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 by consuming Diseases But though 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 express'd 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 Evil. 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 Death reigns in the World On every side Death is in our view and the shadow of it darkens our brightest Days 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 sudden Evil surprizes not forethought 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 Though Men are distinguish'd in the condition of Living yet all are equal in the necessity of Dying Humane Greatness in every kind Nobility Riches Empire cannot protect from the sudden and Sovereign Hand of Death that overthrows all The most conspicuous difference in this World is between the Victorious and the Vanquish'd prostrate at their Feet but Death makes them equal Then the wretched Captive shall upbraid the proud Conqueror Art thou become weak as we Art thou become like us The Expressions of Scripture concerning the frailty of Man are often literally and precisely verified He is like the Grass in the morning it flourishes and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and withereth Death is a prevalent insuperable Evil 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 Vltimum 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 tost 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 weakned by the violence of a Disease that the Senses the animal and vital Operations decline and at last are extinguish'd in Death
alive As all that were naturally in and from Adam the corrupt Fountain of Mankind are under the sentence of Death so all that are in Christ the Head of the Regenerate shall partake of his blessed Life Others shall be raised by his Power as their Judg but not as their Head rais'd to be more miserable than Death can make them not be transform'd into his glorious Resemblance made capable of suffering an ever-dying Death not revived to eternal Life Now the Bond of our Union to Christ is the Holy Spirit derived from him as the Head of the Church and is the inward powerful and lasting Principle of Holiness and new Obedience in Believers He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit that is by the Spirit of Holiness has a real Participation of his Life is both quickned and united to him When the Prophet Elisha by the outward applying the parts of his Body to the dead Child inspir'd Life into him there was no real Union between them but Christ is by his Spirit so intimately united to Believers that he lives in them and they in him The sanctifying Spirit renews the directing and commanding Faculties the Fountains of moral Actions enlightens the Understanding with saving Knowledg rectifies the Obliquity of the Will purifies the Affections and reforms the Life so that the same Mind is in Christians as was in Christ and as his Conversation was such is theirs in the World This Divine Change is not wrought by natural Reason though assisted by the most powerful Arguments The Breath of a Man may as easily dispel a Mist or thaw a Frost as humane Directions and Motives to Vertue can renew the Mind and Heart and produce a Holy frame of Soul towards God Renewed Christians are said to be in the Spirit illuminated inclin'd and enabled by the Spirit to do God's Will and the Spirit of God to dwell in them by his peculiar and eminent Operations They live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit An Angel may assume a Body and act by it but the humane Soul enlivens it and performs sensible Operations by it And such a Principle is the Holy Spirit to the Soul gives it spiritual Life Activity and Power for good Works By what Application of the Spirit 's Power this is produc'd is mysterious and inexplicable but as the Apostle speaks of his Rapture into the third Heavens that he knew it was real and heard unutterable things though how it was performed whether in the Body or out of the Body he could not tell thus when a natural Man the current of whose Thoughts and Affections was to the things of this World becomes spiritual when the carnal Appetite is subdued and sanctified Reason has the Throne when he feels such strong and sweet Impulsives to Holiness as engage the Will when the Stream of his Desires ascend to the things above and his Life becomes Holy and Heavenly he feels and knows this wonderful Change though the manner how it was wrought he cannot tell I will shew more fully this sanctifying Work of the Spirit that we may the better understand our State The Spirit of God is denominated by various Titles the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Holiness the Comforter and represented by various Types by an Ointment that clarifies the Eye to see things aright by cleansing refreshing Water by purifying refining Fire correspondent to his sacred Operations in the Soul As the Spirit of Truth he illuminates the Understanding to see the Reality and Excellency of supernatural and Heavenly things of the great Mysteries of Godliness of Eternal Glory so that a Christian in his most deliberate solemn and composed Thoughts in his exactest Valuation infinitely prefers them before the gaudy Vanities of this transient World When the Eyes of the Mind are truly enlightned present things appear or rather disappear as Shadows As the Spirit of Holiness he renews the Will and Affections inspires the Soul with Divine and unutterable Desires after the Favour and Grace of God and communicates spiritual Power for the Prosecution and obtaining those Desires The Holy Spirit raises such a Love to God that habitually and strongly inclines the Soul to obey his Commands This is the most clear and essential Character of a Christian the special and most excellent Property of a Saint upon which all other Holy Qualifications depend As Reason is the first and chief Excellence of Man from whence his other Perfections are derived that distinguish him from the Brutes and give him a natural and regular Preeminence and Dominion over them so that a Man is most properly defined a reasonable Creature Thus the Love of God is the most Divine Grace the true Form of Holiness the Root from whence all other Vertues spring and flourish and most peculiarly distinguish a Saint from unregenerate Men however adorn'd and accomplish'd so that a Saint is most properly defined to be a Lover of God This is the Principle of true Holiness inherent in the Soul and shining in the Conversation that distinguishes the Sincerity of a Saint from the Art of Hypocrisy an affected Appearance of Religion for carnal sordid respects and from civil Vertue that restrains from what is ignominious and disgraceful to our Reputation and makes obnoxious to Penalties of the Laws and excites to praise-worthy Actions upon worldly Motives and from Philosophical Morality that forbids Vice as contrary to Reason and commends Vertue as the chief Ornament and Perfection of humane Nature without a Regard to please and glorify God And Divine Love is the Principle of universal Holiness Love is called the fulfilling of the Law as 't is a comprehensive Grace and as it draws forth all the active Powers of the Soul to do God's Will in an exact manner Universal Obedience is the Exercise of Love in various Instances As the Spouse in the Song of Solomon is transform'd in divers Representations sometimes as a Sister sometimes as a Warriour sometimes as the Keeper of a Vineyard but she always acted as a Lover and her chief business was to please her Beloved This Allegorical Description of the Church signifies that when the Soul is inflamed with the Love of God that Affection will be active and discover it self in all it does or suffers in the Service of God This will make a Christian very desirous and diligent to please God in all things and careful not to displease him in any thing for that is the inseparable Effect of Love The Felicity of the natural temper and the force of Education may cause a loathing of some Evils and dispose to some good Works but with a reserved delight in other Sins and a secret Exception against other Duties Servile Fear is a partial Principle and causes an unequal respect to the Divine Precepts it restrains from Sins of greater Guilt at which Conscience takes fire it urges to some Duties the neglect of which causes Disquiet but the Love of
God causes the Hatred of Sin and therefore 't is against all Sin not only to prevent the Exercise of it but to eradicate it out of the Soul All the fearful consequences of Sin do not render it so odious to a gracious Spirit as its own proper Idea and intrinsick Evil as 't is contrary to the holy Nature and Law of God Love unites the Soul to God and turns the Thoughts continually to him and the lively sense of his Majesty and Presence who is so pure that he cannot behold Iniquity causes an aversion from all that is displeasing to his Divine Eyes And from hence it is that a zealous Lover of God is frequent and strict in reviewing his Heart and Ways and upon the discovery of sinful failings renews his Repentance which is the exercise of Grief and Love and renews his purposes of more care and circumspection for the future Love aspires to be like God in all possible degrees of Purity for it inflames our Desires after his Favour as that which is better than Life and all the sweetest enjoyments of it and Holiness is the powerful attractive of God's delightful Love to us Love is the Principle of free ingenuous and joyful Obedience 'T was our Saviour's Meat and Drink to do the Will of his Father For Love is the fountain of Pleasure it moves the Soul with Election and Liberty and makes every thing grateful that proceeds from it Therefore the Apostle declares that the Law is not made for a righteous Man that is as it is enforc'd by terrible penalties to constrain rebellious Sinners to Obedience for Love is an internal living Law in the Heart and has an Imperial Power over his Actions And this also distinguishes the renovation of one sanctified by the Spirit from the imperfect Change that is made in the Unregenerate They may stop the eruption of corrupt Nature but are Swine that being wash'd have an inclination to wallow in the Mire they may by strong impressions of Fear be urged to do many good things but in this they are like a Bowl that is thrown with such violence as controuls the drawing of the Bias and makes it run contrary to it But Love enclines the Soul to obey the holy Motions of the Spirit with facility as the Wheels in Ezekiel's Vision turned every way with readiness as the Spirit moved them And with holy Love there is a spiritual Power communicated that both the natural averseness and impotence to what is good may be healed By the virtue of the sanctifying Spirit the Soul that was dead absolutely unable to perform spiritual and supernatural Acts is revived to a kind of Omnipotence it can do all things required by the Evangelical Covenant by the new Law that is in the hands of our merciful Mediator for Salvation 'T is true there are relicks of Sin in the best and the Flesh and Spirit are repugnant Principles warring against one another but the holy Spirit will make no capitulation or composition with Sin but is so predominant that Sin is gradually subdued and does not so freely and frequently break forth as it does from the unrenewed By the accession of his 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 distinguish'd 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 tried by Temptations Congealed drops of Water appear like solid Chrystal till the warm beams of the Sun dissolve them and discover the hypocrisy of the Chrystal False Jewels may seem to have the lustre 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 distinguished from the World For though 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 though 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 joined 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
dispersed Rays are conspicuously united in him the Sun of Righteousness and as in a curious Piece of Mosaick Work each Stone according to its natural Vein and Colour is so exactly disposed and with that proportion join'd to another that the lively Figure of the Humane Body results from the Composure so by variety of Types the intire Image of our Saviour's Life is represented from his first appearing on Earth to his ascending to Heaven Now the due comparing and observing the harmonious Agreement between the Prophesies and Types of the Old Testament and the History of the New is a powerful means to produce and establish a true lively Faith in the blessed Jesus as the promised Messiah For it is an infallible Argument of the Divine Providence in disposing Times and Things so as the Oracle should be verified in the Event and the mysterious Figures substantially exhibited in the manifestation of the Son of God 'T is true his Miracles raised Admiration and argued the concurrence of Power truly Divine For the exercise of an absolute Dominion over the Order of Nature is a Royalty reserved to God but that his miraculous Operations were foretold added more Authority to his Person and Efficacy to his Doctrine Therefore our Saviour himself in answer to the publick Question sent from John the Baptist whether he were the expected Saviour of the World commanded the Messengers to tell him what they heard and said The Blind receive their Sight and the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed the Deaf hear and the Dead are raised up Which healing Miracles were foretold by the Prophet Esay as the clear and distinguishing Characters of the Messiah from all Seducers when he should come The fulfilling God's Word by the Works of Christ of which there was sensible evidence was an irrefutable testimony that his Miracles were true and performed for the confirmation of the Truth Now of all the chosen Saints that foretold the coming of Christ the new Law of Grace and the new Kingdom of Glory that he should reveal and establish Of all that represented him in various Particularities concerning his Person and Offices there was not a more illustrious Type than David that by prophetical Words and by prophetical Actions did so clearly describe him In this Psalm composed by him there is a mixture of History and Prophecy Some things in the literal and immediate sense referring to David I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Our being at God's right Hand implies the highest Honour his being at our right Hand implies present and sure protection and defence And of this David had the infallible Promise of God to secure his Hope notwithstanding all his unrighteous and implacable Enemies But the following Verses are applicable to David but in a lower sense and by a remote Metaphor and have their literal and principal Accomplishment in our Saviour Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell that is in the State of the Dead nor suffer thy holy One to see Corruption that is the Body of our Saviour should be exempted from the corrupting Power of the Grave and restored the third Day to Life In this propriety and perfection of sense the Prophecy is applyed by St. Peter to our Saviour's alone for David died and saw Corruption and his Body still remains under the Dominion of Death And this last Verse Thou wilt shew me the Path of Life in thy Presente is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore is applied by the Apostle to Christ his Resurrection Ascension to Heaven and sitting at the right Hand of the Majesty on high Thou wilt shew me the Path of Life that is introduce him into the Kingdom of Glory and by experimental Fruition make him partaker of it In thy Presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore In these words the Causes and Excellencies of the Heavenly Life are express'd The Causes are the glorious Presence of God and the intimate application of his Presence and discovery of his peculiar Love to the Saints This our blessed Saviour had respect to as the compleat Reward of his Sufferings Thou shalt make me full of Joy with thy Countenance And his right Hand implies his Bounty that dispenses and his Power that secures our Happiness The Excellencies of it are fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore From the words I shall observe one Proposition The enjoyment of the Divine Presence in Heaven is the supream and everlasting Felicity of the Saints In the discoursing of this Point I will consider First The Place wherein the Divine Presence is gloriously reveal'd Secondly Shew that the enjoyment of the Divine Presence is the supream Felicity of the Saints Thirdly Prove that the Felicity shall be Everlasting First The Place wherein the Divine Presence is revealed 'T is consistent with the Divine Immensity to be differently present in some places The essential Presence of God is the same every where the influxive declarative Presence of God is special and wise in one place than another He is more excellently present in the living Temples his Saints on Earth by the gracious and eminent Operations of his Spirit than he is in the rest of the World He is most excellently present in Heaven by the clearest Manifestation and the express Characters and Effects of the Divine Perfections This inferior 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 glorious Sanctuary of Life and Blessedness above 'T is called the Heaven of Heavens which is the highest Comparison to instruct and astonish us with the Amplitude and Glory of the Place 'T is a Place becoming the Majesty of God the Image of his Immensity Our Saviour assures us In his Father's House are many Mansions to receive the innumerable company of glorified Saints 'T is called the Excellent Glory 2 Pet. 1.17 The shining Firmament with all the Luminaries that adorn it are but the Frontispiece to the highest Heaven All the Lustre of Diamonds the Fire of Carbuncles and Rubies the Brightness of Pearls are dead in comparison of its Glory 'T is the Throne of the God of Glory wherein his Majesty is reveal'd in the most illustrious manner For Pleasantness 't is call'd Paradise in allusion to the delightful Garden planted by the Hands of God himself for Adam his Favourite whilst innocent There is the Tree of Life There are Rivers of Pleasure springing from the Divine Presence 'T is call'd the Inheritance of the Saints in Light to signify the Glory and Joy of the Place for Light has splendour 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 whilst the Church is passing through the Wilderness but Heaven is the City of the Living God the Place of his happy Residence the Seat of his eternal Empire The visible World with all its perishing Idols shall shortly fall this Beautiful Scene shall be abolish'd but the supreme Heaven is above this Sphere of mutability wherein all Bodies compounded of the jarring Elements are continually changing and dissolving 't is truly call'd a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Briefly the wise Maker has fram'd it correspondently to the end for which it was designed 't is the Seat of his Majesty his Sacred Temple wherein he diffuses the richest Beams of his Goodness and Glory and his chosen Servants see and praise his adorable Excellencies for ever Secondly I will endeavour to shew that the enjoyment of the Divine Presence in Heaven is the supreme Felicity of the Saints To make this supernatural Blessedness more easy and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For while the Soul is clothed with Flesh Fancy has such a dominion that we conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material things 'T is therefore set forth by a Marriage-Feast to signify the Joy and Glory of the Saints above But to prevent all gross Conceits we are instructed that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of Hunger or Thirst nor consequently of any Refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those Appetites The Objects of the most noble Senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mixed with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile the blessed and Heavenly State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Saints above are represented on Thrones and with Crowns on their Heads Sometimes clothed in White with Palms in their Hands sometimes singing Songs of Triumph to him that sits on the Throne But the real Felicity of the Saints infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors The Apostle to whom the admirable Revelation was exhibited of the Sufferings of the Church and the victorious issue out of them in the successive Ages of the World tells us it does not appear what the Saints shall be in Heaven The things that God has prepared for those that love him are far more above the highest ascent of our Thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a King exceeds in splendor and Magnificence the Imagination of one that has always lived in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the Poverty of our Understandings But so much we know as is able to sweeten all the Bitterness and render insipid all the Sweetness of this World This will appear by considering whatever is requisite to constitute the compleat Blessedness of Man is fully enjoyed in the Divine Presence 1. An exemption from all Evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness The Sentence of the wise Solon is true Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet No Man can be call'd happy whilst in this Valley of Tears There are so many natural Calamities so many casual which no humane Mind can foresee or prevent that one may be less miserable than another but none perfectly happy here But upon the entrance into Heaven all those Evils that by their number variety or weight disquiet and oppress us here are at an end Sin of all Evils the worst and most hateful shall be abolish'd and all Temptations that surround us and endanger our Innocence shall cease Here the best Men lament the Weakness of the Flesh and sometimes the violent Assaults of Spiritual Enemies St. Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful Complaint O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death And when harrass'd by the buffets of Satan renews his most earnest Addresses to God to be freed from them Here our Purity is not absolute we must be always cleansing our selves from the Reliques of that deep Defilement that cleaves to our Nature Here our Peace is preserv'd with the Sword in our Hand by a continual warfare against Satan and the World But in Heaven no Ignorance darkens the Mind no Passions rebel against the sanctified Will no Inherent Pollution remains The Church is without Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing And all Temptations shall then cease The Temper was cast out of Heaven and none of his poison'd Arrows can reach that purified Company Glorious Liberty here ardently desir'd but fully enjoyed by the Saints above And as Sin so all the penal Consequences of it are quite taken away The present Life is a continual disease and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that Death is desir'd as a remedy and accepted as a Benefit And though the Saints have reviving Cordials yet their Joys are mix'd with Sorrows nay caused 〈◊〉 Sorrows The tears of Repentance are their sweetest refreshment Here the living Stones are cut and wounded and made fit by sufferings for a Temple unto God in the new Jerusalem But as in building of Solomon's Temple the noise of a Hammer was not heard for all the parts were fram'd before with that exact design and correspondence that they firmly combin'd together They were hewen in another place and nothing remain'd but the putting them one upon another and then as Sacred they became inviolable So God the wise Architect having prepar'd the Saints here by many cutting Afflictions places them in the eternal Building where no Voice of Sorrow is heard Of the innumerable Assembly above is there any Eye that weeps any Breast that sighs any Tongue that complains or any appearance of Grief The Heavenly State is called Life as only worthy of that Title There is no infirmity of Body no Poverty no Disgrace no Treachery of Friends no persecution of Enemies There is no more Death nor Sorrow nor shall there be any more Pain for former things are past away God will wipe away all Tears from the Eyes of his People There Salvation is compleat in all degrees Pure Joy is the Priviledge of Heaven unmixed Sorrows the Punishment of Hell 2. A concurrence of all positive Excellencies is requisite to Blessedness And these are to be considered with respect to the entire Man 1. The Body shall be awak'd out of its dead Sleep and quicken'd into a glorious immortal Life The Soul and Body are the essential parts of Man and though the inequality be great in their holy Operations yet their concourse is necessary Good Actions are design'd by the
counsel and resolution of the Spirit but perform'd by the ministry of the Flesh. Every Grace expresses it self in visible Actions by the Body In the Sorrows of Repentance it supplies Tears in religious Fasts its Appetites are restrain'd in Thanksgivings the Tongue breaks forth into the joyful Praises of God All our Victories over sensible Pleasure and Pain are obtain'd by the Soul in conjunction with the Body Now 't is most becoming the Divine Goodness not to deal so differently that the Soul should be everlastingly happy and the Body lost in forgetfulness the one glorified in Heaven the other remain in the Dust. From their first setting out in the World to the Grave they ran the same race and shall enjoy the same Reward Here the Body is the Consort of the Soul in Obedience and Sufferings hereafter in Fruition When the Crown of Purity or Palm of Martyrdom shall be given by the great Judg in the view of all they shall both partake in the Honour The Apostle assures us the Bodies of the Saints shall be revived and refin'd to a spiritual and glorious Perfection Flesh and Blood the Body with its terrene Qualities is mutable and mortal and cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven it cannot breath in so pure an Air. God tells Moses No Man can see my Face and live The sight of the Divine Glory is not consistent with such temper'd frail Tabernacles of Flesh. Nay the Body must be freed from the innocent Infirmities that were inseparable from Adam in Paradise for he was made a living Soul i. e. the Soul united to the Body was the Fountain of the natural sensitive Life which was in a perpetual Flux the vital Heat wasting the radical Moisture from whence there was a necessity of Food and Sleep to repair the Substance and Spirits and preserve his Life in vigour but in the Divine World the Body shall be spiritual in its Qualities and the Principle of its Liâ—e it shall be supported by the supernatural Power of the Spirit without the supplies of outward nourishment and exempted from all the low Operations of Nature therefore our Saviour tells us the Children of the Resurrection shall be equal to the Angels prepar'd for the employment and Enjoyments of those blessed Spirits And a substantial unfading Glory will shine in them infinitely above the perishing Pride of this World and the Glory of the Flesh that is but an appearance like the false Colours painted on the Feathers of a Dove by the reflection of the Light which presently vanishes when the Posture is chang'd or the Light withdrawn Of this we have a sure Pledg in the glorified Body of Christ who is the first Fruits of them that sleep He shall change our vile Bodies that they may be fashion'd like to his glorious Body according to the working of his Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself What can be more glorious than to be conform'd to the humanity of the Son of God This Conformity shall be the Work of his own Hands and when Omnipotence interposes nothing is difficult The raising the Body to an immortal state of Glory is as easy to the Divine Power as the forming it first in the Womb. As the Sun labours no more in the Mines in the forming Gold and Silver the most precious and durable Metals than in the production of a short-liv'd Flower 2. The supream happiness of Man is in the Soul's Communion with God This will appear by considering the principal Ingredients of Happiness they are the excellence of the Object and the vigour of the Actings upon it The Life and Blessedness of God is to know and love himself according to his infinite Perfections And 't is the highest happiness of the reasonable Creature to know and love God For he is a spiritual infinite unchangeable Good and can fully communicate all that is requisite to intire Blessedness Supply all the Wants and satisfy all the Wishes of the immortal Soul The Understanding and Will are our most comprehensive Faculties the principles of our most eminent Operations To know and to love are essential to the reasonable Soul and in directing those Acts upon God the Rectitude the Perfection and Felicity of Man consists As the intellectual Creature by setting its Mind and Heart upon earthly things is degraded into a lower order the thoughts and desires that are spiritual with respect to the principle from whence they proceed are sensual and perishing with respect to their Objects So when our noble faculties are exercis'd in their most lively and vigorous perceptions upon the supream Good Man is advanc'd to an equality of Joy and Perfection with the Angels Now in Heaven God by his most evident and effectual presence excites and draws forth all the active Powers of the Soul in their highest degrees and such is the immensity of his Perfections fills their utmost Capacity from whence a Divine pleasure a perpetual Satifaction springs a Joy that is as unspeakable as 't is eternal To unfold this more particularly 1. The Understanding shall clearly see the most excellent Objects Now we know but in part The naked Beauty of divine Things is vail'd and of impossible discovery and by natural or accidental weakness the Mind is not proportionable to sustain that dazling brightness But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away In that inlightned the State manifestation of the Objects shall abundantly exceed the clearest revealing of them here And the Understanding shall be prepar'd in proportion to take a full view of them Therefore the Apostle compares the several Periods of the Church in respect of the degrees of Knowledg to the several Ages of humane Life When I was a Child I spoke as a Child I understood as a Child I thought as a Child but when I became a Man I put away Childish things In Children the Organs either from the excess of moisture or their smalness are indispos'd for the vigorous exercise of the Mind some strictures of Reason appear a presaging sign what will be but mix'd with much obscurity But when the Organs are come to their just proportion and temperament the Soul displays its strength and activity To explicate this it is requisite to consider the expressions in Scripture that signify the eminent degrees of Knowledg in the Blessed Our Saviour assures us that the Pure in Heart shall see God Sight is the most noble extensive and affective Sense and therefore fit to notify the clear sweet and satisfying intuition of God in Heaven 'T is true the Deity is spiritual and invisible to the Eye of the Body infinite and incomprehensible to the Eye of the Soul but the glorified Saints so clearly understand the Divine Perfections that our present knowledg of God compar'd to that Vision is but as the seeing of a dark Shadow in a Glass to the immediate view of the living Substance and Person The discovery
sincere Believer for performing the Condition it requires Indeed if Grace were the meer product of Free-Will the most fervent Resolutions would vanish into a Lie upon the Assault of an overpowering Temptation As Hezekiah acknowledged that the Assyrian Kings had destroyed the Gods of the Nations that were no Gods but Idols the work of Mens Hands But sanctifying Grace is the effect of the Holy Spirit and he that begins that good Work in the Saints will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He that inclin'd them joyfully to chuse the Spiritual Eternal Good will bind their unconstant Hearts that by a faithful adherence they shall cleave to their Duty and Felicity God has most graciously declared I will put my Spirit into their Hearts that they shall never depart from me The Promise is founded in the unchangeable Love of God to his People Were God as Man subject to Variation there might be Jealousies in Believers lest they should lose his good Will As those who depend on Princes are suspicious lest from the natural inconstancy of the human Will a new Favourite should supplant them But whom God loves he loves to the End The Apostle prays for the Thessalonians that God would preserve them blameless until the coming of Christ by this Consideration faithful is he that calleth you he will do it He speaks of the Internal Call that opens the Heart and overpowers all Resistance As when the Angel came with a Light shining in the Prison to St. Peter and struck him on the Side bid him arise quickly loosed his Chains and led him through the Guards open'd the Doors and restored him to Liberty The effectual calling of a Sinner is the visible and infallible Effect of electing Mercy and God is unchangeable in his own purpose and faithful to his Promises of bringing all such by Sanctification to Glory The same Apostle tells the Saints at Corinth That the Redeemer would confirm them to the End God is faithful by whom ye are called Grace that was at first inspir'd is continually actuated by the Spirit who is stiled the Earnest of the Saints Inheritance So that whereas the Angels that excell'd in strength kept not their first State of Purity and Glory but are sunk into Corruption and Misery yet true humble Believers though weak and encompast with many Difficulties shall be preserved from destructive Evil and raised to an unchangeable Estate of Perfection This is as truly admirable as if the Stars should fall from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Apostle who acknowledged his insufficiency of himself to think a good Thought yet triumphantly declares I can do all things within the compass of his Duty through Christ that strengthens me The Love Fidelity and Power of God are a sure Fountain of Assistance to every Christian that sincerely resolves and endeavours to prosecute his last and blessed End I shall now come to the Directions how to fix our Choice aright This is a matter of everlasting Consequence it therefore becomes us with the most intense application of Mind to consider it and according to the advice of Wisdom to keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Indeed the choice were not difficult between lying Vanities and substantial Blessedness if uncorrupted Reason had the superior sway but in this lapsed state of Nature the Understanding and Will are so depraved that present things pleasing to sense ravish the Heart into a Compliance Men are deceived not compelled into ruin the subtile Seducer prevails by fair Temptations This will be evident by reflecting upon the frame and composition of Man as he consists of Spirit Soul and Body and the manner of his acting The Spirit is the intellective discerning Faculty the Seat of Reason capable to compare and judg of the qualities of things and foresee their issues The Body includes the lower Faculties the Senses Fancy and Passions that are conversant about present things The Soul is the Will the principle of Election in the midst of the other as the Centre to which all their Addresses flow Now upon the proposal of the spiritual and carnal Good in order to Choice the Will is to be directed by the Mind and by its own Authority to rule the lower Passions But alas the Mind has lost its primitive Light and Purity Vigilance and Integrity neglects its Duty and from Ignorance Error and carnal Prejudices often pleads for the Flesh and the Will the rational Appetite is voluntarily subordinate and inslaved by the Sensitive From hence it is that in the competition Heaven with all its Glory is despised and the present World embrac'd To open this more particularly consider 1. The Senses can only taste and enjoy grosser dreggy Pleasures 2. The Fancy that depends upon them in its Operations and is guided by their Report conceives of Felicity only under the notion of sensitive Pleasure We may illustrate this by the practice of Aretius a Painter recorded with Infamy who being often imployed to paint the Goddesses to be set in the Pagan Temples always drew their Pictures by the Faces and Complexions of his Harlots that the Objects of his impure Love might have Veneration and a Divinity attributed to them under the Titles and pretence of Minerva Juno Diana and the other Goddesses ador'd by the Heathens This Impiety in an Idolater is resembled by Men who fancy Happiness that is a spiritual divine Perfection enjoyed in the glorious Vision of God to be a carnal Fruition and having with sensible Colours and Lineaments represented it agreeable to their brutish Faculties place it in their Hearts and sacrifice all their Thoughts Affections and Service to it The Fancy is very powerful in Men upon a double account 1. The Understanding naturally receives the Notions of Things by Phantasms that are still mixing in its Contemplations While the Soul is confined to a Tabernacle of Flesh it apprehends no Object without the precedent excitation of the Senses From whence it is impossible that a Person absolutely deprived of Sight from his Birth should have an Idea of Light or Colours or that is born deaf should conceive what Sound is the Sense never having imparted an account of it to them And the Image of the Object is not immediately transmitted from the Sense to the Mind but first to the Imagination that prepares it for its view And from hence the sensual Fancy is so predominant in sweying the Judgment and inclining the Will As those Counsellors of State that have the Ear of the Prince and are continually with him by specious Informations and disguising Truth influence him to approve or reject Persons and Things according to the various Aspects given by them The same Object propounded in a dark confused manner weakly moves us but varnisht and beautified with lively and pleasant Colours by the Imagination is armed with such Power that ravishes the esteem of the Mind and
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 accurs'd In short as the Wood that Moses cast into the Waters of Marah 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 freedom he obtains from all afflicting Evils that are numberless here and from Sin the worst in its nature and the cause of all the rest 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 escaped This the Apostle declares of the Elect They are predestinated to be conformed to the Image of God's Son who trac'd out the Way to Heaven in his own Blood and by the Cross ascended to the Throne Sometimes more immediately Divine Providence afflicts them to preserve their Spirits from the tainted Pleasures of the World and for other holy Ends but there is a Rest for the People of God in Heaven Besides there are Relicks of Sin in the best of the Saints here Indeed Sin is depos'd from Sovereignty and Rule the imperious Lusts are crucified but not quite expir'd As those that were nail'd to the Cross in their Hands and Feet the parts least vital and most sensible died a painful lingring Death Still the Flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh. As there is a complexion of Humours in humane Bodies always jarring when they are in the soundest Health and where there is not this active contrariety either the Body is without a Soul a meer Carcass or a glorified Body in Heaven So where there is not this internal Combat between Grace and Sin either the Man is wholly carnal dead in Sins and Trespasses or wholly spiritual reigning in Heaven And there is nothing more works on the tender Affections of a Saint than to find in himself what is displeasing to God that still he is under a sad necessity of sinning What is said concerning an old Man wasted and decayed in his drooping Years that the Grashopper is a burden to him is true of the new Man in a Christian the Sins that are counted light in the valuation of the World are a heavy weight to him Vain Thoughts idle Words irregular Passions unprofitable Actions are motives of heart-breaking Sorrow Now Death is to a Believer an universal Remedy against all the Evils of this Life it frees him from all Injuries and Sufferings and from Sin in all its degrees from all inclinations and temptations to it He that is dead ceaseth from Sin Death is the Passage from this Wilderness to the true Canaan the Rest above that flows with better Milk and Hony with Innocence and Happiness for ever There nothing can disturb the Peace or corrupt the Purity of the Blessed 3. Besides the privative advantage the freedom from all the Effects of God's Displeasure and the resentments of it there is the highest positive Good obtained by Death The Spirits of just Men are made perfect in Heaven The Soul is the Glory of Man and Grace is the Glory of the Soul and both are then in their Exaltation All the Faculties of the Soul are rais'd to the highest degrees of Natural and Divine Perfection In this Life Grace renews the Faculties but does not elevate them to their highest pitch it does not make a mean Understanding pregnant nor a frail Memory strong nor a slow Tongue eloquent but sanctifies them as they are But when the Soul is releas'd from this dark Body of Earth the Understanding is clear and quick the Memory firm the Will and Affections ardent and vigorous And they are enrich'd with Divine Light and Love and Power that makes them fit for the most noble and heavenly Operations The Lineaments of God's Image on the Soul are first drawn here but then it receives his last Hand All the Celestial Colours are added to give the utmost life and lustre to it Here we are advancing but by Death we arrive at Perfection We shall in Heaven be join'd to the Assembly of Saints and Angels our best Friends Love is the Law of that Kingdom and perfectly obeyed there Now how charming is the Conversation of one that is wise and holy especially if the sweetness of Affability be in his Temper How pleasantly does Time slide away in the company of our beloved Friends We are not sensible of its flight But what dear satisfaction is it to be united to that chosen consecrated Society Above who love one another as themselves Though the Angels and Saints have different degrees of Glory yet every one is
most solemnly publish'd to the World 'T is therefore said the God of Peace raised him from the Dead the Act is most congruously ascribed unto God invested with that Title because his Power was exerted in that glorious Work after he was reconciled by the Blood of the Covenant Briefly Our Saviour's Victory over Death was obtained by dying his Triumph by rising again He foil'd our common Enemy in his own Territories the Grave His Death was a Counter-poison to Death it self as a bruised Scorpion is a noble Antidote against its Venom Indeed his Death is incomparably a greater Wonder than his Resurrection For 't is apparently more difficult that the Son of God who originally possesses Immortality should die than that the humane Body united to him should be raised to a glorious Life It is more conceivable that God should communicate to the humane Nature some of his Divine Perfections Impassibility and Immortality than that he should submit to our lowest Infirmities Sufferings and Death Now the Resurrection of Christ is the argument and claim of our happy Resurrection For God chose and appointed him to be the Example and Principle from whom all Divine Blessings should be derived to us Accordingly he tells his Disciples in a fore-cited Scripture Because I live ye shall live also Our Nature was rais'd in his Person and in our Nature all Believers Therefore he is called the first-fruits of them that sleep because as the first Fruits were a pledg and assurance of the following Harvest and as from the condition of the first Fruits being offered to God the whole Harvest was entitled to a Consecration so our Saviour's Resurrection to the Life of Glory is the earnest and assurance of ours He is called the first-born among the Dead and owns the Race of departed Believers as his Brethren who shall be restored to Life according to his Pattern He is the Head Believers are his Members and therefore shall have Communion with him in his Life The effect is so infallible that now they are said to be raised up together and made to sit in heavenly Places in Christ Jesus If his Victory over our Enemies had been imperfect and he had saved himself with difficulty and hazard as it were by Fire in the Apostle's expression our Redemption had not been accomplish'd But his Passion was triumphant and is it conceivable that he should leave the Saints his own by so many dear titles under the power of Death If Moses the Deliverer of Israel from the Tyranny of Pharaoh would not suffer any thing of theirs not an hoof to remain in the House of Bondage Will our great Redeemer be less perfect in his Work Shall our last Enemy always detain his Spoils our Bodies in the Grave This would reflect upon his Love and Power 'T is recorded to confirm our Hopes how early his Power was displayed in forcing the Grave to release its chained Captives And many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the Graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many What better Earnest can we have that the strength of Death is broken From what he has done to what he is able to do the Consequence is clear The Apostle tells us He will raise our vile Bodies and change them like unto his glorious Body by that Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Our Redemption will then be compleat and all the bitterness of Death past The Redemption of the Soul is accomplish'd from Sin and Misery immediately after Death but the Redemption of the Body is the last in order and reserved to crown our Felicity at the Great Day Then Death shall be swallowed up in Victory abolish'd for ever And O the joyful reunion of those dear Relatives after such a Divorce when the Body that was so long detained in the loathsome Grave shall be reformed with all glorious Perfections and be a fit Instrument for the Soul and partaker with it in consummate Blessedness and Immortality 'T is said that those that wear rich Clothing are in Kings Houses but what are all the Robes of costly Folly wherein earthly Courtiers appear to the Brightness and Beauty of the Spiritual Body wherewith the Saints shall be clothed to qualify them for the Presence of the King of Kings and to be in his House for ever But O the miserable Condition of the Wicked in that Day Death now breaks their Bodies and Souls into an irreconcileable Enmity and how sad will their Conjunction be The Soul will accuse the Body to have been Sin 's Solicitor continually tempting to Sensualities and the Body will upbraid more than ever it allured the Soul for its wicked Compliance Then the Sinner shall be an entire Sacrifice burning but never consumed Now from the assurance of a blessed Resurrection by Christ the forementioned Fear of Death is conquered in Believers If the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls into Bodies the invention of Pythagoras inspired his Disciples with that fiery vigour as to encounter the most present and apparent Dangers being fearless to part with the Life that should be restored how much more should a Christian with a holy Confidence receive Death knowing that the Life of his Body shall not be finally lost but renewed in a blessed Eternity The fourth General to be considered is the Persons that have an Interest in this blessed Priviledg This Inquiry is of infinite moment both for the awakning of the Secure who vainly presume upon their Interest in the Salvation of the Gospel and for the confirming and encouraging the Saints And we have an infallible rule of trial declared by St. John He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life All the excellent and comfortable Benefits procur'd by our Saviour are communicated only to those who are united to him Particularly with respect to the present Subject Justification that great Blessing of the Gospel the compleat Pardon of Sins that disarms Death of its Sting is not common to all that are Christians in title but is a Priviledg with a limitation There is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus vitally as their Head from whom are derived spiritual Influences and judicially as their Advocate in Judgment and such are described by this infallible Character who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The Blessedness after Death that is assured by a Voice from Heaven is with this precise restriction exclusive of all others Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them The glorious Resurrection at the last Day when the Bodies of the Saints that now rest in Hope shall be incorruptible and immortal is the consequence of Union with him Thus the Apostle declares As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made
of all but that those who have appeared zealous in Religion shall be at last rejected is contrary to universal expectation And not only the gross Hypocrite that deceives others but he that deceives himself by the external practice of holy Duties without correspondent lively Affections that prays with that coldness as if he had no desire to be heard and hears with that carelesness as if he had no desire to be sanctified by the Word and is conversant in other parts of divine Service in that slight manner as if he had no design to be saved shall by a convincing upbraiding Light see his Wickedness in dishonouring that God whom he pretended to worship and neglecting his Soul When the Upright as pure Gold shall be more radiant by the Fire the Insincere like reprobate Silver shall not endure that severe trial Thirdly The frequent discussion of Conscience and reviewing our Ways is necessary in order to our comfortable appearing before our Judg. This is a Duty of constant Revolution for while we are in Flesh the best Saints notwithstanding all their vigilance and diligence are overtaken by surprizal and sometimes overborn by strong temptations and 't is more necessary to beg for daily Pardon than for our daily Bread Under the Law if any one had by touching a dead Body contracted Uncleanness he was to wash his Clothes in the Evening and not to lie down in his Uncleanness This was typical of our Duty that we should wash away our sinful Defilements every day in the purifying Fountain of Christ's Blood that is set open for Sin and for Vncleanness And the Method of the Gospel to obtain the grant of Pardon and our comfortable Sense and the blessed Effects of it is this there must be a mournful Sight and serious Acknowledgment of our daily Sins and a judging our selves by the domestical Tribunal in our Breasts as worthy of Condemnation for though we cannot satisfy Divine Justice for the least Sin we must glorify it and with humility and fervency desire that God would graciously forgive our renewed Sins with unfeigned Resolutions and Care against them for the future Thus we are to sue out our Pardon for Sins committed every day And whereas many Errors in regard of our frailty and their fineness do slip from us we should with contrite Spirits implore the divine Majesty to cleanse us from our secret Sins such as through ignorance or inadvertency escape from our observation If we are obliged to be reconciled to an offended or offending Brother before the night and the Sun must not go down upon our Wrath much more to be reconciled to an offended God that his Displeasure may be atoned The Morning and Evening-Sacrifice was a Figure of the constant use of Christ's Merits and Mediation for us The secure neglect of renewing our Repentance for our renewed Sins deprives us of the Comforts of the Covenant and will make the thoughts of Judgment as heavy as Mountains upon the Conscience when 't is awakened out of its slumber But when the Soul's Accounts are kept clear with Heaven every day O what a blessed Rest does the penitent Believer enjoy in the Favour of God! O the divine Calm of Conscience when our Debts are cancell'd in the Book of God's Remembrance If we should be unexpectedly summoned to appear before the Judg of all the sight of our Sins will rather excite thankful Affections and joyful Praises of God for his Mercy that he hath pardoned them than fearful despairing thoughts of his Mercy that he will not pardon them And as this considering our ways leads to Repentance and is a Remedy for past Sins so 't is a powerful Preservative from Sins afterwards For as in War the greatest care is to fortify the weakest Part of a besieged Town and make it impregnable so a Christian by the experience of his infirmity and danger will be more wise and wary more circumspect and resolved against those Sins whereby he has often been foil'd to prevent the daily incursion and sudden surreption by them And according to the degrees of our Innocence we have confidence of Acceptance with God in Judgment Fourthly Let us improve with a wise and singular diligence the Talents committed to our Trust for in that day we shall be responsible for all that we have received All the Blessings we possess whether natural our Life our Faculties our Endowments our Health and Strength or Civil Honour and Dignity Riches and Reputation or Spiritual the Gospel in its Light and Power the Graces and Assistance of the Holy Ghost as they are Gifts from God's Love so they are Talents to be imployed for his Glory We are Stewards not Proprietaries for the Supream Lord does not relinquish his Right in our Blessings that we may dispose of them at our own pleasure but hath prescribed Rules for our using them in order to his Glory our own Good and the Benefit of others And 't is sad to consider that usually those who enjoy the greatest Gifts render the least Acknowledgments and the most abundant in Favours are most barren in Thankfulness Time that unvaluable Treasure that is due to God and the Soul the Price of which arises from the Work of Salvation to be done in it how is it squander'd away Conscience would blush at the serious reflection that every day so much is spent in the Business of the World or Pleasures and so little redeemed for Communion with the Holy God that as in the Prophetick Dream the lean Kine devoured the Fat so unconcerning Vanities take up that time that should be employed for our last and blessed End While Time is miserably wasted the Soul lies a bleeding to everlasting Death More particularly we shall be accountable for all the days of the Son of Man that we have seen all the special Seasons of Grace these we should improve for our Eternal Advantage to prepare us for the Divine Presence above But alas the Lord's Day that is consecrated for the immediate Service of God and should be entirely spent in it and in things that have a necessary subordination to it yet neither the enforcement of Duty nor incitations of Love prevail upon the most conscienciously to imploy it in spiritual Affairs If they afford their presence at the Publick Worship 't is thought enough and as if the rest of the Day was unsanctified Time they waste it either in Complemental Visits or Secular Business in Recreations or things impertinent to their Salvation Riches are an excellent Instrument of doing good Gold is the most precious and extensive Metal and by a marvellous Art an Ounce may be beaten out into some hundred Leaves but 't is a more happy Art by giving it to enrich our own Souls and supply the Necessities of many others But great Estates are often used to foment Mens vicious guilty Affections Pride and Sensuality and 't is called Greatness and Magnificence to waste them in sumptuous Vanities I instance
partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is entirely the Work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living Impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's Power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the Habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of Nothing to produce this great and regular World And altho there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its Effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the humane Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sense in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in producing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital Influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their Nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sinn'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensable necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant mark'd in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial amongst them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high Priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the Band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the Reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's Works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind laps'd and miserable was in his view he chose some to be Vessels of Mercy and by priviledg separated them from the rest that finally perish Now what induc'd him to place a singular Love on the Elect There was nothing in them to incline his Compassion being equally guilty and depraved with the rest of the Progeny of Adam This difference therefore is to be resolved into his unaccountable and adorable Will as the sole cause of it Thus God declares it to be his glorious Prerogative I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion And this is no unjust acceptance of Persons For as a Benefactor he may dispense his own Favours as he pleases A Gift from meer and arbitrary Bounty may be bestowed on some and not on others without injustice But there are other Actions of God for which there is an evident reason in Men on whom they are terminated Thus as the supreme Judg without respect of Persons he will judg and reward every Man according to his Works The Evangelical Law as was toucht on before is the rule of eternal Judgment and gives a right from the gracious
on the Mind but solid Conversion is produc'd by deliberate Discourse by the due consideration and estimation of things 't is rational and perpetual 2. Consideration must be frequent to keep eternal Objects present and powerful upon us Such is the natural Levity and Inconstancy Sloth and Carnality of the Mind That the Notions of Heavenly Things quickly pass through but of Earthly abide there If a Stone be thrown upwards it remains no longer in the Air than the impression of the force by which it was thrown continues but if it falls on the Earth it rests there by Nature When the Soul is raised in contemplation to Heaven how apt is it to fall from that height and lose the esteem the lively Remembrance and Affections of Eternal Things But when the Thoughts are excited by the presence of what is pleasing to Sense the withdrawing the Object does not deface the Idea of it in the Memory nor lessen the Conceit nor cool the Desires of it because the Heart is naturally inclined to it Therefore 't is necessary every day to refresh and renew the conceptions of eternal Things that although they are not always in act yet the efficacy may be always felt in the Heart and Life The Soul habituated to such Thoughts will not easily yield to Temptations that surprise and overcome others that are Strangers in their Minds to the other World Nay the presence of Temptations as by Antiperistasis will reinforce the Resolutions for Heaven like the pouring Water upon Lime that revives a hidden Fire in it which seems a natural Miracle 'T is therefore of great advantage frequently to sequester our selves from the World to redeem Time from secular Affairs for the recollecting of our Thoughts and their solemn exercise upon the Eternal World Sense that reveals natural things darkens spiritual How can the Thoughts be fixt on invisible things so distant from Sense if always conversant with secular Objects that draw them down In the silence of the Night a small Voice is more distinctly heard and a little distant Light more clearly seen so when the Soul is withdrawn from the noisy throng of the World and outward things are darkned the Voice of Conscience is better heard and the Light of Heaven more perfectly received 3. Consideration of Eternal Things must be with present Application to the Soul 'T is not the meer conviction of the Mind but the decree of the Will that turns Men from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Heart is very deceitful and by variety of shifts and palliations is disposed to irresolutions and delays in spiritual Concernments How often does the miserable Sinner contend with himself and while Conscience urges him to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Affections draw down to the Earth the carnal part prevailing over the rational he overcomes and is overcome he is convinced and condemned by his own Mind Till Consideration issues in this that with setled Judgment and Affections the Soul determines for God and Heaven 't is without profit Therefore in the managing this Duty 't is our Wisdom not to be curious and inquisitive after subtile Conceptions and exalted Notions of the future State that little confer to the making the Heart better but to think seriously on what is plain and evident and most useful to produce a present lasting Change It were egregious Folly in a Man that for the use of his Garden should with great labour fetch Water from distant Fountains and neglect that which springs up in his own Ground That Meditation is profitable which produces not new Thoughts but holy and firm resolutions of obeying God in order to the full enjoying of him for ever To perswade us to the serious practice of this Duty there are many Enforcements Is any Man so foolish so regardless of his Convenience to purchase a House wherein he must live all his Days and will not first see whether it will be convenient and secure for his Habitation Shall we not then consider Heaven the Mansion of Blessedness and Hell the Seat of Misery and Horror for according as we chuse here we shall be in the one or other place for ever I shall in the fourth part of this Treatise endeavour to represent something of the inexpressible Misery of the Wicked hereafter and shew how congruous and powerful the Thoughts of it are to restrain Men from Sin but at present shall briefly excite to the Meditation of the Heavenly Glory as the most noble delightful and fruitful Work of the Soul whiles confin'd to the Body of Flesh. 'T is the most exalted Exercise of the Mind the purest converse with God the Flower of consecrated Reason 'T is most like the Life of glorified Spirits above who are in continual contemplation of the Divine Excellencies and 't is most raised above the Life of Carnal Men that are sunk into Sensuality and Brutishness 'T is the most joyful Life in that it sheds abroad in the Soul Delights that neither satiate nor corrupt nor weaken the Faculties as the Delights of Sense do but afford Perfection as well as Pleasure 'T is the most profitable Life As in those parts of the Earth where the Beams of the Sun are strongly reflected precious Metals and Jewels are produc'd wherein the refulgent resemblance of that bright Planet appears so the lively and vigorous Exercise of the Thoughts upon the heavenly Glory will produce heavenly Affections heavenly Discourses and a heavenly shining Conversation This will make us live like the blessed Society above imitating their Innocence and Purity their joyful entire and constant Obedience to God This confirms the Holy Soul in its Choice with an invincible efficacy against the Temptations and Lusts of the World The serious considering Believer is filled with ravishing Wonder of the Glory that shall be revealed and looks down with Contempt upon the Earth and all that has the Name of Felicity here All the Invitations nay Terrors of the World are as unable to check his pursuit of his blessed End as the Breath of an Infant to stop the high flight of an Eagle But how rare and disused a Duty is this How hardly are Men induc'd to set about it Business and Pleasures are powerful Diversions Some pretend Business as a just Cause but in vain for the one Thing necessary challenges our principal Thoughts and Care Besides there are intervals of Leisure and the Thoughts are always streaming and often run waste which directed aright would be very fruitful to the Soul The true Cause of this neglect is from the inward temper of Men. Carnal Pleasures alienate the Mind and make it unfit for the deep serious actings of the Thoughts upon Eternal Things I have said of Laughter Thou art mad it makes the Mind light and vain and desultory As a distracted Person by every motion of Fancy flies from one thing to another without Coherence The Heart fill'd with cloudy Cares and smoaky Fires with Thoughts and Desires
in their full force upon the obstinate Offenders withal considering the inflicting of them is so far from working any ingenuous Change in those Rebels that thereby they become more fierce and obdurate Lastly the immense Guilt that adheres to Sin requires a proportion in the Punishment 'T is a rule in all Courts of Judicature that the degrees of an Offence arise according to the degrees of Dignity of the Person offended Now the Majesty of God is truly infinite against whom Sin is committed and consequently the Guilt of Sin exceeds our boundless Thoughts This is the reason of the Sentence Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them The Curse threatned includes the first and the second Death What a dishonour is it to the God of Glory that proud Dust should fly in his Face and controul his Authority What a provocation that the reasonable Creature that is naturally and necessarily a Subject should despise the Divine Law and Lawgiver Though carnal Minds elevate the Guilt of Sin yet weighed in the Scales of the Sanctuary 't is found so heavy that no Punishment inflicted on Sinners exceeds either in the degrees or duration the desert of Sin God's Justice is not satisfied in depriving them of Heaven but inflicts the most heavy Punishment upon Sense and Conscience in the Damned For as the Soul and Body in their State of Union in this Life were both guilty the one as the Guide the other as the Instrument of Sin so 't is equal when reunited they should feel the penal Effects of it Sinners shall then be tormented wherein they were most delighted they shall be invested with those Objects that will cause the most dolorous perceptions in their sensitive Faculties The Lake of Fire and Brimstone the blackness of darkness for ever are words of a terrible signification But no words can fully express the terrible Ingredients of their Misery The Punishment will be in proportion to the Glory of God's Majesty that is provoked and the extent of his Power And as the Soul was the principal and the Body but an Accessary in the Works of Sin so it s capacious Faculties shall be far more tormented than the limited Faculties of the outward Senses The fiery Attributes of God shall be transmitted through the Glass of Conscience and concenter'd upon damned Spirits The Fire without is not so tormenting as the Fire within them How will the tormenting Passions be inflam'd What Rancour Reluctance and Rage against the just Power that sentenc'd them to Hell What impatience and indignation against themselves for their wilful Sins the just cause of it How will they curse their Creation and wish their utter extinction as the final Remedy of their Misery But all their ardent Wishes are in vain for the Guilt of Sin will never be expiated nor God so far reconcil'd as to annihilate them As long as there is Justice in Heaven or Fire in Hell as long as God and Eternity shall continue they must suffer those Torments which the strength and patience of an Angel cannot bear one hour I shall now draw some practical Inferences and conclude this Subject 1. From the Revelation in Scripture of the dreadful Punishment prepared for unreformed Sinners in the next State we may understand the tender Mercies of God to Men how willing he is they should be saved who are so wilful to be damned Hell is represented to them by the most violent Figures to terrify their Imaginations and strongly affect their Minds that they may flee from the Wrath to come God counsels commands intreats urges Sinners to be wise to foresee and prevent the Evil that every Hour is approaching to them and with Compassion and Indignation laments their Misery and reproaches their Folly in bringing it upon themselves The Divine Mercy is as eminently and apparently declar'd to Men in the present corrupt State in threatning Hell to excite their Fear as in promising Heaven to allure their Hopes For if carnal indulgent Sinners are not roused by a quick apprehension of Hell they will securely enjoy their pernicious Pleasures and despise the blessed Reward and Heaven would be as empty of humane Souls as 't is full of Glory 1. Because they are more capable to conceive of the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven Storms and Darkness are more easily drawn by a Pencil than a clear calm Day Fire mix'd with Brimstone is very painful to Sense and the Fancy strongly represents its Vehemence in tormenting the Body And what Misery the uncessant remorse of the guilty Conscience will cause in the Damned hereafter is in part understood by the secret Accusations and Twinges of Conscience in self-condemning Sinners here But they are absolutely strangers to the Joys of the Holy Ghost to the Delights of the Soul in communion with God and to Peace of Conscience in his favour They cannot without experience know how good the Lord is no more than see a taste To discourse to them of spiritual Pleasures that flow from the Divine Presence of the Happiness of the Saints that are before the Throne of God and serve him in his Temple is to speak with the Tongue of an Angel unintelligible things Their Minds and Language are confin'd to sensible things The natural Man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discern'd There may be in the carnal Mind a conception of Heaven as a Sanctuary wherein they may be secured from the Wrath of God and some smothering confused thoughts of its Felicity as the Idea of Light and Colours in one blind from his Birth but only the pure in Heart can see God as in the perfect Vision of Glory hereafter so in the imperfect reflection of it here 2. Carnal Men are more disposed to be wrought upon by representing the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven For we cannot love but what is known nor enjoy but what is loved And as the purification of the Heart from vicious Affections is an excellent means to clear the Mind so the illustration of the Mind is very influential to warm the Heart The true conception of Heaven in its amiable Excellencies would powerfully and sweetly ravish the Affections and of this prepared Souls are only capable But those who are sensual are without relish of spiritual Happiness and are allur'd or terrified only with what is pleasant or painful to Flesh. 'T is recorded as the unparallel'd Folly of Nero that when he was ready to cut his own Throat to avoid the Fury of the multitude he broke forth into great Expressions of Sorrow what an excellent Artist he died 'T was not the loss of the Roman Empire that so much troubled him as that so much skill in Musick died with him He valued himself more as a Fidler than an Emperor Thus carnal Men with