Man to declare the Truth and Strength of his love to God by despising all Temptations when they are most inviting and he is most receptive of them But alas how many neglect their Duty and defer their Happiness They think it too soon to live for Heaven before the evil days come wherein they shall have no Pleasure when they cannot Sin and fondly presume they can Repent The infinite danger of this I will briefly lay open The Devil is a Sophister in perfection and his ordinary and successful Artifice to elude the force of present conviction and wrap Men in Sin and Damnation is to induce them to delay the great work of the Soul till afterwards He is not so foolish to tell them as he did our first Parents ye shall not die for the Temptation is so palpable that it could deceive none Though the evidence and certainty of supernatural Truths that disturb the security of Sinners is sometimes obscur'd by affected doubts yet there is no artifice that can resist the full and strong conviction in Mankind That Death is inevitable Though Nature recoils from it with abhorrence yet this sad Truth is so visible that it forces an assent from all Those who are titular Gods are not so vain as to pretend to an exemption by privilege from that fatal necessity not to fancy that they may be imbalm'd alive and Nature made incorruptible by Art The Pallace is as near the Grave as the Cottage Therefore the Devil cherishes in Men fond hopes of long Life As some Optick Glasses deceive the sight and make a superficial representation in Colours on a Wall but two or three steps distance appear a long deep Gallery Thus the Tempter by a dangerous artifice presents to the imagination the fatal term at a great distance and since he cannot weaken the certainty of Death in Mens Belief he removes the Image of it out of their Memories to lessen the impression that it is capable to make on their Spirits They dare not venture to die as they live careless of Salvation and unprepared for their accounts with God therefore to suspend the workings of Conscience by a seeming compliance the Tempter insinuates there will be a long interval between the present time and the last hour that shall decide their state for ever that it will be a convenient season to prepare for the other World when they have done with this as if Repentance were best at last when there are no Temptations and therefore no danger of retracting it And the Heart of Man is a great Flatterer very subtile to deceive and ruin him with vain resolutions of a devout retirement and becoming seriously Religious hereafter and thus by an easy permission he gratifies the present desires of the Flesh and goes in a Circuit from one Vanity to another till Death surprise the Presumer 'T is very applicable to this purpose what is related of Alcaeus the Poet who from every season of the Year took Arguments to give a new title to his intemperance The Spring requir'd liberal drinking in sign of Joy for the renovation of Nature The Summer to temper the heat and refresh our draught 'T was due to Autumn as dedicated to the Vintage and Winter requir'd it to expel the Cold that would congeal the Blood and Spirits Thus he pleaded for the allowance of his Excess And thus Men in the several Ages of Life which are correspondent to the seasons of the Year have some Excuses to delay Repentance and give some colour to their contumacy in neglecting Salvation The Vanity of Childhood the Pleasures of Youth the Business of Middle Age the Infirmities of old Age are plausible pretences to put off the seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof Now to excite us to a present choice and pursuit of eternal Happiness Let us consider 1. This Life is the only season allowed us for preparation in order to Immortallity As we improve or neglect it we shall be for ever 'T is observ'd concerning the Straights where the Sea is but a few miles broad yet from thence it pours it self into the vast Ocean that extends to both the Indies So this Life that is confin'd within the straits of Time issues it self into a boundless Eternity of Good or Evil. From a few years well or ill spent here tam immensa soeculorum vastitas panditur Millions of Ages follow of Happiness or Misery If Men now set their affections on things above and earnestly seek them they shall joyfully ascend to the Inheritance of the Saints in Light for the preparation for Happiness is here the perfection of it hereafter But if they are carnally minded and the main design of their lives be to enjoy the present World when the parting hour is come and Death shall make a separation between them and it their Misery is irrecoverable as the Grave Indeed if we had two lives in succession allowed us for tryal and having err'd in our choice of Happiness in the first might correct our errour in a second Life there were some pretence for security but since immediately after Death a private judgment passes upon the Soul without appeal to a more favourable Tribunal since then the errour is unpardonable for ever there is no stupidity equals the present neglect of Salvation 2. Let us consider the desperate uncertainties upon which Men build their Hopes of a future Repentance and Divine Acceptance 1. Men are flattered with the Presumption of long Life But what is more uncertain 'T is the Wisdom and Goodness of God to keep concealed in his own Counsels the time of our sojourning here for if Men though liable to Death every hour and therefore should be under a just fear lest it surprise them unprepared yet against so strong a curb run with that exorbitant vehemence after the Vanities of the World how much more licentious would they be if secur'd from sudden Death But none can promise to himself one day Death comes not according to the order of Nature but the Divine Decree How many in the flower of their Youth and Strength thought themselves at as great a distance from Death as the East is from the West when there was but a step between them and Death between them and Hell The Lamp suddenly expires by a blast of Wind when there is plenty of Oil to feed it The rich Man pleas'd himself with designs of sensual enjoyments for many Years yet did not see the dawning of the next Morning Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee This Sentence is now pronounc'd in Heaven against thousands that are alive this day conversant in the Vanities and Businesses of the World Eating and Drinking Playing and Trading and all unconcerned as to Dying yet shall breath their last before to Morrow and their unwilling Souls be rent from the embraces of the Body In various manners Men die suddenly from inward and outward causes An Apoplexy
to make an Experiment whether any satisfaction could be found in it at last sadly declares that all things here below are but several kinds and ranks of Vanities as ineffectual to make Men happy as counterfeit Jewels of several Colours are to enrich the Possessor Nay they are not only Vanity but Vexation an empty show that has nothing real but the vexation of disappointment And shall we not value the judgment of Men when they are best instructed and give credit to their Testimony when they are sincere Certainly in their Approaches to the Divine Judgment they are most considerate and serious they have the truest and justest thoughts of Things and most freely declare them O the astonishing Folly of Men the will not be convinc'd of the error of their ways till they come to the end of them and the Sun is set and no time remains for their returning into the way of Life CHAP. VIII The stedfast belief of Eternal Things requisite to direct our Choice The power of Faith illustrated Infidelity total or partial the cause of Mens neglecting Eternal Salvation I Shall proceed to shew further what is necessary to direct us in our choice that we may not fall into the double Misery of being deceived with a false Happiness for a little time and deprived of true Happiness for ever Three things are requisite for this 1. A sound and stedfast belief of unseen Eternal Things 2. Serious Consideration of the vast difference between things that are the objects of Sight and that are the objects of Faith 3. Humble and ardent Prayer to God that he would turn away our Eyes and Hearts from Vanity to the solid durable Good First The sound and stedfast belief of Eternal Things is requisite to direct our choice aright Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen It assures us of their reality and worth as if they were before our Eyes and in our actual Possession This Divine Light governs and conducts the Will to choose wisely and excites all the practick Powers for the prevening the greatest Evils and the obtaining perfect Felicity When the Devil the deadly Flatterer by inviting representations of the World intices the Heart the serious belief of the future reward so glorious and eternal disgraces the most splendid Temptations and makes them ineffectual This is the Victory that overcomes the World even our Faith If tempted to Lasciviousness by the allurements of an earthly Beauty Faith represents the angelical lustre of the Saints when they shall come with the unspotted Lamb in his glorious appearance and this unbinds the Charm and makes the tempting Person an object not of Desire but Aversation If tempted with Honour to a sinful compliance Faith represents so convincingly the Glory which all those who preserve their Conscience and Integrity inviolable shall receive at the universal Judgment in the presence of God and the holy Angels as our Saviour has promis'd He that serves me him will my Father honour and the confusion wherein the most honourable Sinners shall then be cover'd that with a generous disdain all secular honours will be despised And it is as powerful to enervate the Temptation of temporal Profit We read of Moses that by Faith when he was come to Years and therefore more capable to understand and enjoy what Felicity the brightest Honours and greatest Riches could afford refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh ' s Daughter chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of Reward And all the Evils which a wicked World inspir'd with rage from Satan can threaten to fright us from our Duty Poverty Disgrace Banishment nay Torments and Death those terribles visu formae so heightned by the carnal Fancy are easily overcome by a sincere and strong Believer Thus some who were urged by such motives to renounce their Religion told the Persecutors that Life was not sweet to them if they might not live Christians nor Death bitter if they must die for Christ. A lively firm persuasion of the excellence and eternity of the Reward what miraculous effects would it produce Nothing would be impossible within the compass of our Duty either to do or suffer in order to a glorious Immortality Faith has a celestial Power a magnetick Virtue to draw up the Heart from the Earth and fastens it to things above It is not imaginable that a clear sighted Soul that sees a Good infinitely great should reject it for mean things to please the lower Desires We may as probably imagine that a skilful Jeweller would part with the richest Oriental Pearls for Cherry Stones to play with Children From hence we may discover the true cause of the neglect of the great Salvation offered in the Gospel the Word preached does not profit not being mixt with Faith in them that hear it It is astonishing to consider that Earth should contend with Heaven for our Affections and prevail against it that Vanity should turn the Scale against the exceeding and eternal weight of Glory that Men should pursue fleeting Shadows and neglect the most excellent Realities as if they could be happy here and continue for ever and hereafter there were neither Happiness nor Eternity But this releases the wonder that all Men have not Faith Eternal Things are not of conspicuous moment in the carnal Ballance Some are Infidels in Profession openly declaring themselves to be without Religion without God and have the same credit of the Heaven and Hell discovered in the Gospel as of the Elysian Fields and Stygian Lake the Fables of the Poets These live as if they should never die and die as if they should never live in the other World as if Death caused so deep a sleep that the Voice of the Son of God could not awaken them at the last day Their unbelief is not from reason but vicious opposite Affections for the truth of the Eternal State is so clearly revealed and strongly establisht in the Gospel that the sincere Mind must readily assent to it But the Wicked cannot delight in the discovery of that for which they are unprepared and therefore try all ways to elude the force of the most satisfying Arguments They do not fear Hell but are afraid they should be fearful of it This is such a piece of Folly as that of the West Indians who at the first Invasion by the Spaniards were so terrified with the glittering of their Swords that they presently fled and very advisedly resolved to hide themselves in the day and assault their Enemies in the night They were fearful to see their Danger and rash to encounter it and fighting in the dark were killed in the dark The Threatnings of Eternal Death are the brandishings of God's glittering Sword before he strikes and sensual Infidels are
habitual Vices in the Possessors and indifferently serve for bad or good uses The greedy pursuit of them blasts all true worth of Spirit and turns the Soul to Earth and Corruption And sensual Pleasures are so far from advancing Man that the luxurious enjoyment of them by the lowest degradement makes him like the Beasts in all things but Innocence In short all the admired things of the World are of so little value that they debase and inslave him by an overprising and affecting them 'T is his true perfection from consciousness of his native worth and through Royality of Mind to despise them 2. The sensible World cannot give compleat satisfaction to Man Felicity is the complacence and test of the Soul in the enjoyment of a suitable Object commensurate to its real capacity and duration Such an Object must be a Spiritual Good pure without Alloys infinite and eternal Now all things in the World are in every respect insufficient to satisfy our Desires 1. They are not a convenient Good to the Soul What proportion is there between a spiritual Nature and carnal Sensualities between the divine Off-spring and the low voluptuousness of Flesh What are Treasures of Gold and Pearls but shining Dust and the froth of the Sea and can these enrich a Heavenly Being What is Honour and Reputation an invisible imagination form'd in a few Heads What is Praise a favourable sound from a few Mouths And can a Fancy a Breath be the solid Good of the Soul As well may an empty Dream afford substantial Nourishment to the Body Hence the Expectation is far above the Fruition of earthly Things Whilst seen by the false Beams of Fancy and the Passions they promise fair but upon trial are found to be a meer Illusion that has nothing real but the bitterness that attends them And from hence there is a perpetual generation of Desires in the Breasts of Men the end of one is the beginning of another as Fewel increases the Fire The wanting Soul becomes more ardent by failing in what it expected and makes endless inquiries for matter of satisfaction Seneca observed an image of this in Nature and gives the Moral of it A Tortoise if turn'd on the Back though it suffer no pain is violent in Motion till it recovers its natural Posture Thus Man though free from external Troubles yet is in restless changes always casting about till he obtains the Happiness for which he was made that is adequate to his Capacity Who will shew us any Good is the voice of Mankind chasing several Hopes and ingaged in infinite errors in the search of Felicity here below But the confluence of all worldly things cannot quiet the ravings of their misguided Appetites The Persian Kings with all their Royalties and Revenues and Delights were so unsatisfied that they proclaimed a Reward to any that invented a new Pleasure The sweetest Enjoyments are not without secret distastes The most pleasurable Heights are infinitely distant from Felicity Therefore the most prosperous in the World are fain to borrow the Opinions of others who blindly admire what they never had experience of to conceit themselves Happy For their real inward Sence is perfectly contrary to the vain Fancies of those below them Nay suppose a Man possest of all the Varieties that compound earthly Felicity the more full the less satisfied he is for his desires being unquencht when all things are ready that promised to appease them and no lure of Hope remaining the disappointment in a mistaken Object and despair of ever finding satisfaction here necessarily involves him in a double Misery Of this we have the certain Testimony of Solomon himself who after a curious and earnest search for Happiness declares that all even the most valued things below are Vanity pompous Names without sence and reality and therefore vexation of Spirit Now what a poor Happiness is the World when the fullest possession of it is so far from inriching a Man with true content that it makes his Poverty desperate 2. The Things of the World are temporal not commensurate to the duration of the Soul Blessedness signifies an unchangeable State not a transient Passage The Object must be firm as the Center and the Fruition of it without end or interruption The fear that arises from the naked possibility of losing it dashes our Joy how much more the certainty Now suppose the whole World were the Portion of a Man can he joyfully acquiesce in it The fear nay certainty of parting with all these things are inseparable Properties of our possessing them Fear upon the account of their transitory condition certainty from Death that is inevitable to all Men. 1. Fear of losing them Such is the instability of worldly Things through vicissitudes of Times disasters of Chance decays of Nature that we cannot be secure of them a day Honour is a casual Happiness depending on the uncertain Opinions of Men that rise and fall every Hour Riches are deceitful not only because they do not supply our greatest Wants but fly from us when we think our hold is fastest They are a Quick-Silver no Art can fix Beauty is a fading Flower often blasted while the stalk remains All things under the Sun are Vanity What ever is measur'd by Time is in a continual Flux like a Torrent one part is present to the Eye because another is swiftly past away So that 't is evident they are insufficient to make a Man happy For who can possess them without a just jealousy lest they should slip away or by violence be ravisht from him As the Inhabitants of Campania the most fruitful and delicious part of Italy but near Vesuvius that always flames or smoaks and scatters Ashes abroad are in frequent apprehensions lest a sudden deluge of Fire should break forth and devour their Palaces and Gardens and Vineyards and change that natural Paradise into a Scene of Horrour an accidental Hell Now the very suspicion of losing what is our Happiness is perfectly irreconcileable to it 2. There is a certainty of losing all earthly things at Death Other Evils may surprise us unexpected or not come when fear'd And this relieves Mankind in the present state that is liable to innumerable Evils that many may be prevented But the last evil is inevitable Though Men are distinguisht in the condition of Living yet all are equal in the necessity of Dying Human Greatness in every kind Nobility Riches Empires cannot protect from the sovereign and suddain hand of Death that overthrows all The expressions of Scripture concerning the frailty of Man are often precisely and literally verified He is like Grass in the Morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the Evening it is cut down and withereth Now suppose the World constant and faithful to you till the last hour of your Lives will it not fail you then And can that be the Happiness of a Man that attends him for a time and leaves
favour of lost Man that commands certain Duties and sets before them Eternal Life as the reward of Obedience and Eternal Death the punishment of Disobedience According to this the trial and decision of Mens everlasting States shall be which is the Character of a true Law This Law of Grace is very different from the Law of Nature that requir'd intire innocence and for the least omission or accusing act past an irrevokable doom upon the Offender for that strictness and severity is mollified by the Gospel which accepts of sincere persevering Obedience though imperfect accordingly 't is called the Law of Liberty But the Law of Faith is unalterable and admits of no dispensation from the duties required in order to our being everlastingly happy 2. The Gospel is stiled a Covenant and that imports a reciprocal engagement between parties for the performance of the matter contained in it The Covenant of Grace includes the promise of pardoning and rewarding Mercy on God's part and the Conditions on Man's with respect to which 't is to be perform'd There is an inviolable dependence between them He will be our God to make us happy but we must be his People to yeild unreserved Obedience to him He will be our Father and we shall be his Sons and Daughters but 't is upon the terms of purifying our selves from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and unfeigned endeavours to perfect Holiness in his fear 'T is astonishing Goodness that he is pleased to condescend to such a treaty with fallen Creatures by a voluntary promise he encourages them but though most free in making 't is conditional in the performance The constancy of his holy Nature obliges him to fulfil his Word but 't is if we do not fail on our part by carelessness of our Duty A Presumer may seal assurance to himself and be deceived in this great matter but God will not be mocked If we prove false in the Covenant he will be faithful and exclude those from Heaven that were neglectful of the Conditions to which it is promised 3. The Gospel is stiled a Testament sealed in the Blood of Christ confirm'd by his Death The donation of eternal blessings in it is not absolute and irrespective but the Heirs are admitted to the Possession of the Inheritance according to the Will of the rich liberal and wise Testator There can be no regular title or claim made out without performing what is required And this is the Will of God and Christ our Sanctification without which we cannot enjoy it Now from hence we may see the admirable agreement between these two Notions that Heaven is a Gift and a Reward 'T is a Reward in the order of giving it not due to the Work but from the Bounty of the Giver God gives Heaven to those that faithfully serve him But their Service was due to God of no worth in respect of Heaven so that Man's Work is no Merit and God's Reward is a Gift Our everlasting Glory must be ascribed to his most free Grace as much as the pardon of our Sins I shall now proceed to consider what the Gospel declares to be indispensibly requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven this is compriz'd in the holy change of Man's Nature which I will briefly unfold and shew how necessary it is to qualify us for Celestial Glory 1. This holy Change is exprest in Scripture by the new Birth Our Saviour with a solemn repeated Asseveration tells Nicodemus Verily Verily except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Sin is natural to Man from his Conception and Birth and infects with its contagion all his Faculties This is fomented and cherisht by temptations that easily encompass him The Understanding is polluted with evil Principles full of strong Prejudices and lofty Imaginations against the supernatural Mysteries of Salvation 'T is full of Ignorance and Folly and from hence either rejects them as incredible or despises them as impertinent or unprofitable The Will is depraved and perverse full of unruly and unhallowed Affections The Senses are luxurious and rebellious In short Man is so viciously and sensually inclined so alienated from the Life of God as if he had no diviner part within him that should aspire to a Spiritual Blessedness that should regulate and controul the excess of the inferiour Appetites This is the unhappy Character Satan imprest on him in his Fall and without renovation upon an infinite account he is uncapable of seeing God This renovation consists not in the change of his substance as the Water was miraculously turn'd into Wine at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee the same Soul with its essential Powers the same Body with its natural Senses the Work of the Creator remains but in the cleansing of his stain'd nature in the sanctifying his Faculties that are the Springs of his Actions The whole Man is quickned into a Divine Life and enabled to act in conformity to it And of this the new Birth is a convenient Illustration An active Principle of Holiness is planted in him that springs up into visible Actions The Apostle particularly expresses it in his earnest Prayer for the Thessalonians The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and preserve your whole Spirit Soul and Body blameless till the coming of Jesus Christ. Every Faculty is renewed and every Grace infused that constitutes the Divine Image The Mind is renewed by Spiritual Light to believe the Truth and Goodness of unseen things promised the reality and dreadfulness of things threatned in the Word of God It sees the truest Beauty in Holiness the highest Honour in Obedience to God the greatest Equity and Excellence in his Service The Will is renewed by holy Love a purifying Flame and feels the attractive virtue of our blessed End before all desireable things on Earth and determins to pursue it in the vigorous use of proper means The Body is made a holy instrument fit for the renewed Soul In short the natural Man becomes spiritual in his Perceptions Resolutions and Actions All things are become New There is a firm assent an inviolable adherence to those most precious Objects revealed in the Scripture and a sincere chosen constant Obedience flows from the renewed Faculties And from hence we may distinguish between regenerating Grace and formal Hypocrisy in some and the proficiency of Nature and power of common Grace in others A Hypocrite in Religion is acted from without by mercenary base respects and his Conscience being cauteris'd handles sacred things without feeling a regenerate Person is moved by an internal living Principle and performs his Duties with lively Affections Natural Conscience under the compulsion of Fear may lay a restraint upon the outward acts of Sin without an inward consent to the sanctity of the Law Renewing Grace cleanses the Fountain and the current is pure It reconciles the Affections to the most holy Commands I love thy Law because 't is pure saith
a discerning Eye saw reason enough to part with all that he might gain the Pearl of Price the Grace and Glory of the Kingdom of Heaven The Apostle declares his resolute contempt of the concurrence of all the Prerogatives either the Law or the World could afford him that he might have an Interest in Christ the Reconciler and Restorer of Man to the Favour and Fellowship of God But what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the Knowledg of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I might win Christ. The glorious Gospel is the brightest and most pleasant Light that ever shone upon the World a revelation of the deepest Wisdom and most admirable Love wherein the combination of God's holy and wonderful Counsels for our Salvation is unfolded and accordingly St. Paul with the greatest Life of Affection sets forth his value of it and by full and most vilifying Expressions rejects all things in comparison of it 2. The Sincerity of the Heavenly Choice is discovered by a zealous observance of the means requisite in order to it Inanimate things incline to rest in their Centre the rational intend and pursue it The blessed End when valued and respected according to its worth excites and directs the Affections and Endeavours in that order and measure as is proportionable to its Excellency and the difficulties of obtaining it There may be a naked estimation and some desires of Eternal Happiness simply considered yet the Will remain incompleat and undetermined in its choice for the End in conjunction with the Means is propounded to us and the carnal Man will not consent to the Means He dislikes the Holiness of Religion and will rather forfeit Heaven than submit to such strict terms Though with Balaam in a fit of Devotion he says O that I might die the death of the Righteous and that my last end might be like his yet from Indulgence to his sensual Inclinations he will not live as the righteous All his wishes of true Happiness are soon strangled by the predominant love of some Vanity 'T is said of the Israelites they despised the pleasant Land not absolutely in it self for it was the Glory of all Lands abounding with things for the support and delight of Man but considering its distance a Wilderness waste and wild interposing and the Enemies to be encountred they did not think it worthy of undergoing such hazards and difficulties The Land of Canaan was a Type of Heaven both with respect to its pleasantness and the manner of the Israelites obtaining it Their Title to it was derived from the rich Bounty of God therefore 't is called the Land of Promise but it was to be possest by Conquest Thus the Celestial Canaan is the pure gift of God but the actual enjoyment of it is obtained by victorious resistance against the Enemies of our Salvation And carnal Men despise this pleasant Land the Promise being inseparably joined with Precepts of Duty and Obedience from which they are averse But he that chooses sincerely is joyful and vigorous in the use of means for acquiring his most desired good Ardent Affections like Elijah's Chariot of Fire ravish the Soul above this sensible World to the place where God dwells in Glory Zeal animates his endeavours as the Motion of the Heart diffuses the Spirits into the Arteries to convey Life to all parts of the Body One thing saith the inflamed Psalmist have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire into his Temple The sensual Man is ranging abroad for satisfaction and shoots all the Game that crosses his Eye but the Soul that has a discovering light and feeling heat of the Divine Beauty unites all its desires in God and with affection to an extasy longs for the enjoyment of him and the endeavours are in some proportion to the desires Our Saviour tells us That from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Some previous rays of the Sun of Righteousness appeared in his Ministry and produc'd such a holy ardency in those Converts that with all resolution diligence and earnestness they sought to be partakers of the Blessedness revealed Lazy Desires easy Prosecutions sluggish Attempts discover that the Heart is not througly engaged for the spiritual Eternal Good When the End is truly designed it will give Law to the Actions This is visible in Men who are wholly led by Sense how sagacious how sollicitous are they to accomplish their Ends and base Designs They try all ways either by fine Dissimulation or toilsome Industry to obtain their Desires No time is too much in their gainful Affairs or voluptuous Enjoyments They transform the Night to lengthen out the Day for their Profit they vail the Day to lengthen out the Night for their Ease and Pleasure But alas Heaven is only regarded by the By as if the intellectual Soul were only given to dwell with the Body on Earth the place of its Banishment and direct Affairs here below and not to lead in the way to Heaven the place of its Nativity and prepare for another World The work of Salvation is followed with that remiss degree of Affection as if it were a slight matter whether performed or neglected These Persons carry their Conviction in their Bosoms for they are ardent and active to obtain inferior and infinitely less concerning Ends but with that cold application mind the superior nobler End of Man that it is wholly frustrate which plainly shews it was never seriously intended by them 3. The sincerity of our Heavenly choice declares it self in the temper and frame of our Hearts with respect to all temporal things in this World For our main and happy End being established that it consists not in secular Riches and Honours and the Pleasures of Sense but in the clear vision of God the blessedness of the Spirit it follows that all present things are in our use so far good or evil and to be desired or not as they are profitable or prejudicial to our obtaining Salvation as they conduct or divert us from Heaven A wise Christian looks on temporal things not through the Glass of disordered Passions that are impetuous and impatient for what is grateful to them but with reference to his future Happiness He considers the train of Temptations that attend an exalted condition and desires such a portion of these things as may redound to the Glory of the Giver and be improved for his own Salvation This Purity of Affections our Saviour teaches us For in his divine form of Prayer the true directory of our desires are set down in an admirable order all
sound and perfect Health that being the End of his Art He that seeks for Honour or Riches is not content with a mediocrity of Success but drives on his Affairs to the full period of his Desires An ardent Lover of Learning with a noble jealousy strives to excel others in Knowledg In short no Man designs and longs for a thing as his Happiness but will use all diligence to gain the present and full Possession of it Therefore it cannot be imagined that any Person sincerely propounds the injoyment of Heaven as his End but Love will make him fervent and industrious to be as Heavenly as is possible here He will strive by blessed and glorious Gradations to ascend to the perfection of his aims and desires to be holy as God is holy in all manner of Conversation to be pure as Christ is pure We have an admirable instance of this in St Paul who declares Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus His Progress was great yet that did not make him slack in the prosecution of his End He laboured to attain the President of our Saviour to feel the Power of his Death and Life to apprehend Christ intirely and perfectly as Christ had apprehended him He was very diligent to improve the Divine Image in his Heart and Life From hence we may discover the vanity of their Hopes that are of luke-warm Affections in Religion the abhorr'd character of Laodicea who esteem it a prudent Principle as convenient for their carnal ease and interest not to be earnest in following Holiness Vices in mediocrity are tolerable with them only the excess is condemned They content themselves with a mediocrity in Religion and are presumptuous and secure as the Church that said I am rich and have need of nothing They boast as if they had found out the temperate Region between the burning Line and the frozen Pole They account all that is above their degrees in Religion to be furious or indiscreet Zeal and all below to be dead cold Profaneness They censure those for Hypocrisy or unnecessary Strictness who are visibly better and stand upon proud comparisons with those who are visibly worse And thus set off themselves by taxing others But how easily do Men deceive and damn themselves Can we have too much of Heaven upon the Earth Can we become too like God when a perfect conformity to him is our Duty and Felicity Indeed Moral Vertue consists in a Mediocrity not of the habitual Quality but of the Affections and Actions between the vicious extremities Fortitude consists in the mean between Cowardise and rash Boldness but how much the more confirm'd the couragious Habit is so much the more a Man excells in that Virtue Liberality consists between an indiscreet Profuseness and sordid Avarice Patience between a soft Delicacy and stupid Insensibility Thus Philosophic Virtue glories in its Beauty as pure and intire between two vicious Deformities And the Religion of many is Paganism drest up in a Christian Fashion But this mediocrity only belongs to inferiour Vertues that respect things of created limited goodness and is determined according to the worth of their Nature But divine Graces respect an object supreamly Good and their perfection consists in their most excellent degrees and the most intense Affections and Operations that are leading to it Faith in its Obedience Hope in its Assurance Love in its Ardour can never exceed When the Object is Infinite a mediocrity is vicious Humility can never descend too low nor Love ascend too high for reflecting upon our natural and moral Imperfections that we were raised from nothing that we are defiled and debased with Sin we cannot have too low thoughts of our selves And since God the Soveraign Being infinite in Perfections and infinitely amiable is the Object no bounds or measure must be set to our Affections but with all our united Powers all the Heart and with all the Soul and with all the Mind and with all the Strength we must love him and please him and endeavour to be beloved of him There are others will acknowledg their defects and tell you they do not pretend to eminent Sanctity to the Graces of the Apostles and Martyrs nor aspire to their degrees in Glory they are content with a lower place in Heaven and less strict Religion is sufficient for their purpose This deceit is strengthned by Popery that enervates and dissolves many of our Saviour's Precepts by teaching they are not Laws obliging all Christans to Obedience that will attain to eternal Life but Counsels of Perfection if they are not done 't is no Sin and the performance of them meritoriously intitles to a richer Crown And though Men by impure Indulgencies please their sensual Affections yet by tasting Purgatory in the way they may come to Heaven on easier terms than a universal respect to God's Commands and an equal care to observe them But Death will confute all these feeble wretched Pretences for though the Saints above shine with an unequal brightness as the Stars differ in Glory yet none are there but Saints And those who do not mourn under their Imperfections and unfeinedly desire and endeavour to be better were never really good The sloathful Servant that did not waste but neglect to improve his Talent was cast into outer darkness There are different degrees of punishments in Hell but the least miserable there are miserable for ever In short 't is a perfect contradiction a Prodigy for any Man to think he is sincere in his Choice and prepar'd in his Affections for the pure glorious Felicity in Heaven that does not labour to cleanse himself from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the fear of God CHAP. V. The Choice of Heaven must be early The Pretences of Mens delaying Repentance The infinite danger of it Secondly THe choice of Eternal Felicity must be early in the prime of our days The rule of our Duty and Reason binds us to remember our Creatour in our Youth to pay to him the first fruits of our Time and Strength When we are surrounded with inticing Objects and the Sense are entire and most capable to enjoy them when the electing Powers are it their vigour then 't is just we should live to God obey him as our Law-giver and prefer the fruition of him in Heaven the reward of Obedience before as the pleasures of Vanity 'T is very honourable and pleasing to God to give the Heart to him when the Flesh and the World strongly solicit to withdraw it 'T is a high endearment of the Soâ— to him when his excellencies are prevalent in the Esteem and Affections above all the charms of the Creatures And 't is an unspeakable satisfaction to the Spirit of a
afraid lest the belief of those terrible Truths should enter into their Breasts therefore are utterly careless of what may convince them of their danger and will not foresee what they shall certainly suffer This is obstinate and the most incurable Infidelity An instance whereof we have in the Pharisees who rejected our Saviour Though all the Characters of the Messiah were conspicuous in his Person though his Doctrines were confirmed by Miracles yet they would not yeild up themselves to that omnipotent conviction so strong were their carnal prejudices against his humble State and holy Doctrines That reproach is more justly due to Infidels under the Gospel than to Israel in the Prophet Who is blind as my Servant The Heathens who are blind from their Birth and have only some glimmering apprehensions that Eternity succeeds Time are less culpable than those who have infinitely more reason to believe it and yet believe it less The Plea for them will be a terrible Accusation against such Unbelievers If a blind Person falls it moves compassion but if one voluntarily shuts his Eyes against the Sun and refuses the direction of the Light and falls from a Precipice his Ruin is the just consequence of his Folly Simple Ignorance excuses as to the degrees of the Fault but affected wilful Ignorance now Reason and Revelation with united Beams give so clear a prospect into the Eternal World aggravates the Guilt and Sentence of such Unbelievers 'T is in vain to offer Arguments to convince them for they are as deaf as Adders to the wisest Instructions till Sense extort a belief from them They have hardned their Hearts and Faces against all Reproofs and by an open contempt of Scripture-Threatnings are past reclaiming There are many degrees of Sins many steps in the descent to Hell but the lowest and nearest the Gates of that infernal Prison is the scornful derision of God's terrible preparations for the Wicked hereafter Besides the most who are Believers in Title are Infidels in Heart Our Saviour tells the Jews who pretended the highest Veneration to the Writings of Moses That if they had believed Moses they would have believed him for Moses wrote of him If Men did seriously believe such an excellent Reward as the Gospel propounds would it be a cold unpersuasive motive to them The depravation of the Will argues a correspondent defect in the Mind though not absolute total Infidelity yet such a weakness and wavering in the Assent that when Temptations are present and urgent and it comes to actual choice Sense prevails over Faith This will be clear by Universal Experience in temporal things The probable hope of Gain will make those who are greedy of Gold prodigal of their Lives and venture through tempestuous Seas to accomplish their Desires And if the belief were equal would not Men do or suffer as much for obtaining what is infinitely more valuable A firm Assent would produce adherence and Faith in the Promises Fidelity in obeying the Commands of Christ. Tertullian proprounds it as a powerful incentive to the Martyrs Quis ergo non libentissimè tantum pro vero habeat erogare quantum alii pro falso Who would not joyfully sacrifice Life and all it sindearments to obtain true Blessedness which others do for the vain Appearance of it On the contrary the fear of a present destructive Evil will controul the most eager Appetites 'T is recorded that when the Army of Israel were in pursuit of the Philistins Saul to compleat his Victory forbad upon pain of Death that any should taste Food till the Sun was down In the chase of their Enemies they past through a Wood abounding with Honey yet notwithstanding their Hunger and Faintness and the easy Provision before them no Man so much as tasted it for the People feared the King's Oath And did Men truly believe and fear the Law of God threatning Hell for Sin would they dare to commit it though invited by pleasant Temptations Nay not only a strong fear but the meer suspicion of great danger will restrain the most vehement desires of Nature What Person though inflamed with Thirst would drink a Glass of cool Liquor if he suspected that deadly Poison were mixt with it And if Men were persuaded that Sin is attended with Death would they drink in Iniquity like Water The Devils themselves are not able to conquer the Fear of Judgment to come they believe and tremble Therefore when it is not active upon the Conscience it is either because Men do not believe the thing it self or that Holiness is necessary to prepare for it Indeed even in true Believers the apprehension of Eternal Things has such great allays that temporal things are over-valued and over-feared A strong Faith in the Truth and Power of God would make the glorious World so sure and near in our Thoughts that with indifferent Affections we should receive good or evil things here rejoice as if we rejoiced not and mourn as if we mourned not Our Lives would be so regular and pure as if the Judg were to come the next hour as if the Sun did now begin to be darkned and the Trumpet of the Arch-angel were sounding and the noise of the dissolving World were universally heard Infidelity deads the Impression and suppresses the reigning Power of Eternal Things in our Hearts In short Men are heavenly or earthly in their Choice and Conversation as they are directed by the sincere Light of Faith or misled by the false beams of Sense CHAP. IX Consideration is requisite in order to a wise Choice How it must be managed that it may be effectual It must be serious frequent and with application to the Soul Motives to it The true Causes why Carnal Men are averse from it THE second thing requisite in order to a wise Choice is Consideration For as by Faith the virtue of the Reward is diffused through all the Faculties and the Powers of the World to come are felt in the Soul so by consideration Faith is exercised and becomes effectual This unites and reinforces the beams of Eternal Truth and inflames the Affections As the Psalmist expresses himself My Heart was hot within me while I was musing the Fire burned Heaven is a Felicity so glorious and attractive that if duly considered no Man can possibly refuse it and Hell is a Misery so extream and fearful that if seriously laid to Heart none can possibly choose it The last End is to be conceived under the notion of an infinite Good without the least mixture of Evil to which the human Will has a natural tendency The liberty of indifference is with respect to some particular good Things which may be variously represented so as to cause inclination or aversion That Men who believe Eternal Life is the Reward of Holiness yet with a careless inadvertency pass over their Duty and that Eternal Death is the Wages of Sin yet securely continue in it is more wonderful than to see
that makes them grow the faster And that a Mercy so ready to pardon did not produce in them a correspondent affection of grateful obedient Love but by the most unworthy provocations they pluckt down the Vengeance due to obstinate Rebels will so enrage the Damned against themselves that they will be less miserable by the Misery they suffer than by the conviction of their torn Minds that they were the sole Causes of it What Repentings will be kindled within them for the stupid neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and earnestly offered to them What a fiery addition to their Torment that when God was so willing to save them they were so willful to be Damned They will never forgive themselves that for the short and mean Pleasures of Sense which if enjoyed a thousand years cannot recompence the loss of Heaven nor requite the pains of Hell for an Hour they must be deprived of the one and suffer the other for ever 4. The Sorrow and Rage will be increased by Dispair for when the wretched Sinner sees the Evil is peremptory and no Outlet of Hope he abandons himself to the violence of Sorrow and by cruel Thoughts wounds the Heart more than the fiercest Furies in Hell can This Misery that flows from dispair shall be more fully opened under the distinct consideration of the Eternity of Hell And as from Dispair the condemned Creature turns Enemy to himself so to God 'T is said of the Worshippers of the Image of the Beast that they gnawed their Tongues for Pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains The Torment and Blasphemies of those impenitent Idolaters are a representation of the state of the Damned where the just and dreadful Wrath of God upon Men and the impious Rage of Men against God is in the highest degrees For when the guilty Sufferers are so weak that they neither by Patience can sustain their Torments nor by Strength resist the Power that inflicts them yet are wicked and stubborn they are irritated by their Misery and foam out Blasphemies against the righteous Judg. They hate God with a direct Enmity and are always under his invincible tormenting Power Hatred takes pleasure in Revenge either real or imaginary The Damned Wretches were they as Omnipotent to Effect as they are malicious to Desire would dethrone God and destroy his Being But he is infinitely above the transports of their Fury All their rancorous cursed imprecations are reflexively pernicious to themselves like Arrows shot up against the Sun that fall down upon their Heads that shot them Now what more inrages a stubborn malicious Spirit than to be utterly unable to reach and hurt an irreconcileable Enemy the object of its habitual detestation Briefly as the blessed Spirits are in Heaven and Heaven is in them by those holy and joyful Affections that are always exercised in the Divine Presence so the Damned are in Hell and Hell is in them by those fierce and miserable Passions that continually prey upon them 4. The Eternity of their Misery makes it above all other Considerations intollerable Our Saviour repeats it thrice in the space of a few Verses to terrify those who spare some favourite Corruption that in Hell their Worm dies not and the Fire is never quenched God will never reverse his Sentence and they shall never change their State How willingly would carnal Men raze the Word Eternal out of the Scriptures but to their grief they find it joined with the Felicity of Heaven and the Torments of Hell The second Death has all the terrible qualities of the first but not the ease and end it brings to Misery All the Tears of those forlorn Wretches shall never quench one spark of the Fire Where are the delicious Fair the Musick the Purple and all the carnal Delights of the rich Man they are all changed into a contrary state of Misery and that state is fixt for ever From his vanishing Paradise he descended into an everlasting Hell In this the Vengeance of God is infinitely more heavy than the most terrible execution from Men. Human Justice and Power can inflict but one Death that will be soon dispatcht upon a Malefactor worthy to suffer a hundred Deaths if he be condemned to the Fire they cannot make him live and die together to burn and not be consumed But God will so far support the Damned in their Torments that they shall always have Strength to feel though no Strength to endure them Those extream Torments which would extinguish the present Life in a Moment shall be suffered for ever This Consideration infinitely aggravates the Misery For the lost Soul rackt with the fearful Contemplation of what it must suffer for ever feels as it were at once all the Evils that shall torment it in its whole duration The perpetuity of the Misery is always felt by prevision This is as the cruel breaking of the Bones upon the Wheel when the Soul is tormented by the foresight of Misery that without allays shall continue in the circulation of Eternal Ages To make this more sensible let us consider that pain makes the Mind observant of the passing of the hours In Pleasures Time with a quick and silent motion insensibly slides away but in Troubles the Hours are tedious in violent pains we reckon the minutes as long 'T is observable how passionately the afflicted Psalmist complains Will the Lord cast off for ever Will he be favourable no more Doth his Promise fail for evermore Hath he forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies In what various pathetic forms does he express the same Affection Though he had assurance that the gracious God would not be always severe yet his anguish forc'd from him complaints as if the moment of his Trouble were an Eternity But what strains of Sorrow are among the Damned who besides the present sence of their Misery have always in their Thoughts the vast Eternity wherein they must suffer it When three terrible Evils were propounded to David's choice pining Famine for three years or bloody War for three Months or devouring Pestilence for three days he chose the shortest though in it self the heaviest Evil. Many sad Days must pass under the other Judgments where Death by anticipation in such variety of Shapes would be presented to the Mind that the lingring expectation of it would afflict more than the sudden stroke whereas the fury of the Pestilence would be soon over But the Damned have not this relief but shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever How earnestly do they seek for Death but cannot find it what a favour would they esteem it to be annihilated For certainly if when the Evils in the present State are so multiplyed that no Comfort is left or so violent that the afflicted Person cannot enjoy them and refresh his sorrowful Spirit Death is chosen rather than Life it cannot be imagined that in the
future State where the Misery is extream and nothing remains to allay it that the Damned should be in love with the unhappy good of simple being and not choose an absolute extinction if it might be If any one should be so foolish to think that custom will render that State more tolerable he may find a terrible confutation of his vain Fancy Indeed continuance under light Evils may arm the Mind with patience to bear them but in great extremities it makes the Evil more ponderous and intolerable He that is tortured with the Stone or on the Rack the longer the Torture continues the less able he is to sustain it In short as the Joy of Heaven is infinitely more ravishing that the Blessed are without fear of losing it so the Misery of Hell is proportionably tormenting that the Damned are absolutely destitute of hopes of a release O 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Now the serious Consideration of this Misery is the most proper and powerful means to awaken indulgent Sinners and make them resolved to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right Eye to part with the dearest Lusts rather than be exposed to it According to the judgment of Sense would any one in his Wits choose the enjoyment of the most intense and exquisite Pleasures for a Year and afterwards be content to burn in a Fornace for a Day much less to enjoy them for a Day and to burn for a Year what stupid Beasts are they who for momentary Delights incur the Fiery and Eternal Indignation of God Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he Try but the Finger with the Flame of a Candle or touch but a hot Coal you will soon discover your weakness But alas how hardly are Men induc't to exercise their Minds on this terrible Object He thinks least of Hell who has most reason to consider it so unwilling is the carnal Heart to have represented to it the evil to come Yet this is the first Motive that compels Sinners to change their course and turn from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Joys of Heaven being Spiritual and Divine as was before observed have no attractive influence upon their Affections would never convert and reform any but the torment of Fire being most evident and vehement to Sense is strongly represented by the Imagination and affects carnal Men. How many abound with vicious obstinate habits that by solemn and believing thoughts of the unquenchable Fire have felt the Miracle upon the three Children in the Fornace renewed in themselves their strong Cords burnt asunder and all their Powers restored to the freedom of Duty the blessed liberty of Obedience The Truth is if God had not formed Hell for the Punishment of Sin and only prepared the Celestial Kingdom for the Reward of Holiness the blessed Angels would be the sole Possessors of it and Heaven would be as empty of human Souls as 't is full of Glory so foolishly and violently is the corrupt nature of Man drawn by what is pleasing to Sense though with the certain loss of the most precious and eternal good things in the Divine Treasury But the belief that within a little time nothing will remain of their sinful Pleasures but the never dying Worm and ever living Flames makes them considerative of their imminent danger and as it were by necessity to seek the Kingdom of Heaven as a secondary Object to escape from Hell As the vertue of the Load-stone when encompast and arm'd with Iron is increast and draws a far greater weight than when 't is single thus the attractives of Heaven are more powerful to move our obdurate Hearts when enforc'd from the terrors of Hell In this respect the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom of the active and best Wisdom that directs us in the way to Blessedness CHAP. XIII The last Direction Earnest Prayer to God to inlighten our Minds to believe the Eternal World and effectually turn our Wills to desire and prosecute the Blessedness to come HAving a discovery so clear and certain in the Holy Scriptures of the everlasting recompences in the next World of the Kingdom of Heaven prepared by God to shew his excellent Glory to his faithful Servants where Love and Peace and Joy dwell for ever and of the infernal Prison where despair and Rage and Sorrow and whatever is signified under the terrible allusions of Fire and Brimstone are ordained by Divine Justice for the Wicked it might be justly hoped that all Men would by a holy violence take Heaven and by the swiftest Motion flee from the Wrath to come The instinct of Nature and the light of Reason excite them to secure their most precious Interest Can there be an Expectation Desire or Capacity in Man of enjoying a Blessedness beyond what is Infinite and Eternal And can there be any Evil so formidable as Everlasting Misery Now both these Objects are set before Men and propounded to their Choice And we are infallibly assured from God himself that all who are sincere and constant in their Choice and Pursuit shall obtain Heaven and that none shall be cast into Hell but those who choose it and therefore most worthily suffer it But O astonishment if with a serious Eye we regard the course of Mens Actions 't is visible that incomparably the greatest number of Christians in Profession love Death and hate Eternal Life Not that 't is possible for the reasonable Creature to do this directly with an explicit aim but virtually and by interpretation They intend Happiness but choose Misery For he that voluntarily breaks the Law of God chooses the known Penalty of its Violation He that prefers this perishing World before Heaven rejects it in the most contumelious manner And such is the depravation of Man since his Fall the Mind being diverted by vain Thoughts and the Heart prepossessed with sensual Desires that till the Spirit of his Mind be renewed and his original Affections to the Supream Good be revived and restored by Divine Grace he is regardless of it and only applies himself to what is pleasing to Sense Therefore a most necessary Duty incumbent upon us is by humble and fervent Prayer to address our selves to God for his Spirit to enlighten our Minds that we may believe the reality and greatness of the Eternal Reward and to reform our Wills that we may feel its attractive Force Both these acts of the Spirit are requisite that the Love of God as our chief Felicity may be the regent Principle of our Hearts and Lives 1. For this end the Holy Spirit convinces Men thorowly of the reality and greatness of an invisible Happiness Indeed the Heathens saw something of this as it were in a Dream they had some transient Glances and volatile Wishes concerning it but miserably weak and ineffectual And in the most of