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A44433
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Discourses, or, Sermons on several Scriptures by ... Ezekiel late Lord Bishop of London-Derry.
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Hopkins, Ezekiel, 1634-1690.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing H2729; ESTC R31535
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75,889
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Inheritance 3. They have a Right of Promise 1. Obedience to Gods Commandments gives us a Right of Evidence to Eternal Life A Right of Evidence He is judged to have the best Right to an Estate who can produce the best Evidence for it Now the best Evidence that can be shewn for Heaven is our unfeigned Obedience All other things that Men may rely upon to justifie their Title will prove but forged Deeds to which only the Spirit of Presumption or Enthusiasm hath set his Seal and not the Spirit of God and therefore we find how miserably the Confidence of those Wretches were dismounted and their Hopes frustrated who came with Lord Matth. 7.22 Lord Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name have done many wonderful Works All this may be and yet be no good Title no good Evidence for Heaven for if those who cast out Devils have not cast out their Lusts if those who prophesie in his Name by their Sins dishonour and blaspheme that Name if those who are Workers of Miracles are yet Workers of Iniquity he professeth against them that he knows them not and commands them to depart from him for ever as Workers of Iniquity Matth. 7.22 23. whereas on the contrary we find a joyful and blessed Sentence pronounced upon others according to the Evidence brought in for them by their good Works so our Lord himself tells us Come ye Blessed of my Father Matth. 25.30 inherit the Kingdom prepared for you for I was hungry and ye gave me Meat for I was thirsty and ye gave me Drink a Stranger and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me sick and in Prison and ye visited me This Particle For is not a Note of Causality or Merit but only of Evidence for as Evidences prove our Right to our Possessions so likewise our Obedience and good Works do effectually prove the Right which we have to Eternal Life through Christ's Purchase and God's free Donation and therefore the Evidence being clear the Sentence must in Equity proceed accordingly God as a just and righteous Judge instates them in the Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven because they visited and releived and cherished his Son in his Members Not that their Love to him or their Charity to them purchased any such Right but only proves and evinceth it It is not the Cause of their Justification but a Reason why God declares them justified as the Deeds which I produce are the Reason why an Estate is adjudged mine though the Cause of my Title to it be either my own Purchase or another's Gift As therefore those are said to have no Right nor Title to what they pretend who can shew no Evidence for it so those who obey not the holy Will and Commands of God have no Right to the Tree of Life because they have no Evidence to shew nor no Plea to urge for it but will certainly be cast in their Suit 2. A Right of Heirship Those that do God's Commandments have a Right of Heirship and Inheritance unto Eternal Life for they are born of God and therefore Heaven is their Patrimony their Paternal Estate for so are the Words of the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.29 Every one that doth Righteousness is born of God And if they are born of God then according to the Apostle's Argumentation If Children Rom. 8.17 then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ who is the Heir of all things The Trial of thy Legitimation whether thou art a true and genuine Son of God will lie upon thy Obedience to his Commands For in this 1 Joh. 3.9 10. says the Apostle the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin and whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God Now if by our Obedience and Dutifulness it appears that we are indeed the Children of God our Father will certainly give us a Child's Portion and that is no less than a Kingdom So saith our Saviour Luk. 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom 3. A Right of Promise Those that do God's Commandments have a Right to Eternal Life by Promise and Stipulation and therefore it is called Eternal Life Tit. 1.2 which God that cannot lie hath promised Indeed the whole Tenour of the Gospel is nothing else but the Exhibition of this Promise and a Comment upon it This is the Summ of the Gospel the Terms of the Covenant Matth. 19.17 the Indenture made between God and Man If thou wilt enter into Life says our Saviour keep the Commandments And in another place our Lord tells us Matth. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven And thus you see what Right it is that Obedience to the Commands of God gives us to Eternal Life A Right of Evidence a Right of Heirship and a Right of Promise Objection But may some say Is not this again to establish the antiquated Covenant of Works Do this and live And doth not this abolish the Law of Faith He that believeth shall be saved Is it not the Office of Faith alone to convey unto us a Right and Title unto Eternal Life Answer I answer No it doth no prejudice unto Faith for we still affirm that our original and fundamental Right to Heaven is grounded not upon our Obedience but Christ's not upon our Works but upon his his Merits and Purchase which through Faith are imparted and imputed to us Yet give me leave to say that I think the Notion of Justifying and Saving Faith is very much if not generally mistaken by us And as the Soul is the most noble and most vital Principle of Man and yet is most unknown to him what it is and how it operates so Faith which is the vital Principle of Christians and by which the Just are said to live is yet most unknown both as to its Nature and Operations unto the Generality of them Some place it in Assurance some in Affiance and Recumbence some in one Act of Faith and some in another which are either the Effects of Faith as true or the Degrees of it as strong rather than the proper and adequate Nature and Essence of it and then they mightily puzzle themselves how to accord and reconcile Faith and Obedience in carrying on the great Work of our Salvation which yet were never at a variance about it but only in their mistaken Hypothesis For what is Faith but an Assent to a Testimony The very force and import of the Word can carry no other Sense And he that saith he believes must needs mean he believes some Record or Testimony or else he speaks that which neither himself nor any other can understand Consequently
Fury upon thee And when it falls in all its weight and force upon thee thou hast nothing to uphold or support thee It is true the Almighty Power of God shall continue thee in thy Being but thou wilt for ever curse and blaspeme that Support that shall be given thee only to perpetuate thy Torments and ten thousand times wish that God would destroy thee once for all and that thou mightest for ever shrink away into nothing but that alas poor miserable Wretch will not be granted thee no thou shalt not have so much as the relief and comfort of dying nor escape the Vengeance of God by Annihilation but his Power will for ever so support thee as for ever to torment thee which is only such a Support as a Man is supported on the Rack or on the Wheel supported so as they cannot come off the very Engine of their Torture upholds them And as for any help or relief the Ministry of Angels will afford thee think what solace it will bring thee when God shall set on whole Legions of infernal Ghosts black and hideous Spirits as the Executioners of his Wrath who shall for ever triumph in thy Woes and add to them hurl Fire-brands at thee heap fewel about thee and fully satiate their Malice upon thee as God satisfies his Justice And this is one Consideration of the dreadfulness of this Vengeance in that it aims at and exacts satisfaction for Sin which will be infinitely intolerable because our Sins are infinite both in Number and Heinousness And because Jesus Christ who was to satisfy not for his own but for the Sins of others though he were upheld by the Divine Nature and possibly underwent not such Acrimony of Wrath as the Damned do yet his Sufferings were unspeakable and unknown Sorrows And how much sorer then shall wicked Men bear for their own Sins when Justice shall come to reckon with them and to exact from them to the very utmost Farthing of all that they owe Secondly Consider that Revenging Wrath stirs up all that is in God against a Sinner Wrath when it is whet and set on by Revenge redoubles a Man's Force and makes him perform Things that he could not do in his cold Blood it fires all a Man's Spirits and calls them forth to express their utmost Efforts So this Revenging Wrath of God draws forth all the Force and Activity of his Attributes and sets them against a Sinner and how dreadful then must that Execution needs be We see what great Works God can perform when he is not stirred up thereunto by his Wrath and Indignation He speaks a whole World into Being and speaks it with a cold and calm Breath Certainly it was no small peice of work to spread out the Heavens and lay the Foundations of the Earth and to work all those Wonders of Creation and Providence which we daily behold but yet all these Things God did if I may so speak without any Emotion But when he comes to take Vengeance upon Sinners he is then inflamed all that is in God is as it were on fire Jealousy says Solomon is the Rage of a Man Proverbs 6.34 Prov. 6.34 Now when God's Jealousy shall be stirred in him think how impetuously it will break forth in the fearful effects of it Isa 42.13 Isa 42.13 The Lord shall stir up Jealousy like a Man of War he shall cry yea roar he shall prevail against his Enemies If the calm and sedate Works of God are so great and wonderful how great then will his Vengeance be when Anger Fury and Indignation shall excite and whet his Power to shew the very utmost of what it can do And therefore we find that though God had inflicted dreadful Plagues upon the Israelites in the Wilderness and had shewn mighty effects of his Power and Vengeance yet we find the Church blesseth him That he turned away his Anger and did not stir up all his Wrath. Psal 78.38 But in Hell God stirs up all his Wrath every thing is set and bent against the Damned And as to the Saints in Heaven every Attribute of God concurs to make him merciful and gracious to them So to the Wicked in Hell all the Perfections of God conspire either to stir up and kindle his Wrath or else to assist him in the execution of it upon them The infinite Wisdom of God contrives their Punishments and which way to lay them on so that they shall be most sharp and poinant The Power of God that rouses it self against them and proffers all its Succours and Assistance unto Vengeance The Eternity and Unchangeableness of God come in as a dreadful Addition and makes that Wrath which of it self is insupportable to be also everlasting Yea that sweet and mild Attribute of God his Mercy the only Refuge and the only comfort of miserable Mankind yet even this turns against them too and because they despised it when it shone forth in Patience and Forbearance will not now regard them when they stand in need of its Rescue and Deliverance So that all that is in God arms it self to take Vengeance on Sinners And O think how sore and fearful that Vengeance will be when God shall put forth all that is in himself for the executing of his Wrath upon impenitent Sinners And thus I have done with the Demonstrations of the Dreadfulness of God's Wrath taken from the Words in the Text Vengeance is mine I will recompence it 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God Let us now consider some other Demonstrations of the Greatness of this Wrath. And First It appears to be exceeding dreadful in that it is set forth to us in Scripture by all those things which are most terrible to Humane Nature God maketh use of many Metaphorical Expressions of things most grievous to our Senses that from them we may take an hint to conceive how intolerable his Wrath is in it self It is called a Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 1 Peter 3.19 where mention is made of the Spirits in Prison that is the Souls of those Men to whom the Spirit of Christ in Noah went and preached in the Days of their Mortal Life but for their Disobedience are shut up under the Wrath of God in Hell And certainly Hell is a Prison large enough to hold all the World Psalm 9.17 Psal 9.17 The Wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God A Prison it is where the Devil and wicked Spirits are shackled with Chains of massy and substantial Darkness 2 Peter 2.4 They are 2 Pet. 2.4 says the Apostle reserved in Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day And they are there kept in everlasting Chains under Darkness not one Cranny in this great Prison to let in the least ray or glimpse of Light It is called a Place of Torment Luke 16.28 Luke 16.28 It is a Region of Woe and