ordained Means and sacramental Pledg For God unchangably loves his own Image and tho' by his Sovereignty and absolute Power he may resume the Being he gives yet his Goodness and Covenant were a sacred assurance that Man's happy Life should run parallel with his perseverance in his Duty This Immortality was not the singular privilege of Adam's Person but had been the Inheritance of all his Progeny But he soon revolting from his just Obedience of Immortal became Mortal and according to the original establishment of Propagation transmitted his Nature with the guilt and poison of Sin to all his Posterity Thus by one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned As his Obedience had been rewarded so his Rebellion is punisht in all that naturally descend from him From hence it is that so numerous a part of Man-kind are cut off before the commission of actual Sin Death enters into the Forge of Life and destroys the Conception that newly began to live And what is more righteous than that Man when he disobeyed the Author of Life should forfeit his Life and Blessedness The Soul voluntarily lost the spiritual Life by forsaking God therefore unwillingly loses the natural Life by expulsion from the Body The Apostle declares the Wages of Sin is Death not only that of the Body but the Death of the Soul which is a dreadful Concomitant of it And from hence we may discover the false Philosophy of the wisest Heathens in their Opinion of Death They judged it to be the primary necessity and condition of Nature fixt by irresistible Fate and not understanding the true and just reason of its coming into the World they could not apply a sufficient Remedy against its Evil. 2. As the Effect of the divine Decree respecting Sin This is discovered by revelation in the Word of God and by the real execution of it It is appointed to Men once to die This Decree is universal and unrepealable One Generation passeth away and another Generation cometh like the ebbing and flowing of the Sea in its stated Periods Nothing can interrupt or frustrate this appointment There are divers Conditions of Men and various ways of living in the World some are high in Dignity others are level with the Earth some walk in a Carpet-way smooth and easy others in a thorny and troublesom some walk on the golden Sands others on the Mire but the same uncontroulable necessity of dying involves all And what-ever the way be whether pleasant or doleful yet every one passes in it with equal steps measured by the same invariable spaces of Hours and Days and arrive at the same common end of Life Those who are regarded as visible Deities amongst Men that can by their Breath raise the Low and depress the Lofty that have the Lives of millions in their Power yet when the ordained time is come as they cannot bribe the accusing Conscience for a minutes silence so neither delay Death I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like Men. 3. Death is to be considered as the Sentence of the Law The reasonable Creature was made under a Law the Rule of his Actions The moral Law directed him how to continue in his holy and blessed State To which was annext the Precept of not eating of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil only as a mark of his Subjection and for the trial of his Obedience This Precept had an infallible sanction by the most high Law-giver In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Man did not keep this Command of so easy observation and justly incurr'd its doom As Sin is the violation of the Law so Death is the violation of the Sinner in his Nature and Felicity retorted from the Law The deaths of Men are very different in their kinds and are comprised in the words of David concerning Saul The Lord shall smite him or his Day shall come to die or he shall descend into the Battel and perish Sometimes they are cut off by the immediate flaming hand of God for the more exemplary revenge of Sin sometimes by surprising Accidents sometimes by bloody Contentions sometimes consuming Diseases But tho' Death be not uniform yet 't is always the execution of the Law upon Offenders As of those who are condemned by Humane Justice some suffer a more easy and honourable Death others a more disgraceful and torturing some are Beheaded others are Crucified yet all die as Malefactors Thus some die a natural Death others a violent some by a gentle preparing sickness without reluctation others die upon the Rack by sharp pains some die attended with their Friends and all supplies to sweeten their Passage others forsaken of all Comforters yet Death is the same Sentence of the Law upon all Men. And this if duly considered makes it terrible in whatever shape it appears II. The next thing to be considered is What the fear of Death includes and the bondage that is consequent to it This I shall explain and amplify by considering four things 1. The nature of Fear in general as applicable to the present Subject 2. The particular Causes that render Death so fearful 3. The degree of this Fear exprest by Bondage 4. How it comes to pass that men are not always under the actual fear of Death but subject to the Revolutions of it all their lives 1. I will consider the nature of Fear in general as applicable to the present Subject Fear is a passion implanted in Nature that causes a flight from an approaching Eye Three things are requisite to qualify the Object and make it fearful 1. The Evil must be apprehended Knowledg or at least suspicion excites Fear by representing an Evil that is likely to seize upon us Till the mind discern the danger the passions are unmoved and imaginary Evils by the mere apprehension are as strongly fear'd as real 2. The Evil must be future For the naked theory of the most pernicious Evil does not wound the Soul but the apprehension of falling under it If reason can open an expedient to prevent an Evil this Passion is quiet And Fear precisely regards its Object as to come Present Evils induce grief and sorrow past Evils by reflection affect with joy and give a quicker relish to present felicity Approaching Evils alarm us with fear 3. The Evil must be apprehended as prevalent to make it fearful For if by comparison we find our strength superior we either neglect the Evil for its levity or determine to encounter it and resistance is the proper effect of Anger not of Fear But when an impendent Evil is too hard for us the Soul shrinks and recoils from it Now all these Qualifications that make an Object fearful concur in Death 1. 'T is an Evil universally known The frequent Funerals are a real demonstration that speaks sensibly to our Eyes that
having extinguish'd the fear of eternal future Evils which is the proper passion of reason The Apostle declares That knowing the terror of the Lord we perswade Men to be reconciled to him before the season of Mercy be expir'd But those who have supprest the natural Notions of Eternal Judgment as they think it beneath their wisdom to be perswaded by the Promises of Heaven so beneath their courage to be terrified with the threatnings of Hell and triumph over the ruins of Conscience But tho' wicked Infidels slite the Threatnings they shall not escape the Vengeance of God We read of Noah that being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear he prepared an Ark for the saving of his House His Fear was the native issue of his Faith But the profane World in whom sence was predominant that despised the Oracle and trembled at no Judgments but what were acting on the visible Stage they eat and drank married and were given in marriage till swept away by the unfeared Inundation We read that Lot being certified by an embassy of Angels that a Deluge of Fire would in a few hours pour down from Heaven upon Sodom he most earnestly solicited his Sons-in-Law Arise depart out of this place for the Lord will destroy this City but they entertained his compassionate advice with derision he seemed to them as one that mocked and were surprised by those fearful Flames that dispatch'd them from a temporal Hell to that which is Eternal Thus 't was prophesied That in the last days there shall come Scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the Promise of his coming But let them blaspheme and scorn the most sacred and terrible Truths let them perpetuate their excess of riot and wild Mirth while they live Death will come and Judgment as sure as Death III. I now come to shew how the Death of Christ frees us from the tormenting fear of Death For the clearing this we are to consider that Sin Satan and Death are Enemies in combination against Man in his mortal state and the destructive Power of Satan and Death is from Sin When Man renounc'd his Creatour and natural Lord he was judicially given up to Satan as the Executioner of Vengeance and to the Power of Death Such is the order rather the confusion in the World by Sin The Empire of Satan and Death is built on the Ruins of our Innocence Now the Son of God came from his Throne in Heaven to deliver us And whereas there are two ways of obtaining freedom from captivity either by Ransom or by Power and Rescue in both respects our deliverance from Bondage to these Capital Enemies is ascribed to the Death of Christ. 'T is called our Ransom and that in its strict Notion has a respect to Captivity There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all His Life was the full price of our Liberty and Salvation God does not pardon sin and release from punishment by a pure absolute act of his Will and Authority as a Creditor forgives a Debtor but in such a way as to preserve the Rights of Justice inviolate Therefore when Man was devoted to Death our Redeemer exchang'd conditions with him and offer'd up his precious Blood as our Ransom to God in the quality of the King and Judg of all Such was the dignity of his Person that the entire World the Heavens and the Earth with all their Inhabitants are of less value to him than the basest Dross to refined Gold Such was the greatness of his Sufferings in which the highest degree of Obedience and the lowest degree of Humility were conspicuous as to be a valuable Compensation to obtain eternal Redemption for us Now when God the supreme Judg is satisfied Satan forfeits the right he had to torment us and is devested of his dominion over our Wills which tho' justly permitted was an usurpation upon God's Right in Man that can never be extinguish'd 'T is said by the Apostle that our Saviour blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross He abolish'd the use of the Ceremonial Law that was an Evidence and Enditement of their Guilt who performed it and the Curse of the Moral Law it follows and having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it Our Saviour died victoriously the Tree of Infamy on which he suffered was the Trophy of his Conquest His Death disarm'd Satan of his Weaponswhere by he subdued us Sin the Law and Death for tho' his actual Triumph was in his Resurrection and Ascension to Glory yet it is justly ascribed to his Death for that meritoriously open'd the Grave at his Resurrection and Heaven at his Ascension And here by the way 't is most worthy of observation that our deliverance from our spiritual and most deadly Enemies is equally righteous as admirable and glorious for our suffering Saviour appeas'd the Wrath of God and broke the Powers of Darkness The Wisdom and Love of God had their designs in his Death as well as the malice and rage of Satan as Lines that are opposite in the circumference meet in the Centre And as from the Tyranny of Satan so the Death of our Redeemer is our redemption from Death as to the curse and final dominion of it nay has made it a blessed advantage to us 1. The Curse is removed Death considered as the Wages of Sin is all sting and poison the consequent of the spiritual Death and the introduction to eternal Death The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law Death hath its wounding Power from Sin and Sin from the Law that forbids it the discovers its Nature and enhanses the measure of its Guilt and denounces condemnation for it Now our Saviour having in our stead subjected himself to Death the penalty of the Law for Sin There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Death inflicted on the Saints has not that relation to the guilt of Sin as to be properly satisfaction to revenging Justice There are no petty payments to be made by our Sufferings after his compleat satisfaction to God The Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all 'T is indeed still a declaration of God's holy displeasure against Sin for that originally open'd the way of its coming into the World and sometimes by the immaturity or manner of it 't is a chastisment upon good Men for sin that is to make them renew their Repentance and mortify their carnal Affections that fasten them to the World For tho' after the last act of expiration there is no place for Repentance yet in the approaches of
the eternal Law of God Otherwise considered in it self it were no more faulty to murder a Parent than to kill a Fly nor to rob a Travellor than to chase a Deer But the Conscience of the most profligate wretch would startle at such an Assertion The disposition and admirable order of the World in its various parts and the vicissitude of Seasons declare to the obsering Mind that a most wise good and powerful God governs and preserves all things by his vigorous Influence And can it be that the Divine Providence so visibly wise and good in regulating the course of Nature should be defective towards Man the most noble part of the World And can it be extended to humane affairs if there be no other than the present state wherein the Righteous are afflicted and the Wicked prosper where Sins of the deepest stain and the lowdest cry are unpunish'd and the sublime and truly heroick Vertues are unrewarded nay where Vice receives the natural reward of Vertue Honour and Felicity and Vertue the just wages of Vice Disgrace and Sufferings 'T is necessary therefore that there be a future state and a righteous distribution of rewards according to the good and evil of Men's Actions here The Heathens disguised this terrible Truth under the Fictions of the Infernal Judges Minos and Rhadamanthus and Eacus And the Furies and Vultures and fiery Lake which they thought tormented the Wicked in the next World discover what apprehensions they had of the desert of Sin and the punishment that certainly attended it The Guilty would fain be freed from the terrours of it and strangle Conscience that is bound over to give Testimony in the Day of Judgment that they may sin without scruples But tho Fear be a troublesom and involuntary Passion they cannot totally extinguish the internal sense and presages of future Judgment but as the motions of Courage came upon Sampson at times so Conscience awakened by sharp Afflictions by sudden Dangers and the approaches of Death makes a sad deduction of past Sins and sorecasts cruel things It cites the Offender before the enlightened Tribunal of Heaven scourges with remorse and makes him feel even here the strokes of Hell Tho' the Sin be secret and the guilty Person powerful not within the cognizance or reach of humane Justice yet Conscience has a Rack within and causes pain and anxiety by fearful expectations of Judgment to come And Divine Revelation is most express in declaring this great Truth The Light of Faith is more clear and certain from the infallible Word of God than the Light of Reason Before the Flood Enoch in the early Age of the World foretold it Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all Solomon under the Law repeats this Doctrine that every secret thing shall be brought into Judgment whether good or evil And God himself speaks in the sublimest stile of Majesty and swears by himself for our firmer belief As I live saith the Lord every Knee shall bow to me and every Tongue confess to God the glory of his Justice From whence the Apostle infers so then every one of us shall give an account to God for himself In the Gospel we have distinctly described the Person of the Judge the glorious Attendants of his Coming and the manner of his proceedings in that Day Now the many Predictions in Scripture so visibly accomplish'd in the Person of Jesus Christ and by him give infallible assurance that all his Promises and Threatnings are equally certain and shall be fulfilled As sure as our Saviour is come in his humble state and has accomplish'd the Prophecies of his Sufferings he will come in his Glory to judg the World 2. That the belief of eternal Judgment may be powerful in our hearts and lives it must be actuated by frequent and serious thoughts Faith gives life and efficacy to our notions of eternal things and Consideration makes our Faith effectual As the natural Life is preserved by the activity of the vital Principles the Circulation of the Blood the drawing of the Breath the motion of the Pulse so the spiritual Life is maintained by the exercise of Grace The carnal Affections dare not appear before Reason and Conscience when awakened by the serious believing Consideration of eternal Judgment The Evangelists relate that when our Saviour was asleep in the Ship a sudden Tempest arose that was likely to over-set it in the Sea but awakened by the cry of his Disciples Lord save us we perish he presently rebuked the Wind and a Calm ensued Thus whilst the habit of Faith is asleep in the Soul there will be great danger from the concurrent violence of Temptations and Corruptions but when 't is awakened by lively and powerful thoughts it does Miracles in subduing the strongest Lusts. 'T is monstrous and beyond all belief did not sensible experience make it evident that notwithstanding the minds of Men are convinc'd of the certainty of the Divine Judgment and the Recompenses that immediatly follow yet their Wills remain unconverted and their Affections cold and unactive in their preparations for it That such numbers who have so much Christianity as to believe that an irrevocable Doom will pass upon the Wicked and so little Christianity that they cannot justly hope to escape from it yet are so careless of their Duty nay joyful in their sinful courses as if Judgment were a dreadless thing What is the cause of this prodigious security 'T is the neglect of considering that we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to receive according to the things done in the body whether good or evil Their senses and faculties are so imployed abroad in the World they have neither leisure nor desire to think seriously of it Their hearts are so ravisht with dreams of sensuality and engaged in terrene affairs that they are very averse from exercising their minds upon such displeasing objects I have read of an excellent Preacher that in a Sermon described the last Judgment in all its Terrors with such ardent expressions and those animated with such an affecting Voice such an inflamed Countenance and Action that his Hearers broke forth into passionate Crys as if the Judg himself had been present to pass the final Sentence upon them In the heighth of their Commotion the Preacher bid them stop their tears and passions for he had one thing more to add the most afflicting and astonishing Consideration of all the rest That within less than a quarter of an hour the memory and regard of that which so transported them would vanish and their affections return to carnal objects in their usual manner The neglect of Consideration makes even the Doctrin of Judgment to come to be without efficacy 'T is necessary therefore that the belief of this be so firmly seated in the Heart as its Throne that it may comānd the thoughts to be very attentive
SERMONS UPON DEATH AND Eternal Judgment BY WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1683. To the Right Honourable RACHEL Lady RUSSEL MADAM OF all Affairs for the compassing whereof Men are so diligent and sollicitous there is none of that absolute necessity and high importance as the Preparation for Death and Judgment This requires the whole Man in his best vigour and should be the Work of the Day but 't is usually delayed till the melancholy Evening of Age or the twilight of Death The Trifles of this World divert them from that main business to which all other things should be subordinate It equally deserves Wonder and Compassion that Death which is so constantly in Mens view should be so seldom the matter of their application when all are of the same Glass made of the same frail natural Principles and no Argument is more frequently and pathetically urged upon them 'T is not strange that deep Truths that by the strength and exercise of the mind are drawn like Gold out of the Mines have no efficacy upon those that are not capable of understanding them but the Doctrins of Death and Judgment after it are plain Truths by Natural Moral and Divine Evidence known to all yet no more affect Men than a Paradox of incredible Novelty If the Doctrine of Eternal Judgment were but a probable Opinion controverted with equal Arguments yet 't is a matter of such vast concernment that Reason requires all our possible diligence to avoid an eternal evil that may be the loss of coelestial Glory and the Torments of Hell But since 't is an infallible Truth as certain as the Word of God 't is a Miracle to astonish Heaven and Earth that Men live as carelesly as if they should never die and die as securely as if they should not live in the next state to receive the just punishment of their Sins They are fearless whilst Death is far off in their thoughts and when Age has snowed upon their heads that no Marks of decaying Nature should appear make their own Winter to flourish with another Spring But 't is in vain for Death knows them under their disguise and will not stay beyond the appointed time And in that decisive hour Infidelity or Presumption hardens Men to pass as quietly and boldly in appearance into another world as unfeigned Faith and a regular lively Hope in the Promises of the Gospel But as deceitful Physick stops the Fit for the present that will return more violently and fatally afterwards So a counterfeit short Peace transmits them to everlasting Sorrows The design of the following SERMONS is to awaken Men that they may be wise and consider their latter end to secure an interest in our Redeemer who has disarmed Death of its Sting and made that Enemy our Friend and to practise dying every day by withdrawing their hearts from the vanities of this transient World that have such a pernicious influence to excite the carnal appetites and stupify the Conscience which are the true causes of their sin and misery And what can be more powerful to render them temperate and sober in the use of present things vigilant and serious in their preparations for their great and final Change than the remembrance that Death is immediately attended with Judgment and Judgment with Blessedness or Misery for ever I know this Argument is naturally displeasing but the usefulness should recommend it to our most solemn and composed thoughts before all the vain entertainments of the Fancy and sensual Affections As Herbs of Medicinal virtue that are not pleasing to the sight or smell yet are valued by the Skilful as treasures of Health and preferr'd before the fairest Flowers that are perfum'd and painted by Nature so as to excel the richest lustre of Solomon's Glory The Body is in a continual Consumption and no Art can long preserve it but whilst the outward Man is irrecoverably declining and wasting if the Inward Man be ascending and renewing to perfection the advantage is incomparable O how comfortable is it to a holy Believer in the parting hour to commit his Spirit into the hands of his Heavenly Father for thus he is authorized and encouraged by our Saviour's Example and lay down the Flesh to rest in Hope for Christ is the Guardian of the Grave has the Keys of Death and will revive the Bodies of his Saints incorruptible and immortal the Copies of his own glorious Body Madam I shall not attempt the celebrating your Ladiships Vertues that render you a bright Ornament of your Sex and more truly Honourable than your Noble Descent and Alliance but direct my best Desires to God that your Family may be a singular and eminent Example of the Divine Favour that the fading Gloss of this World may not deceive you but your Heart may be above where your Treasure is that you may live to God and your Soul for Heaven and Eternity I am Madam Your Honours very humble and faithful Servant WILLIAM BATES SERMONS UPON DEATH HEB. 2. 15. And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life-time subject to Bondage IN the first Chapter of this Epistle the Proofs of the Eternal Deity of Christ are produced with that evidence of Scripture-Light that only a vailed Heart obstinate Infidelity can resist The Medium which the inspired Pen-man makes use of is the comparing him with the Angels the most noble Flower of the Creation and shewing that he is infinitely dignified above them This he does by a strong connexion of Arguments First By his Title that is divinely high and peculiar to himself He is declared by the Testimony of the Eternal Father to be his Son in the most proper and sublime sence begotten of him and therefore having the same essential Perfections of the God-head in their uncreated Glory But the Angels are not dignified with this Name in any places of Scripture where the Excellency of the Angels is in the fullest terms expressed And that this Name is taken from his Nature is clearly proved because Adoration is due to him upon this account even from the Angels of the highest Order When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Divine Worship is a Prerogative inseparably annext to the Deity both upon the account of the supream Excellencies of the Nature of God and his Relation to Angels and Men as Creator and Preserver the Fountain of their Being and Happiness This without the most open defiance of his Authority cannot be given to a mere Creature and by the Command of God himself is to be performed as a respect due to the filial God-head The Argument proceeds from the Name to the Offices Of the Angels he saith Who maketh the Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flame of Fire They are the prime Instruments of his Providence
most zealous and active to accomplish his pleasure But the Son is God not by Analogy and Deputation as Princes are nor with a limitation and diminution as Moses was made a God to Pharaoh but absolutely and really as subsisting in the Divine Nature And consequently he is the Supreme King and to him the Ensigns of Majesty divinely Royal are ascribed But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Whereas the Scepters of Earthly Kings are often unrighteously manag'd and their Thrones ruinously fall There is a further Confirmation from his Works that are divinely great and glorious wherein no Creature has any share of Efficiency The making of the World is ascrib'd to him Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands The Divine Attributes the peculiar Character of the Deity belong to him Eternity and Immutability The most solid parts of the visible Creation shall perish and be changed but thou remainest and art the same His Life is an intire uniform unchangable Perfection His Glory and Felicity are in the same invariable Tenor for ever possest by him Lastly The Son sits in that quality at the right Hand of the Father in the Society of Empire as equal to him in Power and Honour commanding all in the visible and invisible World most easily and irresistibly tho' gradually subduing his Enemies to a consummate Victory But the Angels so numerous and powerful are ministring Spirits employed for the defence and benefit of the Church From this summary account we may understand how firmly the Divinity of Christ is establish'd in the Scripture For those Passages of the Prophets that speak of the God of Israel as Creator and the sole object of Adoration are directly referr'd to Jesus Christ. And the Name Jehovah the Majesty of which consists in its being incommunicable is attributed to him This is the Foundation upon which that whole Fabrick of the Gospel is built The Office of Mediator in the prophetical priestly and regal administration is necessarily join'd with the Divinity of his Person And the revelation of it from Heaven is as clear as the Sun is visible in the Firmament All the Difficulties in our conceiving this great Mystery of Godliness are but like the shadows that attend the Light And all the heretial subtilties to pervert the sence of such plain and positive Texts are as impertinent as impious This being establish'd the Apople proceeds to give an account of the Son of God's assuming the Humane Nature and submitting to Sufferings and Death This is a Divine Secret so miraculously strange that the Contrivance was without the Compass of the Angelical Minds and the discovery of it is only by supernatural Revelation but when revealed the account of it is so open and consentaneous to reason as being the most congruous Means for the illustration of God's Glory in the saving lost Men that the humane Mind if not deeply corrupted with the tincture of Prejudice must consent to it as worthy of all acceptation The substance of his reasoning is this That it was the product of the most wise merciful and righteous Counsel of God that the Saviour of Men should have communion with them in their Nature that he might have a right to redeem them by his Alliance and Propinquity for he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all one and that he should undergo sufferings even to death for the price of their Redemption and the remedy of their Infirmities Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Lives subject to Bondage The Devil is said to have the Power of Death 1. Because he induces men to commit sin that meritoriously renders them liable to Death He tempted the first Man cum effectu and was a Murderer from the beginning 2. In that he inspires them with furious thoughts and inflames their Passions from whence proceed Strifes and Wars that efficiently cause Death He is supreme in all the Arts of Mischief and always intent upon Evil 'T is by his instigation that Men become like raging Beasts animated and bent on mutual slaughter 3. Because he is many times the Executioner of God's Wrath and inflicts Death upon rebellious and incorrigible Sinners 'T is recorded by the Psalmist That God cast upon the Egyptians the fierceness of his anger wrath indignation and trouble by sending evil Angels those Princes of the Air the Instruments of the Thunder and fiery storm of Hail that destroyed them 4. Because he makes Death more formidable to sinners by heightning their guilty Fears of God's TribunaI The false Spirit in tempting Men to sin puts on blandishments but afterward he is a severe accuser of them to God and to themselves Lastly This Title may signify his tormenting sinners with unrelenting cruelty in Hell which is the second Death Now these Evils being the penal Consequence of sin our Saviour by his Death appeas'd the injur'd Justice of God and thereby destroyed the cruel tyranny of the Devil As the Lamb of God in the Notion of a Sacrifice he overcomes our spiritual Enemies Sin Satan and Death lie vanquisht at the foot of his Cross. Besides our Saviour having felt such sorrows and infirmities as are usual to his People by that correspondence and resemblance between them is compassionately inclin'd to relieve them I shall now insist upon the blessed Privilege of Believers set down in the Text viz. That Jesus Christ by his Death frees his People from the servile tormenting fear of Death In prosecuting the Point I shall 1. consider the account the Scripture gives of Death's entrance into the World 2. Shew what the fear of Death includes and the Bondage consequent to it 3. How the Death of Christ frees us from the thraldom of that fear 4. Who are partakers of this blessed Privilege And then apply it I. The Scripture gives an account of Death's entrance into the World in a three-fold respect 1. As the desertt of Sin 2. As the Effect of the divine Decree 3. As the Sentence of the Law 1. As the Desert of Sin The first design of the Creator was his own Glory in conjunction with the happiness of Man He was made accordingly Holy in perfection placed in Paradise and his state contained all the Ingredients of Felicity proper to his Nature He was capable of dying as sad experience proves yet no Accident from without no Distemper from within had impair'd his vigour and made him actually subject to Death without sin Whilst innocent he was immortal not from everlasting Principles of Nature but by Divine Preservation of which the Tree of Life was the
Death reigns in the World 2. 'T is certainly future All the wretched Accidents of this Life such as concern us in our Persons Relations Estates and Interests a thousand Disasters that a jealous Fear and active Fancy will extend and amplify as they may so they may not happen to us And from this mixture of contrary possibilities from the uncertainty of event Hope that is an insinuating passion mixes with Fear and derives Comfort For as sometimes a suddain Evil surprises not fore-thought of so often the Evil that was sadly expected never comes to pass But what Man is he that lives and shall not see Death Who is so vain as to please himself with an imagination of Immortality here 3. 'T is a prevalent Evil from hence the proverbial Expression Strong as Death that subdues all cruel as the Grave that spares none 'T is in vain to struggle with the pangs of Death No Simples in Nature no Compositions of Art no Influence of the Stars no Power of Angels can support the dying Body or retain the flitting Soul There is no Man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath he power in the day of Death and there is no discharge in that War The Body sinks in the Conflict and Death feeds on its prostrate prey in the Grave 2. I shall consider more particularly the Causes that render Death so fearful to Men. 1. In the apprehension of Nature 2. In the apprehension of Conscience 1. In the apprehension of Nature Death hath this Name engraven in its forehead Ultimum terribilium the supreme of terrible things upon several accounts 1. Because usually sickness and pains languishing or tormenting make the first changes in the Body and the natural Death is violent This Hezekiah complained of with a mournful accent He will cut me off with pining sickness from day even to night thou wilt make an end of me I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so will he break all my Bones A Troop of Diseases are the forerunners of this King of Terrors There is a preceding encounter and sometimes very fierce that Nature feels the cruel Victory before it yields to this Enemy As a Ship that is lost by a mighty tempest and by the concussion of the Winds and Waves loses its Rudder and Masts takes in water in every part and gradually sinks into the Ocean So in the shipwrack of Nature the Body is so shaken and weakened by the violence of a Disease that the senses the animal and vital Operations decline and at last are exstinguish'd in death 2. Death considered in the strictest propriety as destructive of the natural being that is our first and most valuable good in the order of Nature is the just object of Fear The union between Soul and Body is very intimate and dear and like David and Jonathan they part unwillingly Nature has a share in the best Men and works as Nature St. Paul declares we would not be uncloathed not finally put off the Body but have it glorified in conjunction with the Soul Our blessed Saviour without the least impeachment of the Rectitude and perfection of his Nature exprest an aversness from Death and with submission to the divine Will desired a freedom from it His Affections were holy and humane and moved according to the quality of their Objects 3. The natural consequents of Death render it fearful Life is the foundation of all natural enjoyments and the loss of it induces the loss of all for ever 'T is from hence that such Evils that are consistent with Life and deprive us only of some particular content and pleasure are willingly chosen rather than Death The forfeiture of Estate the degrading from honour the confinement to a perpetual Prison the banishing from our native Country are less Penalties than Death There is a natural love of Society in Man and Death removes from all The Grave is a frightful solitude There is no conversation in the territories of darkness This also Hezekiah in his apprehensions of death speaks of with tears I shall see Man no more in the Land of the Living As in the Night the World is an universal Grave all things are in a dead silence Palaces Courts of Justice Temples Theaters Schools and all places of publick Conversation are shut up the noise and rumour that keeps Men in continual observation and action ceases Thus when the Sun of this present Life is set all the Affairs and Business all the vain joys of Company Feasting Dancing Musick Gaming ceases Every one among the Dead is confined to his sealed obscure Cell and is alone an entertainment for the Worms The Psalmist saith of Princes Their breath goeth forth they return to the Earth in that very day their thoughts their glorious compassing thoughts perish This the Historian observes was verified in Julius Caesar After his assuming the Imperial Dignity he thought to reduce the numerous Laws of the Romans into a few Volumes comprising the substance and reason of all to enrich and adorn the City of Rome as was becoming the Regent of the World to epitomise the Works of the most learned Grecians and Romans for the publick Benefit And whilst he was designing and pursuing these and other vast and noble things Death surprised him and broke off all his Enterprises At the terrible Gate that opens into Eternity Men are stript of all their Honours and Treasures and as naked as they come into the World go out of it Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his House is encreased For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him Death equally vilifies makes loathsom and ghastly the Bodies of Men and reduces them to sordid Dust. In the Grave the dust is as precious and powerful of one as of another Civil distinctions are limited to the present time The prodigious Statue in Nebuchadnezzar's Vision Dan. 2. 32 33 34 35. While it was upright the parts were really and visibly distinct The head was of fine gold the breast and arms of silver the belly and thighs of brass the legs of iron the feet part of iron and part of clay but when the stone cut out without hands smote the Image upon the feet then was the iron the clay the brass the silver and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the Chaff the wind carries away Who can distinguish between Royal Dust taken out of magnificent Tombs and Plebean Dust from common Graves Who can know who were Rich and who were Poor who had power and command who were Vassals who were remarkable by Fame who by Infamy They shall not say this is Jezebel not know this was the Daughter and Wife of King The King of Babylon stiled Lucifer the bright Star of the Morning that possest the first Empire in the World was degraded by Death humbled to the
Grave and exchanged all his glorious State for Worms and Putrefaction The Worm is spread under thee and the Worms cover thee In short Death separates Men from all their admired charming Vanities 2. Death is fearful in the apprehension of Conscience as 't is the most sensible mark of God's Wrath that is heavier than Death and a summons to give an account of all things done in this Life to the righteous Judg of the World 'T is appointed to all Men once to die and afterward the Judgment The Penal Fear is more wounding to the Spirit than the Natural When the awakened Sinner quietly expects the Citation to appear before the Tribunal above where no excuses no supplications no privileges avail where his cause of Eternal Life or Death must be decided and the awards of Justice be immediately executed O the Convulsions and Agonies of Conscience in that hour when the diseased Body cannot live and the disconsolate Soul dare not die what Anxieties surround it This redoubles the terrors of Death that the first transmits to the second that was figured by it O the dismal aspect of Death riding on a pale Horse with Hell the black Attendant following This Fear surprised the Sinners in Sion Who among us can dwell with devouring Fire who among us can remain with everlasting burnings This made a Heathen the Governor of a Province to tremble before a poor Prisoner While Paul discoursed of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come Foelix trembled 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever None is so powerful as God nothing so fearful as the guilty Conscience 3. The degrees of this Fear is exprest by Bondage This Passion when regular in its Object and Degree is excellently useful 't is a wise Counsellor and faithful Guardian that plucks off the Mask from our Enemies and keeps Reason vigilant and active to prevent a threatning Evil or to sustain it in the best manner 'T is observable in the brute Creatures that the weak and fearful are most subtile and ingenious to secure themselves and supply the want of strength with artifice But when Fear is inordinate 't is a tyrannous Master that vexes the weary Soul and hinders its free and noble Operations Caesar chose rather to be expos'd to suddain death than to be continually harrast with fears how to avoid it The Greek word implies the binding of the Spirit that causes an inward slavery And in the Apostles Writings the Spirit of Fear and the Spirit of Bondage are equivalent Ishbosheth when Abner provok'd by the Charge about Saul's Concubine imperiously threatned to translate the Kingdom to David was struck with such a fear that he could not answer Abner a word 2 Sam. 3. 10 11. The suddain passion stifled his replie and reduc'd him to a defenceless silence Now the fear of Death as 't is remiss or vehement such are the degrees of bondage from it 1. It embitters the enjoyments of the present Life and makes the most prosperous in the World even in the fulness of their sufficiency to be in straits Tho' the senses are pleased with the quick sweetness of Change from one Object to another yet the Soul cannot have a delightful undisturbed fruition foreseeing that the stream of Pleasure will issue into the dead Sea Truly Light is sweet and 't is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun But how short is this Life with all its pleasures in comparison of the days of darkness that follow Now tho' 't is our best wisdom and truest liberty to rejoice in this World as if we rejoiced not and frequently to meditate on the cooling Doctrines of Death and Judgment to repress the transports of the voluptuous appetite yet since the Comforts of this Life are liberally indulged to us by the Love of God to be the motives of our grateful and affectionate Obedience to sweeten our passage to Heaven we may with tranquillity of Spirit make a pure and chearful use of them in his service and 't is an oppressing bondage when the disquieting anxious fears of Death hinders our temperate enjoyment of his Favours and Blessings 2. The fear of Death oppresses the Souls of Men under a miserable Bondage to the Devil for his Dominion is maintain'd by the Allurements and Terrors of the World Tho Men do not explicitly acknowledg his Soveraignty yet by voluntary yielding to his pleasing temptations they are really his Slaves And the apprehension of temporal Evils especially of Death drest up in a frightful representation with its bloody pomp is the strongest snare to the Soul The faint-hearted prove false-hearted in the time of trial For the timerous Spirit being wholly intent how to avoid the incursion of a present Evil forgets or neglects what is indispensibly to be done and thinks to find an excuse in the pretended necessity How many have been terrified from their clearest Duty and resolved Constancy To escape Death they have been guilty of the most insufferable impieties by renouncing God their Maker and Saviour and worshipping the Devils for Deities Every Age presents sad spectacles of many that chuse iniquity rather than affliction that relinquish their duty and by wicked compliances save their Lives and lose their Souls Carnal Desires and Carnal Fears are the Chains of Hell that retain Men Satan's Captives But what folly what madness is it for the avoiding the impotent fury of the Creature to venture on the powerful wrath of God that exceeds all the terrors that can be conceived by fear This renders them more bruitish than the Horse that starting at his Shadow springs over a desperate Precipice The fearful are excluded from Heaven and cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone for ever 3. The extream fear of Death and Judgment dejects and discourages the Soul from the use of means to prevent eternal misery and induces a most woful Bondage Fear anticipates and exasperates future Evils for as knowledg excites fear so fear encreases knowledg by the uncessant working of the thoughts upon terrible Objects The fearful mind aggravates the foreseen Evil and distils the Poison from all the circumstances and consequences of it And when the Evil is apprehended as insuperable and indeclinable all endeavours to escape are cut off What a Philosopher observes of an Earthquake compared with other destructive Evils is true in this case There may be a safe retreat from Fire from Inundations from Storms from War from Pestilence but an Earthquake astonishes with so violent a perturbation that stops our flight from the imminent danger So the vehement impressions of fear from the approaches of death and the severe executions upon the Sinner after it distracts the mind and disables from flying from the Wrath to come These Fears are more heavy by the suggestions of Satan who represents God so terrible in his Majesty
inexorable in his Justice and dreadful to Death that all hopes of obtaining his favour are lost As the Egyptian Darkness was not meerly from the absence of the Sun but from feculent Vapours condensing the Air that it might be felt So these dark and fearful expectations of the Divine Wrath are not only from the withdrawing the Light of God's Countenance but from the Prince of Darkness that foul Spirit And as we read of the Egyptians that no Man arose from his place for three days as if they had been buried in that darkness and deprived of all active power and motion so the despairing Soul sits down mourning at the Gates of Death totally disabled from prosecuting the Things that belong to its peace 'T is Hope inspires and warms us with alacrity encourages our Endeavours Despair is without edg and industry The Soul suffers the hardest Bondage and the condition is inexpressibly sad under the tyranny of this Fear O how enthralled how desolately miserable for despair doth meritoriously and effectually ruin the Soul For whereas there is no Attribute more Divine no clearer Notion of the Deity than Love and Mercy this Passion disparages his Mercy as if Sin were more omnipotent than his Power to pardon and all the Tears that flow from it are so far from expiating that they encrease Guilt and whereas the believing view of Christ would as compleatly and presently recover the Soul-wounded Sinner as the Israelites were by looking to the ordained visible Sign of their Salvation Despair turns away the Eye from our Deliverer and fixes it upon misery as remediless and final 4. How comes it to pass that Men are not always under the actual fear of Death but subject to the revolutions of it all their Lives The Seeds of this Fear are hid in the guilty Breasts of Men and at times especially in their Calamities break forth and kindle upon them In their leisure and Retirement intercurrent thoughts of Death and Judgment sting them by fits and make them uneasy The flashes of Conscience like moments of Lightning startle them but they relapse into their habitual stupidity And the account of it will be clear by considering the following Particulars 1. Men are apt to flatter themselves with the hopes of long Life and look upon Death at a great distance Tho' there be a dying disposition in the youngest and strongest Persons tho' we live in a world of Casualties and Death lie in ambush to surprize us every day yet we are secure because Evils affect us according to their apprehended nearness A Petty Constable that is troublesom and vexatious is more fear'd by his Neighbours than the Grand Signior with all his Executioners As remote Objects though of vast bigness are lessen'd to our sight so through the supposed interval of many years Death is lookt on with a diminution of its Terror But when Death presents it self before Men ready to dispatch them how formidable is its appearance Saul tho renouned for his Valour yet when he understood by Revelation that to morrow he and his Sons should be in the state of the dead there was no strength in him but he fell straight-way all along on the Earth struck through with fear before he was wounded by the Arrows of the Philistins Belshazzar in the midst of his luxury and jolity attended with a thousand Lords and his herd of Concubines inflam'd with Wine and therefore less capable of fear yet upon the sight of the fatal Hand writing on the Wall a few unknown Characters which his guilty Conscience before the Prophet Daniel came interpreted to be the sentence of present Death How fearfully was his Countenance changed pale as a Carcass How suddainly did his Blood congeal and his warmest quickest Spirits die in his Heart His whole Body was seized by such a vehement trembling that his joints were loosed and his knees smote one against another This is a representation of those who bid defiance to Death at a distance but when the fatal Hour is come and they hear the Sentence decreed against them God has numbred thy days and finish'd them thou art weighed in the ballance all thy words and Actions thy Thoughts and Affections and art found wanting and thy Soul shall be divided from thy Body the one sent to Hell to suffer the undying Worm of Conscience the other to the Grave to be a prey to the Worms of Corruption how are they overcome with horror 2. The continual succession of the Pleasures and Business of the World divert the mind from the attentive strong contemplation of Death and the consequences of it Pensive thoughts are unwelcome and we studiously endeavour to cancel the memory of such things as afflict us 'T is said of the Wicked that God is not in all their thoughts The consideration of the Holy Inspector and Judg of their Actions is tormenting therefore they fill their minds with earthly Imaginations to exclude the Divine Presence We read of those who to put far away the evil day chaunted to the sound of the Viol and drank Wine in Bowls They are rock'd asleep with the motion of phantastick Vanities And sleep takes away Fear but gives no safety 'T is recorded of Marius that after his overthrow by Scylla he was always in consternation as if he heard the sound of the Trumpets and the noise of the victorious Army pursuing him And his Fears were no longer quiet than whilst charm'd with Wine and Sleep He therefore was continually drunk that he might forget Himself his Enemy and his Danger Thus Men make a pittiful shift to forget their latter End and whilst they are following either secular Affairs or sensual Pleasures are unconcerned for what is to be hereafter But this diversion will shortly be at an end for in their languishing hours when the wasted Body fails the carnal Mind and sensual Desires fail the Man then Conscience that spoke with a low Voice before is loud and terrible and like the rigid Exactor in the Parable that took his Debtor by the throat requires them to pay what they owe. 3. Some are so hardned in Infidelity that the Powers of the World to come make no impression on their hearts They mind but little and are less affected with invisible things They fortify themselves with gross thoughts that the Spirit of Man vanishes with his Breath that Death is the end of this Life and not the beginning of another and feed without fear Place one in the midst of destructive Evils but unseen or not believed and he is as fearless as a blind Person walking on the brink of a deep Pit Indeed there are none less disturbed with the terrors of Death than the eminently good or the extremely bad for the one sort have a blessed hope that Death will be to them an entrance into Life and live like the Angels with a joy unspeakable and glorious The others are as sensual and secure as the Beasts that perish
Death the Soul is strongly excited by the Call of God to review its state and make solemn preparation to be found of him in Peace But 't is not in a strict sence the malediction of the Law and divine Revenge upon them The Serpent is turn'd into a Rod of Correction in the hands of our Heavenly Father for their good As the Apostle speaking of some that for their profaning the Lord's Table were fallen asleep adds that when we are judg'd we are chastened of the Lord that we way not be condemned with the World A Believer shall not be hurt of the second Death From hence it is that in the Book of Life the Scriptures the death of the Saints is called a sleep St. Paul argues If we believed that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 'T is observable how the Apostle varies the expression Jesus died and the Saints sleep in him for he sustained death with all its terrors that it might be a calm sleep to his People They enjoy as perfect a rest in the Beds of Dust as ever in the softest Down Stephen in the midst of a showr of stones fell asleep Believers die in peace The Righteous is taken from the Evil to come he enters into peace Being reconciled to God through the Blood of Christ they are not terrified at his Call but with sweet tranquillity resign their Souls unto him Lord now let thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation There is a vast difference in God's account between the Death of Righteous and the Wicked As the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was taken down with care upon their change of station and delivered to the Levites Charge in order to the raising of it again with honour but the House incurably infected was pluck'd down with violence and thrown into an unclean place with execration thus the death of the Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord their Bodies are kept in the bosom of the Earth to be raised in Glory and the death of the Wicked is accurst In short as the Wood that Moses cast into the Waters of Mara by a miraculous virtue sweetned them so the Cross of Christ has taken away the malignity and bitterness of Death 2. Death is a blessed advantage and enriching Gain to a Believer it brings him to the possession of that Good that incomparably exceeds the Evil that remains in it For the Death of a Saint is not total but as in the Ceremony of Purification from Leprosy one Bird was killed and the other let fly in the open Air the mysterious shadow of the Lepers being restored to a state of Liberty thus when the Body dies and returns to the Earth the Spirit returns to God the Father of Spirits and Fountain of Life Our Saviour told the Jews I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven if any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh that I will give for the Life of the World The Heavenly Divine Life that is communicated by the Spirit of Christ to Believers remains entire when the sensitive life is lost The natural order is There is a time to be born and a time to die the supernatural is there is a time to die and a time to be born The death of a Saint is a new Birth the pains of the dying Body are as Throws whereby the ripen'd Soul is delivered into the Land of the Living The happiness of a Saint after Death more particularly will appear by considering 1. The place to which he ascends the highest Heaven This inferiour World is fram'd with exquisite Order the Earth is full of the Glory of the Lord yet 't is but the sediment of the Creation the habitation of Birds and Beasts nay of rebellious Sinners and by this we may raise our thoughts to conceive something of the seat of Life and Blessedness Above 'T is for its amplitude and excellency called the Heaven of Heavens which is the highest comparison to instruct and astonish us with the Glory of the place The shining Firmament with all the Luminaries that adorn it are but the Frontice-piece to it All the lustre of Diamonds the fire of Carbuncles and Rubies the brightness of Pearls are dead in comparison of its Glory 'T is called by our Saviour his Fathers House and he is the God of Glory 't is his Temple wherein his sacred Presence is fully exhibited His Throne wherein his Majesty is revealed in the most illustrious manner For pleasantness 't is called Paradise in allusion to the delicious Garden planted by the hands of God himself for Adam his Favorite whilst innocent There is the Tree of Life indeed and Rivers of Pleasure ever springing from the Divine Presence 'T is the Inheritance of the Saints in Light to signify literally and allegorically the glory and joy of the Place For Light gives splendor to things and conciliates chearfulness and is a fit Emblem of both As on the contrary Hell is described by the blackness of darkness for ever to signify the sadness and despair of the Damned and because in that centre of misery a perpetual night and invincible darkness increases the horror of lost Souls Heaven for stability is called a City that has Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God The present World is like a Tent or Tabernacle set up for a time and with all its perishing Idols shall shortly fall all this beautiful Scene shall be dissolved But the supreme Heaven is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Our Saviour tells us In my Father's House are many Mansions to signify the amplitude and durableness of it 2. In that blessed Place there is a freedom from all afflicting Evils that are numberless here The present World is a labyrinth of Thorns in every state we meet with something to vex us You may as well count the Waves of the Sea when inraged by a Tempest as the troubles to which in this mortal open state we are expos'd Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble A short life and many miseries O our unhappy capacity the Body is liable to as many Diseases as there are Members and the Soul to as many perplexities as passions How often are the scenes and habits chang'd in the time of one Man He that lives in pleasures must act the Mourner's part Our sweetest comforts have hidden stings and whatever is most pleasing may occasion bitter grief And usually holy Men have a greater portion of afflictions here sometimes by the malignity and violence of the wicked as under the Law the Lamb and the Dove were Sacrifices the Emblems of Innocence and Purity and Meekness whilst the Vulture and the Lion the greedy devourers escap'd This the Apostle declares of the Elect They are
noisom Puddle In short Heaven is filled with eternal Halelujahs for there is no appearance of Sin no shadow of Death there all miseries are vanish'd and all that is desireable is possess'd by the Saints the Circle of their Employment is to enjoy and praise the Divine Goodness for ever Now is not the blessed exchange a Christian makes of the present Life for that which is infinitely better sufficient to make Death not fearful nay desirable to him And this Happiness was purchas'd for us by the everlasting Treasure of our Saviour's Blood The satisfaction of his Sufferings was meritorious as the Merits of his active Obedience was satisfying Before I proceed to the third Head I shall resolve a Question How it comes to pass since Believers are freed from the sting of Death that they die and remain in the state of Death for a time For this there are several Reasons 1. By this means all the sinful Frailties that cleave to the Saints in this Life are abolish'd The Body is dead because of Sin And what is more becoming the wise and holy Providence of God than that as by Sin Man was at first made subject to Death so by Death Sin dies entirely for ever Thus as in Sampson's Riddle Out of the Devourer comes Meat and our worst Enemy is conquer'd by his own Weapons 2. Death is continued to the Saints for the more eminent exercise and illustration of their Graces for the Glory of God and in order to their future reward Faith and Love and Patience are declared in their most powerful Operations in our encounter with Death If every Saint were visibly and entirely translated to Heaven after a short course of holy Obedience if the Wicked did visibly drop down quick into Hell Faith would be resigned to sight here This would confound the Militant state of the Church with the Triumphant Therefore now Death happens to the Good as well as to the Wicked In the next state they shall be separated by a vast Gulph and an amazing Difference Now Faith what-ever the kind of Death be that a Christian suffers sees through the thickest Clouds of Disgrace and Misery the glorious Issue As the illustrious Confessor who was crucified with our Saviour proclaim'd his Eternal Kingdom in the midst of insulting Infidels And our love to God then appears in its radiancy and vigour when we are ready for the testimony of his Truth and advancing his Glory to suffer a violent Death or when it comes in a gentler manner for 't is even then terrible to Nature we are willingly subject to dissolution that we may be united to God in Heaven And our patience has never its perfect work and is truly victorious till this last Enemy be subdued Death is the Seal of our Constancy Perseverance Now the Righteous Rewarder will crown none but those that strive lawfully and are compleat Conquerors And how wise and sweet is the Oeconomy of the Divine Providence in this that the frailty of our Nature should afford us a means of glorifying God and of entitling our selves by his most gracious Promises to a blessed Reward 3. Our Saviour by his unvaluable Obedience and Sufferings has procur'd for Believers a Celestial Divine Life of which the natural Body is not capable The Apostle saith Flesh and Blood cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The exigencies and decays of the sensitive Nature require a continual relief by food and sleep and other material supplies but the Life above is wholly spiritual and equal to that of the Angels Therefore till this earthly animal Body be reformed and purified 't is not capable of the Glory reserv'd in Heaven This is so absolutely requisite that those Believers who are found alive at the last Day shall in the twinckling of an Eye be changed that they may be qualified for it Now herein the Wisdom of God is wonderful that Death which by the Covenant of Works was the deserved penalty of Sin by the Covenant of Grace should be the Instrument of Immortality That as Joseph by a surprising Circuit was brought from the Prison to the Principality so a Believer by the Grave ascends to Heaven This the Apostle in his Divine Disputation against Infidels proves in a most convincing manner Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die As the rotting of the Corn in the Earth is necessary to the reviving and springing of it up so we must die and the Image of the Earthly Adam be abolish'd that we may be transformed into the Image of the Heavenly One And to the other part of the Question Why the Saints remain in the state of Death for a time there is a clear Answer The Resurrection of the Saints is delayed till Christ's coming to Judgment partly for the Glory of his Appearance For what an admirable sight will it be that the Saints of all Ages shall at once arise glorified and immortalized to attend upon our Saviour in the last act of his Regal Office and then to make a triumphant entry with him into Heaven And partly that the establish'd order of Providence may not be disturbed for the changing of our Nature into Glory in a suddain and inexplicable manner cannot be without miraculous Power and if every Believer presently after Death were in his glorified Body translated to Heaven the World would be always filled with Miracles which were to cease after the sufficient Confirmation of the Gospel by them But how long soever the Interval be to the Resurrection it shall be with them that sleep in Jesus as 't is with those that awake out of a quiet natural sleep to whom the longest night seems but as a moment so when the Saints first awake from Death in the great Morning of the World a thousand Years will seem no more to them than to God himself but as one day I now come to prove the third Thing That our Saviour will abolish the Dominion of Death over the Saints Whilst the Bodies of the Saints remain in the Grave they seem to be absolutely under the power of Death The World is a Golgotha fill'd with the Monuments of its Victories And it may be said to this our last Enemy in the words of the Prophet to the bloody King Hast thou killed and taken possession But we are assur'd by an infallible Word that the power of Death shal be abolish'd and the Bodies of the Saints be reviv'd incorruptible and immortal The Resurrection is a Terra incognita to the wisest Heathens a Doctrine peculiar to the Gospel some glimmerings they had of the Soul's Immortality without which all Vertue had been extinguish'd in the World but no conjecture of the reviving of the Body But reason assists Faith in this point both as to the Will of God and his power for the performing it I will glance upon the natural Reasons that induce the considering Mind to receive this Doctrine and more largely shew how
strength we are enabled to mortify the deeds of the Body to crucify the Flesh with the affections and lust thereof And to perform holy Duties with freedom alacrity and zeal in such a manner as is acceptable to God In short saving Grace is distinguisht from that which is common to the unregenerate by its prevalency and constancy There may be a declination in the Saints tending to a downfal but the Seed of God that supernatural Grace that remains in them will by the power of the holy Spirit recover the supremacy Others may be enlightned and feel some good motions and transient touches as Saul had his rapture among the Prophets but they are not truly entirely and perseveringly converted to God They are not proof against the allurements or terrors of the World They make a fair profession till they are try'd by temptations Congealed drops of water appear like solid Chrystal till the warm beams of the Sun dissolve them and discover the hypocrisie of the Chrystal False Jewels may seem to have the luster of Diamonds till they are broke by a fall and discovered to be Glass Thus the Riches the Honours and Pleasures of the Flesh melt some and temporal Evils break the resolutions of others and make it evident they were not sincere Converts But where the holy Spirit savingly works he is said to dwell he is not like a Passenger or a Tenant at will that neglects the House and suffers it to fall into ruine but as the Proprietary and Owner he keeps perpetual residence in true Christians and by his continual influence preserves them from final Apostacy Now from hence we may judg whether we have an interest in Christ and his Benefits For the Apostle clearly tells us that if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his By this sacred Signature we are appropriated to Christ and visibly distinguish'd from the World For tho the secret and pure influences of the Spirit in the soul are only known to the person that feels them yet his active inspirations are declarative of his presence and power in the outward conversation As the Wind that is of so thin and subtil a nature that 't is invisible in it self but we certainly know from what point it blows by the course and way that the Ship makes thus the Spirit of God who is compared to the Wind is discovered by an infallible Indication his fruits and effects in a holy Life And those who have communion with Christ by his Spirit have a share in his Victories and may with confidence meet the last enemy Death For we are assured If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal Bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in us A preparative conformity to Christ in Grace will be followed with a consummate in Glory But those who never felt the sanctifying efficacy of the Spirit in their hearts and lives tho they are Christians in profession yet they have no other union with Christ than a dead Branch with a Tree that receives no sap and virtue from it or an artificial Member joyned to the Body that may have the outward clothing and ornaments proper to that part but derives no life and sense from it Whoever is in Christ is a new Creature And only those who partake in the first resurrection from Sin shall be exempted from the power of the second Death and upon just grounds are freed from the terrors of the first To apply this point let us 1. Consider our dear Obligations to our blessed Saviour who to free us from the sting and enslaving fear of Death submitted to it with all its terrors from God and wicked Men. He felt a sadness to an Agony in his Soul and suffered the equal extreamities of Ignominy and Torment in his Body The Favour of God was intercepted from him that it may shine upon us in that gloomy hour And all his terrible Sufferings tho foreknown by his enlightened mind could not weaken his determined Will to undergo them for us But when Peter regarded with a more tender eye his Life than our Salvation he was repell'd with indignation Unparallell'd Love no less than divine transcending all the instances of humane affection The highest kind and excess of Love amongst Men is to die for another and the highest degree in that kind is to die to save an Enemy and of this our Saviour is the singular Example Love incomprehensible it passes knowledge and all understanding but his who exprest it His Love was equal to the heighth of his Glory from whence he descended and the depth of his sufferings that he sustained in our stead By washing us from our sins in his Blood he makes us Kings dignifies us with spiritual Soveraignty over not only defiling but disturbing passions The freest and most confident Sinner in the World that rebels against the Divine Laws without restraint is a slave not only under the chains of his imperious Lusts but in that he is liable to the scourgings of Conscience when ever awaken'd and to the servile fear of Death every day But the sincere Christian has a clear and sweet peace a blessed tranquillity from the tormenting apprehensions and fears of Death that are the just consequents of guilt One of the ancient Romans highly celebrates the Astronomers who discover'd the true Causes of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and freed the World from the double darkness of Ignorance and Fear which believed the obscuring of those great Lights were the fainting fits of Nature and mortal symptoms threatning an universal Calamity But what Praise and Blessing is due to our Saviour who hath given us infallible assurance that the death of the Righteous is not as the heathen World imagin'd an irreparable loss of Life but a short eclipsing of this low and mean Light that is common to sensitive creatures to be restored more excellent and permanent in Heaven where those Stars shine in the Divine Presence for ever Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This should render him infinitely precious to us and inflame our Hearts with desires equal to our Obligations to serve him 2. Let us make it the main business of our lives to remove from our Souls the just fears of Death 'T is one of the solemn follies of the World to fear where there is no cause As if a Sentinel should mistake Gloworms in the Night for lighted Matches and give a false Alarm but 't is a worse folly tho pleasing not to fear when there is the greatest reason to excite it And 't is so in the present Case for the most are without the fear of Death that should make them serious in preparing for it nay to maintain their security are as unwilling to hear Conscience declare the wretchedness of their condition with
our Labours Our Saviour when he was to leave the World addrest himself to his Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finish't the work thou gavest me to do And now Father glorify me with thy self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was A Christian that imitates and honours Christ and with diligence perseveres in weldoing may with an humble confidence in the Divine Mercy expect the promised reward The reflection upon a wel-spent life is joyn'd with a joyful prospect of God's Favour and acceptance above But the careless and remiss those who are wilfully negligent of their Duty how fearful is Death that summons them to give an account of their Talents to the Righteous Lord 4. A holy indifference of affection to present things makes it easie to part with them and Death less fearful to us David tho a King declares he was a stranger on Earth not only with respect to his transient condition but his inward disposition and that he was as a weaned Child from the admir'd Vanities of the World Chrysostom in a Letter to Ciriacus who was tenderly sensible of his Banishment wrote to him You now begin to lament my Banishment but I have done so for a long time for since I knew that Heaven was my Country I have esteemed the whole Earth a place of exilement Constantinople from whence I am expell'd is as distant from Paradise as the Desert to which they send me But when our affections are set upon external things and we are irregular in our aims intemperate in our use and immoderate in our delights how sensible cutting is the division from them How bitter is Death that deprives a carnal Wretch of all the materials of his frail Felicity What a storm of passions is rais'd to lose all his good things at once for 't is a Rule in Nature What is possest with transporting Joy is lost with excessive Sorrow As the Ivy that twines so closely about the Tree and is intimately fastned by so many roots as there are branches cannot be pluck'd away without rending the Bark with it so when the World that was as it were incarnated with the Heart is taken away the Heart it self is grievously rent by the violent separation And the infelicity of carnal and worldly persons is heavily aggravated in that the guilt in procuring or abusing those treasures and delights that they leave here with so great sorrow will cleave to them and give Testimony against them before their Judg. But when the Affections are loose to the World and set upon Heaven the separating with the Earth is no loss but gain and with that alacrity as the putting off a vile garment to be clothed with a Royal Robe 'T was the wise Counsel of Tertullian to the Women of the first Ages of the Church not to value and love the Jewels and Ornaments of Gold that they might be more ready and resolved to obtain by Death Martyrdom and by Martyrdom Eternal Glory And that we may disentangle our Souls from those voluntary bands that fasten us to present things we must have a sincere uncorrupted judgment of their meanness The Apostle exhorts Christians to moderation in their temper and conversation with respect to the business and enjoyments here that they who have Wives be as tho they had none that those that rejoice be as tho they rejoiced not and they that buy as tho they possessed not and they that use the World as not abusing it for the fashion of the World passeth away To a wise and pondering Observer what comparison is there between Shadows and Dreams and substantial everlasting Blessedness If Men had the same opinion of this World whilst they live as they will have when they are to die they would not set over it They who have magnified temporal Honours and Riches and lived in Pleasures without remorse yet in their dying hours when Men speak with most feeling and least affectation how have they vilified those empty appearances of happiness with what moving expressions declared the vanity and brevity of worldly things As when the Israelites were to go through the River Jordan that opened it self to make a free and dry passage for them the lower part of its Waters ran into the Dead Sea and utterly fail'd but the Waters that came from above rose up and appear'd like a Mountain thus when Men come to the universal passage from this to the next life inferiour things absolutely fail and are lost in the dead Sea but the things above that are eternal then appear in their true greatness exceeding all humane comprehension from hence is the change of mind and language concerning the one and other 5. Solemn affectionate and frequent Converse with God in Religious Duties will render Death not fearful to us The whole life of a Christian as such is a continual Communion with the Father and with Jesus Christ. For he performs all good works by divine Grace communicated from above and refers all to the Divine Honour As in a pair of Compasses one foot is fixt in the Center whiles the other moves in the Circumference so the Heart of a Christian is in Heaven his aims are for God whilst he is active here in the World His Natural and Civil Actions are heightened to a supernatural end And thus his Conversation is in Heaven But this was spoken of before and that which is now specified is the more immediate Service of God in holy Meditation Prayer and the Ordinances of the Gospel which is the noblest part of the spiritual Life Our blessed Saviour who was a Comprehensor upon Earth always saw the Face of God and invariably sought his Glory in all things yet had his special times of Prayer and Heavenly-Communion with God and the most glorious testimonies of his Favour in those times Our Communion with God here is as true as in Heaven but the influence and fruition is different according to our capacity When the Soul feels the vigorous exerâ—ise of the thoughts affections upon God and the raised operations of Grace in holy Duties 't is as certain a sign of God's Favour and Acceptance as when Fire descended from Heaven to consume the Sacrifice And often our affeâ—tionate Duties are rewarded with sensible Consolations and holy Souls are dismist from the Throne of Grace as they shall be received at the Throne of Glory with the reviving testimonies of God's approbation Now the assurance of God's Love conquers the fear of Death This Communion must be frequent As love and respects between Friends are maintained by constant Visits and Letters and mutual Confidence arises from Acquaintance so by the interchange of holy Duties and divine favours we preserve a lively sense of God's Love and an humble familiarity with his Majesty that his Presence is not a terror to us A Christian that walks with God here when he leaves the World to use the
pass and the Rocks we must avoid Faith is the Compass that directs the Course we must steer Love is the Rudder that governs the Motion of the Ship Hope fills the Sails Now what Passenger does not rejoice at the discovery of his Country where his Estate and Heart is and more at the near approach to the Port where he is to land Is not Heaven the Countrey of the Saints is not their Birth from above and their tendency to their Original and is not the blessed Bosom of Christ their Port Oh what joyful thanksgivings are due to God when by his Spirit and Providence they have happily finish'd their Voyage through such dangerous Seas and are coming into the Land of the Living How joyful was to Noah the coming of the Dove with an Olive Branch to shew him the Deluge was asswaged and the time was come of his freedom from the troublesom company of Animals and from the straitness and darkness of the Ark to go forth and possess the World How joyful should Death be to a Saint that comes like the Dove in the evening to assure him the Deluge of Misery is ceas'd and the time is come of his enlargement from the Body his deliverance from the wretched sinful society here and his possessing the Divine World Holy Souls are immediately transported by the Angels to Christ and by him presented to his Father without spot or wrinkle compleat in Holiness and prepared for Communion with him in Glory How joyfully are they received into Heaven by our Saviour and the blessed Spirits they are the reward of his Sufferings the precious and dear purchase of his Blood The Angels that rejoice at the Conversion of a Sinner much more at the Glorification of a Saint and the Church of the First-born who have before us enter'd into Glory have a new accession of Joy when their younger Brethren arrive to the undefiled immortal Inheritance And is it not very becoming Believers joyfully to ascend to the Seat of Blessedness to the happy Society that inspires mutual Joys for ever For our encouragement there are numerous instances of Believers that have with peace and joy tho in various degrees past through the dark Valley to the Inheritance of Light Some have died with more Joy than they lived and triumph'd over the last Enemy with the vocal Praises of God others with silent affections have quietly commended their Spirits into his hand Some have inward Refreshings and support others exuberant Joys and Ravishments as if the Light of Glory shined into them or the Veil of Flesh were drawn and their Spirits were present with the invisible World Some of the Martyrs in their cruellest Sufferings felt such impressions of Confidence and Alacrity that as in the House of Lamech there was accorded at the same time two discordant Callings by the two Brothers Jubal the Inventer of the Harp and Organ and Tubal-Cain the first Artificer in Brass and Iron the one practised on Instruments of Musick breathing harmonious sounds and melodies the other used Hammers Anvils making noise and tumult So in some persons whilst the heaviest strokes fell on their Bodies their Souls were ravish'd with the sweetest Joy and Exultation Indeed 't is not thus always with the Saints for tho Sin be pardoned yet the apprehensions of Guilt may remain When a Stream is disturbed it does not truly represent the Object When the Affections are disordered the Mind does not judge aright of a Christian's state A Serpent may hiss when it has lost its sting Death may terrify when it cannot hurt us I doubt not but some excellent Saints have been in anxieties to the last till their Fears were dispell'd by the actual fruition of Blessedness As the Sun sometimes sets in dark Clouds and rises in a glorious Horizon We reade our Evidences for Heaven by the Light of God's Countenance his Image is made visible in our Souls by the illustration of his Spirit and he exercises Prerogative in the dispensation of his Comforts 'T is his pleasure to bestow extraordinary Favours on some and deny them to others that are as holy But every Penitent Believer has just cause of Joy in Death for Jesus Christ has reconciled God destroyed Satan and conquered Death and the last day of his Life is the first of his Glory FINIS Errata of the Sermons on Death PAge 8. line 19. for should r. might P. 25. l. 18. f. lost r. tost P. 32. l. 19. f. quietly r. guiltily P. 92. l. 12. f. impassibility r. impossibility The Sermons on Judgment P. 11. l. 21. dele only l. 22. r. not only the Angels P. 19. l. 23. f. attaque r. attach SERMONS UPON Eternal Judgment BY WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazen Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1683. SERMONS UPON Eternal Judgment Acts 17. 31. Because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he raised him from the dead SAint Paul had this Title of Honour eminently conferred upon him the Apostle of the Gentiles This Office he performed with persevering diligence diffusing the Light of Life to those that sate in darkness and in the shadow of Death In this Chapter we have recorded the substance of his Sermon to the Athenians wherein his admirable Zeal and Prudence are remarkable in the Matter and Order of his Discourse to convince and perswade them to receive the saving Truth of the Gospel He first lays down the Principles of Natural Religion to prepare them for the more easy belief of supernatural revealed Religion The depravation of the Minds of Men was in no instance more prodigious than in their vilifying Conceits of the Deity They attributed his Name and Honour to various Idols and ascribed to him their own Figure and which was infinitely more unworthy and dishonourable their own Passions and Vices They adored their own vain Imaginations The Idols of their Hearts were erected on their Altars Venus was a Goddess because impure Love reigned in their Brests Bacchus had Religious Rites because sensual Pleasures as sweet as Wine intoxicated their Spirits These Errors as gross as impious were universal the Philosophers themselves were not exempted from the Contagion The Apostle therefore makes use of the clearest Arguments to give Authority to the plain conspiring Voice of Nature that had so long in vain recall'd them from Idolatry to the Worship of the only true God He therefore declares that the Divine Maker of all things the Father of Spirits could not be represented by corporeal and corruptible things but was to be acknowledg'd and ador'd in a manner becoming his spiritual and infinite Perfections That he made all Nations of one Blood tho' distinguish'd in their Habitations and Times that they might seek and serve the one universal Creator And though
and Conscience that were so long under unrighteous restraints break the Fetters and terribly charge the sinner Then innumerable Acts which they thought to be innocent appear to be sins and Sin that they made light of to be infinitely evil and in the highest degree hateful to God And sometimes by the suggestions of the enemy of Souls they are overwhelm'd with despair and their last Error is worse than the first 5. Others are deceived with things that are short of true repentance and mistake a false peace for a true and asswage the anguish of Conscience by palliating remedies Their sorrowful sense of Sin their Prayers their resolutions of Amendments are the product of servile Fear that is ineffectual to Salvation And as 't is with crafty Tradesmen that take up much upon trust when they are ready to breaking so they are very liberal of their promises of Reformation when in their own apprehension near dying But how often does Experience convince us of the inefficacy of a sick-bed Repentance How many that were very penitent and devout with one foot as it were in the Grave and another in Hell and were as a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire and the fear of Death being removed all the pangs of Conscience the religious Affections that were felt and exprest by them vanish as the morning dew Now converting Grace is distinguish'd by its radication and efficacy not only from the meer pretences of those who know their own insincerity but from the real workings of Conscience and the imperfect dispositions to good that are in the Unrenewed And those persons who with the return of Health have returned to their Sins again if they had died with their religious resolutions would have presum'd that their repentance was unto Life and of their interest in the divine Mercy The Heart is deceitful above all things and above all things deceitful to it self 6. But supposing in the last hours there be an unfeigned closing with Christ according to the Gospel-Covenant and a cordial change from the love of Sin to the love of Holiness this person shall certainly not miss of Heaven but Death will be less comfortable than if he had in the course of his Life declared the truth and power of Grace in such acts and fruits as are suitable to it The sum is this the vain hope of living long and being reconciled to God when they please is the fatal foundation of Mens Sins and Misery They apply the Word of God against the Mind of God and securely provoke him as if they could take Heaven by violence in contradiction to the Gospel But they usually dispose of that time they shal never injoy or presume upon that pardoning Mercy and assisting Grace they shall never obtain We are commanded to seek the Lord while he may be found a sad intimation that 't is not in our power to find him to our comfort when we please He spares long but abused Patience will deliver Sinners to revenging Justice Sampson was three times in the Chamber of his Lust exposed to Treachery and escap'd but the fourth time he said I will arise but was surpriz'd by his Enemies and lost his strength and sight and liberty I doubt not that some are wonderfully converted and saved at last but these special Mercies are like our Saviour's passing in the Way and by his miraculous Virtue healing the two blind persons when great numbers remain'd uncured We read a prodigious story in the Book of Kings that a Captain and his fifty went to Elias to command him to come to the King and immediately a tempest of Lightning destroyed them Now who would think it possible that another Captain and his fifty should be so desperate that having the Ashes and Reliques of these miserable Carcases smoking before their Eyes as to make the same Citation to the Prophet yet they did and provok'd the Justice of Heaven to consume them And this is verified in thousands every day for notwithstanding they see sinners like themselves suddenly cut off in their evil ways they persist unreformed as if they were fearless of Hell nay as if resolved to secure their own Damnation I have insisted the longer on this because 't is so universally useful 2. The careful preserving our selves from wilful presumptuous Sins is an happy means to render Death comfortable to us The Spirit seals our Pardon and title to Heaven as the holy Spirit his Testimony that we are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory is concurrent with the renewed Conscience and distinguish'd from the ignorant presumptions blind conjectures and carnal security of the unholy As the sanctifying Spirit he distinguishes true Christians from the lost World appropriates them to God confirms their present interest in the Promises of the Gospel and their future hopes Briefly Grace is the most sensible effect and sign of God's special Favour the fruit of Election and the earnest of Glory and the truth of Grace is most clearly and certainly made evident by the continual efficacy of it in the Conversation The observation of our Hearts to suppress unholy affections and of our senses to prevent them a constant course of Holiness in our lives tho many frailties will cleave to the best is usually rewarded with greate peace here God has establish't a connexion between our Obedience and his Comforts Those that keep themselves pure from the defilements of the World have the white Stone promised the bright Jewel of Assurance of God's pardoning and rewarding Mercy We read of Enoch that the walk't with God was a Star shining in a corrupt Age the tenour of his Life was holy and he was translated to Heaven without seeing Death Tho this was an extraordinary Dispensation yet there is a peculiar reward analogical to it for those who walk circumspectly they shall not see Death with its terrors but usually have a holy Chearfulness a peaceful Joy in their passage through the dark Valley to Heaven But presumptuous Sins against external and internal restraints the convincing Law of God and the directions of Conscience grieve the Holy Spirit and wound our Spirits and if continued sequester us from the comfortable priviledges of the Gospel and render us unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven And when they are retracted by Repentance yet there often remains a bitter remembrance of them as deep Wounds tho cur'd yet are felt in change of weather And somtimes a spring-tide of doubts and fears breaks into humble penitent Souls in the last hours tho Death brings them safely yet not comfortably to Heaven 3. The zealous discharge of the Duties of our place and calling the conjunction of our resolutions and endeavours to glorify God and do good according to our abilities and opportunities of service sweetens the thoughts of Death to us For the true end and perfection of Life is the Glory of God and when with fidelity it is employed in order to it Death brings us to the blessed Rest from