17 In Octavo The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. In Octavo A Funeral Sermon preached upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton who deceased October 18 1677. To which is added the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached In Octavo The Sure Trial of Vprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. In Octavo A Description of the Blessed Place and State of the Saints above in a Discourse on John 14.2 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The Way to the highest Honour on John 12.26 Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The Speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22.12 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Ashurst A Funeral Sermon for the Reverend Holy and Excellent Divine Mr. Richard Baxter who Deceased December the 8th 1691. With an Account of his Life ADVERTISEMENT NEwly printed The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New With Annotations and Parallel Scriptures To which is annex'd The Harmony of the Gospels As also the Reduction of the Jewish Weights Coins and Measures to our English Standards And a Table of the Promises in Scripture By Samuel Clark Minister of the Gospel Printed in Folio of a very fair Letter the like never before in one Volume Printed for Brabazon Aylmer in Cornhill Isa. 64. Job 2. Luke 3. Gen. 6. Hosea 11. Jam. 1.18 1 Pet. 11.25 Psal. 103.13 Gal. 4. Rom. 8.15 Joh. 1.12 Gal. 3.8 Joh. 20.17 Rom. 8.3 Heb. 1.5 Isa. 53. Heb. 3. Heb. Heb. 2. Psal. 119. Exod. 19. Mal. 3. Zech. 9.16 Isa. 57. James Rom. 8. Deut. 7.9 Psal. 138.2 Jer. 31.35 Gen. 49.18 Psal. 73.24 Psal. 31.5 2 Cor. 5.1 1 Pet. 4.1 Psal. 5. Psal. 89. Heb. 11.6 Rom. 2. Luke 20.35 Mat. 20.9 Deut. 24.15 2 Tim. 1. Eccles. 1.1 12.8 Eccl. 1.17 1 Pet. 1. O anima erige te tantivales Aug. in Psal. 103. Ephes. 2. Mark 5. John 10. Mat. 18.10 Psal. 16.11 Psal. 50. Matth. 21.28 30. Luke 12. 1 John â— Joh. 1.12 Acts 5.31 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Psal. 51. 1 Joh. 5.3 John 14.23 24. Heb. 8.10 Deut. 32.6 Psal. 69. 1 Joh. 5.1 Revel 1. Joh. 18.11 Psal. 43. John 9.4 Eccl. 4.10 2 Pet. 3. Col. 1.20 Isa. 53. His Sermon before the House of Commons 1660. His Books of the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion
incapacity to perform them he cannot obey nor enjoy God Now the renewing of Man is called a Regeneration Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Verily I say unto you Vnless a Man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The reason of the Expression is because there is a new Nature spiritual holy and heavenly communicated different from the carnal polluted and earthly Nature derived from the first Adam And as the Relation of a Father results from the communicating a vital active Principle to another in that kind of Life like his own so God by making us Partakers of a Divine Nature of his Life and Image is stiled our Father Of his own Will beg at he us with the Word of Truth And we are said to be born again not of corruptible Seed but incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever By the Divine Influence the Word of God implants in them such Qualities and Dispositions whereby they resemble God are holy as he is holy in all manner of Conversation They are called godly as they are like him in their Minds Affections and Actions And to such God has the Heart and Eye of a Father to regard and relieve them in all their Exigencies Like as a Father pities his Children so the Lord pities them that serve him We are also the Children of God by Adoption This heavenly Privilege is obtained for us by the meritorious Sufferings of Christ and is founded in our Union with him God sent his Son that he might redeem them that were under the Law that they might receive the Adoption of Sons For his sake we are not only pardoned but preferr'd to this Heavenly Dignity 'T is worthy of Observation that the Degrees of our Redemption mentioned in Scripture have annex'd to them parallel degrees of our Adoption Thus when 't is said We are redeemed from the Curse of the Law 't is added That we might receive the Adoption of Sons When 't is said We are freed from the servile Spirit of the Law it follows We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And the Apostle tells us That the redemption of our Bodies from the bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God is our Adoption that is the manifestation of it before all the World Our Adoption is founded in our Union with Christ. A Member of Christ and a Son of God are the same 'T is therefore said As many as received him to them gave he Power or Privilege to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name And ye are all the Sons of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. This is the vital Band of our Union with Christ and invests us with his Relation to God When he was to leave the World he sends this comfortable Message to his Disciples Go tell my Brethren I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God His Relation has the precedence in Order Dignity and Causality He is God's own Son in a sense infinitely high and proper to himself To which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee The sublimest Prophet breaks forth with Wonder Who shall declare his Generation 'T is above our Capacity and Conception It becomes us to acquiesce in what the Scripture reveals He is the eternal Word and Wisdom of God the Brightness of his Father's Glory This is the most fit Comparison for as Light is productive of Light without any diminution so the Eternal Father communicated his Essence to the Son In short God is Christ's Father by Nature and God by Dispensation he is our God as the Author of Nature and our Father by Adoption Before I proceed it is fit to observe the Excellence of the Evangelical Adoption above the Civil Adoption among Men. 1. Adoption is a legal Act in imitation of Nature for the Comfort of those who are without Children But God had a Son the Heir of his Love and Glory His adopting Love is heightned by considering our Meanness and Vileness we are but a little breathing Dust worthless Rebels The Apostle cries out in a rapture of Admiration and Joy Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! If we consider the natural Distance between God and us as he is the Creator and we are the Works of his Hands 't is truly infinite but the moral Distance between the holy righteous God and the guilty polluted Creature is if it were possible more than infinite Love inconceivable That releases us from Bondage and adopts us into the Line of Heaven If we admire any thing of this World in comparison of it 't is a sign we have no share in this Privilege 2. Civil Adoption conveys no Praise-worthy Qualities into the Person that is adopted A King may adopt one to be his Son and the Heir of his Kingdom but cannot endow him with a Royalty of Spirit with ruling Wisdom with Justice and Equity Clemency and Bounty with Magnanimity and Fortitude that may qualify him to manage the Scepter The adopted Prince may be of a low sordid Disposition a Slave to his vile Lusts and designing to enslave others But all the adopted Sons of God are divinely renewed they are purified from defiling debasing Lusts and are adorn'd with all the Graces of the Spirit that God is not ashamed to be called their God and Father nor Christ ashamed to call them Brethren Now from this special Relation and Interest of God in the Saints there is a sure Foundation of their Trust in his saving Mercy David addresses himself to God for his preservation from imminent Danger I am thine save me As if his miscarrying would be a Loss to God who had so dear a Propriety in him I come now to the second thing that encourages the praying Faith of the Saints when they leave the World to commend their Souls to him His Perfections joined with his Relation His Love inclines his Truth engages and his Power enables him to bring them safely to Heaven 1. His Love This is the brightest Ray of the Deity the first and clearest Notion we have of God St. John tells us God is Love His Love cannot be fully express'd by the dearest Relations and Affections in Nature The Relation of Parents as 't is most deeply implanted in Nature so it implies the most cordial strong and tender Affection But as God is infinitely greater and better than earthly Parents so he equally excels them as in his Abilities so in his good Will to his Children Our Saviour directs us Call no Man Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven The Title and Love of a Father is peculiar to him Our Saviour argues If you that are evil know how to give good
God in his Sanctuary above From hence the Apostle propounds a strong Argument to assure the Saints upon their leaving this World of their reception into Heaven Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God and the Almighty always obtains his End who hath also given us the earnest of his Spirit Holiness is the Morning-Star of the great Day Grace is the Preparative and Assurance of Glory For altho the Saints are in themselves mutable and while there remains Corruption within and a tempting World without are liable to falling away yet the free and powerful Love of God that revived them when dead will preserve them living that which raised them from the Grave will prevent their relapsing into it The Gifts of God are without Repentance How triumphantly does the Apostle express his Confidence Who shall separate us from the Love of God Shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword These are the most powerful Terrors that the perverse World in combination with the Devil can make use of to constrain us to desert the Service of God but they are vain Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This blessed Assurance of the Apostle is not rais'd from his extraordinary Privileges not from the apparition of Angels to him nor his rapture to Paradise nor special Revelations but from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that everlastingly embraces all his Children Briefly in that God has given his Son to die for us and his Spirit to live in us his Son to purchase and prepare Heaven for us his Spirit to prepare us for Heaven a dying Saint may with blessed Tranquillity commend his Soul into God's Hands I have more particularly considered the Fatherly Love of God what a strong Security it affords to his Children that he will never leave them in that no Point requires and deserves more Confirmation and weight of Argument to press it down into our distrustful Hearts 2. The Divine Truth affords a strong Security to the Children of God to commend their Souls to him at last Truth is an Attribute as essential and dear to God as any of his Perfections And in the Accomplishment of our Salvation he ordered all things becoming to his Wisdom that is for the illustration of all his principal Attributes and accordingly design'd the Glory of his Truth equally with the Honour of his Mercy Thus he declares to his chosen People Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments The Attribute that is set next to the Deity as most sacred is the Faithful God and that further express'd keeping Covenant and Mercy for he delights in fulfilling his Promises as in the freest Acts of Mercy The Psalmist breaks forth with the affectionate Praises of these Attributes I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy loving Kindness and thy Truth for thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name His Word here immediately signifies his Promise that has its rise from his loving Kindness and its performance from his Truth This he magnifies both with respect to the matter of his Promises that are exceeding great and precious and the fulfilling them above all that we can ask or think God cannot repent or lie his Counsels are unretractable from the Immutability of his Nature his Promises are infallible from his Fidelity they are as unchangeable as the Sun and Stars in their appointed Courses nay more stable than the Centre for Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not a tittle of his Promises and our Hopes be unfulfilled If the Frame of Nature were dissolved it would be no loss to God who is glorious and blessed in his own Perfections but if his Promises fail the Honour of his Truth would be impair'd and blemish'd The Psalmist saith Those that know thy Name will trust in thee Those who know the Creature its Levity Mutability and Mortality will be discourag'd from trusting in it but those who know the eternal Constancy of God in his Nature and Promises will securely rely upon him Now the Promises the Declarations of God's Love without which we cannot have any solid and sustaining Hope in our Death assure us of God's receiving the separate Spirits of his Children There was a constant clearness tho not in that degree of Light as since the appearance of Christ of the Happiness of the departed Saints Dying Jacob breaks forth with a lively Hope O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation Job says Tho he kill me yet will I trust in him that is for his Almighty Mercy in the next State The Psalmist expresses his Confidence Thou wilt guide me by thy Counsel and receive me into thy Glory After the safe conducting him through a World of Troubles and Temptations he would bring him to Heaven a Place of equal Purity and Glory David when he was in pressing Peril addresses to God Into thy Hands I commend my Spirit to be preserved as a precious Depositum thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth His Assurance is built on God's Right and Title to him Thou hast redeemed me and his everlasting Fidelity The Apostle speaks with full assurance We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God eternal in the Heavens And we are confident I say rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. St. Peter encourages Christians when surrounded with Death to commit their Souls to him Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in wel-doing as unto a faithful Creator He encourageth them to encounter Death in its most formidable Pomp by considering their Souls shall be safe for ever upon the account of God's Right and Interest in them and his Fidelity he has an original Right in them by the first Creation as they are intellectual immortal Spirits in their Nature but a nearer and more especial Right by a new and nobler Creation as they are renewed Spirits made like to him in his Holiness the most Divine Perfection The Relation of Creator implies his omnipotent Love and the Attribute of Faithful his eternal Love declar'd in his Promises There can never be the least cause to charge him with Insincerity or Inconstancy The Favour of God is round about the Righteous as a Shield And his Faithfulness is round about him that he is always ready to perform his Promise to them They may
safely trust the worth of their Souls and the weight of Eternity with him who has said he will never leave them nor forsake them Besides the Promise of a Reward to the obedient Children of God is secur'd not only by his Fidelity but the declar'd Equity of his Proceedings in his final Judgment 'T is a Regality invested in the Crown of Heaven to dispense Rewards Whoever comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him His Being and rewarding Bounty are the Foundations of Religion 'T is true such is the Distance between God and the Creature and the eternal Obligations of it to God that it can challenge nothing from God as due to its Merit Justice unqualified with Bounty and Clemency owes nothing to the most excellent Obedience of the Creature tho innocent But since the Fall our best Works are defective and defiled and want Pardon and our heaviest Sufferings are but light in the Ballance against the exceeding Weight of Glory But the Apostle tells the Thessalonians It is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to them who trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us Consider them in the Comparison 'T is becoming his governing Justice to punish the unrighteous Persecutors and reward his faithful Servants who suffer for his Glory Now the present Life is the Day for our Work as our Saviour saith I must do the Work of him that sent me while 't is called to Day And at Death the Spirit returns to God that gave it in order to Judgment either fatal or favourable according to the tenor of Mens good Works and the desert of their bad The Promise is to them who by patient continuance in wel-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality they shall obtain eternal Life Our Saviour encourages his suffering Servants Be faithful to the Death and I will give you the Crown of Life The compleat Reward is reserved to the great Day of universal Recompences when the Sons of God by Regeneration shall be the Sons of a glorious Resurrection But the righteous Judg will give a present Reward at the end of the Day to all that with unfainting Perseverance have perform'd his Work Our Saviour tells us that all who wrought in the Vineyard receiv'd their Rewards in the last Hour of the Day The Parallel is instructive that when the Night of Death comes the Reward will be dispens'd There is a Law recorded concerning the paying Wages to those who were hir'd that it should be in the end of the Day that it should not be detain'd all Night with thee until the Morning The Allusion is very congruous that God will fulfil his own Law to his Sons that serve him The Reward shall not abide with him the long dark Interval the Night wherein their Bodies sleep in the Grave till the Morning of the Resurrection Our Saviour promised the dying Penitent To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The End of our Faith is immediately attended with the Salvation of the Soul The Labour of Faith being finish'd is productive of the beatifick Vision in the State of Light and Glory The Sum is That the Children of God who have by constant Conversation sincerely endeavoured to please and glorify him may with an entire Resignation commit their Souls to his Hands as if an Angel were sent from Heaven to them in their dying Agonies with the comfortable Message that they should presently be with God 3. The Divine Power in conjunction with Love and Truth is the Foundation of our secure dependance upon God in our last Hours This Consideration is absolutely necessary for our sure Trust For Love without Power is ineffectual and Power without Love of no comfortable Advantage to us The Apostle gives this reason of his chearful and couragious Sufferings in the Service of God For I know in whom I have believed and am perswaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him till that Day His Faith respected the Promises of God concerning his Salvation which are infinitely sure the Divine Power being alsufficient to fulfil them The precious Depositum that is committed to his dear Care he can and will preserve inviolate The Father of sincere Believers is the Lord of Heaven and Earth who by his Word without the least strain of his Power made the World and preserves it from falling into Confusion 'T is the Essence of Faith to assure us of God's Almighty Mercy to all that have the true Characters of his Children that are qualified for his Salvation Our Redeemer joins the two Relations of our Father and our God the gracious and the glorious Relation are inseparable Now the Love of our heavenly Father engages the Power of our God that we shall want nothing to secure our Happiness that is within the object of Omnipotence I shall insist no further upon the Consideration of the Divine Power because it will return under some of the following Heads of Discourse II. The Blessedness of this Privilege is to be unfolded This will appear by considering First What is the Depositum the Thing that is intrusted in God's Hands Secondly What is implied in his receiving of it In answer to the first 'T is the Soul the more excellent and immortal Part of Man that is commended to God's keeping 1. ' T is our more excellent Part in its Nature and Capacity Man is a compounded Creature of a Body and a Soul the Body in its Original and Resolution is Earth the Soul is of a divine Descent a spiritual Substance and in the Nobility and Perfections of its Nature but a little lower than the Angels 't is the vile Body but the precious Soul In its Capacity it incomparably excels the Body for the Body lives moves in the low Region of the Senses that are common with the Worms of the Earth but the Soul in its Understanding and Desires is capable of Communion with the blessed God of Grace and Glory From hence it is that the whole World can't make one Man happy for the Ingredients of true and compleat Happiness are the Perfection and Satisfaction of the Soul The Apostle tells us The less is blessed of the greater Can the World bring Perfection to Man that is so incomparably short of his Imperfection Our Saviour assures us the Gain of the whole World cannot recompense the Loss of one Soul There is a vast Circuit in our Desires and all the Lines terminate in the Centre of Blessedness Can the World give sincere Satisfaction to them Solomon who was as rich and high as the World could make him has left an everlasting Testimony of the Vanity of transient Things from his experimental Observation and the Direction of the Holy Spirit So he begins and ends his Sermon Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity so vain and vexing that we shall not only be weary of them
State He reconciled things in Earth and in Heaven but not things in Hell The Golden Scepter is extended to none there the Holy Spirit strives with none they are without the Reserves of Mercy The Guilt of Sin remains in its full Obligation the Pollution of Sin in its deepest Die and the Punishment of Sin in its Extremity for ever O what Folly is it or rather Frenzy not to provide for our Souls in their greatest Exigence Common Reason instructs us knowing our own Weakness to commit our Treasure to the custody of our Friends which we cannot otherwise keep from our Enemies especially to such a Friend as can and will preserve it for our Use and Advantage The Soul is our Jewel above all Price 't is our Wisdom to secure it out of all danger Let us therefore commit it to the safe and sure Hands of our Heavenly Father otherwise we cannot preserve it from the infernal Spirits the Robbers and Murderers of Souls The wise Preacher denounces a fearful Evil Wo be to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up In all the Senses of falling Death is the greatest Fall the High the Honourable the Rich fall from all their State and Men of all Degrees are forsaken of all their carnal Comforts and Supports If then the solitary Soul has not a God to receive support and comfort it how woful is its Condition Methinks the apprehension of this should strike a Terror so deep into the Hearts of Men that they should be restless till they have secur'd a Retreat for their departing Souls For this end let us according to the earnest Advice of St. Peter be diligent that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless The Lord Jesus is the only Peace-maker of the righteous and holy God to Sinners The Judg of this World is flaming with Wrath and terrible in Vengeance to Sinners that appear before his Tribunal out of Christ. We shall for ever be excluded from his blessed Communion without the Mediator restore us to his Favour Our Reconciliation only is by Redemption in his Blood The Chastisement of our Peace was upon him He is the Lord our Righteousness by whom alone we can stand in Judgment God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself There is now an Act of Oblivion offer'd in the Gospel to all that come to God by him We have sure Salvation in his Name But we must with consenting Wills close with him as our Lord and Life The first Gospel preach'd by the Angel after his coming into the World declares There was born in the City of David a Saviour Christ the Lord. We must not separate between Christ the Saviour and Christ the Lord between his Salvation and his Dominion God indispensably requires we should resign our selves to his Son as our King and rely upon him as our Priest to atone his Displeasure If we thus receive him he will restore us to the Favour and Peace of God establisht in an everlasting Covenant How tenderly and compassionately does the great God invite Sinners to re-enter into his Favour to acquaint our selves with him and to be at peace His Embassadours in his Name and in Christ's stead beseech them to be reconciled to God But their perverse Spirits would have God reconciled to them that they might be exempt from Punishment but are unwilling to be reconciled to him to part with their Lusts. In short reconciliation with God necessarily infers defiance with Sin Ye that love the Lord hate Evil. If Men do not cease their Rebellion there is no shadow of hope to obtain the Divine Favour Do ye provoke the Lord to Jealousie are you stronger than he Jealousie is the most sensible and severe Affection As 't is with a Town taken by storm all that are found in Arms are without Mercy cut off so all that at Death are found with the weapons of unrighteousness their unrepented unforsaken Sins about them must expect Judgment without Mercy Lastly Let the Children of God be encouraged with Peace and Joy to commend their Souls to him Let rebellious Sinners tremble with deadly Fear upon the brink of Eternity but let the Saints with a lively Hope enter into the Divine World If Men possess their Treasure with Joy and Jealousie and guard it with vigilant Care will not God preserve his dearest Treasure the Souls of his Children committed to his Trust Can Love forsake can Truth deceive can Almighty Power fail Will a Father a heavenly Father be without Bowels to his own Off-spring No he cannot deny himself he is readiest to relieve when they are in distress Old Simeon is a leading Example to Believers after he had embraced Christ in his Armes how earnestly did he desire his Dissolution Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation St. Stephen in the midst of a showr of Stones with a blessed Tranquillity makes his dying Prayer Lord Jesus receive my Spirit If the Fears of humble Souls arise in that hour because they have not the Conspicuous marks of God's Children the Graces of the Spirit in that degree of Eminency as some Saints have had Let them consider there are different Ages among the Children of God some are in a state of Infancy and Infirmity others are more Confirm'd but the relation is the same in all and gives an interest in his promised Mercy The weakness of their Faith cannot frustrate God's faithfulness 'T is the Sincerity not the Strength of Grace that is requisite to Salvation If Faith be shaking as a bruised reed and but kindling as the smoaking flax it shall be victorious O that these powerfull Comforts may encourage dying Christians to commend their Souls with Ardency and Assurance to God their Father and Felicity I have now finisht my Discourse upon the Text and shall apply my self to speak of the other Subject the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter that Excellent Instrument of Divine Grace to recover and restore so many revolted Souls to God out of the Empire of his Enemy or in the Apostles Language to translate them from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son I am sensible that in speaking of him I shall be under a double Disadvantage For those who perfectly knew him will be apt to think my Account of him to be short and defective an imperfect Shadow of his resplendent Vertues others who were unacquainted with his extraordinary Worth will from Ignorance or Envy be inclin'd to think his just Praises to be undue and excessive Indeed if Love could make me eloquent I should use all the most lively and graceful Colours of Language to â—dorn his Memory but this Consideration relieves me in the Consciousness of my Disability that a plain Narrative of what Mr. Baxter was and did will bee a most noble Eulogy and that his substantial Piety no more needs artificial Oratory
to set it off than refined Gold wants Paint to add Lustre and Value to it I shall not speak of his Parentage and his first Years but I must not omit a Testimony I receiv'd concerning his early Piety His Father said with Tears of Joy to a Friend my Son Richard I hope was sanctified from the Womb for when he was a little Boy in Coats if he heard other Children in play speak profane Words he would reprove them to the Wonder of those that heard him He had not the Advantage of Academical Education but by the Divine Blessing upon his rare Dexterity and Diligence his Sacred Knowledge was in that Degree of Eminence as few in the University ever arrive to Not long after his Entrance into the Ministry the Civil War began and the Times rain'd Blood so long till the languishing State of the Kingdom was almost desperate and incurable How far he was concern'd as a Chaplain in the Parliament's Army he has publisht an Account and the reasons of it After the War he was fixt at Kederminster There his Ministry by the Divine Influence was of admirable Efficacy The Harvest answer'd the Seed that was sowed Before his coming the Place was like a Piece of dry and barren Earth onely Ignorance and Profaneness as Natives of the Soil were rise among them but by the Blessing of Heaven upon his Labour and Cultivating the Face of Paradise appear'd there in all the Fruits of Righteousness Many were translated from the state of polluted Nature to the state of Grace and many were advanc'd to higher degrees of Holiness The bad were chang'd to good and the good to better Conversion is the Excellent Work of Divine Grace the Efficacy of the Means is from the Supreme Mover But God usually makes those Ministers successfull in that Blessed Work whose principal Design and Delight is to glorifie him in the saving of Souls This was the reigning Affection in his Heart and he was extraordinarily qualified to obtain his End His Prayers were an Effusion of the most lively melting Expressions and his intimate ardent Affections to God from the abundance of his Heart his Lips spake His Soul took Wing for Heaven and rapt up the Souls of others with him Never did I see or hear a holy Minister address himself to God with more Reverence and Humility with respect to his glorious Greatness never with more Zeal and Fervency correspondent to the infinite Moment of his requests nor with more Filial Affiance in the Divine Mercy In his Sermons there was a rare Union of Arguments and Motives to convince the Mind and gain the Heart All the Fountains of Reason and Perswasion were open to his discerning Eye There was no resisting the Force of his Discourses without denying Reason and Divine Revelation He had a marvellous Felicity and Copiousness in speaking There was a noble Negligence in his Stile for his great Mind could not stoop to the affected Eloquence of Words he despis'd flashy Oratory but his Expressions were clear and powerful so convincing the Understanding so entring into the Soul so engaging the Affections that those were as deaf as Adders who were not charm'd by so wise a Charmer He was animated with the Holy Spirit and breath'd Celestial Fire to inspire Heat and Life into dead Sinners and to melt the obdurate in their frozen Tombs Methinks I still hear him speak those powerfull Words A Wretch that is condemn'd to dy to Morrow cannot forget it And yet poor Sinners that continually are uncertain to live an Hour and certain speedily to see the Majesty of the Lord to their unconceivable Joy or Terror as sure as they now live on Earth can forget these things for which they have their memory and which one would think should drown the matters of this World as the report of a Canon does a Whisper or as the Sun obscures the poorest Glo-worm O wonderfull stupidity of an unrenewed Soul O wonderfull folly and distractedness of the ungodly That ever Men can forget I say again that they can forget Eternal joy Eternal Woe and the Eternal God and the place of their Eternal unchangeable Abodes when they stand even at the door and there is but the thin Vail of Flesh between them and that amazing sight that Eternal gulph and they are daily dying and stepping in Besides his wonderfull diligence in Catechizing the particular Families under his Charge was exceeding usefull to plant Religion in them Personal instruction and application of Divine Truths has an excellent advantage and efficacy to insinuate and infuse Religion into the Minds and Hearts of Men and by the Conversion of Parents and Masters to reform whole Families that are under their immediate direction and government While he was at Kederminster he wrote and publisht that accomplisht Model of an Evangelical Minister styled Gildas Salvianus or the Reform'd Pastor In that book he clears beyond all cavil That the Duty of Ministers is not confin'd to their Study and the Pulpit but that they should make use of opportunities to instruct Families within their Care as 't is said by the Apostle that he had kept back nothing from his Hearers that was profitable but had taught them publickly and from house to house The Idea of a faithfull Minister delineated in that book was a Copy taken from the Life from his own zealous Example His unwearied industry to do good to his Flock was answer'd by Correspondent Love and Thankfulness He was an Angel in their Esteem He would often speak with great Complacence of their dear Affections and a little before his Death said He believ'd they were more Expressive of kindness to him than the Christian Converts were to the Apostle Paul by what appears in his Writings While he remain'd at Kederminster his Illustrious Worth was not shaded in a Corner but dispers'd its Beams and Influence round the Countrey By his Counsel and Excitation the Ministers in Worcestershire Episcopal Presbyterian and Congregational were united that by their Studies Labours and Advice the Doctrine and Practise of Religion the Truths and Holiness of the Gospel might be preserved in all the Churches committed to their Charge This Association was of excellent use the ends of Church-government were obtain'd by it and it was a leading Example to the Ministers of other Counties Mr. Baxter was not above his Brethren Ministers by a Superiour Title or any secular advantage but by his divine endowments and separate excellencies his extraordinary wisdom zeal and fidelity he was the Soul of that Happy Society He continued among his beloved people till the year 1660. then he came to London A while after the King's Restoration there were many Endeavours us'd in order to an Agreement between the Episcopal and Presbyterian Ministers For this end several of the Bishops elect and of the Ministers were call'd to attend the King at Worcester-House there was read to them a Declaration drawn up with great wisdom and moderation by the
necessarily included in saving Faith This Scripture-Account distinguishes between that substantial Faith that is proper to the elect Children of God and the Shadow of it in the Unregenerate the one is the intimate and active Principle of Obedience the other is a dead Assent without Efficacy a mere Carcass and Counterfeit of Faith A sincere Believer as fervently desires to be saved from the Dominion and Pollution of his Sins as from the Guilt and deadly Malignity a carnal Man desires an Interest in Christ as a Saviour that he may securely enjoy his Lusts. The crafty and cursed Serpent deceives Men to their ruine by citing Scripture and misapplying it The Promise is sure Whoever believes shall be saved and he easily perswades them they are Believers 'T is strange to astonishment that Men who have Reason and Understanding should presume in a high degree of the present Favour of God and their future Happiness as if they were his dear Children when their Enmity against his holy Name and Will is evident in their Actions We can never have too firm a dependance on God's Promise when we are qualified for that Dependance Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father to you saith the Lord Almighty Faith that purifies the Heart and Conversation invests us with this blessed Privilege and all the saving Mercies annex'd to it 2. From the spiritual Relation between God and Believers there naturally and necessarily results a sincere dutiful child-like Love to him correspondent to his beneficent and fatherly Love to them This God indispensably requires and specially delights in Thou lovest Truth in the inward Parts Filial Obedience is inseparable from filial Love in its Reality For this is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments Our Saviour distinguishes between sincere Lovers of him and pretended that they who love him keep his Commandments but they who love him not keep not his Commandments The Obedience that springs from Love to God is uniform respects all his Commands for the two filial Affections an ardent Desire to please God in all things and an ingenuous Fear of displeasing him in any thing are inseparably joined with our Love to him The Obedience that proceeds from Love is free and voluntary from Inclination as well as Duty How passionately does the holy Psalmist express his Affection O how I love thy Law In the Covenant of Grace God promises to write his Law in the Hearts of his Children not only in their Minds and Memories but to endear it to their Affections There is much difference between servile and constrain'd Obedience and filial chosen Obedience as between the Motion of a living Man from the Soul the inward Spring of Life and the Motion of an Image or Statue from forcible Weights and Wheels From filial Love proceeds godly Sorrow if at any time by Carelesness and Surprize or an over powering Temptation on his Children do what is offensive and odious in his sight When they consider their unkind and unthankful Returns for his Mercies they look to their Heavenly Father with Grief and Shame and down upon themselves with Abhorrence and Indignation They are wounded with the sting of that Expostulation Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise Is he not thy Father who bought thee From filial Love proceeds a Zeal for his Glory If I be a Father where is my Honour A Child of God is dearly concerned that his Name be reverenced and magnified his Laws be observed his Worship maintained that his Interest be advanced in the World He has a burning Zeal against Sin and presumptuous Sinners The Prophet Elijah says I have been jealous for the Lord of Hosts for the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant and thrown down thine Altars Those who with an indifferent Eye see the Cause the Truth the Interest of God depress'd in the World do renounce the Title of his Children From the Relation to God as his Sons proceeds a sincere fervent Love to all the Saints St. John infers Every one that loveth him that begat loves him that is begotten Grace is not less powerful in producing cordial mutual Affections between the Children of the same Heavenly Father than the subordinate Endearments of Nature Notwithstanding the civil Distinction between them some high and rich others mean and poor yet there is a spiritual Equality the lowest Saints are Princes of the Blood-Royal of Heaven To him that has washed us from our Sins in his Blood and made us Kings and Priests to God be Glory for ever The filial Relation to God inclines and encourages all sincere Christians to resign themselves even in their most afflicted Condition to the Wisdom and Will of God Our Saviour meekly yielded up himself to his cruel Enemies upon this Consideration The Cup which my Father has given me shall I not drink it The Saints in imitation of Christ and upon the same Ground entirely resign themselves to the Divine Disposal for their Heavenly Father loves them better than they can love themselves Finally The filial Relation to God is productive as of lively Hopes so of ardent Desires to be with him Love makes them to esteem Communion with him here in his holy Ordinances as the Joy of their Lives The Psalmist when banish'd from the Tabernacle breaks forth in his impatient Desires When shall I come and appear before God that is in the Place where he communicates his Grace to those that worship him But our Father is in Heaven as his Throne and most gloriously exhibits himself to his Saints there The Earth is the Element and Residence of carnal Men of their Souls as well as their Bodies They desire their Inheritance may be on this side Jordan and are content to leave the Heavenly Canaan to those who like it But those who are born from above desire to be dissolved that they may be in their Father's House and his reviving Presence for ever 3. Let us be perswaded to prepare for the reception of our Souls in the next World The present Life is a Passage to Eternity and 't is so short and fading so uncertain and hazardous that 't is our principal Wisdom without delay to secure our Souls in the future State Our Saviour says I must work the Work of him that sent me while it is Day the Night cometh when no Man can work Now is the accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation 'T is our indispensable Duty and main Interest now to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling In the state of Death there is an Incapacity to do any thing in order to Salvation There is no Work nor Wisdom in the Grave and all the Offers of Salvation cease for ever The Sufferings of the Son of God are not a Ransom for Sinners in that