shew Mercy to all Mankind Pour out thy Spirit upon all Flesh that they may know thee and seek thee and find and praise thee and rejoice in thy abundant Goodness Let thy continual Pity cleanse and defend thy Church Lord look down in mercy upon us and bless us that all the ends of the World may fear thee We pray thee do good to these Nations in which we live according thy infinite Sufficiency and our Necessities Oh let not our Iniquities with-hold good things from us but according to the multitude of thy tender Compassions blot out all our Transgressions Bless our Gracious King and Queen and make the one a Nursing Father and the other a Nursing Mother to that part of thy Church which thou hast planted among us and let their good Influence extend further to the Benefit of it and make Them the Honourable Instruments of Establishing Peace and Truth not only in these but also in the Neighbouring Nations to the Glory of thy great Name Bless all Ranks and Degrees of Men among us and make them to live to thy Glory to be conformable and obedient to our Governours and useful peaceable righteous and charitable one towards another in their several Stations We humbly pray for all Friends Relations Benefactors bless and preserve them from every evil Work and conduct them to thy Heavenly Kingdom Let this Day Oh Lord be happy to us in the fruitful and effectual Influences of thy Ordinances upon our Hearts and Lives Let us not be forgetful Hearers but be Doers of thy Word that we may be blest in our Deed. Grant us to lie down in Peace this Night to rest in Safety And be thou O God our Portion and Refuge in the Land of the Living and hereafter our exceeding great Reward for the sake of Jesus Christ in whose Name and Words we further present our Requests unto thee saying OVR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen THE Heavenly Mind DESCRIBED and URGED Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Colos 3. 2. Set your Affections on Things above and not on things on the Earth HOW well did the Bounteous Creatour of all things contrive the Nature of Man for the making him exceedingly Happy He put into our Constitution an Immortal Spirit join'd to a Living and Sensible Body And so he made us capable of the Delights of both Worlds the Spiritual and the Material By our Souls we are capable to enjoy and delight in Spiritual Objects and their Properties and Qualities We are capable of a rational spiritual Delight in sensible Objects and we are capable to enjoy and delight in God himself and his Infinite Eternal Perfections And by our Bodies which are allied to this World we are capable of a sensual Delight in the things of it to enjoy and please our selves with the Properties Vertues and Qualities belonging to Material things So bounteous and kind was the Creatour to Man in the Forming of him But alas Man has not been kind to himself He did not remain long in the happy State which he was first set in but by following too much the Pleasures of his Sense he lost all the greatest Pleasures of his Mind By eating the Forbidden Fruit he sinned against God lost his Favour and the Enjoyment of him became alienated from God and his Mind became subject to the shameful Disease of Sensuality A low and sordid Propensity to Earthly things did from henceforth possess him and a wretched Incapacity and Averseness towards Heavenly and Spiritual things We are condemned to enjoy only the lowest and weakest and the least part of our Happiness to gnaw as it were on the Shell of Pleasure and enjoy no more than the Brute Beasts do We following the unhappy Fall of our Nature do amuse and entertain our selves only with the poor Objects of Sense utterly forget and neglect our higher Capacities and our true Happiness It is the whole Business of our Religion in all the parts of it to recover us from this shameful and deadly Fall to draw us off from this our wretched Attachment to this World and turn us from a false Happiness to a true one The scope and aim of all its Doctrins Precepts Promises Threatnings Motives and Assistances is this to make us truly happy And the Sum of all is to bring us to what the Apostle here exhorts to in saying Set your Affections on Things above not on Things on the Earth By Things above he means those very things which were recommended to you by the Discourse immediately foregoing this as the chiefest and the true Objects of our Happiness He means God himself who is our Chief Good and the Expressions and Exercises of his peculiar Favour and Love He meâ—â—â— the Graces which the Holy Spirit works 〈◊〉 the Souls of Men which perfect and adorn and compose the Mind He means the everlasting Blessedness which is to come the Happiness and Joys of Heaven By advising to set our Affections on those things he means they should be much the Objects of our Minds he intends the Application of the whole Soul to them and the employing of all our Powers about them The Original word which we render here set your Affections has this large Import and Signification and might be rendered Mind those things which are above Let your Judgments esteem them your Wills chuse and your Affections follow them And not on Things on the Earth that is rather than the Things of the Earth It is according to the Custom and Phrase of the Hebrew Language to express thus when it only intends to prefer the former things it speaks of before the latter So in Hos 6. 6. The Prophet in the Person of God says I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice that is rather than Sacrifice he intended to express God's preference of Mercy before Sacrifice Here then the Apostle who was an Hebrew of Hebrews speaking after the Phrase and Manner of his own Language must be understood to mean Set your Affections on Things above rather than on Things on the Earth Mind those Things most let them have the preference with you He does not forbid nor does our Religion forbid the moderate seeking and enjoyment of the Good things of this World We are not bound to be unsensible of their Goodness to take no delight in them nor absolutely and wholly to refuse or reject all sensual Pleasures The things of this World are good in their Kind and
that thou hast been pleased to make us capable to know and meditate on thy Self to chuse and love thee to desire and enjoy thee who art an Infinite Eternal Good and in whose presence is fulness of Joy Oh how ready should our Hearts be at all times to say Whom have we in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that we can desire besides thee But alas we are degenerated we are fallen from our Original Excellency we are sunk into Sensuality we need to be put in mind and told wherein our true Happiness lies and to be excited urged and exhorted to pursue it We hover here below and seldom have any thoughts or desires moving upwards the objects of Sense detain us with them and we feed on Husks among Beasts we stay and abide upon the lowest and the smallest part of our Happiness Lord we are miserable we are undone and shall perish for ever if thy pity do not rescue us from the Love of these low Things Oh Pardon our guilty and heal our distempered Souls Discover thy self to us and make us love thee shed abroad thy Love abundantly in our Hearts Make us to rise by the Creature to the Creator Guide us by the streams to thee the Fountain of their Goodness and make us as we ought to love thee above all things Let us be governed by thy Love in the whole course of our lives and readily deny our selves to please thee and keep thy Commandments Let us firmly believe the glorious Things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee and draw our Hearts after them to endeavour that our Treasure may be in Heaven in Immutable things And direct us we pray thee so to pass through things Temporal as that we finally lose not the things Eternal Have mercy O Lord upon all Mankind Let the Earth be filled with Knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the Sea and all Men be directed and led in the way to true Happiness Give to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord Pour down an abundant measure of thy Spirit upon thy Church that the Gospel may run and be glorified from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Let them prosper that love it and let not the Gates of Hell ever prevail against it We pray especially for that part of it which thou hast graciously placed in these Nations and hitherto wonderfully detended Lord make it a very fruitful Vineyard and purge out of it all that is contrary to true Doctrin and Godliness Bless we pray thee our Gracious King and Queen and the Royal Family with all Spiritual and Eternal Blessings and give them long and happy Possession of the Throne of these Kingdoms to thy Glory and our Comfort Bless all in Authority under them help them truly and indifferently to administer Justice to the punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the maintainance of thy true Religion and Vertue Give grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops and Curates that they may both by their Life and Doctrin honour thee and guide thy People committed to them in the way of Blessedness Let all the Subjects of this Realm be subject to thee in Loyalty and Subjection and due Obedience to those that are over them in Church and State and let Piety Love Righteousness and Peace and Truth abound among us We commend to thy Fatherly goodness all that are in any Distress and Affliction all our Friends and Relations we pray for our Enemies do for all beyond what we are able to ask or think We humbly ask a comfortable and safe rest this Night and that it may please thee to make the out-goings of the Morning to rejoice Let thy word which we have heard this Day guide our Conversations and let us bring forth in them the Fruits of the Spirit let not the Cares of this World or the Deceitfulness of Riches choke the Word and render it unfruitful but grant we may live to the Glory of thy Name and to the Peace and Salvation of our own Souls by Jesus Christ in whose most comprehensive words we sum up our Requests saying OVR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen THE Necessity of Obedience TO THE COMMANDS of GOD Proved and Stated Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven HOW common a thing is it among those that have heard the glad Tidings of the Gospel for Men to take up a presumptuous reliance upon the Merits of Jesus Christ with neglect of Obedience to the Commands of God! Some of the most profligate and careless Sinners will hope to be saved And if one ask them how They will say by the Merits of Jesus Christ Many indulge themselves in their darling Sins and yet hope to be saved by the Merits of Christ And most certain it is that the Doctrins of some Teachers give occasion to this presumption They occasion Men to think there is nothing necessary to their Salvation but strong Believing and so to endeavour nothing but that and to rely upon the Righteousness of Christ so as to neglect all Endeavour after any Righteousness of their own And this Error and Delusion where it obtains does often prove able to harden a Man against the most earnest Exhortations to leave his Sins yea and even against the most plain Rebukes of Providence for them and to frustrate all other Means of Grace and Conversion whatever It is therefore of great Importance to remove it out of the way and this I shall endeavour by discoursing on these words of our Saviour which if they had been well considered together with many other plain Scriptures it had prevented the entertainment of such Imaginations in the Minds of Men. He had been in a long Discourse enforcing many of the Commands of the Moral Law And now towards the close of this Discourse he begins in this Verse to tell them of what importance and necessity it was to them to practise what he had taught He plainly teaches that no belief in him would avail them any thing if they did not together with it keep the Commands of God Not every one says he that saith to me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven
my behaviour here this short Life has an influence upon the Eternal one If I have lived well and well used the Talents I was entrusted with here I shall enjoy better and more lasting good things there I may justly content my self to be denyed any of these things below if the wise disposer sees fit to do so since better things to full satisfaction are reserved for me But if I live wickedly I must expect that alittle time will put an end for ever to all my present ease and prosperity I must part with all my lov'd Enjoyments and bid a farewell to all mirth and pleasure All my portion of good is in this World and I can enjoy it no longer than while this short and transitory Life lasts It is but a small portion of good then that falls to my share if this be all I must have And it was not worth the being born to be exposed to so many evils to bear so many afflictions to feel the wrackings of so many violent passions as this mortal Life and vale of Tears are acquainted with for the sake of enjoying so little good so short and small a felicity And besides my pleasant Circumstances here will quickly end in Torments and Miseries that will continue for ever Let us I say think much of that other World and divert our thoughts from this That so our affections may be disengaged and we may not be entangled with the Charms and Allurements of this World to our everlasting perdition And having got our selves at liberty from those fatal snares and fetters let us earnestly apply our selves to prepare for and secure a happy State in the Life to come This ought to be our greatest care in this World and employ the most of our endeavours In every other care and endeavour this should be minded and should direct them We should so pursue this World as at the same time to pursue a better and so enjoy this World as that we at the same time may hope for a better Ought we not to be most concerned that we may be happy there where we must be longest Let us behave our selves always in this World as going out of this and going into another where we shall abide and stay Shall we be carefull about a few days to come of this Life and not much rather be solicitous what shall become of us to all Eternity Now to secure our happiness hereafter we must endeavour to make our peace with God to regain his favour by repenting truly of our former Sins by stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life by devoting our selves to Jesus Christ to be followers of him with whom the Father was well-pleased We must then deny all angodliness and worldly Lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present World We must cease to do evil and learn to do well and follow after holiness without which no man can see God no man can be admitted into that presence of God which makes Heaven Let us endeavour to grow reconciled to a very serious and religious Life to become acquainted with and to relish the joys and pleasures of devotion and communion with God To delight in him in meditating on his Nature and Works in praising adoring and worshipping of him Which things will be the great entertainment and happiness of Heaven and therefore till we are suited to such things till we can find the highest pleasure in them and in all acts of Vertue till we can satisfie our selves in such things even with the want of many worldly Enjoyments we are not fit for Heaven nor can be happy in another World But thus to prepare our selves for and secure a happy State hereafter is the best use we can possibly put this our mean Life to And though this Life be so short and transitory we shall have time enough for the securing a better if we do not cheat our selves of it by unnecessary delays and if we apply our selves diligently to this matter And how great an Improvement of our present Life is this How great a gain How much to advantage To employ this Life for the gaining a happy one hereafter is as if a man should lay out Pebbles for Pearls should exchange Dirt for Gold and short liv'd Sparkles for lasting and glorious Stars 'T is to lay out Earth for Heaven to spend time for the purchase of Eternity to use the Creatures so as to make them bring us to God to labour for a very few days that we may enjoy an Eternal rest to deny our selves in a few things and for a little while that we may ere long enjoy full satisfactions everlasting pleasures This is truly and greatly to redeem our time This if we do we shall not regret that our time on Earth was so short and transitory THE PRAYER O Eternal and Almighty God thou art always the same and thy years do not fail thou art the same yesterday and to day and for ever without Variableness or shadow of Change It is upon thee O Lord and thy unchangeable Power that all things else do depend in their Beings and in all their Operations thou fillest Heaven and Earth and thou workest all in all All thy Works praise thee O God and thy Saints bless thee The invisible Things of thee are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even thy Eternal power and Godhead And we O Lord are amongst the number of those whom thou hast Created and dost preserve thou in thy due time didst bring us into Being at our Birth and by thee we are hitherto sustained It is thou that supportest our frail Natures that they fall not into the Dust by thy careful Providence over us we have escaped many Dangers we have got through the weakness of Infancy and the Heedlesness of Childhood by thy Blessing has our Food nourisht and our Cloaths warmed us for we live not by these things alone but by the Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God We are in thy Hands then O thou the Sovereign Arbiter of Life and Death when ever thou pleasest we return to the Dust from whence we were Created We acknowledge it is of thy Mercy that we are not consumed and because thy Compassions fail not And we are afraid when we think how easily thou canst crush and destroy us how frail our Life is and how short and Transitory how little a distance we are from Eternity and how exposed our Lives are how many Evils and Dangers compass us about and how small a Matter is able to put an end to our Days These things when we consider them make us look upon our selves as always just at the brink of the Grave and Eternity And while we have liv'd careless of our Duty to thee while we have liv'd in Rebellion against thee we have been upon the brink of Hell and in continual Danger of falling into it Had thy wrath been kindled against us but for a
serious enquiring Thought whether they are in Favour with God or not Whether the Almighty be to them a Friend or an Enemy That never did set themselves down seriously to examine into this Matter or that would continue the enquiry till they came to a well-grounded Determination concerning their State And do such indeed desire an Interest in the Love of God Are there not also many that take no care to please God who follow their own Inclinations without any regard to his Will and Laws and so do daily affront and displease him And and are these concern'd for an Interest in his Favour These that live in gainful or pleasant Sins and will not be persuaded to leave them for the Favour of God Or they that live in the habitual constant Practice of the most needless Sins such as Swearing Cursing Backbiting Slandering or in the most mischievous and hurtful Sins such as Intemperance and Prodigality and will not leave them for the Favour of God Are they concern'd for an Interest in that How many besides are there that put off this Concern and Care and bid it stand by till they have accomplisht some other Designs Do they not think that they may accomplish Designs which will be of Advantage to them without the Favour and Blessing of God upon them Do they not think those Designs more necessary and advantagious to them than that And is not this to slight and undervalue that To account it but a needless or an indifferent thing Thus it is but too evident that a great many neglect this Blessedness And by these things we may understand our selves if we will compare them with our own Carriage and may see whether we have been in this Folly or not And indeed it may hereby appear that the best of us may charge our selves with having been too deep in it that we have followed the things which are seen too much and the unseen things too little We have loved and sought the Creature more than the Creator But we must not observe this without making our selves sensible of the Guilt and Folly of it and Resolutions to be careful for the future that we may avoid it Let this then be the Matter of our Shame and Sorrow Let us consider how we must needs have offended God herein That we have been guilty of the Idolatry of the Heart in loving and seeking more the things of this World than the enjoyment of God that we have been herein very ungrateful to his Creating Goodness in despising and neglecting that Happiness which he made us capable to enjoy that we have despised the Blood and Death of the Redeemer whereby an Attonement has been made for our Sins and Salvation purchast for us at a costly Rate even the Salvation which herein we have neglected Let us own then that we have greatly sinned so far as we have been guilty in this Matter and have deserved the most terrible Punishment We have deserved that God should put us off with any thing rather than his Love while we have been seeking any thing more than that We deserve to feel the everlasting Terrors of his Anger if we despise his Love and may reckon it an amazing Instance of his Mercy and Patience that we are yet spared and have time to recollect and amend our selves Let us confess our Sin and resolve to amend it Let us by frequent consideration of the Necessity the Usefulness the Happiness of God's Favour bring our selves to have a mighty esteem and value for it and raise in our selves the most earnest desires and longings after it Let us readily put far away from us all things that will forfeit and lose the Favour of God Let us be diligent and industrious in our Duty in doing the things that will please him And then let us ask for this and we shall receive it Let us seek and we shall find let us knock and this full Treasury of Blessings shall be opened to us THE PRAYER INfinite and Almighty Lord our God Thou art he who hast made the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them Thou art the Fountain Good and the sufficiency of every Creature in Heaven and Earth We acknowledge O Lord it is in thee that we live move and have our Being and all our fresh Springs are in thee Thou art an Infinite Good and after all thy Communications to thy Creatures dost remain the same In thee still does all Fulness dwell To thee O Lord do we poor and miserable Creatures make our humble Addresses Thou alone hast the words of Eternal Life Thou only canst make us happy In thy Favour is Life even Eternal Life and thy loving kindness extends beyond the bounds of our present mortal Life Oh Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us and bless and be merciful unto us Enlighten our darkness strengthen our weakness sanctisy our unholy and polluted Natures communicate of thy fulness to the supply of all our wants that we may rejoice in thy Goodness and always live to thy Glory Lord we humble and abase our selves before thee for that we have heretofore so little valued thy Favour or concern'd our selves to enjoy it We foolish Creatures have been ready to prefer any thing before it we have valued the gratifying of impertment and unreasonable desires the getting a little worldly Gain the enjoying a little sensual Pleasure above the matchless Blessings of thy Love We have not believed thy Goodness nor been able to trust thy Favour and Love to take care of and provide for us Thus are we exceeding guilty and while we remain thus estranged from thee we can never be happy We beseech thee O Lord deal not with us after our Sins neither reward us according our to our Iniquities When we humbly confess our Sins do thou graciously forgive them and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness Make us for the future to value thy Love above all things and therefore to set our selves with great care to do those things that are well-pleasing in thy sight and to avoid whatever is offensive to the pure Eyes of thy Glory Let us be sensible that it is only the pure in Heart that can see thee and therefore be industrious to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in thy Fear Lord we give thanks for thy Forbearance and Patience towards us that thou hast not yet cut us off and sent us to Eternal misery that we have yet Means of Grace and Hopes of Glory Let thy Goodness and Forbearance lead us effectually to unfeigned Repentance and end in a full remission of all our Sins Transform us into thy likeness by the renewing of our Minds and let the light of thy Countenance beautify and adorn us Love us into loveliness Oh thou Almighty Love that thou mayest then delight in us and we as we ought may have our chief delight in thee We pray thee
guilty Conscience which are far worse things than any outward Afflictions and certainly much more intolerable than all the Labours or Self-denials of Religion Guilt when a Man is sensible of it is a very heavy and uneasy Burden Solomon very justly says A wounded Spirit who can bear When a Man's Conscience tells him he has plaid the Fool he has deserved the Hatred of God and the Contempt of Man he has needlesly and madly hurt his own Body impair'd his Estate and blasted his Reputation he has made the Almighty God and the Supream Disposer his just Enemy that he has forfeited his Life and all that he enjoys and delights in to Divine Justice that Vengeance hovers continually over his Head that he may justly fear every Black Cloud to be charged with it that evil haunts and pursues him every where that he is always as it were on the brink of the Bottomless Pit that he hangs over the Everlasting Flames but by the slender and weak Thread of this mortal Life These Thoughts will imbitter his strongest Pleasures and spoil the Comfort and Joy of the greatest Prosperity And these Terrors he is exposed to continually who will not live well We must often feel these or take pains to be Religious It costs the foolish Sinner a great deal of Labour and Endeavour to divert these Thoughts when with less labour he might prevent the Sins that occasion them and notwithstanding all his Endeavour they will have their times to invade and afflict him 3. Without taking Pains to be Religious the Sinner must endure the everlasting Torments of Hell Is it not then apparently wiser to bear the taking Pains to be Religious than to bear those Torments The Difficulty of Religion will abate and grow less but those Torments will never abate He that thinks the Rules of Religion such an ungrateful Confinement will certainly account that Eternal Prison a worse if ever he comes there He that will not deny himself at all now for the conveniency of Serving God and for the doing of his Duty shall be denied all Comfort and Satisfaction there for ever He that will not mortify his Sins must die himself for them a miserable and eternal Death And must needs bring himself at last to that for there is no Middle Way between the Broad and the Narrow One nor a Middle State at the End between Happiness and Misery And is it not easie now to determine between these Two things where to fix our Choice Whether we will endure the short Labours of Religion or be condemned to dwell with everlasting Burnings This is a Third Argument 4. Lastly Our Saviour in the Text affords us another with which I shall conclude and that is We shall find Rest to our Souls This shall be the blissful Reward of our taking up the Yoke of Christ This Labour in Religion brings to Rest when that in Sin brings to Torment and Trouble The First and present Fruit and Reward of it is Rest and Peace within a happy Freedom from tormenting Passions from craving and unruly Lusts and unquiet Appetites Freedom from the Fears of Death and Damnation And then Religion has the Hopes of Rest to come for there remains a Rest for the People of God A Rest even from the present Labours of Religion We shall have an Eternal Rest for a few Moments Labour and Striving He that endures to the end of a short Life the same shall be saved To him that overcomes says our Saviour will I give to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. 21. Here is a Promise of Safety Honour and Rest for ever of a glorious honourable and happy Rest Thus if we will but be so wise as to endeavour the avoiding everlasting Misery we shall be rewarded with everlasting Happiness The PRAYER MOst Great and most glorious God excellent in thy Nature and wonderful in thy Works in Wisdom hast thou made them all Every Creature was perfect in its kind and fit for all the Uses and Operations that would become it and that thou didst intend it for And thou O Lord madest Man a rational Creature with an immortal Spirit in him as he was therein fitted for great and noble Actions so thou didst intend him for Actions suitable to the Dignity of such a Nature thou didst intend him to know and adore thee to love and praise thee to do good to practice Justice to exercise faithfulness and truth to make a spiritual and religious use of the Things of this World and to do thy Will on Earth as the blessed Angels do it in Heaven Oh Lord with what great grief and shame do we look back upon our Original excellency when alas we have wretchedly lost it and from being made by thee but little lower than the Angels we have made our selves more vile than the Beasts that perish instead of living like Angels we are become earthly sensual and devilish Oh how unfit are we now how unable to do any thing that is good We cannot so much as think a good Thought or speak a good Word or perform a good Action We cannot do what we were made for We cannot answer our honourable End but do degrade and debase our selves by living far below it And that is become now difficult to us and unpleasant which before was easy and pleasant It was originally natural to us to be vertuous and Pious it was as Meat and Drink to be doing our Fathers Will but now our disorder'd Faculties naturally do ill We must endeavour to do Good and cannot without thy Grace attain to it This Grace therefore O Lord we humbly seek we earnestly implore in the Name of Jesus Christ And we thank thee for the leave we have to seek for the hopes to attain it As a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth those that seek him And if earthly Parents know how to give good Gifts to their Children much rather do we believe that thou our heavenly Father wilt give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Oh grant us the constant influence and assistance of thy good Spirit Let us never yield to any Difficulty of performing our Duty but earnestly strive to enter in at the strait Gate Quicken our Endeavours with the hopes of Assistance Strengthen them with the expectation of a glorious Reward and continue them to persevere to the end by the Assurance that we shall hereafter be Partakers of everlasting Rest Let us never be a weary of well-doing but stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord as knowing that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord We humbly thank thee O Lord for the Liberty of approaching thy Sanctuary and of using thy Ordinances do thou we pray thee give them a mighty Efficacy and Power upon us While we thus wait on the Lord let us renew our Strength and with fresh Vigour
wickedness and impiety debase and disparage us These latter deform us into the likeness of the Devil and so make us truely more vile than the Beasts that perish So much reason is there that we earnestly endeavour then to adorn our Souls with Piety and Vertue 4. And Lastly The Excellency and Immortality of our Souls should make us greatly concerned to secure and attain for them an Everlasting Happiness Since we are capable of such an one we should not rest till we have some good assurance of it It would become us and it were our Wisdom to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure as the Apostle advises We should work out our salvation with fear and trembling Let every man then take it into his most deliberate Thoughts What shall become of him to all Eternity Let this be a great concern with us all When this frail Tabernacle of my Body shall be taken down in which my Soul now dwells Where then shall my poor banisht Soul abide Where Oh where shall that be then disposed of To what company shall I go for I cannot be happy alone And what good things shall I then enjoy for I have not a self-sufficiency within me I am told and assured of two very different States after this Life the one of perfect Happiness and the other of perfect Misery To which of these two States am I likely to be doom'd since I am immortal and must abide forever in that I am sent to it greatly concerns me to know which of them it shall be The one is designed for good Men and the other for the Bad Which is it then of these two Characters that I bear Since the course of my Life has a certain tendency towards the one or the other of these and I shall fare hereafter according as I have lived here let me consider well what a Course I take Am I sit to dwell in the kind and loving World above if I harbour any Malice or Envy or Hatred in my Heart Am I fit for the pure Mansions of Heaven if I live in sensual and brutish Sins Am I fit to live with those who are all faithful and true with the God of Truth and Righteousness if I am deceitful and unjust and had rather be cunning than sincere Am I fit to be in the presence of God and in the Company of those that Reverence and Adore him if I am habitually Prophane and accustomed to despise all things that are Sacred and to abuse the awful Name of God in vain Oaths and Perjuries Am I sit to leave this World and to be happy out of it if my Heart be so set upon it that I can love I can relish and delight in nothing but what is of this World If this be my Condition and this has been my Course of Life certainly this will not bring me to Heaven If a man finds then that it has been thus with him he should resolve to stop and divert his Course Since without Holiness no man shall see God we must follow after Holiness we must follow after these Divine Qualifications that have been mentioned as things necessary to our everlasting Happiness We must cease to do evil and learn to do well and devote our selves to the Service of God in a course of universal Obedience to his Commands we must repent of our past Sins that they may be blotted out we must purify our selves as God is pure Blessed says our Saviour are the pure in heart for they shall see God We must cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God and present our selves and our repentance and obedience all in the Name of Jesus Christ hoping for acceptance through him and for the favour of God to be bestowed upon us only for his sake Let it be consider'd that we must either dwell with God and his holy Angels in everlasting Joy and Bliss or be doom'd to the Prisons of the Devils and confin'd to dwell with enraged and wicked and spiteful Companions If we must not dwell in the Regions of Light we shall be dismissed to the gloomy Caves of everlasting Darkness If we are not admitted to the Joys and Hymns and Praises of Heaven we shall be condemned to the Howlings and Discords and Torments of Hell and there bear a sad part our selves in those Everlasting Sorrows There is no Middle State but the one or the other of these will be our everlasting and unalterable Portion Life and Death are set before us and we have leave to chuse between them But it is so That if we will not chuse Life we shall not be at Liberty to refuse Death If we do not chuse Life and Happiness and earnestly and steadily engage in the Course that leads to it we must fall into the other destruction and misery will come of themselves How shall we escape says the Apostle If we neglect so great Salvation Let it be consider'd that we must determine our choice between these two things while our present Life lasts not a moment more will be allowed us to do it in and this Life is of uncertain duration and most certainly is hastning away It is best for us therefore to hasten our choice in this Matter and to be very constant and steady in the way to Happiness when we have chosen that THE PRAYER OEternal and Almighty God! Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth or the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God Thy duration is without beginning or end and thou art the Author and End of all things besides thy self It is thou O Lord that hast made us and not we our selves Thou hast sent us into this world to enjoy it a while to study and see Thee in the things about us to praise Thee for their Excellency and Goodness to love Thee for them and more than them as being the Fountain and Center of all that Goodness which is scattered and dispersed among them And thou hast made us for the high and noble Happiness of enjoying thy self O Lord how great and good things hast thou designed us for and how low and mean things do we consine our selves to We are ashamed to think how seldom we think of thee we use thy Creatures and thy Gifts and forget thy Self we are charmed and detained with that little Goodness that is in them and neglect that infinite Abundance which is in thee we commonly make but a low animal use of the things of this world considering in them only their suitableness to the Appetites and Necessities of our Bodies and valuing and delighting in them only for that and so they do not raise up our minds to thee And thus it comes to pass that we seek none but these things we live as if we were not made capable of better we seek our Happiness where it is not and neglect it where it is
them Vouchsafe to direct sanctifie and govern both our Hearts and Bodies in the way of thy Law and in the works of thy Commandments Cleanse thou the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of thy Holy Spirit that we may sincerely love thee and duly magnify thy Holy Name truly serving thee with Soul and Body which are thine Lord have mercy upon us and write all thy Laws in our Hearts we beseech thee Enlighten our Darkness cure our Ignorance with all necessary Knowledge of thee and of thy Christ Change our Wills and turn the biass of them from this World towards thy Self from empty and vain Goods to full and Substantial ones from the pleasures of Sense to the accomplishments of the Mind Make us more indifferent about our outward Circumstances and more concern'd about the inward State and Disposition of our Souls and to account it our greatest Felicity to do well to please thee and approve our selves unto thee Make our vain and light Minds serious and wise furnish us with the Gifts of thy good Spirit for every good work for thou alone art the Giver of every Good and every perfect Gift it is by thee alone O Lord that we can be inabled to please thee we alas are not able of our selves to think a good Thought Help us to set thee always before us in the frequent Thoughts of thee and an habitual reverence and fear of thee that a sense of thy continual presence and observance may restrain us from all evil and encourage and quicken us to mind and do our Duty We humbly implore thy Mercy upon all Men Convert unto thy Self all Jews Turks and Heathens bring them from their several Ways of Vanity to know and worship thee the only true God by Jesus the true Christ and Mediator Give the Heathen for an Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for a Possession to thy well-beloved Son Give unto thy Church all that is necessary to it to amend and purge away what is amiss and to supply what is defective in it and to make it fruitful in all good Works and that all who profess and call themselves Christians may have their Conversation such as become the Gospel Bless we pray thee and defend these Nations in which we live Bless us with a continuance of wise and kind and righteous Governours and of loyal peaceable and obedient Subjects Give peace in our Days we humbly beseech thee for there is none we rely upon to fight for us but only thou O God Establish Truth among us for all Generations bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived Remember in Mercy all that are dear and related to us Give them things necessary for Life and Godliness Guide them O Lord by thy Counsel through this world and bring them at last unto thy Glory Sanctify us by thy word which has been this day spoken to us and promote in us thereby all Vertue and Godliness of living Forgive the wandring of our Minds in our attendance upon thee and all other defects in our Duty and comfort us with the light of thy Countenance Be thou our gracious Protector this Night for in thee alone do we put our Trust And if it please thee to allow another Day and yet a longer time on Earth Grant that it may be spent in thy fear and in a diligent and unwearied application to all that which is our Duty This we humbly ask and whatever thou seest to be most expedient for us committing and resigning our selves entirely to thy Conduct and disposal and hoping in thy Mercy through Jesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost we desire to ascribe all Praise and Glory and Domihion for ever and ever Our Father c. OF True Happiness Wherein it lies DEMONSTRATED Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Psalm 4. 6 7. There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased IT is the natural and common desire of Mankind to be happy and is the End which they aim at and propose to themselves in their several Pursuits and Endeavours But as the Psalmist speaks here There be many that say who will shew us good The Many the most of men are at a great loss in this Matter and do not know where their true Happiness lies nor in what course or way to attain it Their uncertainty in this Matter is represented by these words of the Psalmist and is too evidently seen in the common Practice of the World The Human Nature is the same in all Mankind we have all of us reasonable immortal Souls we have all the same Capacities And our Happiness rightly and truly considered must be to all the same The same Object must make all men Happy and they must obtain that in the same way But alas how is the World distracted and divided in the pursuit of Happiness Some of them running one way after it and some another and the most of them neglecting and diverting from the true Object With some there is no Felicity like the heaping up of Wealth like the sight of full Bags or great purchases and they delight in nothing so much as in gainful Bargains With others there is nothing so pleasant as to spend and they delight in this as much as the others do in getting The Pleasures of this World are their beloved Felicity to eat and drink and rise up to play With others there is no Heaven like Honour and Command the having Authority and Power among Men the being courted and sought to respected and obeyed With some how great a Felicity is it to be fine and to have all things about them so To have Themselves their Houses their Entertainments and all that belongs to them gaudy and pompous and much adorned Thus are Mankind disperst thus they wander in the pursuit of Happiness And thus the Many are taken up and employed in this great Concern Having exprest the Uncertainty and intimated the wandering of the Generality in this Affair The Psalmist next expresses what he sought as the Object of Happiness in these words Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Which is as much as to say Lord let us have an Interest in thy Favour regard us with kindness and Love let us enjoy the Exercises and Benefits of thy peculiar Favour and Mercy It might be shewn you by the use of this Phrase in other places of Scripture that this is the sense and meaning of it When he had made this Request he adds
the Reason of it in the following words of the Text Thou hast put gladness in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased Which words intimate that he had received more Joy and Gladness from what enjoyment of the light of God's Countenance had been afforded him that any others could ever derive from their Corn and Wine or from the greatest Encrease of them He intimates that God is the true Object of our Happiness that the Favour of God exprest and exercised towards us is a far better Spring and Source of Content and Comfort than the Profits and Pleasures of this World can be We may reckon that this is what we are taught in these words It shall be the Business of the present Discourse chiefly to prove this which is here intimated to us To shew that David was certainly in the right and was well directed when this was his choice and the chief desire of his Soul to enjoy an Interest in the Favour of God The proof of this we shall abundantly derive from these two Heads of Discourse 1. From the Person Loving 2. From the Benefits which his Love in the Exercise of it does bestow First let us consider well the Person Loving and we cannot chuse but conclude That it must be the greatest Happiness imaginable to be the Object of his peculiar Favour He is the Great God the Creator of all Things the Fountain Good the Owner and Lord and the Disposer of all things As he is Owner and Disposer of all things every Creature has such a Portion of Good as he is pleased to allot it and so we depend upon him for to be as happy as this World can make us since 't is he that does unalterably assign to every one of us our measure of this World's Goods But if we have an Interest in his peculiar Favour who is Owner and Lord of Heaven and Earth This includes at least all the Goodness of Heaven and Earth If God be ours as he is if we are his peculiar Favourites then all else is ours too The Apostle speaking to such Persons says Whether the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come All are yours 1 Cor. 3. 22. That is you have such an Interest in them by your Interest in the Favour of God that ye shall not want any of them that is good and convenient for ye In this is the Satisfaction of all our just Desires contained and the Supply of all our Wants This is Rest to the Weary Eyes to the Blind Feet to the Lame Company to the Solitary From him all other Beings derive all their Worth and Goodness He then is the Sufficiency of All and it must be from his Blessing upon them that they have any Goodness and Suitableness or Comfort in them So that if we could have any thing else without his Favour we shall if he pleases have but little help or comfort from it But since all the Creatures and whatever we can enjoy besides him have all their Goodness from him He must have in him more than all and the Enjoyment of him in his Love must needs bemore than any number of them we can get together It is the Love of him who is Infinite in Power who is an unexhaustible Fulness Who after all his Communications to Creatures remains still the same Infinite Source of Good The Love of God then is richer than Ten thousand Worlds If we want any thing else which this World cannot afford towards our Happiness and many such Wants indeed is our wretched Nature subject to He can bestow it We can want no good thing which he cannot give The Love of God can supply the defect and want of any thing else and make us happy without it This is Light without a Sun Strength without Food Health without Physick Altho the Fig-tree shall not Blossom neither shall the Fruit be in the Vine The Labour of the Olive shall fail and the Fields shall yield no meat The Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stall Yet will I rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation said the Prophet in the name of those whom God regards with his peculiar Favour and Love Hab. 3. 17 18. From the Love of God we cannot expect too much This is a Blessing which exceeds and does not fall below our Expectations we may rest in that for we cannot imagine any thing beyond it that we can desire We may find more delight in that than we can conceive it is so full and able to bless that we cannot desire so much as it can afford God is able to do for us exceeding abundantly beyond all that we are able to ask or think What bounds can be set to Infinite Attributes and the Exercise of them so as to say hitherto they can go and no further And what a boundless Pleasure and Content must the Soul take who is a Favourite of such Love As God is Incomprehensible his Love is Incomprehensible and he whom it favours may say I cannot conceive how rich I am in his Love I am not able to conceive all the vast Felicity it contains and gives me an Interest in Further the Love of God is also like himself Eternal This is a most lasting Portion then it is durable Riches As long as God endures who is Everlasting and his Love which is Unchangeable and the Soul of Man which is Immortal so long may we enjoy the Felicity of his Favour and the blissful Exercise of his Love This is not a thing of a frail or fading Nature It is not one of those things which perish in the using which make themselves wings very often and fly away which we cannot certainly enjoy all our Days on Earth or which we must be certainly stript of when we lie down in the Dust This may certainly render us happy all our Days in this Life O satisfy us early with thy Mercy so shall we rejoice and be glad all our Days says the Psalmist Psal 90. Intimating That if they had an assured Interest in the Love of God this would be a certain ground of Satisfaction and Content for all the Days of this their mortal Life This is true and besides when we go away from this World when we must leave for ever all that we enjoy of it This may be our Portion still and can bless us with the Goods of Eternity And what Security and Peace is there in the Thought that this may be an Everlasting Source of Blessings How pure and perfect and high is the delight in this while it is not allayed with the fears or expectations of losing that which makes us so happy Thus we may see that the Person loving does mightily recommend the Love of God and that we may from thence conclude the Happiness of those who are the Objects of it Now let us see
How easy and calm a condition may that Man's mind be in at all times who has this assurance Further we must reckon that this consideration exceedingly heightens the sweetness of every good we enjoy To consider this is the Favour of Heaven to me I receive this Enjoyment from the peculiar Love of God to me The enjoyment of that which is the Fruit of a Man 's own Pains and Labour adds much to the Pleasure of the Enjoyment But the Favour of God and his Blessing contributes much more When I can say This that I now have proceeds from that special Favour of Heaven which takes care of me 4. Lastly The peculiar Favour of God gives to those whom he so loves an assured and safe Right and Title to the Everlasting Blessedness which is to come They are the certain Heirs of Heaven The Love of the Father is promised to them that believe in Christ And this Love has promised to give them Eternal Life His Love will never cease blessing them till it has made them perfectly Blessed Till it has cured all their Imperfections has supplied all their Wants has removed from them all Evil and set them safe in perfect Bliss This is the Condition of the Future Blessedness which they are designed for No desirable Thing shall be wanting there neither shall any evil encumber it And this shall be the Rich and Bounteous and Everlasting Portion of those whom God loves They may expect that the good Work of Sanctification which is begun in them shall be perfected unto the Day of Jesus Christ That the Lord Jesus will keep them from every Evil work and preserve them to his Heavenly Kingdom And how comfortably must a Man spend his Days under this joyful Expectation Every thing here may mind him of his Home the happy Canaan above The good things here may tell him of better there and when any of these please he can say How much more pleasant are the things which are there The Griefs on Earth may put him in mind of the Joys of Heaven and when any thing troubles him here he can consider there is no such trouble there The Mutation of Earthly things may call to his Mind the Stability and Durableness of the Heavenly and this may comfort when the other vexes him How pleasantly does he spend his Days that is all his Life long travelling towards Heaven It does not trouble him to perceive his Time waste and spend its self apace His Heart and Affections are removed to Heaven already and he is glad that Time makes haste to remove his Person thither too He is glad to think that it is continually doing so He knows that whenever Time shall commit him to Eternity he shall go from lower degrees of Happiness to higher from that which suffers some Interruptions here at least as to the Sense and Enjoyment of it to that which shall never know any Interruptions The Light of God's Countenance may have some Intervals of Darkness now mingled with it but then it shall shine bright upon him for ever and make a continually happy Day of Glory He goes from a mixed Happiness to a pure and perfect one He does not go naked out of the World but well provided for in another since God will there be his everlasting Portion and exceeding great Reward Now I have done the Proof of this Truth That the Favour of God is the most desirable Good and the enjoyment of that the best Spring and Fountain of our Happiness and Comfort I have dwelt long upon this as I said the Discourse would chiefly be employed in it and may I think be excused for staying long among so many pleasant Thoughts as the Love of God suggests Application I shall say but little now for Application of these things because I intend the following Discourse to be Applicatory of this For the present let us reflect a little upon what has been said And do not these things which have been said of the Love of God naturally lead us to condemn both in our selves or others all the neglect there is among us of so matchless a Benefit Is it not a wonderful thing that Mankind should neglect the Love of God That it should be common and general among Men to have little or no Concern for an Interest in that And yet it is thus with the World The Psalmist here does not say There be many that say Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Alas the Many follow other Goods and neglect this They spend their Labour for that which is not Bread and their Mony for that which will not profit and neglect the true Felicity There is nothing so little minded in the World as the securing an Interest in the Love of God There are many guilty of this that do not observe it in themselves Let us see then who must be charged with this Folly that so we may discover what there is of it in our selves Some look upon the Love of God as a thing that will come of its self without any seeking or endeavours after it and it is a very cheap thing in their Opinion of it They have such an Opinion of the Goodness of God that they think he cannot be affronted or displeased but will love them however they carry themselves towards him They think he will love them tho they do not much care for his Love tho they never seek tho they continually forfeit and despise it They think indeed that he will cast Pearls before Swine Many really do not value the Love of God they do not consider the Necessity and Worth of it They have God himself very little in their Thoughts and so they do not know or they consider not the Importance of an Interest in his Love They do not consider that an Over-ruling Providence mingles its self with all things That they have all they enjoy from him That they must be Beholden to him for an Happy Life on Earth and they banish utterly from their Thoughts all concern and care about the Life to come Is not any thing preferr'd by a great many before this that comes in competition with it Do they not value a little unprofitabl Gain a little foolish Pleasure a little slippery Honour and the most transient Gratisications of their desires of any sort more than the Love of an Infinite Eternal God Do not men commonly expect their Happiness from the things of this World from what they can see or taste or feel Are not sensible things most sensible to the dull and carnal Minds of Men How little Charm or Invitation has this thin invisible Blessing with it to a great many They forget that the things which are not seen are Eternal That Spiritu-things are the greatest and the most considerable Spiritual things are as nothing to them they have not the Senses of their Minds exercised to discern such things And further Are there not many that never had a
so happy as to gain an Interest in his Favour and to be in some measure Partakers of the Blessings of his Love it will be the Temper of our Minds to delight greatly in the things above highly will the Thoughts of our Happiness please us we shall be able to say of God as David did My Meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad or rejoice in the Lord Psal 104. This will be the chief delight and solace of the Heavenly Soul to think God loves me the most High has a peculiar favour for me This God is my God for ever and ever With highest Pleasure will the Soul say My Beloved is mine and I am his There is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness And if such be the most welcome and pleasant Thoughts it cannot be but they will be very frequent ones Oh how I love thy Law says David It is my Meditation all the Day Psal 119. 97. When we can let many Days pass over our Heads without one serious and sensible Thought of Heavenly things this is a Symptom of an Earthly and Carnal Mind The Heavenly Mind is necessitated and drawn to other Thoughts but it enclines to these And the Sabbaths and publick Worship of God are a great delight to such a Man When he may be separated from the Concerns of the World to contemplate the Riches of God's Love to taste the sweetness of it to consider the Beauty of Holiness and the Joys of Heaven The Sense of his Soul is the same with that which David expresses Psal 84. 10. A Day in thy Courts is better than a Thousand I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness And Solomon puts a mighty value and esteem for the Worship and Sacred Ordinances of God and an excessive delight in them into the Character of a devout Soul which he gives us in his sublime Song Cant. 2. 34. 5. where after he had made her say As the Apple-tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons She carries on the Metaphor and says I sate down under his Shadow with great delight and his Fruit was sweet unto my taste He brought me into the Banquetting-house and his Banner over me was love And being thus entertained with his Love she is transported with delight she is as it were overwhelmed with Joy Stay me with Apples says she Comfort me with Flaggons for I am sick of love Which is as much as to say Thy Love dear Lord is great like thy Self and far greater than my narrow Capacity When I consider when I feel it when I enjoy the exercises of it in Holy Communion with thee I am me thinks my self all Love I am transported in Extasies of Love and the Love I feel in my self and the delight I take in thine are a Pleasure even too great forme without thy assistance to bear it If our Mind and Heart were truly set on things above we should go from Publick Devotion to Private either in our Closets or Families Certainly he that loves those things and wishes to be employed to Eternity about them cannot think One whole Day in Seven too much to be separated entirely from the World for the enjoyment of them And the Heavenly Soul will be often discoursing of Heavenly things It is a Pleasure to speak of that we extreamly love The Holy Soul represented in the Canticles does so often extol her Beloved and so stay and dwell upon the Descriptions Commendations and Discourses concerning Christ as does sufficiently shew He is indeed her Beloved The Society therefore wherein such an one may best discourse of his Heart 's chief Joy will be always most acceptable and desirable to him Those that value highly the same things that we value and love will be most agreeable to us especially in such cases where there can be no rivalling of each other as it is in this Heavenly Souls will be most acceptable to the Heavenly And the Joy and Pleasure which attends the Thoughts and Remembrance of those heavenly Things which they are partly possest and partly in expectation of will be able in a little time at least to overcome every worldly Sorrow Lastly If we value and love Heaven and things above more than things on the Earth we must greatly desire to be in Heaven We must needs desire to be advanced to that State where we shall more perfectly enjoy those things than we can here where we shall be satisfied with the communicated likeness of God in our perfect and compleat Sanctification where we shall enjoy perfect Rest and Blessendness we cannot chuse but desire that State where as we shall have a fuller enjoyment of the things we mostly love so the enjoyment of them shall be more constant and uninterrupted where we shall have the light of God's Countenance always shining bright upon us where no Clouds no Eclipses shall hide or any Night ever take it from us but it shall make a continual joyful and glorious Day The Soul then that does truly relish and delight in these Divine things cannot be satisfied to be here but will with submission to the Will of God long for the time of his removal to that better State He will not think his Life on Earth too short but rather too long and be ready to say When will this my tedious Pilgrimage be over When shall I come and appear before God! He is not only contented but even desirous with St. Paul To depart and to be with Christ He can willingly forsake not only a poor mean and laborious State on Earth but even a rich prosperous and easy one for the better Enjoyments of Heaven For that which he enjoys of Heaven here is that which he chiefly delights in And since the second Coming of Christ is that which brings him his full Redemption and the perfect Fruition of all that he desires he will greatly long for that he will be one of those that love his Appearing He has the Spirit of the Bride in him who says Come Lord Jesus come quickly in Rev. 22. Or as the holy Souls before his first Coming in longing desire after that Cant. 8. 14. He will say for his Second Make haste my Beloved and be thou like a Roe or to a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices Thus must our Will and Affections prefer the Things above 3. Those things must have also the Preference of our Actions and Course of Life And it is a certain consequent and fruit of the other two Particulars and the best Indication of them in us that we chiefly endeavour after and mostly seek and pursue the Things above It is necessarily included in the minding those Things that we seek them and endeavour to be Partakers of them We must strive to enter in at the strait gate we must give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure we must work out
being in Honour abideth not Psal 49. 12. And Solomon says If a man live many years and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many Eccles. 11. 8. They shall be many in comparison to the longest life on Earth The Sinner then is to enjoy what he gets here but a little while and is to be much longer without it for as he came naked into the world so he must return naked out of it Perhaps he spends the greatest part of his Life in getting and enjoys but for a little while in the latter end of it His Labour and Care take up the most of his life and his rest and ease have but a very small parcel of it It may be as soon as he has by any means scraped together a plentiful portion of this world and then proposes to himself to sit down and enjoy it he is then suddenly snatcht away from all by Death Let us say then with the Psalmist Verily every man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity and by Consequence it must be true what our Text says He that soweth Iniquity shall reap but Vanity And this I think to be now sufficiently prov'd APPLICATION I shall now briefly suggest some use that we may make of these things and conclude 1. These Justifie the Providence of God in permitting the outward Prosperity of wicked men and should keep us from being any way disturbed when we observe it The foregoing Discourse does abundantly demonstrate that this is a thing very well consisting with a Providence and agreeing enough with the Wisdom and Justice of it God gives them but a poor low mean and outward prosperity That may be said of any wicked mans Prosperity which the Prophet says of theirs who were the Enemies of God's Church Isa 29. 8. It shall be as when an hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his Soul is empty Or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath Appetite so shall the multitude be says he of all the Nations that fight against Mount Sion Wicked men can have no content no satisfaction in their Prosperity We value these low outward goods too highly we account them better than they are when we envy an ill man the possession of them These are such things as a man may have without the favour and blessing of God A man may have them and not enjoy them When we see the gaudy outside of a sinners condition and are apt to call the proud fool happy for it let us consider what may dwell within him at the same time and there perhaps we may see shamefull folly hurtfull vices uneasy passions He is perhaps held bound in the chains of his Sins and his own disorderly Appetites and Passions are his cruel tormentors and can we think such a man highly favoured or so much deserving envy as Disdain or Pity Let us consider too the short continuance of all this felicity and not be afraid of these men not be discouraged in our duty nor impatient if we suffer by them For they shall soon be cut down as the grass and wither as the green herb Psal 37. 2. Within a little while the powerful wicked men will be weak and the rich poor He whose Pride and Ambition troubled all the world and could not be contented with the bounds of a large Kingdom shall in a little time be stript of all his greatness be confin'd within the compass of a few feet of Earth and become Prisoner to a Grave 2. To conclude Let what has been said be able to turn us all from a wicked to a good and vertuous course of Life Let us resolve to leave an unprofitable course of Life and cease to spend our Labour for that which is not Bread and our Mony for that which will not profit us Let us not endure the Thoughts of losing a Life of living to no good purpose to no advantage to our selves 't is altogether foolish and unbecoming our reason to chuse a vain life and to aim at no good and profitable end But this will appear a very great and strong argument if we will consider too that this course of life as it will not profit 't will hurt us as it can afford no great advantage it will bring great damage It forfeits and loses us the favour of God the everlasting happiness he would bestow on us It provokes his wrath and tends to everlasting misery and should we follow such a course for no advantage to get nothing that is of any great worth by it It greatly heightens the guilt and folly of Sin that there is so little reason for it so little inducement to it It is a thing unnecessary and unprofitable Let us all then resolve immediately to forsake the ways of Sin and betake our selves to a course of Vertue and Religion We shall find that in keeping the Commands of God there is great Reward We shall not serve God for nought tho' we serve the Devil so Our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord tho' if we sow Iniquity we can reap but Vanity THE PRAYER O Most great and most righteous God! the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee nor can any time set Bounds to thy Duration nor the power of any Creature can resist thee Thou art worthy to be fear'd and had in reverence by all that draw nigh unto shee We adore and worship thee O Lord who art every where present and knowest all things Thine Eyes behold and thine Eyelies try the Children of Men. And thou O Lord dost dispose of us all as pleaseth thee thy Kingdom ruleth over all If thou favour us it is well with us If thou hide thy Face we are troubled and afflicted if thou take away our Breath we die and return to the Dust from whence we were Created We do entirely depend upon thee and in thy Hand is our Breath and all our Ways But alas how little do we foolish Creatures consider these things when we live as without God in the World when we take little care how we behave our selves in thy sight We do not regard and seek an Interest in thy favour as our greatest Happiness nor have we so fear'd thy Displeasure as we should Oh how foolish and mistaken have we been while we have thought to mend our Condition or profit our selves by doing ill or to do our selves any good by breaking thy Laws In vain do we ever attempt to be Happy in ways offensive to the pure Eyes of thy Glory Thou wilt sooner or later reward every Man according to his Works We believe O Lord according to thy Word and thy just Sentence and Doom that Evil pursueth Sinners That all the Profits and Pleasures which we can gain or enjoy by Wickedness are very vain and worthless that in pursuing such we should weary our selves for
without this precipitant hast They drive away that which they would keep and which is going away of it self They make hast to put an end to that which above all things they dote upon that is sensual pleasure to disable themselves from enjoying it by diseases or an untimely death Intemperance and excess brings the infirmities and aches and defects of old Age upon Youth and kill men in the prime of their days almost as soon as they come to enjoy the world and know what it is to live Is this the wit of the world or rather a madness A wise man would use with care a frail and brittle thing especially if he does highly esteem and value it Is it reasonable to wish for a long enjoyment of the pleasures of this Life and to take a course at the same time to make it short to dote on pleasures and spoil them to place all our happiness in this life and make hast to end it to be prodigal of a small Stock and use ruggedly and carelesly a weak thing If this be Wit there is nothing can deserve the name of Folly 3. These disparaging properties of this present life should teach men to be humble in their greatest worldly prosperity It may and ought to serve to this purpose to consider Whatever I have now it is but a little while agoe that I receiv'd it Naked I came not long since into this world I have but a very little while been honour'd or rich or learned and ere long I must cease to be what I am I must goe out of this world quickly and go as naked at least of all outward advantages as I was when I came into it All that I have then here is but a transitory portion my best estate is Vanity which is built upon so slight a foundation as this feeble Life Alas I cannot have here a stable abiding felicity while my life is moving and passing away And if I can enjoy what I have till I die that is the longest I shall do so and that cannot be long Then the poor Begger will be as rich as the most wealthy And there will be as much beauty as much strength in his dust who was deform'd and weak as in that of those who are proud of beauty or strength no marks of Wisdom or Learning will remain about the Dead and corrupted Carkass All sorts are huddled together equall'd and canfounded in the Grave The man that is proud of his present advantages may assure himself that within a few days he may be as despicable on earth as any that he despises Yea in a little time he shall be more despicable and made inferiour to him if the other outlives him If the rich and honour'd dies first the poor man remains richer and more honourable than he As a living Dog is better than a dead Lion The one enjoys still his little the other is totally stript of his abundance Should I despise any man let me say when a little time may make so great a difference to his advantage When he whom I disdain perhaps to speak to may shortly tread upon me and have me under the dust of his feet Surely this frail and transitory life with all its advantages is too mean a thing to cause or allow a man to be proud of it 4. These conditions of our present Life may justly render us patient under all present Adversity May we not with great reason bear that Patiently which we cannot endure long especially when the more patient we are under grievous things the more easie and tolerable they be Let us consider then when any Affliction befalls us I cannot undergo a long affliction in a short life If poverty be my Lot I shall not long be expos'd to the inconveniences of that If I am condemned to a life of hard labour and toil I may comfort my self with this thought that I am hasting to a place where the weary are at rest If I am vex'd and afflicted by the Lusts and Passions of unreasonable and wicked men I may consider their Life is frail and transitory as well as mine and I am going to be where the wicked cease from troubling In all adversity this may comfort us my afflictions are fading and transitory as I am the evils as well as the good things of this Life can last no longer than my self and that will not be long Such as these are the Thoughts Dispositions and Resolutions relating to this World that these conditions of our present Life should excite in us The Apostle Paul urges such a use of these things 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 31. Brethren the time is short It remains that they which have Wives he as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not and they that use this world us not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away I proceed now to the last part of the Discourse with which I shall soon conclude that is to represent the due Behaviour relating to the other World which these disparagements of our present Life should teach and provoke us to And I cannot imagine but that every one will readily acknowledge these things should make us turn our thoughts towards the World to come and look into the reality and nature of a future State and earnestly endeavour to secure to our selves a happy condition there Since there is most certainly another World and a Life to come is it not our Wisdom to think of it and look before us especially when we are continually hasting to it When I am going apace from this World shall I not think at all whither I am going Is not this worth a thought Let us consider what the Scripture teaches us of the Future State That it assures our Souls to be immortal though our Bodies perish they shall never die and our perishing Bodies shall lie but a while in their dissolved State They shall certainly rise again from the dust to live hereafter in immortal Life That we shall be raised to receive the rewards of our doings here whether they have been good or evil That the Eternal world to come is divided into two different States the one perfectly happy for the reward of good men the other perfectly miserable for the punishment of the bad Since these things will certainly be let us certainly expect them and frequently think of them Let every one often tell himself this short Life is hasting to end in an endless Life I am going where I shall be happy or miserable for ever from transitory to abiding things from temporal to eternal Whatever puts an end to this frail Life which is so easily destroyed sends me into an unalterable State whatever sort it be of If a happy one it will ever be happy and perfectly so if miserable it will always be a perfectly miserable State And my condition there will be ordered according to
that it is kindly and exactly suited to our Natures and so is altogether fit to promote all our true Interests and our Happiness To comply with this is our Wisdom and Honour it is Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones it has length of days and good repute and Wealth and Peace to reward us with In keeping thy Commands there is great reward Blessed then are the undefiled in the Way who walk in the Law of the Lord. It is good for us to keep thy Precepts they are sweeter than Honey and the Honey Comb and more to be desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold they best adorn and accomplish us they are the Happiness of our Souls as well as of our Bodies they rectifie and compose the Mind they give us Peace and Strength within great Peace they have which Love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Then shall we never have occasion to be ashamed when we have respect unto all thy Commandments Thou art good O Lord and dost good O do thou teach us thy Statutes O that our Ways were directed to observe them Lord make us as early as we can to remember thee our Creator to remember and turn unto thee to consider and know and do the Duties which we owe to thee as such We have gone astray like lost Sheep Oh seek thou thy Servants and save us that we do not forget thy Commandments That we may never forget them or thee we pray thee to write thy Law in our Hearts and to put thy fear in our inward Parts for thy fear is a good Principle of this Wisdom of good and vertuous Living Make us to reverence thy Greatness and Glory which is so bright in all thy Works and so wonderful in the Creation of our selves for we Lord are fearfully and wonderfully made Make us sensible of thy continual Presence with us that thou dost thereby continue our Beings and observe our Actions we depend upon thee while we provoke thee we are in thy hand at all times to do with us whatsoever thou pleasest thou who art our Creator art the Supream and invincible Disposer of us O let us stand in awe that we may not sin against thee Make us concern'd to please thee who art the Fountain of our Beings and the bestower of all our Good that thou mayst delight in us to do us good and that we may according to thy Design in making us be happy O Lord forgive us we pray thee all our past wandrings from thee forgive us all our sins of negligence and ignorance and endue us we beseech thee with the Grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our Lives according to thy Holy word Be reconciled to us by the Blood of thy Son Jesus through Faith in which we humbly seek thy Favour We pray thee turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved in time past and grant us hereafter to serve and please thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our Life Lord let us be planted in thy House and abide in the Communion of thy Church and there flourish like the Palm Tree and if we live to old Age let us be even then fruitful in good Works to thy Praise and Glory We make our humble Supplications to thee O Lord for all Men. Let the Earth be filled with Knowledge of the Lord as Waters cover the Sea Prosper thy Church and give it great encrease of all Grace and give it in thy due time Tranquillity and Peace deliver it from intestine Disturbance and outward Enemies We humbly implore thy mercy upon these Kingdoms in General Lord grant that all things well-pleasing to thee may flourish and abound among us and do thou by thy Almighty Providence watch over us and direct our publick Affairs for our good Particularly we pray for our most Gracious King and Queen Grant them in Health and Wealth long to live strengthen them to vanquish and overcome all their Enemies Teach us and all their Subjects duely to consider whose Authority they have and so to serve honour and humbly obey them in thee and for thee according to thy most Blessed word and Ordinance that so they may be the Ministers of God to us for good Do good to all amongst us beyond what we can ask or think Let thy Blessing upon the words which we have this Day heard make it to dwell and take root in us and bring forth Fruit even to an hundred fold And let the same Gracious mercy which has blest us this Day with things necessary for Life and Godliness watch over us this Night and give us safe and comfortable Rest and if it shall please thee to add still to our Lives make us steady and persevering in well-doing to the end of our Days all which we humbly crave in the Name of Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Our Father c. OF A Death-Bed Repentance SHEWING How unreasonable it is for any Man to rely upon it Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Numb 23. vers 10. Latter Part. Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his BAlaam a famous Sorcerer and Fortune-teller among the Midianites was sent for by Balak King of Moab to curse Israel when they were upon his Borders The Messengers came to him with this Complement from the King For I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed and he whom thou cursest is cursed Chap. 22. vers 6. Such an esteem had he raised of himself among the ignorant Heathens And very fain would the wicked wretch have done that which Balak desired for the sake of the wages of Iniquity which he loved This appears by his seeking of enchantments against Israel as he several times did as the 1st verse of the 24th Chapter intimates but it pleased God constantly to over-rule and hinder him And when he sought to utter his direful and mischievous Charms which before perhaps could blast the Fruits of the Earth and cause Thunder and Lightning and raise an Hurricane and throw down Buildings He can now do nothing of all this but the Spirit of God constrains him to utter only things honourable and favourable of Israel In a deep sence which this possest him with of the favour of God to that People and being so far enlightned for the present though against his Will as to understand that they should be happy not only in this Life but also in that to come if they would keep the Commandments of their God he therefore concludes his first Parable or sententious and prophetick Speech concerning them in the words of our Text Let
comes to nothing of what we expected from it 3. The Sins of Men contradict all the Rights of the Great Creator and therefore must needs be detestible to him This necessarily follows from the former He that makes any thing may design it for what end he pleases and then he has right to expect it should serve that end which it was made for Since God raised up the Bodies of our first Parents from the Dust and breathed into them the breath of Life and he by a divine and secret operation fashions each of us in the womb and still formeth the Spirit of man within him he is then the Authour of all our Faculties and Powers both of Soul and Body And then he has right to design the end and purpose for which we shall serve And he directs us to that end by the Rule of his most excellent Laws when we observe them we answer our end when we break those Laws we do contradict it and therein we rob him of his due and deny him his right and we may be sure he is concern'd to have what is due to him from his Creatures He is sensible and provok't when we deny him his right This is a monstrous Affront and most unworthy behaviour towards him There arises from this foundation a Threefold right which God has to our Obedience all which is contradicted by the Sins of men and every particular makes some addition to the Evil and Vileness of Sin 1. All our Sins are against the right of a Sovereign Lord such an one has the great God over all his Creatures He is God over all as the Apostle speaks and the Prophet says Thou even thou art Lord alone Neh. 9. 6. He is our Sovereign Lord and in exercise of his Sovereignty has laid his Laws upon us and in submission to them we ought to acknowledge it Mankind are not left at liberty to act as they will and to own no Superiors we are all under a Law and that is the Law of him who is the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God 1 Tim. 1. 17. All our Sins then are contrary to an unquestionable right of Sovereignty over us The Sinner despises the Empire of the great Lord of the World he does as far as he can depose him from his Throne tramples upon his Laws and slights his Authority It is the implicite language at least of all Wickedness who is Lord over us who shall controul us we will not have the Lord to rule over us The Sinner makes himself his God and sets up his own Will and Inclinations for a Law to him What is said of the sensual and voluptuous Sinner that he makes his Belly his God may be applied to all other sorts He that is Covetous or Ambitious makes himself his God he makes it his End to gratifie his own desires in other kinds for this reason is Covetousness in particular call'd Idolatry Thus there is Rebellion and Idolatry in all Sin and the greatest Arrogance and Pride while the poor depending Creature will not own his dependance but will live to himself alone as if he were sufficient to himself and while we do not suffer him to dispose of and govern us who alone is Lord over us And can we think that the Jealous God will not highly resent what comes under these black characters 2. God has a right to our Obedience as he is Owner and Proprietor of us all He is our owner we are his Property God says of all things that he has made the world is mine and the fulness thereof Psal 50. 12. and Psal 100. 3. 't is said we are his people and the sheep of his pasture The Psalmist had acknowledged just before that it was he that made us and not we our selves To which this is added as what does truly follow from thence This then does give him an unquestionable right to dispose of Mankind as well as of the rest of his Creatures The Apostle makes use of this Argument and says Glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. 20. Should not God have Liberty to do what he will with his own to order and appoint the actions and use of it as pleases himself But the Sinners say in all the Transgressions of their Words our Tongues are our own and the same they pretend to concerning all their faculties and powers in all other their Sins These deny the universal Proprietor that right of governing and disposing as he pleases what is his But how would it enrage poor contemptible man to be denied this Liberty And if we think it reasonable and just for us to be angry in such a case how can we imagine but God must be highly displeased 3. God has the right of a Great and Bountifull Benefactor to the Obedience of Mankind He it is that has given us our selves and all that we have He freely made us He made us to enjoy large exercises and expressions of his Bounty He furnisht the world which we so much delight in with all the good things it contains and gives to every man the portion which he delights and comforts himself with We have nothing but what we receiv'd from Him He daily loads us with his benefits And when he has done so much for us without any obligation laid upon him by us to the doing of it does not this lay a great obligation upon us to study what will please him and to do his Will Ought we not to be very thankfull to him who has greatly favoured us to please him who so often pleases us to honour him who has crowned us with Honour and Dignity in making us little lower than the Angels and giving us dominion over the things about us In our Sins then there is the basest Ingratitude as well as Injustice and Arrogance and Pride We affront and Injure a Friend He gives to us in many things what he does not owe and demands of us nothing but what is his due He cannot be beholden to us we cannot oblige him This enhances the rate and value of his Benefits and by consequence the Obligation of them too and that as much heightens the Evil and Ingratitude of our Sins God expects a thankfull Obedience in return for the benefits he bestows This is the meaning of that Preface to the Ten Commandments I am the the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage And he is very highly and justly offended if his Obligations do not meet with such a return It was said with a very angry resentment of the Nation of Jews I have nourisht and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me Isa 1. 2. Therefore the Heavens and the Earth are called to bear witness to or to admire so enormous a thing As if the Sun should be asham'd that he had shined upon such Creatures and the Earth that it had
born so ungrateful a Burden And when 't is added in the fourth verse of that Chapter They have forsaken the Lord 't is also said They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to Anger We cannot imagine surely but it must exceedingly provoke the Great God to return him Evil for Good to return Hatred for Kindness and Injuries for great and Innumerable Benefits yet this is the unfitting return which sinfull men make to their kind and gracious God Inferences Thus I have I suppose sufficiently prov'd the Truth of what is asserted in our Text That the way of the wicked is an Abomination to the Lord. I shall now make this appear to be a very important and concerning Truth such as deserves to be well laid to heart and always remembred by every one of us And this will appear by the Inferences which it affords us which I shall now set before you 1. This implies and may teach us the exceeding Vileness and Evil that is in Sin This may very justly be concluded merely from God's Hatred of it and by our way of proving the Text while the hatred of God against Sin has been justifyed as well as prov'd we may be helped to make this conclusion very easily It certainly infers a real and great disparagement and baseness in the thing its self to be hated of God He is infinitely wise and just and can never through any mistake or envy or unjustice call Evil good or good Evil. He does never condemn or dislike any thing that is really excellent and good nor approve or esteem of any thing that is truely vile and evil Accordingly Sin is and we should account it to be the vilest and worst thing in the world This has a peculiar unlikeness to the Divine Nature which is the Center and Rule of all Excellency and has the greatest contrariety and unlikeness to it that can be And it must follow that this does more than all things else debase and dishonour a Man there is nothing can make him so vile so contemptible as this and nothing can render him truly deserving of Honour while he harbours and vilifies himself with this the greatest worldly Honours cannot honour this but this can stain and dishonour them This can make the Noble Creature Man more vile than the Beast that perish This deserves our greatest shame and abhorrence So far is it from reason so highly absurd for a man to be proud of his wickedness and make a boast of his Sins This were to glory in his shame 2. We may also inferr God's Hatred of the Sinner as such The latter part of the Text seems to direct us to make such an inference from this former which says But he loveth him that followeth after righteousness as he loves the Righteous Man for his Righteous ways he must needs hate and dislike the Sinner for his Wicked ones So David says Psal 5. Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in Wickedness neither shall Evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight Thou hatest all workers of Iniquity Sin must needs expose a man to the great dislike and displeasure of God and make him vile in his Eyes it makes us as unlike him as we can possibly be It utterly destroys so far as it prevails in us the Image of God which is our greatest Glory and that by which alone we were very good How can God regard that man with Favour who daily affronts him with willing habitual Sins How can he view him with complacence and approbation who daily defiles himself who presents to his view in a wicked course of life nothing but what is most offensive to the pure Eyes of his Glory But then it should be well consider'd by us whose displeasure and anger it is that we incurr 'T is that of the Almighty God and the supream disposer of all things who can most easily revenge the affronts which we offer him when he will who can afflict us as he pleases 't is he upon whom is our whole dependance for life and happiness without whose favour we can never be happy in this world or the next The Sinner may divert and deceive himself with the sensible enjoyments of this world while the divine Patience spares him but he cannot be happy with these they are but empty shadows or a meer dream of Felicity they can give no content or satisfaction nor have they any considerable sweetness in them but when the favour of God bestows and blesses them and his favour which the wretched Sinner forfeits is better worth than all of them This made the Psalmist say that the light of his Countenance afforded more joy more hearty pleasure and satisfaction than the increase of Corn and Wine Psal 4. And then besides we should consider too that 't is God who does dispose of our Eternal State and makes us happy or miserable for ever according as we please or displease him now Such is he whose dislike and hatred the Sinner does incurr and bring upon himself by his Sins 3. We may from hence inferr too the Sincerity and Truth of all the severest Threatnings of God against the Sins of Men. From these things we may justly fear and expect that he will certainly fulfil them we may believe that he has really said those severe things and that he means as they speak When we are told It shall not be well with the wicked Eccles. 8. 13. That Evil pursueth Sinners Prov. 13. 21. that mischief and Judgment haunt and follow them every where mortal dangers surround and attend them constantly vengeance watches over them continually When we are told that Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish shall be upon every Soul that does Evil as in Rom. 2. 9. we see reason to believe these things and to conclude that no Sinner can be safe or happy while he remains such that these threatnings shall be sadly fulfill'd upon those who shall be so hardy as to try the Truth of them But to speak to this Inference the more Effectually I shall speak more particularly and therefore I shall add that God will take vengeance on the Sins of particular persons who are obstinate and impenitent in this Life in the Everlasting Punishment of them in the other this is that which he has threatned and we may justly expect he will do upon this his great and just displeasure against the Sins of men Men are very willing and desirous to believe that the transient acts of their Wickedness and the transgressions of a short life shall not be revenged with so long Punishment and are apt to flatter themselves that after a while Divine Justice will relent and give the Miserable Prisoners in Hell a release from their Torments But those that entertain such hopes take very wrong measures both of the Evil and Provocation of Sin and of the Wisdom and Justice of God It is certain and evident in Scripture that God has threatned