c. 19 Luke 12 c. But suppose it were to be understood not of the Iewish and Christian Church but of particular Christians yet their being called to work in the Vine-yard at what hour soever it was though the eleventh hour was their first admission into the Christian Church their first conversion to the Faith of Christ and from this time they laboured in the Vine-yard lived a holy and religious life and I readily grant should a Iew a Turk or a Pagan be converted to Christianity in the eleventh hour in his declining Age and from that time live in obedience to the Gospel of Christ there is no doubt but he shall be greatly rewarded But what is this to any of us who were born of Christian Parents baptized in our very Infancy instructed in the Christian Religion from the very beginning and have always professed the Faith of Christ but lived like Pagans and Infidels We were not called into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour but early in the morning and though Men who were called at the last hour shall be rewarded for that hours work this does not prove that Men who enter into the Vineyard in the morning and play or riot away their time till the eleventh hour shall receive a day's wages for an hour's work But suppose this too yet it will not answer the case of a Death-bed Repentance such Men delay not till the eleventh hour but till night comes when they can do no work at all whereas those who came last into the Vineyard wrought an hour now that God in infinite grace and goodness will reward Men for one hour's work does not prove that he will reward those who do no work but spend their whole day idlely or wickedly and only ask his pardon for not working at night II. But what a fatal Cheat these Men put upon themselves will better appear if we consider the second kind of Repentance which is Repentance after Baptism when Men have relapsed into the commission of new Sins after they have washed away all their old Sins in the laver of Regeneration which is the only Notion of Repentance concerned in this Question for such Sinners when they come to die are to repent of a whole Life spent in wickedness after Baptism and this extreamly alters the Case for though Faith and Repentance as that Repentance signifies a sorrow for past Sins and the purposes and resolutions of a new life be the only Conditions of Baptismal Remission and Justification yet when we are baptized we then Covenant with God for an actual obedience and holiness of Life To deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and therefore meer Repentance or a sorrow for Sin with the most solemn Resolutions and Vows of a new life which is all the Repentance dying Men can have cannot according to the Terms of the Gospel be accepted instead of the obedience and holiness of our lives Had the Gospel said you shall either abstain from all sin and do good while you live or repent of all your sins when you die this had been a sufficient encouragement for a Death-bed Repentance but when holiness of life is made the necessary condition of seeing God and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men when we are so expresly forewarned That the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor aduliers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetuous nor drunkards nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of GOD When our Saviour expresly tells us That it is only the doers of the word are blessed that not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven that as for all others what pretences soever they make he will profess to them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity I say whoever after such express Declarations as these can perswade himself that sorrow for Sin and some good resolutions and fair promises upon a Death-bed shall carry him to Heaven though he has done no good in his life and has been guilty of all or many of those sins which the Gospel has threatned with Damnation makes void the whole Gospel of our Saviour But you 'll say Is there no place then for Repentance under the Gospel no remission of Sins committed after Baptism God forbid for who then could be saved Our Saviour has taught us to pray every day Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and has taught us to forgive our Brother though he offend against us seventy times seven in imitation of God's goodness in forgiving us and if we must forgive so often surely God will forgive more than once But then Repentance after Baptism requires not only a sorrow for sin and some good purposes and resolutions of a new life for the future but the actual forsaking of sin and amendment of our lives In Baptism God justifies the ungodly 4 Rom. 5 that is how wicked soever Men have been whenever they repent of their sins renounce their former wicked practices and believe in Christ and enter into Covenant with him by Baptism all their former sins are immediately forgiven and washed away without expecting the actual reformation of their lives this was plainly the case both of Iewish and Heathen Converts whâ—â—â—pon the profession of Faith in Christ and renouncing their former wicked lives whatever they had been were immediately received to Baptism as St. Peter exhorted the Iews Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost And the same day there were three thousand baptized This is Gospel-grace which is the purchase of Christ's blood that the greatest Sinners upon their Repentance and Faith in Christ are received to Mercy and wash away all their sins in Baptism but when they are in Covenant they shall then be judged according to the terms and conditions of that Covenant which requires the practice of an universal Righteousness such persons must not expect as St Paul reasons that if they continue still in sin grace will abound the very Covenant of Grace which we enter into at Baptism confutes all such ungodly hopes For how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Iesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so we also should walk in newness of life 6 Rom. 1 2 3 4. This is the difference St. Paul makes between the Grace of the Gospel in receiving
business and employment we shall have there where we shall have no occasion for any of these things which employ our time here for when we have no use of Food or Raiment or Physick or Houses to dwell in or whatever our Union to these Bodies makes necessary to us now all those Trades and Arts which are to provide these conveniences for us must then cease This must needs be a very surprizing change and though we are assured of a very great happiness in the next World which infinitely exceeds whatever men call happiness or pleasure here yet most men are very unwilling to change a known for an unknown happiness and it confounds and amazes them to think of going out of these Bodies they know not whither Now this consideration will suggest several very wise and useful thoughts to us 1. How necessary an entire Trust and Faith in God is We cannot live happily without it in this World and I am sure we cannot die comfortably without it for this is the noblest exercise of Faith to be able chearfully to resign up our Spirits into the hands of God when we know so little of the state of the other World whither we are going This was the first trial of Abraham's Faith when in obedience to the command of God he forsook his own Country and his Father's House and followed God into a strange Land 11. Hebr. 8. By faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went. Canaan was a Type of Heaven and Heaven is as unknown a Country to us as Canaan was to Abraham And herein we must imitate this Father of the Faithful to be contented to leave our native Country and the World we know to follow God whithersoever he leads us into unknown Regions and to an unknown and unexperienced Happiness This indeed all men must do because they cannot avoid leaving this World but must go when God calls for them but that which makes it our choice and an act of Faith and Vertue is this such a strong perswasion of and firm reliance on the Goodness and Wisdom and Promises of God that though we are ignorant of the state of the other World we can chearfully forsake all our known Enjoyments and embrace the promises of an unknown Happiness And there are two distinct acts of this which answer to Abraham's Faith in leaving his own Country and following God into a strange Land the first is the exercise of our Faith while we live the second when we die To mortifie all our inordinate Appetites and Desires to deny ourselves the sinful Vanities and Pleasures of this Life for the Promises of an unknown Happiness in the next World is our mystical dying to this World leaving our native Country and following God into a strange and unknown Land to quit all our present Possessions in this World to forfeit our Estates our Liberties all that is dear to us here nay to forsake our native Country rather than offend God and lose our Title to the Promises of an unknown Happiness is in a literal sence to leave our own Country at God's command not knowing whither we go which is like Abraham's going out of his own Country and living as a Sojourner in the Land of Promise without having any Inheritance in it this is that Faith which overcomes the World which makes us live as Pilgrims and Strangers here as those who seek for another Country for a heavenly Canaan as the Apostle tells us Abraham did For by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Iacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God 11. Heb. 9 10. And when we come to die and can with joy and triumph in an assurance of God's promises commend our Spirits to him and trust him with our Souls when we know not the Country we go to and never experienced what the happiness of it is without any concern or solocitude about it this is a noble act of Faith which does great honour to God and conquers all the natural aversions to death and makes it an easie thing to leave this World and the object of our desire and choice to see that promised Land and tast those pleasures which we are yet strangers to We must live and we must die in Faith too as the Patriarchs did who all died in Faith not having received the Promises but seeing them a far off and for that reason the other World must be in a great measure unknown to us for could we see it could we before hand tast the pleasures of it or know what they are it would be no act of Faith to leave this World for it to be willing to be translated from Earth to Heaven but no man is worthy of Heaven who dares not take God's word for it and therefore God has concealed those Glories from us and given us only a promise of a great but an unknown Happiness for the object of our hope to be a tryal of our Faith and Obedience and Trust in him That the other World is an unknown State to us trains us up to a great trust and confidence in God for we must trust God for our Souls and for the next World and this naturally teaches us to trust God in this World too to live securely upon his Providence and to suffer him to dispose of us as he pleases Indeed no man can trust God in this World who has not a stedfast Faith in God for the rewards of the next for the external administrations of Providence are not always what we could wish but good men are very well contented and have great reason to be so to take this World and the next together and therefore are not solicitous about present things but leave God to chuse what condition for them he pleases as being well assured of his goodness who has prepared for them eternal rewards And those who can trust God with their Souls who can trust him for an immortal Life for an unseen and unknown Happiness will find no difficulty in trusting him for this World I mean those who are concerned for their future Happiness and take any care of their Souls If all who are unconcerned for their Souls and never trouble their heads what will become of them hereafter may be said to trust God with their Souls then I confess this will not hold true for the greatest number of those who thus trust God with their Souls will trust him for nothing else But this is not to trust God but to be careless of our Souls but now when a man who stedfastly believes another Life after this and is heartily concerned what will become of him for ever can securely rely on God's promises beyond his own knowledge and prospect
the order of Nature to fall in love with our Slaves and change Fortunes and Shackles with them That our Saviour might well say He that commiteth sin is the Servant of Sin for this is a vile and unnatural subjection to serve the Body which was made to serve the Soul such Men shall receive the reward of Slaves to be turned out of God's Family and not to inherit with Sons and Freemen as our Saviour adds The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever if the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed 8 John 31 32. III. That Death which is our leaving this World is nothing else but our putting off these Bodies teaches us That it is only our union to these Bodies which intercepts the sight of the other World The other World is not at such a distance from us as we may imagine the Throne of God indeed is at a great remove from this Earth above the third Heavens where he displays his Glory to those blessed Spirits which encompass his Throne but as soon as we step out of these Bodies we step into the other World which is not so properly another World for there is the same Heaven and Earth still as a new State of Life To live in these Bodies is to live in this World to live out of them is to remove into the next For while our Souls are confined to these Bodies and can look only through these material Casements nothing but what is material can affect us nay nothing but what is so gross that it can reflect light and convey the shapes and colours of things with it to the eye So that though within this visible World there be a more Glorious Scene of things than what appears to us we perceive nothing at all of it For this vail of Flesh parts the visible and invisible World But when we put off these Bodies there are new and surprizing Wonders present themselves to our view when these material spectacles are taken off our Souls with its own naked eyes sees what was invisible before And then we are in the other World when we can see it and converse with it Thus St. Paul tells us That when we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord but when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6 8. And methinks this is enough to cure us of our fondness for these Bodies unless we think it more desirable to be confined to a Prison and to look through a Grate all our lives which gives us but a very narrow prospect and that none of the best neither then to be set at liberty to view all the glories of the World. What would we give now for the least glimpse of that Invisible World which the first step we take out of these Bodies will present us with There are such things as eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive Death opens ours eyes enlarges our prospect presents us with a new and more glorious World which we can never see while we are shut up in Flesh which should make us as willing to part with this Vail as to take the Film off of our Eyes which hinders our sight IV. If we must put off these Bodies methinks we should not much glory nor pride ourselves in them nor spend too much of our time about them For why should that be our pride why should that be our business which we must shortly part with And yet as for pride these mortal corruptible Bodies and what relates to them administer most of the occasions of it Some men glory in their Birth and in their Descent from Noble Ancestors and Ancient Families which besides the Vanity of it for if we trace our Pedigrees to their Original it is certain that all our Families are equally Ancient and equally Noble for we descend all from Adam and in such a long Descent as this no man can tell whether there have not been Beggars and Princes in those which are the noblest and meanest Families now Yet I say what is all this but to pride ourselves in our Bodies and our bodily Descent unless men think that their Souls are derived from their Parents too Indeed our Birth is so very ignoble whatever our Ancestors are or however it may be dissembled with some pompous circumstances that no man has any reason to glory in it for the greatest Prince is born like the wild Asses Colt. Others glory in their external Beauty which how great and charming soever it be is but the beauty of the Body which if it be spared by Sickness and old Age must perish in the Grave Death will spoil those features and colours which are now admired and after a short time there will be no distinction between this beautiful Body and common Dust. Others are guilty of greater Vanity than this and what Nature has denied they supply by Art they adorn their Bodies with rich Attire and many times such Bodies as will not be adorned and then they glory in their borrowed Feathers But what a sorry beauty is that which they cannot carry into the other World And if they must leave their Bodies in the Grave I think there will be no great occasion in the other World for their rich and splendid Apparel which will not fit a Soul. Thus what do Riches signifie but to minister to the wants and conveniences and pleasures of the Body And therefore to pride ourselves in Riches is to glory in the Body too to think our selves more considerable than other men because we can provide better for our Bodies than they can And what a mean and contemptible Vice is Pride whose subject and occasion is so mean and contemptible To pride ourselves in these Bodies which have so ignoble an extraction are of so short a continuance and will have so ignoble an end must lie down in the Grave and be food for Worms As for the Care of our Bodies that must unavoidably take up great part of our time to supply the necessities of Nature and to provide the conveniences of Life but this may be for the good of our Souls too as honest Labour and Industry and ingenious Arts are but for men to spend their whole time in Sloth and Luxury in Eating and Drinking and Sleeping in Dressing and Adorning their Bodies or gratifying their Lusts this is to be vile Slaves and Servants to the Body to Bodies which neither need nor deserve this from us after all our care they will tumble into Dust and commonly much the sooner for our indulgence of them V. If Death be our putting off these Bodies then it is certain that we must live without these Bodies till the Resurrection nay that we must always live without such Bodies as these are for though our Bodies shall rise again yet they shall be changed and
a Martyr this Man also would go to Heaven without actual Holiness of Life as a baptized Penitent who dies immediately after his Baptism shall And this seems to me to give the best account of the case of the Penitent Thief upon the Cross which one example has encouraged so many Sinners to delay their Repentance to the last minute and has destroyed so many Souls by such delays His case seems to be this It is probable he had heard of Christ and the fame of his great Miracles before and that opinion some had of him that he was that Messias whom God had promised to send into the World for we can hardly think that any Man who lived in those days should never have heard of Christ whose fame went through the whole Nation but yet the course of life this Thief lead gave him no great curiosity to inquire into such matters till he was apprehended for Robbery and condemned to die at the same time with Christ this extraordinary accident made him more curiously inquire after him and learn all the circumstances of his apprehension and trial and usage and behaviour and answers especially when he saw him and was to die with him and in short he observed so much as convinced him that he was the true Messias though he saw him nailed in so shameful a manner to the Cross. Now if this was his case and we must suppose this or something like it unless we will say that he was miraculously inspired upon the Cross with the Faith of Christ without knowing any thing of him before which has no foundation in the Story and is without any president or example I say if this was his case according to the principles laid down we must grant that if this Thief had renounced his wicked course of Life and professed his Faith in Christ and been baptized in his Name though he had immediately suffered upon the Cross he must have gone directly to Heaven or Paradise as Christ promised him he should by vertue of the remission of all his sins in Baptism Nay we must grant farther that if instead of Baptism he had at that time died a Martyr for the profession of his Faith in Christ this would have supplied the place of Baptism and translated him to Paradise All then that we have to enquire is whether his Confession of Christ upon the Cross might not as well supply the want of Water-baptism as Martyrdom nay whether it were not equivalent to Martyrdom it self and might not reasonably be accepted by our Saviour as such Water-baptism he could not have a Martyr he could not die for he died a Malefactor but he confessed his Faith in Christ when he saw him hanging upon the Cross which was a more glorious Act of Faith than to have died upon the Cross for him He confessed Christ when his own Disciples fled from him and when Peter himself denied him and discovered his glory through the meanest disguise that ever it was concealed under even in this World And why should not this pass for the Faith and Confession of Martyrdom And then the Thief upon the Cross was saved as by Baptism which is No tthe putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards GOD 1 Pet. 3. 21. Which description of Baptism gives us a plain reason why Martyrdom should supply the place of Baptism and is as good a reason why the Thief 's Confession of Christ upon the Cross should do so This example then of the Thief upon the Cross is no reasonable encouragement to any baptized Christian to live a wicked Life and delay his Repentance till the hour of Death in hopes of being saved at last as he was for he was saved as new repenting Converts are by Baptism not as baptized Sinners hope to be by a Death-bed Sorrow and Remorse of Concience And yet this is the only example which with any shew of reason is alledged to prove the sufficiency of a Death-bed Repentance for the Parable of the Labourers who were called to work in the Vineyard at different hours some early in the morning others at the third the sixth the eleventh hour of the day is nothing at all to this purpose The several hours of the day in that Parable do not signifie the several hours of Mens lives but the different ages of the World and therefore those Labourers who are called into the Vineyard about the eleventh hour of the World that is towards the end or in the last age of the World might be called at the beginning of their lives and work on to the end of them for the design of that Parable is to shew that the Gentiles who were called into the Vine-yard or received into the Church of Christ towards the conclusion of the World should be admitted to equal Priviledges and Rewards with the Iews who were God's ancient People and had been called into the Vine-yard early in the morning which occasioned their murmuring against the good Man of the House as we know the Iews murmured upon this account and nothing more prejudiced them against the Gospel of our Saviour than that the Gentiles were received into the Church without Circumcision The same thing our Saviour represents in the Parable of the Prodigal the return of the Prodigal to his Father's House is the Conversion of the Gentiles who were the younger Brother and had been a great Prodigal for many Ages the elder Brother who always lived at home with his Father was the Iewish Church but when this young Prodigal was received by his Father with Feasting and Musick and all the expressions of Joy the elder Brother grew jealous of it and thought himself much injured by his Father's fondness for the returning Prodigal and refused to come in and bear his part in the Solemnity as the Iews rejected the Gospel because the Gentiles were received into the Church And that this must be the true meaning of the Parable of the Labourers appears from this that those who were called into the Vine-yard at the eleventh hour received a reward equal to those who had born the heat and burden of the day which is agreeable enough if we expound it of different Ages of the Church for there is great reason why the Gentiles though they came later into the Vine-yard should be made at least equal with the Iews who were God's ancient People but if we expound this of entring into the Vine-yard at different ages of our life it seems very unequal that those who begin a life of Vertue just at the conclusion of their lives should be equally rewarded with those who have spent their whole lives in the service of God that is that these who do very little good shall receive as great a reward as those who do a hundred times as much which is a direct contradiction to the scope and design of our Saviour's Parables about the Pounds and Talents 25 Matt. 14