continuance of its separation having a natural inclination to be re-united to its own body without which it cannot be perfectly happy though in heaven it self in all degrees for notwithstanding the fulness of the glory of God in heaven whereof it is partaker in the presence of Christ yet being but a part it wants the natural perfection of its relation and receiveth its happiness and glory but according to the measure of a part waiting for the redemption of its body Whence we may conclude that the natural state and condition of the sould of every man is to be in the body and there it is in its proper habitation as the Apostle saith we are at home in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 So that how strange soever the desire of a gracious soul may be to be with Christ and to be absent from the body by departing hence yet it is naturally and necessarily detained till the death of the body leave it free as in a be-widdowed estate to remove to Christ its wellbeloved and to the Father of spirits for a time to visit those mansions wherein it shall abide for ever in the fulness of glory with the assumed body made more suitable and spiritual for it at the resurrection It appeareth also from hence that it is no less then wilful murther and consequently a breach of a great command voluntarily to endeavour or hasten the dissolution of these two united parts of body and soul nature and grace commanding and commending the use of all lawful meanes and that by physick as well as food and other natural helpes to preserve this present life until God in the course of providence shall make a separation Secondly Believers while they are in the body are absent from the Lord Christ both in respect of local distance and also of the nature and manner of their communion with him For Christ is in heaven and they upon earth and their communion with him now though it be spiritual and joyful yet it is weak and darke in comparison of an immediate presence For we walk by faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Which faith being the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen begetteth in the heart a fervent love and an unspeakable joy in an absent and unseen Saviour 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Nevertheless the communion the Saints have with Christ through faith and hope in him is but weak and dark here in comparison of what shall be in heaven when they shall be with him and these graces appropriato this present life and state shall cease through immediate vision and fruition whereby their love shall be perfect in the presence of its object For faith apprehendeth Christ by spiritual knowledge which is the sight in the eye of faith and the highest degree of knowledge the soul is capable of here in heavenly things is but obscure to what it shall be hereafter What we see through many mediums is but darkely seen and though mediums may be helpful to natural sight in case of weakness of the organ or distance of the object yet such a sight falls short of a strong and clear inspection of something near at hand and at a due distance Thus it is in regard of the souls apprehension and knowledge of spiritual things which being at a great distance and far remote in their nature and perfection we look at them as through a glass and that darkely 1 Cor. 13.12 For we know in part and we prophesie in part and now see through a glass darkely but then face to face We see the things of God and of heaven through the glass of the Word and Sacraments and the glass of the workes of Providence in which glasses we may be said to see these things also as by reflexion of their image according to that other expression of Paul 2 Cor. 3.18 For we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image this also is darke in respect of the sight of the maked face or substantial glory of Christ in a direct line and without reflexion for though it be with open face the vail of natural ignorance and blindness being taken away yet it is not face to face in the appearance of Christ nakedly and immediately unto us But what this darkness of knowledge is in this life I shall in a few words more explain The mysteries of heaven and of God and Christ are revealed unto us in the Scriptures according to our capacity of understanding them and the Lord condescending to the nature of man speaketh unto us after the manner of man Now the nature and kind of knowledge which is proper unto us is not intuitive but discursive the rational soul using the organs and senses of the body for the attaining of its knowledge and understanding So that we know all things in a sensible manner according to the first species and impressions made in the understanding which it receiveth from the senses and from thence the understanding by discourse and reason formeth the notions of spiritual and insensible beings And hence it is that in most things that incurre not immediately into the senses our knowledge is so darke and dubious that in natural science we agree not but dispute principles themselves In like manner God revealeth spiritual and invisible things and the great mysteries of the Gospel unto us wherein he speaketh our language and presenteth heavenly things unto us in earthly formes as when he revealeth and describeth himself it is as having the members of our bodies and the passions of our minds which we art to understand figuratively and not literally least we become guilty of blasphemous thoughts and carnal apprehensions of God And thus when our Saviour instructed Nicodemus in the mystery of grace and conversion to God he telleth him he must be born again John 3.5 Nicodemus understood him at first literally and rather wondred then believed wherefore Christ reproveth him verse 13. If I have told you earthly things and ye beleive not how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things Not that regeneration is an earthly thing though it must be a state upon earth and wrought while we are here but Christs meaning is if I have spoken to you of these heavenly and spiritual things in an earthly manner and sensitive way by parables and similitudes and yet ye understand me not so as to beleive how shall ye beleive if I speak in a spiritual and heavenly Dialect and Language Now if we understand heavenly things only as they are revealed for they are therefore so revealed that we might understand them what dark and low what short and weak apprehensions have we of them Therefore a gracious soul desireth to be absent rather from the body and present with Christ that it might
comfortable and chearful estate endeavoureth what he can to disturbe them though he cannot destroy them besides the weighty and burthensome afflictions where withall many gracious hearts are sometimes ready to be overwhelmed had they not secret supports under their oppressing tryals To these and to all Christians the Apostles exhortation is to rejoyce in the Lord Phil. 3.1 And to rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and again to rejoyce Chap. 4. verse 4. who layeth it down as a character of the true spiritual circumcision to rejoyce in Christ Jesus as well as to worship God in the spirit Phil. 3.3 Joy is a fruit of the spirit as much as love faith and other graces among which it is numbred Gal. 5.22 And it is essential to the kingdom of heaven and the state of grace in the soul which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.17 How then should all that are justified by faith and have peace with God through Christ Jesus rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God by Christ and in Christ himself the hope of glory Who is there among all the people of the Lord that is not ashamed to say he doth not love Christ and doth not so far at least testifie his faith as to declare his desires to beleive in him Beloved doe ye love the Lord and beleive in him and can ye not also rejoyce in him Oh that I could say of all beleivers as Peter of the beleiving Jews and the greatness of their joy in the incorruptible inheritance and in Christ 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love and in whom though now ye see him not yet beleiving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Chear up your spirits and lift up your heads and hearts ye drooping Christians for your departure unto Christ is at hand and your salvation is nearer then when ye first beleived And ye that are rich in faith and heires of the kingdom look unto the hope set before you and endure a little shame here yea glory in your tribulations and rejoyce in your sufferings for your redemption draweth nigh Know ye not in whom ye have beleived who is able to keep what ye have committed to his charge and to save you to the uttermost And rejoyce that ye are made partakers not only of the sufferings of Christ but of his glory who is ready to receive you into his bosom and to give you possession of a glorious inheritance prepared reserved and secured unto you having made you sons and heires and appointed you to be Kings and Priests unto Christ and his Father Secondly for the furtherance â—nd help of your joy in the Lord make your calling and election sure For hereby an entrance shall be administred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.10 11. It is an uncomfortable state for a Christian to hang between heaven and hell and in a moving ballance betwixt hope and fear therefore we ought to give diligence in the searching our hearts and examining our hopes that our evidences may be clear and our hopes lively through the assurance of hope and understanding Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 They that beleive have the evidence and witness in themselves the spirit it self bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God Rom. 8.16 But we must not expect the witness of the spirit of God without the preceeding witness of our own spirits whereby our evidences are first signed and afterwards sealed by the spirit of promise For hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit 1 John 4.13 Unto which knowledge we attain by our reflexion upon the fruits of the spirit within us as an earnest of the purchased possession for us So that our evidence ariseth and appeareth by a diligent scrutiny and inquisition into the work and principles of grace within us and that by bringing the word to the heart and judging the heart by the word by comparing truths with experiences and experiences with truths from which premises the enlightened and sanctified conscience draweth the sweet conclusion of life and peace And were we not too much strangers to our selves and guilty of neglect and careless presumption in the matter of our assurance we might raise our comforts to a higher pitch and maintain a better grounded joy and confidence then we doe who are ready to content our selves with naked desires weak and staggering hopes or at most with a questionable probability of our salvation yea how many professors are there who by the difficulty of the work of gaining assurance either discourage and cool their affections to it or else by a conceit of an impossibility thereof voluntarily and totally neglect it But ye Beloved build not your hopes and comforts upon slight and shallow foundations but stirre up your selves and by all unwearied paines resolve to clear and ballance your accounts for eternity especially making your calling sure and your evidence sound concerning the truth of conversion and regeneration This will be the strongest hold under Christ's protection in the time of temptation to retire unto and to preserve and releive your hearts and hopes when Satan shall beat you out of all other Forts and outworkes of defence and confidence cause you to retreat to your main-guard of conversion evidence To this end call to mind the birth day of grace wherein you suffered the pangs and throws of the new birth and recount the experiences of Gods first love to you and your first love to Christ How discernable was your change when God turned you from dismal darkness to his marvellous light and raised you from the jawes of death and hell unto the joyes of heaven and salvation when he comforted you in your despair and anointed you with joy and gladness in the time of your sorrow and mourning when your imprisoned and confined hearts were enlarged and the Devil bound up from torturing holding you captive under his tyrannical and malilicious power when the day of light and understanding dawned in your hearts and the glorious Sun of righteousness arose with healing to your wounds and health to your souls But take heed of satisfying your selves with this that you have been converted to the Lord but for the strengthening of your confidence in him and clearing your interest in his love bring forth of the treasury of your hearts things new as well as old for the more testimonies the stronger evidence anst the surer comfort Therefore trace the foot-steps of Christ's spiritual and powerful dispensations towards your souls in the process and continued course of mercy and his preventing assisting and supporting grace and reveiw the pillars and monuments you have set up in your hearts for remembrance of special kindness and remarkable
them they could not mourne Mat. 9.5 But when he told them that he should be taken from them their hearts were filled with sorrow It was one of Luthers three wishes that he might have seen Christ in the flesh Paul preaching and primitive Rome in its flourishing condition Content thy self a while thou precious soul that lovest him and his appearance thou shalt shortly see him with his Father and thy Father and abide with him for ever and thou that hast been ravished with-the sweetness and powerful influence of his spiritual presence in his Ordinances wherein thou shalt in the end of thy dayes drink with him of the wine of the Kindom of God pressed from the clusters of the heavenly Canaan Secondly to be with Christ is to be glorified with Christ and to possess the same glory which Christ hath with the Father Christ chargeth Mary who had the honour first to see him after his Resurrection to forbear his bodily presence saying touch me not for I am not yet ascended unto my Father John 20.17 But goe and tell my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God And being ascended he is set down at the right hand of the Majestie on High Heb. 1.3 Or on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Chap. 8.1 Now Christs throne shall be the Saints throne as he hath promised Rev. 3.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne Christ hath prayed his Father and declared this as his Will to his Father John 17.24 Father I will that these whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me And shall they only be spectators of it shall not the beholding of the glory of Christ in Heaven be as powerful to change the Saints into the same glory as seeing his glorious Image 2 Cor. 4.18 For we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord or as it may be rendred even as by the Lord the Spirit for the Lord is that spirit v. 17. And this is no less then what Christ hath assured us of by his own grant and promise unto us Joh. 17.22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one as we are one To shew you therefore what this glory of Christ is whereof every belâ—iver shall be a partaker with him It is a spiritual and full possession and enjoyment of God himself in perfect union and immediate communion with him For so far as we can discern and understand things so far above us and remote from us in their nature and excellency and as they are revealed unto our capacity in the Heavenly records of Divine writ the glory of Heaven seemeth to be the highest degree of spirituality God is presented unto us to be a spirit John 4.24 And if we cloth the nature of a spirit with the Attributes of God as they are made known unto us by himself it is the highest conception we can have of him For God is a Spirit or a spiritual substance most Holy most Wise Eternal Infinite as that holy and famous writer of ours hath described or defined him The Angels are Spirits or ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 The Souls of the Saints in Heaven are Spirits the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 And if we may judge as we say the body by the foot ex pede Herculem or of the glory of Heaven and of the Soul by the glory of the body as it is already glorified in Christ and others with him or as it shall be glorified after the Resurrection even the body of all beleivers it will appear still that the spirituality of the Heavenly state is the glory of it The Apostle Paul speaking of Christs coming from hence to raise the body and to glorifie it saith Phil 3.21 That he shall change our vile body and make it like unto his glorious body by the power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself So that look what manner of body for glory Christs body now is in Heaven such shall our bodieds be and what the glory of his body is appeareth by the spirituality of it after his Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.44 It is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body if not in substance yet in quality And if the nature of grace in the Saints on earth be spiritual and the fruits of the spirit in them constituting them a spiritual people Gal 6.1 Whereby they are blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places or things it will follow that the state of glory must be a spiritual state for the soul in a higher degreee of spirituality glory being grace consummate as grace is glory inchoate Now the soul is raised unto the glorious degree of perfection and spirituality in the heavenly presence of Christ by being fill'd with the fulness of God and that by comprehending the highth and length and depth and breadth of the love of God which here passeth knowledge but is fully made known in Heaven by the beatifical vision of God himself letting out his love without measure into the soul whereby it is sublimated and transformed into the likeness of God 1 John 3.2 For now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is We shall not see him only in his name his word and works but in his nature not his back parts but his face Now we see through a glass darkely but then face to face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now we know but in part but then I shall know as I am known 1 Cor. 13.12 This is the blessed rewards of the pure in heart that they shall see God and without holiness no man shall see him Thirdly to be with Christ is to be with them that are with Christ and to have fellowship with the heavenly society of Angels and Saints in the presence of Christ Heb. 12.22 23. Ye are come unto Mount Zion and to the City of the living God the heavenly Hierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels and to the general assembly and Church of the first born which are written in heaven and to the spirits of just men made perfect First to be with Christ is to have society with all the blessed Angels of God who worship Christ in heaven Heb. 1.6 He saith let all the Angels worship him The sight of Angels on earth did sometimes strike fear into the hearts of Saints and an apprehension of death into them as when Gideon saw the Angel Judges
to the eternity of the Saints felicity with Christ and the eternity of your own misery in Hell torments Therefore Christ in the parable bringeth in Abraham thus speaking to the rich man in Hell Luke 16.25 Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented The Prophet David also praying for deliverance from his enemies describeth them by their temporal blessings Psal 17.13 14. Deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword from men which are thy hand O Lord from the men of the world which have their portion in this life Let not therefore the people of God envy the prosperity of the wicked for they have but the crumbs and broken meat that your heavenly Father giveth to strangers and enemies yea to Doggs for so the Scripture calleth the wicked Rev. 22.15 Without are Doggs and Sorcerers and Whore-mongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whatever loveth and maketh a lye And let the fear of death bridle and restrain the rage and riot of all prophane persons considering how soon your present joyes shall be at an end and your endless sorrowes commence when God shall lay your honour in the dust and require your souls from you Why tremble ye not at the sight of an inclosed corpse and the open grave before your eyes Ye also shall surely dye O ye covetous worldlings wretched drunkards prophane swearers unclean adulterers ye proud and gaudy vanities put your heads into the dust and stretch forth your hands and feel those cold and dry skulls and bones and lay it to heart before ye lye down in sorrow And for the awakening of your sleepy consciences who look and see no further then to what is obvious to your senses like a brutish people and a generation of sottish and foolish men give me leave to deal faithfully with you according to my present design in shewing you what is on t'other side the Grave and the deplorable estate of every carnal heart in death as soon as the soul hath taken its leave of its sinful body and house of clay First Every wicked and ungodly soul is miserable in death in that it is deprived of the happiness of heaven and the glory thereof in the presence of Christ for as it is the Saints priviledge in death to depart unto Christ so on the contrary it is part of every sinners punishment to depart from him Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye that work iniquity How will your hopes perish and your hearts break when ye shall find heaven gate shut upon you and Christ himself deny your knocking 's and intreaties with I know you not Matth. 25.12 Be not deceived any longer but know that neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. And such are some of you Friends what think ye of perishing and being banished from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power when ye shall weep and gnash your teeth because ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and your selves shut out Luke 13.28 Ye shall see indeed the righteous whom ye have despised and persecuted and reproached solacing themselves in their full plenty and rejoycing in their everlasting inheritance all the treasures of heaven being opened unto them but ye shall not be able to passe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or great gulf of separation that is and shall be fixed between them and you so as to approach their presence or to partake of their joyes Augustine moveth a question why the rich man could see Lazarus in Abrahams bosome and Lazarus could not see the rich man in hell and he giveth this answer to it because he that is in the darke may see him that is in the light but he that is in the light cannot see him that is in the dark Heaven is a place of light through the presence of the glory of God and of Christ the Son of righteousness wherein all the righteous shall shine as the Sun and therefore called the inheritance of the Saints in light Acts 26.18 But the state of the wicked shall be darkness and blackness of darkness a total deprivation of the light of the countenance of God and the comfortable presence thereof from which they shall be driven into the remotest distance of place and condition and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outer darkness Mat. 25.30 Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And though this be the greatest loss imaginable yet it is the least of your woe in regard of the torments ye shall suffer in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone And so I proceed from the punishment of loss to the punishment of sense and torment Secondly Every wicked man shall be miserable in his death in respect of the state of his soul which death shall bring it unto without Christ And the state of a damned soul after death and the manner of a sinful soul entring into condemnation and torment after dissolution may somewhat be discerned by these following steps and degrees In opening whereof I shall wholly wave the question about the place of hell and torment as a nicety rather then a necessary Subject for serious Auditors First Every wicked and unbeleiving person dieth in the guilt of all his sins unpardoned Remission of sins is a priviledge peculiar to beleivers through faith in Christ Jesus faith being the condition of the promise and the application of the death and righteousness of Christ for justification Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus But he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not beleived in the Name of the only begotten Son of God John 3.18 So that unbelief leaveth the soul under the guilt of sin and sealeth up the final condemnation thereof Whereupon Christ telleth the unbelieving Jews that they should die in their sins John 8.21 24. Then said Jesus again unto them I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall dye in your sins whither I go ye cannot come I said therefore unto you that ye shall dye in your sins for if ye beleive not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins A wicked man carryeth all his sins to the grave with him which for number are as the hairs of his head and for nature damnable and defiling he dieth clothed and clogged with sin and the guilt of all his sins that ever he committed in thought word or deed cleave to his
soul It is dreadful to consider what a mass and mountainous bigness the sins of a poor carnal wretch arise unto if we lay them together his original sin actual sins sins of omission and commission his secret sins and open and scandalous sins his whole life hath been a trade of sin and whatsoever proceedeth from him is sin the ploughing of the wicked is sin and his prayer is turned into sin And to his own sins personally committed we may add his other mens sins either occasioned countenanced or allowed Now multiply these by their particulars and individuals and measure all by their sinful circumstances and then judge of the guilt of every sinful ma that dieth in unbelief and without pardoning grace through the bloud of Christ Secondly The conscience of every wicked man is awakened immediately after death and dissolution to a continual sense of the guilt of all his sins Natural conscience in carnal men is for the most part peaceable silent in this present life delight custome in sin hardning the heart and searing the conscience which they labour to keep asleep by diverting the thoughts to worldly objects or to satisfie by a formal profession attended with some outward performances But as soon as ever the soul of an unregenerate person is separate from the body this lyon awaketh sleepeth no more the faculties of the soul being alwayes in act and exercise in a separate state whereby his sins shall be alwayes before him and set in order before his eyes upon which his conscience shall reflect continually without diversion or intermission Then the sins you have laboured to forget and cast out of mind shall be brought to remembrance and ye shall ever behold them for which conscience shall charge and accuse you and in the fresh remembrance of them you shall lye down self-condemned for ever This is the worm that never dieth Mark 9 48. But shall gnaw your hearts to eternity Thirdly Hereupon the soul of a wicked man shall tremble at the sight and presence of God That the soul of every man and consequently of the wicked shall see and approach the powerful and immediate presence of God in his Divine nature and essence upon their dissolution is apparent in that the spirit of man is said to go upward Eccles 3.21 And to return to God who gave it Chap. 12.7 As also by the particular judgement immediately consequent upon death whereby God appearing to conscience decideth and determineth the eternal state and condition of every soul preparative to the last and glorious appearing of Christ at the great and terrible day who shall then judge the whole world and the soul and body together For it is appointed unto men once to ye and after this the judgement Heb. 9.27 Which may include this particular judgement after death whereof we are speaking as well as the last and general judgement yet some restrain it to the particular only But in what manner the soul of a wicked man shall see God take in a few words Death being the unclothing and putting off off the earthly house of the body the soul remaineth naked in respect of that clothing which nakedness of the separate souls of the Saints is covered and clothed upon with the glory of their house in heaven 2 Cor. 5.3 In which state of nakedness wherein the souls of the wicked abide the soul must needs be quickly and powerfully apprehensive of God and of any impression and influence of God upon it as the body being naked of its clothing is tenderly sensible of heat or cold and any thing that approacheth unto it For the foul being separate from the body receiveth its object no more through the senses of the body but in an immediate way of discovery of them We know also that the Lord doth sometimes immediately wound the spirit of man while it is in the body by letting fall the drops of wrath upon it and thereby tormenteth it which David calleth the rebukes of God Ps 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Moreover if the soul being a spirit and separate from the body can converse with spirits as the Saints with Angels and the damned with Devils much more with God the Father of spirits who can discover himself unto them as he pleaseth But take heed of mistaking here for though a gracious and and sanctified soul reconciled unto God hath to do with him as a father in the apprehension of his love through which it hath comfort and joy in communion with him yet it is not so with the sinful soul of that than that dieth in his sins which apprehendeth God only as he appeareth to it in wrath and displeasure for without holiness no man shall see the Lord that is with peace and comfort Heb. 12.14 Now consider ye that forget God can ye see and behold the wrath of his countenance doe ye not tremble in your very thoughts of him Surely the presence of an angry God will make every guilty soul to fear and tremble at his feet when they shall be brought before him by his Serjeant Death The apprehension of guilt and of God together made Adam and Eve to run behind the Trees for fear when they heard the voice of God in the garden Gen. 3.8 Moses though a Favourite yet when he saw the appearance of God in the thundrings and lightnings and earthquakes the smoke and fire heard the sound of the trumpet upon Mount Sinai he said I exceedingly fear â—nd quake Heb. 12.21 When Elijah apprehended God was in the still small voice he wrapped his face in his mantle â—nd went out and stood in the entring of the â—ave 1 Kings 19.13 When Job came to see God with his eyes he abhorred himself in dust and ashes Job 42.6 The judgements of God made holy Davids flesh to tremble Psal 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee I am afraid of thy judgements The glorious vision which Isaiah saw how did it work upon that holy Prophet Isaiah 6.5 When he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and cryed woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King â—he Lord of Hosts And if these Saints so eminent for grace and holiness have trembled at the presence of God manifested unto them in love and mercy how shall the unner and ungodly stand in his sight Doest thou beleive there is a God If not thou shalt see and beleive but remember that the Devils beleive and tremble Fourthly The soul of a wicked man thus trembling before God the holiness of God breaketh forth in wrath upon the soul to punish torment it For the soul appearing before God in the guilt of all its sins which are the greatest contrariety opposition against the holy nature of God who
gracious person to desire to depart and to be with Christ Who among all the heires of promise doth not desire the possession and enjoyment of his hopes in Christ his deliverance from sin sufferings and sorrow and the full fruition of all the glory and happiness of his heavenly portion and inheritance Let the spiritual ecchoes and silent answers of all true born Israelites resolve this question whose hearts are enlarged to rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God unto which they are begotten by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead This maketh the greatest afflictions of the Saints in this world so light unto them while they look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 And therefore reckon with Paul That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in them Rom. 8.18 Hence are those earnest groanes and longing desires of the righteous to be uncloathed and cloathed upon with their house from heaven wherein they symbolize and sympathize with the whole creation which desireth to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body Use 3. Use of inquiry If it be the desirable priviledge of the Saints to be brought immediately unto Christ by their death then it may be profitable and useful for us to inquire into the causes why many Christians are so far from desiring it chearfully submitting unto death as that they tremble at it and seem to slye from it What is the reason that they are still in bondage to the fear of death notwithstanding the sting thereof is taken away by the destruction of sin and the grave perfumed as a bed of spices by Christ's lying therein Now therefore for satisfaction to this case and withall to remove and cure this uncomfortable distemper I shall lay down briefly some of the chief causes whence this fear may arise First it may arise from a natural principle of self-preservation For God hath planted this instinct of nature in every part of the creation to labour to preserve its being and secure it self from dissolution Hence it is that nature abhorring avacuity or emptiness in any part of the universe because it tendeth to destruction for the preservation thereof causeth in the creatures motions contrary to their inclinations causing the air to descend to fill up vacuities in the earthly element and the water to ascend contrary to its nature to supply the room and absence of the forced air which we see in several experiments and ordinary inventions And this principle appeareth in every particular creature naturally avoiding whatsoever threatneth or tendeth to its destruction But to come nearer to the case of humane dissolution We naturally shun whatsoever we apprehend may offer violence to us and are subject to sudden passions at the approach of cruelty yea nature put in mind of a weakness in any part of the body maketh strongest reparations and fortifieth that place where a breach was made a broken bone well set becometh stronger then before And hence it is that through fear we decline any eminent danger and labour to preserve our natural beings resisting dissolution as the greatest natural evil Therefore the Philosopher called death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most terrible of terribles and Job the King of terrors Job 18.14 This natural fear was in Christ himself as he was man when he approached his death and sufferings who through a conflict of nature desired to be delivered from them Mat. 26.39 O my Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me And yet there was no sin in it because it was a natural desire and that for a moment suddenly overcome by reason and deliberation or a short suspension quickly subdued by a voluntary submission and firm resolution the spirit being willing but the flesh weak in Christ himself But grace doth not only teach to deny self but is also powerful to subdue our natura wills and inclinations to the will of God as it was also in Christ nevertheless not my will but thine be done Secondly It may proceed from immoderate love and inordinate affections to the world and the things of this present life And there is a great proneness in believers themselves to â—ive too much liberty to earthly and worldly affections and to take too much delight and content in the good things of this life which are but bona corporis the goods of the body These things are snares unto us in our life and as stocks to the feet of the soul at the time of departure How loth are we to let go our tenure and hold of these delights upon a sick bed to take our last farewell and shake hands with near and dear relations to have our eyes closed and no more to be opened upon these visible comforts and to suffer the pillow to be drawn away from our heads that we may yield up our spirits to a more easie and free passage Certainly if we were more crucified to the world and strangers in it we should far more willingly leave it whereas through the love of it we are still hoping for a longer time and continuance in it and that God would still add either more yeares to our dayes or at least more dayes to our years Were not the stakes of our worldly delight drove so deep and strongly fastned in the earth our earthly tabernacles would more easily be dissolved The creatures in themselves are good and life is not only sweet in it self but as it is also ratio possidendi our tenure of them they are but for one life without renewing the lease thereof Therefore for the loosening of these cordes and stakes consider how much better one Christ is then all the creatures and one God then a thousand worlds and the glory of heaven then the superficial varnish and beauty of the whole earth If ye be Christians and risen with Christ take the Apostles counsel Col. 3.1 2 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory Therefore saith he mortifie your members which are upon the earth inordinate affections evil concupiscence and covetousness which is Idolatry Christians take heed of fastning your affections here it may be Christ may require you should testifie your love to him by suffering for his sake and the Gospel and that unto the death and if worldly affections discompose
the spirit and render beleivers unfit for a natural dissolution how much more will they entangle in a time of persecution And what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul For saith our Saviour whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Matth. 16.23 24. Remember that Christ is your life and the cause and fountain of life and if you lose life it self for him you will find it again in him nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causam venture not the losing of Christ himself for this life sake This was Pauls present case and condition in my Text he was willing to suffer and by suffering for Christ to depart unto Christ which is far better Thirdly This fear of death may flow from a want of a clear evidence of an interest in Christ When a Christians evidence for heaven is darke and dubious the white stone slurred and the new name hardly legible when neither his own spirit nor Gods spirit beareth full witness or give in a clear testimony to adoption and reconciliation in this case eternity is terrible and the face of death and its appearance exceeding ghastful Sometimes the death of the Godly is a streight passage and a darke entrance when together with the pangs of dissolution the guilt of sin appeareth to conscience the wonted favour of God is withdrawn by removing his supporting presence and the Devil by strong assaults and temptations takes advantage of weakness to vex and disquiet the soul striving and strugling for support and comfort Methinks I hear such a heart cry out in the words of the Prophet David Psal 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more seen It is exceeding hard for a Christian to venture to launch forth into eternity upon uncertainties and without a hopeful at least if not a full and satisfactory perswasion of happiness and salvation In this case the soul hath no other help but to roul it self upon mercy by renewing the acts of faith upon Christ to stay it self upon God though hiding his face and strongly to rest and rely upon the rock of ages And let this comfort and support in such an hour of trouble and tryal that when thou droppest into eternity and seemest to fall in the act of dissolution into eternal sorrow then the everlasting armes are ready to receive thee and as soon as ever death closeth the eyes of thy body thy soul shall see the glorious face of God himself to thy everlasting though unexpected joy Therefore imitate and follow the steps of Christ thy forerunner who in the same condition of desertion exercised faith upon the cross saying Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Fourthly The Saints may be subject to the fear of death and not chearfully submit unto it from their ignorance of the state of heaven and their happiness with God hereafter It is a received axiome ignoti nulla cupido we cannot desire what we do not know and apprehend And though the greatest part of what we know here be the least part of what we know not but shall know hereafter for we know but in part yet most Christians are guilty of neglect unexcusable ignorance in that they might know far more of the state of heaven then they doe It is true what the beloved Disciple and Apostle asserts 1 John 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The Scriptures are not altogether silent in revealing So the glorious inheritance of the Saints that though we are not able in our understanding while we are in the body to behold so great a glory had it been fully revealed yet so much is revealed thereof unto us that we may in the promises thereof discerne and contemplate as we doe the glory of the Sun by its reflexion in still waters For as it is written 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath revealed unto them that love him but as it followeth in the next verse God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit for the spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God among which are profunda coeli the high or deep things of heaven It would be endless to gather together those pieces of heaven which like rich pearles and sparkling diamonds lye scattered up and down the Scriptures Let every high and heaven-born soul look more after his portion and spend more i me in surveying that inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in the heavens for him This will sweeten the thoughts of death and strengthen the soul to encounter the King of terrours Who would not endure the strongest paines for heavenly pleasures who would not shoot this gulph for eternal gain who would not dare to dye once that he might live and never dye more yea who would not depart that he might be with Christ Use 4. Then suffer the word of exhortation and first let every natural men accept of a friendly call to provide and prepare for the day and hour of his dissolution Consider wherefore thou art come into the world and how thou mayst close thy dayes in peace Wherefore hath God given thee a being and breathed into thy nostrils the breath of life Why did not she that bare thee miscarry before she had reckoned her months that thou wast not the untimely fruit of the womb why wast thou not stifled in the birth and the long expectations of him that begat thee frustrate with the news of a stilborn child or why diedst thou not in thine infancy as a blossome withered through sudden blasting By how many preventing and preserving providences hath thy life been renewed and continued unto thee that thou still drawest thy breath and swallowest thy spittle what account canst thou give of the golden talent of time God hath betrusted thee withal upon every moment whereof dependeth eternity Call to mind the dayes that are past and gone and shall return no more and examine the short periods and divisions of time never to be recalled which thou hast spent either idlely and impertinently or for the most part sinfully and prophanely Art thou born to sin or dost thou therefore sin that thou mayst shorten thy dayes by hastening to fill up the measure of thine iniquity why shouldst thou dye before thy time Is there no measure of sin or bounds of profaneness that thou drinkest in sin as the fish the water and drawest iniquity with cart ropes and the cords of vanity O make not so much hast to hell thou wilt be there too soon but turn at reproofe and to day whilest it is called to day harden not thy heart who knoweth
and unworthy wretches who disdain and slight such reports of mercy and the rich mystery of Gods good will towards men in Christ which the Angels admiring bow themselves and stoop down to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 Hearken O ye unbeleivers Is it not a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners whereof ye are the chief What is the meaning of so many publique Assemblies every Lords day and our occasional comings together upon this or any other providential call what is the meaning that so many are set apart and make it their study and labour to preach unto you whom ye openly see in their Pulpits spreading their hands and hear them with so much zeal and fervency crying aloud spending their very strength and hazarding their healths and life it self in their unwearied paines Is it not Christ whom we preach and in whom ye say that ye beleive How can ye beleive that wallow in the mire of your unclean and polluted conversations How can ye beleive that commit iniquity with greediness and blush not at your open sins and profaneness How can ye beleive that make the world your God and prefer the trrash of the earth before the treasures of heaven How can ye beleive that seek the honour and praise and favour of men more then the honour that is of God that ye may be great upon earth and get a name which shall be written in the earth Is it not true that all men have not faith ye say ye beleive and ye have faith can your faith save you can a dead faith a feigned faith a fruitless and a workless faith save you Can ye prove or shew a true faith without workes Give me leave to try your faith in regard of the object of it Doe ye beleive in the Lord Jesus Christ Doe ye beleive in that Christ who from the beginning was promised to the sore-fathers who saw his day and rejoyced who in the fulness of time appeared in our flesh made of a woman and under the law and took upon him the form of a servant who suffered so much shame and reproach by the contradiction of sinners and at last an accursed death the death of the cross for the satisfaction of divine justice and appeasing of the wrath of God so highly provoked by the sins of men who arose from the grave having overcome and broken the bands of death to assure unto us our justification who lastly ascended into the highest heavens and is there interceeding for his people and ruling and reigning till he overcome all his enemies whence he shall come again and appear the second time without sin unto the final judgement of the world and the full salvation of all that beleive in him Why then do ye say in your selves or is it not the language of our unbeleiving hearts who shall ascend into heaven to bring Christ from above and who shall descend in to the deep to bring up Christ again from the dead What strange fancies have ye in your mindes of Christ and beleiving in Christ Is not your faith a fancy O that the word of faith were nigh unto you even in your hearts the word of faith which we preach And that ye would beleive our report when we preach Christ and him crucified as we have evidently set him forth crucâ—fied among you Besides if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed it would soon manifest its self by the growth of it and the fruits that proceed from it It would be a Christ prizing faith a heart purifying faith a world conquering and crucifying faith it would be a Saint loving and a soul humbling faith it would work in you the fear of God and the fear of sin a love to the truth and to every ordinance of Christ it would make conscience tender and the heart sincere and upright with God yea it would render holiness beautiful and lovely and all the wayes and commands of the Lord delightful and easie besides it would make future things present and present things absent and as if they were not and yet the beleiving soul inherits all things and possesseth all things The exercise of faith is a pleasant joyful and glorious act through the transcendent and unspeakable excellency of Christ the object thereof Now if these things be a mystery unto you and your hearts wholly strangers unto them look into the Gospel more seriously and acquaint your selves further with the riches of the mystery of Christ even the riches of mercy and the unsearchable treasures of Christ and be no more faithless but beleive If ye were but sensible of the wants of your souls as ye are of the straights and necessities of your bodies it would not be so hard to perswade you to come to Christ the great treasury of all supplies who hath gold for the poor and eye-salve for the blind and white rayment for the naked Rev. 3.13 Now are not ye thus poor and blind and naked and consequently wretched and miserable And how freely doth Christ offer himself to become all fulness unto you who is made of God unto all that beleive wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 what sure foundation can ye build upon if Christ be not the corner stone and rock of your trust and confidence and to whom will ye goe for eternal life if ye refuse him and reject the counsell of God by persisting in unbeleif and impenitency I can assure you from the word of God that other foundations can no man lay then is laid by Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 To day therefore whilst it is called to day harden not your hearts refuse not him that speaketh from heaven lest you perish in your unbeleife but lay hold upon this strength of God that ye may make peace with him ye shall make peace Isai 27.5 For he is our peace by whom we have access with boldness unto the throne of grace and he is able to save unto the uttermost all those that come unto God by him Heb 7.25 O sinners beleive in the Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be saved every soul of you your sins shall be blotted out and your iniquity shall be remembred no more and receive him who is ready to receive you and to bless you with all spiritual blessings that ye may be the children of God and heires of the promises and of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven Secondly The exhortation is also to all Christians for to such my text hath a more special relation even to those who with their hearts beleive and love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity who though peradventure they cannot so freely with Saint Paul desire to depart yet in case of departing unfeignedly desire to be with him And because
such fruitful seasons Nevertheless lift up the hands that hang down the feeble knees up and be doing the worke of the Lord shall prosper in your hands gird up the loynes of your minds and so run that ye may attain being swift to hear not slothful in business fervent in spirit continuing instant in prayer that God would fulfill in you all the good pleaof his goodness and the work of faith with power Fifthly That ye may better redeem the present time of grace and mercy exercise your hope with all sobriety in the use of temporal comforts and enjoyments Take heed of surfeiting your selves with the sweetness of creature delights lest your hearts should say it is good to be here and you sit down ready to take your lot on this side of heaven But be sober and hope unto the end for the grace and salvation that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 Ye that are the children of the day watch and be sober and with Paul whose example is imitable in this case labour to beat down your bodies and to bring them into subjection that ye be not cast away 1 Cor. 9.21 It is better to starve lust then by pampering the body to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Therefore study contentment in a mean condition in this world having but food and rayment to supply the bare necessities of this present life A little will serve for your passage though all the world should not content you for your portion because ye are heirs of precious promises and of a rich and glorious inheritance whereof ye shall shortly take possession in the life that is to come and in the enjoyment of God himself in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Wherefore if by Christ the world be crucifyed unto you and you unto the world and ye overcome the world by the victory of faith live above the vanity and emptiness of fading and withering comforts and look not at the fashion of the world which passeth away but use the world as if ye used it not because all these things perish in the using dye in the hand and the beauty thereof corrupteth and vanisheth while your eyes are set upon them And let your moderation be known to all men in respect of your care and contention for the things of this life for the Lord is at hand who if you cast your burthens upon him will sustaine you for he careth for you Content your selves to live at his allowance in your minority and think not hardship unsutable to your present state whereas if you were full ye might forget the Lord and less mind your home and your Fathers house But if the Lord hath enlarged your present estate upon earth content not your selves in being rich unless you are rich towards God and deny your selves in what is in your power to use and possess that ye may doe good in your generation and lay up for your selves a good foundation against the time to come Direct VI. Sixthly For the maintaining of a holy sobriety of spirit act faith upon eternal promises and the unseen glory of heaven Nothing doth more support and bear up the hearts of the Saints then to live by faith and to look over the pale of time to the things which are eternal This will make afflictions light suffering easie the world contemptible and the hardest labour and work for Christ and the Gospel comfortable While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 While faith feedeth upon the promises of life and glory and eyeth the great reward of happiness and perfection the soul fainteth not under its burden neither is discouraged at the greatest difficulties in the way of its hopes but becometh more lively and undaunted in contending with opposition that it may break through and passe to the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Yea how fully is the soul satisfyed in beholding the incomprehensible riches of eternity that when it is taken up with the thoughts and meditations thereof it is ready to forget that it is still in the body as being transported above the sphear of sensitive objects This made David cease to envy the prosperity of the wicked when his heart was raised to a sight of God in the Sanctuary which so ravished his soul that he brake out into that expression Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee And this will ween your affections desires from earthly contentments did ye often by faith visit your heavenly mansions and keep your thoughts upon Christ and his preparations for you which the eye hath not seen nor the ear heard neither hath the heart conceived and yet not beyond the reach of faith as it is the evidence of things not seen Seventhly and lastly Labour after a complying heart with the will of God under every dispensation of providence towards you in this earthly tabernacle Be willing to live or dye to doe or suffer following every call of God whose infinite wisdom disposeth of your conditions and whose gracious power is present to assist and streng then Acknowledge the Lord in all your wayes and he shall direct your paths and commit your way to him and he shall give you the desire of your hearts Take heed of self-will and sinful will in opposition to the will of Christ but lye prostrate at his feet with a holy and an humble resignation of your selves to his will and pleasure And let nothing move or terrifie you neither count your lives dear unto you that ye may finish your course with joy Be contented with any condition which the Lord shall allot unto you in your present pilgrimage and travails homeward and let the consideration of your approaching ascension unto Christ in the highest heavens sweeten every bitter cup which providence shall put into your hands lighten every burden which God shall lay upon you knowing that your sufferings are only temporal but your joyes will be eternal and that ye have all your evil here but your good things are to come O forget not that your treasure is in heaven and where your treasure is there let your hearts be also that for the joy that is set before you ye may endure every cross and despise the shame of all your sufferings for Christ counting the sufferings of this present life not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in you when ye shall depart hence unâ—o Christ which is far better Not only better then the present straights troubles tribulations and afflictions which attend the Gospel the profession of Christ and the state of Grace but better then the best and most honourable and comfortable condition which the Saints of God have ever enjoyed or can expect to partake of while the foundations of the earth remain Which I shall only add by way of motive to what hath been said by way of counsel that to depart and be with Christ is far better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in comparison with the three degrees o excellency attainable in this earthly state First it is better then life and all the comforts of life which the world can afford in pleasure profit or honour For all these things are short and uncertain and at least but created delights and creature enjoyments which Saint John describeth by the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life 1 John 2.15 And laboureth to take off our affections from them by an argument drawn from the love of God And if the loving kindness of God to his people here be better then life it self Psal 63.3 How much more the fulness of his love communicated without measure in the life that is eternal Secondly it is better then all the service which the Saints can doe for God and Christ in their most perfect obedience here below Yea though we could say with Saint Paul to us to live is Christ yet to dye and be with Christ were gain and far better and though in keeping of his commandements there be great reward and the godly have great peace therein yet their happiness hereafter shall be the crown of their holiness here and their reward with Christ shall exceed all their labour and worke for him Lastly It is better then the most uninterrupted fellowship the Saints are capable of with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in their nearest and most spiritual approaches in the purest ordinances or most heavenly meditations and that by how much the immediate and glorious presence of Christ God himself in heaven surpasseth the clearest discovery manifestations of God to his chosen and precious faithful people upon earth Therefore leâ— all the Sons of God wait with joy for the day of their ascension when they shall depart unto Christ who is ascended far above all things that he might fill all things And that your hearts may be filled with joy and that ye faint not implore his spiritual presence with his love-sick Spouse Cant. 2. last Vntill the day break and the shaddowes flee away turne my Beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountaines of Bether FINIS
what a night may bring forth or whether thine eyes shall see the light of another day Compose a while thy wandring unsetled thoughts and if thou canst be serious at such a solemn assembly and sad occasion tell me if thou canst venture this night thy eternal condition to be determined upon thee by a sudden dissolution Art thou ready to be uncloathed and to lye down in the dust of death or dost thou not tremble at the thoughts of it as a poor sinful creature amazed distracted and confounded in thy self through the fear of death and hell that followes it Oh cast not away so precious a soul though thou hast hitherto made it a servant to sin and a drudge to Satan If thou knewest the worth of an immortal spirit thou wouldest not barter it away to the Devil for such short and empty pleasures nor expose it to the rapine of vain lusts to be defiled and deflowred but on the contrary by all means and unwearied paines seek the deliverance and salvation thereof from eternal misery and everlasting ruine which shall be inevitable without true and unfeigned repentance That I may now catch thee in thy fall and pull thee out of the fire and through compassion save a soul from death for knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men oh resist not the counsell of God to thy destruction but accept of direction from an unworthy labourer in the Lords vineyard who shall rejoyce to become an instrument of bringing thee in to God that thou mayest be translated from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son First Search the Scriptures and make them the impartial judge of thy condition Examine thy heart and wayes by the infallible touchstone of the word of God and try the rectitude or declination of thy soul by this line and plummet The word of God is the true standard and exact ballance of the Sanctuary by which if thou wouldest not be deceived thou mayest know thy present and consequently thy future estate to eternity Therefore open this booke and in obedience to this present call of God unto thee take and read and judge thy self that thou mayest escape the final condemnation and judgement of God when this book with the rest of those bookes mentioned by Saint John in his Revelation shall be opened Rev. 20.12 And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the bookes according to their workes Friend God will not judge thee by another law and rule then what he hath revealed unto thee for he is righteous in judgement And though the heathen that have not this law of God revealed unto them shall be judged without it even by the light of nature and the law of their own consciences whereby they are a law unto themselves yet they that have it shall be judged by it Rom. 2.12 13 14 15. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law c. And think not to plead ignorance in that day for that will be but to plead guilty also where God hath afforded so much meanes of knowledge For God hath not cast thy lot and habitation in a land of darkness but of light and under the plain and powerful ministery of the Gospel under which thou canst not be ignorant unless thou shuttest thine eyes against the truth and lovest darkness rather theu light that thou mayest sin more securely Therefore supposing through charity that thou art not wholly ignorant and unacquainted with the mysteries of the Gospel and the rule of righteousness contained in the holy Scriptures let me engage thee to a self examination by them as being able to make thee wise unto salvation But give me leave however to put that question to thee which Paul put to King Agrippa Acts 26.27 King Agrippa beleivest thou the Prophets Beleivest thou the Scriptures if thou beleivest why tremblest thou not at the wrath of God proclaimed and his judgment denounced against sin and sinners But how canst thou beleive and still persevere in prophaneness and a wicked and licentious conversation Suppose thou shouldest see one of thy old acquaintance and companions in iniquity now in torments arise out of his grave and hear him relate with trembling and astonishment the miserable estate of the damned in hell and the unexpressible paines they endure there and withal falling prostrate at thy feet with cryes and teares beseech thee to repent and accept of the riches of mercy now offered unto thee in the Gospel that thou mightest not perish in the same condemnation and destruction would not this scare and affright thee or worke in thee a serious reflexion upon thy sinful condition Now hath not the eternal God and Jesus Christ the faithful and true witness declared the same unto thee by the word of truth which cannot be broken or changed and dost thou remain still secure and obstinate It is to be feared if thou beleivest not the report of God that thou wouldest not beleive the report of man though God should miraculously call up the dead to warne thee As Abraham told the rich man in hell intreating him to send Lazarus from the dead unto his Fathers house to his five brethren to testifie unto them least they should come to that place of torment Luke 16.29 31. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them and if they hear not Moses nor the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Hearken therefore not only to Moses and the Prophets but to a greater then Moses to Christ and his holy Apostles by whom the counsells of God and his good and perfect and acceptable will are sufficiently made known unto the Sons of men For the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thessal 1.8 Let every soul then enquire after God and examine the evidences of his salvation the grounds of his hope the fruits of repentance the signes of regeneration and the Scripture markes and characters of a sound and saving faith in Christ Jesus For without faith it is impossible to please God without holiness no man shall see him and without repentance and regeneration no salvation Therefore be not deceived but search the Scriptures daily whether these things be so or no. Secondly set the fear of God and his wrath before your eyes continually Consider O ye Sons of men in whose presence ye are at all times yea when ye are most retired from the eyes of men who can strike you dead in the act of sin though never so secretly committed stand in awe therefore and